A PICTURESQUE VIEW of Granada’s old Moorish neighborhood in El Albaicin, from La Alhambra. Photo: Ann Schnoebelen

Emily Brown is able to draw quite a few comparisons between her home and the average university residence hall.

She shares a room she says is relatively the same size as the one she had as a first-year student. She and her roommate both have a bed, a dresser and “all the normal things.”

But unlike those living in Drake’s freshmen quad, Brown also has a “señora” who cooks three meals a day for her and does her laundry.

Brown is studying abroad in Granada, Spain, and living with a Spanish host family in a city apartment. So far, Brown says living with her señora, or her host mom, along with her host dad and her 26-year-old host sister has been a positive experience.

“It was actually really easy to adjust,” she said. “The only downside is that we have very, very short showers and you have to turn off the water when you don’t absolutely need it, basically anytime you’re not rinsing. And the water is cold half the time.”

Brown makes other comparisons between living in a homestay and an average university residence hall in the U.S., likening the crying toddlers in the apartment next door to other students playing their music too loud. But she also mentions things she does differently in Granada.

“I’m definitely more aware of my surroundings here than I am at Drake,” she said. “At night we always walk in groups of at least three and we make sure we have a guy with us. At home I’d walk across campus by myself or home with a couple of girlfriends. But, I mean, that’s probably because [in Spain] it’s a city, not a campus.”

But the biggest difference between Granada and home, according to Brown, has more to do with activities out of the house rather than living in it. In Spain, socializing takes place mostly outside the home, so having friends over to watch movies or visiting other students’ apartments isn’t really an option.

While she admits she thinks this is “kind of disappointing,” Brown said she’s glad she chose to live with a family while studying abroad, especially because she’s working hard to improve her Spanish.

“Instead of going back to a dorm where a majority of students speak English, I’m forced to speak Spanish when I go home and that’s a big help,” she said.

Brown and her roommate did encounter an important cultural difference during one of the first weeks of their homestay, however.

“You have to say ‘hello’ or ‘hola,’ ‘hasta luego’ or ‘goodbye,’ ‘buenos dias’ and ‘buenos noches,’ otherwise they think you’re angry,” she warned.

“We were late for class and both ran out the door without thinking and then got a lecture from our sister at lunch,” she explained. “She thought it was intentional or we were mad at her for no reason, and she was really upset. My señora, who has been doing this for over 20 years, had to explain it to her and be like, ‘They didn’t mean it, they didn’t know, they are American.’”

She laughed. “We’ve never forgotten again.”

There have been other things to adjust to as well, such as the different meal schedule. Brown eats breakfast at the same time she did in the U.S., but lunch is laterthan she’s used to—at two in the afternoon—and dinner isn’t until 9 p.m. Sometimes she gets hungry during the break.

“Pastelerías (pastry shops) are like Starbucks here; there’s one on every corner,” Brown said. “So sometimes I stop by. But our señora stuffs us full, so there’s actually not much room for snacks.”

Brown said that thriving in a homestay mostly involves adjusting to the different culture. Even with the occasional vocabulary mishaps and cultural misunderstandings, she says she is enjoying living with her Spanish family.

“It is nice to have someone clean your bathroom, sweep the floors and do your laundry,” she added. “All we have to do is make our beds and keep our things off the floor.”

Student living with no meal plans, no eSuds and no mess?

Now that may not draw too many comparisons.