So, what has a typical day been like for me the past few weeks?

During the week I wake up at 8 a.m. and take a quick shower before breakfast -- toast and clementine (!) juice. (It's way better than orange juice). I don't need to leave the house until 10, so getting up at 8 means I have time to wake up properly and finish homework or check email. Ima, my senora, leaves for work at 8:40, so I have some time in the house with myself and the company of Coco, her dog. He's looks like Fly from the movie Babe, although he isn't a pure-bred border collie. He's nice, but has a problem of barking a lot. (We are working on that. Maybe by the end of the semester he'll listen!)

I leave for the CLM a bit earlier than 10, so I don't have to rush on my walk. Past three roundabouts, four cranes, across el Rio Sin Aqua (river without water) and I'm halfway to CLM. (El Rio Sin Aqua isn't actually called that, it is my own name for it, because it is so dry and I like the way the words sound together.). It takes me 30 minutes to walk to the CLM, and while the first few days I counted every step now I'm used to it. It's making me fitter for sure!

The only problem is that it takes so much time. One trip there and back is an hour out of my day. Usually I'm walking at least two hours a day. Sometimes that is okay. It gives me time to think, but it was a problem this week because I felt so stressed for time. Next week a friend is going to show me how to use the buses, so I'll have another option on days when I have to return to the CLM in the afternoon.

Class is 10:30 till 2:30, four hours of Spanish! Another Bucknell girl and I are in the Advanced B class. We have two professors, Alfonso, who teaches the first two hours, and then after a break of 20 minutes, we are taught by Marie Jose. They are both a lot of fun, although completely different. Alfonso is a complete clown, and very informal. He mostly helps us with speaking, and learning colloquial expressions, and how Spanish works as a spoken language. Marie Jose, who is young and very energetic, teaches us more of the formal grammar of Spanish, although she also has taught us many colloquialisms and about the Spanish culture in general. I really enjoy the class, and I like the other students.

After class, I head home. Down the windy streets, past two fountains, across El rio sin aqua ... till finally at three I arrive home, and sit down for la comida, which is the main meal of the day. The Spanish very rarely eat the main meal outside of the house. They don't pack a lunch to eat at work like we do. This means that the shops and everything close from 2:30 to 5:30 and then are open again till about 9:30 p.m. (In the morning, they don't open till about 10 a.m.) La cena, which is what would sort of correspond with our dinner, is eaten between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., depending on the family. (In my homestay, we have la cena at 9:30). It is something lighter than la comida and is sometimes eaten outside of the house -- for example, many people go out to for tapas in the evening.

I've liked almost all the dishes we've had, lentil soup, salmon, chicken, a vegetable dish -- which looked gross but was delicious and had artichoke hearts in it -- shrimp, potatoes ... she's a really good cook. We eat a lot of sea food and fish. The first day we had shrimp and clams as part of the meal. They were great! However, there was one meal we had a couple weeks ago that I didn't like. It was rice with calamari and shrimp. It was all in a black sauce, which I found out, when I asked, was black because of the ink from the calamari. I was a bit grossed out by the calamari, particularly since on some of the pieces I could clearly see the sucker feet on the tentacles. Still I tried it, and actually liked it. The shrimp was good too, but I really didn't like the black stuff on the rice. I ate what I could but finally left it.

I felt bad, but admitted that I didn't really like it when Ima asked. She just smiled and said that it does have a strange taste and that we now know that I don't like it. She then fed the rest to Coco. Nela, her son's beagle, was with us that day, so Ima gave her some, too. But Nela didn't like it either, so Coco ate her share, too.

After la comida is siesta time! I have napped a couple of times, but usually I have to walk back into the CLM for excursions or something in the afternoon. At least twice a week, I walk back for a Bucknell-related event, either a class at the Bucknell en Espana office, or for excursions through Granada.

So far, we have visited the Albaicin, the Alhambra, the Cathedral, Nerja, and Sacromonte. We have gone out for tapas and also went for a three-hour hike! (Hopefully I'll get some time this week to write about some of these trips in detail. For now, I'll just post a few photos.) Also, on Thursday afternoons I have an intercambio (exchange) with a girl, Christina, who is from Granada. She is taking Italian at the CLM, and she gave her number to Maria, in case any of us were interested in doing an intercambio. Basically the idea is that we get together to talk in Spanish, and in English, so we both get to practice. It's a language exchange. Still, I'm hoping that it will be more than that and we will become friends. I liked her from the moment I saw her, and I have had a good time during our exchanges (I've had two). She is really talkative and fun, and I laugh a lot with her.

I also have another intercambio twice a week, with Gregorio, Ima's neighbor. He and his wife, Charro, are great, warm, and expressive people. They were professors of history (she might still be) and he retired last year. Since he has so much free time he has decided to teach himself English. So he has asked me to help him, and he is helping me with my Spanish, as well as teaching me about Spain. I'm definitely going to learn a lot from him, and I enjoy helping his English. Pronunciation is a fun challenge! And it is interesting trying to explain grammatical rules that I've never really thought about before.

On Friday, it was a bit of a challenge explaining how the word "Hay" in Spanish translates into English as "there is/there are." I had trouble explaining it because he wanted to know what "there" meant, and why it was paired with the verb to be. I explained that by itself it means "alli" (as in here or there) but together with the verb to be it equals the Spanish "hay." Still he wanted to know what "there" meant! It was hard, especially since I had to try and find the right words to explain it in Spanish, but finally we came to an understanding.

As you can see, I've been very busy. After excursions and stuff I walk home, to watch some TV with Ima, have la cena, do homework and then go to bed. Sometimes I walk home to chill before going back out again to meet friends for an ice-cream or to just walk around the plazas and such. (Those are the days I end up walking three hours ... to and from home three times.)

Still, as busy as I have been, I'm managing to enjoy myself. I hope everyone across the pond is doing well, and that you enjoy the pictures I've taken while on our excursions and of the city. Thanks for the emails and messages! It's great to hear from you.

A girl outside the Cathedral

One of the organs inside the cathedral. It is amazing inside...

The Alcazaba in the Alhambra

A room in the Alhambra that looks over the Albaicin, a historic neighborhood of Granada

Me, with the Alhambra on the hill behind me

A picture of the whole group at the top of the mountain we hiked

A sign I saw the other day. It says you have broken my heart. And is an advertisement from an organization stopping violence against women. It interested me. (Women and Gender Studies major that I am.)

I walk along this avenue on the way to class

One of the many fountains in Granada

This beautiful place is where we have class

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it one evening while walking home. I love the shapes that cranes make against the sky, and the silouette in this picture is particularly beautiful to me. Also, I love the bird that is flying above it. I didn't notice it was there until I uploaded the picture onto my computer.