Let the adventures begin!

Hola! I’m Lia and I’m here to share my experience traveling abroad to Granada, Spain with the CGIS: Spanish 230 program from the University of Michigan.

The Trip:

This was the first time I flew internationally by myself. The week before my flight I wasn’t worried about the trip, but after boarding the first flight, I felt the nerves kick in. Luckily, it didn’t feel like traveling alone since I was with other CGIS students, but it was a different experience not having mom and dad directing me through the airport. 

Over the years I have developed this awesome ability to fall asleep in any moving vehicle. So, for each of the the four flights to Granada, I slept. The most difficult part was sleeping on the overseas flight from Boston to Madrid. As one might expect, it is extremely difficult to sleep in a cramped space directly next to someone else. Luckily, I was able to sleep for about 3 hours.

In Madrid, a group of us had a long layover so we went out to explore the city! At this point it was about 2am Michigan time, but because of the excitement and beauty of Spain, I found some energy. The fact that I was traveling to Spain to study abroad never really hit, but when I reached the streets of Madrid and was able to explore with my new friends, it all felt real. Despite all my naps throughout my 24 hours plus of travel, I was able to adjust well to Spain time and avoided jet lag altogether.

The City and culture:

It’s only been a few days here and I have fallen in love with the study abroad experience. In fact, I’m already thinking about my next trip abroad! It is so amazing that I have moved here and already I feel like part of the city and culture.

The city of Granada is so beautiful. It has the feel of a college town since the Universidad de Granada is located here but of course, it still feels very different from Ann Arbor. One difference that I find very humorous is the crosswalks. All of my classmates agree, in Ann Arbor, the pedestrians have the right of way (even if the light is red) and we all just cross whenever we please. However in Granda, EVERYONE stops when the light is red and only crosses on green. This has become tedious and annoying, especially when running late to class, because the lights for pedestrians here take a super long time and only provide a short span of time to cross. But I have learned to live with it along with all the other unfamiliar and different cultural aspects in Spain.

As expected, my shopaholic cravings will be satisfied in Granada. There are shops EVERYWHERE. I need to find time to shop at Zara and Mango soon or I might develop shopping withdrawal symptoms! The fashion here is amazing and most dress very well every day. I sometimes miss wearing leggings, UGGs, and an oversized crewneck every single day, but I appreciate that the Spanish culture is forcing me to dress well and look like the fashionista I really am.

For my homestay family, I have one host mom. I am disappointed I only have a host mom since I was really hoping to have a home with other children, but she is very nice and friendly. I am so grateful that she has become very patient with my poor Spanish skills and is very flexible. I have learned that Spanish moms want you to EAT. Even when I eat to the point I am past capacity, I am told to eat more! This is the case with all the host moms though so I’m not alone. 

The best part of Spain -- ciesta! Ciesta is a time in the afternoon, usually 2-5pm, when you eat lunch and rest. I’ve taken a nap every day since I’ve been here. I come home, eat lunch, and then my senora knows that it is time to take my nap!

For future students -- Tips and Advice (so far):

• Handle your money BEFORE the trip 
• I talked to my bank before my trip to set an alert so I can use my debit card here, but I wish I took more euros out in the states so I could avoid transaction fees in Spain
• Bring everything you need
• Yes, you can buy a lot of products, linens, and other items at stores, but it is so much easier to have all these things with you. The first few days you need to become acquainted with the city and you don’t want to have to worry about where to buy shampoo and toothpaste the moment you arrive.
• Don’t expect your time here to be all about tapas and wine
• Going in to this program I expected to have fun every day and every night, along with a little homework. Yes, there will be time for going out and exploring the city, but there is a significant amount of work outside of class and you need to dedicate time for studying. So far I have not had free time to explore or get tapas with friends because I had homework. But I’m hoping this is because also we had a lot of evening activities planned this week in order to become aquatinted with the city and in future weeks I will hopefully have more time. Luckily, the weekends are completely free to have fun!
• Cell Phones and Communication
• In our program, every homestay had wireless internet connection. This was very convenient for doing homework and being able to acess e-mail and other online materials. This is also fantastic because apps like Viber and GroupMe allow you to make FREE calls or texts to anyone that has the app, even in back in the states! This makes it super easy and cheap to call family back at home and your classmates in Granada!
• I do recommend buying a cheap cell phone here though just for safety and convenience when walking around the city with no wifi (I got mine for 22.50 euros)
• Be patient
• I know it can be super overwhelming and scary the first few days. At times I just wanted to scream because I was so frustrated with the language barrier and my lack of sense of direction, but I promise it gets easier. My senora commented today that I'm understanding much more of what she says (I still have to work on the speaking Spanish part though!)

I look forward to updating everyone on my adventures next week!

Adios,

Lia