Getting Acclimated

Today and yesterday were dedicated to getting acclimated to Granada. Both days we had orientation in the morning, a break for siesta from about 2 until 6, and then walking tours of the city. Orientation basically repeated everything they had already told us in various forms of communication (email, information packets, etc.) and the walking tours weren't all that useful. Because of my terrible sense of direction, the only place I can confidently walk to by myself is the post office, which CEA (my study abroad program) uses as a meeting point because it's located in the city center. The city center is kind of strange in that it's not actually located in the center of Granada (it's more towards the eastern part of the city) but it's very close to my house. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the post office and the scenery on the way is gorgeous. You know you're getting extremely close to the city center when the sidewalk turns into marble.

This is one of the streets I have to take to get from my house to the post office. The sidewalk is gorgeous and so are the buildings but this picture doesn't really do it justice.

This is one of the streets in the city center. It has a bunch of shopping and it's shaded because of these canopy things over the sidewalk. The canopies remind me of Aladin.

My host family has been really nice about telling us popular places to go in the city and helping us adjust to the nuances of a different culture. There are certain things you don't even think about that are so different here. Everyone wears shoes in their houses, no one has air-conditioning, utilities are super expensive, and the walls are very thin. They told us not to shower super late at night because you can hear the water running in the other apartments in the building and when we unlock the door we have to do it very quietly. Most people don't really have cars here because you can walk pretty much anywhere and taxis are very inexpensive. I'm convinced that Spaniards don't sleep because my host parents will stay up until like 1 or 2 in the morning and are already awake when Sophie and I get up around 8. Even Anna Clara, who's still a baby, stays up late. It's midnight right now and the only reason she's already in bed is because she didn't take her nap today. I've noticed that our pillow cases are open on both sides which I don't quite understand and they keep the butter on a shelf instead of in the refrigerator. Also, their milk comes in boxes that don't need to be refrigerated until they're opened.

Adjusting to the meal schedule here has been a bit difficult. They eat a somewhat small breakfast around 8 or 9, an extremely large lunch around 2 or 3, and a small dinner around 8 or 9. My host parents said that in Spain they basically reverse what we eat for lunch and dinner in the US. So far, we typically eat some sort of pastry and/or fruit for breakfast, pasta or soup with bread for lunch, and a sandwich or salad for dinner. My host mother discovered that Sophie and I are both chocoholics so now she keeps giving us small amounts of chocolate, mousse, or ice cream for dessert. She worries that Sophie and I aren't happy with the food so she always asks what we like about our meals and what we don't like. It's very sweet how concerned she is. Aloana and Francisco have both told us many times that if we are unhappy with anything we should tell them so they can try to fix it. Francisco said we are his daughters while we're here and that he and Aloana just want us to have a good experience in Granada.