Last minute planning

I'm finally done with exams and that is a HUGE relief! I can't believe that I only have one more set of exams to go before the semester is over.

All week I have been making last minute plans and getting everything ready for SCOTLAND.

We are leaving tomorrow bright and early (our flight leaves at 6:30am eek!) We're hoping that the rain holds off while we're there. I know that's a lot of wishful thinking, but we're hoping to bike around while were on the Isle of Mull. (We have ponchos to look like true tourists :D)

I've been trying to upload a video this week of my house but it won't let me. Unfortunately I don't have any people who know much about computers around to help me. I'll keep working on it though once I get back though.

Semana Santa (Holy Week)is HUGE here in Sevilla (the biggest in all of Europe apparenlty). It's all anyone talks about. I'm going to be back in Sevilla on Thursday (jueves santo) to see the biggest pass of the week. Apparently the whole city stays up all night. Lots of the cathedrals have either huge virgin statues or huge Jesus statues and they are carried by 30 men from their church to the main Cathedral of Sevilla and back to their church again. It's like every church has it's own mini parade with all of the people dressed up like their in the KKK. I'll put up pictures once I see it. I've seen movies and pictures, but I'll get some up here so you can enjoy the festivities :D.

Also, in anticipation of Semana Santa, they just opened the metro (they've been building it forever) and its the talk of the town. It's free today and yesterday so everyone is lining up to give it a try. My senora went yesterday and was so excited about it. Especially because it goes under the Guadalquivir River (5 seconds... she told us all about it). Super cool. haha

I hope you all are doing well. I'll be sure to give you another update once I get back!

Wow!

Where to begin?!?

Last week in one of my classes we had a conversation with a Catholic friar who is in seminary. Very interesting. It was a group of American, 20 something, "evangelicos" and this poor guy who they brought in for a question and answer session with us about Catholicism in Spain. It started out with easy questions like "How do you become a pope?" and eventually became a heated debate about whether hell exists and how you can go to heaven through good works. (He said, "There are 2 ways to be saved: good works and faith in God." not exactly sure how that works) So it was very interesting and definitely opened my eyes into what catholicism is actually about from someone who has studied it ALOT. (I think he said 6 years of university.)

THEN... here comes the fun part... I went to GRANADA this weekend. Favorite place so far outside of Sevilla. It is gorgeous and in the mountains. A quaint little town, but so much to do. It's one of those places that you just can't capture in pictures. (This is why I took over 400 in 2 days.)



Every where you go is a climb up hill or an attempt not to trip and roll down. They are steep! There is a lot of Muslim/ Arabic stuff there. There were all kinds of street vendors and tea shops. It was a totally different atmosphere than Sevilla. We did a lot of walking and my legs are still dead, but it was totally worth it for all we were able to see.

We went to a neighborhood of Granada that is built on the mountains where people live in caves. Here, we had our first encounter with the gypsies of Granada and learned first hand where the word gypped is derived from. We are walking on our merry little way, basking in all the beauty, thinking everything in the world is good, when a lady comes out of a flamenco bar and tells us we can go in and look inside if we want. We had just been talking about how cool it would be inside one of the caves, so we went immediately realizing it was probably a mistake. All of the sudden she had given us all a beer and a pot (to remember Granada) and was trying to read our palms. We knew we needed to get out of the but weren't sure how. We were kind of cornered and were like, "Oh my goodness, look at the time! We have to go! We're late to meet some friends!" Then she demanded 7 euros from each of us for everything. None of us had even drank the beer and we didn't want the little pot thing, so we were like, "We don't have any money sorry." She got all mad and we got some change out and were like, "This is all we have." We ran out with her screaming at us. In the end, we felt stupid... caught in the trap like idiots, but the experience and the story I'm pretty sure are worth the 4 euros (1 euro a piece... not terrible).

From that side of the river, we could see on the other side more caves and saw people walking around on trails. THAT is where we wanted to go. So we decided that the next morning we were going to go on adventure up the mountain. We walked... up hill/mountain... right up to the caves where people lived. They had doors, tables, chairs, it was amazing that people actually live like that, and that we were that close. You can kind of see the paths that we were walking on. However, the whole time we were a little timid to get to close. We didn't want another gypping scenario, so we went back and walked around other parts of the city. It is completely and utterly awesome all over.

Finally, we made it to the main attraction of the city, the Alhambra. It is a huge fortress that the Muslims built before the Christians came and took over their area. They knew they were going to be taken out because all of the surrounding areas were already conquered. As a last "hurrah", they built the Alhambra as a piece of heaven on earth more or less. It is completely filled with gardens and there is a palace with unbelievably detailed decoration. It's so much that again, pictures can't really capture it. It was also one of the things we've studied in my art class so again... I was able to actually appreciate it because I knew a good amount of the history behind it.





And on a final note: I SAW A PEACOCK IN A FARM ON THE SIDE OF A ROAD! awesome!!!

Monkeys

Yesterday I was in Gibraltar, as in the Rock of Gibraltar.


It's a British colony, but don't call them English... they're Gibraltarian. haha It was a three hour bus ride and then we got there. I was set on getting my passport stamped, but unfortunately, they wouldn't do it. I asked, but the lady said they were too busy and if she stamped mine, other people would ask, and then the line would back up. I was sad but at least I know that I was there. We had a few hours to look around the city. Everything there is in English and all of the people there speak perfect English with a British accent and Spanish with a heavy southern accent. Very interesting. It's a really small city. I walked all of it in the three hours. I ended up sitting on a pier to eat my bocadillo. fun fun. Looking out into the Mediterranean.


Then we met to get on the bus again to make the trek up the rock. We looked out and were like 10 miles (about... a rough conversion from km) from Morocco. Trivia: Morocco was the first country to recognize the US as a country. (According to our bus driver. Not sure how reliable that is but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about)


Then we went up to look at the caves. They were neat, but they don't beat the caves in southern Indiana lol. (One of the few things we actually have :D) It was neat though because of the history. The British soldiers had camped out there during the world wars.

Then, finally, we went to the monkeys. As we drove in, one jumped on the hood of the bus and just stared at the driver. As we got out, they were like, don't take any bags out of the bus, don't open any pockets while you are outside the bus, and hold your cameras really tight. I didn't see any craziness from the monkeys, but apparently they are super smart and know where the pawn shops are.


That was my day. It was followed by the long ride home.

Hope everyone is still doing well!!

The Ancianos

Every week I've been going to a convent that is like a nursing home. It's for a class and I've been serving food at their dinners. I can't remember if I've mentioned that or not, but last night was precious.
I ended up getting there early and had extra time. There were a ton of people in their entrance park area. I recognized a few of them so went to sit down. We had a crazy conversation lol. I was proposed to numerous times, asked to take them to the US with me, and more. After I serve the dinner, some of them stay to help us get everything set up. They are slowly teaching me school songs and how to dance the Sevillana. They are much more patient then everyone else! I was talking to one lady and she said she had taken a ship from Barcelona to Puerto Rico to Miami to New York and back. That's over a month on a boat. But she was precious explaining everything to me. She studied in Italy when she was my age and is so glad that I can be here. Everyone is always asking me which I like better, Spain or the US. I never know what to say haha. So I guess my answer to how to find people to talk to is go to the nursing homes lol. It's not as weird there to walk up to random people and start talking to them. I'm going to have all kinds of friends over the age of 80 but that's just fine. (And just like in the US, their pockets are always full of candy lol)

Tomorrow I'm going to Gibraltar (the straight of Gibraltar is a colony of England). So that should be fun. Praise the Lord that exams are done! Time to relax a bit. I have friends from Asbury that are coming with a class for Spring Break and they will be here from Monday to Wednesday so I'm super excited to see them!

I'm off to spend some time in the sun :D. Sorry to rub that in, but it's been gorgeous and we have a river!

Cathedrals + Art = Spain

What a weekend! I feel like it was a week long but I'm glad to be back in Sevilla. Our bus drove in this morning (at 4 AM. I'll explain later) and I had that feeling you get when you are like 10 minutes away and start recognizing things. It's finally starting to feel a little bit like home.

Friday, we took off in a bus to Toledo with the school at 6am. (They have free trips built in for us throughout the semester to Must-See places that are close.) Driving through Spain is gorgeous and like no country side I've seen before. The city ends abruptly and all of the sudden you are in the middle of olive groves. As you drive there are clusters of little pueblos that are different than anything I've seen in the States. It's a bundle of houses and apartment building and then that's it. Then you're back in farmland.

We stopped at the windmills that are super famous from Don Quijote. They have a class here where they read the book (like reading Shakespeare but Spanish style) so we had to stop to let them all see them, but I'm really glad we went. The view of the country side was gorgeous!!!





We got back in the bus and were on our way to Toledo where of course we started off by having our bocadillo lunch (sandwiches):D. We checked into our hotel (Which was probably the nicest place I will stay during my whole stay in Spain. It was the first time the water in the shower has been too hot in the last month :D ). Then we met up with the group at the Iglesia de San Tome' (St. Thomas's Church) to see an El Greco painting there. I know so much about El Greco (an Italian painter who came to learn in Spain) now and about the Manerism movement (right before the Renaissance) that I feel like I should teach a class on it myself. After that everything in the city was closed... so we went out to get some food and explore the town. However, Toledo (as precious as it is) has nothing to do, so we got a tub of icecream and hung out in the hotel. We tried to watch some Spanish TV, but it is SAD lol. News, commercials, and that's about all you can find. But it was fun getting to know some of the other girls in the program.
This was the view from our hotel of Toledo.



The next day we woke up to an amazing breakfast. Now this may sound odd to hear that a continental breakfast at a hotel was amazing, but it was. It was like an American breakfast more or less (probably more less, but it was closer than usual). They had fresh orange juice, fruit, CEREAL! (hadn't had it since I'd been here) and was just delicious! We went to the cathedral (One of the four Gothic Cathedrals in Spain.) It is definitely my FAVORITE of all of the churches I've been to (and that is a lot), but no pictures were allowed inside and the security guards were hawks. The stained glass was gorgeous. The coro, (I'm not sure exactly what this part is called in English. Probably something close to that, but it's the part of the cathedral for the choir right in the middle) was GORGEOUS! It was ornately decorated with all mahogany. And all of this in between the organs. It was funny because the seats were like theater seats that fold down and up and underneath each seat was a different carving of demons and pagan things like you are squashing them as you sing and everything. I thought it was funny :D. And then we were going in all of the rooms like the sacristy and everything when we walked in this room that has every cardinal from Toledo since 68 AD. That was really cool. This cathedral hasn't been there that long, but it had listed the name of every cardinal with a portrait of them all the way up to the one that is there now. Pretty neat. They also have a little art museum there and there was another painting by El Greco that I can tell you all about if you really want to know.

At each of the places our professors had these microphones for tours that we used so we would here. Kind of dorky, but it is so nice to be able to walk around and still get all the info.


Finally, we were done with the part led by our professors and had some free time. If you go to Toledo, you will find a lot of two things. Swords and jewelry that in Spanish is called Damasquinado (no idea what it is in English). But its black with super intricate designs in gold. We went to one of the shops and were talking to the owner when he invited us into the back of his shop where they were actually making everything. Apparently the Lord of the Rings swords were crafted in Toledo. It was really cool.



Then, my roommates and I split to go to Madrid. We took a bus and ended up meeting a friend who graduated from Asbury last year and is now in Madrid doing missions stuff. We went to the Palacio Reales (where the Spanish Royal family has lived until the current King and his family)and walked around the city. Our hostel ended up being in a really good location right in the middle of everything. We even had a balcony :D. However, the radiator for the whole building was in our bathroom. And it was dangerous. You had to be super careful to sit down because you'd burn your leg on it. If you were much bigger than me, it wouldn't have worked. It was flaming hot all night long so we had all of the windows open. At one point in time I woke up drenched in sweat... no fun. But other than that, it was great. You just never know what you are going to get at those places.



Finally Sunday came and we wanted to find the Rastro with is supposedly one of the best open markets in the world. However, the info we had was incorrect and we ended up going to the wrong park. The park we went to was also really neat though so it wasn't totally in vain.

This was on display in the park inside a buildging called Palace of Crystal.


O the joy of cameras with timers!


After that, we decided instead of trying to find the real place, we'd just continue on to the Prado. (We thought we were trying to catch a bus later on.) We raced through in like 2 hours. I would never have wanted to spend more time than that in an art museum before, but something about being in Spain and probably taking this art class has given me a whole new appreciation for everything. And I am so glad I'm in this art class or else I wouldn't have been able to understand any of the information plaques. Every other museum I've gone to has been in both English and Spanish, but not the Prado. I'm definitely glad that I was able to understand the majority of everything. It's a lot more entertaining that way. We wanted to catch a 5:00 bus back to Sevilla (WANTED haha). So we had rushed all morning and got to the bus stop by 4:30ish. When we arrived in Sevilla we came into a different station so we hadn't been able to buy our return tickets yet. There were also buses at 6 and 7 so we figured it wouldn't be a big deal if the first one was full. However, ALL of them were full! So we had to wait until 10 pm and the ride was 6 hours. LATE on a school night I know! So with 5 hours to kill, we were thankful to the genius who placed the theater not even a block away from the station. What luck!! So with all of our stuff (backpacks and all) we trekked into the theater. It was my first Spanish theater experience and I was so glad I actually understood everything. A little trivia for you too: in Spain, they have assigned seating in the theaters. And the chairs are way better than in the US.

Random Madrid:


Soooo... that was my weekend. It was a long one and I'll definitely be recuperating through the week. I have exams again this week. I'm not a fan of how the do exams here. Give you a long weekend and then SLAM. It's like you have finals week 5 times a semester. They don't spread it out at all. But you do what you got to do.

Hope you are all doing amazing!!!

This week has not been very exciting so I don't have much to write about. It's been raining and cold (meaning 50's haha) but when you're walking everywhere wet it seems colder. My art class is still intense but I'm learning a ton. Unfortunately I will not be able to share much of this knowledge since all of my vocab surrounding it is in Spanish.

This weekend I'm off to Toledo with the school for a visit to the Cathedral there (it's one of the three Gothic cathedrals in Spain) and from there I'm going with some friends to Madrid for the rest of the weekend. The Prado, the Rastro, and the Palacio Real are on the must see list. Especially now with my new found knowledge and appreciation for art... I think I'll enjoy it even more.

I'll definitely have more to say once I get back. Hopefully it won't include creepy French men again like Barcelona!!

Hope you are all doing great back in the States!!! I love it here but I can't wait to get home and see everyone again!

10 Thoughts about Sevillanos

These are some of the things that I have noticed here in Sevilla that are just different...

1.) I am constantly in awe of all of the women who wear high heels. Cobblestone streets and a 20 minute walk (minimum) everywhere and anywhere you want to go make it pretty much impossible for me to imagine a life in heels even if my foot weren't royally messed up.

2.) There are definitely more dads with their children than moms. I thought it was weird that I noticed/ was surprised by this. And it's not even that I feel that dad's in the US don't do anything, I just really think that dads are always with their kids here. It's interesting to see how those relationships differ.

3.) MILK: I don't really know what kind of milk they have here or how it is possible, but they don't refrigerate it. Nor do they drink straight milk (only with coffee pretty much). Sometimes I just want a cold glass of normal, cow milk with my dinner :D

4.) Most of the music here is the same as in the US and still in English. The people can't understand a word of it, but they sing along with it and love it. In one of my classes we did an "experiment" and flipped through all of the radio stations: 7 had English music and 5 had music in Spanish. I don't really understand why you would like music if you can't understand the lyrics.

5.) An equivalent to the word "random" apparently doesn't exist, and apparently neither does the concept of something being random. Therefore, people here don't have that built in radar for those random/awkward situations. We asked our professor for a word and we are out of luck. And I use that word all the time in English... probably on my top 10 most used list... ESPECIALLY in Spain because there are so many random situations that I've ended up in.

6.) It's awesome that Spanish and English have so many similar words. Whenever I don't know something in Spanish... I sound it out as if it were a Spanish word and probably 68% of the time, they can figure out what I'm trying to say. The whole Latin root thing is very convenient!

7.) Guapa! Guapa! (beautiful girl) is another favorite phrase in Spain. Whether you just rolled out of bed or actually got dressed up, walk through the street and you'll be yelled after by every guy you pass. But it's not really a rude/offensive thing like it would be in the US, just how they... I'm not really sure haha. It doesn't really translate but if you ever come to Spain, you will see what I mean (not the guys... sorry).

8.) If you want a deliciously, decadent pastry... it's about a euro, but if you want a bag of M&M's... expect to pay around 5 euros. Why wouldn't you want to go talk to the adorable little old lady who owns the pasteleria and get the freshly made, amazingly delicious cana filled with chocolate nutella and topped with powdered sugar?? I just don't know!

9.) Your arms/hands are more important than your feet when your dancing (according to one of the ladies we talked to last night at a Flamenco place). Good to know! haha Guitars and boxes (for drums) are the instruments of choice.

10.) Pajarito= little bird That is what I had for dinner the other night. Picture a Thanksgiving turkey a little bit smaller than your fist. That is what was on my plate. "Watch out for the little bones!" Maria Louisa warned us. No, really? haha