From my journal:

Got up early today for placement exams.  Met Noelia (part of CEA Granada staff) and the rest of the group at correos (the post office).  She must have been taught Spanish by English people as she has a subtle English accent.  I hope classes aren’t w/ as many people as were in the room for the placement exam.  The room was full, almost everybody in the group.  Exam wasn’t bad.  A writing part, grammar, and oral.  Some of the grammar got pretty hard.  Found out later that I am advanced.  That surprised me and made me quite happy, I thought I was definitely intermediate.  There are quite a few of us in Avanzado A (advanced A).  Luke is too.  We met up with Noelia after the test and she showed us the health clinic and sports facilities.  There are many university lead excursions to the montains for hikes or different classes in climbing and orienteering and such.  I can’t wait….

I have been translating for Drew quite a bit.  I like translating.  After dinner tonight there was a funny show on tv called Pa Quete Ria.  People playing tricks on other people while hidden cameras record.  The tv is always on.  In a way its nice because there is always Spanish conversation going on, but I’m not a big tv watcher, it’s a bit strange for me. 

I am sitting now on the balconoy off my room.  It is a small balcony only about a metter square.  [We are 5 floors up.]  There are apartments across the way.  An older woman is watching people from her balcony.  Camino de Ronda is below—a busy street with a median full of plants.  Adriana [Elva’s daughter] and Elva said today that Granada only gets 2 days of rain/year.  Drew and Luke [both from the Seattle area] said they get about 280 days with rain/year.

There are a lot of scooters and mopeds here and they don’t seem to be confined by traffic laws such as stoplights and speed limits.  Many stores are closed, but some are open, quite a few people in the streets.  “El hueco” across the street sells a lot of stuff, including: beer, candy, and phone cards….

Starting tomorrow I have class everyday except Sat & Sun from 9-1 until 28 Sep.  At which point my Spanish should be at the level Avanzado B.

Max told me today that there is a place near correos that sells second-hand bikes for cheap, 20-30 euros.  I would really like to get one.  What a great way to explore the city.  All the girls that I meet in the program, after I shake their hand, say that I have a really strong handshake.  I think I hurt some of them.  Sorry chicas, I had no idea.  Haha my bad

Finally I got underway.  I had to cancel my previous flights because my visa did not come in time.  Fortunately for me, my dad was able to use some milage plus miles to get me a flight.  With only one connection in Frankfurt, the trip was relatively simple and straight-forward. 

I had quite a bit of time in the Frankfurt airport to sit and people watch.  That was neat, mannerisms of people are very similar as in the US.  I found that interesting because in Frankfurt Airport there are a lot of international travelers.

I’ve decided to keep a blog documenting my experiences abroad for the 2007/2008 academic year.  Deb Holman asked if I would be interested, I thought about it, and it would please me to keep ya’ll updated on what’s going on.  I’ll update it periodically, I’m not going to say I’ll get to it once a week, or twice a week, or every other week, or daily, etc.  You can expect excerpts from my journal, but I think mostly I will be using my journal as an outline to summarize my stay.

For those of you who don’t know the story of my visa—here it is in a nutshell.  A student visa is required for studying abroad for an extended period of time.  In the case of Spain, I had to apply in person at the consulate whose jurisdiction includes the state of Colorado.  A trip to LA became the focal point of my summer plans.  I called ahead to try to set up an appointment and they said to just come in and they would accommodate me that day or the next.  Good enough.  Well, when I got to the consulate, I was informed that I would not be able to get an appointment until the next week, which would have been past the 45 day cut-off.  (One must apply for a student visa between 90 and 45 days before the program start date.)  But thankfully my mom worked some mom magic and I got in.  Time to leave the US, and my visa still had not arrived in the mail.  I cancelled my flights, made some reservations for the 30^th and really, really hoped it would be in my hands by then.  It arrived in the morning and I was in the air that afternoon.

Some lessons learned:

-Apply for your visa early

-Consider the cancellation policies of the agency you buy your tickets from

-Mileage plus miles are awesome

-Your mom always knows what to do

-It’ll all work out so long as you’re on your game

-Google STA travel, they’ll let you change flights at no charge—consider them when booking flights.

-To quote a friend, “There’s gonna be fun.”

I invite you to check back here every now and then—see what’s going on, see what I’m up to.  See you in Europe.