Upon my arrival in Granada I was like a kid in a candy store when it came to taking in all the sights. I remember how every little thing that was of variance of how I was accustomed to it being in the states was so interesting. The differences in window frames, door knobs, street markings, signs, fashion, stores, and other aspects of the culture were of constant interest to me. Although I still love to observe these differences, it is amazing to me how quickly I became used to living in my little part of Granada. As we traveled to Seville, Cordoba, and Nerja I couldn't help but have this little part of me believing how much better I liked Granada. But that might be the wolverine in me, although we might be the leaders and the best - we definitely love to think that everything 'us' really is the best. It could be because Granada reminds me so much of my own college town, Ann Arbor, but I have grown to love mi barrio.

This is my house!

Oh...or not. This is definitely my house...I think. The first few weeks (and I'll be honest every now and then still) I go up to the wrong identical door and spend a few minutes trying to finagle my key until someone from my host family sees me and starts laughing at me. There are a bunch of apartments on my street, Calle Angel Barrios along with a bunch of stores and cafes that never seem to be open - including a hostel and a church of which I've never seen the doors open for service (but that could be because I prefer going to the 1pm church services offered in Spain). Parque Garcia Lorca is right behind my apartment building which has been nice to run in when it's not too hot, and a nice place to sit and study if you don't get in trouble for being on the wrong grass!

Besides my house, the place that I spend the most time in my neighborhood is Pizza Tutto, the pizzeria that my host family owns and operates (which happens to be closed right now because my host parents are taking a late siesta). That is another cultural difference I noted. Because there are so many different stores for everything (the idea of a get-it-all store like Wal*Mart, Meijer, Sam's, or Walgreen's doesn't exist) there aren't as many workers at each individual small store which obviously lends to more family-owned and operated businesses. In the US usually family owned and operated still means that there are quite a few extra workers hired on, and the owner is rarely in the store and barely ever working. Here however (at least as I've noted with my family) if the store is open, at least 2 if not all 3 family members are working or in the building. So much so that there is a table my host siblings, their friends, and I always sit at that I've never seen a customer at. I saw the same at a few other restaurants and stores as well, where the owners have their kids hanging out there.
Additional shameless family promotion: Pizza Tutto really does have the best pizza in Granada, trust me, I've eaten enough - YUM.

In my neighborhood on the main road Camino Ronda there are also quite a few farmacias, fruterias, bars, and cafeterias. I am curious how they all deal with the competition of having so many similar vendors close by - which in the monopolous states would never work. Pro-tip, I've heard that the fruteria and Krisis have cucharachas, you've been warned.

Our apartment is on the third floor and the window of my room (my host sister's room that I took over) looks into a courtyard...not exactly the most beautiful view but it's still nice to have the window open! My host family has a tiny apartment and even though my large self doesn't always fit in it they keep it wonderfully neat and it is nicely decorated. The 5th member is Touchi the most adorable Spanish puppy ever, I've missed having a dog and it's nice to have a little buddy when in a foreign country.

Finally I'll leave you with a cute dog on a patio of my street enjoying some touperwhare as my host mum calls it.