Posted: Nov 30, 2010
Granada, Spain – About 250 miles south
of Madrid in the southern region of Andalucia, Endicott men’s
volleyball junior Josh Bruno (Andover, Mass.) has resided in
Granada, Spain as part of his semester abroad program where he is
partaking in two classes and a community service project.
The SIT: Spain, Language, Community and Social Change program takes students and encourages them to become part of a culture instead of being an observer. The program involves class and community service time but also allows participants to travel and explore to surrounding cities. Bruno’s travels have brought the junior to various places such as Madrid, Barcelona, Morocco, Cadiz, Sevilla, and Cordoba.
While in Madrid for four days, Bruno saw a collection of the country’s finest European art from the 12th to 19th centuries at the Prado Museum. In Barcelona, he saw a Champions League soccer match between Barcelona and KB Rubin Kazan, a Russian club team. Bruno went surfing in Cadiz and even spent a weekend in a self-sustaining village close to the Sierra Mountains.
Bruno’s classes include a Spanish intensive language course taken three hours a day during the weekdays and another course about social and political change in Spain including lectures on Spanish history and politics today.
The 40-hour community service project, which is done for twice a week for two hours at a time, is at Project Mirlo, a school where immigrants learn Spanish.
“The program at SIT is very demanding,” said Bruno, “but I have no doubts that I will learn a lot from this experience.”
In Granada, Bruno stayed with a host-family for 13 weeks and got a glimpse of what Spanish daily life and culture was all about. His host-brother, Guillermo, played for a club basketball team in Granada and frequently brought him out to play pickup games with teammates on the weekends. Bruno has also been able to keep up on his preseason training by taking advantage of the beautiful surroundings in Granada.
“The resources are excellent here. The running here is good as well. There are some amazing paths inside and outside the city, which I use. The hope is that when I get back on January 3rd, I will be ready for the season.”
Bruno and the rest of the Endicott men’s volleyball team, 2010 champions of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association, kick off their 2011 campaign on January 15th-16th for the Rivier Tournament against Lasell College, Elmira College, and Rivier College.
