Week 2: Great Weekend and Classes Start -- 1/29 to 2/1/16

I had a great weekend consisting of watching the Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid soccer game, a beautiful sunset (and then sunrise the next morning) overlooking the Alhambra, an early mass Sunday morning, and great practice for my Spanish!

Classes started today, and I am so excited to finally get started. I started out with my Spanish Music: Traditional and Vanguard class at 8:30 am which was comprised of about 13 students and an awesome, relaxing professor. Her name is Maite and she studied classical guitar (so cool) and now teaches music education classes at the University of Granada. I won't have to buy a textbook for the class too which is definitely a plus.

My second class was Spanish Civilization and Culture. The professor was laid back and comical; however, was extremely strict about only speaking in Spanish. It's even more important in the class because there are some students (one I was sitting next to) who do not speak English.

At the same time it is really interesting to think that I could only communicate with Choso (that was the kid's name sitting next to me) in Spanish because he doesn't know English and I don't know Japanese. Nevertheless we were totally fine communicating in Spanish and there were no barriers. It goes to show you the power of learning another language.

Also our professor told us we were studying in Spain at the Center for Modern Languages, so we should be speaking Spanish. He said he would not give us homework if we give full participation in class and give him the energy needed to create an engaging atmosphere. Also a plus the textbook was small and only cost 5 euros.

I was a little surprised about how much I understood in both of my classes. Obviously I did not get every single word that they said or understood every thought, but I was able to keep engaged in the conversation and able to engage when I felt comfortable. It is definitely a different experience taking classes in Spanish. I already see my language proficiency struggling-- or really being stretched and reformed to grow and develop.

Anyway, I'll check back in a couple of days with info on my other three classes! But as always here are some pictures from the past couple of days!

A few pictures from the sunrise yesterday morning! It was a little hike up the the terrace area where we were, but definitely worth it! 

Got my notebooks and my texts for my first two classes! I think I'm prepared! :D

Also here's a picture of my host brother Pedro (middle) and my roommate Sanad (right) as we walked El Camino de Los Tristes.