Weighing things up

“Bienvenidos a Granada”.

That’s what the lady at the Office for International Relations told me (she said it, strangely enough, on my way out of her office, but still). They were only three words, but I felt properly welcomed. It also helped that she had spent the previous 10 minutes explaining clearly and - in - a - nice - speak-slow-for-the-dumb-Englishman - voice everything that I need to know about: registering at the Uni, signing up for modules, etc.

It had been a bit of an effort to find her though. First I went to the main Office for International Relations, who sent me to the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras (my department). I went there and asked successively at the ‘Help Desk’, ‘Advice Desk’ and ‘Secretary’, each time being passed on to the next desk. It was very much a you’re not my problem, try this guy sort of thing. I did feel I was getting slightly closer with each desk, however, and I’ve perfected my “Hola. Soy estudiante de Erasmus” so that it now sounds almost apologetic.

According to Wikipedia (and who wouldn't believe Wikipedia?), Granada University is the most popular in Europe for foreign students to attend, so they must be used to people (like me) wandering round aimlessly, lost and confused most the time.

I finally made it to the Facultad’s Office for International Relations and met Dr. Marta, a.k.a. my favourite person, my best friend, my saviour, whatever. I walked into her office aimless, lost and confused. I left registered, informed and officially welcomed.

Well, now that the University side of things is all in hand, what I need to do now is find somewhere to live. This is a priority. What am I looking for? Well, some friendly Spanish-speaking housemates, a nice room and preferably walking distance from the Uni.

The first (and only, so far) room that I saw today is in the Albaicin region. It’s a very old, Moorish part of the city. Thin, cobbled streets. Plenty of Arabic shops and restaurants. It’s also very steep, which meant I was actually panting after the walk up to the house. I was shown around by Yann and Tony - two French economics students who (on the plus side) are my age and seem friendly but (on the down side) have heavy French accents which I did struggle to decipher. As for the room, it was alright - nothing too special. But, my word, the view from their terrace is stunning.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll have a look at a couple more houses tomorrow so I’ll be able to compare with how it stands up to the competition.

This evening I bought a panini for dinner at a local panaderia. The lady at the till weighed it to find out how to charge me - a la Pic & Mix! Very strange. The strangest thing is, though, the more I think about it, being charged according to the food’s weight does seem to make sense. Tomorrow I’ll have to go and by a bag full of light pastries ;-)