La Alhambra

The visit to the Alhambra was today. We had to walk up a long and steep hill that took a good 20 minutes and then we were there. We had the option of taking the tour in Spanish or in English so I opted for the one in Spanish. The tour guide for the Spanish section was really nice and told us many interesting things that I have already forgotten. It was weird because he had a really good Spanish accent so we thought he was from the area but when he started to speak English, he had a British accent. Everyone was thrown off by that. So that gives me some hope that one day my accent could be mistaken for a Spaniards. So the whole tour lasted about 2 hours and I got home at 3 for lunch. At 5 I went shopping again and bought Meg one part of her birthday present. I hope she likes it. I also bought some postcards to send but I need to go somewhere to buy stamps. It is 78 cents to send a postcard or something crazy like that so I probably won't be sending too many. Sorry in advance if you don't get one. You can always email me. :-) Tomorrow morning the AIFS group is going to Costa del sol to the beach. I should be fun!

Word of the day: Derramar - to spill liquid

Why it is the WOD:
I bought some ice cream today and I was sitting down eating it when Meg yelled to me that the bottom of the cone was dripping onto my clothes. I got drops of ice cream on my shirt and on my pants. How lovely! I had to ask Maria how to say that I spilled ice cream so I could say it to my host mom because I wanted her to know before she did the laundry.

Fiesta

Last night we had a welcoming party at pub Babel. It was fun and we got free pizza and drinks. I was really tired throughout the whole thing though because I was unable to take a siesta yesterday. I left at around 10:30 and thankfully Meg, Maria, and Sam offered to walk me home and then they were all going back to party some more. Another reason why I left early is so I could be nice and refreshed this morning because I had a meeting with the resident director Paula and the Centro de las lenguas modernas. If you know me, you must be thinking how did she already get herself into trouble? To ease your mind, I am not in trouble and I have not done anything wrong. I had a meeting with her to talk about my placement test yesterday. See, when she gave us the paper at club Babel saying what level we were in, she could tell I was somewhat disappointed. She asked if I was all right with this and I said yes but then asked her if I could take some advanced classes when school officially starts. She said in order to do that I would have had to place into the advanced level or I would have to take another test at the end of this month to see if I could move up. I could also meet with her and the head professor tomorrow to discuss it and maybe change it but that seemed unnecessary. Another solution would have been to go to the first 3 days of classes and see if it was too easy and then I might have been able to move to the advanced class. I said that I would do that and I went off about my way to socialize. A little later on, I was talking to Maria about it and I decided to go back to Paula and say that I would go in the morning to talk about it. So I did and it is already over with and now I am sitting in the computer room typing this on a funky keyboard. On this keyboard I can type things like ç ´¡ º € ñ and other cool things. Well back to my story after I kept you in such suspense. The lady said that my written part was really good and at the advanced level but that my grammar in the multiple choice section was intermediate. She also went on to say that my oral interview was intermediate and I said that it was because I was very nervous and that I never really practiced speaking much at home. I also mentioned that I have friends in the higher level that would help me. She said that was good and that I would have to try very hard. I said this was ok and that I always tried my best with school work. So now thanks to the help of Paula and a little persuasion of the head professor, I am now in advanced level A.

Word of the day: Intermedio - intermediate, the level that I used to be
Bonus word: Avanzado - advanced, the level that I am now

Hooray for Martha!

Placement test

The placement test was today. We started off with 6 short responses and then when we were done with that we had to do a multiple choice test. Once that was done, we all had to wait outside the classroom and stand in line to go in for an interview. Mine was good and I got placed into the intermediate level B based on the interview and the exam. Each level is subdivided into 2: A and B. B is the higher of the two so maybe by the end of orientation I can take advanced classes. Lets hope for the best. On a side note, guess what appeared on the written exam. The word ficha came up two or three times. Isn't that crazy!? Good thing that was the word of the day yesterday.

Shopping

So today I met with the AIFS group and we toured some kep spots of the city like the post office and the university. Those are possibly the two most important things in the city for me right now. I suppose my apartment is pretty important too so add that to the list. We had a meeting after that where we got our ID cards for the university and other information. All of the girls probably left that meeting scared to death because of all the warnings they gave us such as to always walk with someone at night, don't go in the park during the siesta, always take a taxi after midnight, etc. The horrors! I guess if you think about it though, it would be the same kind of cautions that one would get if visiting the US. It is like this every where. After the meeting, we all went back to our homes and had some lunch. At 4:30 I met up with some friends and we went shopping. I bought some shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, a notebook, and some pens so pretty much all of the essentials.

Word of the day: Ficha - counter, chip

Why it is the WOD:
We went into a bunch of clothing stores too. I tried some things on in one store and when I walked out of the changing room, an employee stopped me and asked, "Donde está tu ficha?" I had no idea what she was talking about and I must have looked pretty dumb. Eventually she realized that I didn't understand and held up one of those number things that they give you before you go into the dressing room. I didn't have one so I told her and apologized. She looked annoyed and I think she might have rolled her eyes. I don't really remember. She let me go on my way but I still feel a little silly about the whole incident. It was not my fault though because when I went in, no one was there to give me a ficha.

I had a long day of shopping and tomorrow is the placement exam so I better get some rest. Wish me luck!

Finally in Granada

I finally made it to my destination and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can connect to a wireless network from my room. It is a bit in and out but it is better than nothing. The London stopover was all right. The first day we were on our own which was kind of annoying seeing as we had no idea what we were doing and how to get places. The second day was better because we had a tour in the morning to key spots in London. I am going to put pictures up as soon as possible but I have to wait for my card reader for the camera. I left it at home and now I have to figure out where my parents should send it. When it arrives I will most definitely post pictures for all to see. This morning we had to wake up and be in the lobby for 4:30 so I got about 2 and a half hours of sleep. I slept a little on the plane and then I also had a snooze on the bus ride from Malaga to Granada. When we got off the bus in Granada, our host families were waiting for us. I live with a woman in her 40s and her name is Maribel. She is really nice and the apartment that she lives in is cute. She said that she has been hosting people for 15 years now. It has been difficult communicating because my Spanish is less than to be desired. I am now sitting in my room waiting for dinner at 8:30 and then after that I will probably go to bed because I am wiped out. Tomorrow is a tour of the city so we know where the university is and other things like the post office and hospital. I hope to update this frequently because there are going to be many interesting stories to tell. Hasta luego!

Word of the day: Jamón - ham