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!