La Segunda Parte

Alrighty the first one turned out alright, y so lets continue

This one below was an absolutely gorgeous sunset (puesta del sol) in Granada, the video doesn't do it justice but you get the general idea.

This one is one of the coolest dogs I have ever met in my life haha. we took a bus ride this morning (saturday) that took an hour and a half to a town called Pampaneira which was pretty far up the mountain where we got out and walked around I bought some postcards to send home, had a cerveza and then met this dog and he was absolutely massive haha, his head is enormous but he was real friendly.

Then we drove a little ways further up to a town called capileira (the town with the highest elevation in Spain (at least outside of the northern region by France) and hiked down, up and around to return on the backside of pampaneira.

I'm waiting for the video to load so I'll tell you a bit more about what we've been doing. its mostly non-stop cause I walk EVERYWHERE and live pretty far (casi 30 minutos) from the center where our classes are and I have to make that walk four times a day at least cause I go in the morning, back to my house for lunch and have to do it all over again.  its been a blast so far, we've been having orientation type events basically just us in our small groups (there are 115 people, 94 girls, my group is 15 people) walking around and exploring the city with our teachers and learning a little bit about the history etc.

the schedule is pretty crazy here with lunch being around 3 and then a siesta. most things are closed from around 3-5 but it varies.  I eat bfast and lunch at my spanish home with my host señora but sometimes shes not here for bfast.  then I generally meet up with a group of friends around 8:30ish and we try to find a good place to have some dinner.  Most places in Granada serve tapas when you order anything. tapas can essentially be any type of food and all the places have different kinds (usually some type of bread with meet and olives and maybe cheese, but I've had an empanada like wrap with meat in it, a burger, pasta, like miniature paninis, and fried egg with ham and cheese, etc.  basically its anything but they're served whenever you order anything at a bar/cafe restaurant its really cool. some places you can choose what you want off a list and others they just bring em for you.

a few observations: spanish people eat an amazing amount of bread and drink and absurd amount of coffee. although nobody gets coffee and walks around with it like were used to. If your having your café, your taking a break to relax and enjoy yourself for a few minutes you aren't just grabbing it to keep yourself awake while you work for another few hours. also spanish people don't look strangers in the eye when you walk by each other on the street and like give a little head nod or smile like we do...they just walk by looking down or straight ahead.also they are very hesitant to j-walk haha. i don't know why but they all seem scared to. they do it, but when they do they look nervous. 

oh also I got to play soccer last night. six students from the program inluding me played against 5 spaniards (2 involved with the program and 3 of their friends).  I was a little disappointed in the quality of the spanish guys...2 of them were pretty good but the others not so much, but the americans won the game! haha. It was a blast for sure and we have the field from 10-11PM every friday night but me and this kid Tyler (he's a goalie at Kenyon College) will be seeking some more competitive games in the near future.  

Its a pretty good group and good mix of kids. I've made a bunch of friends pretty quickly and am enjoying myself a bunch (just need to find a little more time to sleep and start working out hah).  Miss you all though.  We need to find some time to skype at somepoint.  the problem is by the time you all get home from work I am probs going to be in bed most of the time.  The best time to skype is usually in the morning for me which will be around 10:30 Pm your time. so lets find a time that works. mike and Jess, join the rest of the world and download skype (my 65 year old host mom has it) I love you all a bunch and hope things are good!

PS, I am having a really difficult time with the videos right now the page won't load them so the ones i tried to put on here might not appear but I'll get some more up soon!