Milan 2/8-2/10: We had a rocky start in Milan including a two hour incident in which we were lost in the streets just outside our hostel at about 1 am, followed by some language barriers. Apparently Italian is not the same as Spanish. The next day, we were almost too afraid of Italy to get out of our beds, but after a really good breakfast of pastries and delicious cappuccino, we enjoyed a one day tour of Milan including the Duomo and expensive shopping where Pra...

Over the past week, I have had some rather rough encounters with the meals in the house. The first in the series was a paella marisca dish, including rice, tomatoes, clams, mussles, and of course the gambas. Gambas, as pictured above are simply shrips, however in Spain they come with eyes, moustaches, claws, and feet. I moved my gambas off to the side, and tried to not watch the others peeling and eating them. At one point, I quote my señora as saying &quo...

Spain is pretty much amazing. The touristy parts of Granada are beautiful. We’ve seen the Alhambra, an old Muslim palace that was converted into a palace for the Spanish king when the Catholic monarchy took over. It’s just filled with gardens, forests, fountains and artsy decor. We spent about 45 minutes climbing the hills leading up to the entrance, and then about 5 more hours wandering around. There are a lot of paths and lots of things to see. The...

Day 1 Granada: I survived the plane rides, and even made friends with a professor at the University of Granada. He helped me collect my baggage and shared my taxi- he was familiar with hostal atenas and was going very near there. He walked my suitcases to the door and even paid my cab fare. I now have a solid contact for any academic/cultural issues. I had breakfast at a local cafe with yummy coffee. Apparently cafe con leche (an espresso and milk combo) is...