My Last Month In Spain: Recollections From Study Abroad

Note: I began writing this and realized there were way to many details for just one blog post.  I've broken it up into multiple parts.  Heres part one:



Pedro, Dani and I in the Sierra of Granada

 As my study abroad experience was coming to an end—one semester in Santander and the other in Madrid— I made the decision to stay an extra month.  I chose Granada after finding a place to live through loquo.com (the Spanish version of craigslist) and when my semester in Madrid ended, I was off.  Before going, of course, I made a trip down there to check out the apartment to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off.


 I had already made contact with Maria, a sweet Spanish girl from the Canary Islands, who was one of three roommates; the other two were Basti and Pedro.  Basti was from the north of Germany and chose Granada for his study abroad destination.  He was about 6’3’’ from what I remember, sported dreadlocks a little lower than his shoulders, was a vegetarian, loved nature and was extremely sociable.  Basti and I shared many interests and we got a long great.  The other roommate, Pedro, was also quite a character.  I met him through the intercom at the entranceway to the apartment building.  He told me not to do anything and that he’ll be right down to help me with my luggage.  At least that’s what I think he said at the time, his Spanish (or Andaluz) was very hard to understand.  As I was getting my room in order for my month stay in Granada, Pedro barged in and said “finish that up later you have to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day.”  “Ok, I responded,” not knowing what in the world we were going to do.



When Spain won the Eurocup

Pedro took me on a tapas tour of his personal favorites while telling me all about the nooks and crannies of the city: the best kepabs, bars, hang out spots, and more.  The tour unexpectedly turned into a 5 or 6 hour adventure with Pedro and I having told each other practically everything about our lives in Spain and America.  I’m not sure why, but every conversation we had kept leading us into a childhood story where we got in trouble.  We had a lot in common and new that our friendship would keep growing, even after I left Spain.  Before coming to Granada, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what Spanish life was like.  However, meeting Pedro changed everything: what I knew before turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.  My friend, from Andalucía, showed me how big it really was. 

Cooling off on a hot summer day with Tinto de Verano (wine).
Thats Martin in the background.

   I went with him pretty much everywhere and he introduced me to all his friends.  I was invited to poker games, the beach, the countryside and when we were bored, we decided to burn some gas and drive around the town.  Even though this was my last month in Spain, it was the first month I went without speaking any English.  It was like Pedro had opened the door to a mine shaft and told me to go all the way to the bottom.  Before descending, he reminded me of the Spanish culture I had experienced till that point.   After taking up his offer and walking through the door, he promised to take me to the depths of what Spanish culture really was.  Our journey didn’t start in Granada, however, but in a little town called Huesa…

Stay tuned