When In Granada

Granada is wonderful. My host family is wonderful. This class is wonderful. Everything here is absolutely breathtaking. I was incredibly nervous to be coming to Spain because based on what everyone I've talked to stressed, I'd be spending a ton of time watching out for pick-pocketers, and struggling to communicate with basically everyone here. The pick-pocketing thing hasn't been a problem for me at all (and fingers crossed it doesn't become one) but I'll admit, the communication part has been a bit of a challenge. Definitely not as bad as I expected it to be though. I almost feel as if it is just as difficult for my host family to communicate with me as it is for me to communicate with them. Something I've noticed however, is that when they are trying to find a way to circumvent and describe something to me and that's not working, they use a lot of hand motions and sometimes act out what they are trying to say. It definitely works too, so I should try this out sometime.

During the first two days we were given tours of the city, and oh my goodness is it beautiful. A lot of history and information was said in quickly spoken Spanish, so understanding all of it was a bit difficult. Nonetheless I enjoyed the tours and loved seeing the different parts of the city.

If I could change the trip or do something over, I would more thoroughly look over words and grammar rules before leaving. I did a few online study activities, reviewed old notes, and had a Spanish songs or news channel playing in the background while I did homework, but I really wish I thoroughly studied the different verb tenses and exceptions for rules. It definitely would have helped for the class aspect, as the class moves very quickly.  It would have also helped my speaking ability, as my host family has been constantly correcting what I say. They've been so patient with me, and while I don't necessarily see it now, they said I've improved since the first day.

Apart from that, I don't think I'd change anything. I'm happy with how the trip was planned, and I'm pretty sure I didn't leave anything home. Scratch that, I would have ordered my textbooks earlier in advance, because a few weeks was not enough time to have one of the books delivered. My workbook came in the mail as expected, so I've been able to use that, however taking a fast-paced course without a textbook is not ideal, and I find it a bit of a bother to have to look at pictures of the book on a computer. So if any future Spanish 230 students are reading this, order your textbooks immediately after the first orientation!