So Monday was Yom Kippur and also the first day of classes at the university. I decided I would at least try to fast since I didn’t do anything for Rosh Hashanah. Luckily, classes in the History and Geography department, where most of the classes that I was looking at are, were postponed until Wednesday, so I only had one class. Normally on Yom Kippur I go to temple and then sit inside for the rest of the day complaining about how hungry I am, but I decided I should try to maintain a normal schedule here. I went into the center and tried to get started on a paper we had coming up so that I wouldn’t be in the house for lunch and go crazy. Even though I didn’t make much progress on the essay, I think it was good to move around a bit and keep busy. I ended taking a break from my procrastination to wander around because I was starting to hear my stomach rumbling and found some new cute streets and lots and lots of delicious looking restaurants (but maybe I shouldn’t judge when I’m starving…) Then I went to my the only class of the day and even more luck, the professor wasn’t there! I went home and watched a movie for a few hours until dinner finally arrived. Mati had left me some of the pasta from lunch so I had a pretty big dinner (nothing like a normal breaking of the fast but still good) and looking back, it was not too bad of a fast. I can’t believe I actually lasted until 8:30 and wasn’t completely dying. Anyway, now is as good a time as any to explain the ridiculous process that is choosing classes here. So first of all we only found out the schedule of the classes a week before classes started so I frantically arranged a list of classes I was interested in and fit into a cohesive schedule (without classes on Friday of course!) Then comes the actually difficult part. Exams here don’t take place until January, when we’re already back at school in Penn, so we have to ask the professor if we can take an early exam or do something different to supplement the time we miss and still be evaluated so we can get a grade and receive credit. Doesn’t sound so bad until you visit 6 classes and 3 of the professors tell you that you can’t move up the exam (of course the three classes I was most interested in). Suffice it to say that a week later (which is really sort of jumping ahead in time in terms of this blog but with the time differences going on time is so messed up anyway that I don’t care) I found out that another class I was counting on won’t work. So I don’t know which classes I’m taking but I have to figure it out soon since it’s almost week three of classes.
sunset on the river
On Tuesday, two of my friends and I went to a travel agency because we wanted to go to Morocco and thought it would be easier with a tour, but unfortunately the tour was all full. After that deflating news, we tried to plan a trip by ourselves, but it was a little difficult since we had lost all of our excitement and energy. After that I ran into a few other friends on the way home and went with them because one of them was going to get her nose pierced. Unfortunately the piercing guy wasn’t there, but we ended up getting roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, which I had never had before and were really yummy, so it wasn’t a loss at all. After dinner that night we ended up talking to Dunia, our host sister, and Belen, Mati and Luiqui’s granddaughter who is 17 so it would be weird to call her niece but I guess that’s how we would be “related.” It was really fun and interesting to talk to them – I found out that people actually wear flamenco dresses during Feria, the huge spring festival here, and we saw pictures of Dunia wearing hers, which was really pretty and flattering on her. We also talked with Belen a little bit about music and movies she likes (she loves Twilight and only likes Harry Potter hmmmm…) which was fun to hear. A lot of the pop culture here seems to be imported from the US – in all of the bars and clubs you always hear American music and there are more American movies dubbed into Spanish than actual Spanish movies in the theaters. Wednesday I had my first English lesson with the daughter of the program director here. She’s four and really cute, but it’s pretty challenging to teach her since there isn’t a lot of guidance (she has a book but it’s kind of useless) and she’s so young that she’s not very good at remembering the words even 30 seconds after she says them. So I’m trying to come up with more fun/interesting ways to teach her but if anyone has suggestions let me know! Friday Dunia left for Zaragoza where she is going to live with her husband. She’ll be back in a few weeks to get all of her stuff but we still had a nice lunch all together, which was fun since she has been working a ton this past month and we haven’t gotten to talk to her much. After lunch I went to the tennis center to try to sign up for lessons. It was a 35 minute bus ride to the sports complex and then I waited in the information room for twenty minutes before finally talking to someone who told me I could just go in and do a try-out to assess my level (which I had already known so I waited for no reason). There was only one teacher on the courts and he was teaching a lesson, so I waited for a break and went up to ask him if I could do a try-out with him. First he asked me if I could come back on Monday, but when I told him I could wait, he said he could help me in 15 minutes. Finally I actually did the try-out, which lasted all of two minutes, and he told me my level. Then I went back to the information room and waited again and then told the woman my level. She said there was no such level and made me go back to the teacher and have him write it down (I guess I heard wrong). I felt pretty stupid going back and admitting I had heard wrong but I did and he was nice about it. Then I finally went back and straight in to the woman who told me there was only one spot left in one class at a time when I might have class at the university. Since I couldn’t be sure that I was free at that time, I decided to wait to sign up even though that means my spot might be taken. Even though it was two hours spent to play tennis for two minutes and make basically no progress in signing up for lessons, I feel like it’s just one of those things that has to happen when you’re studying abroad so I wasn’t too upset about it. That night we decided to go to this “Feria de Naciones” (Fair of Nations) that is being held in a park near our house. It turned out to be really fun because there were tons of people walking around and all of these stalls from different countries. We tried a bottle of Sidra, this type of hard apple cider from Asturias, a region in the north of Spain, and watched a ridiculous dance group perform on the stage at the front of the fair. Oh and we also “learned” a dance from this ridiculous group to a song they play all the time here – so I’m sure I’ll break out in the routine next time I hear the song.
Saturday we had a day trip with the program to Ronda, a small city two hours away from Seville. Ronda is absolutely gorgeous – surrounded by mountains and sitting on a plateau that is split in two by a gorge called the Tajo. It was also spectacular weather on Saturday – sun shining, really blue sky, and not too hot. Perfect for walking around – which we certainly did plenty of. We started our trip with a walking tour of the city with a funny guide who was wearing some designer sunglasses and carrying some sort of clutch. He kept telling us to follow the sombrero – his big cowboy hat. We started at the gorge and the “new bridge” (it’s over 200 years old but the newest of the three bridges in Ronda) and then walked through the old part of Ronda and saw the main plaza and church. Then we stopped at the house that is now open to the public and has incredible views of the surrounding mountains. After taking about a thousand pictures, we went to the Plaza de Toros and the guide told us some history of bullfighting and other interesting facts. The plaza in Ronda is very old and has the largest diameter of any bullfighting ring, although not a very large capacity for spectators. Even though it is the oldest plaza de toros, it is actually only used once a year because bullfights are so expensive and Ronda is a small town. We got to see where they keep the bulls before the fight and then we ended our tour and went to lunch. A couple of us went to a restaurant the guide had suggested, which was really good and cheap and then we went to walk down towards the valley and some of the old bridges in the city. But of course we stopped at a bakery first to get some delicious cookies for the bus home. We wandered down for a while and found the Roman and Arab bridges. Then we slowly ascended and found some more amazing views before returning to the bus station to go home. Even though Ronda didn’t have as many touristy sites as other places we’ve been to, it was nice to be able to just wander and look at the scenery – a perfect day trip.
mountains surrounding Ronda
Tajo in Ronda
old bridges in Ronda
On Sunday, Maureen and I went to a novillada – basically a minor league bullfight. We had wanted to go to a corrida (the real bullfights) but the only one left was during a weekend we would be traveling so we decided to go to the novillada to get a feel for what a bullfight is like. Novilladas have the same format as corridas, just toreros (bullfighters) with less experience. Since it was a novillada, the stadium wasn’t full and there were lots of tourists, but still a fair number of Spaniards as well. The bullfight was really interesting – I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed it. At first, I had some trouble with the gore, and of course I don’t like to see anything die, let alone an animal so large, but once I got over that part, I started to appreciate it for the artistic merit and the talent that it takes to be a torero. I’m not saying that I fully support the killing of an animal for sport, but there really is a lot more to bullfighting than just killing the bull. The torero has to go through a lot of different steps to tame the bull and demonstrate his control. The bull is so close to the torero it is pretty scary to watch, but most of the time they seem to have it under control. I say most of the time because with the second bull, one of the bullfighters was charged by the bull and went flying in the air. He was okay and managed to get up and finish, but it was pretty crazy. The last bull actually ended up catching the torero with its horns and he was carried out of the ring and another torero finished for him. That’s one of the reasons the bullfight was so interesting – every bull brings something new and you really have no idea what is coming next. Even though I didn’t understand fully what was going on, I could tell there was a specific way the toreros had to move and things they had to get the bull to do because sometimes the crowd would start cheering “olé” if the torero was doing really well. Also, after the first bull, the Spaniards took out white handkerchiefs and started waving them in the air, but only after the first one because the torero had done so well. There was something grotesquely beautiful about the spectacle that made it impossible to look away. I usually can’t stand to watch medical shows and I hate shows like Fear Factor that have gore just for the sake of gore but the format was so complex and the movements so intricate that the fight was much more than blood. It really is a question of honor for the toreros because they only attack the bull from the front, where there is an even playing field. At times, it was almost like ballet because of the intricate steps and graceful motions of the torero. Although not all Spaniards support bullfights (Mati wasn’t particularly enthralled when she heard we went), around 30% of Spaniards regularly attend corridas, so I’m very happy that I got to see a cultural tradition that is still important to many Spaniards and is also so different from anything you would see in the US. Forgot to mention that on Sunday night it was the Real Madrid - Sevilla soccer game, which is a pretty big match so we went to find a bar where they were playing the game. We ended up at an ice cream store/bar where we stood and watched the game with lots of Sevillanos. It was so fun because everyone was really into the game - when Sevilla scored a goal everyone started singing a song for the team. It was also great because when some people left, we got to sit down so we ordered a brownie sundae which turned out to be way better than TGIFridays and actually at a Spanish restaurant so it's not such a guilty pleasure. Oh and Sevilla won! Hopefully that's a good sign for their prospects in the Champion's Cup.
So most of this post will be dedicated to my weekend trip to Lisbon, but let me just say first that fried bread is the most delicious thing in the world and I’m pretty sure that it would be the one thing I would eat for the rest of my life if I had to. But only Mati’s fried bread since I’m sure all the others would not compare. Anyway, back to Lisbon! Approximately two hours before we left for Lisbon, one of the program staff told us that Portugal is an hour behind Spain, something I hadn’t even thought to check out. So with that information, some pages ripped from my guidebook, and a delicious lunch made by Mati in our stomachs, Maureen and I boarded the bus to Lisbon. Maybe it had something to do with the time difference, but the bus was about 9 hours – 2 hours longer than we had originally thought. Other than the fact that it was cutting into our short time in Lisbon, the ride wasn’t actually so bad. I had plenty of reading to do – classes finally started at the center last week so I had my first two classes of Political Cultures of Spain. Also the views from the bus were pretty spectacular once we got closer to the coast and into Portugal – the greenery and mountains were a nice change from the flat, dry land outside of Seville. We passed through some really cute towns near the ocean and then ended up stopping at a rest stop around 8. At first I was kind of disappointed that we would be at a rest stop for sunset, but when the sun actually went down I was really happy that we were stopped and could enjoy the sunset instead of driving and not really being able to see it. The sky turned really pink and orange and it was probably the best sunset I’ve seen while on this trip. Then we got back on the bus for what I thought would be another hour. Oh how wrong I was. It was dark by then so when an hour later we arrived in this spot that I thought was right outside Lisbon, I got really excited that we had arrived. Two hours later, we actually arrived at the first bus station in Lisbon. Even though it wasn’t the stop we had planned to get off at, we were so anxious to get out of the bus that we decided to just get off right then. The bus station turned out to be architecturally interesting and the metro station below was even prettier. There were two big, colorful mosaics on the walls and the floors were tiled instead of the usual gray concrete. When we got out of the metro, we spent a good 10 minutes staring at a map of the area trying to find the street with our hostel. Finally we gave up and decided to ask directions and actually understood the answers in Portuguese. Well, we thought we did. After walking a few blocks, we realized we were still completely lost and went into a hotel to ask for directions again. This time the guy gave us a map, which was essential since the hostel was on a tiny street and there were almost no indications it was there from the street, so we needed the map to know where we were. Finally we arrived at the hostel, which was very nice and clean, and opened our sandwiches that Mati had given us that afternoon. After wolfing the sandwiches, we decided to go explore for a little and walked down toward a huge archway we had passed on our way. It was beautiful but there weren’t many people out in that neighborhood, so we decided pretty quickly to return to our hostel to rest up for a full Friday.
view from the bus
sunset at the rest stop
bus station
We were awoken Friday morning by some loud travelers entering our room. At first I was angry because I wanted to sleep a little more and didn’t understand why anyone would be entering the hostel at 8 in the morning, but the human alarm clocks turned out to be our friends Margo, Taylor, and Chrissy who had taken the night bus from Seville and just arrived in Lisbon. We had planned on meeting them at the hostel that night since we weren’t sure if our paths would cross during the day, but luckily they were able to check in to the hostel early and we could spend the whole day together. After a delicious breakfast of cereal and toast (I think cereal is one of the food items I miss most here), we left to find the important tourist sites near our hostel. A two minute walk away from our hostel, we found a very pretty church. We didn’t actually catch the name and because people were praying, we could only visit the crypt. About 50 steps away from that church, we came across a cathedral, which turned out to be the Se Cathedral, one of the items on our list of places to see. The Se dates from the 12th century and in the back there is an excavation with ruins from B.C. I liked that this cathedral was impressive for its history rather than its interior design because it was a change from all of the other cathedrals we have seen to find ruins and decaying walls. After the Se, we walked in what we thought was the direction of the Castle de Sao Jorge, our next stop, but instead was the direction of the water. It was a nice little detour because we saw some more buildings covered in tiles and the ocean closer up, although you can’t go right down to the water because Lisbon is a port town not a beach town. Once we realized our mistake, we headed back in the direction of the castle and found it pretty easily – everything in Lisbon is fairly close since it’s not a very big city, especially for a capital. It’s more charming than most capitals because even though it is fairly cosmopolitan with much more diversity than you see in Seville, it has an almost vintage feel if that’s possible for a city. It reminded me a little of San Francisco because it has old trolleys as a legitimate form a public transportation and a bridge that looks a lot like the Golden Gate bridge and lots of hills, but Lisbon still feels European with it’s painted cobblestone sidewalks and streets and old buildings everywhere. The castle had a gorgeous view of the ocean and the huge statue of Jesus across the harbor. Mostly all that is left of the building is ramparts but the towers had some more nice views of the city if you could make it up the insanely steep and narrow staircases. After passing by about 5 peacocks on our way out of the castle grounds, we headed back toward the area of the hostel to find lunch. We ended up at a restaurant that was fairly crowded and seemed to have lots of Portuguese people, so we felt like we had found somewhere local and good quality. Our waiter happened to also be the bartender even though we were at the table farthest from the bar, so he decided to check on us once every 15 minutes. We made the mistake of saying we weren’t ready to order when he first came by and paid dearly – our lunch lasted almost two hours because we waited so long to order and then finally get our food. We ordered cod with chickpeas and potatoes since it is supposed to be a specialty in Lisbon and I also got seafood chowder, another popular dish. The seafood chowder was really good, but the cod seemed a little overcooked and way oversalted. Oh well, you can’t win with every meal and I’m starting to realize how spoiled I am by Mati’s cooking. Every restaurant I eat in after having her food just seems mediocre in comparison. After finally escaping from the restaurant, we went to a nearby plaza to catch the tram to Belém, a suburb 15 minutes outside of Lisbon. I was very impressed with the public transportation in Lisbon – there are trolleys, buses, and a metro that all seem very clean and efficient.
When we arrived in Belém, we headed to the Monastery Dos Jerónimos, one of the many UNESCO World Heritage sites I’ve been visiting over the past month. I can see why the monastery was granted “world heritage” status because it is truly one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen – such intricate carving on the exterior and gorgeous arches and more carved pillars inside. All of the decorations were so intricate, I don’t want to think about how much time it must have taken to complete. We spent a while just staring at the incredible courtyard before heading across the street to the Monument of Discoveries. It’s a huge white stone structure that commemorates some of the major Portuguese explorerers of the New World. It was pretty impressive in size, but I really enjoyed just sitting next to the monument and looking out on the ocean as cute sailboats floated by. Then we walked over to the Tower of Belém, an adorable stone watchtower by the ocean that seriously looks like it came out of a movie. Not sure which movie, but maybe after seeing the pictures someone can tell me. We walked up and had yet another spectacular view of the ocean and bridge – I sometimes get numb to seeing another amazing cathedral or old building but I almost never get tired of a beautiful landscape, which is definitely a good thing for this semester. We decided to head back – after a long day of hill climbing our feet needed a break – but first stopped at a bakery to get some Portuguese pastries. I got some flaky pastry filled with possibly an apple-flavored cream, but whatever it was filled with was absolutely delicious. When we got back to the hostel, everyone else decided they wanted to siesta but I wanted to shop/explore more. Even though most of the shops were closed (which was weird because in Seville they don’t close until 9 or 10 and it was only 7:30), I still had a lot of fun wandering by myself for a little bit. I explored a neighborhood we hadn’t visited yet and saw the elevator that Lisboans used to take to get to the Barrio Alto (tall neighborhood) but now is just a tourist attraction that affords yet another view of the city. I also passed by and entered for a second A Brasiliera, a famous café that early 20th century Portuguese literati frequented. Outside of the café there were lots of people sitting at the tables or on benches and listening to two street performers who were very good. It was a really fun atmosphere and I stayed for a little while to listen and take some pictures of the streets at sunset. Then I returned and it was time to find some dinner. We went to another big street that leads from one of the main plazas to the water and found a restaurant with outside seating. Even though street vendors come up to your able every five minutes, it’s still really fun to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather while it is here. Again the food wasn’t spectacular, but it was good enough and Portuguese wine is really good and cheap, so that was a fun accompaniment to dinner. After dinner we wandered for a little while around the area, but soon a stupor set in from all of the walking of the day and we went back to the hostel. When we got back, we realized that we would have roommates for the night, who showed up twenty minutes after we returned. They were three nice Poles who spoke English well, so we chatted for a little while. When my friend asked what they thought of when they thought of America, one responded with George Washington and Woody Allen. I guess they watch of lot of Annie Hall in Poland!
Monastery Dos Jeronimos
Tower of Belém
street near A Brasiliera
Saturday began with another great breakfast including a cake made by one of the hostel staff the night before (we smelled it baking in the oven). Then we headed out to find a famous flea market held behind a church. We wandered for a while in the small streets surrounding the church and finally Margo asked an elderly woman who was standing on her balcony for directions. We not only understood the Portuguese this time but also followed the directions to the correct place. The flea market turned out to be exactly what I was looking for and the opposite of El Rastro in Madrid – it had lots of old quirky stuff, lots of it junk, but some of it really interesting watches, jewelry, or even comic books in Portuguese. We wandered around for a while but eventually realized we could probably spend the whole day in the market since the stalls never seemed to end, so we set our own time limit. We found a restaurant with a view of the water and sat down for a quick lunch. This was the first restaurant in Portugal or Spain, for that matter, where we didn’t have to wait half an hour just to get the waiter’s attention. I had melon and prosciutto (it was a little heavy on the melon and light on the prosciutto) and a yummy tomato soup. Then we made a quick pit stop at the hostel to get directions to the train station (it was on our way) and headed to the train station to get return tickets to Seville and tickets to Sintra, a town 40 minutes outside of Lisbon that we had heard was worth a visit. After getting our return tickets and feeling a sense of relief that we did have a way to get home, we got on the train to Sintra. After a little confusion because we had to switch trains, we made it. Let me say now, I am in love with Sintra. It is an adorable little town in the mountains with small streets, cute little shops, and lots of green. It reminded me a little of traveling through Provence last summer with my parents because of the incredible scenery and tiny village feel. As soon as we walked into the town center, I wished we could stay longer (we only had two hours because we had to get back in time for fado reservations.) Since we were in a rush we quickly walked toward our destination, Quinta da Regaleira, a palace with a huge estate. We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes to get in because the woman at the entrance was being very very slow. At the moment when I was about to explode with impatience, we finally got to the front of the line and got. Maureen had a sudden burst of energy right as we walked in and decided it would be a good idea to run up the mountain because she really wanted to get to the top. The rest of us decided to follow suit, for reasons I still don’t know, and we quickly ascended. After a little while of running, we lost steam and stopped at one of the sites of the grounds, the Initiation Well. I’m not sure why it’s called that (we didn’t have much time for reading) but maybe they made people run up the stairs of the well or just threw them in the middle and let them struggle out? There were a lot more sites, such as an aquarium and a chapel, that we unfortunately didn’t get to see because of time. We didn’t exactly reach the top either because at some point we realized we would have to walk back down, which would take a while too. But we did get some amazing views of the surrounding mountains and stopped into the palace for a quick peek. On the way back, Taylor, Chrissy, and I stopped in some ceramic places, since Portugal is evidently supposed to have really good ceramics. Sintra definitely had the best stores we had seen – with shelves and shelves of plates, bowls, and little knick knacks. Since my mother told me to get her some Portuguese ceramic - and I always listen to my mother! – I hurriedly bought a few dishes before running to the train station and making it just in time for the train back to Lisbon. Once we got back to the city, we had a little time to buy sandwiches for the bus the next day and then had to get ready for dinner/fado. Fado is a combination of singing and narrative poetry that tells a sad or nostalgic story. We tried to go to one on Friday night but they were booked, so some other girls from our program who happened to also be in Lisbon made reservations for Saturday night. Five minutes before the fado was supposed to start they texted us to let us know that it was actually pretty expensive because there was a minimum of 20 euro and everything on the menu was pricey. We decided that even though we wanted to see fado, we didn’t want to spend that much so we went to the restaurant right next to our hotel that had fado too, which the Poles had actually recommended to us Friday night. Luckily we could get in even though we didn’t have a reservation. We were a little far from the stage, but most important is hearing the music, which was really cool. The singers were all very impressive – you could see the effort that it took for them to sing with such force and emotion. Also, the audience was really into it and at one point a lot people joined in on a song and the whole restaurant was filled with music. The food was also probably the best meal I had in Lisbon – rice with duck, chorizo, and some delicious spices and a green bean soup. It was so fun and interesting to hear the songs and we stayed for almost three hours at dinner – thankfully not because of bad service but because we wanted to! It was a great end to an incredible trip to Lisbon, which I felt particularly good about because it was the first trip I planned by myself and it went very smoothly. Hopefully that means good things for the trips to come!
Exciting news of the week – my Sevici card has arrived! Downer news of the week – my camera broke ☹ I’ll try not to complain about it too much but it broke on Friday so all of the pictures of Córdoba are borrowed. Back to the good news – Sevici is the bike share program in Seville. They have tons of stations where you can take out a bike and then return it to any other station. It’s going to make getting around a lot easier since we live over 1.5 miles away from the program center/main university building which means a long walk but a very manageable bike ride. This city is also very biker friendly – they have bike paths on the sidewalks so you don’t have to risk biking right next to crazy Spanish drivers and people actually move out of your way if you ring your bell. I definitely hadn’t ridden a bike in over five years before Monday, so Maureen and I decided to practice in a park where there are wide paths and fewer pedestrians. I know the saying “it’s just like riding a bike” implies you never forget, but it was definitely still necessary to brush up on my biking skills before going out into the real streets. We decided to brave that expedition in the afternoon when fewer people are out, so we walked home from the park. On our walk, we took a different path home and explored a new area of our neighborhood. Every time I think I’m getting to know this city, I realize there are more parts I have yet to even walk through. It’s exciting and daunting at the same time. We also stopped at the soccer stadium to look into prices for the Sevilla – Real Madrid game. The cheapest tickets are 120 euro, so I think I’ll pass on that one but I definitely still want to go to a game with a team that’s a little less expensive. During lunch, I discovered that “knock on wood” is the same thing in Spain as in the US (they say “toca la madera.”) After grammar class, Maureen and I explored the neighborhood of Triana, which is right across the river from our program center. As we were heading home, storm clouds set in and as luck would have, the first sighting of rain we see in Seville coincides with our first bike ride home. Even though it started pouring about two minutes away from our house, we made it home drenched but in one piece.
sky before the storm
On Tuesday, we went to this little church called La Iglesia de San Luis, which is in the same general area as the Museum of Fine Arts. From the outside, it looks pretty large, but when you go in, the actual room is small because so much of the building is supporting the cupola. It’s almost exactly the same as it would have appeared in the 18th century because it was closed down for years and so hasn’t been worn down by churchgoers or tourists. It was very ornately decorated, although a lot of the paintings were hard to see because they were dirty – it’s going to be restored in a few months. There were four main statues of saints in the four corners of the church and Pepe explained that they were strategically placed so that during the respective festivals for each saint, the light from the windows of the cupola would be shining on the respective statue. It is pretty amazing how well designed these old buildings are to take into account things such as light that couldn’t be supplemented by modern technology. After the church visit, we wandered our way passing by this amazing looking bakery called La Campana. Of course, we had to stop in and just ogle (and make plans to return and try every type of pastry in the shop.) We also did some window shopping/browsing on one of the main shopping streets, but I exercised my self control and didn’t buy a thing. After grammar, we couldn’t resist the call of La Campana and went back to try some of the incredibly rich pastries. They didn’t have any seats at the bakery, so we walked back to a nearby plaza and found a bench on which to feast/people watch. The pastries were absolutely delicious but we probably could have just split one instead of one each since I think my stomach was about one bite away from exploding after all that cream and nuts. Then we sat on the bench for a while more, watching a group of four little boys play fighting and other little kids scootering or playing tag. Finally we returned home where a large dinner was awaiting, which I managed to finish very slowly (did I mention yet that Mati has a deep fryer next to the stove? Seriously a deep fat fryer!)
Iglesia de San Luis
Cupola of the church
On to the next delicious meal: on Wednesday we had a lunch of lentil soup with chorizo and potatoes. The majority of the day was spent studying for our grammar test on Thursday, so no time for exploring. Thursday we visited the Real Alcázar of Seville, which is the palace in Seville where the king would stay if he visited. The gardens are gorgeous – lots of greenery, fountains and a few ponds with ducks and fish swimming around. The building itself is also really interesting – again it has a mixture of architectural styles that makes it very unique. Our tour guide was our art history culture professor instead of Pepe, which was fine except for the fact that he mumbles a lot so it’s really easy to tune him out. We saw the majority of the rooms and gardens but I’m really happy that the Alcázar is free for students because we can go back whenever we want. After lunch we had our test, which was fine, and at night we went to an “espectaculo de flamenco.” The program staff had said this one was not very touristy, but it looked like all of the people there were tourists. Still, it was really interesting and impressive. At first, there was just two men playing guitar and singing a song. Then a woman came out and started dancing flamenco on this square wooden board. She was amazing – I don’t understand how one person can move their feet that fast and move with such energy for so long, but she did it. The dance was a combination of tap dancing, step, and maybe interpretive dance. She had so much passion and I wish I had understood more of the words of the song because it seemed like she was kind of acting out the story, but either way it was really cool to watch. The building itself was also beautiful, with flowers up the back wall and a black lamp hanging from the very high ceiling. After the show, some of us went to a tapas bar nearby to have some wine and tapas before heading home to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for our trip to Córdoba.
Flamenco dancer
Gardens of the Real Alcázar
Córdoba is about an hour and a half away from Seville, so we took a bus rented by the program to get there. We pulled up right next to the Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir. Even though it’s the same river in both cities, the Guadalquivir in Córdoba is shallow and muddy – I definitely prefer the green version in Seville. Once we crossed the bridge, we were at La Mezquita – the mosque/cathedral for which Córdoba is famous. It was constructed as a mosque in the 8th century, but was converted into a cathedral during the Reconquest. It still retains a lot of the Islamic architecture and design but also has a huge chapel right in the middle of the building with a large organ and altar. It’s a really interesting mix of styles – you stand in one place and you think mosque and then ten feet away you see a crucifix and stained glass window. The Christians covered up a lot of the Islamic designs but they have since been restored and there are some amazing carvings in plaster at the back of the building. There is also a patio of orange trees that looks very similar to the patio in the Cathedral of Seville and a large bell tower that was once a minaret. After the tour of La Mezquita, we continued with our tour of the old Jewish neighborhood. The streets are very small and cobblestoned and the buildings are covered with flowers in windowboxes – it lends an overall quaint feeling to the city. We walked down La Calle de Las Flores (the street of flowers), which has flowers covering the walls of the buildings and a great view of the tower of La Mezquita. We also passed through a tiny square, which has some of the artisan collectives in the city – Córdoba is a center of silver jewelry but somehow I managed to leave without buying any but a definitely a few ideas of things to make on my own. We also visited the old synagogue of Córdoba and I took a picture with one of my other Jewish friends in front of the menorah – the most Jewish thing I did for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) this year. The temple was really tiny inside and I don’t really understand how services were conducted but it was cool to see such an old synagogue and think about the history of Jews in Spain. After the tour, we went to get lunch at a restaurant our guide had recommended. I got fried eggplant and a kebob type thing. It was delicious – especially the eggplant dipped in the tomato soup my friend had ordered. After we wandered around a while in the touristy stores looking for souvenirs and postcards before one of my friends and I decided to go to the gardens of the Real Alcázar of Córdoba. They were even better than the ones is Seville because they still had tons of flowers blooming and a long pond down the middle with fountains crossing over it. We also saw a bride and groom taking pictures in the gardens – seems like a pretty good place for a wedding photo shoot to me! After sitting in the gardens a while to enjoy the view and the warm weather, we headed back to catch the bus. For dinner Mati made us stuff eggplants with ground beef and cheese and peppers. It was delicious but extremely filling and I was going to tapas with the people in my discussion group because the teacher had invited us. I still went of course but ate the tiniest bites of the tapas – just so I could taste the flavors. The restaurant we went to is the oldest tapas restaurant in Seville – maybe Spain – and it has a really fun atmosphere with pork legs hanging from the ceiling and everyone who orders tapas has to stand so there are lots of people standing around the front of the restaurant. The food was also really tasty – and this was after I was stuffed from dinner so I bet it’s even better on an empty stomach. Afterward we went for ice cream where I definitely did not get anything but tried a bite of a friend’s and can say it too was a delicious place.
La Mezquita
Roman bridge and La Mezquita in the distance
Saturday, we went to an amusement park called “Isla Mágica” in the morning. It turned out to be really fun despite the fact that it’s a tiny park with only one real rollercoaster, which I didn’t even go on because I hate upside down ones. I did go on some water rides and get soaked and got to see a ridiculous “musical” during lunch. It was a show for little kids with pirates and crazy costumes and the songs and dancing were so insanely cheesy it was great. The only weird thing about going to the amusement park was that it didn’t feel like being in Spain at all. Of course all of the signs were in Spanish and the majority of the people were speaking Spanish, but it was the same as an American amusement park with the same rides and the same cheesy decorations. I exited the park gates and kind of felt like I would be back in the States. After wandering around Triana again to find the synagogue I thought I had passed on my last exploration (see at least I tried a little bit) I headed home unsuccessful. After dinner we decided to go see a Spanish movie that has won some awards and we had heard was good called “Gordos.” The movie didn’t start until midnight so we decided to go for ice cream beforehand. One friend mentioned she really wanted a brownie sundae and once she said it, it sounded amazing to me too, so I’m embarrassed to say we went to TGIFridays. I haven’t been to one in the US so I can’t exactly compare but the decoration there was so in your face and obnoxious – probably exactly what they think of Americans. We saw some people dressed way too nicely for TGIFridays and the waiters all had to wear funny little hats. Probably the major difference is that there was a soccer game playing instead of football or baseball. At least the brownie sundae really hit the spot, so I feel like my transgression into American culture was worth it. Then we headed to the movie theater, which is a normal theater not an outdoor one so it was similar to ones in the US with overpriced popcorn and much comfier seats than lawn chairs. The movie was really good – it was weird in that way that most Spanish movies that I have seen are but interesting in how they wove the plots of the different characters together. I felt good because I understood almost all of it – I realized that even though I can never read lips in English it is really helpful in understanding a language because this movie was ten times easier than Burn After Reading dubbed into Spanish. Yet again, I exited thinking I would be back in the US. Even though the movie was entirely in Spanish, going to the movies feels so much like home to me and the fact that I didn’t have to struggle too much to understand made me forget a little bit that I was in Spain. I guess overall this was a very American day for me and I’ll have to do something really Spanish soon to re-immerse myself.
the aisle of oil in the grocery store - and that is just one side
On Sunday, I stayed inside all day being a bum because I had gotten a bug bite on my face that made my eyelid swell and my eye was half shut. Per the request of my mother, I will include the somewhat frantic email that I sent to my parents because I am extremely sensitive about things happening to my eyes. Please keep in mind that in their kindness they took a whole 8 hours to respond to this email.
subject: go on skype!!
hello padres so yesterday i got what i'm pretty sure was a bug bite on my face (always lovely) but since i've been having such bad reactions to the spanish bugs (bug bites the size of golf balls) of course now one of my eyelids is pretty swollen and my eye only opens about half way. i know it's just a bug bite and it will be fine but i need you (especially the doctor) to assure me of that so go on skype when you have a chance so i can show you my lovely distorted face. i knew there would be consequences for not going to temple yesterday :)
