Three and a half weeks and only one blog post so far… Off to a slow start, but it should be a little easier to write from here on out!
On Monday I started taking Spanish classes at Escuela Delengua in Granada, Spain. I have about 3 hours of instruction per day (broken up into two 1.5 hour segments) in a class of 8. So far I am really enjoying it!
This week we covered
- the word “vale” (means ‘okay’ and can apparently be used just about every other word in a sentence)
- conjugating present tense
- describing daily actions (My homework for day 2 was to write about a typical day for me at home, a typical day for me here in Granada, and a typical day for a 12 year old in the US. I’m pretty sure whatever I wrote for that last one bears no resemblance to reality.)
- frequencies
- relative locations
- occupations, typical actions for said occupations, and types of stores,
- construct for ‘near future’ tense (aka “futuro próxima” or “going to do”)
- describing the weather
- tons and tons of new vocabulary
In addition to class, the school organizes daily activities around town and weekly longer trips. So, this week I went out for tapas with other students, visited the Capilla Real (for the second time), visited the Alhambra (also for the second time), watched the movie “Ocho Apellidos Vascos” in Spanish with Spanish subtitles, had a day trip to Seville. Not bad for the first week…
For these first two weeks here I’m staying with a host family. Although I had a lot of doubts initially about staying with a host family, it’s been both enjoyable and helpful. Reyes, my host mother, doesn’t speak English, so I’ve had no choice but to put my limited Spanish to the test! Despite the obstacles, we’ve been able to converse quite well and I’ve been able to see my progress as I learn a little bit more each day. In addition to being a conversation partner, Reyes tells me a little bit about typical life in Granada.
Our apartment is near the city center (and the school), but just far enough away that it’s no longer touristy. It has neither A/C nor central heating. Each room has a little electric heater (estufa). The temperature here has been cool so far (mostly highs in the mid 60s), and this apartment stays much colder than outside. (On more than one occasion I’ve bundled up only to discover it’s warmer outside.) I ended up buying myself some slippers both because it’s rude here to walk around barefoot/in socks (or so I hear) and because the floors get very cold without any carpet!
School is keeping me pretty busy, but I will start posting some pictures from the last 3 weeks of traveling very soon!