Finally made it!

I'm investing in McDonalds first thing when I get home! I am really tired of bocadillas....Sandwiches with a ton of bread, cheese and some uncooked ham...haha! who knew!?! Anyway, I've finally made it to my homestay. We were completely prepped on how to kiss Europeans and clearly informed that it is NOT custom for American women to kiss cheeks with people that they aren't close with (like construction workers) haha! Some people have got to be stupid. But, I met my host family and they are so sweet. The senora is Carmen and she reminds me a LOT of aunt Diane - dress expression etc. and then her husband is Luciano. He is a farmer and has farming property on the coast!!! He's pretty quiet and reminds me of my dad because he just sits back and watches the girls get all fired up! I was mortified watching him lift my suitcases into the car....between Elise and I the poor guy was sweating! Luckily he didn't stink like other Europeans. Okay so next, we got the the flat, very cute, VERY SMALL, and even the homes have signs by water faucets saying to conserve water! She gave us the tour and showed us where all the fruits and veggies (thank you lord....I wasn't sure how to survive on bread and cheese) and then she gave me a piece of fruit that I've never seen. It was like a mini pomegranite with the seeds inside but you eat the skin that its in. We met Luciano, the 22 year old son and he's cool. Not as good looking as I'd hoped but hey, he's probably got friends?! Then Carmen was telling Elise and I (all in spanish of course) that somehow they know an American who was, I think she said a professor, at the University and he wanted to meet us. Well this American called and he is taking Elise and I to "tapas" which are free finger foods that come with drinks. He's 22! I really think I made the right choice with Granada as my home city. However, we did some touring of Mardrid and Toledo the past two days and I've seen some miraculous things! Here I go with them: I went to the Prado Museum in Madrid and saw the works of famous spanish paintors Greco, Goya and Vellasquez and on top of seeing them learned a lot about the painters (all in spanish). Also in Madrid was Palacio Real (which I think I already talked about). The next day we went to El Escorial, which was at one point the living quarters of royalty. It also contains the second most important Catholic library (based on content) next to the Vaticin! The books were amazing and our guide was hilarious! I feel like the spanish either love you or hate you. I'm sure it's different for American boys. Also in El Escorial is this amazing room filled with the caskets of buried kings and queens and their children....just rooms filled with immaculent tombs and burials! We also saw a room that has a golden/bronze statues about 8-10 feet tall of the symbols for each of the books of the bible. (Ex: (totally falsified) the sybol of Mathew is an angel so each day when the Scrires of the church read a chapter of the bible, they'd read the Mathew chapter from the statue of the angel that also has a stand for the bible as they read). That day we also visited "Valle de los caidos" which is a valley with a HUGE, I mean HUGE cross going into the air 140 or so feet on top of a church that goes into the mountain. During its construction some 40,000 workers died and it was all built to commemorate the spanish freeing themselves from dictator Franco. (take a breath, here comes the next city) Then we went to Toledo. It's like a fairy tale. The city is all built within the walls of an ancient castle surrounded by a river that was used as a natural mote. The city used to be the capital of Spain before it was moved to Madrid. In toledo I visited the most famous work of Greco's. The only thing I really remember about him is that he wanted to paint portraits of the king but the king didn't like his elongated style (probably because he was 4' 11"). We also visited the equivalent to the American military school Westpoint, and what used to be a synagog but looks like a mosque because constructed by muslim workers and was then converted to a christian church after the jews were expelled. Later that night the girls and I went for Pizza and the bartenders LOVED us. They chatted and smiled and chatted some more until we left. The fun thing is they were all drinking beer on the job. And McDonalds sells beer! Lastly, there is a schedualed trip to Morrocco with the company that I came with and there were too many people insterested so they decided to pull names. Well, my two best friends had their names pulled and I was still waiting...They finally pulled my name though so Morrocco...HERE WE COME! The week before they have to give us special yogurt to toughen our stomaches. We leave at like 3 am travel to Morrocco, stay in a hotel for 2 nights, get in Range Rovers, cross the desert, ride some camels, came, meet real nomads, watch the sunrise, go back into town and return to Spain, all in 5 days! Thats coming up in 2 weekends, but for this weekend...OKTOBERFEST! Germany is beautiful and I can't wait to buy an authentic German Beer Maid outfit...It will be my Halloween costume until I am so old I shouldn't be dressing like that! For now that is all. I've got to get ready for my 10pm dinner and Tapas! Love you all and I'll keep you posted!

No Longer Nervous,
Molly