So this week has kind of been a mess. We were supposed to start University classes on Monday but apparently it was the opening day of the University (aka some kind of ceremonial day) and there weren't classes. So I just had my one class through the UNC program. Tuesday was supposed to be the official start of classes, but the one class I did have that day the professor walked in and said there wouldn't be class until Monday and then he left. So I walked 30 minutes down to the University only to be told that I didn't have class. Then a couple of us exchange students spoke with the professor and told him that we were from the US and our program ended in December so we would need to take the exam early (Spanish students take exams in the end of January). He told us he wasn't sure if that were possible so we would have to wait until Monday of next week for him to find out. So I'm not sure I'll even have that class.
Today was a general strike in Spain. Here's a link to an article about a strike held back in June (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/09/2922107.htm). I'm not sure really what the strike was about other than it had to do with a change in employment laws and something about budget cuts. Which meant that today we also didn't have class (besides our classes through the UNC program). So tomorrow will be my first day of University classes I suppose. We'll see how it goes. I have one UNC course tomorrow at 9:30am then a University class at 1pm. Then Friday I have a UNC course at 9:30am and a UNC course at 11:15am.
Saturday morning we are leaving to go to Granada. We are staying overnight because Granada is about a 3.5 hour bus ride from Sevilla. We get to do a tour of the sites in Granada and then do a little exploring on our own. I'm excited---I've heard nothing but GREAT things about Granada and the Alhambra there.
Sorry this has been such a boring post, hopefully I'll have something more excited to share by the end of the week! :)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
"DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE TITANIC????"
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. A few of us girl's left Friday for a weekend at the beach. We stayed in Rota, which is about an hour and a half from Sevilla by bus. Two of the girls' senora has a beach house there and she let the 4 of us stay there (for FREE!).
We left Friday afternoon and upon arriving to Rota navigated our way from the bus station to the beach house. It was only about a 10 minute walk, so it wasn't bad at all. There were three bedrooms and one bathroom and so we all had our own bed. After we got settled in we went back out and found a grocery store. We got stuff for dinner and for breakfast. When we got home we started dinner, which was spaghetti (aka the go-to meal for college kids). We couldn't found ground beef (obviously), so we bought some chorizo iberico (aka a mix between salami and pepperoni). It sounds weird, but it was actually delicious in the spaghetti! We ate dinner on the patio with a great view of the ocean. After we finished eating, we of course spent the next several hours on the patio just talking. Friday night we watched Anastasia which brought back wonderful childhood memories. Then we just sat up and talked until wayyyyy too late (as in 3:30am).
We got up Saturday morning and had Frosted Flakes for breakfast (which was a VERY welcome change from having bread and jam every morning). Then we headed to board the ferry to Cadiz (another beach town in Southern Spain, except it is more touristy than Rota). We met 3 other friends from the program that were staying in Cadiz for the weekend. We spent the day walking around Cadiz and spent a little time on the beach. I absolutely LOVED Cadiz (and Rota). Rota is small which reminded me of the close-knit community back home. Cadiz is a little bigger, but still not the size of Sevilla. They are both gorgeous and have wonderful beaches with amazing clear blue water. Here are a few pictures from Cadiz.
The girls before heading to Cadiz. (Shannon, Camilla, Allegra, and me)
View of Rota in the distance from the ferry on the way to Cadiz.
City Hall of Cadiz.
The Cathedral in Cadiz.
The open air market in Cadiz. It was amazing...I wish it were like that in the US.
Pretty little streets in Cadiz.
The biggest tree I have ever seen!
Me at the fortress/castle/thing in Cadiz.
Camilla and I with crazy windblown hair. :)
Pretty ocean view.
Again. :)
Amazing sunset on the way back from Cadiz.
Again.
We woke up at 6:45 am to watch the sunrise over the ocean. Too bad it was really cloudy and the sunrise wasn't that pretty. It came out great in these pictures, but it wasn't this amazing in person. Still, I love to watch the sunrise over the ocean, so it was great to see it with great friends. :)
Our little private beach in Rota. We spent the afternoon on Sunday here. It was really pretty and it was amazing to have a whole beach to ourselves. :)
All in all, it was an amazing weekend. I get to see some fields of cotton on the way to Rota, which reminded me of home so that was nice. Us girls were also able to talk and share with one another all weekend. We even began to lose our voices by Saturday night because we had talked so much. It was nice to spend time with some amazing girls and even more nice to have really deep and open conversations. We talked about our lives back home, relationships, school, and even religion. Even though we each had different view points and different backgrounds, we were able to talk openly and freely. For me, it was really nice to open up and bond with these girls. I love being able to talk about things that aren't commonly associated with "girl talk."
And just in case you were wondering about the blog title. It's dedicated to the one and only, Camilla. While we were watching Anastasia on Friday night, she randomly asks "Did you hear about the Titanic?" Looking straight at me, I wasn't really sure what to say. Considering as how the disaster happened almost 100 years ago, obviously I've heard about it in. The other girls were laughing so hard because my face showed the confusion I was experiencing. It became even more hilarious as I realized that I had no idea how Camilla could possibly have JUST found out about the Titanic and she had no idea how I couldn't understand why she was asking me that. Anyways, she finally told me that she was talking about recent discoveries in the Titanic's sinking (which are really interesting...google it).
We start university classes tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I'm obviously very nervous about taking classes at the university and not knowing what to expect. There will definitely be updates on that.
We left Friday afternoon and upon arriving to Rota navigated our way from the bus station to the beach house. It was only about a 10 minute walk, so it wasn't bad at all. There were three bedrooms and one bathroom and so we all had our own bed. After we got settled in we went back out and found a grocery store. We got stuff for dinner and for breakfast. When we got home we started dinner, which was spaghetti (aka the go-to meal for college kids). We couldn't found ground beef (obviously), so we bought some chorizo iberico (aka a mix between salami and pepperoni). It sounds weird, but it was actually delicious in the spaghetti! We ate dinner on the patio with a great view of the ocean. After we finished eating, we of course spent the next several hours on the patio just talking. Friday night we watched Anastasia which brought back wonderful childhood memories. Then we just sat up and talked until wayyyyy too late (as in 3:30am).
We got up Saturday morning and had Frosted Flakes for breakfast (which was a VERY welcome change from having bread and jam every morning). Then we headed to board the ferry to Cadiz (another beach town in Southern Spain, except it is more touristy than Rota). We met 3 other friends from the program that were staying in Cadiz for the weekend. We spent the day walking around Cadiz and spent a little time on the beach. I absolutely LOVED Cadiz (and Rota). Rota is small which reminded me of the close-knit community back home. Cadiz is a little bigger, but still not the size of Sevilla. They are both gorgeous and have wonderful beaches with amazing clear blue water. Here are a few pictures from Cadiz.
All in all, it was an amazing weekend. I get to see some fields of cotton on the way to Rota, which reminded me of home so that was nice. Us girls were also able to talk and share with one another all weekend. We even began to lose our voices by Saturday night because we had talked so much. It was nice to spend time with some amazing girls and even more nice to have really deep and open conversations. We talked about our lives back home, relationships, school, and even religion. Even though we each had different view points and different backgrounds, we were able to talk openly and freely. For me, it was really nice to open up and bond with these girls. I love being able to talk about things that aren't commonly associated with "girl talk."
And just in case you were wondering about the blog title. It's dedicated to the one and only, Camilla. While we were watching Anastasia on Friday night, she randomly asks "Did you hear about the Titanic?" Looking straight at me, I wasn't really sure what to say. Considering as how the disaster happened almost 100 years ago, obviously I've heard about it in. The other girls were laughing so hard because my face showed the confusion I was experiencing. It became even more hilarious as I realized that I had no idea how Camilla could possibly have JUST found out about the Titanic and she had no idea how I couldn't understand why she was asking me that. Anyways, she finally told me that she was talking about recent discoveries in the Titanic's sinking (which are really interesting...google it).
We start university classes tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I'm obviously very nervous about taking classes at the university and not knowing what to expect. There will definitely be updates on that.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Learning experiences
Sorry for not blogging the past couple of days. I haven't really done anything exciting so I haven't had much to blog about. But I figured I would kind of change paces and write a little bit about random/fun stuff and stuff that I've learned since being here.
1) I forgot to mention that when we went to the beach, that we had to PAY to use the "public" restrooms there. We had gone to Italica beforehand, so most of us didn't have our bathing suits on yet, so we had no choice but to pay to change in the restrooms. It was the equivalent of $1.30 just to go in! How ridiculous! Random, but just thought I would mention it.
2) Every day at lunch our senora has the radio on while we eat. For some reason it reminds me of when I was younger and used to stay at grandma's with all the cousins. I remember watching the 12:00 news (WRAL of course) while we ate, and here its the 2:00 news and it's on the radio. But it still brings back lots of memories. Our senora listens to the news and every once in a while will comment on something that they say. It reminds me of grandma commenting on stuff on the news. Except here I'm eating tuna and omelets and at grandma's I would be eating fried chicken and pastry.
3) Time is different here. And I mean besides the fact that breakfast is at 9, lunch is at 2:30, and dinner is at 8:30. The Spanish lifestyle is slower. Let me explain. Americans work too much and enjoy life too little. (I know you'll appreciate that statement Mom). But it's true and my senora will happily tell you that. I remember having a conversation with her during the first week or so we were here. She was asking if I had a job and stuff and said that she sincerely hoped that I didn't work too much. She said that life was short and it wasn't worth having all the money in the world if you couldn't enjoy life. The funny thing is that most Americans would interpret her saying "enjoy life" as some kind of spending money. But that's not what she meant at all. She was referring to time spent with family and friends. One of the sole purposes of tapas (when Spaniards go out after dinner to socialize and eat "appetizers") is to spend time with friends. It's so nice to go out, enjoy this nice weather, and have good food and better company. I know I'm really going to miss that aspect of Spanish life once I get back.
4) My senora is spoiling me rotten. Note: I do realize that she is getting paid to do this, but at the same time I feel that she goes above and beyond what she gets paid to do. Again, let me explain. Not only does she cook for us, she refuses to let us help with the dishes. She even takes the time to ask what we like and do not like to eat. She adapts our meals to make sure that it's food that we enjoy eating. She washes our clothes. She even irons them for us. I told her not to worry about it (I mean I can't even remember the last time I ironed my clothes), but she insists on doing it anyways. She even ironed my jeans the other day. She gives us clean sheets WAY more often than I would change my sheets at home. She cleans our room and our bathroom at least every other day. If I don't make my bed in the morning (which is rare), it will be perfectly made when I get home from class. But the thing that means the most is the fact that she treats us like part of her family. She realizes and understands that we are far away from home and without our families. So she gives us hugs and makes sure to ask us how our day has been. She is genuinely interested in our lives and asks us just as much about our lives back home as she does about our lives here in Sevilla. She makes sure that she knows where we are going when we leave and when we plan to return (now, some may see this as a little overbearing, but for me it is her being protective over us--which I don't mind at all).
5) The coffee here is amazing. I don't normally drink much coffee, but it's so strong here that I love it. I still only drink it every once in a while (I think I've had it 4 times since I've been here), but I definitely like Spanish coffee better than I like American coffee. And what's Spanish coffee without a good conversation and great friends? Every cup MUST be enjoyed in good company! :)
6) The fruit here is the best I've ever had. There's just something about it. I'm not sure if it's the freshness of it or what, but I am officially addicted to Spanish fruit. I have eaten more plums in the last 2 days than I think I've eaten in my entire life. I can't say the same for peaches, but only because of the large amount of peaches I've eaten from our orchard at home. Oh, and I don't normally eat many nectarines, but they are SO good here. I've definitely eaten my fair share of just about every fruit available here in Spain.
7) I've learned that the simplest dish can be turned into something elegant. For instance, today for lunch we had pasta. All it was was pasta, broccoli, garlic, and olive oil - really simple, right? I don't know how she does it, but she makes it seem like the best meal in the entire world, EVERY time we eat. Maybe it's just because our senora is a phenomenal cook. But I doubt it (not to say she isn't, because she definitely is). I think it goes back to the value placed on conversation and time spent together. Every meal is spent sharing about our day, our family, the news, or something of value. Now, I can't say that it's much different from the way I grew up, because my parents always placed a lot of importance on eating together and sharing a meal together. However, I know that this is becoming less and less common in American homes, and that saddens me.
Now, I have definitely learned more than these 7 things since being here. But, for now, that is all I'm going to share. :)
1) I forgot to mention that when we went to the beach, that we had to PAY to use the "public" restrooms there. We had gone to Italica beforehand, so most of us didn't have our bathing suits on yet, so we had no choice but to pay to change in the restrooms. It was the equivalent of $1.30 just to go in! How ridiculous! Random, but just thought I would mention it.
2) Every day at lunch our senora has the radio on while we eat. For some reason it reminds me of when I was younger and used to stay at grandma's with all the cousins. I remember watching the 12:00 news (WRAL of course) while we ate, and here its the 2:00 news and it's on the radio. But it still brings back lots of memories. Our senora listens to the news and every once in a while will comment on something that they say. It reminds me of grandma commenting on stuff on the news. Except here I'm eating tuna and omelets and at grandma's I would be eating fried chicken and pastry.
3) Time is different here. And I mean besides the fact that breakfast is at 9, lunch is at 2:30, and dinner is at 8:30. The Spanish lifestyle is slower. Let me explain. Americans work too much and enjoy life too little. (I know you'll appreciate that statement Mom). But it's true and my senora will happily tell you that. I remember having a conversation with her during the first week or so we were here. She was asking if I had a job and stuff and said that she sincerely hoped that I didn't work too much. She said that life was short and it wasn't worth having all the money in the world if you couldn't enjoy life. The funny thing is that most Americans would interpret her saying "enjoy life" as some kind of spending money. But that's not what she meant at all. She was referring to time spent with family and friends. One of the sole purposes of tapas (when Spaniards go out after dinner to socialize and eat "appetizers") is to spend time with friends. It's so nice to go out, enjoy this nice weather, and have good food and better company. I know I'm really going to miss that aspect of Spanish life once I get back.
4) My senora is spoiling me rotten. Note: I do realize that she is getting paid to do this, but at the same time I feel that she goes above and beyond what she gets paid to do. Again, let me explain. Not only does she cook for us, she refuses to let us help with the dishes. She even takes the time to ask what we like and do not like to eat. She adapts our meals to make sure that it's food that we enjoy eating. She washes our clothes. She even irons them for us. I told her not to worry about it (I mean I can't even remember the last time I ironed my clothes), but she insists on doing it anyways. She even ironed my jeans the other day. She gives us clean sheets WAY more often than I would change my sheets at home. She cleans our room and our bathroom at least every other day. If I don't make my bed in the morning (which is rare), it will be perfectly made when I get home from class. But the thing that means the most is the fact that she treats us like part of her family. She realizes and understands that we are far away from home and without our families. So she gives us hugs and makes sure to ask us how our day has been. She is genuinely interested in our lives and asks us just as much about our lives back home as she does about our lives here in Sevilla. She makes sure that she knows where we are going when we leave and when we plan to return (now, some may see this as a little overbearing, but for me it is her being protective over us--which I don't mind at all).
5) The coffee here is amazing. I don't normally drink much coffee, but it's so strong here that I love it. I still only drink it every once in a while (I think I've had it 4 times since I've been here), but I definitely like Spanish coffee better than I like American coffee. And what's Spanish coffee without a good conversation and great friends? Every cup MUST be enjoyed in good company! :)
6) The fruit here is the best I've ever had. There's just something about it. I'm not sure if it's the freshness of it or what, but I am officially addicted to Spanish fruit. I have eaten more plums in the last 2 days than I think I've eaten in my entire life. I can't say the same for peaches, but only because of the large amount of peaches I've eaten from our orchard at home. Oh, and I don't normally eat many nectarines, but they are SO good here. I've definitely eaten my fair share of just about every fruit available here in Spain.
7) I've learned that the simplest dish can be turned into something elegant. For instance, today for lunch we had pasta. All it was was pasta, broccoli, garlic, and olive oil - really simple, right? I don't know how she does it, but she makes it seem like the best meal in the entire world, EVERY time we eat. Maybe it's just because our senora is a phenomenal cook. But I doubt it (not to say she isn't, because she definitely is). I think it goes back to the value placed on conversation and time spent together. Every meal is spent sharing about our day, our family, the news, or something of value. Now, I can't say that it's much different from the way I grew up, because my parents always placed a lot of importance on eating together and sharing a meal together. However, I know that this is becoming less and less common in American homes, and that saddens me.
Now, I have definitely learned more than these 7 things since being here. But, for now, that is all I'm going to share. :)
Monday, September 20, 2010
Coca-cola, good food, great friends. :)
Yesterday was an interesting day. I wandered upon a flea market practically right behind our apartment building. It was huge!!! They had absolutely everything: from clothes, shoes, jewelry to fruit, vegetables, and hot dogs. The even had stands that were selling curtains, towels, and baby clothes! It was really overwhelming at first because there was SO much stuff and all the vendors were yelling their "cheap prices" out, but it was really nice to be able to wander around. I wound up buying a thin sweater and a cardigan both for really cheap! I didn't bring that many winter clothes because they weighed a lot in my suitcase, but I think I'll have enough to make it through the semester. I also bought those two sisters of mine another part of their Christmas presents! :) I even found a "dollar store" (well, pretty much) right behind our apartment building and I was able to buy some bandaids and some ziploc bags. I had bought some snacks to take to school, but most of their snacks are not individually wrapped, so I was going to buy ziploc bags at the grocery store the other day. Then I realized they cost a FORTUNE (well, for frugal me at least), so I decided to hold off. Glad I did, because I bought a box of 50 for 80 cents. I also got a thing of 30 bandaids for 75 cents, so I was pretty happy.
Today we met one of our professors at the University to get a quick tour of the building before classes start next week. The building is actually where the old tobacco factory used to be and it could not be arranged in a more confusing manner. The room numbers have no specific order to them so you could have room 3 beside room 18. Totally confusing! Oh well, Allegra and I are going back later this week to find our classrooms so we went be lost on the first day. We also found out that there is no class on Monday (the day we thought we started classes), Tuesday is the day professors will present the syllabus (I only have one class that day at 1pm), Wednesday there is some kind of strike all over Spain so there is no class, so really we begin classes on Thursday. So next week will be a kind of crazy/stressful week. Apparently it's not uncommon for professors to not show up for class the first week or for them to randomly change the room number of their class without notifying the students. I guess it'll be an interesting week. :\
After our tour of the university, a group of us girls went to the same restaurant that I went to the other night. They were all just as impressed as I was with the food. I did try something new today, and I have to say that I'm quite proud of myself for trying it, even if I didn't like it --- octopus. It was interesting, but just not my choice of food. We got marinated tomatoes that were fantastic, stuffed eggplant, eggplant cooked with honey (one of my favorites), bacon and cheese stuffed chicken with an almond sauce, and the same bread and cheese/jam that I had last time (aka my new favorite food). For all five of us (including 2 cokes a piece) it was only 30 euro. So taking out the cokes, we each paid about 4.50 for lunch. Not bad at all. Plus it was delicious. After lunch, we got a coffee because we were missing our siesta for a tour of the Cathedral. It was delicious and it was nice to be able to sit and talk with friends. Plus we were right by the Cathedral and it was a gorgeous view and it felt really nice outside.
Then we got to tour the Cathedral. I took a million pictures, but I'm only going to post a few because the pictures do not do it justice at all. It's one of those things you just really have to see in person. It's the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world. It was purposefully built extremely "tall" to represent the bigness of God and the smallness of humans. It is awe-inspiring and breathtaking.
La Giralda - aka the tower. This is what we climbed. While it was ramps, but still there were 34 levels. Nice workout. :)
Pretty and HUGE stained glass window.
Just to show how big it is.
Me and Camilla at the top!! :)
(ps: Camilla, now YOU'RE famous b/c you're on my blog!!!!)
Me and some pretty awesome people.
(Tiffany, Allegra, Shannon, Camilla, and me)
And to top off my really amazing day, I got to talk to Allegra on the way home about my crazy addiction to coupon clipping/using. I know it's really nerdy and all, but I just love being able to save money. And it was really nice to be able to share with someone who also enjoys coupons. :)
Today we met one of our professors at the University to get a quick tour of the building before classes start next week. The building is actually where the old tobacco factory used to be and it could not be arranged in a more confusing manner. The room numbers have no specific order to them so you could have room 3 beside room 18. Totally confusing! Oh well, Allegra and I are going back later this week to find our classrooms so we went be lost on the first day. We also found out that there is no class on Monday (the day we thought we started classes), Tuesday is the day professors will present the syllabus (I only have one class that day at 1pm), Wednesday there is some kind of strike all over Spain so there is no class, so really we begin classes on Thursday. So next week will be a kind of crazy/stressful week. Apparently it's not uncommon for professors to not show up for class the first week or for them to randomly change the room number of their class without notifying the students. I guess it'll be an interesting week. :\
After our tour of the university, a group of us girls went to the same restaurant that I went to the other night. They were all just as impressed as I was with the food. I did try something new today, and I have to say that I'm quite proud of myself for trying it, even if I didn't like it --- octopus. It was interesting, but just not my choice of food. We got marinated tomatoes that were fantastic, stuffed eggplant, eggplant cooked with honey (one of my favorites), bacon and cheese stuffed chicken with an almond sauce, and the same bread and cheese/jam that I had last time (aka my new favorite food). For all five of us (including 2 cokes a piece) it was only 30 euro. So taking out the cokes, we each paid about 4.50 for lunch. Not bad at all. Plus it was delicious. After lunch, we got a coffee because we were missing our siesta for a tour of the Cathedral. It was delicious and it was nice to be able to sit and talk with friends. Plus we were right by the Cathedral and it was a gorgeous view and it felt really nice outside.
Then we got to tour the Cathedral. I took a million pictures, but I'm only going to post a few because the pictures do not do it justice at all. It's one of those things you just really have to see in person. It's the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world. It was purposefully built extremely "tall" to represent the bigness of God and the smallness of humans. It is awe-inspiring and breathtaking.
(ps: Camilla, now YOU'RE famous b/c you're on my blog!!!!)
(Tiffany, Allegra, Shannon, Camilla, and me)
And to top off my really amazing day, I got to talk to Allegra on the way home about my crazy addiction to coupon clipping/using. I know it's really nerdy and all, but I just love being able to save money. And it was really nice to be able to share with someone who also enjoys coupons. :)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Good food, good friends, and a trip to Córdoba
Last night I went out for dinner with the director of SFC (Student's for Christ) and her friend/assistant director as well as another American study abroad student. We went out for tapas to a place downtown near the cathedral. We got SOOOO much food, but it was really cheap (about 1,85 Euro a plate). Here's a picture of all the food.
We had some of everything - starting from top left-right, pork tenderloin, bread with blue cheese and raspberry jam (this was my favorite dish), bread topped with tomato sauce and pork tenderloin, fried chicken with almond sauce, pork medallions, grilled chicken with almond sauce, eggplant cooked with honey, and calamari.
It was really great food, and it was nice to meet some really nice people outside of my program (not that I don't like the people on my program, it's just always fun to meet more people). We got to talk a little about the SFC organization (which is a lot like Campus Crusade, Intervarsity, etc.). It's an international organization mainly for American students in countries abroad. They have weekly Bible studies, help find a church near you that is as much like your home church as possible, and they done fun activities. For instance, they have dinner night where the director (she's from CA and has lived in Spain for the past 6 years) cooks American food for the students (mac and cheese, pizza, brownies, etc.) to help them feel at home. They also do movie nights and game nights. I'm really excited about getting involved. I'm going to church with them tomorrow and luckily the church is only a 10-15 minute walk from my house.
But today we went to Córdoba. It's about an hour and a half from Sevilla. We were supposed to meet the bus at 8:15 this morning to be able to leave by 8:30. Tiffany and I woke up late and practically ran the entire way downtown. We thought we would be the last ones there, but it turns out we definitely were not. Two other girls wound up showing up 45 minutes late. It was really frustrating because they always stress punctuality to us and the fact that they'll leave us if we're late. But this morning we had to sit around and wait 45 minutes for two people. Very frustrating.
We stopped about 30 minutes away from Córdoba to use the restrooms and get a quick bite to eat. I bought a muffin since I didn't have time to eat breakfast before we left. It was lemon and it was delicious! :) Then we got back on the road. Once we arrived at Córdoba, we immediately started our tour. Here's a picture of the entrance over to the main part of the city.
Once we crossed that bridge, we stopped for a minute in a patio outside of the mosque/church. Here's a picture of me in the patio. :)
Then we got to go inside the mosque/church (Spain has tons of religious influences. In the 700s it was mainly Islamic - thus the mosque - but later the Christians took over, therefore there is a "Christian part of the building as well) and the synagogue. They had gorgeous architecture. The pictures don't do it justice. But here are a few anyways.
Some of the amazing architecture of the church.
So many pretty arches all over the building. It was built in stages. It was kind of small at first, then as the Muslim population of Córdoba grew, they expanded the mosque. The capitals on top of the columns were different on most of them because they were trying to spend the least amount of money possible so they recycled them from Roman buildings.
A very elaborately decorated ceiling/dome.
Another view of the architecture and details.
Soooo pretty. This is the same one that's on your postcards Mom, Dad, Amanda, Jessica, and Grandma Williams. :) (They're coming sometime this week!)
The chorus seats from when the mosque became a Catholic Church.
The organ above the chorus.
One of the most famous pictures from Córdoba. It shows the tower in the background and is called the "street of flowers." It was so cute and so quaint.
Awesome friends. Me, Camilla, Tiffany, Allegra, Ashley, and Shannon.
Another view of the streets, buildings, and tower in the background. I think that's Camilla's head at the bottom of my picture - hahaha. :)
It was really great food, and it was nice to meet some really nice people outside of my program (not that I don't like the people on my program, it's just always fun to meet more people). We got to talk a little about the SFC organization (which is a lot like Campus Crusade, Intervarsity, etc.). It's an international organization mainly for American students in countries abroad. They have weekly Bible studies, help find a church near you that is as much like your home church as possible, and they done fun activities. For instance, they have dinner night where the director (she's from CA and has lived in Spain for the past 6 years) cooks American food for the students (mac and cheese, pizza, brownies, etc.) to help them feel at home. They also do movie nights and game nights. I'm really excited about getting involved. I'm going to church with them tomorrow and luckily the church is only a 10-15 minute walk from my house.
But today we went to Córdoba. It's about an hour and a half from Sevilla. We were supposed to meet the bus at 8:15 this morning to be able to leave by 8:30. Tiffany and I woke up late and practically ran the entire way downtown. We thought we would be the last ones there, but it turns out we definitely were not. Two other girls wound up showing up 45 minutes late. It was really frustrating because they always stress punctuality to us and the fact that they'll leave us if we're late. But this morning we had to sit around and wait 45 minutes for two people. Very frustrating.
We stopped about 30 minutes away from Córdoba to use the restrooms and get a quick bite to eat. I bought a muffin since I didn't have time to eat breakfast before we left. It was lemon and it was delicious! :) Then we got back on the road. Once we arrived at Córdoba, we immediately started our tour. Here's a picture of the entrance over to the main part of the city.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Fun with friends, sleeping in, visit to Los Reales Alcazares
Last night a huge group of girls on the program got together. We had a tonnn of fun being able to hang out and relax and not have to worry about school today, because we didn't have class this morning. We stayed up pretty late and were able to sleep in this morning. After lunch we headed down to the "tourist district" of the city to visit the Reales Alcazares. It is a palace that is right in the middle of el Barrio Santa Cruz. Since we're such a super cool group we got to enter through a backdoor into the gardens. It was really cool. The gardens were beautiful (pictures below)! We got to tour the site and even though we spent approximately an hour and a half there we only saw about 30% of the available tourist sections. It is free for students to get in though, so a few of us plan to go back to see more and to be able to take more pictures. Our professor/tour guide was moving kind of quickly for us to all be able to stop and take pictures. Mom, we did get to take one group picture (I'll put it below) so I know you'll enjoy that. :)
It was amazing to be able to tour the site. The architecture was a mixture of different styles and periods (representing the various groups that lived in Spain at different points in history) and it was all so beautiful! I really love being able to visit these sites as a group with our professor. He is very intelligent and knows a LOT about Spain's history, art, etc. So we pretty much get our own personal tour guide. Yes, it is in Spanish, but I guess that's why I'm here, right? :)
Okay, okay, okay. I know you're all dying to see pictures. Here are some. :)
So this is just actually a pretty scene on my way home from school. I really love it so I decided to take a picture the other day.
The river at night. Absolutely stunning.
Pretty view of some architecture in the gardens.
More of the gardens.
One of the ceilings inside.
Pretty ceramic decorations on the walls!
One of the original gates into the place.
Pretty!
Allegra, Me, and Tiffany in one of the patios.
Gorgeous patio!
Most. awesome. ceiling. ever. It was the "diplomatic relations room" meant to impress foreign dignitaries and such. It impressed me for sure!
Pretty fountain.
View of the Cathedral in the distance.
Group pic in the gardens. Our whole UNC Study Abroad in Sevilla group. :)
It was amazing to be able to tour the site. The architecture was a mixture of different styles and periods (representing the various groups that lived in Spain at different points in history) and it was all so beautiful! I really love being able to visit these sites as a group with our professor. He is very intelligent and knows a LOT about Spain's history, art, etc. So we pretty much get our own personal tour guide. Yes, it is in Spanish, but I guess that's why I'm here, right? :)
Okay, okay, okay. I know you're all dying to see pictures. Here are some. :)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Homework GALORE.
Sorry that I haven´t posted in a few days. I´ve gotten several emails about not posting, but I´ve been swamped with homework and getting ready to register for classes. Registering for classes is a disaster because their university system is so different from ours. They are only allowed to take classes from the department of their "major" aka they are more specialized in their area of study because they don´t have the liberal arts education that we do. Therefore, all the classes are listed by the department. So you have to go to each individual departments site to find classes that you want to take. Not only that, but the have all classes listed on the schedule, 1st semester, 2nd semester, and annual classes, so you have to make sure you are looking at one that´s offered the semester you need it (for us, 1st semester). As you can see, I´ve been swamped with trying to find classes!
Let´s see, yesterday was full of schoolwork and me not feeling too great. I had a runny nose and a sore throat, but I think it was just from allergies. I´m feeling much better today though. We also went to a parade of sorts in our neighborhood last night. Our señora´s grandson was in it and so she invited us to go with her. It was realllllly interesting. It was a procession for "Nuestra Señora del Juncal" or the lady of the neighborhood. There was a fancy float (picture below) with tons of candles and tons of people out to watch it. Apparently it´s a really big deal---it was most certainly a really cool cultural experience.
Today has just been more school work and trying to figure out classes. Still no idea what I want to take, but we´ll see how it goes. I have a pretty good schedule figured out, but I need to find one more class to take.
Let´s see, sorry that there´s not much exciting stuff to blog about. A couple of my recent observations: they don´t use ice very much here. As in, hardly at all. I miss it so much. There´s nothing like a glass of water FULL of ice. Or a Coke with ice. And when you do go to a restaurant and get ice, you get like 2 big pieces. Not small, crushed, delicious ice. Oh well, ice is something I can live without. They also don´t keep their fridges and such very cold. I assume it´s to save on energy bills. And maybe it´s just because I keep mine very cold, because there´s just nothing like ice cold water or a nice cold glass of milk.
So my sunglasses broke the other day. Well, not exactly broke, but the screw fell out and I couldn´t find it to put it back in. There´s an eye doctor on the way to my school so I stopped by there today on the way back. I asked if they could fix my sunglasses and she said they could, I would just need to leave them and come back and pick them up later today. So I went back at 5:30 today to get them and asked how much it cost to fix them. IT WAS FREE! I couldn´t believe it. I mean really, NOTHING is free. I was ecstatic. Ahhh, it´s the simple stuff in life that´s amazing. So after getting my glasses (which she also cleaned VERY well for me---for FREE), I went exploring a little. The eye doctor was in a shopping center so I walked around a little. I went into a bookstore, because I´m such a nerd, and looked at all the amazing books, but I didn´t buy anything. Then I went into the grocery store. I just wanted to compare prices with the other grocery store that I had been in. This one was a little bit cheaper than the first one I´d been in. I got a pack of face-wipes (kind of like make up removing wipes) for 1.10 euro for a pack of 25. Not bad at all. I also got 4 packs of FRUIT gum (due to my mint allergy...sad day) for 2.30 euro for all 4, not bad. And of course, a nice cold Coke. Like I said earlier, nothing is really cold, but someone had taken this one coke and put it in the freezer type section so it was delightfully and refreshingly chilled (and not frozen!). It was amazing!
Well, it´s back to homework for me. I have a test tomorrow! Here´s pictures from the parade!
Let´s see, yesterday was full of schoolwork and me not feeling too great. I had a runny nose and a sore throat, but I think it was just from allergies. I´m feeling much better today though. We also went to a parade of sorts in our neighborhood last night. Our señora´s grandson was in it and so she invited us to go with her. It was realllllly interesting. It was a procession for "Nuestra Señora del Juncal" or the lady of the neighborhood. There was a fancy float (picture below) with tons of candles and tons of people out to watch it. Apparently it´s a really big deal---it was most certainly a really cool cultural experience.
Today has just been more school work and trying to figure out classes. Still no idea what I want to take, but we´ll see how it goes. I have a pretty good schedule figured out, but I need to find one more class to take.
Let´s see, sorry that there´s not much exciting stuff to blog about. A couple of my recent observations: they don´t use ice very much here. As in, hardly at all. I miss it so much. There´s nothing like a glass of water FULL of ice. Or a Coke with ice. And when you do go to a restaurant and get ice, you get like 2 big pieces. Not small, crushed, delicious ice. Oh well, ice is something I can live without. They also don´t keep their fridges and such very cold. I assume it´s to save on energy bills. And maybe it´s just because I keep mine very cold, because there´s just nothing like ice cold water or a nice cold glass of milk.
So my sunglasses broke the other day. Well, not exactly broke, but the screw fell out and I couldn´t find it to put it back in. There´s an eye doctor on the way to my school so I stopped by there today on the way back. I asked if they could fix my sunglasses and she said they could, I would just need to leave them and come back and pick them up later today. So I went back at 5:30 today to get them and asked how much it cost to fix them. IT WAS FREE! I couldn´t believe it. I mean really, NOTHING is free. I was ecstatic. Ahhh, it´s the simple stuff in life that´s amazing. So after getting my glasses (which she also cleaned VERY well for me---for FREE), I went exploring a little. The eye doctor was in a shopping center so I walked around a little. I went into a bookstore, because I´m such a nerd, and looked at all the amazing books, but I didn´t buy anything. Then I went into the grocery store. I just wanted to compare prices with the other grocery store that I had been in. This one was a little bit cheaper than the first one I´d been in. I got a pack of face-wipes (kind of like make up removing wipes) for 1.10 euro for a pack of 25. Not bad at all. I also got 4 packs of FRUIT gum (due to my mint allergy...sad day) for 2.30 euro for all 4, not bad. And of course, a nice cold Coke. Like I said earlier, nothing is really cold, but someone had taken this one coke and put it in the freezer type section so it was delightfully and refreshingly chilled (and not frozen!). It was amazing!
Well, it´s back to homework for me. I have a test tomorrow! Here´s pictures from the parade!
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