First day!!

Alrighty, everybody.  Well I made it.  And it was definitely an adventure.  The plane ride was long, and terrible, especially since I was stuck in the last row.  However, I sat next to a precious couple who told me all about the travels they have done and want to do.  It definitely helped to pass time on the flight.  After we got off the flight, we went and got our bags.  During this time, we found 3 other girls who were going to Granada as well with the same program.  So we all grabbed our luggage and decided to stick together.  And that, my friends, is when the struggle became very real.

After our luggage we knew we needed to get some Euro.  So we go to an ATM....and the ATM said it couldn't take our cards.  The people who this affected, me and another girl, started panicking.  Because, ya know.  We're in a foreign country...no money...oh crap.  But don't worry!! It was just that ATM being sassy!! We got it all figured out and were on our way to Granada.

Now how did we get there exactly?  Well instead of taking the easy route: taking a taxi to the bus station, then the bus to Granada, we decided to take a train to the bus station and then take a taxi to our hotel.  Sounds simple.....well it wasn't.  It took us awhile to figure out the right train line to get on, but we found it!!! This is us waiting for the train:

 

So after we got off at our stop for the train, we figured out how to find the bus station and bought our tickets.  Then came the 2 hour wait for the 5 hour bus ride. How did we pass the time?  Well some of us talked to strangers, some whipped out a workbook and brushed up on our Spanish.  Finally, it was 2pm and time to load onto the bus.  The bus was the first time I had slept.  I just cannot sleep on planes, so I was struggling all day.  But finally, I got to sleep!! :) And it was a beautiful 3 hour siesta.  After the bus ride into Granada, we had to figure out how to get to our hotel.  We could have taken a bus, but we were all like "TAXI!!" 

 

Finally, after a plane, a train, a bus, and a taxi ride, we had gotten to our hotel in Granada!!! :)  We all dropped our stuff off, told our parents we were okay, and off we went to dinner!! We decided we wanted to do a tapas bar for dinner.  And we decided to walk there.  So naturally...we got lost.  But it's all okay, cause we got there eventually, and it was delicious!!! I even ate octopus!! Believe it folks!!

 

After dinner, we all decided to walk around Granada.  During our walk we saw a concert happening in a square.  So we decided to stop and watch for a bit.  It was amazing!! Everybody, young and old, boys and girls, were just dancing up a storm!! Eventually we decided to jump in and dance with them! It was a blast!!!

 

Overall, I think today was an AMAZING first day!! I still can't believe I'm actually in Spain!! Tomorrow I get to meet my home stay family and then orientation starts.  I am so excited for this journey!! To finish this wonderful post, here's a picture of the square near our hotel.