¡Saludos desde España!

After a VERY long 27 hours of travel, we have finally arrived at our first stop in Spain-Granada.  We had a 7-hour layover in the Paris airport, where many of the students enjoyed eating breakfast AND lunch at McDonald´s.  The students played cards, chatted, listened to music, read magazines, and read while we waited.

Thus far the only minor hiccup we´ve encountered is that when we arrived Malaga, we received 42 of 43 pieces of luggage at the baggage claim area.  The student who´s luggage is still in Paris has been a trooper and will receive her luggage at the hotel before we head to our next destination, Sevilla.  So all is well here.

On our 2-hour drive from Malaga to Granada, we were able to see and learn about this region of Spain.  Our tour guide, Ana, and bus driver, Manuel, have lots of information about the history, culture, language, and life here in Spain.  We saw herds of sheep, snow peaked mountains, olive orchards, and an enormous metal bull that is a symbol of Spain and 90 of these types of statues can be found around the country.

In addition, we learned about the city of Granada, which means pomogranite in English, although the city no longer has trees that bare that fruit.  The city was the final city to be taken over by the Christians in the wars of Spain between the Christians of the north and the Muslims or Moors of the south over several hundred years.  The city is the home of the Alhambra, or Red Castle, which was the one of the last palaces of the Moors that is still in tact.  We will visit this building tomorrow, along with several other sites here in the city.  Students also were reminded from Ms. Olsen´s class that words in Spanish that begin with "al" have roots in the Arabic language.  We learned about the meaning of "carmen", which means "house" but is also the most popular female name in the country.  We also learned about the gypsy culture here in Spain and their dancing and caves where they live, which are protected World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Tomorrow we will have an early breakfast, then head to have a tour of the Alhambra Palace, one of the most beautiful constructions of hispano-muslim art.  Then we will have lunch downtown and will visit the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel afterwards.  Finally we will return to the hotel for dinner, journal work, and updating this web site.  Thank you for your support by reading about our experiences here in Spain!  Please stay tuned for more adventures from Spain...