Summer 2016: Granada, Spain

In honor of  this blog nearing an end, I am dedicating my last two posts to my plans for this summer. On Saturday, May 7th, right after finals week, I will be leaving to spend 2 months in Granada, Spain. Why, you might ask?

It all started started with a Spanish linguistics course I took last semester. My professor, Giuli Dussias, was always having technological malfunctions during class and being really funny about them, so I really liked her. Once, when she had just started class, her phone rang and she whined:

“Ooooo, it’s my son! He’s studying to be a doctor in Italy, and he never calls me! Can I answer it?”

The whole class (about 250 people) said yes, so she answered and put him on speakerphone, and it was just really funny. I guess you just had to be there.

Anyway, she told me to come in a few times to assist a post doc named Melinda with her linguistics experiment and eventually apply for a research grant through PIRE (Partnership for International Research and Education).

The experiment, designed by Melinda, focuses on how bilinguals react to language changes, otherwise known as code switches, in a sentence. Using an eyetracker, which is exactly what it sounds like (a computer that tracks an eye and records how it reacts to visual stimuli), I’ve been testing Penn State students who are studying Spanish as their second language. These participants are paid $15 to sit through a 388 trial-long linguistic activity, two language proficiency tests, and a background questionnaire.

I never thought I would actually get the research grant though, so when I began running experiments on my own all the time it was not a big deal at all. But, in the end, I somehow convinced the Centers for Language Science Board to give me money and put me in charge of thousands of dollars worth of equipment abroad. Weird, right?

Ever since I found out they gave it to me, it’s been seriously hectic. Between scheduling participants, coding data, and presenting my experiment at various poster fairs, I haven’t actually gotten excited about the trip until...now.

I briefly visited Granada once when I was 10. Although I was young and only there for three days, I remember this city really vividly because it was so hot and it was so...cool.

I mean, just look at it. 

Photo Attribution

This city was the last city to remain under Moorish control during the reconquest of Spain by the Christians. Although this happened a long time ago, both cultures are very prevalent in the art, architecture, and daily city life.

Photo Attribution

For example, the Alhambra is an Arabic palace that was originally built on Roman ruins in the 9th century. It is characterized by its Moorish arches and mosaics and was the dark inspiration for Federico Garcia Lorca, the Spanish playwright and poet. Can you see why?

Photo Attribution

Known for gypsies, folklore, and el cante jondo, the promise of Granada is helping me through the terror of midterms and intricacies of this advocacy project.