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. :)