As some of you all may know, I am currently studying abroad in Granada, Spain for the semester. I’ve been here since Monday, Sept. 5 and everything has been a complete whirlwind! We’re currently going through orientation with other students and trying to get accustomed to the Spanish culture, history and daily lifestyle. Within a week, I realized that the beginning of a semester abroad is pretty much just like reliving the beginning of freshman year. Here’s why:

1. When you study abroad through a program like IES (or SIT, CIEE, etc.), you will be mixed in with students from all over the U.S. There are students here from tiny towns in Idaho, and others from New York City. There’s even someone from Great Britain. There’s such a massive variety of people, but the fun (or horribly uncomfortable) fact of the matter is that, most likely, you don’t know any of them. If you’re lucky you may have someone from Wofford with you or may coincidentally reconnect with an old high school friend, but otherwise it’s a whole new field. It’s just as awkward as moving in freshman year. You will go out to meet and talk to people even though you’d rather be sleeping. You will meet the same people half a dozen times and still have no idea what their names are. There will be incessant small talk about where you’re from and what you’re studying for a few days. Eventually you will make friends, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

2. Orientation is just as long and tedious, if not more so, as Wofford’s orientation period. We have orientation groups that we are spending hours and hours with at a time. We have orientadores, which are basically ridiculously cool Spaniards who help with orientation and are somehow younger than you (I still don’t understand this). We do have more free time than they leave you with at Wofford, but by the time our sessions are over all I want to do is curl up in a ball on my bed and sleep, which is what I also did freshman year.

3. Even though Wofford is small, it’s still possible to get lost, especially as a freshman. Trust me, I know – NEVER try to navigate the bowels of Burwell. However, your propensity to get lost will only increase when you travel abroad. Try going from a small campus to a city of 300,000 where the streets don’t make sense. I know it’s because Granada has ancient areas where street planning wasn’t a necessity, but I still think someone was drunk when they designed parts of the city. You will get lost a lot. Just like freshman year, you will either wander around and hope for the best or timidly and ask someone for directions.

4. In the U.S. we have the ‘freshman 15,’ but there may as well be an ‘abroad 18.’ Freshman year people usually gain weight because of buffets, an abundance of cheap, crappy food and lack of exercise. When you’re abroad you’ll gain weight too, but mainly because the food is so ridiculously good you feel the need to eat your own weight at every meal. In Spain, they eat bread at every single meal and also believe in segundo desayuno, which is a second breakfast before lunch. Please pray for me.

Although the beginning weeks of freshman year are probably some of my least favorite memories of college as reality came crashing down around me, that isn’t to say that I have not enjoyed my time abroad so far. Granada is absolutely stunning and exploring the city always has something new to offer. I can’t even complain too much about the heat (100˚+) because there’s usually a gelato shop around any given corner.