Settled In

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Hi!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write. So far I have been super busy but finally have a free day and thought I would write to say hello.

I’m living with a host family—a widowed woman and two of her sons. She has four sons in total. Of the other two, one lives in Barcelona but has been here the past three weeks for the holidays and for a hernia surgery he had yesterday. The other one lives in an apartment here in Granada with his girlfriend. They are all super nice, especially the one from Barcelona and the youngest one (23 years old). My host mother, Paki, is awesome (and a great cook!). Right now her father and sister are in the hospital so she has been somewhat stressed out about that and unfortunately it doesn’t sound like there is much possibility of them getting better.

I am rooming with a guy from Gonzaga. We share a room and get along great. We aren’t together all the time like some of the roommates in our program are but I think it’s better that way. There is also a French student and a professor from the University of Portland who also live in the apartment (we live in an apartment close to downtown—five bedrooms, three bathrooms), both of whom are also here to study Spanish. The professor is an older woman who is on sabbatical and didn’t know any Spanish before she got here. Thus far, she has kind of been out of her element (she is basically the only non-traditional student at the Center of Modern Languages— a part of the University of Granada that we attend) and gets frustrated really easily but has been getting better about it. Paki has been trying really hard to incorporate her and offer her fun things to do in her free time.

My whole host family smokes but since about a week ago, they no longer smoke in our presence so it doesn’t bother me at all. We also always have two windows open—the stove runs on propane and Paki is scared that someday someone will leave the gas on or it begin leaking and no one will notice, so she always leaves windows open. It’s a
somewhat unfortunate practice due to the fact that in the morning it gets quite chilly.

The weather is pretty nice here. Chilly in the morning and at night. Generally during the day the sun comes out, but I still wear my jacket around everywhere I go.

Granada is beautiful. I’m really glad that I came here (except for the fact that the Euro is slaughtering the Dollar). We’ve had a couple tours around the city and I’ve done a fare amount of exploring with friends. There are some mountains that have trails on them; I love hiking on them and they offer gorgeous views of the city. Also you can see the snow-covered Sierra Nevadas in the distance (I would LOVE to go skiing there). I’ll upload photos soon.

School is going well. A couple days after we got here we had to take a placement exam to see what level of Spanish we speak. To my surprise they placed me in the most advanced class (although I, and I’m pretty sure my professors,
have come to the conclusion that I should probably have been placed in the class below—I’m with a number of American students whose first language is Spanish and other foreigners who have already been living here for extended periods of time).

During the month of January we each take three intensive Spanish classes (which I love and I’m pretty sure I would take during my whole time here if I could), one of which is to prepare us for an exam (DELE) that we take in May to certify that our Spanish at a certain level.

In February our normal classes start. I’ll be taking classes on the European Union, Spanish Culture and Civilization, Spanish Social and Political Systems, Islamic Culture in Spain, a grammar class, Spanish Literature, and a Salsa dancing class. That’s seven classes and I might end up dropping one depending on how much time they take up (we have the option of taking 5 - 7 classes).

This weekend our program is taking us on a brief, two-day trip to Sevilla and then we have a week of vacations. During that time a friend and I are going to visit Casablanca (Morocco) for five days. It should be a lot of fun; I’m really excited—and slightly nervous because neither of us speak Arabic or French (or Berber dialects for that matter)…

New Years was a lot of fun. Our program started on January 4th, but I got here on December 28th. I spent two nights in Madrid by myself and then took a bus to Almunecar (a costal town, about an hour south of Granada). In Almunecar I met my two Argentine host sisters (one of whom lives there with her husband; the other one lives in Munich with her husband). I stayed with both of them and their spouses in Adriana’s and Mario’s apartment. It was the first time I had met Adriana because she was living in Spain during the whole time I was in Argentina. I stayed there for five nights and we had a lot of fun. We had asados (Argentine BBQs) just about every night and for New Years Eve we went out dancing and stayed out until around 9a.m.

The night-life here is pretty fun. It basically just consists of bar-hopping. However Granada, and only Granada, has a tradition of giving free tapas (appetizers) whenever you order a drink. There’s also a number of people who stand in the street and try to lure you into bars by giving you coupons for 1 Euro drinks or free shots. We’ve befriended a couple bartenders (one from Syria, the other from Morocco) who are a lot fun and generally hook us up with free drinks. There are also a number of dance clubs. I haven’t been to any yet, but will do so soon.

Anyway, I think that is basically everything. I hope everything is doing well and has a fantastic 2008.

Much love,
Eric

*Sean- Paki loved the Christmas card. Thanks so much for all the suggestions. Meredith and I have gone running by the river and I think I’m going to make it a routine. I think we are going to check out the church you recommended next weekend. I hope that you’re having a blast in Chile and Argentina, eat some empanadas de pollo and drink some mate for me. Those were my staples while I was there.

*Court- Any news on this summer? It would be FANTASTIC! Scratch that—it would be Corte Ingles FANTASTIC (as one of my profs says). I got cheap flights from Missoula on Travelocity.

*Pat- Thanks so much for the travel advice. Learning how to navigate using the stars and wind at night in Morocco—way cool.

*Gram & Papa- Thanks for the e-mails and keeping me in the loop. Love ya!

*Col- How did the college apps turn out? Have you heard about financial aid from BC yet? I hope you had fun in Vegas.

*Matt- Facebook? I want to see your pictures (i.e. more than the two you sent me). I heard that you’re thinking about studying in Argentina next year. That would be awesome. Would you be in Buenos Aires or Cordoba?

*Brian- Let me know how the new roommate is and what you end up deciding about next year.

*Shev- How was UW? Have you made a decision for next year? Africa has my vote, but whatever you do will be fantastic. I saw “I am Legend." I wasn’t very impressed (I recommend you see “28 Days Later”—it’s I am Legend, but
in London and much better). Backpacking this summer!

*Mariah- I enjoy reading your Europe blog. Sounds like you guys are having an awesome time!

*Maria- So that means that you and Alex will be in Msla for the summer then, right? Burch and I are going to throw a killer Argentine dance party that you two won’t want to miss. The book you gave me has definitely come in handy. Thanks a lot!

*Katie- Did we ever find out about Leprosy? I feel like that might be something important to know before you go, lol. I am SOO jealous, that is going to be the coolest trip ever. I hope that you’re practicing your Flyin’ Turd skills because this summer we will duel and I will reclaim my title.

*Brendan- Any news on the internship this summer? Do the Independent one, so we can have one last summer together in Zoo Town.

*Joe- Send me your travel plans. We need to meet up while you’re over here.

*Christina & Alli- Keep me updated on the housing situation next year.

*Ryan- Glad to hear things are going well with you. Sound like you have quite an intense schedule!

*Student for Peacers- Keep up the awesome work! I miss you guys!

*Juan- La señora (con que vivo) no me deja usar su teléfono (porque su padre y hermana están enfermos y sus otros hermanos siempre están llamándola para hablar sobre sus estados de salud) y los locutorios no me dejan usar mi tarjeta (que bajón, no? los odio), así que creo que tenemos que comunicarnos por internet. Suerte con tu corto! Tengo muchísimas ganas de verlo (y todos los otros)! Mando saludos a las chicas. Sabes si la Vicha pasó el examen para entrar la facultad? Aquí se usan “vosotros” en vez de “Uds.” y me cuesta mucho usarlo :P

*Lex- I can’t believe that we’re missing each other by one week! Have a blast though! Have a vase for me.

*Ashley- I am soo excited that you’re coming out this summer. It’s been too long. I saw your Jamaica pics—looks like you guys had a great time.

*All you J-term travelers- I hope that you’re having the time of your lives and taking a lot of pictures! The other day I was reading about indoor skiing in Dubai and thought of all of you and your awesome trips.

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