Food Production, Culture and the Environment
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A large part of my experience in Spain, and arguably the best, was staying with my host family. I along with three other girls stayed in an apartment (or “flat” as they are referred to in Europe) near the center of Granada with a woman named Nadir. She lived with her mother, as she was…
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Nestled in a valley approximately a mile from the coast of southern Spain sits a produce farm where you can find the best fruit you will ever eat. As we traveled up the winding road to the farm, my study abroad group talked about our excitement to try the fresh mango, bananas and avocados. Spanish…
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Spain was a major culture shock from the first time I set foot on the foreign soil. One of the first things that I noticed when we arrived to Spain was the insane amount of olive trees that covered the landscape from the airport to Granada. It went on for miles and miles and miles,…
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Before going to Spain. I had never been out of the country. I had barely even been out of Georgia. If you can imagine the fear I had built up to the night before leaving. I had researched almost every day and spoken to others to gain as much insight as I possibly could about…
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My family occasionally cooks with olive oil, and when I go eat at Olive Garden or a fancy restaurant I love to dip my bread in olive oil and vinegar. I know we have a few olive groves in Georgia but I’ve never visited any or even thought about the production of olives and olive…
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The moment I got to Spain, it was pretty clear that Spanish ham was a staple food in this culture. In nearly every shop and restaurant, you could find jamón being sold for various prices. While on our trip, we visited several jamón and sausage production facilities where we were taught about how ham was…
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Back in high school, we were required to take a foreign language class. I had the bright idea to take French because I wanted to be different and thought to myself I will never have to use Spanish in my life… Big mistake. High school me never thought I would be studying abroad in Spain,…
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**DISCLAIMER: I’m vegan.** Before I left for Spain I was kind of worried about what I would be eating while I was there. Spain has lots of ham. A LOT of it. We were still staying with host families who knew our dietary restrictions and who would be cooking for us, but as for going…
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WOW! What a trip! Spain is definitely my favorite place to visit inside of Europe (probably because of how perfect the weather is there). This was my second time traveling to Spain, my fourth time traveling to Europe, and it is a different experience each time I travel. Traveling is something I am very passionate…
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Throughout my Maymester in Spain, we visited lots of different farms. We visited farms where they grew all sorts of fruits such as avocados, mangoes, bananas, nísperos, and cherimoyas. We visited different research centers that grew avocado and mango fruit trees, that grew dragonfruit (I had never seen a dragonfruit plant before so that was…