Today while walking along the street, two women approached a group of us girls asking for directions in Spanish-- of course, we could barely understand what they were trying to communicate, so one of us shouts "Somos de los Estados Unidos!", and the women just started laughing at the fact that they thought we were Europeans. Granted, I was in the back of the group and probably barely visible among my brunette friends, but hey if I can pass as a native Spaniard I'll take it.
So far, Granada has been beautiful and overwhelming. "Las tapas" bars have been a big hit with us American students- wherever you go if you order a drink (vino, cerveza, coke, etc.) you get free appetizers! In total it may cost 1-3 euro, which can be less than 5$. On our first night a group of about ten of us girls went out to explore some of these bars, yet we ended up in some sketchy hole-in-the-wall places whose appetizers consisted of something that had the consistency of uncooked bacon, and then our second tapas bar served a mushy hotdog on a bagel smothered in ketchup and mustard (so this is the stereotype of what Americans would want to eat??!). With that unsuccessful adventure, we met up with some guys in our group at a third tapas bar called "La Bella y La Bestia", which means Beauty and the Beast for all you who do not know Spanish. The food was excellent here, and the decor was super cute, imagine someone threw up French decor with sparkles and chandeliers, in a classy way. Now at least we can spot out some of the not-so-great bars, even though now it seems rather self evident that our second destination, which was covered in pictures of naked fat ladies and had locals that seemed rather grim, probably didn't look like they had a 5 star menu.
Today, which I think is Thursday despite my extreme jet lag, consisted of some orientations, and signing up for classes officially. I am taking 4 classes- art history, spanish culture, culture of islam in spain, and speech. Tomorrow we are going on a Survival Tour and then a Touristy Tour (time to whip out la camera!), which I am really looking forward to. So far we have all been just wandering around the city discovering things as we go along, which has been fun as well because we are all staying in the same hostel. Saturday is when we officially meet our host Senoras and move in, and my language skills are definitely not up to a level where I even want to try to have a normal conversation with a Spanish person. Right now I am extremely comfortable sticking to "Me pone mas vino/cerveza" (I will have more beer/wine) and "Podemos tener la cuenta por favor" (Can we have the bill please?).
Some interesting things I have already learned about Spain:
-They do not smile. They think smiling Americans are kinda annoying- let's be honest we probably are.
-We say please and thank you. A lot. Spaniards don't.
-Spaniards really do want to help you learn Spanish! Even if they know some English, they want to help us students and they will be very patient while you stumble along looking for the right thing to say.
-The weather es muy bonita.
-They eat a lot of ham. Directly off of the pig's leg that is stored directly on the bar for our viewing pleasure.
-Drinking and eating go together (comer y beber!). There is no such thing as slamming down beers or power hour, or even shots a lot of times (los chupitas!).
-They will let you sit at a restaurant/bar for hours, and will never once offer you the bill. You have to ask for it yourself somehow...
-You don't tip at all- their wages are already built up to include that (and they receive health care from the government- not too shabby!)
Well I think that's all I want to include for now. My internet is very slow in my hostel, but I am praying that there is WiFi at my host family! Buenos noches a todos!
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