Orientation classes

Orientation is well underway. This week we meet Mon, Wed, Fri at 10am for excursions. Today we went to Albaycin, a gorgeous town overlooking Granada and across from the Alhambra (which we get to tour this weekend). To get there we pretty much hiked up a mountain, but it was worth it, some of the pictures I got are amazing! Then Whitney and I went home for lunch, stopping to buy "bufondas" (scarfs) on the way. Lunch was awesome, as usual. We had soup with "carne y patatas" (meat and potatoes), queso (cheese), and una naranja (orange). In Spain the dessert is always fruit, we´ve had pineapple, pears, and oranges. We ate lunch at 1:30 with our senora and she told us how she wasn´t use to eating so early! It has taken some time to get use to the different eating schedule over here.
We have our meetings with the program director, Veronica, at 2:30pm and then classes from 4-7pm. During our meeting today we had a presentation on the four day trip to Morocco we will be taking in early April; I am very excited about going. The best part is that this trip was included in our program cost so I don´t have to pay anything extra. The group I tested into has a grammar class from 4-5:30, not my favorite because the professor is kind of scary! But then we have about a 15 minute break, where sometimes I go to the "cafeteria" for a "cafe con leche" because its difficult to focus in class so late in the day. Then we return to class with a different professor (much nicer and more fun) for a conversation class until 7pm. This is pretty much my weekday schedule until the end of orientation.
Yesterday we got out of class early and went to the "Salon de Actos" (a large classroom upstairs) and watched the inuaguration of Obama live. It was really cool experiencing this moment in history in a different country. At the end we all stood for the national athem, which was pretty cool. During the middle of his speech we looked out the windows and saw that it was snowing! Small flurries that didn´t stick, but it was still "increible" for Spain!
Monday night a few of us from the program went out for "tapas." It was fun getting to know new people, since I came here knowning absolutely no one, as well as getting to know Granada by walking around. Last night we found an American bar and met other American students in different programs. Tonight we plan on getting together for "churros con chocolate," I can´t believe we haven´t experienced/tasted this awesome Spanish tradition yet!