Eres para mí, Granada

¿Qué tal chicos?
I've been meaning to post for a while, but I haven't had the chance. Hope you are doing well wherever you are. So what's new, you ask? Well, thanks for asking...

Last weekend, I went to Sevilla with my program (see picture at left). It's a really cool city. Very pretty and clean. We saw the the Reales Alcazares, the Sevilla Cathedral (the oldest Gothic cathedral in the world), and the Plaza de España. The tower in the picture is called La Giralda, and used to be a minaret, but now serves as the bell tower for the cathedral. Southern Spain was all about converting Moorish mosques into Catholic churches.
And I watched my first flamenco show. As difficult as it was to get excited about watching a dance show, it was actually really cool.

Before we left, we rented pedal boats on the Guadalquivir River. It was a really interesting way to see the city. We left from the Torre de Oro, where Spain stored much of its treasure from the New World, in the center of the city and headed outwards until we hit the more modern outskirts of the city. We passed under two really interesting modern bridges.

On Sunday, we came back home to Granada. Around midnight, we headed over to a local movie theater that was showing the Super Bowl live on a big screen. How was it? Well, let's not spend much time on this painful subject, but suffice to say, the Super Bowl with Spanish commentary and without any chips or wings in sight is rather lackluster.

Classes just started last Monday. It's really weird for me to know that some of you are already hitting midterms when I've just started class. So far, I've really enjoyed the classes. My favorites are Islamic Civilization in Spain and North Africa until 1492 and Federico García Lorca and the Andalusian Literary Tradition.

Visiting Sevilla made for a really cool weekend. It's an amazing city. But coming back to Granada made me realize how much I like it here. It might not be quite as clean or as fairy-tale-perfect as Sevilla, but it has a lot more character. It feels more real. In Sevilla, you can't walk 100 feet without hearing Americans or spotting a tourist shop. In Granada, you can't walk 100 feet without seeing graffiti or almost getting hit by a moto. It's amazing.