Sevilla and Cordoba

This past weekend we had our final AYA trip. We took the AVE train to Cordoba on Saturday morning. I LOVE the AVE. It is so fast and so comfortable. They showed High School Musical 3 on the train so I thoroughly enjoyed my ride. When we got to Cordoba, we went to lock up our things in a locker. Later that day we were going to Sevilla to spend the night so we had our luggage which we didn't want to carry around all day. On our way to the bus station to lock things up we ran into Kirsten, a girl from Ripon who is studying in Sevilla! I couldn't believe it! She was in Cordoba for the day to see the Mezquita, which is what we were going to see as well. She tagged along with our group so I got to catch up with her a bit which was nice. It sounds like she is having a good experience here in Spain but quite different from my own. It's interesting how different two different cities can be. We went to visit the mezquita which is a masque and a cathedral. The history goes like this. There used to be a catholic church here but later the land was bought by the Moslems and a masque was built where the church had been. The arquitecture is amazing. Later, during the reconquest of Spain, the Catholics tore down every place of worship that wasn't Catholic and built a church on the holy land. In Cordoba, the mesquita was so beautiful and arquitecturally impressive that the Catholics decided to keep it and build their cathedral inside. So now it is a huge mix of Catholic and Muslim arqitecture and symbolism. We spent a few hours wandering around and being amazed at the greatness of the monument and then went back to the train station to catch our bus to Sevilla. This train wasn't an AVE, but I still enjoyed it.

We got to Sevilla in the afternoon, checked into our hostel, and explored the city. We saw the site of the 1929 world's fair where there is an artistic representation of each province in Spain. We found all the places we have visited and took pictures of them. Unfortunately, Madrid is under construction. Then we wandered through the park and by the river. We saw the bull rink and the cathedral from the outside. The city is beautiful with white buildings and narrow windy streets. For dinner, we went tapa hoping with our director. She studied abroad in Sevilla when she was in college so she knew all of the best places to go. We got to taste lots of different tapas and I found some new favorites. Our tapa hopping lasted pretty late so we went right to sleep when we got back.

We woke up Sunday to the sound of rain. Boo. Our morning plans consisted of a tour of the Alcazar, an ancient residence of the king. The most impressive part of this site is the gardens. We went despite the rain and had a really fun time. We trudged through the mud to see the flowers and a peacock! We even found a labyrinth in the gardens and got lost in it. After that we were cold and wet so we went out for coffee. We walked around a bit and met for lunch. Our director took us to a really good restaurant for a big sit down lunch. I had ravioli with spinach sauce and it was heavenly. We all got to order a dessert after lunch. Little did we know, the desserts were culinary masterpieces. I got cheese cake which was the most simple thing on the menu. Other people got Venetian crepes, Spanish pastries, or elaborate pies, cakes, and tarts. We were stuffed. We had the afternoon free so me and a couple other people went to the cathedral. This is the third biggest cathedral in Europe. The main alter is the biggest in the world. It is 64 feet high and all gold. The organ has 700 pipes. It was pretty impressive. But the most impressive part of all was the bell tower. You can climb to the top and see all of Sevilla. It has ramps instead of stairs because it was originally designed to accommodate a horse and rider so they could go to the top and ring the bells. In the courtyard of the cathedral there is a orange garden where oranges are grown to make marmalade. The marmalade made from these oranges is sent to the queen of England each year as a gift. After our visit to the cathedral we did a little souvenir shopping and headed back to our hostel to pick up our things before going to the train station.

Despite the rain, we had a pretty great weekend. We all noticed how much has changed since our first trip together. We were virtually strangers and really stuck with the people from our own school. Now we're all friends and get along really well. Three weeks from today I will be on a plane home! It's sad to be leaving, but I am getting ready to see my family and friends again. And I am definitely ready to be done with classes! I have a four day weekend coming up with no plans so I'll let you know what I find to do. There is so much to do around here I'm sure it wont be a problem at all!

Real Madrid

The other night I went to see a Real Madrid soccer game. I have to admit, I was hesitant about going since I'm not too into soccer, but I am so glad I went! I met my friend Kara at the metro station and as we walked towards the stadium there were people everywhere. Everyone was wearing Real Madrid scarves and carrying flags. Also, everyone had a plastic bag with their dinner in it. No one told me to bring dinner! I ate at home before I left! We got to the stadium and met up with a couple other girls. We found the right entrance and went to our seats. Our seats happened to be the very last seats in the entire stadium (it holds 80,000 people) so it was a long walk up. The game was super exciting. We were playing against Getafe which is where my school is so I figured I'd be happy no matter who won. Although I didn't pay that much attention to the game, I am aware that we won at the very last minute! It was really fun to see how much people got into it. Soccer is a huge part of the culture here people have a lot of pride for their teams. ´Here are some pictures. Sorry everyone is so tiny, we were pretty high up!

Easter in Rome

Last Friday, I got up at the crack of dawn and flew to Rome to meet Emily. I was convinced we would never find each other but as I was walking to our hostel, there was Emily sitting on the steps of a church! I was so happy to see her. We couldn’t check into the hostel until noon so we walked a few blocks to get our first glimpse of the coliseum. Wow. It is impressive. Then we walked to our hostel and got all settled in. The hostel only had three rooms and ours was the only private one. We had to share a bathroom with everyone. It was kind of like staying in someone’s apartment but it was really nice. Emily was really tired but we decided to go out and explore to help keep her awake. We saw the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and some other monuments and fountains. We stopped for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant where we could eat outside and enjoy the sunny, 70 degree weather. We ate some gelato at a famous gelateria where they had over 100 flavors to choose from! That night we ate at a little restaurant near our hostel and went to bed pretty early.

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch a bus to the Vatican. We knew there would be a line to get into the Vatican museum so we wanted to get there right as it opened. We had a little trouble figuring out how to buy bus tickets but we did a lot of gesturing and pointing and figured it out. When we got to the museum, the line was very short and we got in right away! We saw tons of art but most importantly we saw the Sistine chapel. It was absolutely beautiful. We stood and stared for quite a while. We had a guide book and I read aloud the information provided. After that we went to the Vatican post office to send a postcard that will be postmarked from Vatican City. We went over to St. Peter’s Basilica but the line to get in was waaay to long so we just looked at the outside. That afternoon we went to the old Jewish quarter and lost ourselves in small, windy streets. We stopped to have lunch on a sunny terrace in a plaza somewhere. Then we saw the roman ruins including the roman forum. We visited a few churches to see the art but couldn’t stay long as all the churches were preparing for Easter Sunday. After our legs were sufficiently exhausted, we went to a grocery store and bought dinner and food for the next day. We weren’t sure what would be open on Easter and didn’t want to starve. We ate in our hostel and planned on going back out for ice cream but Emily fell asleep about 5 seconds after dinner. She was still on New York time I think!

Sunday morning we headed back to St. Peters to see the Easter mass. We had no idea if we’d be able to get in or not but when we got there a nun was handing out tickets so we took some and went on in! We found a seat on some stairs and waited for the Pope to arrive. The mass was in Latin and very far away so we didn’t stay the entire time, but it was really cool to see how many people were there and to see the Pope. We were freezing so we went to get some hot chocolate and coffee. Apparently the coffee in Rome is tiny! I have never seen such a small cup of coffee in my life but Emily seemed satisfied. From there we went to the flea market that is held in Rome every Sunday. It is a lot like the flea market in Madrid. Some things are used, some are new. Some are very practical and some are completely useless. We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to walk around and see. Then we had a picnic lunch in the park. After lunch we walked to the church that has the Bocca della Veritá. We had to wait in line to get our picture taken but it moved quickly and was worth it. We examined the ruins more closely and then went back to our hostel to pack and get ready for our flight to Madrid. We had our last dinner out at a little outside restaurant we had been eyeing up all weekend. It was beautiful and delicious. We walked over to see the Trevi fountain lit up at night and got some gelato at a small shop near there.
Monday morning we got up and took a bus to the airport to catch our flight to Madrid! Emily and I did touristy things in Madrid all day Monday while the weather was beautiful. Tuesday and Wednesday it rained so we had to try to find inside things to do. Tuesday Emily came to school with me and we went to the infamous sandwich shop. Wednesday Emily went to the Prado while I was at school and we met later for tapas. Today I had to say goodbye and it was hard but we really had a great vacation together. Now I have one month left in Madrid before I come home for the summer…and boy will it be a busy one. I still have a trip to Seville and a trip to Paris planned as well as three class field trips and tons of tests and papers. I know this next month will fly by so I will try to take advantage of it!

Semana Santa

I've been enjoying the sun and the beach for the past 6 days. Last Friday I left for the South of Spain to spend my spring break. My friend Sondie was able to transfer her parent's time share to a little city near Malaga and they let us all go stay there for the week. We took a 6 hour bus ride down and it was delayed at every point possible. We got into Malaga pretty late and had to take a taxi to our resort. We went to sleep and the next morning got up early to enjoy the sun. We layed out by the pool, explored the town a little, and had lots of fun cooking in our very own kitchen. We made a big dinner Saturday night and sat outside on the patio eating and talking. Sunday we headed to the beach and spent the majority of the day relaxing next to the ocean and eating ice cream. That evening we made a mexican feast and later that night Christy got there! Monday, me and Christy went into Malaga to see some of the processions for Semana Santa. Sondie wasn't feeling too well so her and Kara stayed behind and rested. Me and Christy had a great time. It was so interesting to see the celebrations. The entire city came out to watch hundreds of people dressed in robes resembling the KKK walk down the middle of the street carying these floats. Some of the floats needed up to 150 people to lift them! We had to get there pretty early to get a good spot, but it was definitly worth it. Tuesday we were supposed to go to Gibralter for the day on organized excursion with our resort. They called Monday night and told us there weren't enough people and the excursion was canceled. I was bumed but we decided to go to a beach instead. The resort people recomended one of the best beaches on the costa del sur and even drove us there in the resort's mini bus. The wind was pretty intense that day but we found a good sunny spot and stretched out our blanket. Later, I went for a run and got really lost in these hilly neighborhoods. I got a good little tour of the town! Late Tuesday night our friend Ryan was getting into Malaga and was going to stay at our resort for the night. We were all exausted but managed to stay awake until he got there. Our mini bus driver from Tuesday recomended that we go to a little town not to far away called Mijas Pueblo. We had nothing to do Wednesday so we decided to check it out. We had to take two busses to get there and it took forever...but it was so beautiful. The town is exactly what you think of when you think of Spain. There are white washed buildings and donkeys on the streets. It is built into the mountains and the views are spectacular. We spent all day walking around and looking in museums and at the views. Then we went back to our room and freshened up for a dinner in town. We ate at a Mexican restaurant that was not nearly as good as when we cooked Mexican food for ourselves. This morning I left at the crack of dawn to catch my bus back to Madrid. This city is compleatly empty. Everyone is on vacation somewhere warm! Tomorrow I leave at 4 in the morning to go to Rome to meet Emily! I'll fill you in when we get back!