Lucy Flack’s Study Away Experience

by Lucy Flack

As I’m writing this, I am approaching my last month in Granada, Spain, for my study away term. There is a quote by Federico García Lorca—a famous poet, author, and playwright born and raised in Granada—that I think about daily when considering how to make the most of what’s left of my time here: “Verlo todo, sentirlo todo.” This roughly translates to: “See everything, feel everything.” And so, I’ve tried to see and feel everything I can while in Granada.

My study abroad program offers a course on Lorca, which I am taking this term. I can’t express how surreal it has been to read Lorca—a poet I have read and admired since high school—while in Granada, his birthplace and muse. In class, we have not only read some of Lorca’s work (barely scratching the surface, really, because Lorca lo hizo todo—he did it all), but we also visited the house in which he was born, the site at which he was killed, and his neighbor’s house that inspired his famous play, La casa de Bernarda Alba. Lorca was assassinated in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, and so, as you can imagine, visiting the site of his murder was a very difficult and profound experience. The site is what seems like an unassuming forest, but when you step into it and approach the site itself, it’s almost as if the air stands still itself. 

I find Granada as a city to be very intentional and poetic. Granada means “pomegranate” in Spanish, and so pomegranates are hidden everywhere. They are on the fountains, in the graffiti, on the sewer grates, on curtains in shop windows. And there are pomegranate trees around, especially at the base of the sabika, the hill on which the Alhambra sits! Granada is a city of such rich history, tucked in a valley in the Sierra Nevadas. It was the last city to fall to the Catholic conquest, so the legacy of Islamic architecture is strongest here out of anywhere in Spain—a lot of which I’ve been privileged enough to see, because I am also taking an Islamic Art and Architecture (especially in Granada) class.

But enough academics! What are some fun things I’ve done while abroad? Here are some highlights:

• At the beginning of the term when it was still summer, we hiked mountains and then rewarded ourselves by swimming in the brilliantly blue-green Mediterranean!
• In late October, we went to Morocco as a program! The people there were some of the most hospitable people I’ve ever met, and the sunrise over Chefchauouen (the Blue City) was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen! I also enjoyed petting all the stray dogs and cats. 🙂 
• I’ve been reading a lot, and trying to read in beautiful places! Some of my favorites have been the terrace on the top of my study center, Lorca park, the vantage point San Nicolas overlooking the Alhambra, and my favorite cafe of Granada: La Qarmita. I’ve also been working on my bookstagram account (@lucys.lib) which has been massively fun. 
• For anyone that’s nervous about speaking a foreign language abroad, it gets so much better once you get there. I’m someone who was paralyzed with nerves when asked to speak Spanish (sorry to my profs) and now I am speaking Spanish everyday and improving massively. There is truly nothing that improves your abilities more than speaking it in an everyday setting. I would argue I’ve learned more this semester than I have in my 14 years of learning Spanish in some capacity.
• I’ve started junk journaling to document all the places I’ve been while abroad! I’ve been around Spain, Porto (Portugal), Morocco, and I am going to Edinburgh in December!

Genuinely, everything in Granada is beautiful, and I can say confidently that it is my favorite city that I have ever had the pleasure of visiting/living in. It is my home away from home! Though I’m excited to return to my other home away from home: the Mac English Department.