It’s only been a few days in Granada and I’ve already been having an amazing time. While waiting in the airport for one of my flights, I met a girl who was from the same program as me, which helped ease a lot of my stress about arriving in a new country, in an airport I’d never been in before. Navigating the airport in Madrid proved a bit difficult, so I was especially grateful to have her there to go through it with me. In line to go through Customs, we ran into two other girls- one from our program and one from another. The four of us were able to hang out and get to know each other before our next flight, making the transition into a new country a lot smoother. While waiting at our gate to board, more than ten other IES students showed up. It was great to finally meet other students face to face and get to know some of the people I’d be spending the next few months with. It was also nice to hear that we shared a lot of the same fears and reservations about adjusting to the language and our new environment. Upon arriving in Granada, I took a taxi to my homestay, which is located on a gorgeous street near the center of the city. I even have a little balcony in my room that overlooks the street.
Shortly after arriving, my homestay “mom” and several IES “orientadores,” students from University of Granada working with IES to help welcome and immerse us into the city, organized a little visit for other nearby homestay students and I to a local cafe. The orientadores took us on a walk nearby and we met up with other students staying in one of the residence halls. It was so fun finally getting to hang out with fellow students in Granada and explore the city together. It also helped me manage the jet-lag that I had been fighting since landing. Although it’s only been a short amount of time, my transition into this city and this culture has been made easy by the support of IES and the orientadores, my homestay “mom,” and all of the fellow students.
