Mi Último Día En España

How does one even begin to take four months of adventures and friends and a new home and say goodbye? You don't. Thankfully we are blessed with memories  to keep the good and bad times close and friends, if they are friends will never leave you. I have been blessed with both in my time here in my second home Granada, Spain. I can remember back to the week before I left for Spain. Then I was feeling the same way I am now. I was nervous about coming here. It would be a new country, full of new people that don't speak the same language as I do. I was not ready to say goodbye to my job, my friends and my family. Yet when I got here, God put my mind at ease. I was instantly assured that I was making the right decision by being here. I was blessed to be placed into a home with a mother that loved me and treated me as her own son without even knowing me. I was able to attend a school where they looked after my needs and cared about how I was adjusting to a new lifestyle and country. I took classes that fostered my interests in the culture and language in which I was living in. I was able to meet 80+ amazing Americans that were feeling the same way I was. From them, I was blessed to make friends and even best friends that I will never forget. We spent time together growing as individuals and as a group. We learned more about the culture and language then we ever could have done back in the United States. We learned how each other worked and how to tell when one of us was having a bad day and how to cheer each other up. We gained spanish friends that we incorporated into our group. These amazing people taught us about their lifestyles and what it means to be a "Granadino". We had the opportunity to meet other people from all over Europe and Africa that we became friends with as well. We traveled throughout two continents and multiple countries. We gained experiences that are invaluable. 

So how do you take four months of memories and friends and say goodbye? You don't. You look back through this long hallway that has lead you through the land of opportunity and you watch this do close only to see a new and better one opening ahead of you. Do you stand there wishing for the old door to open up and contemplating being static and not walking through this new door? No. Instead you take what life has given you, memories and friends and you march through that door. You march through it knowing that you are a bigger and better person and that you are blessed by having spent time behind this first door. You keep your memories and friends close in hopes of making new ones and new adventures. Life is full of doors that you can either open or close. I am thankful that I chose to open " la puerta a España", for this door has lead me to many wonderful things. Now I cannot wait to see what new door God will place in front of me. I cannot wait to see what blessings lie ahead. 

Spain has treated me well and there comes a time when one must say goodbye. But not in Spain, you never say goodbye, not even on your death bed, because hopefully one day we will all be reunited in Heaven. Instead you say "Hasta Luego", because we will see each other again. So in the fashion of a granadino I say, hasta luego IES. Hasta luego España. Hasta luego my second home. Hasta luego mis amigos. 

Nathan Kelley December 19, 2012 IES Abroad Granada, Spain 

Lovin' London!

I cannot believe how I have let time get the best of me. It feels just like yesterday that I was getting off the plane in London staring wide eyed and giggling like a little kid at all of the people and their funny accents! Sadly it has been about three weeks since I was in London, but I still remember all of it so everyone else can enjoy in the time I spent there as well!

November 22, 2012

It was Thanksgiving Day when my friends: Rob, Travis, Neda, Ola, and I left Granada around 2:00 pm to head out to London!!! While everyone back home was engorging in turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and other Thanksgiving traditions, we were sitting in the bus station enjoying Bocadillos of ham and sausage and mandarin oranges! We ended up having to take 3 buses a taxi and an airplane to get to our hostel in London; it ended up being a 13 hour trip. Least to say, we were exhausted.

November 23, 2012

This was really our first day in London. We awoke around 8:30 that morning and had breakfast in our hostel. Our hostel, Acacia was in South Kensington. This area was absolutely beautiful. Our hostel looked out onto the National History Museum and was just down the road from Harrods, one of the world’s most famous department stores. We lucked out and were in a really nice neighborhood. The area was very posh and a little expensive for our tastes, but was still neat to see the men and women walking about in their suits and fur coats and driving their Ferrari’s and other luxury sports cars. I have never seen so many different Ferrari’s, BMW’s or Mercedes just parked casually on the street.

Our first activity of the day was to go and visit the National History Museum. This was a pretty neat museum. Not much different from other history museums, lots of bones, stuffed animals and insects and well history! After the history museum we went of in search of the Tube as the Londoners call it, but it was just the city subway system. This was my first time on a subway; I quite enjoyed it. We were riding on the district line. It felt like I was on the Hunger Games, riding the District Line flying buy all of the different stops. Our first stop off of the tube was to go to Trafalgar Square. Right in the middle of the square were these huge lion statues, which everyone was climbing on top of for pictures. We stayed in the square for a while taking pictures then made our way off to find lunch. We happened to stumble across a Chipotle down a cool side street. My meal ended up costing me about 9£ which in our dollars was around $15, that was definitely the most expensive rice and chicken I have ever had from a Chipotle, but it was worth it!

After lunch we went in search of a restaurant that Ola’s mother had worked at when she was our age and touring the world. Along the way there we met a lady who worked at a frozen yogurt place called Snog, and she gave us free samples, it was actually pretty good. We came to find out that the restaurant no longer existed but we were still able to take some pictures of where it used to be in Covent Square. There in Covent Square we shopped around a little. I got to go into a Burberry store, the clothes in there were amazing and a little over what I wanted to pay, one belt would have cost 180£ or $291. After Burberry we went out side to the market place where there was this giant Christmas tree and reindeers. There were also lots of street performers. The neatest part was the Apple Market with home made sweets and drinks and hand made trinkets, as well as a Jamie Oliver restaurant.

Next we took off to go find Big Ben and Parliament. Along the way we stopped along the river and took pictures of the London Eye and the area surrounding it. We didn’t get to go up in the London Eye because it was too expensive. Right across the river from the eye is Big Ben and Parliament. We didn’t go into Parliament cause we were cheap and didn’t feel like paying for it, but instead we took pictures outside of it. Next to Parliament was also Westminster Abby which we took lots of pictures as well. After this stop we went to go see Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately the guards were not out side the gates, so we were not able to have a picture of them. But the palace and the surrounding grounds were beautiful.  The next part of the day was one of my favorites. As we were walking to the tube station we found a mall that had a GAP inside. So while my friends went off for coffee I went shopping lol. I only bought a jacket because things were expensive there, but I did have a good time getting to talk with the manager of the store there.

Once we made it to the tube station we rode up north up into town and stopped at a very special place, Platform 9 ¾. For those of you who do not know Platform 9 ¾ is were Harry Potter and his friends catch the train to Hogwarts! So of course we all had to stop and get a picture. From there we went and spent the rest of our evening in Camden Town, which is similar to a college town. My friends all wanting to have Tai food for dinner, but because I’m rather selective in my cuisine I went to Tennessee Land Chicken and had pizza for dinner. With a name like that I knew I couldn’t go wrong. After dinner we met a friend of Neda’s that goes to school in London and spent the night hanging out with her.

November 24, 2012

            On our second day in London we woke up and had breakfast and we were off to the tube station. We began our morning with trying to find this Harley-Davidson store in London. The Warr’s Harley-Davidson store is the oldest Harley-Davidson store in Europe. This took up a good part of our morning, so by the time we were done there we were ready for lunch. We went and found a small café similar to a Panera on Fleet Street (Sweeny Todd!) and had lunch. After lunch we walked across the Millennium Bridge and went and saw the Tate Modern Museum. This place was really neat. It had a lot of exhibits of sculptures, paintings, videos and interactive art. After the Tate we went next door and saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. We then went back across the bridge and saw the outside of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It had been raining quite a lot that day so we found a quaint little coffee shop and went in and had tea and muffins and dried off for a while. After that back to the tube and off we went to go see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridges. These were two really cool places to see. We arrived there too late in the day to actually go into the Tower of London, but we still had a good time getting to see the outside and taking pictures.

After the Tower of London we went and saw Harrods Department Store. That store was unlike any other store I have ever been in. It was I believe a 6-floor building. The store or giant mall as I like to think of it isn’t set up like ours in the U.S. with a central walk way with stores on both sides. No this department store is one big square. You walk out of one area and you are right in the next. This place had a store/section for everything. There were sections for jewelry, watches, wine, meats, shoes, clothes, sporting equipment, a animal spa, fountain pens, cafes, tea, restaurants, tattoo parlor, Disney store and even an art gallery where the most expensive item was this crystal bull head that was 900,000£ or $1,452,150! This place went all out! After Harrods, we headed back to the hostel and took a nap. Between the rain and the long day of touring we were pretty tired. After our nap we decided to go out and find someplace for dinner in our neighborhood. We figured 10o’clock isn’t to late to head out to dinner. But apparently we were out late for dinner. We had gotten so accustomed to Spain where you go out to dinner around 10 or 11 that we forgot that most people don’t eat that late. But thankfully we found a restaurant that let us come in and we all had burgers and chips for dinner.

November 25, 2012

            This was our last day in London. We did not have too much time to do any site seeing since our flight was leaving at 4. But we did get to ride one of the double-decker buses and ride around town for a bit. Then we stopped off at a café and had coffee and I had a Honeycomb Hot Chocolate while we waited for our bus to take us to the airport. There Neda’s friend and her sister came and had coffee with us before seeing us off. We then headed off to the airport and flew back home to Granada.

            London was an amazing adventure. I absolutely loved the city and the people. They were so friendly and had amazing accents! The way the city ran and functioned was so neat. There is so much history and culture and tourism. There was not a garbage can anywhere to be found on the streets and likewise there was no. It was just a very clean place for a large city. I loved the time I spent there and I hope that someday I can get to come back to London. Even before going I had thought about going to grad school there. Now after visiting London I would love to even more, but we will have to see what God has in store for me!

Now I am sitting here in my room in Granada thinking back on the semester and seeing how I only have 6 more days here. Time has gone by so fast! I will hopefully have one more post for everyone summing up my time here.

           

So until then!

 Nathan

Weekend trip to Africa? No biggie!

I cannot even begin to describe my time in Africa. It was unlike any other trip that I have ever taken. I am so thankful for the opportunity that IES Abroad has provided us with. This was not your average site seeing trip where we stayed in luxurious hotels and had meals in fancy restaurants, no this was the real Morocco! To begin my accounts of Africa, "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start". 

Thursday November 1: Around 8:30 am we left Granada and drove about 4 hours to our hotel in Línea, Spain. We spent the afternoon in Gibraltar which was only a 30 minute walk from our hotel. Getting into Gibraltar was my first time getting to cross a land border. Gibraltar, even tho it is in the South of Spain, is actually a British Colony. Gibraltar is a small peninsula of about 2.6 miles with about 30,000 people living there. In Gibraltar we boarded mini buses and had a tour from a British man. He took us out to the coast and showed us the muslim mosque, the light house and even a small area for the Jews. Thankfully we had a clear enough day in which we were able to see the mountains of Africa, which are only about 9 miles from the coast of Europe. After sightseeing along the coast our guide drove us up along the Rock of Gibraltar and we went spelunking in the caves. In the caves there are more tunnels than there are actual roads in Gibraltar. Most of these tunnels have the capacity for vehicles, since Gibraltar used to be a military base for Great Britain. After our quick stop for spelunking, we continued up the mountain to spend some quality time with Monkeys!!! These monkeys are so used to people they will climb right on top of your head and sit there. I had some pretty good conversations with them, they are a good group of monkeys :) I was not able to get them to hop on to me but a couple of them held my hand and grabbed on to me. After our time with the monkeys we went back down to the main square in Gibraltar and had time to shop before we all met up to have dinner at an British Pub. My group of friends decided not to do dinner with everyone since we would be spending the next 5 days with them and instead decided to have dinner at the U.S. Embassy, McDonald's! That was my first time having it since August. As good as it tasted it did not feel good to eat it. We have been so accustomed to eating healthy here and our diets and stomaches have changed, but I still managed to enjoy my cheeseburger, fry, Coke and an Oreo and Carmel McFlurry! After we were done at the Embassy we headed back to our hotel early and watched Spanish television shows and played games, overall a great way to start off our trip.

Friday November 2: We left Línea and headed to our port city of Tarifa, Spain. There we met our tour guides that would be with us all through Morocco. Our tour guide was Jess, a lady from Whales who has lived in Morocco for the last five years doing art and tour guides for Spanish students. This was also when IES separated us into our individual groups of around 20 people. We then proceeded to head through customs and board our boat to cross the Straight of Gibraltar for Africa! The boat ride was about a 45 minute trip. Thankfully I did not get sea sick! Once we arrived in Morocco we met our bus driver that would be with us during our time there. Raschid drove the blue, bubble, disco bus! He loved listening to Spanish and American pop music, so we were always rockin' out to DJ Raschid.

Our first stop for that day was a small town not to far away, Tangier, Morocco. There we visited a NGO, Darna's Women's Center. There we met two Moroccan students, Salma and Mohammed. They lead us around the center and introduced us to some of the women working there. They have a small textile room in the building where the women make blankets, rugs, shirts and other items in which they sell in their gift shop. After our tour we sat down for a discussion on women in Morocco and in Islam, and of course we enjoyed Moroccan tea and pastries. It was really interesting to learn about the women from a male and female perspective. After 9/11, for many Americans, our views on Islam and its followers were extremely negative and quite wrong. We learned that just because of one evil group of people that happen to practice the same religion does not mean that everyone who is a Muslim is a terrorist and is out to get America. These people that we talked with were extremely kind and understanding and hope to visit America someday. We also learned about the women and there culture and how there are many misconceptions about how women have to be completely submissive to their husbands and must wear a Hijab (the vail) and cover their entire body. The people we met were much more progressive. Salma did not wear the Hijab or other traditional Muslim clothing, instead she dressed very much like Europeans or Americans. For her she said, "Just because the Quran says that a woman is supposed to dress modestly and cover up does not mean that she must adorn in clothing that her ancestors wore. You can still be modest today in normal clothing and still be following the Quran's teachings. Some people take things way to literally and try to use the Quran as a way to suppress women". As a woman in Morocco she said that she has many rights that women in the Middle East can only dream of such as voting or driving a car.  Morocco is a much more open country and is less strict on their beliefs. It was nice to see the others side of Islam where women do have rights and do not have to live their lives in daily fear of the men. 

After our time at the Darana's Women's Center, we headed around the town and through the local market place to by some snacks for the bus. The market place was interesting. There were tons of booths of spices, fruits, and vegetables as well as meat and fish booths. They are not really concerned with refrigeration there. The section for the meets was basically dead and skinned animals everywhere. Chickens were hanging from the booths, there were whole legs of cows on the counters and fish displayed in bins all waiting to be bought. It really was not a pretty sight, it smelled terrible and you had to watch where you walked so you were not walking in the animals blood and who knows what else.  After the market we got back on our bus and headed to our next town of Asilah, Morocco. Along the way we had to make a camel stop and it was here that we got to ride the camels along the beach. This was so fun and such an exciting experience to have. It was not easy getting on the camel. They start out kneeling on the ground and you have to hold on extremely tight. They get up with their back legs first so you have to hold on and arch your back or you would be almost horizontal with the ground until they bring their front legs up. The same goes for getting off the camel, only front legs go down first. After our camel ride we were off to Asilah. We were only in Asilah long enough to see the old Portuguese fort and eat lunch. Then we were off to Rabat where we would meet our host families and stay there for two days. 



Friday night around 8:30 we made it to our host city of Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco. Our house was situated in the old medina. A medina is a walled city with all of the houses and markets inside of it. Our house took 10 minutes to reach and we went through so many different turns and streets that it was terribly hard to know where you were, and there are no street names. But I eventually figured out my way around the city.  In my house there were three of us from IES Granada: my friends Rob and Travis and myself. Our host family had a husband and wife that were probably late 30's, theri cousin Hadija and an exchange student from Norway. The dad had lived in New York for 5 years so he spoke good English. His wife could speak some English and Eric, the exchange student knew English as well, but the cousin did not. That night we had a big dinner of Cous Cous and mint tea. The family was extremely hospitable and kept trying to get us to eat, and eat, and eat! The way the house was set up was you have the living/dinning/bedroom in one area. There were these extremely elaborate benches that lined the entire room and there was a table in the center. It was here where we ate and slept. 

Saturday November 3: The next morning we woke up to Hadija, making toast and jam and mint tea for breakfast. After breakfast she took us back to our meeting point. Our group met back up and heading back out with DJ Raschid in the blue, bubble, disco bus. Our first stop that day was to a small part of Rabat that had the ruins of an old mosque as well as the mausoleum for the late king Mohammed V. After this part we headed to another NGO, Hope for Sale. This organization focused on helping out the poor that lived in the shanty towns throughout Rabat. They had classrooms full of computers and books where they taught the English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Computer to kids that could not afford to go to school. Here we also had the opportunity to meet three Moroccans who were volunteers at the center. We had another group discussion, but this time it was more geared to politics and issues within Morocco and Islam. 

After our time at the NGO we headed out to a small town outside of Rabat, Chellah. Here we visited an are of ancient Roman ruins that has been turned into a place for sight seeing as well as a small park. We had a guide that took us through the ruins and explained the history of the Romans in Morocco. From there we headed back to our medina and went back home for lunch. Saturday's lunch was my favorite meal in all my time in Morocco. We had a cold rice, corn and cream salad and Tajine! Tajine is a special earthenware pot that the meal is cooked in. It was basically this rich thick tomato stew/sauce with lamb meatballs in it. We all had our pieces of bread. The way you eat in Morocco is with your right had (the left hand is considered dirty) and you take the bread and dip it in the Tajine, you do not use utensils. They believe in communal eating there. It was a really fun experience! After lunch I and my friends managed to navigate our way throughout the streets back to our meeting place where we met a large group of local Moroccan students who took us in small groups around their beautiful town. This was a lot of fun getting to spend time with Moroccans our own age and getting to learn about cultural differences. 

That evening we got to experience one of the neatest activities that I have ever participated in, an Arab Bath House. The men and women go to different bath houses. All of the guys went to the baths and we had one our the Moroccan students as our guide. Once you get there you strip down to your underwear grab a big bucket, soap, and a Kiss, which is a rough scrubbing glove. The bath house has three rooms. You enter in the cold room first and then the medium and finally the hot room. In the hot room is a giant fountain with taps of hot water here you fill up your bucket and sit in the hot steamy room for about 10 minutes to let your body sweat our impurities. Then you move on to the medium heated room where everyone is sitting on the ground with the buckets, soap and kisses scrubbing away at their bodies. You could have payed a man about 30 Moroccan Dirham to scrub you, three of our guys did, I decided to wash myself. So you basically just sit there on the ground scrubbing away at your body till your skin is bright red. You know you are getting a good clean when as the Arabs call them, black snakes, are on your skin. This means that you have been scrubbing so hard that the Kiss is falling apart. After you have gotten a good scrub it's off to the coolest room to rinse off and relax for a while. After the Arab Bath House we headed to one of the girls home stays where we all received Henna tattoos. The house that we went to was the house of one of the IES Abroad Rabat girls that was in my group when they were in Granada. 

Sunday November 4: Once again we woke up to Hadija making toast and tea. This was our last time with our Moroccan family. We had such a wonderful time there. Once we packed up our stuff and got to the meeting point we were on our way to our next destination. We drove about 2 1/2 hours till we stopped in a small town were we stopped for tea and coffee and supplies. I went with our tour guide Jess into the town market to buy bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables. After our little rest stop we were on the road again. We were making our way to a small rural village up in the Rif Mountains of Morocco. This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip to Morocco. DJ Rashid and the blue, bubble, disco bus could only make it so far up the mountain so we had to hike the rest of the journey up. After about a 20 minute walk up the mountain we made it to a house where there was a family waiting to allow us in to have lunch with them and to stay there for the day with them. We had to have a translator with us because the family could only speak Arabic. 

When we got there the girls of our group went with the mother and began using the fruits and vegetables we brought to make a big salad. The boys went off to play soccer with the children of our family and some other of the kids in the village. I was the photographer for the group since our tour guide did not want all 20 of us walking around snapping photos of everything. ( I have yet to publish these photos on Facebook) Once the salad was ready when went to this big concrete room with pillows all over the ground where we sat and ate our salad and the Cous Cous that the mother had prepared for us. After the meal we all went around in a circle and shared with the family our names, where we are from, what we study, and our hobbies.      
Then we asked the family general questions about their life and the village. Finally the father, Mohammed took us on a walk up around the mountains showing us his land that he farms and the rest of the village below. It was a really neat experience getting to spend time with the family in rural Morocco. They had electricity and very little running water and for the bathroom it was a big hole in the ground. So when you were done using the bathroom you grabbed a bucket and went to the hose and filled it with water and dumped it in the hole, this served as their flushing system. Mohammed and his family have been living on this land for many generations and he hopes that one day one of his sons would like to take over the farm. They were extremely humble and generous people, and all of the kids were really fun too even thou we could not understand a word anyone was saying. 

Once we left the village we were on our way to our final destination, Chefchaouen, Morocco. Chefchaouen is a city that is nestled into the Rif Mountains. This was my favorite city that we went to in Morocco. The houses are all painted white and blue and are stacked up together all along the mountains and valleys. When we got there it was dark and pouring rain. We made our way to our hostel and got our rooms and then we had two hours of free time to go shopping in the village. The nice thing about Morocco is how cheap it is to buy things there. Once Euro is equal to ten Moroccan Dirham. When you go shopping the price that you see is about double of what you should pay, so you have to barter with the people to get a good price. Thankfully the people there spoke Spanish or we would have been completely lost. I was able to get some pretty good deals, I cannot say what I bought since they are all Christmas gifts for people!  But it was a lot of fun getting to meet the different venders and bargaining for the best price. After our little shopping spree we went to Aladdin, a Moroccan restaurant where I had a vegetable and cheese salad, Tajine, and fruit salad. 

After dinner we went back to our hostel and all gathered around on the couches on the top floor. We sat there by candle light and shared our experiences of the trip, our favorite parts, things we learned, and how we were going to help and set straight negative stereotypes about Islam, muslims and other groups. This was always one of my favorite parts of a group trip, and apparently others noticed it since I was the most comfortable and I talked a lot lol but I had learned a lot and had a lot to be thankful for. At the end of our discussion our guide Jess gave us all leather bracelets that she had bought as well as Arabic soap made with perfume. Then it was off to bed, because with the next day came a lot of traveling. 

Monday November 5: Some of us in our group woke up really early with our tour guide and decide to hike up the mountain to one of the highest points in Chefchaouen to see the sunrise. Unfortunately it was an overcast and rainy day. We still had a really good hike up the mountain. At the top was a small mosque where sat above the city and read some poetry that reflected on our time in Morocco. Overall it was a really neat morning. We then made the hike back down and we out to breakfast. We had cornbread with apricot jam and crepes with honey and mint tea. After breakfast we packed up, left the hostel and took the bus to our border town of Ceuta, Spain. Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain that is on the coast of Morocco. There they DJ Rashid left us and we walked across the Morocco and Spanish border and then we boarded our boat and headed back to Spain! 

Reflection: Overall I was really thrilled with this trip. It is something that I will never forget. I will always have tons of memories, experiences and photos (since I took 700 there). I learned many new things about Islam and Muslims and their culture and lifestyle. The way these people believe and practice their faith is encouraging to see. Even if we do not believe the same beliefs it is nice to see their dedication and their faith, if only the rest of the world could believe in God they way these people believe in Allah. I got to grow closer to the people in my group since we basically lived together for five days. We formed many friendships that will hopefully last when this semester ends in December and we all have to head back to the United States. I learned things about myself that hopefully I can remember in life and just how to be a better person in general. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Spain has for me. And I am even more excited to be coming home! 

So hopefully I will have another blog up for everyone soon as I do something fun and exciting! Only two more weeks and I am off to London. I will definitely have a post then!

Hasta Luego, Nathan :)

Playing Catch-up

So it has been about a month since I have posted and given everyone an update. I figure this lazy, cold (54ºF) sunday afternoon is a perfect opportunity to catch everyone up on my life. 

These last couple of weeks have been fun. I have gone to two different Flamenco concerts that were amazing. Every week the University of Granada hosts different types of concerts and events that are free. The one that I went to was done by a gypsy family from Sacramonte (a little gypsy village of Granada). Unfortunately I only had my phone with me so the photos are kinda blurry. The father and one son did the singing, the other son played the guitar, and the mom and two daughters did the dancing. If you have never gone to a real traditional flamenco show before, it is deffinetlly something to put on your bucket list. When the performers are singing and dancing you can feel the power and the emotions eminating from them or as the Spanish call it Dueñde.

The other concert was completely different. This one was not put on by the university. Instead we went up into the Albaicín into this small building with enough room for about 15 people. Instead of having the flamenco dancers and the costumes, it was a more intimate setting. There was one man who played the guitar and a female singer. Her voice was beautifully haunting as she sang songs of the gypsy past. The flamenco style of music is unlike any other. When they begin to sing you feel as if they are almost wailing in sorrow, yet the audience is clapping and shouting Guapa, and other terms of encouragement and enjoyment. It really is something special to see. I also had the opportunity to see a Spanish Jazz concert. There was a pianist, bass guitarist, accordion player and the female singer. She was quite entertaining, coming out with a big cigaret in her mouth asking for whiskey and flirting with the crowd while she sang. It was a different show; still enjoyable but I think I will stick with flamenco. 

Every monday night is an English trivia night. A group of IES students usually go every week and we have made friends with another team that is composed of Erasmus students from England, Scotland, and Ireland. We have a lot of fun getting to hang out with them. Usually we do pretty well at trivia except these last couple of weeks the questions have been more geared to England and the rest of Europe. Our European friends do really well even with questions about America. I think this really shows how as Americans we tend to be wrapped up in our own little world and do not know or take interest into what is happening around us. I think being here in Spain, where they tend to know everything that is going on, has showed me that It might be important to know what is going on in the world around me. When I got here I knew nothing about Spain and their economy and who their current and past Kings/leaders are. However; my host family knew all about our presidential election and could talk about issues on the ballots. It is amazing how other people take a concern in what happens in other countries. So far this has been a good experience for opening my eyes to the world around me. 

Yesterday morning a group of my friends and I went to, Parque de las Ciencias, or the Science Park here in Granada. It was a really neat exhibit. We started out in an area that touched on all the different body parts and the different systems in the body. In each area were different activities that went along with the bodies. My favorite was this game where you and a partner each put your foreheads against a metal bar and tried to relax. The object was that whoever could move a ball that was in-between us to the other persons goal they were the most relaxed. The metal bar would monitor your brain waves and the less activity you had going on the more you moved the ball. The guide that taught us about the activity showed us that when you talked to one of the participants you could see on a monitor that their brain waves spiked and the ball went in the other direction causing them to lose, it was really neat. 


Next to the exhibit about the body was an exhibit more geared to children, but of course I throughly  enjoyed it. It was all about puppets and how they worked. There were all different types from hand puppets to shadow puppets, even how to create puppets out of clay and other materials. There was also an exhibit all about electricity but we did not have time to look at this one. Out side of the exhibits is a park area in which they had all different types of owls, hawks, falcons, and vultures as well as a butterfly exhibit. There was also an outdoor play ground that taught all about kinetic energy and different types of solar, wind and water energy. In one corner of the park is a big tower that we got to go to that overlooked part of Granada. I was able to see the roof of our apartment building from the tower. There were a couple of other exhibits as well as a theater and a planetarium to see but it was time to head home for siesta. I plan on going back another day to try and see the rest of it. 

This weekend staying in Granada is the group of IES Abroad kids that are studying in Rabat Morocco (where I will be heading to on Thursday!!!). There were four of us that met up with the group of about 20 students and we each took five and split off and took them to our favorite tapas place. We had a really good time. I took them to a place called Poe which has really good rice dishes as well as kebabs. After there I took my group through some of the streets and different plazas and gave them a little history about the place and then we went and found a gelato shop and we all had gelato. Since my group was all girls, they wanted to know where was some good places to go shop. We went on a little tour of the main road where all the big name and expensive stores are so they can come back on monday and shop. I then took my group for a night stroll along the river and up into part of the Albaicín so they could see they Alhambra at night. We ended up running into a group of my friends and some other people from the Rabat group that were heading dancing and of course my girls wanted to go as well. They were telling me that life in Rabat is completely different than the US or here in Spain. The girls are not allowed to go out for safety reasons. They have to be home before dark. Men are more free and able to do as the please but for the women there are a lot more rules and they have to take more precautions. So this was there first night out past 9 since being in the US. After a while of dancing my friend and I walked them back to their hotel. They will have some free time on monday so we are going to meet up with them and take them out for some traditional Spanish food, Paella!

After spending time with the group form Morocco I am really excited to be going. We leave in four days and will be there for five. All I know is that we get to experience staying with a host family there. We will not be able to shower for three days. But we do get to go experience an Arab bathhouse. The girls were saying this is normal for them to go to and be bathed. You do not get to bathe your self. Someone literally scrubs you down and gets rid of all dead skin and you also get a massage and get to relax in a steam room as well. This should be pretty fun and a neat experience. We also get to go ride camels, which I am really excited for. I do not have my orientation till monday night so I do not really know all of the details yet, but when I get back on monday I will hopefully have a post and pictures ready for everyone on tuesday. 

¡Hasta Martes!
Nathan 

Seville, Spain

Last Friday and Saturday was our group trip to Ronda and Seville Spain. I decided to split the trip into two posts so they would not be so long. This post is all about my time in Seville!
We left Ronda around 3 on Friday afternoon and took a 2 hour bus ride to get to Seville. Once we got to Seville they gave us free time to either tour a museum, take a bike tour around town, or to chill in the hotel pool. I opted for the rooftop pool. Sadly I did not bring my camera with me, but the views from the roof of the city were amazing. Seville is a huge city with stunning architecture. We chilled in the pool for about an hour and then showered up for dinner. A big group of us decided to go out and find this Cuban restaurant called Habanita, for dinner. Once we got there most of us just ended up ordering lasagna. So we had Italian food from a Cuban restaurant and the lasagna was pretty good. 

Reales Alcázares de Seville

After dinner as a whole group we went to this old building with an inner courtyard/patio that had been turned into a stage. We were given a private showing of Flamenco! It was such a unique experience. There was just one man playing the Spanish guitar and one man singing. The female dancer was extreme, as well as the male when he came out to dance. The Flamenco is such an interesting dance. The dancers dance together without ever touching but you can feel the passion and tension between the two of them. Once the flamenco show was over we were left to explore the city. My group just decided to hit up Starbucks and head to bed, it had been a long day and we were going to have another one on Saturday.

Gardens of the Palace

Gardens of the Palace

Saturday morning we woke up and had a big buffet breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for a tour of the Reales Alcázares de Seville,  the Royal Alcazar palace in Seville. The Alcazar is the oldest royal palace that is still in use in all of Europe. The upper levels of the place are still used as the residence in Seville for the royal family of Spain. Surrounding the palace are the palace gardens. There are many different types of plants, fountains, sculptures, and even a small hedge maze within the gardens.  

Once we left the palace we were off to see the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See or better known as the Cathedral of Seville. The cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral and third largest church in the world. Girlada is the large bell tower in the cathedral. You are able to climb up to the top of it and overlook the rest of the cathedral and Seville. The views from here are amazing! This was our last stop on our tour of Seville. We had a little free time to grab lunch and then it was time for a 3 hour bus ride back to our home, Granada!

View from La Giralda 

La Giralda

Ronda, Spain

I know that you all have been dying to know what has been happing in my life. Sorry for being slow on the updates, life is crazy in Granada. Let's go back to my adventures of last weekend. Friday morning around 7:45 we left for Ronda & Seville, two extremely beautiful cities in Spain. Ronda was our first stop and it  has some amazing views! You can see for miles around out into the olive fields and to the mountains. We split into small little tour groups and walked around the town. I went with the program director, Javier and he took us down the mountain side to see a special view looking up to the town. It was a little bit of a hike but it was well worth it. We got to look up at one of the three famous bridges. This one is El Puente Nuevo which means new bridge. On the one side of the bridge is a a river that flows towards it. If you look over the other side the water comes through as a small waterfall heading to the valley below. It is so pretty. The was here was crystal clear even though it was a teal color.


After we did some walking around, we went toward the bottom of the town to see some old Moorish ruins. There used to be a wall surrounding the town, and at one section of the town is the ancient baths that the Moors used to use. Much of the Moorish architecture was destroyed when the Catholic monarchs took control from the Moors in the 1400's. Most of the baths are still in contact.  We were able to go down into the baths and watch a movie on how they worked. They were an extremely advanced society. They would build a fire in one room and bring in water throughout the rest to create saunas, actual baths, and rooms were they would do massages. It was a really neat sight. I believe when we go to Morocco that we will get to go to an actual bath house. I'll have to update later on how that goes, if we get to participate.

Once we left the baths we explored other parts that were left behind by the Moors. In one area of the town, beneath the king's home was a mine shaft. In the mine shaft was were the Moors would store all of their water and weapons in case of an attack. We were able to go into the mine shaft. There was well over 200 steps that we had to climb down to. At the bottom you come out of the mine and it opens up to this beautiful lake that is hidden at the bottom from the big cliffs. This was were they would keep the fresh water and weapons. 

 After we toured around the town we went back to the main plaza to a small park area and enjoyed our picnic lunches that our host moms had made for us. After lunch we all got back on the bus and drove another 2 hours to get to our next destination, Seville!

Granada: Semana Uno

This week has been a rather slow week. Every morning for 5 hours we have had orientation sessions. Basically the class was a review of Spanish vocabulary. We walked around Granada learning the names for things and how to get around town. After our morning class time we come home from about 1-5 for lunch and siesta, my favorite part of the day! Each night we had tours of different parts of the neighborhoods. 

Yesterday we got our language level assignments and our class schedule. I got placed in advanced level III out of IV, so I was pretty happy with that! This semester I will be taking my Spanish language class along with 4 others: Islamic Art and Architecture of Spain and its Impact, Imagining Andalusian Literature, Federico García Lorca and Traditional Andalusian Literature, and Islamic Civilization in Spain and North Africa until 1492. Hopefully these classes will keep me busy :) They should be fun. With the Art class, we get to take trips to the Alhambra in restricted areas and study the design concepts and art there. I will have lots of pictures! 

Usually during the nights a group of us go out around 9 or 10 and hit up different cafés for food. The tapas here are so good! I have tried so many different foods. Some of my favorites are un bocadillo de lomo and queso, a sandwich of cheese the back meat of a pig usually. I also had creama de clabaza y tortelini, basically pumpkin mac n cheese! This was so good and much healthier. You have your regular macaroni noodles and then you cream a pumpkin and use that as your sauce, so good! And last night I had pork and pineapple skewers. I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me but I need to start taking pictures of the food so everyone can see how good it is!

That is basically what has happened this week. Hopefully some fun things will happen this weekend so I can update everyone. But until then,
¡Hasta Luego!
Nathan