Estoy aprendiendo Español! (I am learning Spanish!)

Hola!

Last week I made it Spain

With only a few delays

To happily arrive in Granada,

A city to recieve much praise

I have 6 hours of Spanish every day

To orient us all Granada

People here have a first and second breakfast

Consisting usually of pan tostada

Everything here is lovely

From the language to the people to the stairs

I am learning so much about

Spain It makes me wish I knew more foreign affairs

The food—don’t even get me started:

It’s fresh and cheap and so good

The tapas are free and the wine is crisp

I know I’ve chosen the right neighborhood

The people here are amazing

The staff is so nice and attentive

I would already reccomend this to anyone

The program is muy comprehensive

The people are fun and quirky

As you'd expect in a hippie town

There's art and food and culture

and for the kids: plenty playgrounds

This city is beautiful and vast

It has quaint wonders that I pray don’t vanish

And I guess I’m now becoming a Spaniard

Becuse my Word Document is correcting to Spanish!

I hope you enjoyed my poem! I wanted to also give a little more context to what's going on here day by day and some of the interesting things I am learning.  Through talking with friends on other programs, I learned that my orientation process was much more intense than any of theirs. Upon further reflection, I realize now that was because Granada is much different from any well-known city in the world. Not only does IES Abroad have to orient us to the language (they weren’t kidding when they said no one speaks English here), but also mainly to the culture. Referred to as personas del calle, also known as “people of the street,” the Granadian’s are people who live their entire lives outside. Whether it’s getting tapas, a drink, going for a walk, grocery shopping, going to a museum—anything—these people are outside. Yes, the weather is gorgeous, but could that explain why people are constantly out and about? Upon further digging (aka talking to my teachers in my butchered Spanish (so who knows how reliable this actually is)), the current theory is that the outdoors is an open space. The economy in Granada isn’t exactly thriving, so that leaves many people to live at home until their late twenties. Since teenagers and twenty-somethings don’t want to spend a ton of time at their parent’s house, they leave and live their lives on the town! I found this small cultural difference really interesting because it shows a lot about their culture. Granada is a place of culture, so I can't wait to continue learning (and sharing) these small tid-bits of informaiton about what I'm learning here! Hasta luego!