New semester, new blogging ambitions.

What can I say?
I was a lazy blogger in December and only managed 1 post. This was not in fact because I had nothing to write about more that I had too much to do and was too busy doing it to write about it. What with concerts, trips to the opera, eating crepes, going out, exams, whirlwind visits of Paris, flying home for Christmas etc., blog-time was low down the list of priorities.

But it's a new semester (sort of) and I am now in Granada, so the blog is on again. We'll see how long it lasts....

I arrived in Granada on Saturday morning after a loooooong journey on Friday. I'm going to spare you the details, but instead take inspiration from a travel website I found called "The Good, The Bad and The Weird".

The Good:
* Travelling entirely by train means no flying!
* No flying means no luggage allowances, no worrying about if you have forbidden items in your hand baggage and best of all not giving Ryanair or Easyjet £10 for the privilege of using your credit card to book a flight.
* Being on the train means you can watch the stunning French/Spanish countryside roll by.
* Overnight trains are cool. It's like when I went to Corsica with Ruth and it felt like a proper adventure.
* The sandwicherie at Marne La Vallee Chessy station does a really good vegetarian sandwich with mozzarella, tomatoes and pesto. Possibly the only good thing about this station (see below).

The Bad:
* The journey was long, 28 hours in total. So by the time I got to Granada I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.
* Marne La Vallee Chessy station, where I had to switch trains to go to Montpellier. Possibly even more depressing than Charles de Gaulle TGV. This station is basically meant for people going to Disneyland and you can get the bus from right outside the front entrance. It's all grey. Most stations have signs warning not to leave luggage unattended: this one has signs warning you not to let go of your helium balloon incase it causes a short circuit. And indeed there were half a dozen semi-deflated Mickey and Minnie balloons hanging around by the grey ceiling. Soul-suckingly depressing.
* The overnight train was cool. Like freezing. I had two blankets on and was still shivering, so the good old Aberdeen hoodie had to come to the rescue.

The Weird:
* The guy sitting next to me on the train from Marne La Vallee to Lyon. He was just really weird. But once he got off I was by myself so could watch True Blood in peace.

The trenhotel arrived in Granada early so I was at my new flat by half past 8 in the morning. I "found" a flat through another girl from Aberdeen who was in Granada first semester and has now gone to France. The flat is really central and I'm living with 3 Spanish people so hopefully should improve quickly.

Yesterday I went out with Pilar, my flatmate, and a couple of her friends to see the city. We walked through the streets up into the Albaicin which is one of the oldest parts of the city, on the opposite side of the river from the Alhambra. We also had some real tapas, which in Granada comes free with drinks. We also went to a tea-shop where they have chai. :-)

Today, my classes started at the Spanish school I am going to for the next 3 weeks. It's also up in the Albaicin and it was nice walking up there this morning even though the hill is really steep. There are not many other students there at the moment and there is no-one in my level, so in the morning I have 2 private lessons with a teacher and then after the break I have another 2 classes with a group for conversation type exercises. It was a bit daunting today because I am the only new student this week and I wasn't in classes with the others today because I did a level test instead, so I don't know anyone. The teachers are nice though and they have a programme of social events with things happening a few times a week.

Also fairly daunting was the supermarket round the corner from the flat where I went to buy supplies this afternoon. Everything was in the wrong order and I never did manage to find the tinned tuna...