Granada, toma dos (Granada, Take Two)

Just got back from a weekend in Granada with the center. We went last semester, too, so not too much to say, plus I have reading pouring out the ears (although the first reading for my anthro of communication class is in Geertz's Interpretation of Cultures, and the prof recommended that if we know English, we should read it in English. Score)!

1) In Granada, you get free tapas with your drinks, something that is very different from tapas practice here in Sevilla. Normally with each drink you order, a tapa comes with it and then if you order more drinks, the quality of the tapas keeps improving and improving and improving (so I've heard; haven't had enough drinks to testify to that personally). Still, it's nice to order some wine and get free food with it, too. It must be a hippie culture thing, something that Granada rocks out at.

2) Now that I've been to Morocco and I understand what an active Medina is like, I saw the older parts of Granada in a much different light than I did last time. I could see how the Medina must have worked, the remnants of the mosques were much more obvious (dotted all over the hill, and under the newer Christian decor looked just like the mosque towers in Fez and elsewhere in Morocco). I felt the Muslim presence just much more, generally, and I could imagine what it must have been like in Granada with the al-andaluz empire in ways that I couldn't conceptualize last time. That was cool and it really changed the way I approached the tour of the Alhambra this time.

Ha, so those were my two main points. Quick, no? Generally everything is the same, not too much to report. I spent a lot of time in the Albayzin (a neighborhood) in Granada this time because I barely got to it the last time and loved it. It's the oldest neighborhood and began to be settled in the 7th century BC. Also, I hung out with Liz and Amy, two Cornell girls, a decent bit this weekend. I like them a lot.

Alright, on to photos and then on to work (oh, joy).

A mosque turned Church in the Albayzin, Spanish lunch outdoors at 4pm. Yep.

Detail on some of the oldest buildings in Granada.

Funky angle, shot walking up into the Albayzin to get to the main square on the top of the hill, facing the Alhambra (I blabbered a lot about that plaza in the last blog entry).

Ha, more funky angles... the Alhambra.

Me in the Alhambra's Alcazaba, the fort part, on the tallest tower overlooking the Albayzin.

That's all folks... I generally feel like I have less to write in here, less new, interesting, amazing cultural discoveries. On the one hand it's sad, but on the other hand it's wonderful. It means I'm adapting. It means I don't think twice about cultural differences that used to startle me. It means that I am really living in Spain. I'm really here, doing it. That's good.
Ha, oh, and it also means I just have less time to write in here now that I have a lot of school stuff. Yes, that too!