Granada

I seriously need to work on my Spanish. Arrival was flustering. Justina told me to take some buses to meet her somewhere, and just a simple thing like taking the bus is hard when you don't know the language. More motivation to learn!
However, this was all forgotten by the time I had my first sangria! But first, I finally got there, found my host, and got settled in. Justina is awesome, absolutely beautiful soul. I guess I picked people based on their descriptions of themselves and other people's reviews, so I already knew they'd be great, but it's still somehow a pleasant surprise when they really are that great. She's spiritual and mature, so we got along immediately.
After a little rest, a jaunt to buy a towel, and a shower, she sent me on my way to explore. That's when I found the sangria - yum. I later realized I didn't reach the place she told me about, the Albacin, but I made it there later. I did reach this restored Moroccan area close to the cathedral in the little downtown, and it was cute but quite touristy. I then randomly went up an interesting-looking hilly street and fell in love with Granada. It was late, the street was quiet, and I was enchanted. Narrow, cobblestone streets, small white houses, tile roofs, everything that I pictured Andalucia to be. Plus it felt like you can get to know this city really intimately, it felt accessible. In comparison, I was remembering Barcelona as a big lonely city. In thinking more about it later, I think cities any bigger than Granada just take time to get to know. It's impossible to arrive and instantly feel at home, it takes work.
Later that night Justine, Marika (her roommate) and I went to a friend's place for a hangout. I talked to Marika quite a bit about culture differences as she's from Japan studying Spanish and English in Granada. Quite an interesting conversation...so first day in Granada, even though starting out a little shaky, ended well.