Office of International Programs Brown in Granada University Studies Program 2015-2016 Granada – University Studies | 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 4 PROGRAM OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................. 5 The City of Granada ............................................................................................................................. 6 The University of Granada ................................................................................................................... 7 UGR Facts ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Academics ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Academic Calendar .......................................................................................................................... 8 Program Staff in Granada ............................................................................................................... 10 Housing ......................................................................................................................................... 11 GETTING TO GRANADA .......................................................................................................................... 12 Travel and Transport between the Airport and Granada’s City Center ............................................ 12 GETTING AROUND GRANADA ................................................................................................................ 13 PREPARING FOR YOUR DEPARTURE ....................................................................................................... 14 Passport ............................................................................................................................................ 14 Granada – University Studies | 2 Applying for a Student Visa ................................................................................................................ 14 MANAGING AND BUDGETING YOUR MONEY ......................................................................................... 15 ATM Cards and Debit Cards ............................................................................................................... 16 Traveler’s Checks ............................................................................................................................... 16 Credit Cards ....................................................................................................................................... 16 HEALTH RELATED ISSUES ....................................................................................................................... 17 Prescription Medications ................................................................................................................... 17 Immunizations ................................................................................................................................... 17 Contraception, STD’s and Counseling Services ................................................................................... 18 TRAVEL DURING THE PROGRAM ............................................................................................................ 19 Holidays in Granada ....................................................................................................................... 20 OTHER HELPFUL TIPS ............................................................................................................................. 20 When are things open? .................................................................................................................. 20 Services and Tips ........................................................................................................................... 21 Eating Habits.................................................................................................................................. 21 Electricity ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Postal Services ............................................................................................................................... 22 Cell Phones .................................................................................................................................... 22 Laptops .......................................................................................................................................... 22 Internet ......................................................................................................................................... 22 HELPFUL LINKS ...................................................................................................................................... 22 EMERGENCY PROCEDURES AND STAYING SAFE ..................................................................................... 23 TIPS FOR STAYING SAFE ......................................................................................................................... 23 EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION .................................................................................................. 24 GRANADA & U.S. CONTACT INFORMATION ........................................................................................... 24 Granada – University Studies | 3 Granada – University Studies | 4 INTRODUCTION This handbook is designed to provide you with a wealth of information that will guide you as you prepare to immerse yourself fully into the academic, cultural and sociolinguistic context of the city of Granada. Use it as a resource but don’t consider it to be your only guide. The dedicated staff at the University of Granada is fully committed to delivering a program that will challenge you to go beyond your comfort zone and discover all that this experience has to offer. As you prepare for your experience abroad, consider the advice provided in this handbook and do your own investigating into the region you are about to visit. The true value of a lengthy and profound sojourn abroad is that it erases the frontier between cultural awareness and cultural experience – experience Granada in a way that no short-term traveler could ever imagine. PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Granada University Studies program track offers a direct enrollment option for students with high-advanced (HISP 0600) to superior levels of Spanish language proficiency. Brown students will take classes with Spanish students from Granada (and from many regions of Spain) at one or more of the following schools of the University: • Faculty of Philosophy and Letters • Faculty of Sciences • Faculty of Economics and Business • Faculty of Political Science and Sociology • Facuty of Law • Faculty of Educational Sciences Granada – University Studies | 5 The City of Granada Granada, located in the southeast of Andalusia, stands at the foot of Sierra Nevada before a wide, fertile plain watered by the Darro and Genil rivers. The first settlement in this region dates back to the 5th century B.C. and in Roman times it was known by the name of Ilíberis, which later changed to Elvira. It was later dominated by Visigoths whose reign ended in the year 711 with the Islamic conquest. From their very arrival in Spain, the Moors settled in the city. In 1013, the Zirie dynasty declared it an independent kingdom and the town underwent a period of expansion. For two and a half centuries Granada experienced its era of maximum splendor, becoming a symbol of economic, artistic and cultural wealth. The main aim of its successive kings was to embellish the city in ways that nobody could match. Its beauty is enhanced by attractive constructions such as the Alhambra and the Generalife . Granada was the last Islamic bastion in Spain and with King Boabdil the Nasrid dynasty came to an end, when he handed over the keys of the city to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 and agreed the terms of surrender in Santa Fe. From the city’s Arab past remain many monuments, quarters, gardens, dozens of small squares or “plazas,” hidden corners and fountains, which tell us of the spell cast by a past history surrounded by legend. In contrast with Muslim Granada are the Renaissance and Baroque areas of the Christian era. The city is home to one of the country’s oldest universities, whose students contribute to an animated cultural and civil life. Granada today constantly surprises the visitor with the contrast between old and new, between areas such as the Albaicín or the Alhambra, with their hidden corners which fill the soul with peace and memories of times gone by, and the bustling lower part of the city, full of life and color, of people coming and going, with its bars and shops. Even more, only a few kilometers away is one of Spain’s best ski resorts, and at less than an hour’s journey is the Mediterranean, with attractive, tropical beaches. Granada – University Studies | 6 The University of Granada The University of Granada, founded in 1531 by the Emperor Charles V and the roots of which can be traced back to the madrasahs of the last Nasrid Kingdom , is one of the oldest in Europe. For