First update

Hello friends, family, and fans,

As most of you know I'm currently in Granada, Spain, beginning a seven month study abroad session. When I traveled last summer, I did a blog. And all was good. However, blogging implies voluntary participation. It requires the reader to be a) interested in my activities, and b) motivated enough to type in the address and read it. Email is (as many spam advertisers have discovered) far more accessable (read: invasive). That being the case I have decided to plant myself in your inbox once or twice a week with updates on my activities and observations from half way around the known world. This is an opt-out email list, so if you'd like to be taken off the list and thus deprive yourself of hours of thigh slapping entertainment, just drop me a line and I'd be glad to pull you off the list. Similarly if you have a friend who I have forgotten to add to the list and would like to be on it (there will undoubtedly be hundreds of these) then please do not hesitate to let me know so I can add him or her.

I'll be keeping my blog going as well, but that will be more of an archive of my emails. That is located at http://afivenson.blogspot.com .

And now what you've all been waiting for, the actual email.

It's official; I'm not in the U.S. anymore. How do I know this? Let me count the ways. First, the meal schedule (this is of seminal importance) is very different. People eat breakfast around 8 or 9 in the morning on the way to work or school, lunch around 2 or 3, and dinner around 9pm. That leaves a 5 or 6 hour break between most meals, and that's a pretty good chunk of time. Don't get me wrong, I'm getting along alright, but there are times during that last hour or so before lunch that I get more than a little bit impatient. Second is the food itself. Most meals have some kind of meat, and fish and seafood are very popular. Unfortunately I don't like seafood nor do I like fish, so I end up eating my own dish most nights, while my family consumes one of a great variety of fishy smelling, looking, and (likely) tasting creations, none of which entice me in the least. Third, to take a break from food, everyone here (surprise) speaks Spanish. While my skills are advanced, there are often times when people have to repeat, explain, and define for me. This will change with time, as my vocabulary and ability to understand the Andalusian accent (any s sound becomes a th sound, for instance gracias has a thhhh at the end, not a sss) augment. The fourth way I know I'm not in the U.S. anymore is the architecture. The city is a mix of ancient Muslim construction in the older barrios (neighborhoods) like the Albacin, and traditionally Christian influenced city structure in the more modern sections. The Muslim areas have many narrow, winding streets that dissect and intersect organically, following the contours of the land they cover. The Christian influenced, and more modern areas are generally grid-based streets. Other differences include the presence of many horse-shoe shaped gates throughout the old Muslim sections, as well as the overwhelming whiteness of the buildings in that area.

I'll be learning much more about Muslim culture, as I signed up for a Culture of Islam course for this semester. One thing I do know is that Granada was the Moorish (Muslim) empire's last stronghold in Europe, and when it fell in 1492 (to Ferdinand and Isabella, the same two who sent Columbus across the Atlantic), the Muslim influence in Europe essentially came to an end. However here in Granada, under the shadow of the Alhambra itself, middle eastern culture is alive and well. The prime example of this is the Alhambra (although I'm tempted to reference the kabob stands that line the streets). An ancient Moorish castle built on a mountain top in the early 1200's, what is today the capital of Spanish tourism was once the Sultan's palace. Complete with ancient Arabic wall imprints, dozens of gardens, an amazing vantage point over Granada, and dozens of other attractions, the Alhambra is a testament to "back in my day" advice, proving that they really did make things to last way back when. Our visit to the Alhambra was informative although cold. We learned about the grounds for roughly 5 hours before retiring to our respective homes.

Classes start today. I have an advanced grammar course at noon every day monday through thursday, a culture of islam course mondays and wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:15, and a history of spanish art from 4:30 to 6:15 on tuesdays and thursdays. they all seem really interesting, and I've got friends in every class. The school is called CEGRI (pronounced seh-gree) and it's only for students in our program. The program itself is from the University of Illinois, so there are about 50 of us from Illinois. They allow 10 of us from Michigan, and another 10 from Wiscoson, for a total of about 70, so it's a small program, and therefore easy to get to know everyone.

So far it's looking like I'm going to fit in well with my family. My mom's name is Sara, and her fiance's name is Jose. Sara's son Edi (Eddie in English) is 15. Jose works at one of the big time real estate companies in town, and Sara is mostly a stay at home mom, and she does at-home college courses in physics (wow!) and English. Edi is at school most of the day, and I'm generally out with friends most of the time except for meals and sleep time. They don't speak any English, but my Spanish is such that allows me to converse and understand almost everything they say, but I have to ask for repeats about 1/5 of the time because they do speak rather fast and use some vocabulary I dont know. However for the most part, communication flows nicely and I'm trying to get to know them and participate in family activities (which so far have involved meals, watching movies, walks through the city, karaoke, and visiting family friends).

If you've made it this far, pat yourself on the back.

More to come soon,

Adam