The city of Granada has one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. My friends and I would always walk up to the hills of el Sacromonte two hours before the sun would set to catch the whole process. Every time we went up there it was always different, always a new experience. There were different shade of colors that made the sky more vibrant. Sometimes there were clouds and sometimes there weren't. I never went up there without my camera because I knew that there would always be characteristics that would differentiate it from the previous sunset. This is a picture of my last sunset in Granada. When I took this photo I was experiencing mixed emotions: sadness, excitement, joy. "Would I ever see this sunset again?" was what I kept on asking myself throughout that day. After an amazing four months I knew it was time to say goodbye, but the uncertainty of my return made it much harder to let go. Looking at this picture now still creates a whirlwind of emotions within me. I miss Europe, I miss Granada and I miss my friends. But I'm also extremely grateful that I got the opportunity to have such an amazing experience and even better, that I have my loved ones here in the states who I can share my experiences with. Although I miss my life in Granada, I'm happy and thankful to be home. My stories, souvenirs and pictures will hopefully propel someone else to embark on the amazing experience that was studying abroad.

Before coming to Spain, I had started to have an interest in food.  My father had always been very talented at cooking and despite the fact that he was born in Japan, had always had a special love for Italian food.  I went to Spain without any idea of what Spanish food would be like, but aware that I would probably like it.  I didn’t just end up liking food in Spain, I ended up planning much of my experience around it.  I was particularly enamored with small bar foods served in the north of Spain known as pintxos, and was anxious to get a chance to try the hundreds of variety as well as prepare my own.  Food became an extremely important part of my life, and I began to taking cooking very seriously, with a flare for Spanish and Basque cuisine.  This is probably the biggest effect that my study abroad experience had on me.

When this photo was taken, I had probably already had eight different pintxos that day, and with some friends, had very formally scored them out of 10 (5 points for taste, 3 for innovation, 2 for presentation).  We had had some very good ones and some that were a little less than enthralling, but I knew that this bar/restaurant had a good reputation and they had interesting pintxos.  I was awed both by the food itself and the culture around it – the only time I saw more people out on the street in Pamplona was during San Fermin, which is often reputed to be one of the greatest street parties on earth.

I am still awed by the food culture of Navarra and the Basque country, and have done my best to bring some of it back with me – I still make an effort to cook a lot, and I do my best to cook both in the philosophy and in the style of Basque Spanish cooking, but I am limited – both because the food culture in the united states is not the same, and in that many ingredients that are used to in Basque and Spanish cuisines (particularly pintxos) are easily available locally, but rather difficult to find internationally.

I took this picture because I felt that this bar did the best job of presenting their pintxos and explaining them – not all bars offered anywhere near this level of explanation or presentation.  While these were not the best pintxos I ended up having, the one on the left came very close, scoring an aggregate 9/10 from my friends and I.

This is an image from the inside of the restaurant/bar San Nicolas: Cocina Vasca.  I took it during one of Navarra’s most beloved and eagerly awaited culinary events, La Semana de Pintxos (The week of pintxos).  Pintxos are small, carefully crafted but inexpensive foods sold in bars prepared primarily in the north of Spain in Navarra and Basque country.  The Semana de Pintxos is a week long competition amongst literally hundreds of bars throughout Navarra for the the best, most innovative pintxos.  Fortunately, normal people are allowed to participate as well, going from bar to bar and asking for their entries into the contest.  Here are San Nicolas: Cocina Vasca’s entries to the contest: a mini-hamburger made from baby squid with a shrimp carpaccio and ali-oli as well as sliced tomatoes with avocado and smoked salmon.

It’s Monday the 22nd and I have only 5 days before I fly to Spain. In usual fashion there are a billion things I need to do but haven’t started so these next few days will be a trip. I actually just got back from Honduras the other day where I spent a week on a church sponsored service trip. It was amazing. Too many stories to tell right now but I may interweave some of them with my future experiences in Spain so that I can provide a contrast between two very different Spanish-speaking countries. This quick trip to Honduras also provided me with some insight into the immersion process. I experienced going to another country where my native language, views and culture were foreign; I was the minority. Never have I felt so different; the white kid who’s 6 foot 4 and speaks Spanish with a heavy American accent doesn’t blend in with the crowd. I have a greater understanding and appreciation of the challenges that face immigrants. The language barrier is only the tip of the iceberg. So now I’m expecting a somewhat more humbling experience in Spain, or at least for the first month or so. It’s gonna be awesome and tons of fun, but I also realize it’s not going to be a walk in the park.

I got a chance to visit Barcelona over Semana Santa (Spring Break) while studying in Granada, Spain. Barcelona is the city where the most famous of Antoni Gaudi’s works are located so I went to see them all, including my favorite the Temple Expiatori Sagrada Familia dedicated to the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and Jesus). Construction began in 1882 and has continued on to the present day even with the death of Catalan architect Gaudi. You can go to just about any church or temple in the world and feel humbled by the awe history and religion evokes, however I believe that this is the only such religious building that you can enter and actually see history being written. I would love to come back here when the temple is finished knowing that I was a part of its history.