The First Few Days

After 18 long hours of flying and navigating foreign airports I arrived in Granada late Wednesday night where two of my roommates, Ana and Elena, met me at the airport. At this point, my brain was so tired that thinking in English was difficult, and I was expected to think and respond in Spanish. This Spanish is very different from the language in classes. Not only is Andalucian Spanish spoken at a very rapid rate, but many of the sounds are left out of the words, making the written form very different from the spoken form and adding to my comprehension problems. Everyone is very helpful in slowing down and over-enunciating when they receive the blank stare of non-comprehension from me. They joke that by the time I return I won't be able to speak "perfect" Spanish, but instead, I will speak Andaluz.

On Thursday Elena and Ana took me on a brief tour of the city. We took a bus from our apartment to the other side of the city, which is really not that far away. We missed the bus coming back so we decided to walk. Walking at an extremely slow pace and stopping to look at/ enter many of the university buildings the walk took about an hour and a half.

Yesterday, I felt brave enough to attempt a little exploring on my own. By exploring, I mean walking a few blocks in one direction, turning and walking a few more in another direction until I made a complete circle and ended up back at the apartment. I almost got lost a few times, but luckily for me the sidewalks have different patterns of brickwork that change every block or so, and I was able to recognize some of them from the previous day. Had I needed to ask for directions, I would have been in trouble, because I know none of the street names, and probably would have gotten even more lost. During my exploration, I discovered that not only will I have to get used to the differences in language and culture, but in the climate as well. There are palm trees here. I have never lived in a place that had palm trees placed frequently around the city.

Later that night, Elena and her friend Carmen showed me how to get to my school. On the way, we decided to stop for an ice cream cone. Ordering was a bit of a challenge because I didn't know the word for a cone, but they were able to understand what I meant and order for me. Everyone here is very understanding and helpful, which I am very thankful for.