Pilate not Pilates

So last week they were filming a movie here with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise (Knight and Day) so different parts of the city were blocked off. It didn’t really affect me except for when I tried to go for a browsing shopping expedition between classes and had to take a detour. All I could see was really small cars like ones in the Italian Job or something. People were trying to catch a glimpse but they had it pretty well blockaded so there wasn’t much of a chance. On Thursday Maureen went to London so it was just me in the house again. On Friday, Mati was making spinach with chickpeas which might be my favorite of her dishes so I tried to watch some of it. I didn’t get all of the ingredients because I wasn’t sure of the spices and she just called them assorted spices but I got the general idea. As I walked through the living room I stretched because I had just gotten up and Mati told me that I shouldn’t do that outside of the house. Apparently stretching is considered very rude here, which is good to know because even though it’s not exactly perfect decorum in the US, you might still stretch in public depending on the situation. Here, I guess that’s not a good idea. Friday afternoon I went to Casa de Pilatos with my friend Margo. It’s a small palace/big house from the 16th century. I know Pilatos sounds kind of like Pilates but the name actually comes from Pontius Pilate. Nope, he didn’t live there or anything even closely connected like that. It was named after Pilate because the owner had just come back from Jerusalem and wanted to build his house in the style of Pilate’s house. The building is an overload of tiles – the walls are covered almost floor to ceiling with them. Even though I have seen plenty of tiled buildings in my time here, the tiles at this particular place were really unique. The designs were gorgeous and I think the combination of so many in the same place made you focus on the tiles instead of other design features. The gardens were also beautiful as well as the painted brick walls of the courtyard. We finished up at Casa de Pilatos just as the stores were opening after siesta – perfect timing to embark on the shopping expedition we had planned for the rest of the afternoon. And what an expedition it was. I had had my heart set on finding a pair of nice leather boots ever since my mother had put the idea in my head during my family’s visit. After browsing a few stores, I finally found a pair that caught my eye. I was going to wait a little bit (because I really hate impulse buys and always like to maximize my options) but the saleswoman told me it was the only pair in my size they had. Ok, I was convinced! I’m so happy I got them (if you can’t tell by the fact that I’m actually writing about a pair of boots in my blog!) After a few more stores we stopped at Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream. I was really curious how the flavors would translate since most of them are a play on words. It turns out, they don’t attempt to translate them, just put a description in Spanish underneath. The ice cream is great here, but I do miss Ben and Jerry’s and their incredible additions to ice cream, especially since they don’t really do toppings here. Brownie pieces in ice cream... I mean after Coffee Heath Bar Crunch it doesn't get much better than that. After a few more purchases, it was time to head home for dinner. Mati and Luiqui were totally adorable when I got home. When they saw the big bag, they asked me what I had gotten and told me to show them. They passed a boot between each other and commented how pretty they were and how they were good quality. Of course Mati made a joke about how she was going to take them and put cotton in the toes (since her feet are about half the size of mine). And when I went out later to go on a walk with a friend, Mati and Luiqui both said how pretty and stylish the boots looked! It was basically what my real mom would have done if I were at home so it made me really happy. On Saturday Dunia, their daughter, arrived because one of her really good friends just had a baby. At lunch we talked about her new apartment and the differences between Zaragoza and Seville. Later, when I was out for the night with some friends we ran into a friend from Penn who is studying in Barcelona. I know Seville is a smaller city, but it was still crazy to run into him randomly. There were definitely some screams of surprise and I’m pretty sure the rest of the people on the street thought we were crazy! Sunday, as with many of my days now, was dedicated to studying. Unfortunately my time here is quickly fading, which means that my work is quickly piling up. I wish I could just spend the rest of my time here enjoying the city and my friends, but the paradox of schoolwork says that the end must be the worst part. I’m still going to try to see more parts of the city, but I know a lot of my weekends will be dedicated to writing papers. It had to happen sometime I guess.

 

 

 

 

Blame Pepe

So I did once say that my History of the US class was not a complete cop-out because there were some interesting differences in perspective, so I thought I’d list a few now in case you were doubting me. One of the things that my professor has talked about a lot is the process of impeachment. Even though we have rarely used it in the course of our country, my professor seems to be a big fan of the idea. He said that it is unfortunate that Spain doesn’t have a similar process because then there is basically no way of getting rid of corrupt politicians. I thought it was interesting because it’s not as though American politicians are not corrupt because impeachment exists. I guess at least the opportunity to weed out particularly bad ones is a good tool to have in a political system. Another thing he mentioned was how Washington was a model for the future because he was a military man. Of course I knew that Washington was the head of the Revolutionary war but I never thought about how much that has affected our politics even now. In the whole Swiftboat controversy with Kerry in 2004 it was such a big deal that the president had served in the military. Washington in some ways created an ideal for a president and even over 300 years later we still compare our presidents to him.

Niña, Pinta, or the Santa María?

 

fishing boats - not related to Columbus

Monastery - related to Columbus

On Thursday it was my first day teaching English to the son of one of the women in my tennis class. And by teaching, I mean speaking in English for an hour. He can speak really well for a 10 year old and knows way more than I will ever know about planes, so he spent a lot of time explaining different types of planes to me. He asked me about why we only have one last name in the US because Spaniards all have two. It was really fun and much more relaxing in comparison to the first few lessons with Marina, so that was nice. On Friday I did a little shopping with some friends and watched Nadal play Tsonga with Luiqui. Luckily, Nadal won because Luiqui gets pretty upset when Nadal is doing badly. After a delicious dinner of cauliflower and chicken, I went on a walk with a few friends. On Saturday, we had our last group trip of the semester. We went to Rábida and Niebla, two small towns less than an hour away from Seville. In Rábida we visited the created-for-tourists version of the place where Columbus set sail, with boats and all. It was pretty cheesy but did have a beautiful view of the river, palm trees included of course! Then we went to a monastery where Columbus had stayed, which had audio guides that were palm pilots. It was so random that they were palm pilots - I think regular audio guides work just fine. The monastery was pretty but nothing spectacular and we were wondering what Niebla would bring. Turns out Niebla was basically a ghost town where we were given two free hours to eat lunch (which most of us had already done) until we had a visit at a castle. We found one of the only restaurants in the town and sat there for basically the whole time until we went to the castle. The guy who introduced the castle was so unenthusiastic about it, it was kind of funny. In the dungeons they had all of these descriptions of torture methods they used to use and a model of a grim reaper. It was quite odd. The views from the walls were very pretty though. Even though the trip wasn’t nearly as exciting as the other places we had gone, it was still fun to hang out with everyone and see somewhere new. I’m pretty sure they could have picked somewhere better though because the program director, who came with us instead of Pepe who normally gives us the tours, told us to blame Pepe for the trip. She didn’t want to be associated in any way with the planning of the trip. Haha oh well. The trip was still worth it if only because when we got back, we heard drumming going on so a few of us went to follow and see what it was. My friend Carolyn and I got separated from the rest of the group when someone asked for directions but when we got to the end of the street, there was a group of men singing. We decided to stop and watch and they turned out to be a really great group of singers. They were hilarious and had very good voices and the crowd was really into it. Especially this little old lady standing next to Carolyn and me who kept laughing hysterically and talking to us about how funny they were. It was really really entertaining and we ended up staying for two hours watching them sing because after every song, we just kept saying one more! It was such a spontaneous way to spend the evening (the best kind) and I definitely laughed a ton even I didn’t get all of the jokes.

Castle

One of the many creepy things in the dungeon

I forget how to say it in the English

Yes that is a direct quote from yours truly. My speaking skills are in serious decline and half of my sentences in English end in you know… because I can’t think of how to articulate what I want to say so I leave it to the other person to figure it out.  Hopefully everyone I speak to has ESP because I really can’t express myself anymore. Try not to laugh at me when I’m back in the US. Well after the family left, my life resumed to normal (well what is normal for me living in Spain.)  On Wednesday, I went to teach Marina (the four-year-old who I’m tutoring) and she was not in a good mood. This was not a good sign for me since it’s already difficult enough to try to get a 4 year old to pay attention for an hour when she’s not grumpy.  At first, the lesson went pretty badly because Marina was resolved not to learn. She was not responding to any of my attempts to engage her in a lesson and was basically pouting and not listening. I was getting pretty frustrated so we went to talk to her mom (the program director) to try and resolve the issues. I explained that I thought it was really hard for a 4 year old to learn in such a structured situation and my program director agreed. She said I didn’t have to teach her real lessons just play and talk in English so that she hears the accent and hopefully picks up some words. If only I had known that before! That is definitely not how she presented this tutoring gig at the beginning when she stuck Marina and I in a room with a little table and a book that was supposed to help me teach her.  After this revolutionary news that I didn’t have to force Marina into a situation she didn’t want to be in at all, the rest of the tutoring session went really well!  We played dress up and I threw in as many English words as I could and we laughed for most of the rest of the time. It was nice to finally interact with her on a more equal level and not feel like I was the bad guy. I love little kids and that’s why I signed up to tutor – I miss being a camp counselor or preschool teacher – but at the beginning, tutoring sucked all the fun out of hanging out with a four year old since she was not enthusiastic for most of the time.  Now I actually remember why I like little kids – they are so happy and enthusiastic and curious – and I feel so much better! And little kids speaking in Spanish (and frequently extremely well-dressed) are quite possibly the cutest kind.That night I had my first intercambio – where you sign up to talk with someone half in English and half in Spanish so you can both improve.  I don’t generally like being in forced socializing situations but it wasn’t too awkward and good practice.

On Thursday, Maureen left for Barcelona so it was just me in the house with Mati and Luiqui.  Even though I really like having a roommate and having someone to go through the awkward/lost-in-translation moments with me at home, it was nice to be alone for a weekend. I felt like I could connect with Mati and Luiqui as my own person instead of just being “one of the American girls” in their minds.  That night Mati actually sat down to dinner with me (usually she floats in and out of the kitchen while Maureen and I eat) and we had a really good conversation about cultural differences and how times have changed since she was younger (a theme of many of our conversations here.) After dinner, I went to see Si la cosa funciona (Whatever Works) with two friends. It was so much easier to understand than the last dubbed movie I had seen! I was worried because usually Woody Allen movies have subtle jokes or wordplays or something that would be hard to understand dubbed, but it was really straightforward and easy to follow.  It was a pretty good movie and also made me feel better about improving in Spanish, so overall a success.  On Thursday I had also asked Mati to show me how to cook a stew (which is what she makes for almost every lunch) so on Friday morning when I woke up she was waiting for me. She had already started a little bit because evidently I had slept in so late (10:30 – not late to me at all) that she had begun. Still, I didn’t miss much because she had waited to add the main ingredient (chickpeas yum) and I got the step-by-step process of how to make the stew.  It was so exciting to finally get an explanation for some of Mati’s cooking because I had wanted to learn how to cook Spanish food from the beginning. Also, the stew was time consuming but not too difficult to make and is a template for a lot of different stews – same main ingredients with a little variation and you can make a different stew for every day of the year.  Also, stews make for great leftovers so hopefully next semester I can make one on a Sunday and have food for the week, at least that’s the plan! While the stew was cooking in a pressure cooker, Mati brought out a bag of green beans, handed me a knife, and we cut off the ends together. It was nice to finally help out – it made me feel like less of a guest and more of a part of the family – because usually even if I offer to set the table or anything else, I'm told no it’s not my job.  While we were peeling, Mati decided that some of the green beans were too hard for her liking, but since there was nothing actually wrong with them I asked if I could eat them. I think she was a little surprised that I like raw green beans, but once she found out, she left a little pile for me to eat when I wanted. It was so cute even though I didn’t know when I would actually remember my little bag of green beans in the fridge.  After peeling the green beans and finishing up the stew, we ate it for lunch – and it was delicious! Hopefully I can come close to recreating it back it the States (of course I wrote down the recipe after I had watched it.)  After lunch I went to the Alcázar again (I think it’s my favorite place in Seville) with a friend and then we wandered around the center for a while before coming home. I was so tired that I really didn’t do anything that night, which is lame but a restful night was very necessary.  

Carmona

 

...Especially since that night a friend and I decided to go on a day trip the next day to Carmona! Carmona is a village less than an hour away from Seville by bus that has some Roman ruins and a fortress. I didn’t really know what I was getting into before I left – just that I had wanted to go on a day trip to somewhere nearby so I can see as much of Andalucía as possible. Carmona didn’t have much going on but it was really pretty.  There weren’t very many people in the street and practically no tourists – a nice change from most of the places I had visited.  We started off heading to the gate at the edge of town, which had an incredible view of the countryside that seemed to never end.  The fields of brown and green earth stretched out before us.  Then we walked down the road a little and came across a farm with a big herd of goats.  There was a big dog protecting them that kept barking at us but we hung around for a bit because they were so funny to look at, especially the male goats with their twisting horns and long beards.  You definitely get the sense that life is a little simpler in Carmona than in Seville.  We also wandered to one of the old fortresses that is now a parador, a type of hotel set up by the government that are very luxurious and are usually in converted castles or other types of old buildings.  Even though we were obviously not staying there, no one bothered us as we explored the patio and the terrace, which were both beautiful.  The parador had a spectacular view – and a brilliantly blue pool – so if anyone needs a hotel suggestion for Carmona, you’re all set!  Apparently we were in Carmona on some cultural patrimony holiday or something because every museum we went to was free. The museum of the city was not super exciting because it forced you to read really long signs to learn anything – not something I was particularly in the mood for.  The fortress was nice to visit to get some more good views.  The best site we visited was the Roman amphitheater and necropolis.  There were lots of interesting tombs and remains of pillars and drawings.  Also there was a very small museum with some artifacts from the site, which I liked a lot because there was some context to the objects instead of the normal archaeological museum where you see cool ancient pots or sculptures but can’t really picture or understand where they came from. For lunch we ate in a little plaza with kids running around playing soccer and groups of elderly Spaniards chatting.  We had the perfect amount of time to see what Carmona had to offer before heading back on the bus (which had all these stops on the off-ramps of the highway) and getting to Seville in time for a short siesta.  That night I went to a documentary that was part of the European Film Festival held in Seville for two weeks.  It was about woman who advocate for raped and abused children in South Africa, so it was really heartbreaking and difficult to watch. Still it told an important story and was well edited and made me think, so it was definitely worth seeing.  Afterward, we went to a Mexican place because I think what a lot of us miss about food in the U.S. is ethnic food. Here, they do tapas and Spanish food very well but not much else. The guacamole was pretty good but the portions were tiny and of course, I still miss Anna’s tons. Maybe that will be my first meal in the U.S., I still haven’t decided what I want.

oh hey, goats!

 

view from parador

 

                                                                necropolis

On Sunday, Mati and Luiqui left for el campo (somewhere little outside of Seville where they go every Sunday to spend time with friends) and I was alone in the house. It felt so weird to have it completely to myself but I enjoyed it and broke the “always wear shoes” rule.  So when Maureen returned in the afternoon, I freaked out when I heard the door open because I thought Mati and Luiqui were about to walk in and find me with no shoes on.  After that, I decided to wear shoes... just in case. That night we went to see Sevilla FC, one of the two soccer teams in Seville (and definitely the better one) play against a team from Valencia.  Luiqui is a huge fan of the team so he told us to bring him happiness as we left for the game. It wasn’t a really important match so tickets weren’t ridiculous but the stadium was still almost completely full.  It was such a fun atmosphere. It felt a little like Fenway just in that everyone there was really into it, cheering on the team or standing up in fury when there was an “unfair” call by the ref.  The stadium was buzzing with energy and the people in the special fan section were going crazy waving their flags and jumping up and down.  Also, the whole stadium kept breaking out in songs during the game including one to the tune of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Maureen got a hot dog and there was even yellow American mustard (it said American on the packet), so we felt right at home.  It was interesting because there was no half-time show or anything during the break, just people eating sandwiches brought from home or going to buy a beer.  The game was actually pretty close so it was also fun to watch from a sports fan perspective.  When Sevilla scored the first goal, the fans went crazy, so that was amazing to see. And then they won!!!! I don’t always have the best luck at Red Sox games (I think one year they lost 4 out of the 5 games I went to) so it was great to leave the stadium on a high.

stadium before game starts

 

fan section

 

GOOOOOLLLLLL!

 

American mustard!

 

Whirlwind week

So the week after Granada was the week my family arrived in Seville! Of course, I had two assignments due that week, so I tried to get as much work done on Monday as possible so that I would be able to spend lots of time with the family. Well, I got some work done but I was also trying to plan an itinerary for them and generally distracted by the fact that they were arriving the next day, so I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted. Also, on Monday, Mati was making gazpacho (aka heaven in a glass) when I got home so I got to see the last part of the process and she explained the recipe to me, so hopefully I can recreate it when I’m home. Tuesday I have class until 1, so at 1:15 I met up with Mom, Dad, Dan, and Jill at their hotel. Yay! It was very exciting to see them after such a long time. Of course they were exhausted since they had just come from a very busy weekend in Madrid, so we just ambled our way over to a restaurant that had been recommended to me by a friend. It was a beautiful setting – the tables were in an outdoor patio covered by ivy and right next to the walls of the Alcazar (palace and gardens.) The food was pretty good too – I had a creamy garlic and almond soup and quiche-type zucchini dish – but mostly I enjoyed the company. It was kind of strange to be in Seville and with my family, it’s hard to reconcile the feeling that I’m on vacation with them with the fact that I actually live here and have to go to school and home to Mati and Luiqui’s house and not a hotel. After lunch, we went to the Alcazar, but I could only stay for half an hour because I had to get to class. I was glad to get to show probably my favorite site in Seville to my family even if only for a little bit. After my last class ended at 8, I returned to their hotel and we headed out for a little walk before dinner. Mom, Jill, and I did some window shopping and Dad and Dan sat on a bench (a mini motif of the week) until it was time for our reservation and we headed to the restaurant. We had planned to do a sit-down dinner, but when we saw they also had tapas we decided to go for the more fun and Sevillano dinner. The tapas were so good, especially one that had fig jam and foie gras on top of toast – it melted in your mouth and was incredible. After, we walked over to my favorite ice cream place in Seville and walked around while eating our cones. I wanted to see the view from the roof of the hotel, since it is directly across from the tower of the Cathedral, so we spent a little time chatting up there before I had to go home and get some more work done.

Cathedral interior

On Wednesday, I decided to skip tennis and get some work done instead (since my assignments were due Thursday!) and then met up with the family at noon. We went to the Cathedral together, which was nice since the first time I was there was on a tour so I didn’t have as much time to just look at whatever I wanted and take it in. Also, I had brought my black and white camera so I took my time wandering around the building and up the ramps to the top of the tower. After all of that exercise, we found a restaurant near the Cathedral and sat down for lunch. It was pretty good – I really liked the plate with different types of ham and cheese – and a typically slow Spanish meal (it takes an extra twenty minutes after you finish your food here to actually pay since the waiter takes his ime bringing the check.) After lunch I had to go to class and tutor for an hour before we met up again. Mom, Dad, Jill, and I went to Triana, a neighborhood across the river, to do some ceramic shopping while Dan read his book. Of course, we eventually left Dad to sit on a bench too (although he lasted for a few stores to his credit). After Jill got some tiles and the three girls got some mini cookies, we tried to find Dad. There was a little confusion because we had chosen somewhat of a vague meeting place (it was so hard to separate and then meet up again without cell phones) but we eventually found each other and made our way over to the place where we were seeing a flamenco show that night. I had decided to take them to the same place where I had gone to see flamenco since I really enjoyed it and the program was different than last time. This time there was a woman who danced first and then a man and then they danced together for a little bit. I really love watching flamenco – the dancers and singer and guitarist all have so much passion and there’s so much movement going on – it really captures your attention. It was fun to see it again because I got to a man dance, which I hadn’t seen before, and also sat in the first row, which made it so much easier to see. The woman was really good – at first she was really serious with her eyes almost closed and looking almost in pain but then she broke out into a smile every once in a while and it was nice to see her really enjoying the dance. The man was very serious but also very impressive because he could move his legs so quickly you could barely see them move. The only thing I didn’t like was the Jheri curl he had - a little too greasy for my taste. But the dancing was spectacular – it was really cool to see the two of them dance together at the end and there was even an encore! People just kept clapping and clapping and I didn’t realize they were calling for an encore (nor did another audience member who stood up like she was about to leave) but eventually the singer, guitarist, and two dancers came back out and did another short song. I’m not sure if that is the traditional Spanish way of calling for an encore since there were so many tourists in the audience, but it was fun to see either way.

Gualalquivir at night

On Thursday I met my parents in the morning after my class (Dan and Jill went to Córdoba for the morning). Mom and I went shopping for a little and then the three of us took a cab over to my house because we were having lunch with Mati and Luiqui at a restaurant in the neighborhood. It turns out, the restaurant was across the street and it was delicious. There were shrimp with their heads still on (I don’t normally like shrimp but these were really fresh and tasty), a platter of jamon serrano and a platter of manchego cheese and some olives. Mati and Luiqui did all the ordering and even though we were already kind of full, they ordered one more thing, the house specialty, lubina. It was an amazing choice – it was sea bass breaded and fried and it came with this delicious sauce that looked kind of like mayonaisse but tasted completely different. Mati explained that it was just a little milk, oil, and garlic because she had made it herself but said it was really difficult to do. Ok, so the food was great but what made the lunch so fun was seeing my host parents and my real parents interact! Before lunch I was worried because there was no common language between them and I was the only translator, but it went really well. I was sitting closer to Mom and Mati so I mostly talked with them, meaning Dad was mostly left to talk with Luiqui by himself. At first they attempted some broken French since they each know a little but eventually it turned into Luiqui speaking in Spanish and Dad nodding along. Dad said he could understand a little but mostly just appreciated the fact that Luiqui was so patient with him. Still, sometimes the conversation extended to the whole table and Dad made me translate silly things like the fact that he used to coach me in soccer since he knows Luiqui is such a soccer fanatic. Talking with Mati and Mom was really fun – they talked (and I translated, which is way way harder than it looks and I kept speaking in the wrong language to the wrong person) about all sorts of things. They discussed politics, religion, quantum mechanics. Ok, maybe not. But they definitely managed to carry on a conversation and still make fun of me for being the “niña mimada” (spoiled child) as Mati affectionately calls me since she knows I’m so much younger than Dan and decided that means that my parents really wanted me to arrive so they spoiled me a lot. Or maybe I act like a spoiled brat, but I certainly don’t think so and would hope she doesn’t think of me that way. The funniest part of lunch happened when there was one shrimp left and Mati put her finger on her nose to play the nose-goes game (a way of determining who has to do something that no one really wants to do), something Maureen and I had taught her. My mom turns to me with a look of confusion because she had never heard of nose-goes and thought it was a Spanish game. But really, it turns out that my Spanish host mom knew something about American culture that my real mother did not. During lunch I had mentioned that we should order tortilla española because my parents had never tried it and it’s really common here and incredibly delicious. But Mati responded that hers was way better and it wasn’t worth ordering at a restaurant. So after lunch when we went back to Mati and Luiqui’s apartment to get the my parents’ bags, Mati first pours us all glasses of gazpacho and then starts making a tortilla. Mom and I got to watch (now maybe I can make tortillas when I get home!) as Mati explained all the steps. Then she wrapped up the tortilla so they could take it on the train with them. How adorable!! All in all, it was a very successful lunch and I personally think my parents were incredibly lucky to get a homemade tortilla española and try Mati’s amazing gazpacho. After the tortilla was wrapped and ready to go, my biological and host parents said goodbye to each other and I walked my parents to the train station before heading to class. After a frantic 2 hours of packing and editing a paper, I made it to the airport with the perfect amount of time and hung out with some friends who were leaving from the gate next to mine until my flight departed. After a super sweaty and stuffy bus ride from the airport I realized I had forgotten the paper with the address of the hotel and tried to get directions at a hotel I passed. The guy behind the desk was totally unhelpful so then I went to ask a cabbie. He consulted his fellow cabbies and none of them had heard of the hotel. At this point I was a little worried since it was 11:30 and I was wandering around Barcelona without a clue as to the address of my mysterious hotel (does it exist if cabbies don’t know it?) I decided to call a friend who I knew was staying in Seville for the weekend and therefore possibly close to the internet and luckily she picked up and found the address for me. After that it was a two minute taxi ride to the hotel where a free 24 hour buffet was awaiting me. YES!

On Friday I had the day to myself since my family wasn’t arriving until that night so I decided to go to the Dalí museum two hours away from Barcelona on the suggestion of a friend. After passing some awesome Gaudí buildings and a little confusion trying to find the train station (it wasn’t a big station just a small place underground like a metro stop) I was on the train to Figueres. There were lots of high schoolers from Germany and some other countries sitting near me and they were all speaking English so I could understand their conversation. I had nothing better to do really, so I listened a little as they discussed learning other languages and German is a really difficult language to learn since there aren’t many rules. It seems like it would be so cool to grow up in Europe since you can get such an international perspective because you have many more opportunities to meet people from other countries. In the US you meet people from other states occasionally in high school but very rarely people from other countries, but in Europe if you have the means to travel you can meet such a variety of people. So I arrived in Figueres at 12:00 and I had also planned to go to Cadaques, a small port town an hour away from Figueres, while I was outside of the city. The only problem with that plan was that the buses to Cadaque only left at 1:30 and 4:30 and the last one back was at 6:15. This didn’t leave me with much flexibility in traveling. I got to the Dalí museum hoping to go through quickly and make it on the 1:30 bus to Cadaques. Turns out, the Dalí museum is quite extensive and awesome, so I ended up wanting more than one hour there (with travel to and from the bus station that would have been all the time I had in the museum.) At first I thought I could do it all in an hour and was rushing through everything but once it got closer to 1:30 and I realized I had more to go, I decided to stay and stopped stressing. I’m so glad I did stay because the museum was amazing! I’d say my favorite museum ever. Dalí was absolutely ridiculous and he even designed the building so of course it had huge eggs on the top and loaves of bread on the walls. The interior of the museum was really incredible – a mixture of really weird installations and typical surreal Dalí art with some more “traditional” pieces. I definitely took more photos than I ever do in museums because there were so many cool things I wanted to remember. There were some really cool pieces where there were two mirrors reflecting an image and if you put your nose close to where they came together, you could see one image. Generally a lot of optical illusions which always fascinate me. Also, Dalí designed a lot of jewelry, which is particularly interesting to me since I make some of my own jewelry. There was one piece that was a heart pendant covered in rubies or some red gemstone and then had some mechanism in it that made it actually beat. It was ridiculous. After taking my time wandering through the museum, I went to a little restaurant for lunch and got a salad. I think that was the only part of the day where it was weird to be by myself. Meals are such a communal event and if I do eat by myself it’s not usually at a restaurant and I have a book to read. I chatted with the waited a little more than I normally would at a restaurant, which was nice but I was still ready to get out of there after I was done reading. Then I headed back to the bus station and decided to go to Cadaques even though I would only have 45 minutes with the bus schedules. The bus went right through the mountains which made it a little nauseating but there was a beautiful view of the town before we actually arrived and made me really excited to get there. It was a gorgeous little town. It was sunset when I got there, so there were lots of bluey-purples in the sky and reflected on the sparkling water. It was basically a long pit stop since I got a coke, went to the bathroom, took some pictures of the water, and then had to go. I got back to the bus “station” (parking lot) as the bus was driving away so the bus driver had to stop for me. He wouldn’t let me bring my coke onto the bus, not even to throw it out, so I had to leave it on the wall and then get on. Two minutes later and I probably would have been stuck in Cadaques for the night. Not the worst thing in the world but it was quite the sleepy town and I had a 24 hour buffet plus my family waiting for me in Barcelona so it was good I made the bus! After getting a huge amount of spaghetti to go near the bus station, I got on a train back to Barcelona and got back to the hotel 15 minutes before my family arrived. How perfect!

Dali Museum

Cadaques

Saturday was Halloween. Evidently they celebrate somewhat here, some people get dressed up, but there’s not trick or treating – so sad for the Spanish children! I guess that’s why a girl who was dressed up as a ghost or something came up to me and yelled right in my face to scare me (which she certainly did) – she wasn’t mollified by a huge pillowcase of candy. Anyway, we had a very full day planned (as with all of the rest of our days in Barcelona because trying to do Barcelona in three days is like trying to do NYC in three days – impossible.) We started off by going to Parque Guell, the famous Gaudí-designed park with the longest park bench in the world decorated by mosaics of tiles he found. Getting there involved a very steep hill (luckily there were elevators that Mom, Dad, and Dan took) which Jill and I walked the whole way up and let me tell you, I’m not in very good shape. But I figure walking up things like that will let me enjoy all of the amazing food around me without coming home 50 pounds heavier. It was pretty foggy in the mornings so we didn’t have a great view of the city, but the Sagrada Familia was still visible through the fog, which was cool. Then we headed down to the part with the mosaic benche, which was absolutely packed with tourists. It was hard to find a tourist attraction in Barcelona that wasn’t packed with tourists, which is a little bothersome because I personally always find most other tourists annoying (they’re always getting in my pictures haha) even though I’m a tourist myself. I know it’s not fair, but I can’t help it. Still, I loved the mosaics of the benches and the entrance to the park is also spectacularly Gaudí-esque. After we headed to a neighborhood right nearby to do a little shopping (Mom, Jill, and I felt some pressure because stuff is always closed on Sundays in Spain and we thought everything would closed on Monday too since it was a holiday.) We found some really cute stores and did some damage (it’s good I’m not studying in Barcelona since I would have spent all my money the first week shopping and not been able to travel.) Of course, Dad and Dan got bored of that after a while (although they did last for a while just standing outside while we went in but I knew they were done when Dan commented that we kept going into stores but it seemed it took us a long time to leave.) The boys went off on their own after we arranged to meet back at the hotel later and we had time to shop at our own pace. In addition to clothes and jewelry, we also thought of Dan and Dad and bought some cookies that are evidently typical in Cataluña (the region of which Barcelona is the capital) on All Saint’s Day, which was Monday. We ate them when we got back and they turned out to be a lot more dense and less crunchy than we expected but still pretty good. After eating some of the cookies, we headed to this huge food market called La Boquería for lunch (makes perfect sense right?) The market was ridiculous – so huge and every type of food you can think of, including some weird Asian fruit I had never seen before and ostrich eggs! We got some falafel and pitas and fresh figs and ate nearby basically standing before returning to get some dessert (candy and a yummy fruit juice drink). After, we headed to the Picasso museum. Although not AS cool as the Dalí museum, it was still very interesting and in a beautiful building. It’s nice to see a lot of one artist’s work in one place, especially an artist like Picasso where the progression is pretty drastic. One part had all of these different interpretations of Velazquez’s “Las Meninas.” I didn’t completely understand why there were so many of the same thing, but I liked seeing the comparison between the original and Picasso’s take. Afterwards Mom and Dad headed back to the hotel to rest while Dan and Jill and I went to the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar, which is known for its acoustics. Luckily, there was music playing so we got to experience the acoustics and I also really liked the fact that there was no big choir blocking the podium because it felt much more open and welcoming than a lot of the other cathedrals I’ve visited. We then wandered for a little while through some stores (even Dan found a shoe store he like) and then consulted with Mom and Dad to figure out our plan for the night. We decided to go to the opera house for a flamenco/opera show because the building was supposed to be pretty and the show sounded like it could be fun. A few snacks from the hotel buffet later to hold us over, we headed out to the opera house. The building was absolutely spectacular from the inside and out. There is this amazing stained glass light fixture in the middle of the room and tons of stained glass and mosaics all over. It was so colorful and detailed and over the top but in a good way. The show was also fun. Dan, Jill, and I had obstructed view and also a couple of really obnoxious Spaniards who were talking almost the whole time. They were shushed literally ten times and never seemed to get the idea. It was terrible. But still, I enjoyed the performance – the singers were very impressive and the dancers were very skilled – they were very exuberant and moved so fast I couldn’t believe it. It was a completely different flamenco experience from the one in Seville but still enjoyable and the opera songs made it more interesting. Dan, Jill, and I said goodnight to Mom and Dad after the show and went to a tapas bar recommended by a friend who is studying there. It was pretty crowded and we had to wait for a little to sit down but the tapas were delicious when we finally did. We mostly just pointed to what we wanted since the cold tapas were on display and they all turned out to be good choices.

Parque Guell

 

La Boquería

Opera House

On Sunday, Dan was a little late to breakfast so Mom, Jill, and I went to a Modern Art Museum down the street from our hotel and told Dad and Dan to meet us there when they were ready. We made our way through the whole museum (not my favorite but an interesting exhibit about John Cage) and didn’t find Dad and Dan. Then we went outside and still couldn’t find them. Hmmm. Finally the lack of cellphones was truly rearing its ugly head. After a little while Jill went to the other museum we had planned on visiting while Mom and I went back to the hotel. Jill found the boys and we were able to resume our plans. We wasted about 45 minutes trying to meet up but considering that was the worst of the meet-up problems of the weekend, it’s pretty good since I can only imagine that it could have been way worse. Then we went to the Barcelona Cathedral to see the traditional Sardana dances that happen every Sunday at noon. Everyone puts their stuff in the center and then holds hands in a circle and dances around. It was kind of funny since these dances are supposed to be a celebration of Cataluñian independence but everyone who was dancing looked almost bored as they danced around not joyous in the slightest. Definitely worth watching for a bit and then we went into the cathedral for a little before continuing on to the Barcelona Arc de Triomphe, which marks the entrance to the Park Ciutadella. The Arc de Triomphe was of course very different from the Parisian one but a very pretty red color and the park was very nice. There was a huge fountain, where there used to be a waterfall down the center but now it’s just a regular fountain. The fountain had these crazy gold horse statues and, like everything else in Barcelona, was partly designed by Gaudí. Right next to the fountain was a gazebo and in it all of these people were swing dancing. I have no idea who they were or why they were dancing but it was fun to see! We made our way through the rest of the park and down to Barceloneta, the neighborhood on the beach. We found a really good restaurant with paella (even if I hate to call it that since it’s really just called arroz – rice – here.) After we were sufficiently stuffed and revived from the walking, we meandered down the beach. Dan and Jill went off to see some landscape architecture things and Mom, Dad, and I walked to the Gehry fish statue and into the Ritz hotel to see it for a second. That’s one of the (many) nice things about traveling with my parents – I can go into a hotel like the Ritz without people giving me strange looks or rudely ushering me out because I actually look like I could stay there. We then took the metro home (Dad was very excited about taking the metro in Barcelona while Mom, who takes public transportation much more frequently in Boston, was not so thrilled.) Then a quick rest and of course, more food! For dinner we went to a delicious restaurant where we practically had a private room because the other table in the room where we were left while we were still eating our main course. Some of the highlights of the meal were tuna steak with peach chutney and parmesean cheese with honey – yum yum yum! Seriously at home I sometimes just knaw on blocks of parmesean cheese so having it with honey was heaven. The dessert was tasty too – crema catalana, which is very similar to crème brulee, and chocolate lava cake. We walked around on the way home and went to bed – I was so tired at the end of each day that I collapsed into the super comfy king size bed in the hotel.

Arc de Triomphe

Fountain in Park de la Ciutadella

In the hotel

Monday was Gaudí day. More Gaudí you say? Oh yeah, more Gaudí. Up until Monday we had barely scratched the surface of the Gaudí designs in the city. First thing in the morning we passed by Casa Battlo, one of the apartment buildings designed by Gaudí, but didn’t go in because it had a long line and we wanted to go to another one more. Only a few blocks away we got in the long line for La Pedrera, the Gaudí apartment building with the crazy chimneys on the roof that look like characters from Star Wars. There was a long line, so we left Dad and Dan in line (they’re so useful!) and went to a home goods store down the block. After a little while, Dan came to retrieve us and we got our audio guides and headed to the attic to start the tour. The curved walls were pretty crazy and it was cool to see the model of the house and learn a little about the architecture, such as the fact that none of the interior walls are weight bearing so they are interchangeable and moveable. Then we went to the roof, which was definitely the best part of the building. The chimneys were definitely surreal and the different levels were a bit difficult to navegate but fun. And there was a nice view especially since the clouds were being crazy that day and looked almost solid. The best part of the audioguide was this story about a boy named Michael who lived in the apartment which you could tour. Michael’s friend was looking for him and kept saying “where’s Michael” in a British accent while Michael’s mother said “I don’t know where that naughty boy is.” Dan was a little worried that Michael was nowhere to be found because he was off being tortured somewhere for being naughty – and unfortunately we never found out where Michael was so hopefully he was okay! After La Pedrera, we walked over to La Sagrada Familia, the cathedral Gaudí was working on when he died. It’s crazy Gaudí at his best, with two completely different facades and a third in the making. I particularly like the façade which looks like it’s made out of dripping candle wax and there was a cool exhibit inside about how Gaudí was influenced by nature. We skipped the elevator to the top because there was an hour and a half wait and headed to lunch. Mom had read about this restaurant called Can Ravell in the New York Times, so we got directions and walked over. It turned to be a completely ridiculous and delicious meal. When you first walk into the place, it just looks a specialty food market but nothing incredible but then we got led up a small spiral staircase and entered this beautiful room that looked like it was from the 1920s or so. The whole back wall was full of bottles of whiskey. We decided to get the 18 course tasting menu except Jill got lobster and chickpea stew. So the dishes were very small tapas sized plates, but still, 18 courses is 18 courses and there was tons of food. I thought I was hungry before I got there but after about 4 dishes I was totally full. But there was of course more and more food. Thankfully they brought them out in three sections – appetizers, entrees, and desserts – so it was completely overwhelming with things coming out one after another. Still it was overwhelming since all of the food was quite rich. It was all such a blur that I can’t describe most of it but I will say one of the dishes was called foie ravioli with foie to give you an idea. Yes, foie with foie. Oh man. And there were four different types of desserts. Mati would not have been happy without the amount of food we left on the table (but if Dan couldn’t finish, you know there was a LOT of food) and we did our best. We waddled out and Dan and Jill said goodbye to me because they were off to do some architectural sites and Mom, Dad, and I wandered back to the hotel, stopping at some stores along the way (yes, we eventually left Dad to ponder Mayan art in a random museum so we could shop freely – told you it was a motif of the weekend.) After only a little while I was getting in the cab to the airport after a long goodbye (the cabbie actually asked me if we were done because we kept saying bye and then remembering one more thing to say.) It was sad saying goodbye, especially since it had felt like any other family vacation, which always end with us all going home together. Still it was nice getting back to Seville and home to Mati and Luiqui.

La Pedrera Roof

Sagrada Familia

Alhambra Awe

So two weekends ago we went to Granada with our program.  That week I finally had my first tennis lesson. There were only five people in my class and none are students but they were all really nice and I spent some time afterward talking to two of the women because class ended early due to rain. (Of course one of the few times it rains in Sevilla is during my first tennis lesson.) It felt really good to get back into exercise and tennis in particular since I miss playing it on a regular basis. The rest of the week was pretty mellow – I did some exploring of Sevilla with Maureen on Friday, but of course the highlight was Granada! It was gorgeous. It has amazing mountain views combined with amazing architecture in the Alhambra. In a word, it was amazing.  We got there on Saturday around noon and immediately went out to explore the city.  Our first stop was Dunkin Donuts because some of my friends love it and we don’t have one in Sevilla, so they were really excited to see one.  After a quick coffee/donut break, we headed up toward the caves where the gypsies used to live.  Some still do live in the mountains but in houses near the caves not the caves themselves.  It was a steep and tiring path up but we finally made it to the cave museum only to find out that it was closed for siesta and not reopening for another three hours. Oh well. We saw some beautiful views from the high vantage point and got in some good exercise.  The mountain actually reminded me a little of Mexico because the cacti and other plants and general color scheme looked very similar to the Mexican countryside.  After descending from the caves, we decided to find some place to eat since a few of my friends didn’t have sandwiches from their host moms.  The first place we sat down wouldn’t let us only order sandwiches and tapas from the table we were sitting at because it had a tablecloth which meant it was for the real menu.  The waiter was pretty rude about it and it seemed odd that they were turning down customers when it wasn’t close to full. We decided not to eat at that place and eventually found another little tapas bar close by where it didn’t matter which table we sat at and had a quick bite.  After, we headed to the Arab markets, which reminded me of Morocco, especially since they were selling very similar items, but less chaotic and overwhelming. Once we had seen more poufs and slippers than we ever wanted, one of my friends and I decided to go back up to the caves to see the museum.  I had forgotten how tiring of a walk it was. After panting my way, we finally made it. Despite the warning of some friends who had just left that the museum was cheesy, we decided to go anyway because, well, we had walked all the way up again! It was quite cheesy – caves filled with arranged furniture and objects showing “what life was really like” back then. Reminded me of an American Girl Doll magazine page.  Still, the views were nice and after all of that walking, we deserved an ice cream.  I got Mars bar flavored ice cream, which had strips of chocolate in it and was absolutely delicious. While eating our ice cream, we started wandering up toward this mirador, a lookout point, that my friend who had studied in Granada recommended for sunset.  The streets of that part of Granada are small and winding, but I was with my friend Taylor who is incredibly talented at following maps, so we made with perfect timing to see the first orangey and pink rays fill the sky as the sun began its descent. The sun doesn’t set behind the Alhambra but it still makes the colors of the buildings turn orangey and then purple and then blue. It was an incredible view.  Other than the annoying Spanish guys who came up to us and tried to strike up a conversation when we were clearly not interested, it was a perfect evening.  After about 50 million pictures (have I not already mentioned that I can never get enough of a good sunset) we headed back to the hotel to shower and rest before dinner.  In Granada, and basically everywhere else in Andalusia except for Sevilla, tapas come free when you order a drink, so some friends and I went to a bar and got a glass of wine and dinner included! The tapas were actually really good considering we didn’t get to choose – some yummy French fries with aioli sauce and a bagel panini type sandwich with lots of herbs and olive oil. Afterwards we walked around a while but headed back early because we had to wake up the next morning for our tour of the Alhambra.

mountain view

houses in the mountain

              view of Alhambra from the mirador

sunset at the mirador

don't know how the tower became transparent but I like it

The Alhambra was pretty spectacular. It’s a series of buildings and gardens that used to be the city/fortress where the kings and a few others lived.  It has two different palaces and then the Generalife, which is the summer palace and gardens. The first palace we saw was that of Carlos V who spent a lot of money constructing a palace in the Alhambra before having to redirect that money to fight a war, leaving the palace unfinished until the 1990s. It has a circular interior and is known for its acoustics – apparently they have concerts there in the summer. The next palace – the Moorish Palace – is the really spectacular Moorish architecture that most people probably think of when they think Alhambra. I’ve seen the Mudejar architecture all over Seville and been to Morocco and I was still blown away by this palace.  Normally I think designs all over get very busy, but the carved plaster that goes from floor to ceiling in some of the rooms is just beautiful. Then there was a reflecting pool and since the sky was clear blue that day, the reflection of the archway of the building shimmered. Even there were no lions in the patio of lions (they’re being restored), it was still awesome to see the over 100 columns all around it. And some of the ceilings in the rooms were so intricate, my neck started hurting from all the time I spent craning up to look at them. I really can’t do any of it justice, so I’ll just include lots of pictures so you get the idea.  The Generalife was also beautiful, even in October there were flowers that are probably on steroids they are so big and lots of fountains with criss-crossing water.  There was even a wall covered with reddish-orangeish leaves, so I guess fall does exist in Spain too. At every turn there was another breathtaking view of the mountains, basically I was in awe the entire tour.  Afterwards we went to lunch and wandered for a bit (and got really good dark chocolate gelato) before returning to the bus to go home.  Even the bus afforded us some amazing sunset/mountain views. I think my eyes are still ringing from the trip.