The "study" part of study abroad

So even though I am studying in Spain, I am not studying at a Spanish university. The main university in Granada, the Universidad de Granada, was an additional option for students in my program, but not a popular one because that university requires more than a month of additional classes. But all of us have to take courses at a school for foreign students, which is called the Centro Granadi de Español.

The “campus” is this small building right in the center of Granada, with an open-air center with plants and a fountain, surrounded by two floors of classrooms. The instructors are Spanish, and we all take Spanish-based classes.

The open-air entrance area to CEGRI.

Currently, I’m signed up for five classes. My instructor for the sounds of Spanish is a woman named Nerea, who is the wife of our program director, Miguel Angel. Both are very down to earth and very funny. Miguel was the one who explained to me that yes, some of the older plumbing systems in Spain cannot handle a lot of toilet paper, so it is common to throw used toilet paper in the garbage can. (That question was spurred by my thinking I had misunderstood my host mom when she told me to do that in her home. But more on my host family later.)

For Spanish grammar, I have an instructor named Julia, who will and does call her students out on a lot of things. For this reason, the class size shrinks every time. But I really like her because she reminds me of a professor back at Illinois.

My instructor for Spanish law is named Sergio, who is a lawyer and self-describes himself as sexy, intelligent, wealthy, et cetera — all because he is a lawyer. He is joking, but I think he thinks of himself that way too, just a little.

I think I will really enjoy my Arab-Islamic cultural studies class because it will cover a lot of topics that are talked about in the news, but that we really don’t know about in depth.

I am taking art history so I can see and learn about the art of Granada. The class meets twice a week (Did I mention we don’t have any classes on Friday?!), with one being a lecture and the other out in the city. It’s one thing to see all the art that surrounds us, but it’s another thing to learn and understand it. I want to be able to appreciate what I’m looking at, and that is why I decided to take this class.

All of the instructors appear to be very intelligent and good teachers. Some don’t even speak English, which is something I have not yet encountered when taking Spanish classes.

And I actually really like going to school. It's not just because I like my classes so far, but I know I will see friends because the students at CEGRI are all from either the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin or the University of Michigan. Seeing familiar faces and being able to speak English is such a relief. Before coming to Spain, I wanted to speak as little English as possible. Now that I’m here, speaking English is very comforting. But don’t get me wrong, I do want to improve my Spanish and speak a lot of it. But being able to tell funny stories in English of mishaps or getting lost is a little escape from the big, Spanish-speaking country of Spain that we are very much submersed in.

My walk to school!

Through the dog-walking area. Beware of poop piles.

Becca, Melissa and my meeting stop!

Walking through part of the University of Granada campus.

You can see part of the Sierra Nevada mountains!

Guys staring at the tourist with the camera.

Passin' by a church.

The streets are super narrow.

And another church.

... and another.

So many herb stands here.

Almost at school!

And we made it! Outside the entrance to CEGRI.