My arrival in Spain was marked by the most chaotic journey I've ever made. Indeed, I came down by car… from Berlin.
A stupid issue, not worth mentioning, made it temporarily impossible for me to fly. Thus I had no choice to do a last minute preparation for a car travel. In Germany, a brilliant website exists for that and I’m really wondering why it hasn't reached other countries yet, or at least the ones I live in. It bears the barbarian word of ‘Mitfahrgelegenheit’ and describes the opportunity of sharing a car. Thus you can search for your departure and destination in order to see if anyone on that day has put his/her car on the site and how much it will cost. The system is getting really popular and is mainly used by students.
Following the advice of my flatmate, I checked the foreign routes and found indeed a Mercedes C-class going to Algeciras, passing Valencia and Malaga. After quick look on the map, I call the number of the carshare and got it confirmed… the only problem, that he was leaving from Frankfurt, wasn’t actually a problem, as I just looked for another car share from Berlin- Frankfurt. Thus for roughly 2800 kilometers, I paid less than 100 euros, and I organised it two days before I left.
However 2800km is long, very long.
But all that counts is that I am here - in Granada.
The beautiful city, the great weather (or let me stop lying, it rained on my first day, but since then it has been great!) and the general atmosphere have welcomed me. To hear Spanish around me all the time has been pretty scary but when it comes to actually talking to you, most make the effort of speaking slowly, I said most…
Looking for a flat went about quite differently than from what I know… it looked more like picking some pieces of paper off walls and phone boxes around the city, calling twenty people and getting three flat visits in a day… I was really lucky and quickly found my very nice flat! An Erasmus flat, as they like to call it, in the very centre of Granada.
I didn’t expect the enrolment process to be easy and my expectations were met. Offices close for unknown reasons and most things shut at 2pm, which doesn’t make it easy when you have class in the morning, but I feel like it will work out.
University is starting tomorrow and a general strike is announced for the day after… this semester is going to be interesting!
I have miles to go before I sleep…
A stupid issue, not worth mentioning, made it temporarily impossible for me to fly. Thus I had no choice to do a last minute preparation for a car travel. In Germany, a brilliant website exists for that and I’m really wondering why it hasn't reached other countries yet, or at least the ones I live in. It bears the barbarian word of ‘Mitfahrgelegenheit’ and describes the opportunity of sharing a car. Thus you can search for your departure and destination in order to see if anyone on that day has put his/her car on the site and how much it will cost. The system is getting really popular and is mainly used by students.
Following the advice of my flatmate, I checked the foreign routes and found indeed a Mercedes C-class going to Algeciras, passing Valencia and Malaga. After quick look on the map, I call the number of the carshare and got it confirmed… the only problem, that he was leaving from Frankfurt, wasn’t actually a problem, as I just looked for another car share from Berlin- Frankfurt. Thus for roughly 2800 kilometers, I paid less than 100 euros, and I organised it two days before I left.
However 2800km is long, very long.
But all that counts is that I am here - in Granada.
The beautiful city, the great weather (or let me stop lying, it rained on my first day, but since then it has been great!) and the general atmosphere have welcomed me. To hear Spanish around me all the time has been pretty scary but when it comes to actually talking to you, most make the effort of speaking slowly, I said most…
Looking for a flat went about quite differently than from what I know… it looked more like picking some pieces of paper off walls and phone boxes around the city, calling twenty people and getting three flat visits in a day… I was really lucky and quickly found my very nice flat! An Erasmus flat, as they like to call it, in the very centre of Granada.
I didn’t expect the enrolment process to be easy and my expectations were met. Offices close for unknown reasons and most things shut at 2pm, which doesn’t make it easy when you have class in the morning, but I feel like it will work out.
University is starting tomorrow and a general strike is announced for the day after… this semester is going to be interesting!
I have miles to go before I sleep…
Hola Chantal,
ReplyDeleteFelicidades por tu blog!
El departamento de español en Aston ha creado un blog también para promocionarnos. Nos gustaría incluir tu blog en nuestros enlaces preferidos porque nos gusta mucho como describes tu experiencia en Granada como estudiante de nuestra universidad.
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