Hola from Granada, Spain! I am spending my semester with 16
other FCRH and FCLC students at Fordham in Granada, a Fordham study abroad
program in Andalucía, the southernmost region of Spain. The study abroad
process is full of complex, tough decisions: where to go, what to study, how to
budget, how to make friends, and where to stay. That last one may sneak up on
you after settling on London or Johannesburg or Shanghai or Antiguo Cuscatlán.
+Panorama+(2).jpg) |
| A view of Granada from Placeta de la Puerta del Sol, which I found while |
Luckily for me, Fordham sets up each student in our program
with a homestay family, and it’s just that, a family. We live in pairs (you can
request a roommate or take your chances; my random assignment is fantastic) with Spanish families. Everyone’s
homestay experience is different, whether you are with young parents, a retired
couple, or a mother and her adult children. What is the same about every
experience (even when our group stayed with families in Morocco for two nights)
is that it is a family. We eat together, watch TV together, and talk to each
other about our days.
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| Our group with some Moroccan friends in Rabat. |
The homestay experience makes a huge difference in how
the city feels, too. Rather than being a foreign visitor with a bunch of other
exchange students, I am living and breathing the Granada lifestyle (including
the mandatory siesta!). I don’t need to seek out authentic cuisine, or try to
figure out what’s happening in Spanish politics—I just need to sit down at the
dinner table and ask.
Obviously, it’s not a replacement for my own family or my
Fordham family. But my Granada family is certainly a good substitute.
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