Intensivo

Ten days after the original shock of moving to a new city with a new language, we started classes on September 2. On the 1st, we took a placement test and the next morning we started classes. The class was four hours a day, five days a week of strictly Spanish speaking, writing, and grammar. Class started at nine and ended at one. Our class was a mix of fourteen very interesting students, and a crazy, but amazing teacher.

On September 16, some friends and I went to a beach town called Almuñécar for the weekend. It's on the Mediterranean. We took a bus from Granada to Almuñécar. The walk from the bus station to our Airbnb was long, hot, and mainly uphill. The shoes I wore gave me horrible blisters all over both feet, and I thought that the ocean water would help heal them, but instead of sand, it the beach was completely covered in burning hot rocks. It was so painful to walk on, but the rocks were very useful when it got cold because they were still warm. The water was so clear but cold, and we could see fish swimming around while we were in the water. We all were numb, but it felt great compared the scorching heat. Later, went to the market and bought food to cook for dinners and breakfasts. One day, coming back from the beach we all rode the same elevator up to our room, but the elevator was meant for three people, not five fully grown adults in a tiny elevator. We were stuck in there for forty-five minutes before a man came for us. We used the stairs for the rest of the trip, and we were staying on the 7th floor. We were all pretty shaken up from the experience, but we hung out in the apartment until we were all better then went back to the beach and got dinner at an amazing pizzeria.

These are the rocks at the beach

The sunsets were beautiful.

The view from our Airbnb.

In the middle of September my host mom’s sister came to stay with us because she goes to school here. She became my intercambio partner, which means that we talk in both English and Spanish to help each other improve. We often go out to get tapas and talk in Spanish and English.

At the end of September, our program went out for churros con chocolate. We met the new students that would be with us for the rest of the semester. Before we were thirteen girls and one guy, but then four more girls and three more guys joined for the regular semester program.

Each person got their own cup of chocolate for their churros.

That weekend we visited the Alhambra. We had a tour that was about three hours, and we got to see all the different parts like the Generalife, the hotel, the different palaces, the fort, the Medina, and the cemetery. It was interesting to see how the people used to live, and what was important to them. Every major room had some type of fountain; our tour guide told us it was for privacy, to cover conversations. I find it very interesting that after the crusades, the Catholics took over the Alhambra and built their own palace and church. You can clearly see the difference in architecture and style between the Moorish works and the Catholic ones. Royalty from all over Europe used to come to the Alhambra and stay in The Palace of Carlos V for their vacations.

Granada has so much to offer, I can’t believe all the things I did and saw in one month. Three months left and I can’t wait to see what other amazing things I’ll do!