Dear Ben,...

This post is dedicated to answering some questions my brother had. Ben- if you have more, ask! Of course everyone else can ask questions too! In case you didn't read his post/comment to me here it is:

more more i wanna know more! what does it smell like? how is your air? where are the trees?? isn't there ancient stuff there?? all I see is new, and modern its more modern than here at home! maybe I've got to see for myself. are you teaching yet??

I know that Carlos was able to answer a few of the questions (thanks!) and so I will try to also write in some comparisons.

So let's start with the smell...there are tons. Everything good and bad- like a very direct woman who just lays everything out on the table when you meet her. I would say in a ten minute walk around town you will smell everything from trash (from the trash bins) and dog pee to amazing smell of freshly baked bread and cologne/perfume from people passing by. In the states you get a little bit of this because everything smells different there too, of course, but this is more extreme. I absolutely love it. Oh and also you should know many of the old men here smell like B.O., I guess not much different from the states either lol

Trees- here they have mostly olive trees. There are a few small trees here and there but mostly for decoration around the town. The whole town is surrounded by country and that's where all the olive trees are. There are also grape vines, of course, too...for the delicious wine :) I actually haven't even tried a glass of wine yet, just a drink called tinto de verano (lemon fanta with wine to top it off), so I will have to get back to you on how that tastes. So basically the landscape is VERY different than the West coast landscape that you're used to.

Old stuff :) There is PLENTY of history here even just in this small town. Carlos, a new friend from Lucena, showed and explained some of the history to me. I don't know that I want to write it all out here but basically it used to be a jewish town (versus most of the surrounding towns were Muslim) and has now been converted into a Christian (Catholic) town...although I'm not sure how many years ago this was. I would definitely recommend you look up Lucena on Wikipedia if you have time: Wiki-Lucena.

Buildings- I don't know that I would say these buildings are modern but I suppose they do look very different and in pretty good condition. Even the new ones have a similar style to the older ones. I will make sure to take more pics but the pictures do the buildings, and town, no justice. They are beautiful and they streets are great because there are skinny ones, like the "typical European" look and then there are also big streets for more traffic. The sidewalks are also fun because they're pretty skinny so most people just end up walking in the streets. I'm told the ones here are in pretty good condition in comparison to those in other towns of similar size. I think there's just such a difference in architecture between what we see in the states and here that is impossible to compare.

I will make sure to take plenty more pics so you all can see the town and all that's here. If I could figure out how to do panoramic pics with my camera I would...we will see if I can figure it out or not.

I'm going to be starting school next Friday (Oct. 1). So between now and then I will move in somewhere (I'm meeting with a possible roommate tomorrow and I have back up plans if that falls through) and get my student ID card. Please wish me luck with this because this will be my 4th time going to Cordoba in the last week to try to figure this out- hopefully it will be my last! Be on the look out for more pics! I will add them very soon!!!