Elizabeth in Granada

Sunday was one of my favorite days in Spain so far and the perfect way to end a great long weekend. Our group plus a group of students from another study abroad program had an excursion to the southern coast of Spain; specifically, Almuñécar and Nerja. We had to get up early but it was definitely worth losing sleep. It was such a relaxing day, from coffee by the beach in Almuñécar to sticking my feet in the water in Nerja. Seriously, it felt like Cape Cod in May or June! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

I definitely want to go back to the coast, especially when it gets warmer in March and April.

Unfortunately, I had to come back to Granada after a day of relaxation to study for a placement test. Your score on the test determines the classes you can take. Thankfully, I can still take all the classes I had planned to take! It’s such a relief to be done with it. I’m really glad that I chose to do the intensive course before the start of the semester, though. The grammar review, while boring, was just what I needed to prepare for the placement test.

On Tuesday I went to the high school that we visited last week. It was a great experience! For the first hour we (the students in my program) were all paired off and placed with groups of 4-5 students around 16-17 years old. I was with the most advanced students who spoke English VERY well. I was really impressed to say the least. Their assignment was to interview us, take notes, and then write an essay for their class. They had lots of fun questions like “What’s your favorite movie?” but also thought-provoking ones that surprised me a little, like “What stereotypes do Americans have of Spanish people?” They were really awesome to talk to and even gave us directions to a cheap movie theater. For the second hour I was placed with a group of four (very typical) 15-year-old boys. They were less advanced than the first group and I really had to be conscious of my vocabulary and rate of speaking. They wanted to know a lot about American teenagers, what my favorite foods were, if there were lots of hot girls in Boston, and if I had a boyfriend. It was funny because whenever they didn’t know how to say something in English they would ask one another in Spanish. Then they finally caught on that I knew what they were saying, haha. Overall it was a fun experience and I’m looking forward to going back next week.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Lisbon, Portugal for the long weekend before the start of classes. My flight leaves from Málaga at noon so I’m taking a really early bus from Granada. It’ll be a long day but most definitely worth it. I’ll have a new post and pictures up next week!