Students Explore Astronomy and Spanish in Granada, Spain

Release date: November 01, 2005 |

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from "Astronomy and Spanish in Granada, Spain."

“Astronomy is truly international,” says Ali Bakhshai, professor of physics. “Around the globe, always, astronomers collaborate with each other, because observatories are basically located in dry places with high altitudes.”

Last summer, Bakhshai and Cristina Saenz de Tejada, associate professor of Spanish, introduced nine students to the international dimensions of astronomy in “Astronomy and Spanish in Granada, Spain,” a new intensive course abroad they developed together. Incorporating science and language study into a three-week journey through southern Spain, the course prefigures a whole new series of similar courses, called Integrated Intensive Courses Abroad, to be launched next year by Goucher’s Office of International Studies.

“We wanted to create a course that would attract students from two departments to one study-abroad experience, and show them how the language is relevant for the sciences, and how the science can benefit from the culture and the location,” explains Saenz de Tejada. “Granada is a city influenced by Islam and the presence of the Arabs—one of the first cultures in Europe to use the sciences, during the 10th and 11th centuries.”

Bakhshai was particularly excited about Granada’s rich opportunities for astronomical observation. Goucher has its own observatory, but light pollution from the nearby Towson Town Center often makes it difficult to spot constellations, nebulae, and planets in the night sky above the campus. Bakhshai knew that his students would be able to complete astronomy labs more easily in the countryside of Spain.

“Southern Spain is known for astronomy because it’s good climate-wise,” explains Bakhshai. “Cristina knew all the cultural activities in southern Spain, and I knew about the high concentration of observatories there, so it was a great match.”

Together, Bakhshai and Saenz de Tejada created an itinerary that combined visits to major optical and radio telescope sites with cultural activities and hands-on astronomy labs. Students spent three hours a day studying the Spanish language, and they stayed with native-Spanish-speaking host families. They also had plenty of free time to shop, talk with locals, dine, and sample the city’s nightlife.

“We wanted them to experience the Spanish lifestyle,” says Saenz de Tejada. “The students had lectures in the morning, then went home and had lunch with their families. They were able to have conversations about living in Spain, what people there think about the United States, and how Granada has changed over the past few years.”

The students weren’t the only ones immersing themselves in new studies. To make teaching the course a truly collaborative effort, Bakhshai and Tejada decided to study each other’s disciplines.

“I was studying hard,” says Bakhshai, laughing. “I studied Spanish one and a half hours a day—and after that, I had a lot of homework to do.”

In addition to rigorous daily Spanish instruction, the class received a top-to-bottom tour of the 30-meter-wide Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) radio telescope. Founded in 1979 and operated as a French-German-Spanish collaboration, IRAM is one of the largest telescopes in Europe.

“We saw every single engine, every machine,” says Bakhshai. “We even got to go up to the window of the telescope, the big dish where they gather all the data. We saw how all the information was gathered, processed, and transferred to the computers. At Goucher, I show the students what astronomers do, but in Granada, it was actually in process. They got to see the real operation.”

The entire tour was conducted in Spanish, but the students found themselves able to follow along—thanks, in part, to their professors’ tag-team approach to explaining the material.

“Ali would translate what I couldn’t explain to the students, because I didn’t know all of the astronomy terminology,” adds Saenz de Tejada. “But the students were listening to Spanish all day, every day, so they were able to make connections during the tour, and figure out what the guide was saying. It was important for them to know Spanish just for the purpose of learning about the telescopes.”

Among the students who took the Granada course were Audrey Ellis ’06, a dance and philosophy double major, and Kevin Cournoyer ’08, an international relations major with a minor in Spanish. The course marked Ellis’s third time studying abroad on a Goucher program; she has also completed “Dance and Theatre as Cultural Metaphors” in London, England, and “Culture and Arts in West Africa” in Accra, Ghana. Nonetheless, the Granada course presented new challenges.

“Going into the experience, I hadn’t studied a foreign language for almost three years,” says Ellis. “Our Spanish teacher in Granada didn’t speak English, so the lessons were completely in Spanish. The first week was very challenging, but then something just clicked, and my listening comprehension went up three- or four-fold. It was amazing.”

Ellis also found time to explore an additional aspect of her academic interests during her time in Granada. As a dance major, she is particularly intrigued by dances from other cultures. With Tejada’s help, Ellis and Brett Stanley, another dance major taking the Granada course, found an instructor in Granada to teach them Sevillanas, a modern take on classical flamenco dance. For Ellis, it was yet another way to stretch the limits of her capacity for expression.

“Along with the normal challenges of learning new movement, there was the language barrier,” explains Ellis. “We were not only attempting a new style of movement, but learning that style in a foreign language. We had to be really attuned to what was happening with our bodies, but I think it also helped me learn Spanish a lot faster.”

While Ellis explored the connections between physical and verbal expression, Cournoyer struggled to adapt to Spanish culture. He fully embraced the concept of an afternoon siesta, or nap, but he wasn’t so sure about gazpacho, a traditional cold Spanish soup made of tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. And the language barrier between Cournoyer and his host mother led to some awkward situations—particularly when Cournoyer decided to attempt some offbeat humor using his limited language skills.

“The first week with the host mom, I didn’t understand anything she was saying to me. I didn’t have a very good grasp of Spanish,” says Cournoyer. “So, there were a couple phrases I kept using. I kept saying ‘Yo quiero comer tu gato,’ joking that I was going to eat her cat. And she’d call me names, like ‘gordito.’ But it was really fun just immersing myself in a new culture and having to learn about it.”

Like Ellis, Cournoyer added an extra excursion to his Granada itinerary—an optional trip to the bullfights. Though the traditional Spanish sport is much more popular with the older generations, and often decried for its violence, Cournoyer, Bakhshai, and another student thought that seeing it for themselves would enrich their experience of the culture.

For Bakhshai and Cournoyer, at least, it was as disturbing as it was interesting.

“It was culturally good that I saw the bullfight, and that our students saw it,” says Bakhshai. “But as far as the fairness of the experience, it was very terrifying. Bulls died one after another. The matadors were riding these beautiful horses—the horses were so smart, and so good, the bulls didn’t have a chance. I liked seeing it. But I don’t want to see it again.”

Cournoyer reacted similarly.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he says. “I think it’s definitely something that you should partake in if you go to Spain, because it’s part of the culture. [Not doing so would] be like coming to America and not eating a hamburger. I’m glad I went, because I got to see it—and now I never will again.”

One of the trip’s more serene cultural highlights was a visit to a reconstructed Arab bath. During Moorish times, when Granada was under Muslim rule, water and cleanliness were crucial parts of the city’s cultural heritage. Back then, there was a public bath on every street, where citizens indulged in relaxing two-hour baths, massages, and local gossip. Recently, the custom of public bathing has been enjoying a revival, with reconstructed baths popping up throughout southern Spain. The entire group enjoyed the break from their rigorous studies.

“Basically, what you do is go into an extremely cold bath, and then a very warm bath, and you switch every few minutes,” explains Ellis. “It opens your circulation and relaxes your muscles. It’s incredible to see how a very simple idea is still so effective, and to think that people have been bathing like this for thousands of years.”

One of Granada’s most famous original public baths, El Bañuelo, still stands in the shadow of the Alhambra, a sprawling Muslim palace built during the 13th and 14th centuries. Known for its intricate symmetric patterns and characteristically Arabic architecture, the Alhambra is one of the most celebrated buildings in Spain, and a popular tourist destination. The students spent an afternoon exploring its famous rooms, including the Patio de los Leones (“Court of Lions”) and the Salón de Embajadores (“Ambassador’s Hall”).

“We got to see how the caliph lived,” says Saenz de Tejada. “And you can really see the Arabic influence in the colors, the aesthetic, throughout the south of Spain. The Arab buildings, like the Alhambra, are very simple on the outside, and extremely ornate and decorated on the inside, versus the Christian buildings, which are just the opposite. It was interesting to see the contrast.”

The students were equally fascinated by the architecture by and the cultural contrasts between their two professors.

“With Ali coming from a Persian background with Arabic influence, and Cristina coming from Spain, it was really cool to see the convergence of their two cultures firsthand,” says Ellis. “It was interesting to see both of them going through the learning experience, learning from us, learning from each other, and comparing their two cultures.”

The group got to experience a special part of Spanish culture during the Fiestas del Corpus Christi, one of Spain’s most important religious holidays. The celebration in Granada is particularly famous for its parades, food, and local color.

“The city stopped, and it was a celebration,” says Ellis. “It was richer, culturally, than anything I’d ever experienced. Lots of young girls were dressed up in traditional flamenco costumes, and there were processions celebrating religious and military events in the city. There was art, singing, Spanish guitar, flamenco dancing, food—it really was an all-encompassing experience in terms of learning about the culture.”

“It’s a very social, intergenerational event,” says Saenz de Tejada. “We were living the festivities just as the locals would.”

Cournoyer had just finished his first year of college when he went to Granada, and studying abroad led to some changes in his course load when he returned to Goucher. He’s currently working as one of Bakhshai’s teacher’s assistants, and he continues to study Spanish, hoping to be able eventually to think in the language and speak it fluently. He says his first experience studying abroad will not be his last.

“I plan on studying abroad as much as I can,” says Cournoyer, who plans to return to Granada as a teacher’s assistant next year. “I’d love to go back. And next year, I’ll study abroad somewhere else.”

As for Ellis, she’s studying for the GRE and planning to pursue a graduate degree in social policy or a related field. She, too, cites studying abroad as an important aspect of her college career.

“I think studying abroad has been crucial to both my academic success and my happiness here at Goucher,” she says. “It’s kind of the final realization of what you’re doing, taking all the classroom ideas, all the theoretical stuff, and putting it out there in the real world. So many of the things we talk about here at Goucher have a global context, and the only way to really understand things like that is to take it out into the global community.”

Release Date: November 18, 2005
Media Contact: Jess Bowers, 410-337-6015

Media Contact Kory Dodd Media Relations Coordinator kory.dodd@goucher.edu 410.337.6126