First month!

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So I have been in spain for a little over a month.. have a lot of catching up to do. I started my trip in Granada where i stayed at Oasis (a hostel) for 10 days, it became my new home. The people there were so nice, i met a bunch of people from all over the world including a man from BELLINGHAM! what a small world. Granada is so beautiful with all their cobble stone streets and amazing viewpoints. I didn't get to go to Alhambra yet because i will be going again in April so i look forward to returning. They have the best tapas (appetizers) in Granada because if you buy a drink you get a FREE tapa it is something i miss 😊 also they have really good shwarmas (kind of like gyros) which we ate almost every day haha thats what happens when we don't really have a place to cook/groceries. We pretty much just hung out in Granada walked around went to a few discos and settled Micah into his new host family and started up his school.

On Jan 15 i finally got to my home in Cadiz where i will be staying till the end of May. Cadiz is the most beaaautiful place ever...i literally live in paradise. I live with a host family, Amparo and Jose (but we call him pepe) are my parents i have a brother named jose (haha original) and their daughter doesn't live with us but like 10 minutes away and her name is also amparo...last but not least i have a little chaweenie named MINI 😊 they are all very nice and very "gaditano" (people from cadiz) the people here speak a whole different spanish, they cut off almost all their words and make up new ones but i am slowly learning and i love the culture. my second week here there was a sea urchin and oyster festival with free beer and wine to get ready for Carnaval (the big event in march) and i got food poisoning (along with 5 other people) which was not fun but at least i experienced the oyster haha I started school a couple weeks ago and that has really put a downer on my vacation haha but i guess i am here to learn! and in between class i go to the little beach called the caleta (where halle berry is in "cuba" in die another day) it is gorgeous and im so lucky that i can go whenever i want! in fact ill be going there today in between my classes 😊

I have met a few spaniards and been hanging out with them which is good for my spanish. Most of them speak a little english but we mainly talk in spanish. One of my friends lives in Sevilla so we went there one weekend and stayed with him which was nice...and rare. most spanish people still live with their parents until they get married. and our generation is called NINI ni estudio ni trabajo (no study and no work) they blame everything on la crisis but i think some people are just kind of lazzy! but what a life just live free of responsibility until youre married, i could get used to that. Oh also the city i live in is like a town. very small, i can walk anywhere within 30 minutes and you can walk around the whole city from the outside in about 45 minutes. i love the environment here. i could live on the beach forever.

i miss everyone back home! and lots of different foods and american BREAKFAST! i will have a lot of catching up to do when i get back but for now im loving it here! tomorrow we are heading to portugal for a long weekend and i can't wait we also get continental breakfast american style (we think! fingers crossed) 😊 it should be a blast! well that just about sums up my month here! hasta luego love you all 😊

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Photos

Photo 2
me and ingrid in front of alhambra

Photo 3
mi perro

Photo 4
my bedroom

Photo 5
little pre party for carnaval in the streets (day i got sick from the oysters, but worth it)

Photo 6
typical sunset

Photo 7
where i "study" also where halle berry filmed her scene

Photo 8
in sevilla with spanish friends and americans too :)