Mosque in Cordoba

Las Alpujarras -- from the top :)

Hola todos! Sorry that I’m not very good at keeping up with this blog. I have been doing pretty well though. I did go through about a week of homesickness, but I’m pretty much over that, thankfully. I mean, I am really excited to go home, but I am also enjoying the time that I have left here. Only 29 more days! I really can’t believe it. A few highlights from the last few weeks: A few Thursday’s ago, my only class for the day was cancelled, so I decided to go to the Alpujarras, a nearby mountain range. I hiked for about 6 hours total and made it to the top of a mountain! It was so beautiful and was able to see the Mediterranean Sea from the top. Last weekend, our program took us all on a day trip to Cordoba. It was a pretty long and exhausting day with about 7 hours of it on a bus, but we also had a good time in Cordoba. We went to see some ruins of a 10th century Islamic town, had some free time to walk around the city, and then visited the mosque. I absolutely loved the mosque! It was first a Christian temple built in the 6th century, and then when the Muslims invaded Spain in the 8th century, they converted it into a mosque. In the 13th century, when Cordoba was recaptured from the Muslims, they converted it back into a Christian church where they added chapels. I liked it mostly because it was so beautiful and had such a great history, but also because I remember learning about it in high school Spanish class and thinking, “Wow, that is really cool, but there is no way I would ever be able to go there.” :) I had my midterms this week, and it was a pretty crazy Wednesday and Thursday because I had two tests and a presentation on Wednesday and another test on Thursday. I did have to study quite a bit for one of my tests, but the others were really easy. It has been nice to have an easy semester and have time to free read and explore Granada. I am so excited for the next few weeks! I will be in Holland for a very long weekend – I will be in Leiden on Thursday and then my parents will fly into Amsterdam on Friday and then spend the rest of the weekend in Heerenveen with some of our relatives. And after that, my parents will be spending almost a week with me in Granada! I hope all is well with you! I would love to hear from you. And I’ll be seeing many of you soon!

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