Summer Institute - International & Comparative Law

The Last Night

2008-07-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

The final was four one-hour questions. One for our week of Islamic Law -- the typical law school issue spotter. One for our week of comparative competition law-- although it was technically four short answer questions. One for comparative constitutional law -- a compare and contrast essay. Finally, one for our introduction to European Law. In fine law school tradition, a fair number of us met for dinner to celebrate the completion of a final.

The Last Lunch

2008-07-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

During the trip we were able to have lunch with each week's professor. But this was the only one where street performing acrobats came to entertain us. Usually it was a woman with a portable karaoke machine.

EuroCup

2008-06-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

Spain won the EuroCup while we were there. There was much rejoicing in the streets. Seriously.

And on the tops of bars.

And among the immigrants to Spain.

My friends for the EuroCup celebrations. Three Syrians and a token Swede.

Bubion

2008-06-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

After the day in Sevilla, a couple of us went into the mountains to a town named Bubion.

Spanish Bingo -- it is different from American bingo, although you still get a pot of money for winning a round. The cards have three rows and ten columns rather than the 5X5 format of the American game. There is a small prize for getting "linea" first (that is a row) and a bigger prize for "bingo" (blackout).

The Bubion hikers. On Saturday after our arrival we hiked up to the next village, Campelleira. Then on Sunday we hiked to a waterfall.

Sunday's hike destination. If you go hiking in Spain, wear long pants! They have stinging plants (and snakes).

Sevilla

2008-06-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

After a week of comparative constitutional law, several of us took the train for a day-trip to Sevilla. It was even sunnier and warmer than Granada!

The sunflowers along the track were cool.

The Cathedral in Sevilla.

The Sevilla tourists.

A fun fountain in one of the gardens.

Morocco

2008-06-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

From Gibraltar most of us hopped a ferry in Algeciras to go to Morocco (Tanger). If you don't learn anything else about travel in Morocco, Don't Drink the Water! Don't eat the produce (it's been washed in the water). Don't drink the tea (the water hasn't been boiled long enough). If you go swimming, keep your mouth closed. Several of us that went to Morocco were sick the following week.

Otherwise, Morocco was nice. We stayed two nights in the hotel Chellah, and went on a couple of hotel organized excursions in Tanger. I wouldn't recommend using the hotel's concierge service if you can avoid it because the prepackaged trips are all designed to play into American stereotypes of Arab culture, and the bad stereotypes at that.

Yay camel rides!

Heracles Cave. We were taken there on our tour.

The shuttle ride back to the ferry.

Field Trip #2 -- Gibraltar

2008-06-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Gibraltar to visit the court there. We witnessed an oral argument regarding the damages and attorneys fees for a case that had already been decided. The lawyers and judges had to wear robes and wigs. There was also a coat of arms at the front of the courtroom.
"Justice is Magical" in Gibraltar. Unfortunately, the brief history we were given did not include an explanation of why there is a unicorn in the coat of arms at the front of the courtroom.

The rock of Gibraltar.

Law students engaging in some monkey business.

As far as the monkey was concerned, this is all part of a day's work.

The devolution of Man.

Field Trip #1

2008-06-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

We're going to prison!

I was in the group that had the first mandatory field trip to the penitentiary. Spanish prisons are nothing like US prisons. There was a men’s block and a women’s block. The structure there is much more relaxed than in US prisons and there is a much stronger focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. The maximum sentence anyone can receive is 25 years and it is reserved for truly heinous crimes, such as terrorist attacks. Additionally, once a prisoner has completed his or her sentence, s/he will be released into society with no annotations on the identification card indicated that they are a convicted criminal. Furthermore, there is no additional punishment for repeat offenders. The facilities were very nice. There were several workshops and the prisoners get to continue their education as well as sell any goods produced for income. The workout facilities were fantastic. I thought that the facility was nicer than the high school I went too.

Horsing Around

2008-06-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today several of us went horseback riding at a stable called Los Alayos in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Some of the terrain was pretty steep, but the scenery was beautiful.

My horse Carbones and me.

The end of the line. There were three stragglers, well there was one with two people caught behind.

La Ninfa

2008-06-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

One of the best restaurants in Granada is La Ninfa. It is in an extremely old building and has four different floors for diners to sit on. However, the third floor (fourth for us Americans because we give the ground floor the number one) is a porch where you can sit out and enjoy the weather.

The Alhambra

2008-06-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today two of my classmates and I went to the Alhambra. We wound up walking up the hill (it's a very steep hill) to get to the grounds and then we able to see the Alcazaba and the Palacio de Genralife. We also went to the patio de los leones, but the lions were undergoing restoration and so they were blocked off.

A view of Granada from the Alcazaba.

One of the many archways at the Alhambra.

Some of the fountains at the Genralife and two of the Stetson law students.

A view of the Alcazaba from the Genralife.

One of the Genralife fountains that was operating while we were there.

Carmen!

2008-06-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Several of us were able to go and see a flamenco performance of Carmen! The dancers were wonderful and for someone who's never heard the story before it was absolutely heart-wrenching. I didn't pick up on this from watching the production, but the storyline is set in Sevilla.

The Sights of Granada (Some of Them)

2008-06-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

The first week of classes was an Introduction to Islamic Law conducted by John Makdisi of St. Thomas School of Law. Since it was an introductory course we spent a fair amount of the first two days learning about the origin of Islam from a historical and socio-economic perspective and the basic tenants of the religion. The text we used for this portion of the class was Karen Armstrong's Islam: A Short History.For the last two days of the course we learned about the sources of Islamic law and some basics regarding the treatment of Contracts and Property as well as the various schools of legal thought.

During this week we also were given the opportunity to take a guided walking tour of Granada. Granada is an extremely beautiful city with many wonderful buildings and views. I don't know if any of my pictures can do it justice, but here goes...

One of our first stops was at a building that served as a government building during the Moorish occupation of Granada. As a result of this time there are lots of Arab influences in the the architecture and decorations of the city. Although the picture isn't a close up, the ceiling in the entryway has beautiful and ornate Arabic script carved into the stone that I've been told is the 99-attributes of Allah. Although, that information did come with a disclaimer that it was a decorative script so the reader couldn't be 100% sure that is what it was.

Most of the class decided to go on the tour, so this is a picture of them hanging out listening to the tour guide in the plaza in front of the Cathedral. The Cathedral used to be the mosque, but when the Moors were driven out of Granada it was "reclaimed" as a Catholic cathedral by the addition of a story and converting the minarets into bell towers. Later in my trip I found out that there is a street dance in this plaza almost every Saturday night during the summer. But during the tour we had to content ourselves with some of the street performers that set up all over Granada.
Around the corner is the seminary and a wall with graffiti that is 400 years old. The tour guide told us that when the doctoral students were finally awarded their Ph.D.s they would paint on the walls their names and general a blessing to Mary or thanks to God (this was after the Catholics reclaimed Granada). The paint they used was a mixture of the red clay found in the area and wolf's blood. It looks nothing like any modern graffiti that I've seen, but it is still interesting to see because of the way it documents the passage of people in a place.

So there were lots of cools buildings. I have a thing for palm tress, so here are gratuitous palm trees plus a cool random building from the tour. We were also able to see the Alhambra from afar.

The view of the Alhambra from the Albaycin is amazing. Wandering around the narrow, and steep, streets you would randomly come out and have a view of the Alhambra. It's an even prettier sight at night.

Arrival in Spain

2008-06-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

On the plane ride from Philadelphia to Madrid I was fortunate enough to sit next to a gentleman who has traveled to Spain, and Granada specifically, on several occasions. I did not make any travel arrangements to get from Madrid to Granada before leaving the United States because I hadn't decided whether I wanted to take a plane, train, or bus. My seat-mate recommended the train because it is generally less expensive than a plane, more spacious than a plane or bus, and allows you to see the countryside better than the buses. I wasn't completely sold on the train, but once we landed and made it through customs I discovered the Renf e ticket counter was about ten steps from the information booth. So, I took the train.

I had to take the Metro to get from the airport to the train station. It costs about two euros, but if you have a bad back, or have over-packed, I would recommend taking a cab. It takes a lot of walking and going up and down several staircases to navigate the Metro system from the airport to the train station. The train station is three transfers are so away from the airport.

The train ride from Madrid to Granada takes about four hours. Unfortunately, I slept for most of it because of exhaustion from spending 26 hours in airports and on airplanes. But, before I fell asleep I saw a cool castle on a hilltop.

Once in Granada I shared a cab ride with some Stetson students who were on the same train. We arrived at the hotel shortly before 5:00 p.m. After getting settled into our rooms, several of us met up to find dinner. We decided to go tapas-hopping. Tapas-hopping is essentially bar-hopping, but you get fed for the price of your drinks. The food ranges from pappas fritas (french fries) to oysters and calamari to sandwiches and pasta salads. We started at La Bella y La Bestia and then moved on to several different restaurants and bars to try a variety of tapas.

One of the people I met that first night is a Charleston law graduate who did the whole summer abroad. He spent the first month in Granada and then did the split program between the Hague and Freiburg. He chronicled his adventures over on another blog.

Pre-Departure To-Do List

2008-06-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

The short list of things to do before departure:

Call banks and get information regarding fees for international use of debit and credit cards as well as notify them of travel plans
Buy electric plug adapters and converters
Buy a map, guidebook & phrasebook (if not fluent in the destination's language)
Purchase travel insurance
Pick and Buy a EuRail pass
Get all prescriptions filled in a sufficient quantity for the duration of the trip
Research what the climate is like and pack clothing accordingly