Al-Andalus- The Arabic name given to the parts of Spain and Portugal governed by Arab and North African Muslims (Moors) at various times in the period between 711 and 1492.
Carnaval- A festive season that occurs right before lent. It is celebrated all over the world and is usually celebrated with parades and a street party (similar to Marti Gras).
Flamenco- A style of music and dance originating from Andalucía.
February is exam month at universities all across Spain. A college student’s exams can fall anywhere in the month of February, meaning they have the entire month to prepare and study. When it comes down to it, if they decide they aren’t prepared for their exam, or, if they fail their exam on the first try, they get a second chance to take their final exam a few months later. It’s incredible, the first and second chance along with the month to study… An American student could only dream of that!! But, of course, they still, somehow, complain about how hard it is to take their whopping four or five exams in one month and they therefore don’t leave the house for the entire month. OH, Spain. Well, February being THE exam month means that all over college towns Spain, bars, pubs and clubs are completely empty, void of drunken college students and therefore BORING. We quickly discovered that Jaén was for sure a college town this month… soooo the month of February was spent out of town.
Granada was stop one. Greg and I went to check out the city for a couple of nights. Having heard for the past three years from friends, classmates, and roommates that Granada is a spectacular, wonderful, god-send of a Spanish city, I was pretty excited to go. We spent an entire day at “La Alhambra,” one of the most visited tourist sites in all of Spain. Here is a slight variation of history from Wikipedia:
"The Alhambra is a palace and fortress constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers who were occupying Andalucía at the time (then known as “Al-Andalus”). The Alhambra occupies a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of Granada. Once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their court, the site later became a Christian palace (after the Moors were expelled from Spain in 1492). After being allowed to fall into disrepair, the Alhambra was "rediscovered" in the 19th century. It exhibits the country's most famous Islamic architecture."
All-in-all, it’s beautiful.
In Granada we also saw the famous view of the city from the lookout of San Nicolas, ate some HUGE tapas, and visited the Cathedral, which holds the remains of the Reyes Católicos (the Catholic Monarchs), two of the most important people in Spain’s history. The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabela I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragón… their marriage in 1469 is considered as THE start of modern Spain as we know it. Why? At the time, Castile and Aragón were two of the most important kingdoms (in the general area that is now considered Spain). After marrying, they started to build Spain into a strong and concrete nation though the Inquisition, a law that made Catholicism the official and only religion allowed in the area. The Inquisition was a brutal time in Spanish history, as it ordered the expulsion or the assassination of anyone who belonged to a different religion. At this time, the majority of what is now Spain was occupied and controlled by Muslim Moors. The Catholic Monarchs slowly re-conquered Spain by expelling the Moorish and Jewish people. By doing this, Spain gained control of what was before their territory from the Moorish people, and what were before their banks from the Jewish people. Spain was officially re-conquered by the Catholic Monarchs 1492 with the conquest of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spanish territory. 1492 is also the year that Isabela I sent Christopher Columbus on a voyage to find a new route to India. Well, surprise, he accidentally stumbled upon America. **Now, I don’t refer to this moment as the “discovery” of America because it makes it sound like there was no one there before the arrival of the Spanish. The Americas were extensively populated at the time, and many of the civilizations living there (such as the Incas) were much more advanced in astronomy and agriculture than the Spanish were… the Spanish just had horses, boats and the flu as their tools to help them conquer the entire continent. Who am I kidding, there was more to it than that… but, you get my point.
Shortly after our weekend in Granada, Holly’s sister Tracy and her friends Laura and Tiffany came to Spain for some traveling. The whole of us went to visit the capital of Andalucía, Sevilla, for the weekend. The weekend was spent seeing some of the most beautiful sites in Spain, within them the third largest cathedral in Europe, a Moorish palace turned Spanish palace, La Real Alcazar, and a random yet super interesting pirate exhibition. Each attraction has a unique story to tell.
The Cathedral of Sevilla holds an extremely small amount of the remains of Christopher Columbus, around 400 milligrams. Columbus died in 1506 in Valladolid, Spain, and was buried in a monastery there. His remains were later moved to Seville. However, he had always expressed a wish to be buried in the Americas. In 1537, the widow of his son, Diego, was allowed to take the bones of both her husband and his father to the Dominican Republic for burial in the cathedral of Santo Domingo. There they remained until 1795, when Spain lost control of the country. The bones believed to belong to Columbus were dug up and moved so they would not fall into the hands of foreigners. The remains finally arrived in Seville, via Cuba, in 1898. Since then, the miniscule amount of Columbus remains in the Cathedral of Sevilla. Supposedly. You wouldn’t think there was so little of him left when you see his tomb! His remains are carried upon the shoulders of the four ancient kingdoms of Spain: Castilla, León, Aragón and Navarra.
El Real Acázar is known for displaying some of the most interesting and important “mudéjar” architecture and decoration. The word “Mudéjar” has an interesting history to it:
Mudéjar was the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Christian territory after the re-conquest, but were not converted to Christianity. Mudéjar also denotes a style of Iberian architecture and decoration strongly influenced by Moorish styles. The word Mudéjar is a Medieval Spanish use of the Arabic word Mudajjanمدجن, meaning "domesticated", in a reference to the Muslims who submitted to the rule of the Christian kings. **After the fall of Granada in January of 1492, Mudéjars kept their independent religious status for some time. However, in the mid-16th century, they were forced to convert to Christianity. From that time, because of suspicions that they were not truly converted, they were known as Moriscos. In 1610 those who refused to convert to Christianity were expelled. The distinctive Mudéjar style is still evident in regional architecture, as well as in music, arts, and crafts. All over and everywhere in Spain, really.
Mudéjar music, art, and architecture are extremely present in Southern Spain still. A lot of popular music here is directly influenced by Moorish sounds. One of the most popular songs in Andalucía right now is called “Al-Andalus” by David Bisbal (an artist that has been famous in Spain since my second visit here in 8th grade). Check it out, and you’ll hear the Moorish in it. Because there's no official video, I've selected one with the lyrics so you can read along. (He mentions Jaén in the song!!)
The pirate exhibition talked about all kinds of pirates from different centuries, countries, and motivations. Luckily, we had a free tour guide who gave us a brief and interesting history of pirates throughout the centuries. He talked a lot about the brutality of pirates at the time, and in the end of the tour left us with something to think about… How is it that pirates could be so cruel, so awful, and so ruthless yet so popular and idealized in modern culture? He pointed out that children dress up as pirates for Halloween, but pirates would kill children for a buck. Interesting stuff. If you have never read up on pirates I would highly recommend it… it’s quite the interesting topic.
Our last big Sevillan event was a free flamenco show accompanied by the dangerously potent “Agua de Sevilla,” a smoothie style drink containing pineapple juice, cava (champagne from Cataluña), and various kinds of hard alcohol. I think I don’t need to expand on that night, haha.
Adventure number three for the month of February was to Carnaval in Cádiz. From the start the “plan” sounded like a bad idea… but a bad idea I knew I had to experience. Holly and I hopped on a bus to Granada, which is an hour away from Jaén. We met up with a friend, Nazaret, and got all suited up for Carnaval. Holly and I dressed up as 70's go-go girls and made a Volkswagen bus out of yellow poster-board. and took a six hour bus ride down to Cádiz. Arriving in Cádiz around 6pm, we headed to the main plaza where there was a flamenco show and botellón (street party with lots and lots of drinking). We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly for the next six hours as we drank and compared costumes with strangers like any good Carnaval goers would do. All was just dandy until it started raining around midnight. At first it seemed to be a harmless drizzle, but as the hours went by the rain got progressively worse. We were then stranded, on the rainy streets of Cádiz, until 6am. Huddling under any open awning across the city center, we got soaked and tried to grin and bear it as best we could. We boarded the bus at 6am and headed for a long, disgusting ride back to Granada. Quite a few people, having drank their brains away all night, spent the ride puking, stinking up the bus and making the ride miserable for the sober ones. Win some, lose some. Once back in Granada, I napped in a McDonald’s booth until our bus to Jaén was ready to leave. An absolutely disgusting and unfortunate situation.
believed to belong to 
Mudéjar was the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Christian territory after the re-conquest, but were not converted to Christianity. Mudéjar also denotes a style of Iberian architecture and decoration strongly influenced by Moorish styles. The word Mudéjar is a Medieval Spanish use of the Arabic word Mudajjan مدجن, meaning "domesticated", in a reference to the Muslims who submitted to the rule of the Christian kings. **After the fall of Granada in January of 1492, Mudéjars kept their independent religious status for some time. However, in the mid-16th century, they were forced to convert to Christianity. From that time, because of suspicions that they were not truly converted, they were known as Moriscos. In 1610 those who refused to convert to Christianity were expelled. The distinctive Mudéjar style is still evident in regional architecture, as well as in music, arts, and crafts. All over and everywhere in Spain, really.
es could be so cruel, so awful, and so ruthless yet so popular and idealized in modern culture? He pointed out that children dress up as pirates for Halloween, but pirates would kill children for a buck. Interesting stuff. If you have never read up on pirates I would highly recommend it… it’s quite the interesting topic.
rom the start the “plan” sounded like a bad idea… but a bad idea I knew I had to experience. Holly and I hopped on a bus to 
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