Monday. Had to be ready to go to the CLM (school) by 11am for some last minute registration stuff regarding being in Spain, and to get our school ID cards. However, Amelia, Chris and Ethan knew they would be needing more pictures, so we all met at 9:30 at Correos instead. In the same courtyard as API, there is a shop that makes copies and takes passport pictures, the Police Station, and a small grocery store, in order if traveling clockwise. Sean and Jacobo bought massive bottles of orange juice while the others got pics. We all walked together to the CLM, room 13, like we were supposed to, but then apparently it was double booked... so we all hoofed it back to the API office (which is really only about 3 minutes... downgrade... but still). We managed to pack all 28 of us in that study room, and all filled out all the paperwork with instructions in Spanish, and sharing two pairs of scissors and two glue sticks (to paste pictures onto ID cards and other documents). Those of us staying for the year had to stay longer to do VISA extension paperwork, which thank goodness, they walked us through! A handful of us walked across the square to make copies (same place as this morning) and take more pictures for Wednesday (when we have to bring everything back to the Police Station on the other side of the square from API). From there we wandered back up to the CLM to get our sign-in information for the WiFi there. But listen to this: You know the horror stories about the DMV, with the whole, 'take a number and hope you don't die first'... yeah. That was the CLM secretaries office. Serious. We were 10 numbers behind (Chris, Ethan and I shared a number, since we all wanted the same thing) and waited probably 20-30 minutes. JUST TO ASK WHAT OUR PASSWORD WAS. Riduculous. Then, when we got up there, you had to provide proof of enrollment/ID, which in our case was our passports since we didn't have our ID cards back from the hour before (duh), and they EMAIL you the info. Hello. If you are LOOKING for wireless at the school, how can they expect you to have access elsewhere!? That's why you need the password in the first place - to check your email. Goodness...

Anyway, all went home for comida (lunch), which was garbanzo bean soup with potatoes, carrots and onions (notice a pattern yet?). We had something else with it, but I don't remember... At 4:30 we were supposed to all meet back at Correos to go to a movie at 5, but there were a few mis-communications, and only Amelia and I ended up being there. So we met Grace and Hannah (two other girls living with Amelia in the residencia) at the theater and saw Up dubbed in Spanish. :) After that we called the guys and all met up for cafe at the usual outside restaurant/bar near the fountain. I ordered a ColaCao, which is equivalent to Nesquick at home, but served warm - very good. :) I'm thinking of buying some powder for our breakfasts when my M&Ms run out... Thank you Breanne!

Back home for dinner, which was the leftover spaghetti that Alex loved so much again, and croquettes con jamon (sp?), which are the little fried potato, cheese, and ham things that we had at the API dinner that I loved so much... there was also a new loaf of bread, which wasn't stale, that Alex was VERY excited about - she won't eat the stale pieces. We had 'exotic fruit' yogurt for dessert, and then I opted to stay home and write letters and emails instead of going back to Ethan's house. For once I beat Alex to bed! (She was here, but still on her computer.)

Tuesday. Had to be up again, this time for a tour of the Alhambra at 10:15. Since we had to meet at La Plaza Nueva, and none of us REALLY knew where that was, Alex and I met Sean and his roomy (the male Alex), and walked together. Found it plenty early, and then all walked up to the Alhambra together. And OMG - the Alhambra is probably the most beautiful, amazing old architecture I have ever seen. Ever. The guide we had was absolutely brilliant, giving much of the tour in Spanish, but switching to English for the important, oldest part of the Islamic Palace. The 8-pointed star is the symbol for God, and you can find it's architecture incorporated everywhere! Everything is intricately decorated in 3-D sculptures which were painted before becoming sun bleached and worn with time. In some places you can still see remains of the old color. The lower parts of the walls were decorated in bright, glazed ceramic tiles so that when dirty individuals worn from riding their horses entered they could lean against the cool wall without leaving dirt. In the King's thrown room, there is a single ribbon of Arabic running the circumference of the room, just under the windows, verbatim a single chapter of the Koran. The ceiling in the same room consisted of 8,017 wooden pieces inlaid together (because nails were never used with wood ceilings because they could split the wood) to form 7 rings of star patterns around the main 8-pointed star in the direct center (signifying the levels of heaven, some closer, some farther away from God). The gardens there (called the Generalife) are also quite extensive - since they considered nature to be of more importance/closer to God than buildings, much went into the extensive gardens surrounding the fortress. The Alambra also has its own water source and was completely self-sufficient. I took so many pictures there... it was quite intricate and quite large, and simply quite amazing. I just can't do it justice here.

We got out just after 2 in the afternoon, and I had - misplaced - my roomy, so I followed Sean and Alex home (since they live near me, but I didn't know where), then back the rest of the way myself in time for lunch. Apparently Maria-Carmen told Fernando she was going to be late, so he prepared comida for us (lentil soup and fried eggs with bread and oranges). She arrived just in time to eat with us, but before she arrived Fernando managed to talk to Alex and I more than she ever does at lunch. We usually watch Spanish news on the TV when she is eating too.

At 4:30 we met back up to study for the Spanish exam at the CLM, but realized that none of us could use our computers yet... I hadn't received the email telling me my password, Ethan didn't have his computer with him, Sean's had been entered wrong, and Chris hadn't been anywhere to check his email yet. So... we went to the API office instead. Alex and a bunch of her friends were there trying to work out travel plans for the long weekend, so it ended up being a huge party, as Sean hosted Spanish practice 101. (He is graduating after returning home next semester, to be a Spanish teacher. And he loves it.) When it was close to time for us to leave, Sean made a run to the store with requests and bought snacks - I had a Mars Bar. :) After the API office closed, we all went to the usual restaurant and studied some more - Sean, Allison, Kelsey, Amelia, Ethan, me, Alex and Chris all pulled chairs around a little 4 person table for about an hour until the waiter told us we had to leave. :)

Alex and I went home for dinner, where we had rice, leftover ham with the onion salsa, bread and that green melon I never recognize at first. This was the first night that we really started talking with our host mom - we quizzed her (in SPANISH!!) about vocab words we didn't know, and applications of certain tenses. We talked with her long after dinner, and I talked more tonight in Spanish than probably my entire stay here combined. Even Alex was impressed with me. :) I showed Alex my Spanish binder, with all the handouts that Ms. Jensen ever gave me, over three years, and she is STILL looking at it. I'm wondering how I can subtly ask for it back, so I can use it too... ;)