Grant Gussman ´09 - The realization is setting in. I´m going to be in the United States again one week from today, maybe never to return. I have 6 days left in Spain, and it seems impossible that I´ve been here 9 weeks. I remember seeing a movie once where a boy found a dog and brought it home, and his parents told him they would only keep it until they could find its owners and not to get attached. But of course the boy got attached to the dog, and the rest of the plot writes itself. That´s how I feel about Spain. I knew I would only be here for a limited time, but part of me feels like I actually live here, as if this has been somehow more than a visit. 

In the midst of these thoughts, I am happy to say that I will be finishing my stay in España on a high note. Brent Graham (my co-blogger) and I will be meeting in Salamanca this Thursday, staying a night here, and then touring Madrid together this weekend. I suppose we´ll have to flip a coin to see who gets to blog about the trip... Or maybe we´ll co-write something? At any rate, I´m really looking forward to seeing the capital, and it´ll be more fun with a travelling partner. 

But until this weekend comes, I thought it might be better to use a few pictures to show everyone who reads this exactly what I´m going to miss...

In the summer, it nearly never rains, and it´s rarely overcast. Every single day is blue-skied, sunny, and warm. Everywhere you walk around here, it´s nothing but castle-like buildings.

Salamanca is ancient, and its Roman heritage is evident in countless examples of architecture. This is the wall that borders the southern part of the city, a defense mechanism from centuries ago. Below it is the crest of Salamanca, made out of flowers.

When I need to use a computer in Crawfordsville, I bury myself in the dungeon we call the armory. This picture was taken from window of the internet cafe I frequent, overlooking the Plaza Mayor. Even after 2 months in Spain, it´s hard not to think the Plaza looks amazing when the lights come on every night and the entire square fills with people.

Hopefully these pictures have helped show exactly what I mean when I say I´ll miss this place. This has been an amazing experience. I know it´s almost time to give Spain back to its owners, but I´m going to spend every minute of this last week enjoying what time I have left. I love America, but there´s something special about living in another country for this long, and I don´t intend to waste any of my remaining time. 

Hasta luego

Posted by at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Brent Graham ’09 – I apologize for not writing sooner but I have been taking finals for the last two days.  I received a 9 in my first class which is an exemplary mark. I was also traveling this past weekend on one of the most perspective altering trips of my life. Every year hundreds of American students come to Spain and few ever see what I had the privilege to see this past weekend. The strait of Gibraltar that separates the southern coast of Spain and the north cost of Africa are only separated by a distance of 8 miles. How can such a short distance keep so many people from seeing something that they may never have the opportunity to see again?

The trip lasted three days. I left Granada on Friday morning on a bus to meet with the travel group in Malaga. After meeting with the group we traveled to Algeciras which is a port on the southern coast of Spain near the strait of Gibraltar. From there we took a ferry across to Ceuta which only lasted about 40 minutes. I think if it had gone any longer I would have gotten sick which is amusing to me as a swimmer. Ceuta is Spanish territory on the north coast of Africa. Right now the government is constructing a border fence to cut down on illegal immigration and this is causing a lot of problems. For some reason it sounds like a very familiar situation.

When we arrived at the border we were told to turn off any cameras and that if we took pictures they would be confiscated and we could be detained or not allowed entrance into the country. The entire area looked to me like the demilitarized zone between the Koreas. We had our passports stamped and then a man in a military uniform came on to check our identities and make sure that our passports were stamped. We then left for Tetuan and the comfort of our hotel.

Upon arrival we had to write down our travel information as well as the number that had been stamped into our passports. I think it was so that they government could keep track of where we went but I am not sure. After check-in we ate dinner and went to bed because the next morning we were off to the historic medina or market of Tetuan.

The market looked like it was from the 15th century with the exception that there were people dressed in modern clothes. The smell was horrible in some of the places and there were dead things hanging that could not be identified as any meat I have ever eaten. The other interesting thing about the medina and the entire country I came to find out was that there were a million cats running around but no dogs. Dogs in Islamic culture are dirty. Should a dog enter the house, you can no longer pray in the house and prayer is a large part of the Islamic culture. After the medina we went to eat and were then taken to a carpet consortium to view the Moroccan handicraft of carpet weaving. It seemed like a setup to me and I didn’t buy anything but a few people were suckered into buying something. Later that day we went to the market in Tangiers and had a chance to haggle for some of the things we might have wanted to buy. I made several purchases buying gifts for family and friends at a ridiculously discounted price and then bought an ottoman for myself. In Granada I would have paid 20€ for the one I chose but in Morocco I paid only 9€. I love haggling. We then went home for dinner and then shortly after bed. The next morning we traveled to a little village in the mountains called Chef-Chawan in the Rif Mountains.

It was beautiful and it was the only place during the trip you could drink the water as it flowed right down from mountain springs to the town. This small village was the central hub for all of the small mountain villages in the region and had a huge market. Again after a short tour and a stop at a second carpet store we got to look around. We got a great deal on a shirt for a friend who couldn’t come on the trip with us and I made another purchase for a friend. The city itself is entirely Islamic and the community reflects this fact. Rarely if ever did you see women on the streets without a man or their son. It was like being in the past to see how they lived. After a quick lunch we got on the bus for the long trip back to Granada.

The trip was enlightening and helped me to see the Islamic culture that I have been learning about for the last four weeks in my class. It is so different from society in Spain and even more different that what I am used to seeing at home. It was a good look into how things work in other parts of the world and especially in rural areas. If there is anyone that is going to be in Spain and has a free weekend, I suggest this trip and if not the exact same one another like it. There are many different companies that take trips to morocco and it truly is a once in a lifetime experience and one that has given me a new world perspective.

Two pictures of the meat market.  Live chickens in one a does anyone know what that meat hanging to the left side is on the other?

One of the mosques in the city of Tetuan.  This is the side for men and the other side is for women.

This is a national road to the different mountain towns in Morroco.  Anybody want to go for a ride.

Washing in the river.  There was one lady yelling at us for taking picture.  Guess she didn't want us seeing her underwear.

This is one of the weavers at work.  It was fun to watch but trust me not worth 70€.

Well that's all for today.  I leave for Madrid in a few days and will probably even see Grant.  Thank you again for reading.

Posted by Brent Graham at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brent Graham ’09 – There are a lot of similarities between the US and Spain but there are also many differences. One such difference is daily schedule. While in the US I was accustomed to a schedule of waking up at 9am for work and going to bed around midnight. Here that schedule would be nothing short of impossible to keep.

The typical day in Spain will begin around 8am. After getting ready and eating or buying a breakfast consisting of toast and coffee, digestive cookies with milk and juice, or, if it is a special occasion, churros and chocolate or coffee, the typical Spaniard will head off to work around 9. Some students and working adults will forgo the early breakfast and take a break at 11 to have breakfast at a restaurant.

The main meal of the day, la comida, is typically eaten at the beginning of the siesta which begins around 2 in the afternoon. La comida consists of two plates, bread, water and fruit for dessert. The first plate or “primero plato” usually consists of a starter such as a salad of some sort or a glass of gazpacho. In my homestay I will normally have a bowl of soup or gazpacho. On occasion I will eat salad. The “segundo plato” is the main course. Some of the typical dishes include paella, tortilla de patatas or fish and vegetables. I have had each and each is delicious. I have also had meatballs in an acorn sauce over rice, pork tenderloin with spaghetti and, my personal favorite, chicken with rice and lentils. The main thing to remember when eating in Spain is that the backbone of the Mediterranean diet is olive oil. In my house we go through 2L of olive oil every 8-10 days, and there are only 3 of us. I must also say that the food never tastes or feels greasy like some food cooked with or in oil at home.

After a quick nap I have to go to class at 4 but siesta typically last till 5 in Granada. At this time it is also common for the people here to have merienda. It is a light meal consisting of a bocadillo, sandwich, or small pastry and coffee. It is traditional to eat this meal at a café with friends. I have class during this time so am not able to do this but on the weekends sometimes I will go for shawarma with my friends. For those that do not know shawarma a shaved chicken sandwich on pita bread or rolled up in lafa with assorted vegetables and two sauces, one that is a yogurt base and another that is spicy. I prefer to eat mine with cheese but without is good too.

La cena, or dinner, is not eaten until late. I normally eat at 10 but typically no one eats before nine and is done by eleven. This meal is generally lighter than the afternoon meal and in my house consists of one dish with bread and water.

After dinner many people will go out for tapas. Tapas are small amounts of food served with drinks at bars and are served with soft drinks as well as with alcohol. Originally tapas were a piece of bread that was placed over the mouth of your cup to prevent flies from falling into your drink. Another theory is that a king decided he didn’t want people getting too drunk and passed a law that required food to be served with alcohol to prevent people from getting too drunk. Either way, in Granada tapas are a nightly occurrence for college students and their friends. I have gone out most nights staying in only when really tired or finishing homework. Another interesting fact about tapas is that here in Granada they are free. This is a tradition common only in Andalucia to my knowledge. In Madrid for instance you have to ask for a tapa and pay for it.

If the tapas bar are not your style you can opt on Thursday and Friday nights to go to the botellón which is the way to meet friends and drink for cheap. The botellón is held in a park and is basically a BYOB party with a lot of people. It is a great way to meet the natives and practice Spanish. Recently however a law was passes prohibiting a botellón anywhere but in one park on the south side of the city. After the tapas bars close or the botellón winds down around 2 or 3 in the morning the discotecas or dance clubs open. These clubs in some cases are open until 8am or later.

I have enjoyed every aspect of the Spanish schedule so far. My favorite part of the week is the botellón on Thursdays and Fridays. I have met many friendly and funny Grenadinos there. Well it is 11:30 and I am meeting my friends in half an hour to get tapas. Thank you to all who are still reading, and I will write again soon. (Sorry there aren’t any pictures)

Posted by Brent Graham at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Grant Gussman - Wow, where has the summer gone? I honestly can´t remember time ever passing this quickly. It seems just last week that I was finishing finals, then working on an internship, then flying across the Atlantic. And now I sit here in an overcrowded internet cafe for the hundredth time, enduring our 6th straight day of 100 degree temperatures, and I´m already thinking about the return. But before I get ahead of myself and return to the States, I´d like to reflect at least once more on Spain...

In case you didn´t hear, the annual Running of the Bulls took place recently in Pamplona (about 7 hours NE of me by bus). Since it took place during the week, I was unable to attend. Fortunately, the event is not confined merely to Pamplona at ALL. Throughout the week, virtually all Spaniards unite in a cultural experience unlike anything I´ve seen in America.

Although the scene above is actually from Pamplona, the streets in Salamanca and in every other city looked similar. The standard white outfit with red scarves and belts could be seen EVERYWHERE that week. And if you weren´t wearing a red scarf, most businesses were giving them out for free. I have 4. In Spanish, the scarf/handkerchief is known as a pañoleta, and the belt/sash is called a faja. Also, before the bulls are released into the streets in Pamplona every morning at 8am, the runners gather together to ask San Fermin (The Patron Saint of Navarra after whom the festival is named) for his protection in the run. Though I was unable to see this event myself, the prayer of the runners was written on multiple signs and advertisements here in Salamanca. It reads, 

¨A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro, dándonos su bendición. Viva San Fermín. Gora San Fermin.¨

Though parts of this prayer might be colloquial Spanish that I don´t fully understand, a rough translation is, ¨We ask you, Saint Fermín, by being our patron, to guide us on this path, blessing us. Long live Saint Fermín.¨ Apparently this chant is well-known in Spain, because on more than one occasion I heard Spaniards united in repeating these lines. Then again, they might have all been reading the signs. 

This place is truly a cultural paradise. I miss America, but having seen these millennium-old traditions and having lived through a few chapters of modern Spanish history has been amazing. It really makes you look at your home country differently and to question yourself and your traditions and beliefs. I like to think that´s the point. I wouldn´t say that I am a dramatically changed person, but I can definitely say that living outside of the USA, even for a short time, offers unique perspectives impossible to attain without leaving. Pardon me for suddenly speaking generally, but I suppose I´m beginning to grow nostalgic as my time in Europe draws to a close. For whatever it´s worth, I´m taking it all in as much as I can. 

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Posted by at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brent Graham '09 - I apologize for the delay in getting this posted. I had midterms this week and had to study and finish a paper. Sunday, however, I visited the crown jewel of Granada, its claim to fame. When a Grenadino introduces himself, it is sure to come up when you tell them you’ve never heard of Granada. Last but not least it is a lasting reminder of the Arab and Islamic heritage that many Spaniards, especially from the south, would not see otherwise. I am talking of course about the Alhambra. We also visited the General Life which is not pronounced like it looks (pronounced: Hen-er-al Leaf-A or with IPA [ xe ne 'ral 'li fe ] )

The General Life is the white building above and the reddish brick building that takes up the rest of the photo is the Alhambra

The history of the Alhambra is linked with the geographical place where it is located: Granada. On a rocky hill that is difficult to access, on the banks of the River Darro, protected by mountains and surrounded by woods, among the oldest quarters in the city, the Alhambra rises up with reddish tones in its ramparts that prevent the outside world from seeing the delicate beauty they enclose. The red color of the clay in the walls is also the origin of its name. In Arabic it is Al-Ħamrā' or literally "the red".

Originally designed as a military area by the third Ziri king, the Alhambra became the residence of royalty and of the court of Granada in the middle of the thirteenth century, after the establishment of the Nasrid kingdom and the construction of the first palace, by the founder king Mohammed ibn Yusuf ben Nasr, better known as Alhamar.

Throughout the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the fortress became a citadel with high ramparts and defensive towers. There are three main areas: the military area, or Alcazaba, the barracks of the royal guard, the palaces including the famous Nasrid Palaces and the remains of the houses of noblemen and plebeians who lived there, and the medina ore the administrative zone of the palace which is now in ruin. The Charles V Palace (which was built after the city was taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492) is also in the medina. In reality the Alhambra is a small city within what was the city of Granada. Within the walls there were also homes for 2-3000 residents. When the Catholic Monarchs took over it was converted into palatial gardens.

The complex of monuments also has an independent palace opposite the Alhambra, surrounded by orchards and gardens, which was where the Granadine kings relaxed: the Genera Life.

The only bad thing about the trip was that one of the most famous courts in the Alhambra was under construction, The Court of the Lions. The court gets its name because there is a giant fountain in the middle with lions holding up the basin at the bottom. This is a strange feature because normally Islamic are void of any depictions of living things other than vegetation. The fountain however is in the private part of the residence so would not have been seen by many. One of my professors tells us that the lions are actually there thanks in part to a man named Samuel Ibn Nagrela, a Jew who was a minister to the Taifas Kings of Granada. The lions had been removed temporarily for study and preservation. While disappointed I still enjoyed the trip snapping around 200 photos of the amazing beauty of this historical gem. Though I can not post them all here I have included a few of my favorites that show the beauty and detail in the decoration of the Alhambra.

This is a photo of the soldiers barracks in the Alcazab.  In the lower left corner there were once baths.

The tile in the center is the slogan of one of the Nazarid Kings and translated it means "Only God is the victor".  There is tile work like all over the Alhambra in squares as well as in these geometric patterns.

One of the pools in the Nazarid Palaces.  Beautiful.

This ceiling is made of Cedar which when it was built was expensive to use because it had to be imported.  This is the ceiling in the throne room which is supposed to represent the sky over the Islamic kingdoms.

This is a part of the Court of the Lions.  The stone trough that goes toward the right is connected to the fountain with the currently missing lions.  The detail on the buildings around the fountain is intricate and beautiful though.

This is one of the gardens in the palace and example of the natural beauty that can be found.

This is one of the fountains in the General Life.  It was once more of a garden for food than for pleasure but the christian family that lived there after the fall of the islamic kings changed it to look more like the gardens of France and Italy in the early 1900's.

A beautiful covered walkway in the General Life.

That is all for now.  Thanks to all who have read and have written me about the blog.  Until I write again...

Posted by Brent Graham at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Brent Graham ’09 – I have been here for almost two weeks now and love everything about this experience. Sunday we took another paseo to the Alpujárra region of Granada in the Sierras south if the city. It was a great experience. While I didn’t much care for the drive there with its scenic drop offs that appeared to me inches from the bus tires, the cities that we passed through and stopped at were beautiful. Each was painted white and was beautiful as it sat perched on the side of the mountain. We even hiked down to a valley where glacial water had created a river. It was really cold but a lot of fun. It is also said to have healing powers. No wonder I feel so good. It was a very beautiful area.

We even got to eat a little of the local fair, and this is where for the first time culture shock began to set in. As many of you may not know Spain is famous for its ham. They have almost as many kinds of ham here as we have kinds of soft drinks back in the states. This was never more evident to me than at lunch that day. We had three courses and dessert. The first course was a soup with potatoes croutons and pieces of hard jerky like ham. The second course was a salad of tomatoes, green olives with the pits still in, a little lettuce and a bit of ham. The final course consisted of potatoes and you guessed it ham. This time there were two different kinds of ham, the jerky ham like what we had earlier in the soup but a large slice of it and a different kind and a piece of sausage that was made of ground ham. I have never loved ham and I am less inclined to eat it now as in many of the stores and restaurants there are legs of ham hanging cured from the ceiling. The Spanish pride in and love of ham is a little much for me.

The second thing that has got to me are the hours. I am going with my group later tonight to get tapas and then go to a discotec (more on tapas at a later date). The strange thing is that we are not meeting until 23y30 or 11:30pm. That is considered early here. The discotec that we are planning on attending will not open until 3 or 4 am and then will stay open until 8 or 9 in the morning. It would help if I had time for a siesta but by the time I walk home from the school and eat, I have only about 30 minutes to nap.

The final thing that I have had to get used to here has nothing to do with the Spanish culture but with my classes. I am used to Wabash. I have had few if any women in my classes and never have they outnumbered the men. This is not the case here. In all of my classes the women outnumber the men at least two to one. In my language class there are 20 people, me and 19 women, including the professor. It is a different experience and one that I am adjusting to slowly. On the first day of classes the professor was teaching us some hand signals such as there are a lot of people here, let’s go, he/she is crazy and I have to study. The last one when translated into English is literally put my elbows to the desk. On top of this she dropped her elbows back in a motion that is very similar to a motion in the states with a completely different meaning. I had no idea how to react. All of the women including the professor laughed while I managed a weak smile. It is not what I am used to but it has its own rewards and benefits. What I will say is that it is interesting to be the one giving all the masculine thoughts and feelings on subjects. I now know how our female professors and language interns feel sometimes.

I love being here and get caught up from time to time. I will try and write again before the weekend is over. We have a trip to the Alhambra and I should have some great photos and stories to share when I return. Hasta luego.

Posted by Brent Graham at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Grant Gussman 09 - Wow, what a couple of weeks it has been. A couple of highlights keep jumping up in my mind, and I feel I should share them on the blog.  

Although I´m sure most of you have heard by now, Spain was victorious in the EuroCup competition. I can´t even begin to explain the scene I witnessed in the wake up such a monumental victory. As I wrote in a previous blog, as soon as I arrived in Spain, the EuroCup was about to start. Not being a soccer fan myself, I asked quite a few people about Spain´s chances, and I almost always got the same response: A reluctance to admit the truth, on account of national pride, but ultimately the cop-out that, ¨There are some really good teams in Europe¨. And to be fair, these preliminary assessments made sense. It´s only been two years since Italy was the World Cup champion, and soccer is more of a national pasttime to each European country than all of our professional sports combined. Besides, Spain hadn´t won a the EuroCup since 1964 and hadn´t made it past the quarterfinals since a runner-up finish in 1984. 

Enter Fernando Torres.

The blonde-haired young soccer player hardly even looks Spanish, but right now, there is no one more popular in this country. After besting an excellent field of competitors to reach the final, Spain suited up against an excellent German team led by Michael Ballack, one of the best soccer players in the world. Despite the overwhelming odds, Spain used some stunning defense and a miracle goal by Torres to become European Champions, 1-0. 

(Above: A small taste of the patriotic soccer fever that gripped Spain during Euro2008)

The next day, every single TV channel replayed the Torres goal, over and over again. I´ve probably seen it 150 times by now. But the next day was about more than the recaps of the match. The whole country seemed a little different. Everyone was a little nicer, as if they were still completely in shock. Magazines and newspapers littered the streets, all with the same headline: 

¨It´s not a dream. It´s reality. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!¨

I can´t believe how fortunate the timing of this trip was. And the good luck didn´t stop there.

Shortly after my arrival, Rafael Nadal (predictably) won the French Open easily, in straight sets over Roger Federer, the world´s #1 player. But with Wimbledon looming, most people here were saying the same thing we Americans usually say... ¨The French Open belongs to Nadal, but Federer owns Wimbledon¨. Yeah? Well so much for conventional sports wisdom this summer. As many of you probably saw, Nadal defeated Federer in the Wimbledon final last Sunday, in an epic 5-set match. Although the excitement here couldn´t quite match the EuroCup final, people were definitely paying attention. And when Rafa won the final set, the country started the celebration all over again.

I guess what I´m saying is that I think I´m good luck for Spain. 

One other recent happening worth mentioning is that, for the first time in my life, I wasn´t home with my family on the 4th of July. You´d probably think that they don´t celebrate the 4th of July, since it´s an American independence celebration, but they do. Well, to be more specific, a lot of places here cater heavily to American tourists, so there were American flags on several bars, restaurants, stores, etc. I really missed home at one point when (and I´m not making this up) I saw an enormous American flag draped over the entrance to an Irish bar, in Spain, and the workers were out front handing out American flags that said ¨Made in China¨.  Talk about a multicultural experience.

That´s all I have for now, but I´ll try to get another entry up soon. As always, thanks to everyone who is reading!

Posted by at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brent Graham '09 - I have not posted in five days but for me the time has flown by. I have been very busy and though the schedule and the surface culture were a little difficult to get used to, now that I am living with a host family I feel like I’m just another person living on the streets of Granada. Though I still have some communication problems with tense, vocabulary and dialectic words and phrases, I am faring much better than on my first night in the city.

I have seen a lot of the city on foot and, after three days of walking, my feet are really sore. The students tell me it will get better by the end of the week. We have taken three ‘paseos’ trips or outings, and are scheduled to take a fourth tomorrow. The first of these “tours” was to familiarize us with some of the most important locations for us in the city. We were shown how to find the Arcadia office, the different points of departure for our other paseos, the bus station for trips we might want to take on our own and where to buy anything we could want or need while we are here. It was a great trip and helped me to see more of the beauty this city has to offer. I have included some pictures below.

* Interesting side note for you bargain shoppers out there. The end of July and the month of August are an interesting time to shop in Granada. All of the stores are trying to clear their inventory for the new materials that will arrive in September and so that the stores can remodel or redecorate to sell the new product better. This means ‘REBEJAS PARA EL MUNDO’ or discounts for everyone (here todo el mundo usually means everyone or spaniards, interesting Ithought it meant the whole world?). I needed to buy a pair of sandals and found that most stores normally sell them for 40-80€. During this time of the year though, I found them for 12€. Though that is 19$ at home it is a really good deal for Granada.

The second paseo was to the Albaicín. This is the neighborhood where I shot the photo of the Alhambra a few weeks back. It is a historically Arab community and the location of a lot of the historically significant sites in Granada. There you can see a ‘carmen’ or summer home, the home of the secretary of the catholic kings which is now the archeological museum, the gardens of the archives and the sis tern that helped Granada avoid being affected by the different diseases that plagued Europe in the middle ages. It is an amazing place but if you want to go do not go between 2 and 5. These are the hours of the siesta and the only people walking the streets are the tourists. The beauty is in the old world feel, but because the streets in the Albaicín are so narrow, tourists are frequently mugged there. Again this is only during siesta so go in the morning (around 9 or 10). It is cooler and it makes the trip much more enjoyable. I have also included some pictures of the Albaicín below.

The final paseo I took with some students from my group. We traveled by bus to Salobreño which is a small town on the edge of the Mediterranean. It literally covers a hill giving the impression that the buildings in the middle of town are taller than those on the edge of town. The ocean was beautiful and there were a lot of low clouds which gave the effect of fog but it was still a bright and sunny day. The water was also crystal clear and you had no problem seeing 15 feet. If we go again we are going to try and get a pair of goggles to hunt for rocks. The beach is not a sand beach but is made of pebbles and there are some amazing rocks to be found buried or resting on the ocean floor. On the way back to catch the bus we stopped at the municipal park which doubled as a park and a small zoo. It was a fun excursion but also the biggest culture shock of the trip so far. The beach is not a nude beach. There were however many naked children running around. Also there were a high number of topless women sunbathing, swimming and walking along the beach. Again, I have included pictures, but only of the beach and my group.

 This is a fountain near the Puente Blanco and is called the pomegranate fountain.  In Spanish, Fuente de Granada.  Yes, Granada means pomegranate.

This is the Casa de Castril I mentioned above.  This is the first house of its kind built in Granada by a Christian.  It causes a raucous because of the intricate detail on the outside of the house.

This is the Garden of one of Carmen de Victoria.  It is a carmen owned by the college.  The garden in a carmen is both for pleasure and for food.

This is the sis tern.  It was built by an islamic king as part of his desire to improve the city and the quality of life for its people.

This is a beautiful view of the Mediterranean and its surrounding landscape.

I’m sure that I will have more to write about soon with all that we have planed for the next couple of days. Escribiré pronto. Hasta la vista.

Posted by Brent Graham at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)