A week in Granada

¡Hola! This week we traveled to the south of Spain to spend 10 days in Granada for program orientation and intensive Spanish language classes. Granada is a small and beautiful city with a lot of history and cultural importance, which made it the perfect place to start our Spanish culture class that will continue throughout the semester. Every day we had an excursion in the morning, lunch together at a restaurant in the central plaza, Spanish classes from 3-7 pm (oy), and free time at night. Our morning outings included La Alhambra, a visit to García Lorca's summer home, and olive oil tasting at a 15th century olive oil factory. Walking around La Alhambra was incredible, even though we were all running on 4 hours of sleep from staying out at a discoteca the night before! It's pretty mind-boggling to think about how the fountains, walled structures, and intricate design patterns have stayed strongly in place for so many centuries.

In front of a reflection pool at La Alhambra

How do we look?

In the afternoons, we sat through 4 sometimes painful hours of Spanish class. Even though it felt like a reaalllly long time to concentrate, learning colloquial Spanish has already been extremely helpful. The accent in Andalucía (the southern region of Spain) is distinct from the accent in Madrid. After class, the school we went to (Escuela Don Quixote) held optional classes on the very important topics of Spanish curse words and insults and salsa dancing. Then, most of our nights were free which left us to explore the countless tapas restaurants in Granada (birthplace of the tapa!) and go out together. In most of these places, each drink you order comes with a free plate of food. Love it. On one of my favorite nights in Granada, we went as a group to see a flamenco performance inside of a cave. It was a small and intimate setting, and the show was incredible. Three women danced on stage to the music of a live guitarist and singer. I was totally enraptured by the performance - the music, dancing, and unbelievable rhythmic syncopation held in unison by the five performers was unlike anything else I've ever seen.

La Alhambra lit up at night. The girls and Ramiro!

The stage is set for flamenco!

Another stand-out day was Saturday when we spent the morning touring a 15th century olive oil mill and the afternoon walking through los pueblos blancos. At the olive oil mill, our guide taught us all about the process of turning olives (aceitunas) into olive oil. At the end of the tour, we had a tasting! A word to the wise, extra virgin is the only way to go. Afterward we had lunch as a group and headed to the gorgeous Andalusian hillside towns, los pueblos blancos. Our guide, Juan, moved several years ago with his family from Madrid to one of these small and rustic pueblos. He cited the reason for this significant move as a desire to explore "el mito del sur" - the enchanting myth of the south. Walking through these whitewashed villages against a backdrop of lush hills and orange tree orchards, the allure of the pueblos was easy to understand. He told us about his family's life there and how they adjusted to a rural setting after living in Madrid for many years. To finish our tour, we walked up a steep cobblestoned hill to a breathtaking home overlooking the pueblo. An older couple lives here and rents out rooms to travelers as a sort of bed and breakfast. They welcomed us into their home and offered us tea and cakes, allowing us to walk around and take in the magnificent views. It was amazing!

Pretty rainbow over los pueblos blancos

A hilly walk led us to this beautiful view of La Alhambra and La Sierra Nevada

After a wonderful 10-day excursion to the south, I am ready and excited to be back in Madrid. This week, we start orientation at Universidad Carlos III, sign up for classes, and prepare for school to start next week. More to come soon!