The Motherland- the joys of travel

Let’s talk about how amazing Scotland is. I’m pretty much in love with it and am definitely going back eventually. The people were sooo friendly. Bus drivers would ask us where we were trying to go and give us directions, people brought us hot cocoa when we were sitting on a pier waiting for our bus, we were treated to dinner by the other couple that was staying in our bed and breakfast, and so much more. We were completely welcomed and helped out in every way possible it seemed. We aren’t sure if this is because it was just a shock being in an English speaking country again where we understand everyone (almost everyone lol… those accents are tough sometimes :D).

And yes, I realized how used to speaking Spanish to everyone I am. The first time we got on a bus I told the driver “hasta luego” and then realized that I was being ridiculous haha. I got a strange look.

But, let’s start from the beginning of the trip. Last Saturday morning I left my house in Sevilla with my friend Irene at 430 so we could get to the airport in time for our flight. We had a connection in Palma de Mallorca (one of the most popular tourist locations in the Mediterranean for the beaches). It was gorgeous even though we saw it from a plane and the airport. We waited there for about 6 hours and were ready to board our flight that would take us to Edinburgh. However, as we walked up to board they wouldn’t let us because we didn’t have some kind of special stamp that apparently you only need if you are leaving Spain on a student visa (the same thing happened to a couple other girls from my program too... not very clear in the directions). Suddenly we had 5 minutes to run through the airport and security, find a little office, get our ticket stamped, and run back to board the plane. (By the way, I’m wearing a boot now because my foot was becoming ridiculous and no, this was not an excuse to anyone at the airport to help me at all.) So we ran and ran and ran, sweating and wheezing the entire way. (I haven’t actually ran in a long time thanks to the foot… it was sad lol.) And let me just say that this airport is huge. It’s random and on an island, but there are 4 terminals and of course we were on the one farthest from the office. Finally, after asking numerous people where we were going, my zipper coming open and half of my stuff falling out of my backpack, and whacking a random guy with my water bottle that was tied to my bag (I got the death stare… no language barriers in that), we got the stamp and returned to our terminal only to see the arm just beginning to detach from our plane. We were seriously 2 minutes late after all of that. Let me just say we were more than a little upset. We were on an ISLAND lol. The flight was with a cheap, not highly respected company and they had absolutely no customer service. There had been one sentence saying to have our visa checked by security, but still I don’t understand how we were supposed to know we needed it stamped at their office and not just saying as we went through security we would need to show them our visa. We were not alone in this misunderstanding though. There was a Korean girl who is also studying in Spain who missed the flight for the same reason. The three of us bonded together and tried to figure everything out. RyanAir told us to walk around asking all of the other kiosks if they had flights to Scotland that night. The other girls story is worse than ours because she had left her bag with the flight attendants and when we came back it was no where to be found (we still don’t know what happened to it… they were so unhelpful and we looked everywhere with her). So she was there with her passport and that was it. No phone, no money, no friends, only her passport and ticket stub that was worthless now. So the whole situation was redeemed a little bit in the fact that we could help her get to where she needed to go (her Spanish is not very good yet and her English wasn’t much better). We got a flight in to Glasgow later that day and then took a bus the rest of the way so that we finally got to Edinburgh at around midnight (instead of 2 pm). In the process we had gone through security so many times (each time the thing dinging on me of course lol) that the guards asked us what was going on, why we’d been running and if we had gotten a different flight. Comical to say the least.

In Edinburgh we crashed at Irene’s friends flat (she is going to school in Edinburgh). It had been too long of a day to go out and try and do anything. We were just happy that we had gotten there Saturday! Sunday we explored Edinburgh a bit. We hiked up Calton hill which we thought was Arthur’s seat, the highest point in Edinburgh but there were still some great views, walked up and down the Royal Mile and saw the castle. Then we had some time to kill and started talking to some people at a bus stop who told us which bus we should take to go up to a little fishing village and eat dinner there on the water. (side note: Edinburgh has the best and most organized bus system of any city I’ve been in so far… and yes they are double deckers like in England.) So, we went and it was a precious little part of town and we ate looking out across the “firth” to absolute gorgeousness. Later that night we went to a tour of Mary King’s Close which is a tour of the underground city of Edinburgh. Back in the day they built on top of a whole bunch of the city instead of destroying it. So now the Royal mile is actually over old houses and buildings. They just opened it up for tours and stuff about 5 years ago. And finally on our way home from that we stopped in a pub that had live music and that was fun. All I’m saying is that anyone can dance like the Scottish dance… I wouldn’t ever feel stupid :D.

Monday we headed towards Oban and the Isle of Mull. The bus trip was completely worth the 4.5 hour ride just to see the country side. Constant mountain/ hills covered with waterfalls, castles, and sheep. Hard to describe but I completely, 100% think that everyone needs to go. We got our ferry tickets across to Mull and tried to put together our plans for the following couple days. The trip on the ferry was absolutely gorgeous as well. Think of those inspirational posters that say stuff like strength and courage that they always have in schools but in real life. When we got to Mull, we realized that the website had lied (or just been conveniently vague) and the buses stopped running at about 6 pm. Therefore, our days were not going to be as full as we had intended them to be. So we rearranged our plans to work with the bus schedules and were going to rent bikes one of the days. We walked around a bit (took a random train thing that’s like a carnaval ride for 5 year olds because we didn’t realize what we were doing lol), had a run in with a sheep, and met quite a few really nice people that we continued to bump into throughout the couple days we were there. We rode the bus back to Tobermory (a precious little harbor town) and got to our bed and breakfast. The owner was precious and there was a couple staying upstairs too that offered us drinks and food and everything. So the first day, we didn’t see as much as we’d wanted but it was fine because we had plans for the next two days set.

So Tuesday began with an AMAZING breakfast… I mean, compare anything with a piece of toast with oil and a cup of coffee and its going to win, but it was delicious. It ended up being really cold so our bike plan fell through (a constant drizzle really makes the cold cut through you) and we decided to take the bus to see Iona (a little island off of Mull). The drive was supposed to be gorgeous. We got half way (to where we had to switch buses) and found out that the busses weren’t going to Iona that day because the ferry wasn’t working because of the weather. As Irene said, “The spirit is willing but the buses are weak.” So, we ended up going to Duart castle (yes, this is the MacLean clan castle). And that was awesome. I signed the book of MacLeans that have gone and visited and it was really neat. I got some awesome pictures. After that we went on a hike (we had a whole bunch of time to kill because the bus wasn’t going back to Tobermory where our B&B was for a few hours) But I’m so glad we did because again… it was gorgeous. We were soaked by the end of the day, but completely worth it. We went back to our place, microwaved a frozen pizza and some popcorn (hadn’t had popcorn since we’d been here) and called it a night after watching some Scottish TV (random fact: Did you know that they still wear the grey curly wigs in the courts in Britain? Think George Washington wig on normal modern people… funny!).

Wednesday morning we didn’t have time (actually the bus schedule was just crappy) so we didn’t have time to get to Iona and back before the ferry we needed to catch our bus back to Edinburgh, so we went on an early ferry and looked around Oban (the harbor that is on the mainland side). We ate some fish and chips (I’m officially a fan of haddock), drank an Irn bru (the signature soda of Scotland apparently… kind of like the Ale8 of Scotland for you Asbury people), and some Sticky Toffee Pudding (I’m looking for a recipe because it was sooo delicious). We were told we had to try those things before leaving. Haggis was also on that list, but we weren’t quite brave enough lol.

We got back to Edinburgh Wednesday night and then left Thursday morning again for Sevilla without anymore plane issues. All week we had been a little bit obsessive compulsive about times of everything.

It was one of those trips that was a learning experience throughout the whole thing. I felt like we had done our research and the websites made it sound like our plans were going to work but just had bad luck with how it turned out in the end. It was one frustrating thing after another but we were in Scotland and that was AMAZING. The fact that we didn’t get to do as much as we wanted to makes me want to go back and do it again the right way. My advice would be for anyone planning to go to Scotland… rent a car and have no plans (or loose ones). Just drive and see where you end up. And don’t rely on buses on the Isle of Mull because while the drivers are super nice, it’s just a very slow paced place.

I'll put up pictures later... It was gorgeous!!! Love you all!!

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!