Hello people!
I have decided that after two weeks of living in Granada - Spain that I have to write a blog. There is just too much to report!
So first of all I will go back to when I arrived here. I expected the journey to go smoothly as I have traveled to Granada from Malaga several times already. So being very organised I had already booked my Alsa bus (much like National Express) ticket online in England before I left. I knew I had plenty of time from the landing of my flight until the bus was due to arrive so I was quite relaxed. I waited outside the airport in view of the bus stop eating my packed lunch my mum had made me as I waited the 40mins or so for the bus to arrive....
However, it seemed that on that particular day the bus was not going to turn up at all and I was stranded at Malaga airport. I was not the only one so it wasn't me being oblivious! There was another group of girls there that had been waiting the same amount of time as me and hadn't seen the bus. They decided to take a taxi to Malaga and take another bus from there. They must have thought I looked quite distressed as they kept asking me if I would be ok!! After all the emotional farewells at the airport and the week before, added to the early morning (4am).. it is no surprise that I was quite upset when the bus didn't arrive. With two heavy suitcases all alone I was not enjoying myself. I decided to take the bus to Malaga and then take a coach onto Granada. Inbetween texting my mum, my boyfriend (through teary eyes) and my friend who was meeting me at Granada bus station, I managed to get myself to Malaga and onto a coach. The wait at the airport had put me about 2hours behind schedule!!
Luckily my friend was able to meet still at Granada coach station and drove me to my flat... I was so grateful for that as I NEVER would have found it alone!!! I was very nervous and was hoping that the flat would be nice and luckily it was lovely. Very cute and homely. My housemates are very friendly and helpful too so I fell on my feet :D. It was definitely the right decision to live with Spanish people as I hear Spanish 24/7 at home, in the street, at uni, on tv etc etc etc.
My first week consisted mainly of settling in and trying to locate places. The latter I failed at badly and got lost many times!! Once I was walking for 2hours and could not work out where I was! (And they say Granada is a small town - hahaha). In all honesty the first week was a little boring for me as all my Spanish friends had exams and therefore no one was available to do anything.
In the second week I had to attend several meetings at the university designed to give us information about courses, enrollment etc. I realised that I did not bring copies of my passport or passport photos with me which resulted in many lengthy treks around the town to find places to get them.
My best advice so far is do not follow instructions from Spanish people!!! For example; go straight up that road, keep going, keep going and then turn left and you will see it... Well turn left at which point?!! How far is keep going?!!! I have got very lost following these vague instructions as you can imagine.
One particular funny incident I have to write about involves going to a tapas bar.. I went along with 2 English friends and we were trying all different types of tapas. I ordered one round and politely asked the waiter for ''croquetas de polla'' instead of ''croquetas de pollo''.. In English: croquettes of dick instead of chicken!!! How embarrassing but utterly hilarious! The difference of one letter hahaha!!
I promise I am rounding this off now and will leave with my experience of university that I had today.. Firstly on the way there the bus broke down! This meant I arrived to my first lesson late but luckily the teacher didn't seem to mind. I went along to my next lesson a little before starting time in order to not have to walk into another classroom late.. Well after sitting down inside for about 10/15mins with the rest of the class it was announced that the teacher wasn't going to turn up - brilliant!!
The uni system is clearly far more relaxed here than in England! Don't even get me started on the fact that we cannot enroll yet until we receive our student cards (in 2-3weeks). This means we can't select our modules, get our bus pass, eat in the uni canteens or anything! Guess I will have to be patient.. The mañana feeling is still unfamiliar to me!
Anyway, that is enough for now!
Hasta luego!!
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