Weekend Excitement

So. Here I am in CEGRI (the center where I take my non-university classes) with internet. Unfortunately, this is probably the only place I'll have internet access and it's not open past 8:00 our time (I think, it might be earlier or later, I'll have to see) and apparently the school isn't open on the weekends at all and only limited amounts on Fridays since we don't have classes on Fridays. It is possible that once I start at the University there will be more access, but we'll have to wait and see. Anyhow, on to the weekend! Since I haven't posted since Wednesday and an awful lot has happened since then, this will probably be a long post. Sorry! Thursday and Friday were devoted to orientation type things. Thursday morning we had our general orientation meeting to talk about cell phones etc. It was mildly interesting, but mostly just blah, blah, blah. Afterwards, the UofI people had to stay to sign up for classes while the rest of us got to go. We were smart and went right away to get our cell phones. The first place we went to didn't have any phones available and the second only had 4, so we had to draw straws for it. I got one of them and the two girls who missed out ended up getting them at a different place later that day. So we all have cell phones now which makes meeting up much, much easier! We wandered around for awhile and hung out at the hostal until the "survival tour" in the evening which was cool. After that, if I remember correctly, I met up with Dodyn and some of the girls for tapas. Dodyn had to leave early, but the rest of us stayed for a while and had a great time chatting. I think that Thursday was also the day of the demonstration. Tons of people protesting the Israeli occupation of Gaza. It was pretty impressive - extremely loud!! I got some pictures but they didn't turn out that well, so I'm not posting them. Friday morning we signed up for classes and I'm taking Culture of Spain, Literature and Cinema in Contemporary Spain, and Grammar. Shouldn't be too horrible, although I'm thinking of switching to the art history class. I don't know though, it's not the greatest time of day for a class...hmmm. We'll see. After that, we hung around the hostal until the touristy tour of the Albaicin (sorry, I don't know how to type the accents in blogger) which was Amazing! I really, really liked it - it's the oldest part of the city and has all kinds of neat things. I love this city! Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries halfway through the tour so I don't have as many pictures as I would like. Also, I'm not the greatest at taking pictures yet. Here are a couple though: This is me with the girls (minus two) that I've been hanging out with. They may not want their names here, so I won't post them. Suffice it to say, they're nice and we've been having fun. And here is one of the many, many old churches that were built over mosques when Isabel and Ferdinand took over Granada. Friday after the tour we had the group dinner which was really good (ensalada, paella, vino, a really good dessert that was some kind of meringue and this really, really strong coffee), we stayed for a couple hours talking. Then I met up with Lauren and her friends and went to a tapas bar briefly and then went to a club. It was...interesting. I can't say I'm a big fan, but people watching was kind of fun. I felt very out of place. I left around 1:30. People here stay up until the wee hours and beyond. It's insane and there's no way I'm ever staying up as late as they do. Not even close. Ick. Saturday I met my host family. It's really just me and my Senora. She's very nice - when I understand her! I'm getting better, but it's still hard. I like my room, it's cute and small and my bed is really comfy. The food is amazing. We watch a lot of TV sitting around the table which is in the living room. The table has a heater under it and there's a blanket draped around it that keeps the heat in for our feet. I went with my Senora to all her little shops to buy food for the next couple days. It was a lot of fun. She's pretty adorable. She talks to herself a lot though, and I can't always tell when she's talking to herself and when she's talking to me. Last night I met her daughter and her daughter's fiance. It was kind of a blur since they pretty much rushed in, set up the new TV and then rushed out talking really loudly all the while. I think here I'm going to be either "la chica" or "mi nina" (it's driving me crazy not having the right accents!). Yesterday we went to the Alhambra. I must go back!!! It was the most beatiful place I've ever seen. I loved it. It costs kind of a lot to go and it's far away, but it's worth it. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures :( but eventually I'll get them from my friends I imagine. Afterwards, we met up with Dodyn and had churros and chocolate. Very tasty. Then we went to find out where we all lived in relation to each other. I went to Mass kind of with Dodyn, but since I got there late, I didn't see her until after Mass. It takes a long time to get anywhere from where I live. Well, I think I'm going to get going now so I can walk with one of the girls. I'm still not entirely sure how to get from home to school and back again. It's about a half hour walk. Farewell for now!