Day two!

Yesterday was really fun, we went to the beach and sat on the Mediterranean :) I had my first Spanish meal of swordfish. haha I didn't really know what else to order because I don't remember much vocab yet haha but it was really good!! I love the food... every meal I have something different and I have liked it all. I even ate raw tomatoes (which I usually don't like) and they weren't that bad! So I'm branching out :) After we went to the beach we all took siestas and then headed out to downtown Malaga as a group. We toured around this BEAUTIFUL shopping area that had tons of restaurants in it. It was all marble and painted so pretty with balconies everywhere! I loved it! We broke off into groups and had dinner and our group just walked around afterwards too.

Today we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and had the beginning of orientation. Today it was all in English and it was about cultural differences and emergencies and such. So, pretty easy and common sense stuff but it was good to go over. Then we had lunch and another time for siestas, but we were all checked out of our rooms haha so we walked around some more. Then we all hopped on buses and went to Granada. It was about an hour drive, and then we met our host families! I was pretty nervous but my Madre is so nice. Her name is Sara and she is in her late 50's. She is a teacher and works mostly with special needs kids from what I could gather :) She is a great cook and we were told that she will take great care of us. She loves to talk too! This is great but at the moment it’s kind of stressful for me. My Spanish is much worse than I thought haha so it will take me some time. Hopefully after our intensive language orientation things will improve. But anyways, there is another girl who lives in the apartment too. Her name is Addie and she is with the IES program also. She is really nice so I'm very excited about my living situation. We each have our own rooms, they are small but very cute. We even have a balcony!! haha It’s pretty sweet I must admit :) It over looks the residential area so its kind of fun at night you can see all these lights and other apartments.

So, tomorrow we have some more orientation. Most days we have the afternoons and nights off. Our Madres serve us breakfast and lunch and then for dinner we are on our own. This is perfect because we can hang out with friends at night. Lunch is at 2:30 or 3 and then everyone goes home and eats and takes a siesta. Then at 5 the stores open back up and everyone goes back to work and stuff. So I will come home during that time and eat with my Madre and Addie. We will prolly hang out and talk a lot during that time and then go back to class. In the evenings everyone goes out. They love to say "vive en la calle" or "live in the streets". Most people go out at night and have drinks and tapas. Which are just lots of different appetizers basically. The nice thing is that they are free in Granada! So, you buy anything to drink and you get free tapas, your dinner is only like 2 Euros! They eat a huge lunch so dinner is usually smaller and eaten around 10 pm. :) It didn't take long to get used to the schedule :) haha I kind of like it actually :)

Well, sorry for the long post but that is what’s going on here :) Lots of new experiences, new faces, and new places. But it is all very exciting and I'm loving it! The only thing that I don't like is that I can't communicate! My Spanish is so bad its amazing haha but after orientation and such I'm sure it will improve drastically.....I hope :) So, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! I miss you all!!

Hasta pronto,
Erika