It’s my last night in Granada, but I know I’ll return to what I now call my second home. I walk through the Albaicín to capture where it all started: the majestic Alhambra.
My most beautiful Granada memories date back to this 9th century Moorish palace. I remember walking through the Plaza de Los Leones into the evergreen gardens. This view has a very special place in my heart.
Granada really pushed me to step out of my comfort zone. I started taking a European lunch at 3PM everyday (fun fact: still haven’t fallen out of this loop). I branched out from winter sports and tried playing fútbol and paddle. I learned salsa dancing and Aeropress coffee-making in citywide workshops. I went on gorgeous runs by the Genil river. I became the only foreigner to join CoroCiencias, a Spanish-instructed choir, granting me the opportunity to make great local friends. I took a Spanish cooking class and can now make a mean tortilla española and sangría!
My most humbling opportunity has been volunteering at Colegio Escolapios Cartuja. Every week, we are assigned to tutor English to a group of students from a range of secondary schools. We play icebreakers and work through vocabulary and verb tenses. I work mostly with 11 and 12-year-olds, and they bring enormous enthusiasm into the classroom!
Two months in Granada were magical, and I loved every minute of it. My heart goes out to Centro de Lenguas Modernas and my compañeros for helping me drastically improve my Spanish. One day before leaving, I conversed with a taxi driver. He was impressed with my conversation and asked if I was Venezuelan. I’d say study abroad was a success!
Thank you all for following these fragments of my journey abroad. Granada, España will be my second home for life, mi casa morisca.
My friend Shannon filmed and edited this spectacular video of our time in Spain and Switzerland. Check it out here!