Lonesome

Last December, knowing I would have an internship in the spring semester and would want to study abroad in the fall, I met with Todd, the all-things-Spain advisor in the overseas study office. He and I chatted for a while about my various options. I explained that ideally I wanted a place where I could take lots of culture classes in Spanish, and that was not known for its extensive partying (I described how much I loathed that culture in London last summer). I had ruled out IU’s official summer programs, because they were only pure grammar classes, which would have given me credit for classes I’d already taken. Todd then told me to actively avoid programs in Madrid and especially Barcelona, because of the party culture.

After some consideration, he recommended Granada as a place where the more academically and culturally inclined went. I started searching for independent programs soon thereafter, and found the one I’m in now. With it’s classes on Islam and other cultural issues, it seemed like the perfect fit. My suspicions were further confirmed as everyone I talked to who had ever been to Spain gushed about Granada being their favorite city.

After a month here, I’m pleased to announce Todd was completely correct. While there is the contingent that parties incessantly, they’re actually the minority. Everyone else enjoys drinking, for sure, but it’s a secondary excursion. The primary reason they’re here is for the cultural experience. Thus, every night people organize trips to concerts or museums, or simply to walk the streets and get ice cream. We do socialize at bars, but more for the reason that bars in Granada still provide free tapas with a drink and it’s fun to talk to each other, than to drink gallons of alcohol. Furthermore, we have a stack of people who major in biochemistry, engineering, and other difficult subjects. They’re exactly the sort of bright people I’m friends with at IU. I love it!

But today, after my exams, I went to the bus stop to say goodbye to all but the 4 people from my program who were leaving. Lots of the girls started crying (and a few guys came close), so I gave them hugs. I don´t really cry that much, but watching the bus finally drive away with all of my friends waving out of it...that was hard. I´m going to miss everyone a lot. I´m impressed with how cohesive our group really became in a relatively short period of time. But now I, once again, need to start all over and make friends with the 30 new kids that just showed up for July. But part of me doesn´t want to make new friends...would it be horrible of me if I ignored all the Americans and just hung out with my Spanish Mormon friends for the rest of July?