Renaissance type Cathedral I stumbled
Upon while exploring the city after class 

    Decided to explore the city today after class and while it was raining. The majority of spaniards absolutely hate getting wet and walking in the rain so the streets were pretty empty- besides those few walking back from work and school and those trying to sell a few umbrellas. I actually enjoying exploring the alleys and plazas when it's raining so I can take pictures and not be crowded or surrounded by people. While returning from class, I came across a cathedral, governmental type building just down the road from my school. It had a historic, renaissance feel with its broken trees out front and crumbling brick top.

      From here I walked through the alleys to the main calle (street) for tapas- Calle Navas. This alley is known for its tapas bars in Spain as it has expensive and inexpensive restaurants/bars for people to choose from. Last week, Holly and I watched the fútbol game at one of these tapas bars- definitely a highlight of my week was watching a game with the locals- The people here are very emotional over their soccer teams but not just men- women, teens, children and elders- all intently watching the game- probably one the best sights I've seen in a tapas bar so far.
  
     Later today, I met with a local for coffee to practice my spanish and his english. His name's Sergio and he's a native to Granada. He wants to learn the language so he can better communicate with others when he travels or begins working abroad. Him and I were in the same intercambios last week, where a group of hispanohablantes (spanish-speakers) and americans meet to practice the opposite language. Meeting outside of the group and more than just once a week will definitely help me improve my conversation skills. Though it was definitely difficult at times to communicate what I was trying to say, it went well! He speaks slower than most spaniards making it easier to understand his sentences. Sergio helped me understand the difference between the language in Granada compared to spanish in northern Spain.
     Here in Granada, the people tend to NOT pronounce all of their vowels. They often will drop the -s in their words such as Gracias, it's pronounced without the s. The first time I heard gracias pronounced like this I thought I was just hearing it wrong but apparently this is the accent of Granada. It definitely makes it harder to understand the people because I mistake their words for others since the -s is missing.
However, by the end of these 5 months I will be able to differentiate their words even while the -s is not present! I just need to keep practicing and speaking with locals!