Aw… Granada!!!  Granada, Spain is ABSOLUTELY one of the most beautiful places to visit.  There are stores EVERYWHERE, and they have great fashion sense.  The buildings are spectacular!  They are big, beautiful, and historic.  I love that many of the places here have so much history.  Learning about the history of the buildings and its religious significance is one of my favorite things.  I am a little sad to know that I will have to leave before I learn about all the great and historical events that made this city what it is today.

If you love granted or marble, you will quickly fall in love with this place!  The sidewalks are made from these materials.  Most of the city walkways are clean, so you will be able to see the ground as it glistens.  This is one of my favorite things to observe so far - I just love staring at the ground when I walk because I love the sparkles in the ground.

Also, when visiting Granada, please make sure you look at the buildings for the street signs.  I didn't know it, and got lost many times, and thought to myself, “man this place is CRAZY!  They don’t have signs for the streets!  How does anyone get around?”  I soon realized that this place wasn't as “crazy” as I thought - American culture (social constructions) hindered me from being able to become open to the possibility of the street signs being elsewhere.  After locating them I thought to myself, “they weren't where they were suppose to be” lol.  Then I thought to myself - “who/what makes our American culture the standard.”  Meaning, It was normal for me to overlook the street signs because of my culture; however, I should never dis their culture simply because it’s different from mine… this experience (so far) is teaching me that.

I’ve learned that the people here are so friendly.  Before coming here, I was often told that there are lots of thieves here.  Well, it’s only my third day but I don’t think the city or it’s people are as bad as people tried to frame in our minds.  It reminds me a lot of Detroit.  People like create a certain image of others in people’s mind, but I find it to be safe.  I’m not implying that we should be naive; I just don’t think people need to be as scared because of the ideas that were perpetuated about the people in this.  My advice…. don’t listen to everything that’s said on facebook.  For example, I am an African American women and youtube said that the people here will be extremely racist and sexist toward me.  I have found that to be far from the truth - thus far.  everyone is extremely friendly and approachable.  

Coming to Granada was one of the hardest things to do; not because I would miss my parents or friends - no!  It was hard because of the dang customs and language issues!  I wish I would have packed differently when coming to Spain.  For one, I wish I would have fit everything into one big suitcase rather than three separate suitcases.  I had one for my shoes, another for my clothes, and one to carry on.  The carry on was extremely heavy so I had to carry it everywhere, I also had to carry the shoes case because I could not check it in or it would cost me 100 dollars.  So, you could only imagine the stress and aching that I felt because I had to carry them around through all the customs, etc.  They even made me throw out my shampoo and conditioner that I purchased for the trip.  Next time, I will not bring ANYTHING with me.  

When coming on this trip, I made the grave mistake of forgetting to exchange money through my bank.  I was dealing with graduation, graduation parties, and preparing for this trip all during the same time (this trip was a week after graduation, and the party was in the middle of the week).  Now, however, I've learned from that mistake because I didn't have money to spend when I came here.  The bank was suppose to put a notation on my account but didn't so I had to go online and send my bank a message before I could receive funds.  Also, I only had $500 dollars in American bills because I thought, “everyone accepts American money.”  Nope!  Not so!  When I tried to purchase something with dollars, the vendor told me, “NO!  Este es inefectivo.”  Bottom line….. exchange dollars for as many euros as possible before coming here.