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!)