Keeping Busy

Where to start! My first few weeks here have just been an absolute whirlwind. It's hard to believe that two weeks have already passed and I only have 10 more to go. This means I need to keep going places and see as many things as I can in the short time I have left. It's going to be a busy 10 weeks! So far, we have visited the most important/famous places like the Cathedral, the Alhambra, and the Albacin. All of them have been absolutely beautiful! Words and pictures don't even do them justice. With all three places, you could just look at them forever wondering how people created such architecturally beautiful places without the technology we have now. The Cathedral is very beautiful and huge. It's right in the center of town and many tourists all over the world come to see it. The Alhambra is on a huge piece of land with a beautiful palace and gardens. It was created by the Arabics of the city who were the first inhabitants and when the Queen forced them to leave it was converted to a christian site. The Alhambra was meant for the rulers of the community, though. On Tuesday, we went to the Albacin, which is the oldest part of Granada. This part was also built by the Arabs and is still home to many who returned after being forced to leave. The outside of the homes are very beautiful, but the insides are said to be absolutely breathtaking. We got to peek inside one and the architecture looked just like that of the Alhambra with a lot of tile and stone detail. How gorgeous! This weekend we are going to the Sierra Nevada, the mountains, to go skiing. I'll let you guys know how this goes!

Granada Rotary Meeting #1

Monday night, Jessica, Lisamarie, and I (all Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars) went to the Granada Rotary meeting. The club meets every Monday at 8:30 pm in a conference room of a very nice hotel near the center of Granada called Hotel Macia Condor. There are 16 men in the club, but only about 7 of them came to the meeting. I guess it's unusual for everyone to attend every meeting. My host counselor from the club is Juan Pablo, the 2009-2010 President. He is very nice and seems very interested in us and what we do. The club donates money to a school in the city and today we are going to get in touch with a man at the school to start volunteering there. I guess we help the kids with their homework and help teach them English. I'm really excited for this! Even though the next meeting is Monday, they told us it is only necessary for us to come once a month so our next visit will be in February.

My First Week

Granada, Spain is so beautiful! I love it here! My flights to Granada went very well and were only a little delayed, but I still made it here Sunday night. There was someone at the airport to pick me up. Alos, there was snow on the ground, which I was not expecting at all!

I am living with a women named Maria Jose and her son, Raffi. Their house is nice and so are they. I can tell that they want me to feel at home and experience the country they love at the same time. Maria cooks all of my meals and does my laundry. The food has been great so far and I think it's one of the best ways to experience the culture. What makes it even more cultural is that I eat at the times they do, which are around 8 am, 11 am, 2 pm, and 9 pm.

There are two other female Rotary Scholars that are also in Granada with me. On my last flight to Granada, I was super relieved when I met Jessica from South Carolina. We are attending the same school and live only a few blocks from each other. The other girl, Lisamarie, I had been emailing before leaving for Granada. She lives a little farther from Jessica and I, but is also attending Sociedad Hispano Mundial. We have been doing everything together and are going to go the Rotary meeting together, as well.

Today, I emailed my Spain Rotary Host Counselor, Juan Pablo, for the first time. I hope he emails me back soon so we know when and where the Rotary meetings are. I am excited to see what their meetings are like and what kind of service projects they do. I heard that one of the service projects we will be participating in is teaching English to Spanish kids in Granada. I think this will be great!