¿Dónde está…

On Today's Menu: figuring out where the heck Granada is. Lately, as I have been preparing for my upcoming summer excursion and sharing said progress with others, I have noticed that the instant I mention Spain the immediate response is:

"Oh, so you will be studying in Madrid? Oh, Barcelona? Oh, wait...what?...where??"

That being said, I resolved to learn more about this city called Granada; including everything from culture to cuisine to climate and more.

I have leafed my way through travel book after travel book after...yadda, yadda. Each one has provided me with tidbits of valuable information, but unfortunately nothing more than a tidbit. Last weekend, however, I was wandering around Barnes and Noble (as I often do) and found what I believe to be the best travel guide available. It's from the Rick Steves' European travel collection and it is amazing! So if you ever travel to Europe and need an up-to-date informational guide book complete with foldout color map, check out Rick. He's got it going on.

Anyway, according to the map, Granada is located in southern Spain...in the province of Andalucia, to be exact. According to Rick, Andalucia is quite the vacation hot spot during the months of July and August (which, of course, is when I will be there). There is a flamenco dance festival that takes place around mid-July and it is also the home of Alhambra, an ancient Moorish palace. The city is surrounded by snow capped mountains, but is only about an hour or less from the coast. Rick also says that during this time of year, the average temperature stays around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes. Good thing I like warm weather.

Researching has been exciting...but I have to remember that I will be in school...so I'm not sure how much traveling I will get to do. I received an informational packet along with my acceptance letter a few weeks ago which let me know that classes will take place five days a week (M-F) and each class will last about 4-5 hours. Which I guess is why they call it an intensive program, no?

Anyway, so far it is sounding like I will be attending a nice university in a nice city.