The City of Pomegranates

Granada is a beautiful city in southern Spain. It has an amazing mix of cultures which gives it very cool architectural and design elements. There are lots of arabic elements found in the architecture; big arches, arabic script, mosaic tiles. These all blend together with the European facades and Spanish style roofs. 

I love the details around the windows and on the lamp in the picture to the left. Same with the picture above. The tiling around the arches and the pattern in the window pane is very interesting. 

I wish the front door of my house looked like this.

"In 1238, Ibn al-Ahmar rose up against Ibn Hud and conquered parts of the province of Granada. He established the kingdom of Granada, which extended from the mountains of Sierra Nevada to Gibraltar and which was originally made up of the province of Granada (where he set up his court), the provinces of Malaga and Almeria, and part of the provinces of Cordoba, Jaen, Sevilla, and Cadiz." http://granadamap.com/history.htm

Granada was ruled by the Moors (Berber and Arabic peoples from North Africa. They believed in Islam and conquered much of the Iberian peninsula, the term Moor was used by Europeans to describe the people, not one they used to describe themselves) beginning in the early 700s during the Ummayyid dynasty which was an important portion of Islamic history. The Moors had control of Granada until Ferdinand and Isabella took over in 1492, the same year that Isabella approved Christopher Columbus' adventure in the Americas. This was the height of Spanish power. Isabella and Ferdinand united all of Spain and moved to Granada. 

In order to conquer an area, the rulers had to convince the people that a new way of life was better than the old. They outlawed the old religions, in this case Islam and Judaism, and forced people to convert. The tore down old religious buildings and built new ones. Many of the churches in Granada were originally Mosques. 

This church in the Placeta de San Nicholaus was originally a Mosque. Converting these building was fairly easy. The minarets were used to give the call to prayer 5 times a day for Muslims. Since they were tall and already had good acoustics they were easily transformed into bell towers for Catholic churches.

There is currently only one Mosque in Granada and it has been built just recently. Change is very slow and it has only been about 500 years since the conquest. In United States history, 500 years is a very long time, but in Europe and the Middle East it is barely any time at all. 

When Isabella and Ferdinand took over, they tore down one of the main mosques and built a massive cathedral. Everything is personalized for the king and queen. Their initials can be seen on the pews and the columns and on adornmants outside the cathedral. The Cathedral has a very different design than most Catholic cathedrals. The building is shaped like a cross. The top of the cross, or the head, is a large circular shaped area that contains the alter on the inside. A large pathway goes around and is separated from the alter by a series of arches.  The center line of the cross makes up the congregational area. This was very innovative for its time because usually there was a separation for the nobles and the lower classes. There would be a wall dividing them so the lower classes were unable to see the alter. This cathedral has no separation so all were able to see. Along the sides are a series of small chapel areas that noble families could buy. They then filled them with expensive and ornate religious objects for all to see. They were able to bury their dead in these chapels and mostly show off their wealth. 

In this picture you can see the circular shape of the Cathedral.

This is one of the old entrances to the Cathedral. These doors are no longer used. 

Granda means pomegranate in Spanish and the city is covered in them. Pomegranates are featured in most of the architectural designs and patterns in the tiles and the sidewalks. It's become a game to spot the pomegranates.

Thunder Snow

So if things had gone according to plan, I would already be in Granada, Spain right now, a day early for orientation, catching up on sleep or hanging out with the two other girls scheduled to arrive early. Of course that would be too easy. Instead this happened:

Thunder Snow Yahoo News Article

Here's how the day went. My mom rushes in at 9:30am and wakes me up. I wasn't planning to get up until 10 because my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:50. I thought I had plenty of time. Turns out I was wrong, my flight had been canceled due to bad weather conditions in Philadelphia. Because of the previous blog post, I was luckily already completely packed and ready to go, all I had to do was get dressed, which I did in like 5 seconds and then got on the phone with US Airways to schedule a new flight while simultaneously searching for one on their website. After searching online and being on hold I found a flight that was supposed to leave at 11:30 that had not yet been canceled. I was still on hold however, so my parents and I decided to just drive to the airport and talk to the US Airways people there. I was still on hold 45 minutes later when the guy at the desk switched my ticket. The 11:30 flight was scheduled to leave at 2:00pm...no that is not a typo. This would give me plenty of time to get to Philadelphia and make my connecting flight to Madrid. Ha

My parents and I went and got lunch at Bob Evans and then headed back to the airport. Said my goodbyes, took some pictures. Security was a breeze because I had everything ready. The woman in front of me did throw a fit about having to throw out her yogurt because it was over 3 ounces but that didn't hold things up too much. So I get to my gate and wait. and wait. and wait. My 11:30/2:00pm flight has been delayed further. But the 8am flight was getting ready to go. So at about 3, I was switched to the 8am flight and got right on to fly to Philly. There was maybe 10 people on this plane, I had my own little 2 seat section, it was very nice. 

Once in Philly, I think ok everything is smooth sailing from here. My Madrid flight is still listed as on time. We board at 5:30, set to go at 6:35. And then the plane never leaves boarding area. It starts to rain. The rain becomes ice. The pilot announces we have to wait for the plane to be de-iced. After an hour, he comes back on and says that the runways are slippery and the plane still needs to be de-iced. After 2 and 1/2 hours, he announces that the flight has been canceled and we have to get off. All flights out of Philly had been canceled. The US Airways woman told us that unfortunately we were one of the last planes to be deboarded and so all the hotels and motels in the area were already full.. We were allowed to keep our pillows and blankets from the plain though. They aren't much, but they were much better than nothing. We all had to call a special US Airways service line to get booked on the next flight to Madrid which isn't until 6pm today. I talked to Debbie from US Airways and she was extremely helpful. Not only did she book my US Airways flight to Madrid, she also called Iberia, the airline I was flying from Madrid to Granada and explained the whole situation and had them switch my flight as well. She was on and off the phone with them for about 30 minutes because they weren't very understanding. I am very grateful to Debbie because if they wouldn't cooperate with her, they sure weren't gonna listen to me. 

So here's the fun part. We all got to sleep in the airport. People were everywhere, it looked like a homeless shelter. The benches were not ideal for sleeping because of the arm rests, but people got pretty creative. 

using lugage as a leg prop

sleeping near the wall

some people got the heat blankets, I dunno what's better
the blue blankets were not very warm but they were soft
These are warm but plasticy and crinkly.

I am not very good at sleeping in public places. I started out here:

 

After about an hour of sitting on top with the uncomfortable arm rests, I moved to underneath the bench. This was alot better, it was darker and more secluded. I slept from 1am to about 2am under the bench. I was wide awake when I woke up at 2 so I packed up my stuff and wandered around a bit. I ended up like 20 gates down and I had seen a few people push two benches together and sleep on them that way. I managed to sleep like that from 4:30 to 6:30. After that I just went and got coffee. Everyone looked like zombies in the morning. People were just walking around with this dazed look like they didn't know where to go or what to do. Everyone was tired and looked like they had spent the night outside or something. 

There is not all that much to do in an airport. I've been wandering around, reading, doing puzzles in an activity book and facebooking all day and I am bored out of my mind. I have 2 and 1/2 hours left until I board my plane to Madrid. I have discovered some interesting things about the airport though. There is a lego replica of the Liberty Bell. There are 10 different Brookstone stores. There are very nice rocking chairs in wing B. I've spent quite a bit of time on one today. 

This is where I watched the sunrise.
Was not on my list of things to do, but since I was up I figured I might as well. 

I also found a fun little gift shop where I got Jerrie the coolest thing ever! 

Its a voodoo doll. There was like 50 different ones, it took me forever to choose which one I was gonna get. I absolutely love it. And no Jerrie, I will not be posting all your presents on here, just this one cuz its so awesome. :)

That's pretty much it. Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoothly and I'm in Granada by tomorrow afternoon. 

P.S. Some of you have been asking about leaving comments. If you click on the title of the post, it opens a new window that contains the post and at the very bottom a comment box :)

All my bags are packed

Exactly 24 hours from now I will be on board a plane heading to Morocco. Well technically Philadelphia but its on the way haha I am completely packed, all I have left to do is some picking up in my room and I am ready to go.

Part of the idea of this blog is to help other students who are traveling or planning to travel. I discussed earlier that I would explain everything I'm packing and then later on, have another post about what worked, what didn't, and what i never wore.

My things are divided among my one suitcase, my carry on and what I am wearing tomorrow. In total I will have 3 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of shorts,  14 shirts, 20 pairs of underwear, 20 pairs of socks, 4 bras (one sports bra) 2 casual skirts (one of which can be paired with a nice shirt to make up my dressy outfit), 2 casual dresses, 5 tank tops/camis for layering, 4 light weight sweaters, 3 scarves ( I wear one almost every day, but I plan to get new ones), a small amount of jewelry and make up, 3 ounce sized containers of lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap, 1 package of razors, travel documents, copies of travel documents, 3 extra pairs of contact lenses, 1 pair of tennis shoes, 1 pair of black flats, 1 pair of flip flops, and 1 other pair of flats, pictures of my family and friends, Omari the Bear, 2 arabic textbooks, a book to read on the plane, a journal, an empty photo album, my laptop and power cord, camera and power cord, 3 bottles of nail polish, my glasses, bobby pins, hair bands, feminine supplies, batteries, power strip, address book, a rosary (I never travel without one), day planner, and my winter coat. I think thats everything haha.

Carry on

Suit Case

My carry on has an extra outfit with multiple pairs of socks and underwear in case airline workers go on strike or something and I can't get my checked bag. My actual travel documents are also in the carry on and the copies are in the suitcase. My carry on also has a book, the journal, the camera, 1 extra pair of contacts, my laptop, 1 bottle of nail polish, glasses, hair stuff, feminine supplies, batteries for the camera, address book, and the rosary. I will be wearing jeans, flats, a cami, a shirt, a sweater and my winter coat. The coat will be bulky to have on but it saves room in the suitcase to wear it. The flats are better than the tennis shoes because they slip on and off. This makes the security line alot easier.

Hopefully security goes smoothly. My carry on isn't a TSA approved laptop case, but all that means is I have to take my laptop out when I go through security. I'm going to have alot of airport time for the next two days.
Good bye for now :) but keep checking back, this might be last post until Morocco, but I might also post something in Spain.