The first day we were all pretty tired after getting off of the plane. We were met at the airport and taken to our hotel rooms. We were in a huge hotel but with tiny rooms. My roommate and I decided to explore the city and met up with some more people from AIFS. That night we had a reception with all of the students. After the reception we went out for dinner (where I had my $16.00 hamburger meal) and explored the city some more around Picadilly Circus.
The next day was for site-seeing. We went on a three hour tour (without a shipwreck) around the city. That was a lot of fun. Our tour guide, Heather, was so much fun and really funny. She kept cracking jokes during the tour. It turns out that she leads the Harry Potter Fan Club on tours around London. We got to see most of the famous buildings in London which was cool.
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| Big Ben - We got to hear him ring |
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| Me with the London Bridge in the Background |
After that we could explore the rest of the day on our own. A bunch of us had lunch and then went to the British Museum. We then took the tube Platform 9 and 3/4 where Harry Potter was filmed. After some photos, we hopped on the tube again to Abbey Road. A bunch of the guys made us take their pictures over and over as they tried to perfect the walk across the crosswalk and dodge traffic at the same time. I feel bad for anyone who has to travel on that road with all of the tourists there.
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| Harry Potter!!!!! Platform 9 and 3/4 |
On Sunday we woke up bright and early - 3:45 am to be exact - to get on our plane to Granada. It was so great flying into Malaga and seeing all of the trees and beautiful land/buildings. I was shocked to walk off the plane and experience warm air again. When I left VT it was like 6 degrees. Spain was easily in the 60s. I was not expecting it to be quite so warm out. We took a bus ride a little over an hour to Granada and the 10 of us "dorm dweller" people were led to our new homes for the next 4.5 months. I was surprised to find out that we were living in a hostel instead of the typical American Dorm. I thought we'd be more on campus but it really looks like we live in an alley. When the stores are closed it looks quite sad down our street, which is what it looked like on Sunday when we arrived.
I unfortunately haven't taken any pictures while I've been in Granada and I'm not sure why. I love the city, however it's quite small. It makes running quite hard but I go to a nearby park and do laps around it. Every afternoon a bunch of kids meet there to go running so it makes me feel safer to know that little kids are allowed to run there. The streets here are so tiny! Motorcycles whizz by you so quickly and you always have to look around you to make sure that a car isn't heading your way.
It's hard to not be able to communicate with many people here. Today I went to Zara, one of my favorite stores, because this is the month when all of the stores have "rebajas", or sales. Anyway, I forgot my school folder in one of the dressing rooms and I forgot the word for folder. It was a little difficult to explain to the lady why I needed to get back in there. It was still there though everything was alright.
The food here is really good! I love having breakfast for some reason. We get coffee and then have toasted baguette halves where we put on butter and then strawberry marmalade. MMMmm MMmm. Delicious. And believe it or not I haven't tried any of the chocolate they sell here. I've been eating the stash that I brought from home. And I've only stopped at the pastry shop once, and that was yesterday. I really haven't been able to eat that many desserts. I also tried a clementine yesterday for the first time in quite a few years and I enjoyed it a lot!
I was told to come here with an open mind and to try everything (food) at least once. And that is what I am doing. But I think that I'm going to get ready for bed. For some reason I've been awfully tired today. Adios!
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