Semana 1: Orientando

Happy orientation week!

I flew into Málaga on Thursday. Stepping off of the plane onto the coast and into a beautiful restaurant made the 2 days of travel immediately worth it. I got to stop in at the Picasso museum and see an amazing Joana Vasconcelos exhibit before taking the bus to Granada. 

I’ve spent the last week going to orientation classes at the IES Abroad center and exploring the city with my friends. There’s so much to do here, I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what Granada has to offer! In a week we went to a rock concert, a historic tapas bar, the coast, a jazz club, the university campus, La Alpujarra, karaoke and the thrift stores, and that’s not counting endless walks around Granada’s historic neighborhoods. I’ve loved the daily combination of learning more about Granada and making new friends in the IES Abroad cohort. Everyone has such fascinating academic interests and stories, and I’m really looking forward to getting closer with the group over this next semester.

My friends and I started our first weekend with a church crawl! There are so many throughout Granada, especially in the city center, and going from beautiful building to beautiful building is the perfect way to spend a Saturday morning. So far I think my favorite is the Sanctuario de Nuestra Senora del Perpetuo Socorro, the exterior is unbelievable! That night we went to a local rock festival called Zaidín Rock. On Sunday we bought bus tickets to Salobreña, a beautiful beach about an hour away, and spent a full day enjoying the water and getting to know more people in the program. The Granada bus station goes almost anywhere, which is good to know for potential future trips… We’ve been trying to get a sense of the cityscape before classes start. In the past few days more University of Granada students have started to show up and the city has started to buzz more. I’m so interested to see how the energy here will change once Granada transitions away from summer and becomes a university town again.

Reflecting on my first week here, I think my biggest takeaway has been how consistently struck I am with the sheer amount of beauty in Granada. From the street poles topped with metal pomegranates, to the patterned sidewalks, to the Catedral towering over the city center, it seems like there’s almost too much to see, even just from my window. The pictures on the IES Abroad website and my Pinterest board don’t lie. You can see the Alhambra from the roof of the IES Abroad center (and almost any hill), there’s poetry graffitied on street corners, and the orange trees are starting to drop fruit onto the sidewalk. My head has been on a swivel since I’ve gotten here, and I hope that feeling doesn’t go away for a long time.

We spent our last day before classes at the Museo de Bellas Artes, taking in the art and enjoying the city view from the Alhambra complex. I’m so excited to learn more about Granada’s culture and history in the academic courses, and continue to take advantage of the beauty all around me. Looking forward to sharing more of my time in Granada with you! xx