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!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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.
Monday, October 1, 2007
The art of bullfighting = torture
For everyone that I haven´t already updated, my computer is completely broken, as in it won´t turn on at all. So my posts are going to be very sporadic but I´m going to do the best I can. This weekend was fairly eventful. On Friday, we went to Huelva to the monastery where Christopher Columbus held his first meetings about his expedition to America. They had a copy of his passport and signature on the wall and replicas of the three ships. The monastery was near the beach, so we went to the beach to eat a picnic lunch. It was so nice to sit in the sand and hang out with everyone. A few people went swimming but most didn´t bring their swimsuits. There was a porpoise washed on shore which darkened the mood a little bit, but we tried not to pay too much attention to it. I was sitting with Jonathan, Miles, and Sean for a while and we started having very philosophical discussions about global warming, about human destruction, about political ideals, etc. It was really intriguing and enjoyable.
On Saturday, we all went to a bull fight which was probably the most inhumane thing I have ever witnessed. At each fight, they kill 6 bulls and we only stayed for 3. That was enough. I had my experience and I never need to have it again. It seemed to me more like torture than anything else. Every time the bull got stabbed, the crowd would get up and cheer. You can see the blood everywhere and the bull wincing from the pain. And it´s not even like the bull really fights back, it didn´t charge at the matadors or anything until they moved their red flag. It just seemed really confused at what was going on. And a good matador is supposed to kill the bull with one swipe of his sword, and none of them succeeded. So every time they drove the sword into the bull, some other guys had to come out into the ring to take control of the situation until the matador tries again. It wasn´t even very entertaining. It all seems way more controlled than they make it seem.
After the bull fight, a group of about 20 of us went out to a Tex Mex restaurant. So we ate Mexican food and had a British waiter in the middle of Spain. And then during the dinner, Sean sparked a debate about the inherent wrongness of big corporations like WalMart and McDonald´s while others claimed that it´s people´s fault for choosing to support them, resulting in their success. Anyway, it got pretty heated and the waiter even got involved.
Yesterday, I went to the movies at Nervion Plaza. I met my friend Gustavo there and we saw No Reservations (Sin Reservas). I had actually already seen the movie at home so it was easier to understand the dubbed-in-Spanish version. I walked there from my apartment and it took about an hour so Gustavo helped me figure out which bus to take home so I wouldn´t have to make the long haul again. The bus system actually seems pretty easy to use, so I´m glad to have that at my disposal.
I dropped my laptop off at the API office in hopes that the technician that repairs the computers here might be able to help me figure out what´s wrong with mine. So we´ll see how that goes. I´m finished my classes for the day, I had the historical projection of three cultures this morning and we learned about the geographic division between the Christians and Muslims in Spain during the Middle Ages. It´s going to be a really interesting class, we´re going to learn a lot about the Inquisition and the Expulsion. After I finish writing this blog, I´m going to buy a book for my Flamenco class and then I´m going to meet my friend Sarah at a cafe for a little while before I have to go home and eat lunch with my senora. It´s been raining here, and I hope it stopped because right now, I´m stranded without my paraguas (umbrella)!
On Saturday, we all went to a bull fight which was probably the most inhumane thing I have ever witnessed. At each fight, they kill 6 bulls and we only stayed for 3. That was enough. I had my experience and I never need to have it again. It seemed to me more like torture than anything else. Every time the bull got stabbed, the crowd would get up and cheer. You can see the blood everywhere and the bull wincing from the pain. And it´s not even like the bull really fights back, it didn´t charge at the matadors or anything until they moved their red flag. It just seemed really confused at what was going on. And a good matador is supposed to kill the bull with one swipe of his sword, and none of them succeeded. So every time they drove the sword into the bull, some other guys had to come out into the ring to take control of the situation until the matador tries again. It wasn´t even very entertaining. It all seems way more controlled than they make it seem.
After the bull fight, a group of about 20 of us went out to a Tex Mex restaurant. So we ate Mexican food and had a British waiter in the middle of Spain. And then during the dinner, Sean sparked a debate about the inherent wrongness of big corporations like WalMart and McDonald´s while others claimed that it´s people´s fault for choosing to support them, resulting in their success. Anyway, it got pretty heated and the waiter even got involved.
Yesterday, I went to the movies at Nervion Plaza. I met my friend Gustavo there and we saw No Reservations (Sin Reservas). I had actually already seen the movie at home so it was easier to understand the dubbed-in-Spanish version. I walked there from my apartment and it took about an hour so Gustavo helped me figure out which bus to take home so I wouldn´t have to make the long haul again. The bus system actually seems pretty easy to use, so I´m glad to have that at my disposal.
I dropped my laptop off at the API office in hopes that the technician that repairs the computers here might be able to help me figure out what´s wrong with mine. So we´ll see how that goes. I´m finished my classes for the day, I had the historical projection of three cultures this morning and we learned about the geographic division between the Christians and Muslims in Spain during the Middle Ages. It´s going to be a really interesting class, we´re going to learn a lot about the Inquisition and the Expulsion. After I finish writing this blog, I´m going to buy a book for my Flamenco class and then I´m going to meet my friend Sarah at a cafe for a little while before I have to go home and eat lunch with my senora. It´s been raining here, and I hope it stopped because right now, I´m stranded without my paraguas (umbrella)!
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