Brent Graham ’09 – Anyone who has ever flown internationally knows what I have learned. The plane ride can be terrible. I have flown coach my whole life and never cared about the space issues, but after 8 hours of discomfort, I am ready to swear off coach all together. The other problem I faced was the delays. Thankfully in London the underground was working in my favor and got me from Gatwick to Stansted in just 3 hours so I didn’t miss my connection, but it took me 1.5 hours to get my boarding pass from Ryanair leaving me just 30 minutes to get to the plane.

(On a side note: Ryanair is a discount airline that offers service to cities all over Europe. The flight from London to Granada, equivalent from flying from Maine to Florida cost me a little less than $100. I will seriously reconsider flying them again though because the seats were small and uncomfortable for a person of my size and there are other such airlines that I have heard are a little roomier. All in all for the price the trip was a good one, except for the 2 year old kicking the back of my seat.)

When I arrived in Granada, I caught a bus into town for 3€ and though worried about not knowing which stop to get off at found it with relative ease. The next task was to find the hostel. That was not as easy as I had thought. I, like most of you reading, are used to street signs that are large green and have the street name in large white letters. That is not the case here. The street signs are squares no larger than a paper napkin place two to three stories up the sides of buildings. I wondered around to see if I could find the hostel using the map I had and when that failed I asked for directions. After an hour of searching I finally found the hostel in a small alley, off a small walkway, of a street that looked like a sidewalk. All three were made of stone. After check-in, a big glass of water and a hot shower, I went straight to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to sunlight, birds, a free breakfast and a beautiful city. It is hard to see at night but from the rooftop terrace it was like a scene from a movie. I immediately fell in love with it. After dropping off my bags at the hotel that I will be in for the next few days before I move in with my host family, I went to explore the city I walked over to the Alhambra but could only see part of it. I climbed the hill across from the Alhambra and took some amazing pictures. I walked for two hours just wandering. I found some beautiful gardens, a city park and a school. The garden were beautiful and all were in view of the Alhambra. The park was a little lonely looking and was very small. The school had very little by the look of it but they did have a ‘fútbol’ pitch. On my way back it was about 2pm, the hottest part of the day so I stopped at a ‘heladeria’ or ice cream shop. They had flavors that were crazy including egg. They also had the most delicious looking fruit flavored ice cream. I had the mandarin today and will try them all by the end of the trip. I bought a paper and spent the remainder of the afternoon reading the various articles about the Eurocup final between Spain and ‘Alemania’. I learned all I could have ever wanted to know about the game as well as the players from both teams. I also learned that this is the first time in 44 years Spain has been to a final match.

After roaming for the day and reading up on the match, I met with my group in the lobby of the hotel at 8pm. From there we went to dinner at the student center and watched the finals of the ‘Eurocopa’. We ate local foods that the director, Christina, cooked or bought. They included ham which tasted like beef jerky, manchego a Spanish cheese and various ‘frutos salados’ salty snacks. We also had Fanta and Coke to during. One interesting thing to mention here is that the Fanta we have in the US is nothing like what I drank here. It actually has about 10% juice in it and is a lot less sweet. It is much better in my opinion. The match was a close one and very fast moving. It seemed to go a lot faster than when I watch it a home. It might be because I was watching with other people. As soon as the game was over the streets filled with people blowing horns, banging drums, screaming, running, honking and setting off fireworks. It was a huge party. Many of the locals went swimming in the fountain at the end of The Gran Via. I declined the invitation because a sign near the pool said recycled water, not potable and I had seen about 10 pigeons bathing in it earlier that day. The fiesta lasted longer than I did and I went to bed around 12:30 to the sounds of the party in the streets.

The view from the tarrace.  What a beautiful city!

This is the Alhambra.  The University is going to take us there soon.  I'll have more pictures and information once we go.

This is the best ice cream place on the planet.  I can't wait to go back.

The party in the streets.  It was crazy.  In Madrid they had to call the police.

That is all for now.  We will be touring the city for the next few days so I will have more pictures for you soon.  Hope everyone is enjoying the weather at home.  Today it was 104F. !Hasta Pronto!

Posted by Brent Graham at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Grant Gussman ´09 - Well, tonight´s going to be crazy. If you´ve been following these entries, you probably remember that the EuroCup (international soccer tournament) has been going on all month. Well, when I arrived in Spain, everyone was talking about it. Not being a soccer fan myself...especially in another continent... I asked around about Spain´s chances. And EVERYONE told me Spain had zero chance to win. Most people I talked to told me Spain probably wouldn´t even win a match in the preliminary rounds. Well... Spain went undefeated in those prelims. Only one other nation (Holland) matched that feat. After winning their group, Spain advanced, as one of the 8 best teams, to the single-elimination part of the tournament. In the first round, they had to play Italy. Italy, I learned, had been the defending world champions after winning the World Cup in 2006. Spain won. Then we had a rematch against Russia, who we played in the prelims. Spain won again. Now España is a perfect 5-0 in the tournament, and is one of only two teams still alive. So TONIGHT is the EuroCup final between Spain and Germany, and it´s already hard to walk through the streets without tripping over someone. There are people getting seats outside of bars and restaurants, and everywhere you look is a Spanish flag. I´m going to take some pictures tonight and try to have them up soon.

Until then, picture the most jam-packed, sold-out, insane sporting event you´ve ever seen. Now multiply it times 10, and paint it red and gold (national colors).

Speaking of pictures, I FINALLY have some to put up! I took myself on a sightseeing tour today, and here are some of the highlights:

This is the general hospital near the center of town. The backlight makes it difficult to see, but it´s an amazing place. 

Here´s a shot of the Río Tormes, the river that runs all along the southern edge of the city.

This is a shot of the Santa Basilica Cathedral. There´s an old cathedral attached to a newer one, and this is the newer part. You can tour the Ieronimus, as it´s called.

A shot from high atop one of the church towers, overlooking the city.

From an enormous patio/landing in the middle of the cathedral, looking up at the highest towers. We actually studied the architecture here in my Spanish Culture class.

That´s all for now, but for anyone reading this who is my friend on Facebook, I uploaded all the pictures I took today into 2 new albums. 

¡Hasta luego!

Posted by at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Brent Graham '09 - I have counted down the days and weeks until my first trip out of the United States. As I post this entry the count stands at 50 hrs and 30 minutes, accounting for time difference, until my arrival in Granada. As always I have underestimated the amount of time it would take me toget ready for the trip and tie up my loose ends here.

I spent all of yesterday shopping for the last minute items that I had forgotten such as a battery charger, a power converter, a belt to wear my passport in and a new camera to document this trip. I even had to search my room for socks to take. I have never been a fan of wearing shoes and as such had no idea if I had enough socks to get me through the trip or where they were in my room. Those of you who have been reading Grant’s blog know that shoes are a must since naked feet are culturally rude. I also had to get long pants (shorts are for tourists). I now begin the long and arduous task of packing and I hope I don’t forget anything. I have cut down to the bare essentials but probably still have more than I need.

My route takes me from Cleveland to Newark. From there I board a transatlantic flight toLondon. Once in London I must travel from Gatwick Airport to Stansted Airport. I believe that the fastest and cheapest way to do so will be the trains and the underground. Though I do not have a map of how to get from one to the other I have a set of written directions and have no problem asking for help if I need it. Once arriving at Stansted I will board flight to Granada. The whole trip will take approximately 23 hours to complete. The thought of traveling alone in Europe is a little daunting but a challenge I am ready to face. I look forward to writing you from Spain.

Posted by Brent Graham at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Grant Gussman ´09 - Howdy everyone. Back with more about life in the glorious kingdom of Spain. To be honest, I have a lot I want to talk about, so I apologize in advance for the random nature of this blog. I expect it to be a series of unrelated ideas, but they´re all things I find interesting.

It´s been a particularly busy week. I´m in two separate month-long programs this summer, one in June and one in July. I just finished the June program, passing all my classes with flying colors. Now on the bigger and better things next month. I´m moving up in difficulty in my grammar class, which I´m a little apprehensive bout. But then again, I´m eager to learn as much Spanish as possible while I´m  here, so I´ll make the best of it.

A few fun facts about Spain, while they´re on my mind:

-This is a little difficult to explain, but they don´t have states like we do in the US. Instead, they have ´Autonomous Communities´. There are 17 of them, including the Canary Islands, and each really has its own distinct culture. There are even 4 recognized national languages here. Within each AC, there are provinces. So for example, I live in Salamanca (city), which is the capital of Salamanca Province, which is part of the Autonomous Community of ´Castilla y León´, which is in the kingdom of España. It took me a while to get my head around all of that. 

-The king´s name is Juan Carlos (which I think is funny, because that´s the student senate president´s name at Wabash, haha). His wife-the queen-is Sofia, and their son the prince is Felipe.

-They have a parliament and a president, who currently is a man named Zapatero.

-Much like us, they have 2 primary political parties and various third parties that win significantly fewer elections. Their conservative party (El Partido Popular) is currently in control of parliament. The liberal party (Socialistas) is also very popular though.

-One thing I find strange over here is the amount of talk about revolution. In the US, you really don´t hear many people talk about revolution against the government, or if you do, it´s not usually taken very seriously. Every day here, I see graffiti, flyers, stickers, etc. that say ¨Unite against the government¨ or ¨Communism for All¨ or ¨Youth uprising. Join Us¨. Weird.

Here´s something else I think is funny. About 75% of the cars here are Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Audi, or BMW. So you´d think they were all really good cars, right? Well apparently those car companies only send their nice models to the US, because over here I see horrible junker cars with the Porsche logo and giant, filthy delivery trucks are usually Mercedes-Benzes. Crazy!

-Over here, they don´t take work NEARLY as seriously as we do in the States. I don´t mean they are lazy or that they don´t try hard at their job,s but they view careers much differently. It´s common for Spanish people to say, ¨We don´t live to work. We work to live.¨ And they DO. Spaniards take ´living´ very, very seriously. People frequently go out to restaurants and bars, go shopping, and/or travel. In fact, a lot of people get the entire month of August off of work. I´m not kidding! My culture professor told us that a lot of professions essentially get a summer vacation every year. Lots of people travel or just relax, I guess. I plan on bringing this custom back to the US. 

-On a related note, works shifts are different here. It´s common that people get a few hours off in the middle of the day-Siesta time! Usually, people work 9am-1pm, then get 3 hours off, and work again from 4pm-6pm. So it´s a 6-hour work day on siesta time. Again, I´m bringing this back when I come home.

-They don´t have Wal-Mart or K-Mart here. Everything is sold in little mom-and-pop shops, and most shops sell only one or 2 things. On my way to class every morning, I pass the shoe store, the fish market, the pharmacy, the ham store, the cheese store, etc... but there are no shopping centers or department stores. I rather like it this way... everything is much more personal, and people are very eager to help the customers. The only frustrating part is that it´s often difficult to find a specific item. For example, I decided yesterday I needed a backpack, and I had to go to 6 stores before I could find one.

Well like I said, a pretty random and disjointed blog. But taken as a whole, I think it does a good job of summing up my life here right now. 

Until next time,

¡Adios!

Posted by at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Grant Gussman ´09 - I´ve been a little irresponsible with the updates lately, but I have some extra time between classes today, and I thought I´d let everyone know how I´m doing. Life is great here, for the most part. I´ve been here almost 3 weeks now, and it´s starting to feel like I actually live in Spain. The first few days especially, I just felt like a visitor in a hotel. I´m really getting to know the city now. 

I should have a camera pretty soon. But in the meantime, I have some good news. One of my friends from high school just happens to be working in Madrid. She visited me last weekend and took some pictures, so now I can finally share some with you guys.

This is some really big church we saw. I´m not sure what it´s called, but it was really impressive in that churchy sort of way.

Here´s me with some old man. He didn´t talk much, but he also didn´t seem to mind it when I put my arm around him and posed for a picture. Apparently he had been sitting there so long that he turned to stone. Like petrified wood.... except oldified man.

Confession: I do miss a lot of American things. I ate at Burger King the other day just to feel American again, and it didn´t even work. My meal came with a choice of Coke, beer, or wine. How European. I miss American sports. I really want to go to Wrigley when the Cubs and White Sox play next week, but that´s obviously not going to happen. 

On a positive note, I´m starting to like soccer a little. It´s pretty much all they watch in this country. España hasn´t lost a EuroCup game yet, either! They´re 3-0 after beating Russia, Sweden, and Greece. I don´t know if that really means anything, but their last 2 wins came at the VERY end of their games. I was at a sports bar for both matches, and the entire crowd was dressed in red and yellow (national colors)... draped in Spanish flags, wearing ´España´ t-shirts, etc. And when Spain scored their game-winning goal last night, the entire place went INSANE. Everyone was jumping and hugging and crying and spilling beer and talking really fast in a language I barely understand. It´s really an awesome experience to see such patriotism in another country. These people sure do love their fútbol.

Well that´s all for now. Hopefully I´ll have more pictures soon....

Posted by at 05:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Grant Gussman ´09 - Well, I´ve survived the first week, and having finally adjusted to the time difference, I feel I can write a coherent blog. 

It´s actually a remarkably exciting time to be in Spain, especially in the world of sports. Since I´ve been here, Pau Gasol (a Spaniard) has played in the NBA finals AND Rafael Nadal won his 4th straight French Open. It was pretty crazy here for both events. The Spanish are proud of their countrymen. On top of that, something called the Eurocopa (EuroCup) is this summer. I don´t know much about it, but I bet soccer fans know what I´m talking about. It´s a major international fútbol competition that takes place every 4 years. It´s staggered against the World Cup so that one occurs every 2 years. España has a team, but the people here have told me that they won´t win. Apparently these European countries know how to play some soccer. They better, considering I can´t even walk through the streets without having to kick a soccer ball back to some kids. Actually, it´s probably more accurate to say that I try to kick it back to them... usually it ends up on a roof somewhere or I trip over it. Like I said, I´m not a big soccer fan... At any rate soccer is waaay more popular here than in the US. (On a related note, there are no outdoor basketball courts here like in the US... just outdoor soccer fields on concrete. ¡Es loco!

I plan on having some pictures up here as soon as I can, but my camera broke LITERALLY the first day I got here. I have no idea what´s wrong with it, but it won´t turn on. When I push the power button, it makes this really annoying clicking sound. I´m going to look into getting a disposable one until I can get mine fixed. Until then, my rambling descriptions of the scenery will have to do, which is a shame because it´s absolutely beautiful here.

I´ve been through 1 week of classes now. They´re pretty easy. I have 30-45 minutes of homework most nights, tops, so that´s a relief from Wabash. It´ll probably get harder though. My Spanish Language class is moving SO quickly. We´ve already covered like 7 verb tenses, including one that I had never used before. At this rate, I could probably learn an extra language in the 2 months I´m here. 

As strange as this sounds, one of my biggest challenges here is finding ways to fill my time. I get out of class at 1:15, after which I eat lunch. But from 2pm until dinner (usually 9:30), I don´t have much to do. I usually try to knock out my homework early so I can have time for myself, but today I found myself wishing I had MORE homework. I can´t believe I just said that. So I went for a 3 hour walk around the city. It was good to get a feel for where certain landmarks are relative to the streets I know... I´m a lot more comfortable walking by myself now. I think I could find my way home from almost any part of Salamanca. 

One last thing that is important enough to report on... All this week, there´s a festival in town. In the Plaza Mayor (See the image I stole from Google below), there´s a huge concert stage set up for free concerts every night. Most of the bands are unknown (at least to me), but this Wednesday at 11:30, Rufus Wainwright is playing a free concert! If you´re unfamiliar with him, you might recognize his cover of Leonard Cohen´s ´Hallelujah´ that was in Shrek. I think it was a scene where Shrek was walking around being lonely or something. So that´s pretty cool.

Hey while I´m at it, here are some other pictures I stole from Google.

Above is actually right next to where I have my first class. If you were to turn directly around from where this photo was taken, that´d be where I have Lengua Española. This is el Edificio de las Conchas (The Shell Building). Those dark spots all over it that you can´t quite make out are all stone sculptures of shells, and they completely cover the building.

Below, I´m fairly certain, is this absolutely ENORMOUS church right next to the building where I have my other class (Cultura Española). It´s completely covered in intricate stonework.

 Well that´s all the blogging I can handle for one day. Using other people´s pictures to document your own trip is tiresome work. I´ll write again soon. ¡Hasta luego!

Posted by at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Grant Gussman ´09 - I know it´s probably too soon to write another entry, but I keep noticing all these differences between Spanish culture and American culture, and I think if I wait, I won´t notice them anymore. So, while they´re fresh in my mind:

-Spanish people eat lunch at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and dinner at 9 or 10. 

-If you go out at night, you don´t leave your house until 11:30 or midnight. 

-(My host mother told me this one...) People my age and slightly older pretty much all go out on Saturday night. It´s the BIG party night each week. It´s common to leave your house around midnight and not sleep. Apparently lots of parents expect that their kids will sleep a lot on Sunday. Isn´t that wild? It´s like culturally-sanctioned irresponsible behavior.

-It´s taboo to show your feet to people. You always cover them with something, even indoors. It´s culturally appropriate to wear slippers whenever you´re inside and shoes whenever you´re outside.

-Soft drinks here are WAAAAAAY better! They´re made with real sugar, not that high fructose corn syrup stuff we have in America. You can really taste the difference too.

-Cans of soda/pop are 330mL. If I remember right, a 12-oz can of Coke is 355mL, so the can are all a tiny bit smaller here.

-Anyone wearing shorts around here is laughed at. Fortunately, I learned this before my trip and only brought long pants, but the Spanish people I´ve met laugh about tourists, and you can always spot them because they´re wearing shorts.

-Everyone here speaks really Spanish very differently from the Mexican Spanish I learned in school. The letter ´S´is always pronounced as a ´th´. So instead of ´Gracias´, it´s ´Grathiath´. The whole country has a lisp!

I guess that´s all for now, but I´ll write more of these differences in here as I notice them.

Posted by at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Grant Gussman ´09 - Well, I´ve arrived in Spain. What a great place. This first entry will have to be short, because I have another class in a few minutes. But I wanted to get a post up and say that I´m alive and well in Europe. This place is absolutely amazing. All the buildings are made of stone...everything looks like a castle. I´m studying in buildings that are centuries old. My host family lives about 1.5 miles from the school, and I have to walk every day, twice a day. I don´t mind--it´s great exercise, and the weather is awesome. The only hard part about being here is the time difference. As I write this, it´s about 6am in Crawfordsville, but it´s noon here. It´s worst in the mornings. My host mother wakes me up at 8am, and I keep trying to tell her that this country´s time is wrong and it´s really only 2am, but no one believes me (including the sun). So I go to bed at about 8pm C'ville time and wake up at 2am. Soon my body will adjust to the time here...or at least I hope so. 

On a more positive note, I found an awesome little coffee shop right next to the building where I have my first class. I think I´ll make it a habit to get some coffee after class each day. And next door to the cafe is an Internet cafe, which is where I am now. Now I can get caffeinated AND check email after class. ¡Es fantastico! 

The only other thing that is difficult about living here is using Euros. The conversion rate is awful. Most prices are the same as in America, until I remember that 2 Euros is really 3 dollars (a little more actually). But I´m adjusting quite well.

That´s all for now. I will write again soon.

Posted by at 05:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)