Hello again! This weekend I spent three days in London, which was everything I expected and more! The weather, not surprisingly, was rainy and foggy, but we still had a blast, despite getting a little wet. It was a welcome break to be in an English-speaking country, and it made all of us really miss the US! The hostel that my friends and I stayed in was really cool...it was in an area called Swiss Cottage, and it used to be a children's hospital. That sounds really creepy, I know, but it was actually a really beautiful place. The neighborhood looked like what I imagine Boston looks like. I'm sure most of you have been to London, so I won't bore you with too much detail, but the first day that we got there we saw ... read more

Hey everyone!! So, this past weekend IES had its final excursion, to Cadiz. Strangely, we didn't spend all that much time in Cadiz, but most of the time traveling in-between different locations, probably because Cadiz is pretty far away from Granada!! We left Granada really early on Saturday morning, and headed for Jerez. We got there around noon, and first stopped at a really famous horse farm, which breeds world-famous horses. I don't really know anything about horses, but apparently these ones are pretty great...we saw a show where they prance around. My favorite part was when they let all the baby horses and the mares run out together, and all of the babies each searched for their mom. It was really cute. After the horse show, we went to a wine factory in Jerez. Jerez ... read more

Ciao All!! Just returned home yesterday from my very exciting trip to Rome! This past Sunday was Dia de la Hispanidad in Spain, a day which used to be devoted to Cristobal Colon--or Christopher Columbus as we all know him--but is now just a general holiday (because he killed so many people and all). So anyways, last Wednesday I started out with my two friends, Becca and Kristin, for Roma! We took the last bus out of Granada, headed for Madrid...unfortunately that bus was at 7:00 pm, many an hour before our flight, so we were going to have some waiting to do. We got to Madrid 4 fours later, and figured out the Metro system, making it safe and sound to the airport in Barajas, where we slept/waited until 6:00 AM for our flight! Pretty ... read more

!Hola Todos! Last week marked the beginning of classes, so naturally everything around here was a little hectic. I'm happy to say that I couldn't be more satisfied with my choices! I am taking four classes at the international school, and one at the University of Granada; this is the program prescribed by Occidental. All of my classes are in espanol, also a requirement of my college, but I haven't found that aspect particularly difficult because I have already taken two Spanish literature classes in college (in Spanish)...Anyways, I am in a flamenco dancing class (which involves two classes per week at a dance studio and one class per week learning the history/theory of flamenco), an Islamic art and architecture class, a Lorca literature class, and a Spanish grammar class. My fifth class, at the U ... read more

Hola! So, for the past two days the whole school has been finishing up our orientation, and taking placement exams. Yesterday we took a grammar test and later an essay test, which I both felt went fine. Today we did the oral portion, which involved going and chatting with a teacher for a little while, so she can get a feel for your abilities. She told me that my writing was very good, and I think I did fine when talking to her...the convo went pretty smoothly. Tomorrow morning the whole IES group is headed to Sevilla for un excursion, and then Monday is the start of our classes. I am told that my Lorca literature class is the hardest class that IES has to offer...yikes! Other than that, I've just been making new friends, and ... read more