Student Bloggers
Granada and Beyond
Date
February 10, 2018
Our semester is in full swing! We’re beginning our second full week of classes and we’re getting more confident at navigating the city that we’ll be calling home for the next four months–I’ve already lost count of the different tapas restaurants and cafes that we’ve tried on our hunt for the best tapas and cafe con leche. That being said, we’ve also started to explore Andalucia, the autonomous community that Granada is located in.
Last weekend we went on a day trip to Sevilla, the capital of Andalucia. This trip was organized by the Centro de Lenguas Modernas, which meant that all we had to do was show up to the meeting point. The CLM provided transportation, as well as a guided tour of the city. Maybe we were slightly biased, but at the end of the day we all agreed that, while Sevilla was beautiful, we had made the right choice in studying in Granada; Granada seems to be a little bit more compact and easy to navigate, but at the same time has a huge student population (the university is the #1 destination for European exchange students).
This past weekend, we took advantage of having no classes on Friday to arrange an excursion by ourselves for the first time. Our walk to classes features beautiful views of the mountains behind the city skyline, so going to explore them seemed like a manageable adventure. With some advice from our host moms, we successfully navigated the local bus system, making it to the bus station where we purchased tickets for a 45 minute bus ride to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Two of our friends went skiing and snowboarding, while the rest of took the gondola up to the top of the mountain, where we were able to enjoy the beautiful views. Being in the small ski town felt like we had been transported to a completely different, snow-covered world. It was so charming, and the churros con chocolate did not disappoint.
These day trips are just the start to what I know will be a semester full of exploring Granada, Spain, and the rest of the world. Spain has so much to offer, I know we won’t be able to do it all, but we’ll try our best to do the most that we can!