Do the waters of the Mediterranean truly have healing properties?

SUU student
takes a trip to Spain to answer this and other questions
October 27, 2017
Author: Jordan Smith

In May of 2017 Jordan Smith, a senior in psychology at Southern Utah University, traveled to Spain with
a group of students and professors. The trip was sponsored and planned by the psychology department
with (of course) a focus on psychology concepts. All participants were expected to make their own travel
arrangements and meet up near the Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain on May 4th to begin the adventure.
A total of 24 students and 5 professors eventually made their way to the meeting place with a wide
variety of stories to tell about the long trip from Cedar City, Utah to Barcelona, Spain.

Just getting to Spain had been a challenge for a few in this large group: there were the usual delayed
flightsand even a missed flight from a student that just slept in. For the keen observer, the delays and
other problems caused by these hiccups in the groups plans was an excellent start to one concept of
psychology: group dynamics. Being in a foreign culture where few of his fellow travelers spoke the
language or understood the local way of life, brought things like emotions and personality traits to a
more easily observable dimension. Jordan was fascinated by the systematic dismantling of psychological
trait tendencies that only an environment created by all of these mentioned factors could disassemble.

This trip was one of many options Jordan could have chosen from in order to complete what is known as
an Edge Project. Jordan described SUUs Edge program as, something that Southern Utah University
started a few years ago to help students combine the skills they are gaining as a student and put
together a project that has real life applications, kind of like an Eagle Project that a boy scout would put
together. The project is required in order to receive a Bachelors degree from the university.

After a long but fascinating study of important sites in multiple cities in Spain the group ended their trip
in Almunecar, a city on the shores of the Mediterranean. As he lounged on the beach and swam in the
clear crisp waters, Jordan was revived for the long trip home and now believes in the mythological
healing properties of the Mediterranean. ###