Granada puts Chicago to shame

I have decided that Granada is the most beautiful city in the world (sorry Chicago).  With it's cobblestone side streets, the busy plaza, beautiful little parks everywhere, and the mountains in the background, I couldn't image a city having much more to offer then this one does.  Today I met up with the people from my program at our central meeting location, correos, or the post office.  We had another short orientation about the classes and extracurricular activities.  Then we took a walking tour of the city.

After the tour, I went home and my Senora made me a traditional dish of Spain called tortilla de papa.  Oh, and the dish that I had the first day was called paella.  I took a wonderful siesta and then headed back to the plaza to watch the parade de los reys.  Tomorrow is a holiday called el dia de los reys, or the day of the three kings.  It is a holiday to celebrate the arrival of the three kings (or three wise men as we call them).  The celebration begins the night before with a huge parade were they throw out handfuls of candy.  There are also designated float for each of the three kings for a reenactment of the arrival of the Three Kings into town.

While we were waiting for the parade, I began talking with an adorable old man and his wife.  Is that creepy if I post the picture that I secretly took of him? Him and his wife are from France but have been traveling all around Spain.  He was really friendly and funny.  The best was when he was talking about "bailando en la discotecas" (dancing in the clubs) and did a demonstration for us.  He also told us that while in Spain we needed to find "chicos que son guapos y ricos." (handsome and rich)

I don't think that it has hit me yet that this is going to be my home for five whole months.  I love it here, but I'm already starting to feel a bit homesick.  I also haven't been able to skype my family, or anyone else yet.  It's so hard with the time difference.  Still, I'm so happy to be here and am glad that I have been able to become friends with some of the girls already.