“Bienvenido a España” were the first words I heard when I touched down in Spain. I’ve been in Granada, Spain for almost one month now. I’m currently taking classes at el Centro de Lenguas Modernas. At first, it was difficult adjusting to the culture and the language but after a couple weeks you adapt and it starts feeling like a second home. In my program, we only speak Spanish, which really helps you immerse into the culture. By only living here a month, I have already learned so much about the culture and how it differs from the US.
Spain is a college student’s favorite country! One of the cultural differences in Spain is the Siestas. Everyday for Siesta, you come back to your house, eat a delicious lunch and then take a large nap. All the stores close during Siesta so basically they’re forcing you to nap–I’m not complaining.
One aspect that I discovered about Spain is that the home is a private place for family only. In the US, we invite our friends and families over for parties, social gathering or holidays but that’s not the case in Spain. That being said, people meet friends at restaurant or bars at night, which is one of the reasons why the streets are so busy.
Another part of my program is I get to travel all around Spain. Lucky me! So far I have been to Nerja and Córdoba. Nerja is a tiny community about an hour outside of Granada in Southern Spain. Nerja has some of the best beaches in the world but my favorite part was the caves. Nerja is known for having large historic caves. This was my first time ever going into a cave so I was pretty excited. Inside the cave, it was dark and the floor was very wet from the moisture above. While I was in the caves, I got to learn about their history. I mentioned earlier that Nerja has some of the best beaches and I wasn’t lying. As you can see the beaches are just a little bit better than the Oregon coast.
Just this past weekend, my class and I went to Córdoba, Spain. Córdoba is another
small community like Nerja but there are no beaches. In Córdoba, I got the opportunity to explore the city, attend Arabic baths and visit the famous Mosque/ 
Cathedral in Córdoba. This picture to the right is also a famous street called Calleja de Las Flores. This street is known for having beautiful flowers hanging from the many balconies. My favorite part of Córdoba was the Arabic baths. At these baths, they have three pools. The first one is ice cold, second is medium temperature and the last pool is extremely hot. The purpose of these baths is to relax your muscles. There is more than 600 Arabic baths in Córdoba. As you can see, these Arabic baths are extremely popular in Spain due to the Arabic influence in the Spanish culture.
This coming week I will be touring the Alhambra and visit Ronda, Spain. Stay tuned for more adventures of mine in Granada, Spain.
Fun Fact about Spain: Spain is split up into 17 regions.
Hasta Luego,
Katie Twineham