Adam Zink ’19 — This summer I have been able to expand on my studies as I focus on my Hispanic Studies major in Granada, Spain. During my time at Wabash, I have taken courses over Latin America and several different aspects; historical, food, economics, and religion. All of these topics fascinating in their own way, but I felt like something was missing. I didn’t have much knowledge about Spain in the precolonial and colonial times, thus sparking my desire to learn more about the history of colonial Spain. Fortunately, with help from the Rudolph family, I was able to make it happen.
For the months of June and part of July I have been in Granada, Spain. My time here in Granada has been the best. In the midst of learning about the present day culture and tradition it is hard to overlook the past as my study abroad program provided my classmates and myself the opportunity to visit several major cities in our region. Granada is in southern Spain but we made trips to Sevilla and Cordoba then eventually made our way down to the coast in Nerja and Tarifa which led across the Mediterranean to Morocco. All of these cities had their own specific features that made them beautiful, but you could see the difference in the cities based on their historical significance. Sevilla for example, was closer to central Spain and during the colonial times served as the trade center of the goods from the New World. The traces today are in plain sight as there are old embassies from every Latin American country. Also in Sevilla, the Real Alcazar de Sevilla Cathedral contains remains of Christopher Columbus. Then my temporary home of Granada served as a vital pre-Columbian city as it was the last city to be recaptured by the Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The historical significance of the city was abundant. The people and culture screamed the history this beautiful city had.
La Alhambra, an old fortress turned fortified Muslim city was one of my favorite places to visit. From on top of a small mountain, the old city of La Alhambra had a great view of the city of Granada and its neighboring mountains La Sierra Nevada. In both of the city markets and the style of the old building you could see the influence of the Spaniards, Africans, Muslims and Catholics. The markets flowed with African and Muslim themed artistry while the restaurants showed the Spanish Catholic influence of pork through Iberico Jam. Through the history I could look at modern day Spain and observe the mixing of the religions and people and how Spain still retains a lot of its historical marks and truly how fascinating those pieces of history are.
