The Start of Spain

!Hola a todos! I finally arrived in Granada, Spain on Sunday around 5:30 pm. There was no trouble with the flights but it was a really long and tedious journey, so I was happy to catch up with Megan in Madrid. We had a five hour layover, which was when the jetlag really started to kick in, and then an hour plane ride from Madrid to Granada. On that plan ride we met some other study abroad students, some who are in my Arcadia program and others that are in other programs but that will be in my classes. Two girls in my program lost their luggage, but luckily I wasn't one of them. Everything went really smoothly.
We were picked up at the airport by Cristina, a 26 year old native who is the co-director of our program. The actual director, Cristine (hard to keep the names straight!) is about 8 months pregnant with twins. So Cristina will be taking over pretty soon. We arrived at Hotel Ingleterra which is in the middle of Granada. It is small, but very comfortable and air conditioned, which is the most important. Meg and I roomed with another girl named Amy who is from Connecticut (pictured above with Meg and I). We love her! She's so much fun and we had no problem sharing a hotel room for two nights.
After arriving at the hotel, we all went out for a group dinner. There are 15 of us in the Arcadia program, but only two boys. We will be taking classes with a lot of different students though, so it won't always be a small group. We went to a restaurant where you sit outside and we ordered a bunch of different dishes and then share. I love this dish called croquettas, which is cheese and chicken blended together and then fried. We also had sangria, which is wine mixed with different fruits, mostly orange. After dinner we all walked around until about midnight, which is when the jet lag really hit and we wandered back to the hotel to sleep.
What is so amazing about Granada, and Spain in general, is that the night life here doesn't start until about 11 or 12 at night. The days start off around 9 and you have a light breakfast of churros y chocolate or toast. You then have lunch around 2 pm, perhaps snacking on some tapas in between meals. Dinner isn't until 9 at the earliest, sometimes as late as 10:30 or 11. It is after dinner that you go out, and usually stay out, until at least 3 am. Basically, it's like Spain took the whole philosophy of college and turned it into a culture.
So, this was my first day. It was exhausting but it definitely eased my mind and confirmed that I made a great decision in choosing Granada. I can't wait until I feel more comfortable with the city and the language, I think I will truly love it.

Love Always,
Em