Córdoba (part 1)

Hola Amigos! (That's about the extent of my Spanish...)

Last Thursday was the first time in 20 years that I have not been with my family in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. Though nothing can replace my beloved family, I do believe that southern Spain was about as good an alternative as any, should I have to be abroad for the holidays.

For those of you who need to be caught up a bit, every academic year, the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) at Stanford holds a workshop for the European Centers. This year, the theme of the workshop was "Islam in the West, 711-2011: 1300 Years of Contact and (Mis)understanding." Select students from every European campus were invited to present a paper on some topic pertaining to Islam in the country in which they were studying. The Berlin team consisted of myself and eight peers, and my paper was entitled "Comparable Phenomena? Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Germany." In essence, in exchange for writing one paper about a topic in which I am genuinely very interested, I got a "free" trip to Spain for five days. Good deal? I think yes.

The Berlin team arrived in Madrid and made our way down to Córdoba early on Thursday morning. After settling into our hotel, we got the chance to wander around the beautiful city before the conference began. Córdoba was unbelievably gorgeous and the plentiful orange trees ripe with fruit gave the air a distinctly sweet and citrusy scent, which made it all too easy to settle into vacation mode. We explored quaint side streets and finally made our way to lunch - tapas, of course - before heading back to the El Conquistador hotel to prep for the afternoon sessions.

Orange trees everywhere!

Tapas?! Yes, please.

The workshop officially began with welcomes from people from Stanford at Stanford (what up, Vice-Provost Elam!) and a panel of the professors who accompanied us on the trip. The Madrid team provided us with a new perspective on the term Convivencia and then it was time for dinner! Once Helen Bing (of Bing Program fame) realized there are really no turkeys in Spain, had some brought over from the US for our Thanksgiving consumption. Ridiculous, yes, but a kind gesture nonetheless. I know that my mother, for one, will ask what I ate for Thanksgiving, so for your pleasure, I stole a menu from the evening.

Berenjenas con Miel de Cana: eggplant with sugarcane honey

Panche de Verduras Naturales a la Plancha: grilled vegetables

Pavo Asado con Frutos Secos, Salsa de Frutos Rojos y Boniatos Asados: turkey cordobese with dried fruit and nuts, and sweet potatos)

Tarta de Calabaza: pumpkin tart with cinammon scented whipped cream

YUM TIMES 50.

Despite the fact that everyone was too full to move after dinner, we were whisked away by the BOSP staff and went through the old city to watch a traditional Andalucian Flamenco performance. Having studied flamenco for a very short period of time, I loved being able to see short snippets of my training mixed in with the Spanish flair and general sassiness of these amazing dancers. After the show, we headed back to the hotel and I promptly crashed in preparation for my presentation the next morning.

See part 2 for the rest of the story!