La ciudad de Toledo (espadas y dagas)

WOW! I have not been keeping up with this at all!! Our trip to Toledo was...oh about a month ago (plus some). But, seeing as I'm giving a presentation on my personal experience in visiting Toledo, I should be fairly good with details (I think...)



So...TOLEDO!! It was the weekend of March 20th and I reaaally like the city. As you can see from the pictures, it was basically something from out of a Lord of the Rings book. We got there Friday afternoon/evening, grabbed something to eat quickly, and then took a little tour of the city. It has such an ancient/historic feel to it with the narrow pathways made of stone and the castle-like buildings. We walked around to see the places we would visit the next day. Then we returned to our castle (first picture) where we slept. Do you see the top windows in that tower? Yeah, that was our room - it was awesome!



The next day we trecked up the giant hill into the city (as seen in the second picture). Our first visit was el Museo de Santa Cruz (picture three) which had once been a hospital, but was now converted into a museum. We took a while in there (the museum part of it was giant!) and after that, we chose to go see the Greco exhibit.

I REALLY liked the Greco exhibit. I really liked his style of painting and the colors he used. It was very dark, but yet very bright at the same time. It was really interesting to see (the fourth picture is from the exhibit). Then a small group of us went to see a master swordsman who our professor knew because he had bought one of his swords earlier. It was really cool! The swordsmith still made weapons the old way and took us 'behind the scenes' to see how they were made. You can seem some of the swords in the next picture. They weren't all fancy and decorative, but they were real (balanced and everything!). After that we grabbed lunch at a tapas place.

Then we met up with more people and found a really cool lookout spot right by the Alcazar (sixth picture) complete with cement lounging/tanning blocks and then ate some of the mazapan (marzapan) that we bought. It's one of Toledo's famous things (Toledo's know for swords and marzapan) and I liked it.

The rest of the day was wandering around. We saw the cathedral (picture 7) and listened to all the accordian players playing in the streets. We went to a Sinagogue/Sefardie museum and then ate dinner and returned to the hostel/castle.

The next day, bright and early, we went to see el Greco's famous "El entierro del Sr. de Orgaz" (which is something like the burrial of Mr. Orgaz, ha). I was blown away! It was giant and really cool, but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures, so I settled on just getting a postcard of it. Our professor explained all the parts of it and it was really interesting.

Then we got to go see the museum of torture, which was interesting, but also kinda sickening. They were instruments used during the inquisition to basically give the person as much pain as possible without killing them.

The second to last picture is of the 'iron virgin' where they put the person in there and were able to adjust the spikes in such a way that they would go through your skin, but not hit any vital organs. Lovely. And they had a whole bunch for removing any part of the body (take your pick) in the most painful way.

And that was the last main stop on our trip, but I don't want to leave you with that gross section, so I added a picture (one of my favorites I've taken so far) of the city from a side view. As you can see, it's very storybookesque. And that's Toledo. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up a little more soon, but school is very busy - we'll see. Until next time.

Behind the Times - Lo siento! Alcazar, Jerez, and Plaza de Espana

And once again I fail to keep up with my original goal. But finally I have set aside some time to catch you all up on what is occurring in my life. So here it goes.

Ok, so the weekend after Morocco I had a trip to the Alcazar de Sevilla on Friday with the William and Mary group. Apparently it is the oldest still in use palace in Spain (and in Europe??) which I think means that the king/queen of Spain still sleep there when they visit Sevilla. It was pretty cool. The gardens were very nice and there were a lot of fountains and ducks everywhere. There was also a room with a bunch of giant tapestries on the walls of different historical scenes. It was a nice outing. The first two pictures are from the Real Alcazar.

Then that Saturday, a small group of us went to the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It's about an hour train ride from Sevilla and is a really nice smaller city. It was nice to just walk around without really having a plan and explore the area. We got to see the Alcazar there (which I really liked!) with its olive oil mill, mezquita, and gardens (fourth picture - sorry out of order!). We actually got to go in for free because it was Dia de Andalucia (Feb. 28th) which is the holiday of the southern region of Spain. Then we went and got to see the Cathedral (third picture) and thought we stumbled upon a wedding, but it was just a celebration for the holiday. We then proceeded to walk around a little more and then ate our lunch in a really nice gazebo (in picture).

We then went on a wine tour since Jerez is part of the sherry triangle or something like that. After the tour we walked around a bit more and then took an Arab bath! It was so relaxing!! We had to put on these crazy blue plastic footie things to protect our feet or something. There were three pools of water - warm, hot, and cold - and you were supposed to cycle through them in that order at a leisurely pace. The cold pool was terrible, especially after the hot pool, but we went in for the experience. We were also served hot, sweet, mint tea and just relaxed listening to the music for an hour and a half - it was amazing!! We were so tired and relaxed when we got out that we decided to grab a bite to eat (i had a crepe with ice cream and chocolate syrup) and head home a little early so we could sleep, ha! It was a really fun trip.

Hmm...let's see what else happened - it was a while ago! Philip got sick with food poisoning (from Morocco perhaps?) and had to get checked at the hospital, but he's back to normal now. I had two weeks of midterms which, for the most part, went well. I did really well on a few and decently on the others, so I was pleased, but am very glad that they are over! I misjudged the 'study' part of 'study abroad!' But classes are still going really well. My Global Econ one is really tough and the History of Sevilla is a lot of work, but it's all manageable. I got to meet with my intercambio (the spanish student the university assigns you to) twice so far and she's cool. Her name is Rocio and we got to talk about Spain and traveling and languages (she speaks English and Spanish and is learning German and Italian - insanity) and movies. Oh speaking of movies I got to see Slumdog Millionaire in English with Spanish subtitles - I highly recommend it! The music is amazing! It did test our Spanish language skills because there were parts where the kids aren't speaking English and we were forced to read the subtitles to understand what was going on!

This past weekend was a nice stay at home weekend. I did make it out on Saturday for a very nice day of visiting the Plaza de Espana and then I got to sit in the park next to the Plaza and just lounge and do some homework - it was really nice! The Plaza de Espana is realllllly cool (next picture). It has a whole bunch of 'exhibits' about all the different regions of Spain and also about the different time periods of Sevilla. It's all outdoors and there's a fountain in the middle. I also got to see a ton of images of the historical people we learned about in my Sevilla class which was cool. The park next to it was also really nice with a whole bunch of different sections. I got to walk around and explore a little (didn't get to see all of it - it's giant!). Then I just picked a tree and sat down and did some work in the Spanish shade listening to the Spanish birds - awesome! And then to complete the whole experience, I walked back past the Catedral and got to see it all lit up. The last picture is of the Giralda (the tower of the Catedral.)

And I think that brings it up to the present. Everything is still going really well. I can't believe it will be two months on this Wednesday - it doesn't seem like I've been here that long and it's just flying by!

Marruecos! (Morocco)

Sorry this took so long to post - got backed up with school work and such (midterms - it's not all fun and games - I have to remind myself that it is called study abroad). That being said, let me proceed to tell you about some of the fun and games I had in Africa two weekends ago.

Morocco! It was a really interesting and different experience, but very worthwhile and enjoyable. We left from Sevilla Friday afternoon and took a bus to the Mediterranean where we caught the "Fast Ferry" across into Cueta. Upon our arrival to Africa, we were greeted by a statue of Hercules between two columns. I think the two columns signify Africa and Europe/Spain, but I'm not sure. Cueta is one of the two Spanish cities in Africa - we actually crossed the sea, but were still in Spain! We drove through Ceuta and made our way to the border where we waited for an hour or more watching people smuggling goods over the wall into Morocco while we got our passports stamped. It was very interesting because I think they had to pay taxes on the goods they brought back and forth across the border to sell. To avoid this payment, they had people on the walls with rope and people on the ground tying bags to the rope and they would pull up their goods and toss them over the wall (while avoiding the police, of course!). It took a while to get our passports done, so we got to watch the whole play-by-play. Then finally we moved on and drove to M'diq which was where we spent the first night.


M'diq was a small fishing village (which is what they kept saying - it was too dark to see what it looked like exactly) and we stayed in the 'Golden Beach Hotel.' The first picture is the view from the back of the hotel looking out into the Mediterranean that I took when we stopped there on the way back. The location was amazing! Everything else was...ehhh. We had dinner in the hotel that night. We ate a ton of bread - there was always a ton of bread. Then they brought out the soup. This soup was a yellowish/brownish color and had no flavor whatsoever! Because of its appealing color and taste, it was fondly nicknamed 'barf soup.' It was really funny because EVERYONE was asking the waiter for some salt or pepper or something to help the blandness and we ended up having pepper with a side of soup. Then we had chicken with some fiery, interesting tasting olives and lemon peels and some eggy flan for dessert. So the food was ok, not the greatest, but could have been worse. The living situation was great though! I was put in a room with Brett (a guy in our group from W&M) and Hajime (an exchange student from Japan and a really cool guy). It was really fun (and difficult) because when we were in the room we could only use Spanish which was both of our second languages. It was really cool because we got to learn a whole lot about Japanese culture and language - in Spanish - while we were in Africa - it was awesome. Brett and I taught him Mafia (which we played pretty much every time we were on the bus and even convinced Victor (our teacher) to play a couple rounds) and he taught us two Japanese versions of rock, paper, scissors ('Green peace' and 'zhang kem poi' (spelling?)). It was a really fun experience and we learned a lot.


The pillows in Morocco are kinda cylindrical and a little higher than normal which wasn't bad for two nights, but it was an adjustment. Also, brushing your teeth with bottled water and making sure you don't drink tap water is a little tougher than it sounds. Saturday morning we got up bright and early, took freezing cold showers (apparently there was no hot water because everyone was showering at the same time), and watched the Matrix in English with Arabic subtitles until we had to meet downstairs for breakfast. For breakfast we had cafe con leche, hard boiled eggs, and rolls (there were some rolls with chocolate in them - delicious - what a great idea!). Then we drove to Tetuan.

We went to the Medina (which means city - it was the ancient part of the city that is still in use as a market area) of Tetuan and the guide told us not to get separated from the group or else we would get lost. He was right - there were so many streets and so many twists and turns it was like a labyrinth! Here the people open up their shops whenever they want, for however long they want - there is no set schedule, and there was a multitude of interesting smells everywhere - some good, others not so good. The next picture is of the colored chalk they had in a couple places. The people use it on their houses outside and inside like paint. There were also these bereber ladies everywhere (you can tell because they have the straw hats which I think means that they're married) selling their goods. There were so many things you could buy everywhere from pastries to vegetables to fish to meat to shoes to thread to clothing to electronics etc etc. We got to visit a bereber pharmacy where we got to smell the different types of perfumes, medicines, and teas and then went to a rug place where we got to see these beautiful carpets of all different colors. I wanted to get the magic carpet one which was red, gold, and blue, but it was waaay out of my price range - I did get a picture of it though! Then we had a nice lunch of, you guessed it, rolls along with cous cous (is that how you spell it?) and a delicious soup. To top it all off we had some hot sweet mint tea - yummmm. That lunch was better than the last dinner. Then we were off on the bus again.

We drove to the part where the Mediterranean met the Atlantic ocean which is where I took the fourth picture. The water was clear and blue and really pretty. Here we got to barter with some of the people selling trinkets - I really like bargaining, but I'm really not that good at it! Then we drove to another spot and got to ride on the camels. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip and of course is where the fifth picture is taken. It's such a strange sensation to be on their back when they stand up and sit down. Then we made our way to Tanger. Here we had some free time before dinner so we went into the city and the medina and looked around. You had to really make sure you had all your belongings the whole time in this place because it was very sketchy (we used the word 'sketchy' so many times that Hajime asked us what it meant, so now he knows 'sketchy,' 'creepy,' and 'shady!'). There were people brushing up against you trying to pick-pocket, people trying to sell drugs to you, people trying to get you to follow them to 'help you out,' but then expect to be paid for their help - tons of sketchy business. Ha, but it was fun and we got out with everything we went in with.



Dinner was good that night and after that we played some rounds of Mafia before heading to sleep because we had to get up at 7 am the next morning (oh, Morocco is an hour different from Spain, I forget which way, but we just stayed on Spanish time while we were there to avoid confusion). We had a giant bed in one room and two twin beds in the other room of our hotel room (it was a really nice hotel) so we played Green Peace to see who would get the giant bed and I won! It was a good night's sleep and warm showers in the morning and then we left for Chaouen in the mountains.

The mountains were amazing - it was so strange to look out the window and see these giant mountains and realize 'hey I'm in AFRICA!' At Chaouen we went to the Grotto of Hercules and saw the opening in the shape of Africa backwards made by the water and got to put our hands in the 'lucky spring of Hercules.' Then we went to the medina of Chaouen where everything is blue - the walls, the doors, the houses, the path - a light blue chalk color covers everything! It's good for keeping the mosquitoes away, but is also really aesthetically pleasing. I took tons of pictures of pretty much just walls and doors just because it all looked so cool. The last picture was taken in Chaouen. Imagine that blue everywhere. We had some free time before lunch and I got a black, orange, and white knitted hat. All the shops had so many things that were made of so many colors - it was really pretty to just look at everything against the light blue background. Lunch was good, we had rolls, soup, beef and vegetables and a fruit cup for dessert (oh and orange fanta to drink!). Then we bid Marruecos goodbye and got on the bus, went through customs, went back across the sea, drove back to Sevilla and had dinner with our host families. It was a jam-packed, busy weekend, but it was very fun and I made a ton of new and interesting memories and can now say I've been to Africa!

Gibraltar (la roca y los monos)

This weekend was a trip to Gibraltar through the solchasers travel agency. It was great! Gibraltar is a little random because it's located at the southern tip of Spain, but it belongs to the UK. Oh and don't go calling the people English - they are British (big distinction for them apparently). They have their own currency - the Gibraltar pound, which was stronger than our euros and therefore even stronger than US dollars.

So we took the bus from Sevilla and drove 2.5/3 hours through beautiful countryside (rolling hills and with those strangely beautiful power-generating windmills spread throughout) and passed through customs (we needed our passports) and walked into Gibraltar. We first had free time to explore the main square and main street. We ate our bocadillos and then explored the area. They had fish and chips restaurants, fast food joints, clothing stores and a lot more. At the end of the main street there was the Trafalgar cemetery which was a really nice, small cemetery where they buried soldiers from the war in 1805. The first picture was taken there. Then, we walked back to meet our tour guide to get on the bus to start climbing the rock.

This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We got on a small bus with Gerry, our British/Spanish/French tour guide. He was awesome! He spoke with a British accent and cracked us up with all his sayings and jokes. He stopped so we could go out to the point of Gibraltar which is where the next three pictures come from. The first is a lighthouse looking out onto the Mediterranean Sea. The second is a pretty mosque in front of the rock. And the third is what I call 'the epic group shot.' Everyone's looking out at the point where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, we're standing on the country of Gibraltar, and if you look closely, you can see Africa (Morocco) on the left and Spain on the right (pretty epic, right!?). So we got back on the bus and rode about half-way up the rock to get to St. Michael's cave. As soon as we drove up, we saw three monkeys chilling on a car! So naturally we all took a bunch of pictures - it was so strange to see monkeys right next to you!

There were a ton of them and the adults were pretty big (the last picture is of an older/adult monkey). So we proceeded to go to the cave which was really cool, but my camera didn't really work with or without the flash, so I just enjoyed the sights. There was even an area where there were a bunch of seats and you could have concerts down there - how cool is that?! Then after walking around the caves we went back to the bus and watched our driver give out high fives to the monkeys and make them clap for pieces of pasta. We were about to leave, but I wanted to get a picture with a monkey. I stood next to one while someone was taking a picture, but then it climbed up my arm and sat in between my shoulders (it was a heavy monkey)! But I think we got a picture of it, so I was happy. Then we drove back down and passed through customs once again. The bus wasn't there, so a group of us ran to McDonald's!! I hadn't had a hamburger and fries in forever - it was delicious! Full and content, we made our way back to the bus and drove through the rolling countryside as the sun set over those cool windmills. It was a great end to a great day!

(in the 'epic group shot' the people from left to right are: Elia, Macy, Quan, Gray, Lamar, Jackie, Sara, Kate, Phil, and Brett)

Ruins and Legends (ruinas y leyendas)

No big news today, just keeping everyone up-to-date. Classes are going well. I didn't end up switching to the Spanish version of that one econ class because the teacher spoke too quickly for my liking and he didn't quite explain everything as well as the other professors. But I do still like all of my classes. The History of Sevilla class is definitely going to be the toughest just because of the work load.

I think I'm toward the end of my 'culture shock' and am really starting to settle into my schedule, which is nice. I still have to remind myself that I'm in a foreign country - it hasn't hit me yet. Time is also still messed up for me. It simultaneously feels like I've been here for a day, a week, a year, forever - I have to keep looking at the calendar to see what day it is. It's all very strange, but really cool.

This weekend the university had an outing to Italica which is right outside of Sevilla. Italica was an ancient Roman city and we went to see the ruins. Now, when I think of ruins, I think of statues and buildings that are deteriorating a little, but are still there. It wasn't quite what I expected. I mean it was cool to see for the history and I appreciated that aspect (plus it was free), but there wasn't really anything there! There was a colosseum which was really cool and also a bunch of mosaic floors, but that was pretty much it (and the temple was under construction). It was a fun trip, though, and I found another stray cat (once again - they are everywhere!) and it was a good experience to have.

For our Sevilla class we had to write a paper about a local legend in Sevilla, either la cabeza de rey don pedro (head of the king...) or el hombre de piedra (man of stone). The cool part was that we got to go and see the things we were writing about. I chose the legend of el hombre de piedra which is about this guy (El Rubio) who refused to kneel down when a priest was passing to administer a sacrament to someone who was sick. El Rubio said that only women kneel and he wouldn't kneel except that if he remained that way forever (sorry, rough translation). Then he was struck by God and turned into stone for blasphemy! His statue then proceeded to fall to its knees and is still in that position today (in a nook on a random street). It wasn't much to look at, but it was cool to have the story that went along with it. That was a fun day of exploring and being a tourist and taking pictures. The picture of me cheesing it up with the rock is el hombre de piedra.

Yep, there are new things I'm learning every day and I'm having a great time discovering all that I can! Until next time.

(Thanks for all the comments - I am reading them! It's good to hear from everyone!)

(Pictures: the two top are Italica, the middle is a picture of the two columns on one side of la Alemada de Hercules (who was very key in the forming of Sevilla), the next one is me with the man of stone, and the last one is El Corte Ingles - por supuesto! It's basically the Walmart of Spain)

Granada

This past weekend, a group of us decided to take a trip to visit Granada. I was a little uncertain at first because of the cost of tickets for the train and for the various places we were going to visit, but it was definitely worth every euro and then some! We had to be at the train station by 6:30am and the train left at 7 - it was a very early morning, but we got to sleep on the train. We got to Granada around 10am and started walking toward our first destination - la Catedral de Granada (Real Capilla de Granada: Crypto y Museo de los Reyes Catolicos). On our way we stopped at various buildings and statues to take pictures. In front of the Cathedral I was cornered by a clever gypsy who then proceeded to tell me that I would have a long life, that my mother was happy, etc, and then I had to stomp three times to seal the deal. Of course she wanted some money in return and I felt badly, so I gave her some (not the two euro she asked for!) and escaped, making sure I had all my belongings still in my pockets. The group laughed and said that I better not go to the Gypsy Caves or else I would end up losing all my money. Needless to say, I steered clear of those sneaky women the rest of the trip.

We made it to the cathedral and forked over some euros to see the exhibit even though we weren't allowed to take pictures. It was pretty cool. We got to see the crypt of the Reyes Catolicos (Catholic Kings) behind a glass window and a bunch of displays of items and artwork. After that we stopped by the plaza where they used to burn people at the stake but is now one of the most peaceful plazas. We had lunch there (I had lasagna -- making sure I tried new things) and then moved on to our main goal - La Alhambra!

The walk to the Alhambra seemed like miles and miles long (sorry - kilos and kilos in Europe) and it was all uphill! To make matters worse, the walkway was made up of a bunch of stones put together, making it really slippery. On the plus side, sometimes we could glipse over the wall and see an amazing view of Granada. After what seemed like hours and miles later we caught our first sighting of the Alhambra. Then, miles and hours after that, we actually made it to the front door. This place was giant! From the section of it where you could look out and see the whole city spread out before you (Alcazaba) to the gardens with the long, thin pools of water and fountains in the middle to the Generalife with its own great view of the Alhambra to the actual inside of the main building, everything was incredible and beautiful (I'm going to attach some pictures). They say that you need to have at least three hours to take the fastest tour of the whole Alhambra and I would agree with them.

Then, as the sun was setting, we took the bus down the mountain we had climbed and started to walk back up the other side to get to this famous viewing spot (Mirador de San Nicolas). After much more uphill walking, we made it to the spot right at nightfall. I can't even describe how it was in words - it was absolutely beautiful. La Alhambra had all its lights on and you could see the entire thing. Unfortunately my camera had died (of course!) and I couldn't get any more pictures out of it, but it was just like a postcard.

After feeling very accomplished and satisfied and tired, we walked down, down, down to the train station, got something to eat at a restaurant near there, and then got on the train home.

It was a great trip and I'm looking forward to having many more cool experiences in the near future!

(And I'd like to give a quick hello to Mrs. Gimeno (my high school Spanish teacher) and any of her AP class that is reading this!) (and also a hi to my family!)

First Day of School

Hello all,

I just had my first day at the university, so I figured I'd fill everyone in. We have class at la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO). It is rumored to have been a jail at one point in time before becoming a college. I cannot say if this is true or not, but it comes complete with a guard tower and bars on some of the windows. It's really not that bad - I actually like it a lot. Sure it's not as pretty as William and Mary, but it's hard to be better looking than W&M!

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have four classes, three in the morning from 9am-1:20pm (in a row!) and then a break, then another class from 4 -5:20pm. Needless to say, it's a long day, but I really enjoy my classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I got off easy with only one class from 4pm - 5:20pm! The classes I'm taking are International Marketing, Intermediate Spanish, Spanish Civilization and Culture, History of Sevilla (those four all in Spanish), and Global Economy (in English, but I may end up switching over to Spanish, we'll see). The professors are all great! They speak very clearly and at a slower pace, so it's really easy to understand everything.

I made a new friend at lunch today. My host mother packed my a picnic consisting of a chicken and cheese sub, apple juice box, and an orange. I was sitting outside on a bench eating said lunch and checking my emails when a stray cat tried to steal a bite! It was a cute cat, but I was enjoying my delicious lunch, so I refused to let it have any. After multiple attempts, it was content to just sit next to me and chill. I thought we were cool, but then he tried one last attempt and landed on my computer keyboard! I had to retype the message I was sending because it hit the back button on my keyboard! But it was fun. It was a very cool first day.

((Oh, and I would like to make a shout-out to Phillip's brother. Phillip is my roommate here in Sevilla and as his brother pointed out, he was nameless in the last post, so I would like to thank Phillip's brother for that and also thank him for being the first person I heard from to read this blog (although I still have no idea how you found it!)))