If you're a frequent visitor to the blog section, you've probably seen my name here without an actual blog for quite some time. I can only apologize and say that I've been traveling. But now I've settled into my new home and the blank page is no more.

Just to give a brief history to catch everyone up, I left the States on January second. At the Salt Lake City airport at 4:30 am, I learned travel tip #1: Don't bring 97 pounds of luggage. In my defense, I still can't think of anything I should have left in Mountain Home, but the airport check-in counter guy charged me $50 because my suitcase was 60 pounds instead of the allowed 50. Boo to that.

The rest of the trip was long, but eventful. However, it did enforce travel tip #2: bring a travel pillow. My mom is pretty awesome and she got me one of those squishy neck pillows. Even cooler, it has a massage function so if I happen to get a little sore I can just a flip the switch and have a little massage.

My friend and I arrived in Madrid on Thursday morning. The next day my study abroad program, ISA, had us up early to visit el Prado museum and el Palacio Real. El Prado is Spain's most important art museum and its most visited spot. It houses collections from some of the country's most prominent artists to include Velazquez, Goya, and el Greco. If you're really interested, you can wikipedia.org these names to see their works. El Palacio Real is the official residence of the king, but the royal family actually lives elsewhere.

I'd been to both of these places before when I went with the group in high school six years ago. I'm glad I went then because this visit was a kind of "nice-to-see-you-again" trip instead of "ooooh-I-don't-want-to-miss-anything" chaos. While I'm speaking of high school, I want to take a minute to say two things. First, sincere thanks to my former teacher, Gail Trueba. Because of her, my college Spanish courses were so much easier than they could have been. My grammar is still much better than most of my peers because she made us study it so intensely. Also, I was able to remember things she had told us on the trip about the different locations so I didn't feel as overwhelmed in a foreign city. Thank you, truly. Second, if you have the choice to take foreign language classes at a younger age, DO IT! Trust me, I wish I had begun Spanish classes when I was about four. Instead I'm struggling with trying to understand what my host family is saying. If you're a parent reading this, give foreign language classes a thought. If you're a teenager, take the classes. You won't regret it in the future, I promise.

To get back on topic, we then visited the Valle de los Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen) and El Escorial. Again, I went in high school but it was still cool to revisit. Later, we left for Toledo. I like Toledo. It's smaller, beautiful and clues to its mixed Christian/ Jewish/ Muslim history are abundant in the gorgeous architecture.

We didn't get to Granada until Monday. Meeting our host families for the first time was a bit like waiting to be adopted. We knew that one of the women present would be our new señora, we just didn't know which one. My roommate and I were excited when our names were finally called. We followed Juani to her house and I was hardcore wishing that I hadn't brought so much stuff. I weigh about 125 lbs and had over 100 lbs of luggage. I can vouch that lugging all that across half of Granada was not a fun time. The Spanish people are not about driving if the distance is walkable. I think my definition of "walkable" is a little bit different than Jauni's, but eventually we all made it to our new house.

On Tuesday, my roommate and I woke up early to take our placement tests. We both needed to test into the advanced level, and happily, we both did. Classes started the next day. Our classes are four hours long and begin at 4 pm. You might be thinking that that is kind of late, but we actually have come to like it. Lunch time here is at 2:30 pm and dinner is at 9:30 pm, so it works out that we have class in between. We don't have a weird family, this is just how it's done in Spain.

This past weekend was our first weekend in Granada. Some of my friends and I decided to go to Nerja, Spain. Nerja is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and breath-taking. The city has an aura of tranquility and is a favorite among British ex-patriots. I had to giggle because I told a woman that I liked her glasses in Spanish and she looked at me blankly. It was a nice break to be able to speak to strangers in our native English.

I can imagine that Nerja is a popular summer destination with tourists, but it was relatively quiet during our visit. We first went to the Caves of Nerja which is billed as Spain's third most visited spot. (You'll remember that #1 was El Prado and #2 is Granada's Alhambra.) The Caves are interesting because they have concrete steps and a path you must follow. Also, whoever is in charge of such matters has installed lights to better show off the caves attributes. Taking pictures is kind of prohibited, but we felt that the flash of a camera was in no way detrimental to the cave so we snapped a couple. (And no, there were no bats to scare). Then we walked to the beach and kicked off our shoes. The shore wasn't made of fine sand, but small, smooth rocks. The water was just above freezing but we made a good effort at frolicking anyway. We ate a seaside lunch, then celebrated siesta by napping on the beach, covered only by a gentle breeze.

So far, my trip has been pretty good. It's interesting to see the differences here as compared to back home. The meal times is a huge one, as is the fact that most of the people I've come into contact with don't speak English. I haven't been out at night, but apparently the bars are open until 3 am. Do the Spaniards go home then? Oh, no. They head to the discotecas to continue the fun. I love that I walk past buildings that are older than the history of my entire country. I have found Spain--and I'm sure all of Europe is similar--to be a fascinating mix of the old and the new. The architecture is obviously the old, but the best example of the new would be the cars. They are all little and I haven't seen a single one that was older than about 5 years. Another difference is that most Spaniards have apartments without central heating. Instead, the tables are covered and have heaters beneath them. That way, when we eat or study we just stick our legs beneath the table cloth and it's toasty warm. I'm enjoying that now, actually.

Ok, I know this entry has been really long. Thanks for sticking with me. Next time will be shorter as I won't be trying to cram 2 weeks into a short blog. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Ooooh! That reminds me…I'm also shamelessly asking for advice on where to travel. I know a lot of you were/ are military and have been to many places. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Hasta luego!