Mi Apartamento

Other than size, my apartment in Granada isn’t so different from my dorm in Ann Arbor. Here there are two bathrooms, four bedrooms, and a living/eating area where the TV is always on and my host parents hang out during the day. Last year in Ann Arbor my suite in North Quad had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a common area that we used for snacking, watching TV, and doing homework. Below is a picture of the entrance of my apartment building here. Excuse the quality, it was taken with my phone when it was already pretty dark, but apartment building doors like this are pretty standard in Granada.

It looks different than many building entrances in the US – especially student dorms – but getting inside is essentially the same: there’s one key into the building (an Mcard at Michigan) and another for our apartment (a key card in Michigan), stairs, and an elevator.

Above is my room in Granada. I’ve got a nice big window (also with very dark curtains for those wonderful weekend days when I can sleep right until 3:00 lunch), plenty of space for clothes, and a desk where I do all my homework. Obviously I don’t have as much stuff for the six weeks I’m here that I do in Ann Arbor, but I’m way better at keeping my stuff neat and put away here than I am at home…just ask my roommates.

This is where we eat and where my host parents hang out for pretty much the whole day. There’s an actual dining room table, but we’ve never eaten there. It has a similar storage function to my dining room at home in Los Angeles. For mealtime, we all slide in around the table in front of the TV (which stays on). 

Finally, I'd say the biggest difference about household life between here and home is the laundry process. No one has a dryer, so everyone in the building hangs there stuff up to dry in the atrium-like area in the middle of the building. It caught me a little off guard the first time I saw my laundry just hanging out there, but I have to say my clothes have never looked better! Mostly because my host mother irons everything.