Let me just begin this entry by saying, ¨holy crap it´s already dec. 3! where has my semester gone and what have I accomplished?¨This has been the most challenging and rewarding experience I have ever gone through. I´m trying to figure out how to respond to everyone when I get back and people want a few lines summarizing my experience abroad. From spending days just sitting in the myriad of parks in Sevilla to diving head first into European hot spots like Rome and Paris and packing a lifetime of museums and monuments into each day, I have certainly done a lot of self-reflection. I have grown accustomed to the culture here, to the eating schedule, to the night scene, to the somewhat elusive stance of the Spanish people. But I have learned the most from the other students in my program, and have made invaluable friendships with those who have gone through this growing experience by my side. We were 35 kids thrown together from all different reaches of America, from all different backgrounds, each with different reasons for leaving their life at home to explore the world. I think I can say that I have had a memorable conversation with every person in API, one that has forced me to think outside of my own perspectives. Upon applying for study abroad, I was told time and again that it would be a life-changing experience, and to be honest, I didn´t think it would have such a significant impact on me. But I was wrong. I have gained confidence, open-mindedness, knowledge, appreciation for historical and aesthetic beauty, the means to cross language barriers, and memories deeply embedded in my heart and mind.
On a lighter note, I had an incredibly fun weekend of my favorite pastime, hiking! On Friday, I went on the final API excursion to the province of Huelva and we hiked through the ¨jamon iberico¨capital of the world. Basically, there were pigs rolling in mud every few feet. The towns had the quaint pueblecito atmosphere and the views were very beautiful. Although the path was kind of treacherous so I had to watch the ground most of the time. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, I made another trip to Ronda with Sean because he hadn´t been there yet and I happen to love the town. On Sunday, we hiked down in the gorges with a goal of reaching the reservoir of water at the bottom of the waterfall. We followed the pathway and got so close so for the last few feet, we decided to do a little "off-roading." It was such an adventure and we also stumbled upon some dilapidated, abandoned buildings that were overgrown with brush and looked like they used to be a part of some kind of water system. I was so muddy and covered with sticks and leaves by the end...but it was soo worth getting dirty!
I´m not going to go into detail about my Rome trip but I´m going to post an itinerary like I did for Paris for now.
Friday:
train from airport to central Termini station
check in at hostel
Treve fountain
Pantheon
Piazza de la Reppublica
Piazza de Popolo
Gelato (of course!)
dinner at the hostel and met up with Sarah
more walking exploration of the city
Saturday:
Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel
pizza lunch
on line for St. Peter´s Cathedral but actually ended up in the Papal apartments to meet the cardinals
sandwich and coffee break
walk around the Coliseum and Forum (at night)
stop to see the Pantheon (Sarah hadn´t seen it yet)
Focaccia and Pizza dinner
Sunday:
Inside of the Coliseum (so neat!)
back to the airport to head to Sevilla
Also, right before I went to Rome was Thanksgiving and API actually rented out a place for us and served a "thanksgiving dinner." And I put the quotes because the spanish version of thanksgiving dinner was not exactly your typical turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie thanksgiving dinner. But it was nice to be with everyone nonetheless. And Happy Chanukah to all who celebrate!
Phew, I think I wrote down everything I´ve been wanted to update about :) And for the next two weeks, it´s going to be all writing papers and studying for finals as my classes start winding down.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Paris itinerary
Thursday: arrival in Paris
bus tour of the city
ham and cheese croques at a cafe near the hotel
Friday: Catacombs underground
Notre Dame cathedral and tower
Pompidou modern art museum
the Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Saturday: Rodin museum
Museum D´Orsay
MontMartre --church and view of Paris, local musicians playing a concert
Crepes for dinner
Moulin Rouge
St. Michel´s Pubs
Sunday: Picasso museum
back to Sevilla
Just thought I would get this all down before I forget all the stuff we did in this whirlwind of a weekend!
bus tour of the city
ham and cheese croques at a cafe near the hotel
Friday: Catacombs underground
Notre Dame cathedral and tower
Pompidou modern art museum
the Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Saturday: Rodin museum
Museum D´Orsay
MontMartre --church and view of Paris, local musicians playing a concert
Crepes for dinner
Moulin Rouge
St. Michel´s Pubs
Sunday: Picasso museum
back to Sevilla
Just thought I would get this all down before I forget all the stuff we did in this whirlwind of a weekend!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
El Camino de Santiago
El Camino de Santiago is a Christian pilgrimage to the town of Santiago which is similar to the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Kristen, Zoe, Sanja, and I decided we wanted to take part in this adventure, clearly not for religious englightment but more for personal enrichment. The other girls left Sevilla on Thursday afternoon, planning to walk Friday through Monday. I, however, really didn´t want to miss out on the API excursion to Cordoba to see the Mosque so I decided I would meet them along the way on Saturday afternoon. They were planning to arrive in a small pueblo called Fuente de Cantos (which is actually where the painter Francisco Zurbaran was born) so I took a bus there on Saturday. It was really small and just a quick stop on the bus route. I had to pay careful attention to the signs because nobody was going to tell me when I needed to get off. About a mile before the town, I saw a sign with the name of the town so I got off the bus when it stopped, along with only about 2 other people who got picked up in a car at the bus station (which was actually just a little loop). I arrived around 6pm and there were no people in sight. I found an advertisement on the door of the bus station that said the name of the town so although I was by myself in what looked like a completely desolate pueblo, I at least had confirmed that I was in the right place. I knew my friends weren´t due to arrive for a while so I figured I´d walk down to the center of town and get some information on the Camino.
Luckily, there were signs pointing toward El Centro so I followed them down to the tourist office and the ayuntamiento (which is the government building in every town). I pulled on the doors of the tourist office but it was closed. An older man came up and asked me what I was looking for so I told him I was a peregrina and was just looking to get some information. He didn´t know why the office was closed but he walked around to ask some people for me. After a few minutes, a younger guy came up and told us that he worked at the tourist office but that it was closed for the day. He pointed out to me where the albergue was (which is kind of like a hostal especially for walkers). Keep in mind, I had been having to communicate in Spanish this whole time! So this journey before I even started hiking on the Camino was a huge test of independence for me. I felt so accomplished after reaching the Albergue that I had traveled alone from Sevilla to Fuente de Cantos.
The guy working at the Albergue, Manuel, was 21 years old and from a nearby pueblo. He was really excited to have company so we spoke for a little while. Finally, my friends arrived and just slumped on the couch for a while after a long day of about 24 miles of walking. They had decided to walk two days in one. Following behind them was a dog that apparently had traveled with them for 2 days already. Manuel allowed the dog to sleep outside in the enclosed patio because already the girls had become very attached to her.
The next morning, we got up and had our typical Spanish breakfast of toast, jam, and coffee. Then we set off for our day´s walking. Basically, there are little yellow arrows along the path to guide you and you just follow them from town to town through the countryside. We walked through private property, people´s farms, we saw pigs, cows, dogs, horses. We picked and ate some grapes off the vine, some oranges off the trees, and tried to pick some olives off the tree...but they were not edible. We walked and walked until we got close to Zafra which was our destination for the day. We lost the yellow arrows for a while when we got close and had to ask continuously for directions. We finally reached the Albergue, of course with the dog still following close behind. Unfortunately, it was closed. They told us there was one hostal in the town up by the highway so we stopped there next. However, it was so sketchy and we all got a really bad vibe from it--as in it was right off the highway, the check in was in the bar and there was a group of really creepy looking men staring us down. It wasn´t worth it to us to risk our safety so we decided to keep searching for a place to sleep. Ironically, there was a 3 star hotel next door so we went in and asked how much a room was...as we expected, very steep.
We talked for a while about what to do and apparently, in the next town the Albergue was open. But we were all at the point where we couldn´t walk anymore so we contemplated taking a taxi over there. Sanja and I went back in the hotel and asked the receptionist to call us a taxi. So she did and as soon as she was off the phone, we looked at each other and realized we weren´t going to be able to take the dog with us. When we went outside, Zoe started crying a little bit (As I said, the girls had become VERY attached). None of us had the heart to leave her along the highway like that. When the taxi driver arrived about 2 minutes later, we apologized profusely but let him know that we weren´t going to be needing his service. He made us pay him 5 Euro for driving the 2 minutes to pick us up and everyone was really upset. But what are you gonna do?
So Zoe and I headed back into town in search of a hostel, hotel, or some place with a bed. The dog of course followed us and we picked up another stray dog, a small male who relentlessly displayed his masculinity (if you know what I mean). We found a one star hotel for a decent price and ended up staying there, we got some dinner, stretched our sore muscles, and got to bed early. We assumed the dog would sleep outside and follow us the next morning as she had been doing every day. However, when we left the hotel in the morning, the dog had left so we just told ourselves it had a nice new home in Zafra :) We headed out for Villafranca, the next pueblo on the camino. When we reached it, we decided we were going to run for the last few feet with our arms in the air as our climactic end to our journey. We saw a sign for the ayuntamiento which is usually where we get our peregrino forms stamped, so we ran to the door with our arms up only to find out that it was converted to a deserted meat factory. So it was a very anticlimactic last run. But we eventually made our way to the actual ayuntamiento, got our stamp, and then caught a bus back to Sevilla.
The camino was one of the most challenging things I´ve ever done, but probably the most rewarding experience of my semester. Even when exhaustion and fatigue set in, we had to force ourselves to keep going because between one town and the next, there were only fields of crops. Nothing more. Being with a group helped a lot too, because I couldn´t just stop when I was tired or I would fall behind so it was definitely a motivating factor to continue walking. It felt soo satisfying when we reached Villafranca. We had passed our test of perseverance.
Luckily, there were signs pointing toward El Centro so I followed them down to the tourist office and the ayuntamiento (which is the government building in every town). I pulled on the doors of the tourist office but it was closed. An older man came up and asked me what I was looking for so I told him I was a peregrina and was just looking to get some information. He didn´t know why the office was closed but he walked around to ask some people for me. After a few minutes, a younger guy came up and told us that he worked at the tourist office but that it was closed for the day. He pointed out to me where the albergue was (which is kind of like a hostal especially for walkers). Keep in mind, I had been having to communicate in Spanish this whole time! So this journey before I even started hiking on the Camino was a huge test of independence for me. I felt so accomplished after reaching the Albergue that I had traveled alone from Sevilla to Fuente de Cantos.
The guy working at the Albergue, Manuel, was 21 years old and from a nearby pueblo. He was really excited to have company so we spoke for a little while. Finally, my friends arrived and just slumped on the couch for a while after a long day of about 24 miles of walking. They had decided to walk two days in one. Following behind them was a dog that apparently had traveled with them for 2 days already. Manuel allowed the dog to sleep outside in the enclosed patio because already the girls had become very attached to her.
The next morning, we got up and had our typical Spanish breakfast of toast, jam, and coffee. Then we set off for our day´s walking. Basically, there are little yellow arrows along the path to guide you and you just follow them from town to town through the countryside. We walked through private property, people´s farms, we saw pigs, cows, dogs, horses. We picked and ate some grapes off the vine, some oranges off the trees, and tried to pick some olives off the tree...but they were not edible. We walked and walked until we got close to Zafra which was our destination for the day. We lost the yellow arrows for a while when we got close and had to ask continuously for directions. We finally reached the Albergue, of course with the dog still following close behind. Unfortunately, it was closed. They told us there was one hostal in the town up by the highway so we stopped there next. However, it was so sketchy and we all got a really bad vibe from it--as in it was right off the highway, the check in was in the bar and there was a group of really creepy looking men staring us down. It wasn´t worth it to us to risk our safety so we decided to keep searching for a place to sleep. Ironically, there was a 3 star hotel next door so we went in and asked how much a room was...as we expected, very steep.
We talked for a while about what to do and apparently, in the next town the Albergue was open. But we were all at the point where we couldn´t walk anymore so we contemplated taking a taxi over there. Sanja and I went back in the hotel and asked the receptionist to call us a taxi. So she did and as soon as she was off the phone, we looked at each other and realized we weren´t going to be able to take the dog with us. When we went outside, Zoe started crying a little bit (As I said, the girls had become VERY attached). None of us had the heart to leave her along the highway like that. When the taxi driver arrived about 2 minutes later, we apologized profusely but let him know that we weren´t going to be needing his service. He made us pay him 5 Euro for driving the 2 minutes to pick us up and everyone was really upset. But what are you gonna do?
So Zoe and I headed back into town in search of a hostel, hotel, or some place with a bed. The dog of course followed us and we picked up another stray dog, a small male who relentlessly displayed his masculinity (if you know what I mean). We found a one star hotel for a decent price and ended up staying there, we got some dinner, stretched our sore muscles, and got to bed early. We assumed the dog would sleep outside and follow us the next morning as she had been doing every day. However, when we left the hotel in the morning, the dog had left so we just told ourselves it had a nice new home in Zafra :) We headed out for Villafranca, the next pueblo on the camino. When we reached it, we decided we were going to run for the last few feet with our arms in the air as our climactic end to our journey. We saw a sign for the ayuntamiento which is usually where we get our peregrino forms stamped, so we ran to the door with our arms up only to find out that it was converted to a deserted meat factory. So it was a very anticlimactic last run. But we eventually made our way to the actual ayuntamiento, got our stamp, and then caught a bus back to Sevilla.
The camino was one of the most challenging things I´ve ever done, but probably the most rewarding experience of my semester. Even when exhaustion and fatigue set in, we had to force ourselves to keep going because between one town and the next, there were only fields of crops. Nothing more. Being with a group helped a lot too, because I couldn´t just stop when I was tired or I would fall behind so it was definitely a motivating factor to continue walking. It felt soo satisfying when we reached Villafranca. We had passed our test of perseverance.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tea and Nargilah
Granada was the last Islamic stronghold in Spain before it was conquered by the Christian kingdom in 1492. It´s actually really cool because I just learned about Granada in my 3 cultures class after having been there for the weekend. We took a bus from Sevilla early Friday morning. We made one stop on the way to a park called Torcal which had a really interesting rocky landscape conducive to some tedious hiking. After spending some time hiking through the park and eating a picnic lunch of bocadillos (sandwiches) and fruit made by our señoras, the next stop was Granada. We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon and then met up in the lobby for a walking tour of the city. Granada is situated in the Sierra-Nevada mountains of Spain, so it is at a highter altitude than Sevilla (which is completely flat) and the temperatures were much lower.
We walked along the outside of the Alhambra, in the cathedral to see where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are buried, and through the streets of the city center. Our last stop was a typical tetería which serves all varieties of tea and hookah. The first night, we went to a tapas bar which actually seemed to be more common in Granada than in Sevilla. If you order beer or wine, you are served a plate with bread, meat, and cheese, and some green olives. We had a lot of fun experiencing the Spanish ambiance of tapas bars. My favorite part about Granada were the markets that lined the narrow streets. The stores all sold Arabic style clothing, jewelry, hookahs, etc. and it seemed to be a requirement that everything sold must be brightly colored.
On Saturday, we took a 2 and a half hour tour of the Alhambra. Unbeknownst to me, it is actually more like a small city than merely a single building. It is where the sultan and all the administration of the Muslim reign of Granada resided and governed the empire. The walls are decorated with Arabic phrases basically reminding to praise Allah. The decorations otherwise were all geometric shapes with different symbolic meanings. In one room, the tour guide explained the significance of each wall having 5 windows--they represent the 5 pillars of Islam. And the ceiling (at least in the room of the sultan´s throne) was designed with 7 rows of stars representing the seven levels of heaven culminating in the highest level of paradise which is actually where we got the phrase 7th heaven. Just as impressive as the buildings themselves were the gardens surrounding the Alhambra and the spectacular views from the grounds, as the Alhambra is situated up on a hill.
After the tour, we all ate crepes in a local restaurant called Las Cuevas (the caves) which must have actually been a cave hundreds of years ago. There was no natural light in the downstairs part where we ate...only the candles on the tables allowed us to see enough to eat our meal. Then, Saturday night was by far my favorite activity of the weekend. With API, we went to a flamenco show. The venue was actually more like a house and I actually think the gypsy family that puts on the shows lives there. We were in this really narrow rectangular room sitting in chairs around the perimeter of the room. There were several dancers, men and women, all in costume, and a guitar player and several singers. The coolest part was at the end when they invited members of our group to get up and dance one at a time. I´ve never laughed so much in my life. My cheeks were seriously sore by the end. Afterwards, we went to a hookah lounge and had a relaxing evening.
We had some free time on Sunday before our bus was due to depart for the return to Sevilla so a bunch of us hit up the market for some last minute souvenir shopping. The prices in Granada were actually relatively cheap so lots of people did their christmas shopping.
In mundane news, I had my first midterm yesterday in Spanish syntax and I think it went alright although it was not what I was expecting. I focused my studying on certain grammatical rules that of course weren´t on the test at all. And today, I got the Sevilla newspaper before class and the front page mentioned an article about facebook which caught my eye. I opened the paper up to the page to read the article and there, staring back at me, was MY PROFILE PICTURE. Of the millions of people on facebook, what are the chances that they would choose to put mine in the article with only about 20 others? I´m a little creeped out that they can publish my photo like that. The funniest part was that Danika´s profile picture, a friend from UF that has nothing to do with Spain, was also on the page. Well, I´m saving the copy to show you all when I get home...but I still can´t believe it--how crazy!
We walked along the outside of the Alhambra, in the cathedral to see where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel are buried, and through the streets of the city center. Our last stop was a typical tetería which serves all varieties of tea and hookah. The first night, we went to a tapas bar which actually seemed to be more common in Granada than in Sevilla. If you order beer or wine, you are served a plate with bread, meat, and cheese, and some green olives. We had a lot of fun experiencing the Spanish ambiance of tapas bars. My favorite part about Granada were the markets that lined the narrow streets. The stores all sold Arabic style clothing, jewelry, hookahs, etc. and it seemed to be a requirement that everything sold must be brightly colored.
On Saturday, we took a 2 and a half hour tour of the Alhambra. Unbeknownst to me, it is actually more like a small city than merely a single building. It is where the sultan and all the administration of the Muslim reign of Granada resided and governed the empire. The walls are decorated with Arabic phrases basically reminding to praise Allah. The decorations otherwise were all geometric shapes with different symbolic meanings. In one room, the tour guide explained the significance of each wall having 5 windows--they represent the 5 pillars of Islam. And the ceiling (at least in the room of the sultan´s throne) was designed with 7 rows of stars representing the seven levels of heaven culminating in the highest level of paradise which is actually where we got the phrase 7th heaven. Just as impressive as the buildings themselves were the gardens surrounding the Alhambra and the spectacular views from the grounds, as the Alhambra is situated up on a hill.
After the tour, we all ate crepes in a local restaurant called Las Cuevas (the caves) which must have actually been a cave hundreds of years ago. There was no natural light in the downstairs part where we ate...only the candles on the tables allowed us to see enough to eat our meal. Then, Saturday night was by far my favorite activity of the weekend. With API, we went to a flamenco show. The venue was actually more like a house and I actually think the gypsy family that puts on the shows lives there. We were in this really narrow rectangular room sitting in chairs around the perimeter of the room. There were several dancers, men and women, all in costume, and a guitar player and several singers. The coolest part was at the end when they invited members of our group to get up and dance one at a time. I´ve never laughed so much in my life. My cheeks were seriously sore by the end. Afterwards, we went to a hookah lounge and had a relaxing evening.
We had some free time on Sunday before our bus was due to depart for the return to Sevilla so a bunch of us hit up the market for some last minute souvenir shopping. The prices in Granada were actually relatively cheap so lots of people did their christmas shopping.
In mundane news, I had my first midterm yesterday in Spanish syntax and I think it went alright although it was not what I was expecting. I focused my studying on certain grammatical rules that of course weren´t on the test at all. And today, I got the Sevilla newspaper before class and the front page mentioned an article about facebook which caught my eye. I opened the paper up to the page to read the article and there, staring back at me, was MY PROFILE PICTURE. Of the millions of people on facebook, what are the chances that they would choose to put mine in the article with only about 20 others? I´m a little creeped out that they can publish my photo like that. The funniest part was that Danika´s profile picture, a friend from UF that has nothing to do with Spain, was also on the page. Well, I´m saving the copy to show you all when I get home...but I still can´t believe it--how crazy!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Cheers
Time for a long-winded entry about an incredible trip. Saturday morning, a group of 10 API kids headed toward the Sevilla airport to hop a plane to Ireland for the weekend. We flew into Dublin airport and got a bus to Galway (on the west coast of Ireland) because we had heard good things about the city and about the fairly close excursions outside of the city. We got to see a lot of green countryside along with way and of course, a ton of cows and horses. Once the bus dropped us off in Galway, we asked about Merlin Park, the area where our bed and breakfast was. We walked about a mile to the B and B, which was so perfect! It was run by a middle-age cute Irish couple and was so homey and fun--we all agreed that Ireland feels like Christmas all year round. At this point, we were so hungry and the husband of the couple that ran the B and B was sweet enough to drive us to a place for dinner. His wife also had connections with the tour agency that takes trips out to the Cliffs of Moher so she arranged for the bus driver to "collect" us in the morning outside the front door. Anyway, we had a really nice Irish dinner and then went upstairs because the second floor of the place was a bar. We sat around and chatted for a while, Loni tried a Guinness and watched all the people dancing. There must have been some event going on or something because everyone was dressed up nicely and they served us a bunch of appetizers for free. Oh well, we might have crashed a party without even realizing it.
Sunday morning, we woke up to the second "b" of the b & b, a grand Irish breakfast (tomato, pudding, fried egg, sausage, bacon, toast and jam, coffee, and tea). It was wonderful since in Spain, we´re accustomed to getting on piece of toast and jam for breakfast every morning. After breakfast, we checked out and got our bus to the cliffs. On the way, we stopped in a small town called Doolen where we ate lunch at O´Connor´s pub. I took so many photos once we climbed up the cliffs because it was just too beautiful to even be captured with a camera, I wasn´t satisfied with any one picture. After spending about an hour exploring, we reluctantly headed back to the bus. We went to see a Dolmen tomb basically in the middle of nowhere (it was from 3000BC and archeaologists have found that about 33 people have been buried there. The most impressive part about this stop was the vastness of the area, surrounded on all sides by limestone and grass. Then, we visited the caves of burren and we got to walk through and see stalagtites/mites, and the bones of a bear who had hibernated there thousands of years ago. Really neat! Our last stop before returning to Galway was at a castle on a lake which was probably one of the most picturesque views I´ve seen so far on this trip.
Back in Galway, we met up with Lauren (who had been in Dublin the night before) and checked into our hostel. Then we set off to explore the city. We walked through the city center, met some American girls studying there who suggested some fun bars for us to go to, and then went to a pub to try Guinness. I knew that being in Ireland I would have to try it and as I suspected, I did not like it in the least. But I was glad to have tried it once. Then, we went to get some dinner at another local place (I had beef lasagna which was delicious and some others had the typical Irish Guinness and lamb stew which was also really good). Later on in the night, we met back up with Kristen and Katie at Murphy´s Bar and happened to run into Cory and Dave (two guys from our API group) there as well. We knew they were in Ireland but didn´t have a clue they were in Galway at that point. What a small world that they should find us in a specific bar in the middle of the city. From there, we went to this other local pub that had been recommended to us for its traditional Irish music. After finding it, we went up to the top floor where a bunch of adorable old Irish men were playing instruments and singing. Every once in a while, a guy named Craig (who apparently is a regular at this particular bar) would tap his glass and ask someone to sing. So all the locals took turns singing Irish tunes. The guys playing the instruments talked to us a little bit about their lives in Ireland and of course had lots of questions for us about the states. It was soo cool not to be in a touristy bar and to just be surrounded by Galway locals. Our group met the aforementioned Craig and another guy named Shamos there and so after the bar closed, they took us to a dance place. But in Ireland they don´t dance like they do back home. They just move their bodies and jump a lot to the beat of the music but everyone basically dances by themselves...there is not grinding or anything of the sort. We had the best time, so much fun!!
On Monday, Kathi, Loni, Jonathan, and I woke up early to catch the bus to Dublin. The rest stayed back in Galway. We caught the bus at 9:30 am and we didn´t get to Dublin until about 2:30 --little did we know, we took the bus that happens to go on all the backroads and stop in every little town. At one point, the cutest old man got on and sat next to me--he was wearing the typical Irish hat, a wooden cane, and really thick glasses. He was so friendly and wanted to know all about where I´m from and what I was doing in Ireland and Spain. After he got off, a young Irish girl got on and she was telling me that she goes to college outside of Dublin and studies psychology. So we had a fun little chat too. The Irish people are just extremely friendly! I felt so comfortable with them. So as you can see, the long bus ride wasn´t all that bad because I got to meet all kinds of different people.
After we finally arrived in Dublin, (theme of our trip) we ate...I had a cranberry, stuffing, and chicken panini and it was just like thanksgiving on a bun! We explored Dublin a little bit--I actually found it to be a very beautiful and clean city. Apparently, they say that Ireland is the most livable place in the world. It was overcast and really chilly but it didn´t bother us. We met up with Kathi´s friends from her university at home that are working in Dublin and they showed us around the grounds of Dublin castle. Then, we went to a Temple Bar and hung out for a little while at the Turk´s Head (a bar). Later on, we met up with the rest of our group who had come from Galway and went to Fitzsimmons for live music and some drinks. The music was amazing, I think I knew and could sing along to just about every song. And again, we all danced with the Irish, Croatians, and I´m sure people from all other reaches of the globe. And then I got back to Sevilla around 12 pm and got to the university in time for my 1 pm class with time to spare!
Sunday morning, we woke up to the second "b" of the b & b, a grand Irish breakfast (tomato, pudding, fried egg, sausage, bacon, toast and jam, coffee, and tea). It was wonderful since in Spain, we´re accustomed to getting on piece of toast and jam for breakfast every morning. After breakfast, we checked out and got our bus to the cliffs. On the way, we stopped in a small town called Doolen where we ate lunch at O´Connor´s pub. I took so many photos once we climbed up the cliffs because it was just too beautiful to even be captured with a camera, I wasn´t satisfied with any one picture. After spending about an hour exploring, we reluctantly headed back to the bus. We went to see a Dolmen tomb basically in the middle of nowhere (it was from 3000BC and archeaologists have found that about 33 people have been buried there. The most impressive part about this stop was the vastness of the area, surrounded on all sides by limestone and grass. Then, we visited the caves of burren and we got to walk through and see stalagtites/mites, and the bones of a bear who had hibernated there thousands of years ago. Really neat! Our last stop before returning to Galway was at a castle on a lake which was probably one of the most picturesque views I´ve seen so far on this trip.
Back in Galway, we met up with Lauren (who had been in Dublin the night before) and checked into our hostel. Then we set off to explore the city. We walked through the city center, met some American girls studying there who suggested some fun bars for us to go to, and then went to a pub to try Guinness. I knew that being in Ireland I would have to try it and as I suspected, I did not like it in the least. But I was glad to have tried it once. Then, we went to get some dinner at another local place (I had beef lasagna which was delicious and some others had the typical Irish Guinness and lamb stew which was also really good). Later on in the night, we met back up with Kristen and Katie at Murphy´s Bar and happened to run into Cory and Dave (two guys from our API group) there as well. We knew they were in Ireland but didn´t have a clue they were in Galway at that point. What a small world that they should find us in a specific bar in the middle of the city. From there, we went to this other local pub that had been recommended to us for its traditional Irish music. After finding it, we went up to the top floor where a bunch of adorable old Irish men were playing instruments and singing. Every once in a while, a guy named Craig (who apparently is a regular at this particular bar) would tap his glass and ask someone to sing. So all the locals took turns singing Irish tunes. The guys playing the instruments talked to us a little bit about their lives in Ireland and of course had lots of questions for us about the states. It was soo cool not to be in a touristy bar and to just be surrounded by Galway locals. Our group met the aforementioned Craig and another guy named Shamos there and so after the bar closed, they took us to a dance place. But in Ireland they don´t dance like they do back home. They just move their bodies and jump a lot to the beat of the music but everyone basically dances by themselves...there is not grinding or anything of the sort. We had the best time, so much fun!!
On Monday, Kathi, Loni, Jonathan, and I woke up early to catch the bus to Dublin. The rest stayed back in Galway. We caught the bus at 9:30 am and we didn´t get to Dublin until about 2:30 --little did we know, we took the bus that happens to go on all the backroads and stop in every little town. At one point, the cutest old man got on and sat next to me--he was wearing the typical Irish hat, a wooden cane, and really thick glasses. He was so friendly and wanted to know all about where I´m from and what I was doing in Ireland and Spain. After he got off, a young Irish girl got on and she was telling me that she goes to college outside of Dublin and studies psychology. So we had a fun little chat too. The Irish people are just extremely friendly! I felt so comfortable with them. So as you can see, the long bus ride wasn´t all that bad because I got to meet all kinds of different people.
After we finally arrived in Dublin, (theme of our trip) we ate...I had a cranberry, stuffing, and chicken panini and it was just like thanksgiving on a bun! We explored Dublin a little bit--I actually found it to be a very beautiful and clean city. Apparently, they say that Ireland is the most livable place in the world. It was overcast and really chilly but it didn´t bother us. We met up with Kathi´s friends from her university at home that are working in Dublin and they showed us around the grounds of Dublin castle. Then, we went to a Temple Bar and hung out for a little while at the Turk´s Head (a bar). Later on, we met up with the rest of our group who had come from Galway and went to Fitzsimmons for live music and some drinks. The music was amazing, I think I knew and could sing along to just about every song. And again, we all danced with the Irish, Croatians, and I´m sure people from all other reaches of the globe. And then I got back to Sevilla around 12 pm and got to the university in time for my 1 pm class with time to spare!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The world´s best-kept secret
This weekend, about 20 API kids went to Lagos, Portugal, where we saw probably some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the world. I´m glad we went this weekend because it was starting to get chilly at night, and the tourist season is at its end. Everyone in Lagos spoke English, I didn´t speak Spanish or Portuguese once all weekend. We rented an 8 person apartment just a walk away from the ocean and only paid 16 € per person for two nights!! Anyway, so this weekend in Spain was a holiday, Fiesta Nacional, so a lot of people were traveling this weekend...which we weren´t aware of until Thursday night. We were planning to buy bus tickets at the station Friday morning for a bus Friday afternoon but after talking with our señora, we figured we´d better try to get on the first bus of the day to ensure that we got tickets. Well...the first bus was at 6 am!! So we got to the bus station Friday morning around 5 am to buy our tickets.
Once we got to Lagos, we checked into our hotel which was a pretty fast walk from the bus station, just across the marina. I wasn´t expecting anything grand for the cheap price but we walked in and were amazed! I felt like I was on the real world, it was a huge apartment with a fully stocked kitchen and an enormous balcony overlooking the city. Then we wandered around along the pier to explore the city a little bit. There were a bunch of vendors offering boat tours along the coast, so we ended up taking one guy up on it and we took a motorboat tour around the coast. The water was extremely choppy but the sights were breathtaking and our tour guide would even slow down and go inside some coves. At one point, he stopped the boat and let us jump off and go swimming. The water was freezing cold, but we weren´t going to pass up the opportunity to swim in the clear blue-green ocean. He explained some of the rock formations, most of which were named for what they looked like (i.e. one rock looked like an elephant so it´s called elephant rock). It was just the 8 of us on the boat with our tour guide, and one German woman traveling solo. She didn´t really speak any English but she seemed to have a great time and got a kick out of our college student antics.
After that, we went to the store because we decided to make an italian spaghetti dinner and take advantage of our kitchen. The dinner was delicious and soo cheap! Then, we did some hanging out at our apartment and then went out to the Lagos party scene. We went bar/club hopping and met people from all over the world. There were lots of British and Australian people. I met a Portugese guy from Lisbon who actually lives in England now and he offered to show me around Lisbon when I go there with my parents. On Saturday, we went to explore the cliffs and the beach...I didn´t go swimming because the water was freezing but the people who did got beaten up by the ocean. The waves were so rough!! I was completely content just sitting and appreciating the gorgeous landscapes.
Right now, I´m working on planning our trip to Ireland this weekend. We´re going to Galway for two nights and Dublin for the third. I was so excited to find out that my class Monday that I was going to be missing is cancelled. That´s the luck of the Irish for ya! And I just got a text from my cousin Mike who is studying in Madrid and he´s going to be in Dublin this weekend too so hopefully I´ll get to meet up with him.
Other than the weekend excursions, I went to the movies again on Tuesday with Vitali to see Rush Hour 3. And tonight, I might go to another flamenco show. Classes are going pretty well...I feel like I´m getting well-acquainted with Spanish culture and my listening comp skills are definitely improving. My senora happens to love Kyle XY, so we watched it on tv last night. She´s also a big fan of George Clooney and CSI. There is so much more I want to say but not enough time! I have my Spanish syntax class in a half hour. But more to come very soon!!
Once we got to Lagos, we checked into our hotel which was a pretty fast walk from the bus station, just across the marina. I wasn´t expecting anything grand for the cheap price but we walked in and were amazed! I felt like I was on the real world, it was a huge apartment with a fully stocked kitchen and an enormous balcony overlooking the city. Then we wandered around along the pier to explore the city a little bit. There were a bunch of vendors offering boat tours along the coast, so we ended up taking one guy up on it and we took a motorboat tour around the coast. The water was extremely choppy but the sights were breathtaking and our tour guide would even slow down and go inside some coves. At one point, he stopped the boat and let us jump off and go swimming. The water was freezing cold, but we weren´t going to pass up the opportunity to swim in the clear blue-green ocean. He explained some of the rock formations, most of which were named for what they looked like (i.e. one rock looked like an elephant so it´s called elephant rock). It was just the 8 of us on the boat with our tour guide, and one German woman traveling solo. She didn´t really speak any English but she seemed to have a great time and got a kick out of our college student antics.
After that, we went to the store because we decided to make an italian spaghetti dinner and take advantage of our kitchen. The dinner was delicious and soo cheap! Then, we did some hanging out at our apartment and then went out to the Lagos party scene. We went bar/club hopping and met people from all over the world. There were lots of British and Australian people. I met a Portugese guy from Lisbon who actually lives in England now and he offered to show me around Lisbon when I go there with my parents. On Saturday, we went to explore the cliffs and the beach...I didn´t go swimming because the water was freezing but the people who did got beaten up by the ocean. The waves were so rough!! I was completely content just sitting and appreciating the gorgeous landscapes.
Right now, I´m working on planning our trip to Ireland this weekend. We´re going to Galway for two nights and Dublin for the third. I was so excited to find out that my class Monday that I was going to be missing is cancelled. That´s the luck of the Irish for ya! And I just got a text from my cousin Mike who is studying in Madrid and he´s going to be in Dublin this weekend too so hopefully I´ll get to meet up with him.
Other than the weekend excursions, I went to the movies again on Tuesday with Vitali to see Rush Hour 3. And tonight, I might go to another flamenco show. Classes are going pretty well...I feel like I´m getting well-acquainted with Spanish culture and my listening comp skills are definitely improving. My senora happens to love Kyle XY, so we watched it on tv last night. She´s also a big fan of George Clooney and CSI. There is so much more I want to say but not enough time! I have my Spanish syntax class in a half hour. But more to come very soon!!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Cultural Inundation
I got a lot of Spanish culture this weekend...I´m pretty stoked about that. Thursday night, a bunch of my friends met up at a Salsa club and I had the best time. I decided I´m going to take lessons every Monday and Wednesday at a place near my house. Friday night, we went to a Flamenco bar which we now know is world-renown. Our senora had told us that the place opens at 11, so we got there around 11:30, thinking we would be fashionably late. When we arrived, there was a line of people down the street and a woman told me the place didn´t open until midnight. So we were near the front of the line and we waited outside along with the group of older Spaniards...some people were a little nervous because clearly it wasn´t exactly our age range. Once the place opened, people poured inside mosh-pit style. I got trampled a few times by 70 year old ladies and once we actually got inside, all the seats were taken so we stood on the side lines. It was a little hole in the wall place that had the look of a rustic living room. There is no entrance fee but the key is that you have to buy a drink--and they are not cheap. A little while before the actual flamenco show started, some really old lady walked past me wearing a sequin shirt and pounds of makeup. Behind her was a young guy in an ostentatious suit. I realized that everyone was staring at her, taking photos, whistling. I asked the guy next to me what was going on and he told me he was from Italy and also had no idea. I found out later she was a famous actress in Spain when she was younger (she´s probably 80 years old now) named Sara Montiel. I saw her on the news yesterday, on a celebrity documentary thing. So that was pretty neat...but nothing compared to the incredible flamenco show that followed. There is a reason that people were lined up outside to get in and that after it was full, people watched through the windows for hours. There was singing, guitar playing, drumming, and best of all, dancing. I took a video of it so I´ll post it sometime. It was so worth the wait, the standing like sardines, and the 7 euro drinks.
Saturday, we got up really early and met our group at the train station for our excursion to Mulva, which is the site of ancient ruins of an old castle. The train ride was about an hour and we hiked for about 40 minutes until we reached the site. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, the only sign of life the cows and horses of the countryside. I really enjoyed the different perspective of Spanish life...outside of the urban hustle and bustle of the cities. Anyway, the ruins were really neat, built into a small mountain, and more or less conserved enough to be able to imagine what it once looked like. Anyway, after our climb up through the ruins, we had some free time to explore on our own and eat our bagged lunches. While we were sitting at the bottom of the mountain, a horse walked up to us, completely tame and beautiful! We all took turns feeding it our apples and then decided to take turns riding it. We later found it was our tour guide´s horse so it really isn´t as crazy as it sounds. But it was all bareback and we felt so adventurous. We had a 2 hour hike to the nearest town to catch the train back.
After dinner Saturday, I met with another intercambio who wanted to learn English. Jose Luis works for the city and basically ensures that all the chemical plants are complying with the laws. He studied environmental science in Cordoba and did an internship in Vienna. On Wednesday, he is directing a convention in Brussels and has to speak in English so he wants as much practice as he can get before then. We got ice cream and met some other people at Alfalfa street. Sunday, after lunch, I went to the park for a while and just read and listened to music. I was really enjoying my little spurt of down time. Then, I met Meghann at the Parque de Maria Luisa to check out the international festival. There were booths of vendors and food tasting and belly dancing and music and tons of people. It is soo much fun and is going on every night until November so I´m definitely going to go back soon. I ran into my German friend Vitali there and we all tried Yuca frita from the Peruvian booth.
Saturday, we got up really early and met our group at the train station for our excursion to Mulva, which is the site of ancient ruins of an old castle. The train ride was about an hour and we hiked for about 40 minutes until we reached the site. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, the only sign of life the cows and horses of the countryside. I really enjoyed the different perspective of Spanish life...outside of the urban hustle and bustle of the cities. Anyway, the ruins were really neat, built into a small mountain, and more or less conserved enough to be able to imagine what it once looked like. Anyway, after our climb up through the ruins, we had some free time to explore on our own and eat our bagged lunches. While we were sitting at the bottom of the mountain, a horse walked up to us, completely tame and beautiful! We all took turns feeding it our apples and then decided to take turns riding it. We later found it was our tour guide´s horse so it really isn´t as crazy as it sounds. But it was all bareback and we felt so adventurous. We had a 2 hour hike to the nearest town to catch the train back.
After dinner Saturday, I met with another intercambio who wanted to learn English. Jose Luis works for the city and basically ensures that all the chemical plants are complying with the laws. He studied environmental science in Cordoba and did an internship in Vienna. On Wednesday, he is directing a convention in Brussels and has to speak in English so he wants as much practice as he can get before then. We got ice cream and met some other people at Alfalfa street. Sunday, after lunch, I went to the park for a while and just read and listened to music. I was really enjoying my little spurt of down time. Then, I met Meghann at the Parque de Maria Luisa to check out the international festival. There were booths of vendors and food tasting and belly dancing and music and tons of people. It is soo much fun and is going on every night until November so I´m definitely going to go back soon. I ran into my German friend Vitali there and we all tried Yuca frita from the Peruvian booth.
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