Wow! I thought that Sevilla had a new suprise on every corner but it is nothing compared to Rome. As we were walking around today I was just snapping picture after picture. Every where you turn there is a new amazing plaza or statue or building. I love it!
We started off this morning near the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine hill. They are huge. It took us all morning walking around. Then we went wandering around a bit seeing the Pantheon, Piazza de Venezia (absolutely gorgeous), and some other fountains and piazzas that were just really neat. By 6 o'clock we were dead tired. We stopped in a park, sat for a long while, and decided we would come back to the hostel so that we can thoroughly enjoy tomorrow. The Vatican and the Catacombs are the two big things we want to see.
Right now my eye is twitching as I write this message, so I'm going to get to bed :)
Gelato is amazing!
Love you all!!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
When in Rome
So it has been a crazy couple of days. I got into Rome today and started off with making our way to the Spanish Steps (it was close to our hostel), and had our gelati (heaven in ice cream form lol).
But the real fun came on Sardenia the past couple of days. We just went there because it was the cheapest way to get to Rome and why not explore a random island. Our flight was scheduled to get in late, so we decided not to get a hostel and rough it in the airport. We figured that was less dangerous than trying to find our way around a random Italian speaking city at 1 in the morning. Good thing too because we ended up being pointed to the wrong place (10 miles) from the actual hostel where there is the exact same intersection... who'd know? We got there... were looking for #78 and it only went up to 16... no good. But we were in no hurry so we had a random adventure on the side. And praise the Lord that we speak Spanish because if not, we would have had much more difficulties. We couldn't find people for a while who spoke English, but they could Spanish. It's much more similar. Everyone we talked to was extremely nice and eager to help us trying to figure out what we needed (Spanish is closer to Italian but still not Italian). At 10 in the morning. We were waiting for a bus to our hostel (the actual location now) and stopped for our first gelato. At 10 am there are not many people in the stores so we had a whole conversation with the owner in half Spanish, half English, and half Italian that we could figure out from what Spanish we knew. So much fun. I wish we had it recorded!
Then we got to our hostel. We were dead because the airport benches aren't exactly the most comfortable. :) When we got there, the guy working was about our age and didn't know English or Spanish... So we spoke in Spanish... he spoke in Italian... and we figure out what we needed in the end. We slept for a while and when we woke up we went to ask where a grocery store was. Using a Google translator, we figure everything out and he told us that he would take us in his "maquina" to the store. Now that is a car haha.. Let's go in the machine! haha hilarious!
We got there and he showed us everything that we needed to get and then cooked and ate with us. He was a pretty much a chef by adding onion and garlic to the tomato sauce, busting out the olive oil of course in true Mediterranean style and we had a two course meal and everything. Ravioli stuffed with Ricotti cheese and then steak type stuff. We also had formaggio cheese and olives... he wouldn't let us go without it. And he wouldn't let us pay. The whole time I was thinking... there is a catch... this is probably stupid, but I'm here now to say that all is well... no catch... just a nice Italian guy wanting to show around the Americanas :)
After we cooked (it was absolutely delicious) he took us into Cagliari, the bigger city to take pictures. He was our tour guide taking us to all of the sites and stopping the car, getting out, taking our picture, and off we went again. The whole time in broken Italian, Spanish, and English.
The next morning he wanted to take us to the beach. So, we went. By that time there was no fear. He was harmless and just thought we were funny trying to learn some Italian. So we again, toured the island of Sardenia stopping at all of the picturesque points on the way. He dropped us off at the airport and that was that. We got completely lucky with everything!
Today, we've just been walking around a little bit around Rome. We got in at around 630 to the hostel and then walked a while and eventually made it to the Spanish Steps. Very neat. I have 2 more days in Rome and then I'm off to Cinque Terre (I got my train ticket today!).
Love you all! Can't wait to get home and see everyone!!
But the real fun came on Sardenia the past couple of days. We just went there because it was the cheapest way to get to Rome and why not explore a random island. Our flight was scheduled to get in late, so we decided not to get a hostel and rough it in the airport. We figured that was less dangerous than trying to find our way around a random Italian speaking city at 1 in the morning. Good thing too because we ended up being pointed to the wrong place (10 miles) from the actual hostel where there is the exact same intersection... who'd know? We got there... were looking for #78 and it only went up to 16... no good. But we were in no hurry so we had a random adventure on the side. And praise the Lord that we speak Spanish because if not, we would have had much more difficulties. We couldn't find people for a while who spoke English, but they could Spanish. It's much more similar. Everyone we talked to was extremely nice and eager to help us trying to figure out what we needed (Spanish is closer to Italian but still not Italian). At 10 in the morning. We were waiting for a bus to our hostel (the actual location now) and stopped for our first gelato. At 10 am there are not many people in the stores so we had a whole conversation with the owner in half Spanish, half English, and half Italian that we could figure out from what Spanish we knew. So much fun. I wish we had it recorded!
Then we got to our hostel. We were dead because the airport benches aren't exactly the most comfortable. :) When we got there, the guy working was about our age and didn't know English or Spanish... So we spoke in Spanish... he spoke in Italian... and we figure out what we needed in the end. We slept for a while and when we woke up we went to ask where a grocery store was. Using a Google translator, we figure everything out and he told us that he would take us in his "maquina" to the store. Now that is a car haha.. Let's go in the machine! haha hilarious!
We got there and he showed us everything that we needed to get and then cooked and ate with us. He was a pretty much a chef by adding onion and garlic to the tomato sauce, busting out the olive oil of course in true Mediterranean style and we had a two course meal and everything. Ravioli stuffed with Ricotti cheese and then steak type stuff. We also had formaggio cheese and olives... he wouldn't let us go without it. And he wouldn't let us pay. The whole time I was thinking... there is a catch... this is probably stupid, but I'm here now to say that all is well... no catch... just a nice Italian guy wanting to show around the Americanas :)
After we cooked (it was absolutely delicious) he took us into Cagliari, the bigger city to take pictures. He was our tour guide taking us to all of the sites and stopping the car, getting out, taking our picture, and off we went again. The whole time in broken Italian, Spanish, and English.
The next morning he wanted to take us to the beach. So, we went. By that time there was no fear. He was harmless and just thought we were funny trying to learn some Italian. So we again, toured the island of Sardenia stopping at all of the picturesque points on the way. He dropped us off at the airport and that was that. We got completely lucky with everything!
Today, we've just been walking around a little bit around Rome. We got in at around 630 to the hostel and then walked a while and eventually made it to the Spanish Steps. Very neat. I have 2 more days in Rome and then I'm off to Cinque Terre (I got my train ticket today!).
Love you all! Can't wait to get home and see everyone!!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Bull Fight
I have officially been inducted into Spanish culture. I've gone to a bull fight. And as horrible as it is, I wish I had time to go to another one. :)
At each fight, there are 6 bulls and three matadors that get 2 chances each to make the bull bow down to them. It's a battle... man vs beast. :) haha
But I wish I understood more about it. We had a Spaniard behind us explaining things when we looked confused so that was helpful, but I really needed the books Corridas de Torros (Bull Fights) for Dummies haha
So this is the jist of what happens. There are different stages. They release the bull from the door and it runs into the arena where all of the matadors are waiting for it. There are a whole bunch of them, probably 6ish, but I don't remember. They hide behind the walls and one by one, come out and taunt the bull, the bull charges them, and then they run behind the wall.
Then, the band plays the music and it's time for the next round. A man on a horse comes out and the matadors guide the bull towards the horse. The guy on the horse is holding a big spear thing and after the bull charges the horse (almost knocking it over sometimes) he stabs the bull in the back. But it's more like he is pushing the bull away with this spear to the back... gross. That is when the blood starts flowing. They do that two or three times. This was my least favorite part because although the horse is padded with the equivalent of a bullet proof vest, the bull pretty much picks it up. One time the horse fell over and the guy on top jumped off and ran off the arena.
And then, music again and then next round. The horses leave and then comes my favorite part. The part that I think is the most dangerous for the guys. Two guys have these baton spear things for lack of a better description and they run at the bull head on, jump up, jab their spears in its back, and then run away as the other matadors distract the bull again with the capes. This is the part that I'm pretty sure their moms refuse to watch.
After they do this about 3 or 4 times, there's more music and it's the final stage. The stage that everyone thinks about when they think bull fight. During this stage, the head matador comes out with a smaller red cape instead of the huge pink ones, takes off his hat, and the rest of the matadors go behind the walls. Now, the bull is worn down quite a bit and the matador gets him to run around him getting as close to the bull as possible each time. You can tell when they did a good job because the whole crowd yells/murmurs, "Bien!" (Good job!). But the whole rest of the time, the crowd is really quite kind of like a tennis match. Whistles during this time are not good. Good to know :) haha
Finally, after a while of this, the matador has a sword and gets the bull face to face and stabs it through the shoulder blades straight to the heart. After this, what is supposed to happen is that the bull bows to the matador. At this point the back up matadors come and offer their support.
Once the bull goes down, one of them stabs it in the head to put him out and then the horses come out and whisk it away... and that is fast! One second they're there and the next they're sprinting off the arena.
We were at a novice bull fight so the matadors weren't amazing yet and the bulls were smaller. The whole time we were asking each other, was that supposed to happen? Did he just mess up? At one point, one of the bulls apparently wasn't being aggressive enough and they exchanged it for another one.
It was all super interesting and gross at the same time... but the worst part, I'll say again, were the horses!
Hope you enjoyed Bull fighting 101!
I've got all of my stuff packed and I've completed all of my classes and finals as of 2 hours ago. Last night we went out with my senora and her husband and had a great time complete Spaniard style. We went to a little bar, had some tapas (including camarones which are baby shrimp and you have to eat everything including the shell and head and all... weird!).
I leave tomorrow night for Italy and I'll be home 2 weeks from today!
So excited for everything and I'll update you guys again about Italy after I'm home.
Can't wait to see everyone!!!
At each fight, there are 6 bulls and three matadors that get 2 chances each to make the bull bow down to them. It's a battle... man vs beast. :) haha
But I wish I understood more about it. We had a Spaniard behind us explaining things when we looked confused so that was helpful, but I really needed the books Corridas de Torros (Bull Fights) for Dummies haha
So this is the jist of what happens. There are different stages. They release the bull from the door and it runs into the arena where all of the matadors are waiting for it. There are a whole bunch of them, probably 6ish, but I don't remember. They hide behind the walls and one by one, come out and taunt the bull, the bull charges them, and then they run behind the wall.
Then, the band plays the music and it's time for the next round. A man on a horse comes out and the matadors guide the bull towards the horse. The guy on the horse is holding a big spear thing and after the bull charges the horse (almost knocking it over sometimes) he stabs the bull in the back. But it's more like he is pushing the bull away with this spear to the back... gross. That is when the blood starts flowing. They do that two or three times. This was my least favorite part because although the horse is padded with the equivalent of a bullet proof vest, the bull pretty much picks it up. One time the horse fell over and the guy on top jumped off and ran off the arena.
And then, music again and then next round. The horses leave and then comes my favorite part. The part that I think is the most dangerous for the guys. Two guys have these baton spear things for lack of a better description and they run at the bull head on, jump up, jab their spears in its back, and then run away as the other matadors distract the bull again with the capes. This is the part that I'm pretty sure their moms refuse to watch.
After they do this about 3 or 4 times, there's more music and it's the final stage. The stage that everyone thinks about when they think bull fight. During this stage, the head matador comes out with a smaller red cape instead of the huge pink ones, takes off his hat, and the rest of the matadors go behind the walls. Now, the bull is worn down quite a bit and the matador gets him to run around him getting as close to the bull as possible each time. You can tell when they did a good job because the whole crowd yells/murmurs, "Bien!" (Good job!). But the whole rest of the time, the crowd is really quite kind of like a tennis match. Whistles during this time are not good. Good to know :) haha
Finally, after a while of this, the matador has a sword and gets the bull face to face and stabs it through the shoulder blades straight to the heart. After this, what is supposed to happen is that the bull bows to the matador. At this point the back up matadors come and offer their support.
Once the bull goes down, one of them stabs it in the head to put him out and then the horses come out and whisk it away... and that is fast! One second they're there and the next they're sprinting off the arena.
We were at a novice bull fight so the matadors weren't amazing yet and the bulls were smaller. The whole time we were asking each other, was that supposed to happen? Did he just mess up? At one point, one of the bulls apparently wasn't being aggressive enough and they exchanged it for another one.
It was all super interesting and gross at the same time... but the worst part, I'll say again, were the horses!
Hope you enjoyed Bull fighting 101!
I've got all of my stuff packed and I've completed all of my classes and finals as of 2 hours ago. Last night we went out with my senora and her husband and had a great time complete Spaniard style. We went to a little bar, had some tapas (including camarones which are baby shrimp and you have to eat everything including the shell and head and all... weird!).
I leave tomorrow night for Italy and I'll be home 2 weeks from today!
So excited for everything and I'll update you guys again about Italy after I'm home.
Can't wait to see everyone!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Fair of April
FERIA
So all last week, Sevilla hosted the biggest/ most popular fair in all of Spain. It might be even in Europe, I'm not sure, but it's a huge deal and only about a 15 minute walk from my house (which is nothing in Europe haha) so after I got back from Greece, I went with my friends every night.
Now this fair isn't only a fair like a state fair. No, it's more like a combination between prom, the state fair, and a family reunion/wedding reception. Everyone gets all decked out in their flamenco dresses and suites.
There are horses with and carriages everywhere in the city.
Half of the fairgrounds are the casetas which are little tent parties that are mostly privately run by families, clubs, companies, etc. There are public ones too, but they aren't as nice. The trick (since none of us really know anyone with casetas) is getting invited in or finding Spaniards who have invitations and can bring us with them. The casetas are tents decked out like they are actually living rooms and each one has their own little restaurant/bar area.
They are open all night long, as full at 6 in the morning as a 11 at night, and everyone dances and sings and eats and drinks. It is so much fun! Now the dance of Sevilla and of the Feria is the Sevillanas which everyone knows. Think of the Spanish style Electric Slide. It's not at all similar but kind of is in the idea in the sense that everyone knows it and has their own little flair to it. But it's way more complex and requires more skill. I tried to learn it, but when you are up against people who've done it their whole life, it's hard. I went with my Senora and her family one night to a neighbor's caseta. It was so much fun. Their granddaughter who is five or six insisted in teaching me and helping me do the Sevillanas. So, I had no choice lol. In front of their whole family and a whole bunch of their friends there I was trying to do it. They were shouting out the next moves to me lol. When I sat down again, my senora told me "Que verguenza!" Which is like, how embarrassing. Thanks Maria Louisa lol. That's the Spanish bluntness for you haha. She was joking but it was funny because the whole tent of people was shouting out the next step... spin around... switch places... haha hilarious (harder even yet because it's in Spanish... and it's fast lol)
The other half is fair rides and everything. The funniest thing is seeing all of the people in their huge dresses walking around in the fair and riding all of the rides.
The thing I thought was coolest about it was that it's for people of all ages. High school kids go and dance and ride the rides, families get together at their friends casetas, little kids love it because its the fair and they get to dress up. Over all it's just a fun thing. Everyone rides around on their horses and carriages, it's awesome.
So all last week, Sevilla hosted the biggest/ most popular fair in all of Spain. It might be even in Europe, I'm not sure, but it's a huge deal and only about a 15 minute walk from my house (which is nothing in Europe haha) so after I got back from Greece, I went with my friends every night.
Now this fair isn't only a fair like a state fair. No, it's more like a combination between prom, the state fair, and a family reunion/wedding reception. Everyone gets all decked out in their flamenco dresses and suites.
There are horses with and carriages everywhere in the city.
Half of the fairgrounds are the casetas which are little tent parties that are mostly privately run by families, clubs, companies, etc. There are public ones too, but they aren't as nice. The trick (since none of us really know anyone with casetas) is getting invited in or finding Spaniards who have invitations and can bring us with them. The casetas are tents decked out like they are actually living rooms and each one has their own little restaurant/bar area.
They are open all night long, as full at 6 in the morning as a 11 at night, and everyone dances and sings and eats and drinks. It is so much fun! Now the dance of Sevilla and of the Feria is the Sevillanas which everyone knows. Think of the Spanish style Electric Slide. It's not at all similar but kind of is in the idea in the sense that everyone knows it and has their own little flair to it. But it's way more complex and requires more skill. I tried to learn it, but when you are up against people who've done it their whole life, it's hard. I went with my Senora and her family one night to a neighbor's caseta. It was so much fun. Their granddaughter who is five or six insisted in teaching me and helping me do the Sevillanas. So, I had no choice lol. In front of their whole family and a whole bunch of their friends there I was trying to do it. They were shouting out the next moves to me lol. When I sat down again, my senora told me "Que verguenza!" Which is like, how embarrassing. Thanks Maria Louisa lol. That's the Spanish bluntness for you haha. She was joking but it was funny because the whole tent of people was shouting out the next step... spin around... switch places... haha hilarious (harder even yet because it's in Spanish... and it's fast lol)
The other half is fair rides and everything. The funniest thing is seeing all of the people in their huge dresses walking around in the fair and riding all of the rides.
The thing I thought was coolest about it was that it's for people of all ages. High school kids go and dance and ride the rides, families get together at their friends casetas, little kids love it because its the fair and they get to dress up. Over all it's just a fun thing. Everyone rides around on their horses and carriages, it's awesome.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Greece: The Land of Everything Blue, White, and Ancient
So my trip to Greece is definitely my favorite trip so far. I was with a great group of girls and everything went well. No missed flights or other disappointments :D
I left last Friday and we flew into Athens. On the flight there we sat next to a language professor and she gave us a quick lesson on basic Greek. That was lots of fun. Coming out of the plane we knew how to say, "hello", "thank you", and "my name is ______". We hadn't really realized that not only do they speak Greek in Greece, but they write with the Greek alphabet too. This presents a problem when you have a map in lower-case letters and the street signs are in upper-case. Have you ever thought how different upper and lower case letters are? Or how difficult it is to ask questions about where you are when you haven't a clue how to pronounce anything? But, between the 4 of us we pulled together all of the mathematical equations and sorority/ fraternity names that we knew and by the end of the trip, we were pros at the alphabet (I mean, we could somewhat sound things out). It was a feat.
The first night we wandered around the area of Athens called Plaka. It contains the oldest flea market in the world so that was fun window shopping there for a while. We also ate some true Greek appetizers that were delicious. Greek food is much more flavorful than Spanish food and they have all of the black olives while Spain has the green olives. I'm definitely more a fan of the green than black after being in Spain this semester. But everything we had was delicious. One of the things we had was Mousaka (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Moose Caca). It was kind of like meatloaf in pie crust. Delicious!
The next morning we went to the island of Andros (early! We left the hostel at 5am). We chose this island in the beginning because the ferry was the cheapest and we found a really good deal on a hostel. We didn't really know what to expect, but when we arrived at the port and then took a bus to our "Villa" we realized how lucky we were. For under $20 a night we had a little studio apartment with a balcony, full kitchen, and a private beach across the street.
We all just stood there in the room when the owner walked us up in awe. Way better than we were expecting! Best shower I've taken all semester! As we talked to the owner, she told us that cars were really easy to rent and would only be like $7 each for a whole day. Since it was only about 10am at this point, we went to figure it out. Unfortunately, you had to be 23 and the oldest of us had just turned 22. So close. But we still had an amazing time!
We were in the town of Batsi which is exactly what you see in pictures of the Greek islands: white houses with bright blue detailing.
And the water was SOOOO blue and SOOOO clear. You could see down all the way no matter how hi you are. The weirdest thing was that the boats looked like they were floating. Now yes, I know that all boats float, but these boats looked like there wasn't anything under them. That's how clear the water was. Awesome. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold. I'm talking I ran in to my waist and by the time I ran out my legs were tingling and numb. But the sand was hot from the sun so we sat on the beach the rest of the day. It was so nice.
The next day we decided to go for a walk down the road. There are little beaches all around the island that are like little coves surrounded by cliffs and rocks. We walked along and saw this beach that we wanted to get to but couldn't because the stairs down were all gated off and impossible to climb over.
So we kept going to the next beach where we found a paddle boat with the oars. PERFECT! We could get to our little beach! So we hid all of our stuff in the bushes and ventured out on the Aegean Sea.
There were 4 of us in this little paddle boat that was probably made for 2 people but we just straddled each other and made it work. It was comical to say the least. Not to mention that we were probably above the weight limit and every once in a while the ice cold water lapped over the edge surprising us all. Luckily there weren't many other people on the island... especially the beaches. We pretty much had the island to ourselves (Apparently people like to come when the water is a bit warmer. I don't really blame them). So we paddled over to the beach, stayed there for a while sunning ourselves like turtles on a big slab of rock, and then returned the boat to where we found it. Awesome!
The last full day, Monday, we took a bus to another city on the island that is the capital. It was also a picturesque little white and blue Greek town on a bay.
It was a bit chilly that day so we were glad we had the time to walk around. We saw an island (more like a big rock) that we wanted to get to, but didn't know how. As we walked around we realized that there was a bridge to it. Now this bridge was more like an ancient arch of rock.
My friend Katrina was determined to get across so she braved this bridge. All of us were a bit leery thinking she would make it collapse. But she got to the top and started jumping on it to prove it was sturdy. So we followed. Katrina and Melinda were the mountain goats because they just ran across these rocks and up the hills and everything. Chelsea and I were the mountain monkeys crawling on all fours :D. But we all made it and finished our little adventure.
The whole time we were there we took full advantage of our little kitchen making pasta and french toast and everything. We had to be resourceful though because we only had a large pot. We had a packet of alfredo mix for one meal and thought it would be amazing with some broccoli. So, we steamed broccoli as we cooked the noodles using the wire dish drying rack. Very resourceful this group of girls I was with. It was also funny being somewhere where none of us had a clue what anything said. We were at the grocery store and saw something that looked like one of those no bake cookies and cream cheesecake mixes, but there was no way for us to know. So we asked the cash register clerk what we needed and how to make it. Everyone in Greece knows a little bit of basic English, so it was hilarious as he read it and we guessed what he was trying to say until we figured it out. Fun times!
Tuesday we returned to Athens and were worn out by the time we got back. We crashed at the hostel so that we could set out bright and early on Wednesday to see the Acropolis and all of the ancient sites in Athens before our flight. We went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon
the Temple of Zeus
and all of the ruins in the ancient Agora and on the hill. We climbed the Aereopagos where Paul gave a speech to the Athenians. That was really cool. It's just this big slab of marble that has an awesome view of Athens.
It was a great trip and I had a ton of fun!
I'll add pictures to this ASAP when I have time. It takes forever for them to load up on here. I'm off to eat dinner.
Love you all and can't wait to see everyone when I get back!!!!
I left last Friday and we flew into Athens. On the flight there we sat next to a language professor and she gave us a quick lesson on basic Greek. That was lots of fun. Coming out of the plane we knew how to say, "hello", "thank you", and "my name is ______". We hadn't really realized that not only do they speak Greek in Greece, but they write with the Greek alphabet too. This presents a problem when you have a map in lower-case letters and the street signs are in upper-case. Have you ever thought how different upper and lower case letters are? Or how difficult it is to ask questions about where you are when you haven't a clue how to pronounce anything? But, between the 4 of us we pulled together all of the mathematical equations and sorority/ fraternity names that we knew and by the end of the trip, we were pros at the alphabet (I mean, we could somewhat sound things out). It was a feat.
The first night we wandered around the area of Athens called Plaka. It contains the oldest flea market in the world so that was fun window shopping there for a while. We also ate some true Greek appetizers that were delicious. Greek food is much more flavorful than Spanish food and they have all of the black olives while Spain has the green olives. I'm definitely more a fan of the green than black after being in Spain this semester. But everything we had was delicious. One of the things we had was Mousaka (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Moose Caca). It was kind of like meatloaf in pie crust. Delicious!
The next morning we went to the island of Andros (early! We left the hostel at 5am). We chose this island in the beginning because the ferry was the cheapest and we found a really good deal on a hostel. We didn't really know what to expect, but when we arrived at the port and then took a bus to our "Villa" we realized how lucky we were. For under $20 a night we had a little studio apartment with a balcony, full kitchen, and a private beach across the street.
We all just stood there in the room when the owner walked us up in awe. Way better than we were expecting! Best shower I've taken all semester! As we talked to the owner, she told us that cars were really easy to rent and would only be like $7 each for a whole day. Since it was only about 10am at this point, we went to figure it out. Unfortunately, you had to be 23 and the oldest of us had just turned 22. So close. But we still had an amazing time!
We were in the town of Batsi which is exactly what you see in pictures of the Greek islands: white houses with bright blue detailing.
And the water was SOOOO blue and SOOOO clear. You could see down all the way no matter how hi you are. The weirdest thing was that the boats looked like they were floating. Now yes, I know that all boats float, but these boats looked like there wasn't anything under them. That's how clear the water was. Awesome. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold. I'm talking I ran in to my waist and by the time I ran out my legs were tingling and numb. But the sand was hot from the sun so we sat on the beach the rest of the day. It was so nice.
The next day we decided to go for a walk down the road. There are little beaches all around the island that are like little coves surrounded by cliffs and rocks. We walked along and saw this beach that we wanted to get to but couldn't because the stairs down were all gated off and impossible to climb over.
So we kept going to the next beach where we found a paddle boat with the oars. PERFECT! We could get to our little beach! So we hid all of our stuff in the bushes and ventured out on the Aegean Sea.
There were 4 of us in this little paddle boat that was probably made for 2 people but we just straddled each other and made it work. It was comical to say the least. Not to mention that we were probably above the weight limit and every once in a while the ice cold water lapped over the edge surprising us all. Luckily there weren't many other people on the island... especially the beaches. We pretty much had the island to ourselves (Apparently people like to come when the water is a bit warmer. I don't really blame them). So we paddled over to the beach, stayed there for a while sunning ourselves like turtles on a big slab of rock, and then returned the boat to where we found it. Awesome!
The last full day, Monday, we took a bus to another city on the island that is the capital. It was also a picturesque little white and blue Greek town on a bay.
It was a bit chilly that day so we were glad we had the time to walk around. We saw an island (more like a big rock) that we wanted to get to, but didn't know how. As we walked around we realized that there was a bridge to it. Now this bridge was more like an ancient arch of rock.
My friend Katrina was determined to get across so she braved this bridge. All of us were a bit leery thinking she would make it collapse. But she got to the top and started jumping on it to prove it was sturdy. So we followed. Katrina and Melinda were the mountain goats because they just ran across these rocks and up the hills and everything. Chelsea and I were the mountain monkeys crawling on all fours :D. But we all made it and finished our little adventure.
The whole time we were there we took full advantage of our little kitchen making pasta and french toast and everything. We had to be resourceful though because we only had a large pot. We had a packet of alfredo mix for one meal and thought it would be amazing with some broccoli. So, we steamed broccoli as we cooked the noodles using the wire dish drying rack. Very resourceful this group of girls I was with. It was also funny being somewhere where none of us had a clue what anything said. We were at the grocery store and saw something that looked like one of those no bake cookies and cream cheesecake mixes, but there was no way for us to know. So we asked the cash register clerk what we needed and how to make it. Everyone in Greece knows a little bit of basic English, so it was hilarious as he read it and we guessed what he was trying to say until we figured it out. Fun times!
Tuesday we returned to Athens and were worn out by the time we got back. We crashed at the hostel so that we could set out bright and early on Wednesday to see the Acropolis and all of the ancient sites in Athens before our flight. We went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon
the Temple of Zeus
and all of the ruins in the ancient Agora and on the hill. We climbed the Aereopagos where Paul gave a speech to the Athenians. That was really cool. It's just this big slab of marble that has an awesome view of Athens.
It was a great trip and I had a ton of fun!
I'll add pictures to this ASAP when I have time. It takes forever for them to load up on here. I'm off to eat dinner.
Love you all and can't wait to see everyone when I get back!!!!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Semana Santa= Holy Week
So this is late, but it’s been crazy around here lately. I only have 4 more weeks before the semester is done and I go off to my 2 weeks in Italy. However, in those 4 weeks I only have 6 more days of classes, 3 finals and this coming week in Greece. Time is running out and lots of planning for the trips. But, it’s been awesome!
I never put anything up here about Semana Santa because I just haven’t had time, but I feel like it deserves a spot on here. After all, Sevilla is known to have the biggest Semana Santa celebration world wide. This includes “pasos” which are parades through the city. Each Catholic church in the Sevilla area has statues of Jesus and usually a virgin (a Spanish Catholic thing I think… it seems to be a whole other classification of saints but I’m not really sure). Some of them are from the 11th century so there is a lot of history built in. These statue/float type things are carried by 30 men who walk it through the parade. There are also “nazarinos” which are dressed like members of the KKK (no joke) and walk as part of the parade. Some of them carry candles and others crosses. And there are also bands in the parades to. The music is very Spanish… brass… kind of flamenco-ish if that means anything to you. The parades go from the church, to the Cathedral in the center of Sevilla, and then back to the church. Each day throughout the week there are probably 5-10 maybe more “pasos”. The fun of it is to go and stake out a good spot to see each of the parades. You go ahead of the statue floats and then wait and wait until it gets there and then you figure out which paso you should go to next. It’s odd. I didn’t really understand it at first but the more of them I saw, the more interesting it got. It’s not really like anything I’ve seen before but it was definitley interesting.
And then on Easter Sunday, Maria Louisa and Miguel took us to a suburb of Sevilla (not really suburban at all, more like a little town out in the country) and they had a neat picnic and pasos of their own. Spaniards know how to do the picnics though. There were families who brought a folding table, 2 coolers and everything on a dolley. I thought it was funny. On top of that, people just shared all of their food. You came with your cooler or whatever with food and then you could just walk around and eat everyone elses stuff. At first I felt really stupid, but everyone was doing it. The just handed out all of the food they had brought. There were also men singing in circles with guitars and people dancing Sevillanos in their flamenco dresses and everything. It was very interesting.
Over all, Easter was just like a big party rather than anything about Jesus or the resurrection. I went to the big service at the Cathedral. It was at midnight on Saturday and it was really interesting as well. It was a candle light service so everyone had candles and it was super traditional. A good amount of it was in Latin (And I thought it was going to be difficult to understand because it would be in Spanish lol). Nothing about the resurrection was said until the last 15 minutes of the service though and I found that quite odd. That is also when the organ started and that was really neat. In the largest gothic cathedral in the world you can just imagine how it sounded.
PICTURES
The paso of the virgin. This was of the one closest to our house.
This is the Christ figure that was in the same paso. Throughout the week, they kind of tell the Passion story. This was from a paso on Friday.
This is how many people came to Sevilla. It was packed with people. This is a street and you can see the Nazarinos' hats. There were hundreds of them.
Full picture of the Nazarinos
This is all of us at the picnic thing in the pueblo on Easter Sunday. Miguel is on the right with the glasses and Maria Louisa is on the left.
This is what the picnic was like. People all dressed up and on horses. So much fun.
I never put anything up here about Semana Santa because I just haven’t had time, but I feel like it deserves a spot on here. After all, Sevilla is known to have the biggest Semana Santa celebration world wide. This includes “pasos” which are parades through the city. Each Catholic church in the Sevilla area has statues of Jesus and usually a virgin (a Spanish Catholic thing I think… it seems to be a whole other classification of saints but I’m not really sure). Some of them are from the 11th century so there is a lot of history built in. These statue/float type things are carried by 30 men who walk it through the parade. There are also “nazarinos” which are dressed like members of the KKK (no joke) and walk as part of the parade. Some of them carry candles and others crosses. And there are also bands in the parades to. The music is very Spanish… brass… kind of flamenco-ish if that means anything to you. The parades go from the church, to the Cathedral in the center of Sevilla, and then back to the church. Each day throughout the week there are probably 5-10 maybe more “pasos”. The fun of it is to go and stake out a good spot to see each of the parades. You go ahead of the statue floats and then wait and wait until it gets there and then you figure out which paso you should go to next. It’s odd. I didn’t really understand it at first but the more of them I saw, the more interesting it got. It’s not really like anything I’ve seen before but it was definitley interesting.
And then on Easter Sunday, Maria Louisa and Miguel took us to a suburb of Sevilla (not really suburban at all, more like a little town out in the country) and they had a neat picnic and pasos of their own. Spaniards know how to do the picnics though. There were families who brought a folding table, 2 coolers and everything on a dolley. I thought it was funny. On top of that, people just shared all of their food. You came with your cooler or whatever with food and then you could just walk around and eat everyone elses stuff. At first I felt really stupid, but everyone was doing it. The just handed out all of the food they had brought. There were also men singing in circles with guitars and people dancing Sevillanos in their flamenco dresses and everything. It was very interesting.
Over all, Easter was just like a big party rather than anything about Jesus or the resurrection. I went to the big service at the Cathedral. It was at midnight on Saturday and it was really interesting as well. It was a candle light service so everyone had candles and it was super traditional. A good amount of it was in Latin (And I thought it was going to be difficult to understand because it would be in Spanish lol). Nothing about the resurrection was said until the last 15 minutes of the service though and I found that quite odd. That is also when the organ started and that was really neat. In the largest gothic cathedral in the world you can just imagine how it sounded.
PICTURES
The paso of the virgin. This was of the one closest to our house.
This is the Christ figure that was in the same paso. Throughout the week, they kind of tell the Passion story. This was from a paso on Friday.
This is how many people came to Sevilla. It was packed with people. This is a street and you can see the Nazarinos' hats. There were hundreds of them.
Full picture of the Nazarinos
This is all of us at the picnic thing in the pueblo on Easter Sunday. Miguel is on the right with the glasses and Maria Louisa is on the left.
This is what the picnic was like. People all dressed up and on horses. So much fun.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Finally here are pictures from Scotland!!!
The climb up the hill in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle
The pier town that we ate lunch at in Edinburgh.
The Tartan of the MacLeans.
I just liked this picture... it's in Edinburgh.
On the grounds of Duart Castle. It was raining... yes I'm wearing a poncho.
Signing the book of the pilgrim MacLeans.
On the ferry on the way to Mull... That is Duart castle in the background.
That was the third try to get that picture... they started chasing me and I kept getting scared.
The climb up the hill in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle
The pier town that we ate lunch at in Edinburgh.
The Tartan of the MacLeans.
I just liked this picture... it's in Edinburgh.
On the grounds of Duart Castle. It was raining... yes I'm wearing a poncho.
Signing the book of the pilgrim MacLeans.
On the ferry on the way to Mull... That is Duart castle in the background.
That was the third try to get that picture... they started chasing me and I kept getting scared.
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