الأندلس

Tomorrow I have my last final exam, and this truly marks the beginning of the end of my semester in Cadiz.

After my exam, there will be a mad scramble to start packing-packing for a week and a half exploring the culinary prowess that is Italy; and packing the rest of my life away because when I return, another American student will be living in my room. I'll be "upgraded" to spend the last few nights in Cadiz in my host mother's bedroom while she insists that the couch is far more comfortable for her.

It's incredibly muggy outside, so I don't mind spending a few more hours in my pajamas studying in bed. My last exam is for my class on the history of al-Andalus (a.k.a. Muslim Spain) - that "Gem of the World", that paradigm of Convivencia that is ironically invoked by both anti-war advocates and Osama bin Laden.

There is always one quote that blows my mind whenever I come across the topic of al-Andalus. I first heard it on my visit to Alhambra in Granada three years ago and then in a Wellesley Spanish class, and again with this class.

Legend has it that when the last Nasrid King of Granada, Boabdil, surrendered the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, he turned around on the path to exile to look with one last sigh lamenting his lost palace. His mother walking by said:

"Llora, llora como mujer lo que no supiste defender como hombre."
(You cry like a woman for that which you did not know how to defend as a man.")

Damn.