Morocco

In short, Morocco was an eye-opening experience. We were in Morocco last weekend and we had an incredible time. It was my first time in a Muslim country, so it was really interesting to see how the Islamic faith was incorporated into their culture. The program that we went with was wonderful, and it allowed us to stay with host families and meet many native Moroccans. Here are a few highlights: The first day, we got to ride a camel! I think it was probably really touristy because they don’t really use camels in that part of Morocco, but I guess not everyone can say that they have ridden a camel in Africa! I loved getting to know a few native Moroccans. Our host family was so fun, and reminded me of a typical American family. They had a 16 year old daughter and 10 year old son, and we were able to hang out a bit with the daughter and her friends. It was surprising to see so many similarities in a country that seemed so different from ours. I also got to meet a university student from Casablanca who took me around Rabat shopping. She was so nice and generous – she insisted on buying me something and we hope to keep in touch. Overall, the trip impacted me a lot. I was able to experience a culture radically different from my own, and it was really intriguing to see a society with an official religion and with religious laws. This experience created in me a desire to know more about the world and current events. It challenged my judgmental attitude because even though Moroccans don’t agree with American politics, they do not judge American people as having anything to do with its government. They are so hospitable and generous, and it is sad that our media portrays the Muslim world so incorrectly. I am so glad to have been able to experience Moroccan culture and learn so much about the world in so few days and not even in a classroom.

Granada after 1 month! I can't believe it has been that long already!

Hola de Granada! An apology to begin with – I hope that this post makes sense, but since we speak so much in Spanish, sometimes we forget how to speak correctly in English :)

After we got back from England and Ireland, I had two days to recover before classes started on Wednesday. I am so thankful to have a daily routine now, and I really like my classes. I am able to understand my professors, and most of them are really interesting. I feel like I am being challenged but not overwhelmed, so I am very happy about that. I am taking Advanced Grammar, 20th century Spanish Literature, Translation, and a few other required classes. We have a lot of free time when I usually read (Mere Christianity by CS Lewis), explore Granada, and hang out with friends.

We had a 4 day weekend last weekend – a few highlights. 1. I volunteered at a soup kitchen with my senora. 2. We went to a concert of a popular Spanish pop band. 3. We spent two days on the beach of Almeria that was absolutely beautiful and perfect beach weather! It was quite strange to think, though, that here we were in Spain on the beach where it was about 85 degrees and we had only had 2 days of class so far with no homework, and our friends at Central are stressing out over midterms and it had snowed there!

I will close with a good quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis: [when man does something good for God or gives something to God] “It is like a small child going to its father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’”

There were mulberries on the side of the rode and they were delicious. The Trim Castle is in the background.

London Eye

Here is the matador with the bull inside the stadium in Madrid -- the largest bull fighting stadium in Spain.

Trip to Madrid, England, and Ireland

Hello all from 3700 feet! As I wrote most of this, I was flying Ryanair from London to Granada after an amazing week of travelling. We left last Saturday morning for Madrid with the Central program which meant that we stayed in a very nice hotel and given money for meals -- the ideal for a college student traveller! My favorite part of Madrid was the bull fight. Although I don't enjoy seeing innocent animals tortured and killed, it was a great cultural experience. On Tuesday morning, we flew from Madrid to London and spent three days there. My favorite parts of London were going on the London Eye and meeting up with Kaylee, a friend from Central who is studying in London, who was great at taking me to all the tourist-y places without spending any money. I also acquired a taste for tea with milk and fish and chips. We travelled by overnight train on Thursday night from London to Holyhead, Wales and then a ferry to Dublin. My favorite part of Ireland was going out of the city and into a small village called Trim. We visited the Trim Castle, the oldest castle in Ireland, built in the 12 century. This was also the place where the film Braveheart was filmed. All of Ireland was so green and beautiful, but very cold. We arrived back into Granada safely on Sunday night. I already feel so much better -- smelling better after a shower and clean clothes, and a great night's sleep. We finally start classes on Wednesday, and I am excited to get into a regular schedule and back to speaking Spanish. Hope all is well, and hope to hear from you!

Granada

Hey all! I’m so sorry that it took so long to update this blog! They have kept us very busy with lots of orientation classes and other excursions. Anyway, we arrived safely in Granada after over 30 hours of travelling and sleeping! We got here on Friday night and our orientation didn’t start until Sunday, so we had a while to get adjusted to Granada and Spanish culture before moving in with our host families. We received many strange looks when we tried to have supper at 6pm. Spaniards normally have three meals a day at around 10, 2 and 9. Many of the stores are closed from 2-5 for the siesta time. Everything is going great here. I love speaking Spanish and being surrounded by the language. I am learning a lot, but am humbled by how much I have to learn. I am struggling the most with understanding the natives because they talk so fast and have a different accent than I’m used to, but I am learning. A few of my favorite experiences so far: 1. We went out for tapas (you buy a drink and get a free plate of appetizers). Afterwards we were just walking around looking for something else to do when I saw a poster that advertised free dancing lessons, so we went inside the building and asked the owner about the lessons. This was at 2:00am, and he called the dance professor and he came to the bar and taught us how to salsa and meringue. It was so much fun! 2. On Sunday, we took a bus in the morning to Nerja, a beautiful beach about 2 hours from Granada. We had a great day of adventure – I even jumped off a huge rock into the sea, about 15 feet! After relaxing on the beach and having supper, we made our way to the bus station where the bus was supposed to leave at 9:00pm. Well we soon found out that the last bus to Granada had already left – they use military time here, and we had translated 19:00 to 9:00pm. We will never make that mistake again! So we spent the entire night on the beach! It was quite an adventure to remember. There are so many more things I could write, but the café is closing. Hope to hear from you and hope all is well! I'll be leaving this Saturday for Madrid, London, and Dublin, so I'll be gone for a whole week! Pray for safety, and I promise an update afterwards!