Sunsets, Saunas and a Swiss soccer team: Second Half of Orientation

Granada ended with a bang. After a walking tour of Granada, we had a few hours of free time which consisted of chocolate y churros (courtesy of Miguel, who also bought us flowers) and the search for wine and shoes. I found both, and bought 1 pair of shoes and 2 bottles of wine for under 20 Euro, not so bad. After bargaining with the hotel bartender for 5 minutes with the corkscrew, all 14 of us drank 10 bottled of wine and just hung out and chatted like girls, then set off to find a tapas bar. We found one, on some little street about 10 minutes away from our hotel, here is how getting us in to the bar went down.

Bartender: (in spanish) "We're closing, but we can stay open for one drink, how many of you"

Amanda:(in drunken spanish): FORTY!

Bartender: FOURTY?!

Amanda: oh sorry, fourteen!

We then sat in the back of the bar, drank Sangria and chatted like old friends, before stumbling back to the hotel to travel the next day.

I can't believe how incredible my life is right now. The second half of our orientation has taken us to Marbella, which is a beach resort city in Malaga. It's the off season, so it's not quite as hot as I would like it, but beggars can't be choosers, can we? Even mundane activities, such as a 3 hour bus ride from Granada to Malaga seems exciting and new when in a new country, especially when most of us are experiencing this country for the first time. I was in Spain once, with my family when I was 14, but there's something about knowing that you're here on your own, to live, it makes everything shiny and new again.

We arrived at the hotel in awe, how can we come to this hotel on SUNY prices? Our Resident Director, Miguel(really Michael) must have pulled strings or some sort of freaky favor to get us in. We had a quick meeting about where we're living and what classes are going to be like, then we had yesterday and today to ourselves to take advantage of all the hotel has to offer. After laying on the beach, I had my first sauna experience, which made me slightly overheated, but I did feel nice and clean afterward. Strangely enough, the most exciting experience that has happened to us thus far has been meeting members of a Swiss soccer team, most of them are beautiful, like a professional athlete should be, but the few that we've spoken to have been very forward, and expect too much of pretty American students "No Mikal, I don't want any cerveca, I have a headache" Mikal also only speaks French, and about 5o words in Spanish. The only words he knows in English are "single" and "party" which I guess works for him. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I've also encountered many German geriatrics on holiday, I've seen one of those groups in a speedo, and it's not the one I wanted.

Today was more relaxing and getting to know each other, with a quick excursion into town to window shop and eat some helado. Tomorrow we go to Seville (finally) and we get to move into our apartments and get settled. We figure out who we're living with tonight, but I honestly don't care (I say that now...) because we're the only students in our building and we'll only be a few floors away.

Hasta Luego.