Granada from the Albaicín
So, I had no idea what I was getting into when I signed up for this. How could I have known? I took a leap of faith when I followed an EAP advisor’s advice to study abroad for the entire year as opposed to spending just a semester here, just because that’s a long time to commit to living in a place I know very little about. Even though tomorrow only marks two weeks of having been here, I’m already seeing that electing to be here all year was the right choice.
I’ve learned un montón de cosas in just the two weeks that I’ve been here. It baffles me how much new information—places, people, customs, flavors, sights, sounds, language skills—can fit into my (or anyone’s) head in so little time.
When I landed in Málaga, which is just an hour and a half bus ride from Granada, Megan was waiting for me at the airport since her flight landed just a few hours earlier. I didn’t have more than half an hour alone in Spain before seeing the face of a great, comforting, just-as-lost-as-I-was friend. In preparing to leave for this adventure, I spent a lot of my energy bracing myself to feel alone and out of place. I didn’t even let it dawn on me that Megan and other people would be there going through the same thing. Having such a good friend with me from the very start made things like figuring out buses and cabs to Granada from the airport, checking into our hotel, ordering food here for the first time, exploring the city for the first time, and everything just awesome. Through all of our little mistakes, we’ve been able to learn and laugh at ourselves. I’ll never forget laying down in our hotel room one of the first nights, tired and confused, talking about the dinner we had the previous night. You’d have to have seen Megan’s dinner that night, and also be a little tired and delirious to understand how funny this was. She had this huge soft taco-type thing, but not really. It was filled with falafel, lettuce, sauce, vegetables, and some other unfamiliar ingredients. Anyways, I’ll never forget sitting there in a jet-lagged, tired stupor hearing Megan say “so, I thought I ordered a… baked potato last night…”
That little story’s just to say that it’s been so much fun to adjust to differences around here with friends! That brings me to the topic of our living situation now. For the first four weeks of our program, a group of 50 UC kids from all over California are living here at El Colegio Mayor Isabela la Católica, which is a university residence hall. This building is so beautiful! I should look up how old it is. It’s got the beauty and charm of an old European building, but it’s very nice and new inside. It’s got marble and dark wood everywhere. My “monitor,” a Spanish student from the University of Granada, mentioned that this place was remodeled a year ago. Anyways, we all have our own rooms and private bathrooms, there’s a dining room downstairs where we get three meals a day (except on weekends), and there’s a big courtyard in the middle of the building with a fountain, tables, and chairs. It's my favorite common area of this place.
Every person in this program is nice. As a group, everyone is so nice and so welcoming of everyone else’s friendship. Why wouldn’t they be? We’re all in más o menos the same boat! I can’t say enough about this last week or so with these people, it’s just been a blast. Going out for tapas, speaking Spanglish, bar-hopping (to all intents and purposes, I’m twenty-one now!), talking and playing games in the courtyard at our residencia, and just walking around the city together are some of the things that have made this such an enjoyable, comfortable, and exciting experience so far. Honestly, I guess I didn’t expect to laugh so hard or feel so awesome so soon!
The guy girl ratio in the whole UC Granada program’s about 5:1 I’d guess. It’s interesting to me that Granada, Spain, studying abroad in general, or maybe even studying languages draws so many more girls than guys. We all live on the same floor, eat meals together, and take classes right next door as part of the “Intensive Language Program.”
Of course there are lots of differences between the Spanish way of life and the American way of life that I have yet to discover, but there are so many that were immediately apparent! From what I can tell, pretty much every store honors siesta from about 2-5 or later. I swear, it’s something in the air here. When 2-3:00 rolls around, it feels like naptime! It’s sort of funny to walk through a commercial area in the middle of the day as I would back home, and see that everything is deserted. Since stores are closed for a lot of the afternoon, everything’s open much later here. A group of us walked by a purse store past midnight the other night, and someone said something along the lines of “why is it that nothing’s open when I want to get lunch in the middle of the day, but I can go purse shopping at midnight?” The meal schedule’s really different here, too! People seem to eat lightly or pretty much ignore breakfast. Nothing’s open on the weekends when I try and go get breakfast, so I’ve figured out that sleeping in is just a better idea. Lunch is the largest meal of the day and is eaten around 2:00 pm. Dinner, which is much later at 9 or even 10, is a lighter meal. I can only report on what I’ve experienced of course, and as such I’ve yet to discern what customs are Spanish, what things are unique to Granada, and what is unique to just my experience so far. That being said, I really like la vida española!
My favorite part of the city that I’ve explored so far is the Albaicín. It’s an elevated part of Granada that offers incredible views of the city below. A group of us students explored it the first day we were here (a day before the program started), and that was so much fun. We went back there on a guided tour given by a professor here, and then once more for Flamenco show in a cave put on by a group of gypsy dancers. It was incredibly unique and entertaining. The live music and dancing were very passionate. That’s one of the few things I’ve spent a bit of money on yet, and it was totally worth it.
My favorite view of Granada so far
In summary, I’m really liking it here and feeling more and more at home all the time. I’ve yet to find an apartment, which is the next step in getting situated here in Granada. I’ve looked at about four and haven’t found anything great yet, but I still have until the 23rd of September to find a place. Until then, I’ll be here at Colegio Mayor Isabel la Católica. This old building may or may not be inhabited by a piano-playing ghost, but I’m very much looking forward to spending the next few weeks here before we all move out!
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