10 Days into the Granada Experience

10 days in and school officially starts tomorrow. While I’m nervous for my classes to be all in Spanish, I’m excited for the structure that a regular school routine will bring. These past 10 days have been exhausting, both physically and emotionally, although beyond fun and exciting at the same time.

My first day here began with me running off only one hour of airplane sleep and trying to navigate my way through the Malaga airport. I was nervous about finding my way to the hotel that we were meeting IES Abroad staff at but after finding a fellow IES Abroad Granada student to get a taxi with, the process ended up being quite easy. I arrived at 8 A.M. in Malaga and the bus back to Granada didn’t leave until 7:30 P.M., so the day was, admittedly, exhausting. My brain was in overdrive trying to keep up with our orientadores’ Spanish and meeting thirty new students who I would be spending the next four months with while deliriously tired was hard, but Malaga was beautiful and fun to see, and I was elated to see how nice everyone was as we all bonded over our treacherous travels.

When I arrived at my dorm that night, I was seconds away from collapsing in a fit of exhaustion, but first I had to find out the answer to one of my questions from my previous blog: would my dorm room have a good view? I’m happy to say the answer is yes. I have two massive windows that open up onto a beautiful courtyard in the middle of the residence hall.

The next week consisted of long orientation days, with five to seven hours everyday being spent in our orientation group. At first I was worried this would simply not be enjoyable, but IES Abroad Granada did an incredible job making the orientation fun and I understand completely why such long hours are needed, especially in a program with a location like Granada, where the language and cultural immersion can come as a shock to the system. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the layout of Granada, what each neighborhood was known for, and all of the cultural differences that we would be experiencing during our time abroad. The lessons definitely helped me transition easily into the Granada lifestyle.

Orientation, however, did not just consist of lessons in a classroom. Our orientation professor would also take us on daily walks around the city to get to know our surroundings, sometimes for up to two hours. Granada is a stunning city, and spending everyday exploring a new beautiful area was the perfect way to get excited for the next four months here. It also provided me with a much needed base-level understanding of the city’s layout.

After seven days of orientation being almost entirely in Spanish, I was also able to answer another one of my questions from my last blog about whether I had forgotten all of my Spanish, and the answer is yes and no. My Spanish came back quite quickly after being so immediately immersed in the language upon arrival, although it was quite rusty and I sometimes felt lost when trying to understand what someone was saying. It, however, was not a problem like I was worried it might be. The IES Abroad Granada staff and orientadores are patient and kind, and understand that everyone is coming in at a different Spanish level. If you are someone who is stressed about your language skills before arrival, I can confirm that you do not need to be. Only 10 days in, I can already see a difference in my abilities.

Outside of our structured orientation hours, I also got the opportunity to experience some (of many) of the cool experiences that Granada has to offer. Just to mention a few, we went to a rock festival next to the Granada CF stadium, took a day trip to Salobreña (a cute beach town about an hour away from Granada), visited the Mirador de San Nicolás, hiked in La Alpujarra, saw the Alhambra, went to a karaoke night, and attended a Granada CF soccer game.

Even with such a busy first week, I don’t even feel like I’ve scratched the surface of what Granada has to offer. I can’t wait to spend the next four months exploring what I already think is the most beautiful city I’ve ever been in. ¡Adios!