First Week of UGR Classes

So this past week I technically started my integrated classes at the University of Granada (UGR), even though my intensive language prep course at the CLM (Centro de Lenguas Modernas) didn't end until this Monday. The whole thing didn't really make any sense because the CLM is run by UGR so you would think that CLM would end classes before UGR classes begin. However, I have learned that as a general rule, Spain is neither efficient nor organized (hence the economic crisis).

On Monday I had my usual class from 9:00 to 13:00, but my Hispanoamerican Literature class started at exactly 13:00. I left class about 45 minutes early thinking I could walk to the UGR Cartuja campus (that's the main campus) with time to spare. Despite excessive amounts of Google mapping, it took much longer than I expected to get to Cartuja, which I also learned is basically a straight uphill walk. By the time I got to campus and found the building, I was pushing it on time. I then wandered around for 20 minutes because the classroom I was supposed to go to was basically hidden. I asked multiple people for directions (they were all useless), and finally a random American girl named Sonia took pity on me and helped me out. After climbing two flights of stairs, walking through a giant hallway, and going on this bizarre balcony thing, I finally reached the classroom only to find all of my friends in the class walking out. Apparently, the professor didn't know he was teaching the class until last minute so he cancelled it for the rest of the week. Because I wandered around the building for so long, I know a lot of other classes were either cancelled or didn't even have a professor show up to teach. 

After the disaster that was my first attempt to go to my integrated courses, I was a little nervous about my second class, Political System of Spain, that same night. Fortunately, the political science building is about half the distance from my house as Cartuja so the walk is super manageable. I had A LOT of trouble understanding the professor on the first day, partially because I couldn't hear him. I was able to understand a little better on the second day of class, but he has a very thick Andalusian accent (the hardest accent to understand in Spain) and he's a bit of a mumbler. I'm hoping it'll get better with time. Also, I feel like once I can understand a thick Andalusian accent, I should be able to interpret any other accent I could possibly come across in Spain so that'll be a nice perk.

Other than classes starting, my week was pretty uneventful. It was significantly colder when we got back from Palma de Mallorca, and it rained pretty much every day this week. Fun fact: marble sidewalks + rain = death trap. I don't know who thought that was a good idea. They may look beautiful, but it is legitimately dangerous (and potentially extremely embarrassing if you fall) to walk on the sidewalks because the marble is so slippery when it's wet. One night that it wasn't raining, I went back to El Mirador de San Nicolas with some of my friends to watch the sunset. The view was breathtaking!

I ended up having a movie night with one of my roommates on Friday and Saturday because it was cold and rainy that no one wanted to leave their cozy houses, especially not me!