Home Institution
University of Colorado
Language Proficiency Level
SPAN 3500
Publication Date
Spring 2013
Abstract
I am a junior in college studying civil engineering with a focus in water resources at the University of Colorado at Boulder. My entire life I have been surrounded with water and rivers. I began kayaking as a toddler in the Colorado rivers and have spent a large part of my life living, playing, exercising, and working in rivers. My grandfather is a civil engineer who owns a water resource company, my father is a civil engineer who designs whitewater kayak courses all over the world, and my older brother recently graduated from CU after studying civil engineering and is now working as a geotechnical engineer in British Columbia. My hobbies, interests, and strengths led me to begin my career studying civil engineering and to focus in water resources.
Throughout this semester in Granada, I did my community service at a soup kitchen called ‘Calor y Café’. That experience enabled me to practice my Spanish a lot, see a part of the culture of Granada that many people miss, and learn a lot about myself after being put in the awkward situation in which my job was just to entertain and converse with the people visiting the café. However, I did my final project on a subject in which I have more interest and would provide for a much better report and presentation. When I came to study in Granada at CELEI, I had heard of the amazing ancient hydraulic engineering in the area. I knew I wanted to investigate and learn more about it. My goal going into this project was to explore and visit as many interesting sites and events relating to this theme as possible and combine learning about the engineering in the area with learning about the history.
Granada, positioned at the confluence of various rivers at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, is in the perfect location to provide water for various important uses. After exploring the area and many sites that contain examples of the ancient hydraulic engineering and ‘interviewing’ many people who are educated on the subject, I created this project which explains the ancient uses of water in the area as sacred, social, and agricultural as well as touches upon the history of Granada.
Disciplines
Hydraulic Engineering | Water Resource Management
Recommended Citation
Lacy, Spencer, "El agua en Granada / Water in Granada" (2013). Spain: Language, Community, and Social Change. 8.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/spc/8