Losing track of time in Granada

¡Hola! It’s been a while. Something I’ve learned through experience is that it can be very easy to lose track of time while studying abroad. Sometimes days feel like weeks and other times weeks like days. My first few weeks of study abroad have been packed full of orientation, figuring out my schedule, and adjusting to life in a new place, which has made time to reflect on my experience hard to come by unless I consciously make time for it. Below are some of my original thoughts on my first two weeks in Granada (snapshots of which I captured in my video) below:

The first few weeks here in Granada have been amazing—getting to know the area around my home, becoming familiar with local businesses, getting to visit the local region through IES Abroad excursions. Every day contains its own milestones—the first time I saw the Sierra Nevada snow-powdered and elegant above Correos, cooking a dinner of quinoa and sweet potatoes in a microwave with my roommate, getting lost in the narrow roads of the Albaicín, waiting in the line for habas and pan at a festival in Sacromonte. It’s easy to forget you’re far away from home. The new things are too exciting to remember. So far the days have been a mix both of the big—Ronda’s amazing architecture—and the small—spending an afternoon in Federico García Lorca park.

I find myself getting so caught up in everything that I have to remind myself that this transition is still pretty new. Studying abroad produces change on so many levels and I feel my moods swinging accordingly—something I’m trying to remember to be conscious of. Even as I’m making friends here they still have a lot to learn about me, and though I love my host family I still have a way to go in forging deep relationships. These things all take time! And luckily, we still have a couple of months. Months I’m looking forward to—that will hold adventures both big and small, along with unknown challenges and learning experiences.

About two weeks later, I think my initial impressions still hold pretty true. Day to day life continues to be encapsulated both in the big—exciting weekend trips to nearby places (and countries!)—and the small—ordering a café without a hitch. But having now hit the one-month mark my attention has begun to shift to thinking about how I want to structure my life here in Granada and how I can best make meaningful connections with the city—things I’m working on and excited to share with you all moving forward. ¡Hasta pronto!

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List of places featured in the video (roughly in order):

• Albaicín 
• Ronda
• Baños Arabes de Ronda (Arab Baths of Ronda)
• Setenil de las Bodegas
• View of the Alhambra from the Albaicín
• La Tertulia Arte Bar
• Sevilla (Catedral, Parque de Maria Luisa, Plaza de España, Real Alcazar de Sevilla, Casa de la Memoria)
• Sacromonte
• Paseo de los Tristes
• Plaza Nueva
• Parque Federico García Lorca