Piratas, Pescado y Pisos

Going to get cellphones with Chelo was a success and everyone in our group bought the same cheap red flip phone. In order to distinguish them a few of us went to a tiny little store nearby and bought a set of Peter Pan themed stickers. I got the pirate ship and treasure chest. Words cannot express how exciting this was for me. My phones rules hard. Just saying.

The rest of the yesterday was fairly uneventful, but a large group of us gathered to play Signs and Mafia (games which I was unfamiliar with and will not attempt to describe.) It was a nice way to spend the evening after walking and walking, as usual. It seems no matter how many siestas I take, I will always be sleepy.

Today we had a few different classes, one of which is entitled Reading in the English version of our schedule but called Lectura y Comprensión in other versions. The professor looked like a friendly turtle and very easy to understand; I think I'm going to like this class a lot. The other class was Grammar, which was taught by a Bilbo Baggins type professor that mimed each example sentence with comical little gestures. Hopefully this will be useful, since I haven't actually studied Spanish grammar since high school.

At lunch there was a bit of a mix up, because although we'd given the cooks a list of vegetarians, they were somehow under the impression that the majority of us ate fish, but I did manage to get a plate of veggies instead of seafood paella, and I think the issue has been resolved for future meals (dinner was a delicious soup and more vegetables.)

This evening everyone met up with their monitores (most of them still had to go out and purchase their phones; my group is so thankful that Chelo is a total badass and has been amazingly on top of everything.) Chelo took us to a part of town where there are loads of tea houses and we stopped in at one of them and had tea and milkshakes. It was a sweet little area, lot's of artisan shops with tempting leather purses and bags. She helped advise us a bit on where to and where not to look for pisos (apartments.)

One of the billions of fliers the town is covered in.

For most of us I think housing is the next big source of stress. The University of Granada is sort of scattered through the city with campuses corresponding with different fields of study in different parts of the city, and it just so happens that the campus that I'll be attending is the furthest from the centro and from housing areas that are deemed acceptable. Which means mostly likely I'll be facing a 30+ minute walk or familiarizing myself with the buses. Most likely the latter. Unfortunately. Can you hear my sigh from there, California? Apparently the walk is uphill and in the winter it would be pretty icky.

Anyway, once we finished our beverages we walked around more, took a look at the post office and the town hall, a church and a lot of fountains. We returned in time to eat a sleepy dinner and chitter chatter.

This is, in fact, a mail slot. Yeah, I know, it rules.

Town hall. Fun fact: that horse is hung like a horse.

 Iglesia de la Virgen de las Angustias.

One of about 453328394237 fountains. Don't ask me the name. Please.

I still have a nagging anxious feeling in my stomach about finding a piso, but there are a billion million fliers everywhere so I'm sure I'll find something. It's just a matter of figuring out where the hell these places are and getting up the nerve to call people. It's a lot harder to understand Spanish (especially with an Andalusian accent) on the phone. Body language helps so much.

Anyway, I'm about to look like this guy:

Wish me luck with the house hunt and things.