After a much too short of a night after preparing for the journey, I left my house in Maine at 9am, to catch a bus to Boston Logan Airport, for our flight at 5:30pm. I’ve never travelled internationally before, so I was a bit worried about how it was going to be but everything went smoothly, even getting through security a lot faster than expected. Our flight was decent, but it seemed like it took forever, even though it was really only 7 hours. It was really weird being on the plane and seeing both sunset and sunrise in such a short amount of time. We got to Madrid for our layover about 6am local time, which was about midnight back home. This was the main part I was worried about, especially because Professor Mike had sent us an email the day before, explaining how to get through the airport from one terminal to another and getting through passport control. It made it seem so big and intimidating, but it ended up being very easy and went very quickly, with Mike’s instructions helping a lot. Our flight from Madrid to Granada was only about an hour, and we were able to see the countryside that was filled with fields of olive trees, and arrived at Granada around 10am. As soon as we stepped outside, it smelled like olive oil!
Mike met us at the airport and took us to meet our hosts and get settled and rested. Caleb and I are staying together with a missionary named Daniel, who is from Brazil. He is very nice and welcomed us into his home. We slept for a couple hours, then us and Daniel ate lunch with Brianna and Jillian, and their hosts, who are from the same Community of missionaries. Later we met back up with Mike, and he took us through the Cathedral of Granada, and we had headsets telling us of the history of the building and the art. The architecture was amazing, it was so intricate and beautiful. There was incredible paintings and carvings surrounding the altar, as well as may side altars, and beautiful stained glass windows. It’s hard to imagine how something like that could be built today, much less with the technology from 500 years ago.
We also went into the Royal chapel, Where the bodies of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are buried. We learned that these monarchs are very important in the history of Spain, and especially in Granada. By their marriage, they were able to unify a large portion of Spain, that had previously been broken up tribes of Moors, and led the Reconquista to unify the remainder through military use. By 1492, the only region remaining was Granada, who was held under siege, until a peaceful surrender of the Kingdom to Ferdinand and Isabella. Soon after, to celebrate the war being over and ability to focus on exploration, they commissioned Christopher Columbus as an explorer. This chapel was smaller, but was even more intricate, with even more ornate designs. In the center of the transept were marble carved images of the King and Queen, and under this, where we could walk down stairs to see into, was their actual tomb, where there was their coffins. Even though these were people that we always hear about in history books, seeing the tomb seemed to make them real people, rather than a story in a book.
Friday started with breakfast of café con leche (Coffee with milk, or basically an espresso with steamed milk) and a blueberry muffin from a local café, both of which were delicious. After, Mike took us to see all the internship sites. We first went to the San Rafael School, where myself, Sarah, Jillian, and Brianna will be working. This school is attached to a hospital, and has about 50 students, ages 3 to 21, and have various degrees of mental disabilities. The students were at recess, so we could see inside a few classrooms, including one that was specially designed for students with speech difficulties. On the walls were pictures and cartoons that the children could combine and rearrange to express what they wanted to say. It seemed like it was a happy, fun atmosphere that the staff and volunteers worked to make, so I’m really excited about starting my Internship there! They also showed us a few other places we can spend some time working while at the hospital, including a soup kitchen, and sorting and distributing of clothing to the homeless.
After this we went to the Sacromonte Abbey, where Caleb and Maya will be doing art restoration and preservation, including cleaning of very important historical artwork. We learned that the sisters that run this section have a waitlist of sculpture and paintings to keep them going until retirement. We found that each art piece has to be specifically researched and inventoried, like it has its own medical record. Even though this looked really cool to get to do this, I think I’m glad I’m at the school instead. I think I’d be afraid I’d break something important! Many of the pieces there were from churches or museums of the area, including the Royal chapel and Cathedral.The Abbey is located on a hill outside the city, so from there we had an amazing view of the Alhambra palace and the city.
After this, we visited the Inmaculada University, which is where we will be eating lunch, learned how to use the buses across the city, and spent time exploring and wandering the streets. We also visited the other part of Caleb and Maya’s internship, which is working in the shop of a local artist, who has won international prizes with his etching work. He was very nice to talk to, and spoke Spanish slow enough that we were able to understand a lot of what he was saying without translation.
We finished the night with tapas, small plates of food, almost like an appetizer. We had a chicken curry, fried eggplant with honey, and fried squid. Before that we had dinner of french bread pizzas with Daniel and the others, along with several other missionary community members, and played games with them. They didn’t speak a lot of English, and us not a lot of Spanish, but it was a lot of fun because we both wanted to learn the others language. We ended up talking a lot about music, sports, and how much colder Maine was than here!
Saturday ended up being a lot of exploration, because we didn’t have any plans until the evening. We walked the streets, sat in a shady plaza, and listened to street performers. We got a small loaf of bread to share for a snack. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it was very soft and sweet, covered in powdered sugar. On our way back to our houses, we ran across a huge parade, with men and women on horses and on carts, dressed in traditional clothes, like the flamenco dresses and flat brimmed hats and boots. We learned later that this was a religious journey to cities across the country, on the week before Pentecost, and it starts in Granada. Back at the Missionary Community House, we had an amazing lunch of roast chicken, potatoes, and a soup called salmorejo, which is a cold tomato soup, similar to Gazpacho, but thickened with bread in it. The soup was my favorite part!
That evening we went to get gelato and had front row seats to a flamenco show. The show was amazing! It wasn’t anything like I was expecting. I had thought of it as being more flowing and showy, but it seemed almost like a form of tap, combining the dance and a focus on the music. The dancer used her feet as percussion, and had different tones depending on how hard and where she hit with her foot, as well as where on the stage. It was a group of three, a dancer, a singer and a guitarist, who were all incredible. The closing dance was very fast paced and impressive for all three of them! It was amazing how expressive and full of emotion the music and dance was.
I’m loving everything about this city and country so far. It was much easier adapting to the schedule and the customs that we have seen so far than I expected. The hardest part so far has been the language difference, but there are still a lot of people that speak English. I’m starting to be able to listen to Spanish and understand it better, but I’m still having trouble getting to speaking it. Right now I’m pretty limited to small things, like ordering food or greetings and being polite. We are going to be taking lessons together to improve our skills through our stay, so it’ll get better!
I can’t wait to start Internships this next week! Stay tuned for next week for an update on how it goes!
