Córdoba y Granada

This weekend I was in Cordoba and Granada for the last trip with my ISA group. We met at 9 am Friday morning and headed first to Cordoba. There we saw the Mezquita. It’s not just any mosque though, it’s the 3^rd largest in the world. The building originally began it’s construction around the year 600. The mosque is insanely beautiful, like most other Islamic structures that I’ve seen so far in Spain. But one of the most special things about this mosque is that it is also a cathedral. After the Spanish Reconquista, under the rule of Alfonzo X they built a cathedral right in the middle of the mosque. So this building is a unique example of intersecting cultures.

The Mosque, where the services used to held.

The Mosque.

The Cathedral which is located in the middle of the Mosque.

Next stop was Granada. Unfortunately, I was in kind of a rush when I was packing the night before was not able to charge my camera the whole way, so it died almost immediately when we arrived to Granada. But at 7pm as a group we headed over to a very small, kind of hole in the wall place for a Flamenco show. This was my first time seeing real Flamenco and it was so amazing! There is a strong love of flamenco in Sevilla and Andalucia as this is where it originated. Originally, the Gypsies in the rural areas of Southern Spain performed flamenco and over time developed into the art it is today using song, guitar and dance. Anyways, the flamenco show was well worth it and I hope I get the opportunity to see another show like that while I am in Spain. After the show, we had free time for the night. Chelsea, Renata, Adrienne and I eventually met up with a friend we met in Cadiz and he brought us to this humongous botellon party. It was fun and there were many people there, but we were all tired and needed to get up early in the morning so we ended up not staying out too late.

Chelsea, right after we walked into our hotel room.

The Flamenco show. 

On Saturday, we started out our day by going to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is one of the coolest things I have seen so far since I have been in Spain. The Alhambra is the royal palace in Granada, but it’s much more than that. It’s actually also a city, farm and gardens. The Alhambra and the city of Granada were once the capital for the area during the time of Muslim rule. It remained a Muslim palace until January 2, 1492 when Mustafar XII peacefully surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella after a yearlong siege. After that, there were modifications and more constructions in the Rennaissance style made to the palace that are very different from the intricate, ornate Islamic style. One of the most famous guests that lived in the Alhambra was Washington Irving, who later wrote the Tales of the Alhambra about his experience there and some of the legends surrounding the palace. Like I said, unfortunately my camera battery died the night before but I did manage to snap a few picture on my phone, until it also started to die, ha. 

After the two and a halfish hour tour of the Alhambra, we had free time to eat and shop. We ate kebabs at this awesome little place where Renata, Adrienne, Chelsea and I had the entire upstairs of couches and cushions to ourselves. Then Chelsea and I bought coordinating “Aladdin” pants. (Pictures to come soon.) Although Chelsea ended up deciding to stay on more night in Granada, I had a recent attack of allergies and was completely miserable, so I thought it was best for me to go back home to Sevilla to try and recuperate a little. Hopefully it goes away soon because it kindaaa really sucks!

One of the reflecting pools at the Alhambra.

Chelsea and I in front of another reflecting pool at the Alhambra.

The ceiling inside the Sultaness's bedroom. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

Want to see more pictures of my trip to Córdoba and Granada? Click here to see my Facebook album.

Halfway Gone

As of last Sunday, my time here in Spain is officially over halfway done. I thought this would be a good time to give you some updates on my life and give some reflection on what I've done so far and what I have left to do.

For an update, first of all I should tell you that Chelsea and I have recently decided to cut back on the Nutella and digestive cookies in order to fit into all the clothes that we have been buying here. So far, we've actually been doing really good. The weather has been so nice lately, like 75 F, and we each bought ourselves a pair of rollerblades which has kept us outside a lot.

As for school, it's been going okay. My midterms went really well and I'm probably not doing as great in my classes as I could be, but I am passing all of them so that is good enough for me. It's been difficult to be an A+ student with all the traveling that I have been doing, but I will get by. I still have a lot more traveling to do!

So, I feel like I have accomplished quite a lot so far with my time here in Spain. As you can see in my blog, I've done quite a bit of traveling, most of it going to places I never thought I would be able to and doing things I never thought I would do. I've gained a better understanding and appreciation of other cultures, especially of Spain. I've also picked up a bit more Spanish here as well. Most importantly, I've met three of the most amazing friends I have ever had. All of this has made me feel more comfortable with myself and my surroundings and I can tell you that although I miss a lot of people back home in Minnesota, I am truly happy here.

As for what's to come, well I have quite a bit more traveling to do. Barcelona (if we ever buy our tickets), Morocco, another big trip during Feria (that has yet to be planned), and hopefully some time spent at the beach are all coming up. I will be able to experience the two biggest festivals in Sevilla, Semana Santa and Fería de Abril. Also, I'm hoping to work even more on my Spanish and somehow find the time to immerse myself in Spanish culture and make more friends, both American and Spanish. I am really hoping that I can take complete advantage of the time I have left here in Spain because we all know that you have more regrets with the things you never do than the things you did.

Palma de Mallorca for St. Patty's Day

This last weekend, I went to Palma de Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain near Barcelona. Since Chelsea was in Morocco this last weekend, it was just Adrienne, Renata and I on this adventure. We flew into Palma at about 9:30 on Thursday night. When we arrived to our hotel, the lobby bar was full of older people playing Bingo in German. When I saw this, I knew we were in for an awesome weekend. Without wasting any time, we dropped off our bags and headed into the city in order to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. We honestly had no idea what we were doing, so we kind of just wandered in and out of bars. We ended up at an English bar called the Corner Bar and met some really interesting and nice people. It seems like most of the people who hang out there work on the yachts in Palma. Well we celebrated the night away with our new friends until Renata got a wee bit sick so we took care of her and took her back to the hotel. 

Us girls on St. Patty's Day with one of our new friends, Penny. She was awesome!

The next day, we just hung out on the beach. It’s still the off-season in Palma and the water wasn’t really warm enough to swim in, but we just hung out on the beach and laid in the sun and Adrienne and I played a little Frisbee. I got burnt. My forehead was flashing neon red for a little while, but I am better now though. We had lunch practically right on the beach and then later we went to a small German restaurant and I had schnitzel for the first time. It was aight. Then, we went out again with our new nice friends. The next day was very similar, just laid on the beach all day. We flew out at 9pm that night with much sadness in our hearts that we had to leave. It was really refreshing to go somewhere and not have to be such a tourist. All we did was go to the bars, meet some cool people, and lay on the beach and that made for pretty much a perfect weekend for us! 

On the beach.

The beach and mountains in the distance.

A Weekend in Lisbon

This last weekend, I went with my study abroad group to Lisbon, Portugal. Lisboa (as it’s called in Spanish and Portuguese) is incredibly beautiful and I had a great weekend. Chelsea and I had kind of a rough start to the trip but were extremely grateful for the 6 hour bus ride there so we could catch up on sleep. Once we arrived, one of the first sites we saw out of the windows was a giant statue of Jesus called “Christ the King” or "Cristo-Rei" in Portuguese. It’s actually a replica of an even larger statue in Brazil and looked absolutely amazing. After we checked into our hotel, we got to do some site seeing. We walked around the city a little, which has been compared to San Francisco not only because of it’s bridge which was built by the same company that built the Golden Gate but also because of its hills. So it was quite the hike up to the castle, but my hike got 1000x better when I encountered my friend Holly from UMD who is studying with ISA Salamanco, which just happened to be staying at the same hotel as us this weekend. So we went up to the castle, took some amazing pictures and then walked all the way back down, encountering some peacocks along the way.

View of Lisbon from the castle. Notice the looming clouds :(

Peacock!

The next day, we started out with more site seeing. The day was absolutely beautiful and perfect for being outside. First we went to the Torre de Belem, a historic tower on the river that was used to protect the entrance of the city and later was used as a prison. Next, we went on our way to the Monasterio de Dos Jeronimos or the Monastery of St. Jerome. After that, they dropped us off in a central square and gave us free time. My friends and I had the most amazing Brazilian barbecue for lunch. It was a heaping plate of salad, rice and beans, pork, chicken, sausage, and a fried banana for only about 5 euro! Possibly one of the best meals I have had in Europe so far. Unfortunately, we did not do much sight seeing on our own. We did walk around the city quite a bit and I was able to observe Portuguese people and was very impressed with their good looks and cheeriness. Also, throughout the tours I also appreciated the Portuguese’s rich sense of pride in their former empire and how they love to integrate history into their culture, which is quite different than what I have seen here in Spain.

Chelsea and I by the Torre de Belem.

A man fishing off the rocks in the river.

The crew in the Monstario de Dos Jeronimos.

Click here to see my Facebook album of all my pictures from Lisbon!

The City of Lights: My Trip to Paris

Sorry its taken me a few days to get this up, but now you can finally know about my long weekend in Paris! (I don’t usually like to do a play by play in my blog posts, but I think that will be the best way to convey my story.)

Day One:

Chelsea and I left Sevilla with surprisingly little trouble, same with our arrival into Paris. Chelsea and I were very pleasantly surprised when we successfully figured out Paris’s complicated metro system and arrived quickly at our hostel. On first impression, we were less than impressed with our ‘highly rated’ hostel. Our roommate, Jose, was a large Brazilian man that snored like a fog horn combined with a freight train. He was only there for two nights (thank goodness). That coupled with the extensive amount of mold climbing up our walls was a bit much for us. Anyways, we took it easy this day and just casually explored our surroundings and stumbled upon the end of a mass at the Sacre Coeur.

Chelsea and I on our flight to Paris. This was our first vacation either of us had taken completely 'on our own.'

The Sacre Coeur at night through the rain.

Day Two:

DISNEYLAND PARIS! :) Although we got a much later start to our day than we had hoped, with some minor complications with the metro, it ended up being a good day. We came prepared and didn’t need to buy any good at Disneyland. The lines were very long for a rainy Thursday, but we fit in some good rides, especially toward the end of the night. After Disney, we had a quick dinner by the metro and went to bed.

Me in front of Disneyland Paris!

Chelsea and I on the Aerosmith Rock N Roll Rollercoaster. We were definitely not prepared! Haha.

Day Three:

Today was the first day of our 'Rick Steve’s Paris Tour' from a guidebook that Chelsea brought with her. We started with the Notre Dame Cathedral and although we didn’t go up into the towers it was still amazing. Then we headed around the Ile St. Louis, another island in the middle of the Seine river. It was cute and had a buch of little shops. From there we headed to the Latin Quarter, which was a bustle of tiny streets filled with shops and restaurants. Chelsea and I bought two huge cheesy hot dogs (they are humongous) from a street vendor and they were delicious! After that, we stopped by the fountain of Saint Michel before heading to the Louvre Museum. Here we met our friends from our program back in Sevilla, Adrienne and Renata. We ran through the Louvre, which is utterly massive and in the 3 hrs we were there we still only saw a small part. We hit up the main exhibits such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi and Winged Victory, just to name a few. After that, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower but it had closed early for the night. So instead we went back to the Latin Quarter for dinner at a small French restaurant that was AMAZING. I had onion soup, beef burgundy and crème brulee. Possibly one of the best meals in my whole life. French food definitely kicks ass. Finally, we went back to the hostel and were able to actually sleep without Jose’s train snoring!

Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the most amazing sites I have seen in my entire life.

The inside of the cathedral. Its just so beautiful.

Chelsea and I across the river by Notre Dame.

Cheesy hot dogs! YUM!

The Fountain of Saint Michel.

The Mona Lisa. The picture is kind of blurry because they don't allow any flash in the Louvre, but honestly the Mona Lisa isn't all that great anyways. It's kind of small and unimpressive. It was still really cool to get to see it though!

The Code of Hammurabi. This is the first ever written code of law. I mean it was kind of messed up, like an eye for an eye and cutting off body parts as punishment and whatnot, but it is still a very impressive piece of history! Definitely my favorite thing that I got to see at the Louvre Museum.

Winged Victory of Samothrace. (Again, sorry for the blurry-ness)

Venus de Milo.

Day Four:

Although I guess we weren’t quite done with Jose yet. Apparently he has missed his flight to Madrid and remembered he had forgotten his cologne in the room, so at about 7am he came back into the room and woke us up to ask if we had seen his cologne. No Jose, we had not seen your cologne… Anyways we woke up again a couple hours later and met up with Adrienne and Renata to head out to the Palace of Versaille. The Palace of Versaille was completely ridiculous with its hugeness and extravagance, but definitely an amazing tour. We toured the Grand Apartments that contained the King’s and Queen’s bedrooms, including Marie Antoinette’s bedroom. We went through the Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versaille was signed which ended WWI. Also, we saw the many additions of statues and paintings that Napolean made during his time as Emperor. It was too windy and wet to make the forty minute walk out to the smaller palace or spend much time in the gardens, but since the tour was free, we didn’t mind cutting those parts out. We went back to the Latin Quarter for a quick Greek lunch and then I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life: a freshly made Nutella crepe from a street vendor. O…m…g. Mouth orgasm… Well, after a bit of shopping we walked over to the Orsay Museum. We only arrived there an hour before close in order to get in free, so we had to rush a bit but I got to see some of the greatest works by VanGogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir and many others. Although the Orsay is much smaller than the Louvre and we spent less time in it, I would consider it more personally moving to me. I have never been able to fully appreciate art in that way until I was able to look at the real thing. It was unreal that I was able to stand there and absorb the Starry Night Over the Rhone by Van Gogh and the Water Lily Pong by Monet. After a short rest, we hopped on the metro and tried again for the Eiffel Tower. And to my sheer terror, we did indeed go up… All the way to the top! It wasn’t so bad once I was up there but what you won’t see in any of the pictures is the fact that I was grasping either Renata or Chelsea the entire time. (We like to think it made the experience more romantic.) Although I was scared, I’m very glad I did it. Paris is absolutely beautiful from up there and it looks like the lights of the city go on forever. After coming down, we haggled with street vendors for mementos; I bought a small light up Eiffel Tower for 5 euro. Then a quick pizza and back to our hostel to meet our new roommate. Her name is Molly and she is from Portland, Oregon (although she was born in Minnesota). In order to celebrate turning 40, she had decided to go to Cameroon in West Africa for a month to volunteer at a primate sanctuary. She had only stopped over in Paris for a couple days to do a little sight seeing and let her body adjust to the time change. Although we didn’t exchange information, she was really nice and I’m very glad we got the opportunity to meet her.

Me in front of the Palace of Versaille.

The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versaille. 

Just a small part of the gardens outside of the Palace. It doesn't look like it, but it was really cold and windy this day so it was hard to enjoy the view.

This is me at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

The view of the City of Lights from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. 

Day Five:

After our last few busy days, we took it REALLY easy this day. Slept in, grabbed a coffee and muffin from McDonald’s on our way to the metro. In search of the Carnavale Museum, we encountered a large Sunday morning street market, which was fun to walk through. Then we found our way to the Carnavale, which is a free museum about the history of the city of Paris. We were lucky enough to make it on the last day of their Louis Vuitton exhibit! (Although after all the money I spent on this trip I highly doubt I will ever be able to afford one.) Then we walked all the way through Parisian history from the 17^th Century to the Revolution and finally the 20^th century. Afterward, we strolled through the upscale Marais neighborhood and did a fair amount of people watching. We ate the most amazing ice cream ever and then headed over to the Arc de Triomph. Snapped a few pictures, then headed back to the hostel.

The Arc de Triomph.

Day Six:

Pretty simple. Woke up, had breakfast, hopped a bus to our airport and flew back to Sevilla.

Final Thoughts

- A lot of people told me that Paris is a dirty city, and that’s definitely true, but considering that there are so many people and howold the city is, it actually wasn’t that bad to me.

 - I think that the people in Spain are all much nicer and prettier than any of the Parisians.

 - Also, I could never see myself living in Paris.

That being said…

- I absolutely loved my vacation in Paris!

-       It was an amazing 6 days filled with all sorts of things that I never thought I would ever be able to do.

-       Paris was very, very expensive but worth every penny!

-    AND even though our hostel started out super crappy, honestly for some reason if I needed to give it a review, I would probably give it like a 4/5. It just provided for a really great experience I guess!

Also, Click Here to see my Facebook album of all my pictures from my trip!

H