I know this is super late but this week ended up being one thing after the other so here's what my first couple of days in Granada were like.
You may be wondering about the title of this post. Well I'll explain. So pomegranate? The word granada in Spanish actually means pomegranate. If you check out the seal of Spain that they have on their flag you'll actually see a small pomegranate at the bottom. Remember Fernando and Isabel? This is actually their combined seal that was created after they joined their two kingdoms when they married. If you see their seal on a building that was finished before 1492--for example the cathedral where they were supposed to buried in Toledo--you won't be able to find a pomegranate. They added the pomegranate to their seal after they conquered the Arabs in the city of Granada. It's pretty cool. Although ironically I have yet to even see a pomegranate here in Granada....
Anyways, the without tax part? There's no tax! If the sign says that a scarf costs 1.95 euro the store clerk gives you back .05 euro. It's a beautiful thing. I'd say it basically makes up for the euro to dollar difference for the most part so I guess in a way it's kind of like there is tax since I'm American. The cool thing though is that a lot of things are way cheaper than in the US. I don't know....just something to think about...
And Bob the Builder. This has to do with my homestay. So my piso--that's an apartment in Spain--is not really that close to the center of Granada. It's kind of like south east of the city center I'd say. It's anywhere from a 20 to 30 minute walk depending on where I'm going or how fast I'm walking. The nice thing though is that I'm mean it's Granada so it's a beautiful walk no matter what. About 5 mins away from my homestay there's the gorgeous park that goes for about a half mile or quarter mile--I'm terrible at distance--but it's just there right along the river that comes from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Right now since there's no snow on the mountains the river is almost non existent but soon it'll start running like a real river. So as I'm walking to class I could just walk through this park full of orange trees, shrubs, and benches. At night parents bring their kids because there's a part that has a jungle gym. So as I walk home from class I see kids and dogs without leashes running around in the park and having fun. It's great. Oh but I forgot Bob. Okay so where I'm living a lot of the buildings look extremely similar and I've almost attempted to enter a couple of apartment buildings that aren't mine UNTIL I finally realized that where I turn to go into my building there's a sign for what I think is a welder that has this handyman cartoon on it that looks exactly like Bob the Builder....So now I know to look for Bob and I'll know I made it home.
My apartment building doesn't actually face the street where its address says it is but it's part of the building that does face the street. The actual apartment that I'm in is surprisingly modern. I'm here with my roommate from Michigan. We share a room with two twin beds and a bathroom. The family that is hosting us consists of a mom and dad in the early to mid fifties, a 18 or 19 year old daughter, and a 24 year old son. The parents are so nice! The dad was actually the one to pick us up from the bus stop and then show us around Granada so we knew where we were supposed to go the next morning since we had our placement exam the morning after we arrived in Granada. He's a pretty funny guy and made more than a few jokes as he walked us through the city.
So far so good here in Granada!
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