Primera entrada--el viaje aqui y la ciudad de Granada!

Hola Familia y Amigos!
Today is my third day in Granada and I´ve finally decided a blog is a good way to let everyone know how I´m doing, especially since I will only be able to get to the internet when the impossible happens and I have a break from class at the same time as an internet cafe is open.
I took three planes to get here and each flight went very smoothly. The first night of my trip I had an overnight layover in Madrid and although I had planned on seeing the city I was so exhausted I went to sleep as soon as I was settled in my hotel--at 5pm! So early. But I needed it after 15 hours of being in planes and airports. The next morning, Friday the 21st, I flew into Granada. The Granada airport is really really tiny but they had the awesome option of a bus that went straight to the center of the city so I got to my new home with no trouble at all.
The Colegio in which I am staying is this beautiful old building complete with the old stone smell (the smell actually reminds me alot of Ralston Hall, silly as that may seem), center plaza with a fountain, and beautiful handmade sculptures everywhere. The rooms, on the other hand, are far from old! We each get a single room, no roommates, and our own bathroom! It is way beyond what I could have imagined. The only downside is that each room is provided with a garish orange blanket on the bed that keeps me awake when I let myself look at it.
So far, after a brief orientacion and a language placement test, we have spent all our time walking around Granada and getting to know our knew home. The city is beautiful! It has the perfect mix of really old historical buildings and newer buildings. I have seen some of the most narrow streets of my life here, and almost every street is paved with gorgeous cobblestones or flagstones. The pedestrian atmosphere is amazing, everyone walks in the streets while simultaneously cars speed down at 30mph, but it all somehow works out! People don´t get hit and cars don´t get in accidents (so far at least!). Granada is much bigger than I imagined and it´s very easy to walk all day and still not see the whole city, but at the same time it is a fraction of the size of Madrid so I still feel like I can get to know the whole city, rather than just a couple districts.
One of the coolest things about Granada that is not found nearly as much in any other Spanish city is the tapas bars. It is possible to sit down and order a coke for 2 € and get a mini pizza with it for free! So far I´ve gotten free pizza, calamari, grilled cheese, and jamon con queso. Jamon is the Spanish word for ham and it is literally the most common food here, so I guess I´m just gonna have to learn to like it!
The people here on my program are all from UCs so we all share in common a very strong love of California and a similar college experience, which makes it even easier for us to make friends. For the next few weeks we will be taking language and history courses through the program and we will continue living at the Colegio. After that we will all find our own pisos, or apartments, and start taking classes directly at the Universidad de Granada (UGR). The university starts at the end of September so soon the population of Granada will almost double with the influx of students!
I am already having a great time and I can´t wait to become more familiar with Granada and expand my travels to the rest of Europe!
Hasta luego, Hanna