I didn’t realize that I haven’t written in my Blog since the 9th, so sorry this is catching up on quite a few things…
Sunday February 10, 2008
When I woke up this morning, I felt great, it was really good to be back in my own bed. I wore my new shirt to church, and I got tons of compliments all day, so I think it was definitely a good buy, even if it was 10 . However, I took some medicine for my nose before we left for church, and I think it causes drowsiness because I couldn’t stay awake to save my life today in church. I kept dozing off in every class, and I felt really bad, but it must have been a combination of the medicine and me being sick.
After church, we got home and we had paella again. It was the same kind as last week, but I learned my lesson. I didn’t eat as much as last week, and I didn’t drink hardly any water so that the rice wouldn’t expand in my stomach. So it was actually an enjoyable experience compared to last week. We got to meet Teresa and Madre’s mom was here again. I’m not sure how Teresa is related, but Abuela is kind of funny. She doesn’t say much, but she watches me and Brooke all the time. When I was setting the table I could see her watching me out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to talk to her she would turn away. Emily and I think she’s kind of crazy, but oh well whatever. Anyway, after lunch I went and laid down and like every other Sunday my siesta ended up being about two hours long. I only do that on Sundays, and it’s kind of become my habit to sleep for that long. It felt great! Then we left to go to the Shumway’s to hang out, and I wrote a couple emails and just sat and talked to everyone. They made brownies and they tasted so good, but they weren’t cooking very well, so Susie made some fried brownies. It sounds kind of gross, but they were really good. The last batch turned out perfect in the oven, but the rest were pretty doughy.
When we got home, Ana and Nacho and two other relatives of the family were here. I can’t remember their names but they’re from a city in the region of Andalucía and super nice. The husband works as a college orientation person or something of that sort, but I’m not sure what the wife does. However, it was apparently a pretty big deal that they were here, because we ate in the large dining room for the second time today, and Madre had empanadas, stuffed hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, dried meat and cheeses, and then we had actual dessert for postre. She made flan and this lemon cheesecake-like dessert. It was SOOOO good!!! Because I’m American, I could have eaten the whole thing by myself, but Spaniards are a lot more conservative in the way they eat. They eat much slower and not so much sweets as we do. At home, I used to sit there and eat ice cream out of the box all the time, but the portions they eat here are fairly small, and they don’t really have seconds.
Anyway, it was really fun to meet some new people today, and I actually enjoyed talking to everyone in Spanish. It wasn’t really hard or uncomfortable, and I felt like I could talk to them without feeling dumb. When we were eating lunch today we had been chatting about something and then we finished, and randomly Raquel turned to me and said that she was really impressed with how much my Spanish had improved over the last month. Everyone says that I speak well, but I really appreciated that compliment from her because she was pretty much the first one in the family that I felt comfortable talking to on that first day we got here. I still feel inadequate when I’m speaking, but I at least feel like I can communicate well enough that I don’t look silly. Hopefully I can improve even more by the time I get home!!!
Wednesday February 13, 2008
This morning was most possibly the most boring day I have ever had in our conversation class. It just seems to me that Angélica doesn’t have a goal in mind for us. When we got to class on the first day, she asked us what we wanted to learn, and she created the agenda for the class based on what we told her. I don’t know, I guess that’s kind of a good idea, but the stuff we are learning, some of it I’m never going to need after I leave Spain, and half of it I can’t remember anyway. After that class I presented my project with Sarah for the Alcazár of Segovia, and I’m pretty sure we don’t know hardly anything at all. However, I can’t say that I care too much since we don’t get a grade for it.
After lunch Keri, Brooke and I went into Madrid. We were going to see the something of San Sebastian, but we couldn’t find it. So instead we happened upon a mall, shopped around, and then a little while later we went to this churrería where Brooke’s sister said we should go. We hadn’t had churros y chocolate yet so we thought that might be good, and it was awesome! The chocolate is SO thick though. You see the natives downing it like it’s nothing all the time, and well, I got brave and decided to try the same thing. I can’t say it’s something that I plan on doing regularly, I basically did it just to be able to say that I did. It wasn’t bad for sure, but man, these people are crazy for doing it as a normal habit.
We also had a new food today for lunch. Our madre calls it “cocida”, and it’s made with garbanzo beans, chicken, and I can’t remember what else. It was really good, but I definitely ate too much; padre piled it on my bowl like there was no tomorrow. Oh well, it’s better than eating raw salmon like we did on Sunday, yuck!!!
Other than that, we just came home and had something like chicken noodle soup for dinner, and we watched “La Pie de la Letra” with padre like usual. But tonight the guy won the maximum prize of 50,000.00€, which is about $75,000.00. Crazy huh? Padre said that he’s only seen that happen a couple times before. Oh, and the other thing I found out tonight is that our family has housed about 6-8 other foreign exchange students before us. So they’re pretty experienced I’d say.
Saturday February 16, 2008
Yesterday should have been something that I would have a lot to write about, but Segovia was pretty much a big ol’ let down compared to the other Alcazars that we’ve seen. Basically we could go in maybe seven rooms on the first floor and it was 2€ to climb the Tower of John so we didn’t do that; the Cathedral was freezing like every other one we’ve seen, the aqueducts were really huge and pretty cool; when we went to Pedraza (which was solely for the food) I didn’t eat and it was cold. However, in Pedraza while those of us who weren’t eating were waiting for those who were, we went up on this hill and we watched the stars for a while. So that was fun, but it was such a long day, and we were super tired when we got home.
Sunday February 17, 2008
Today was pretty cool if I do say so myself. This morning we had Stake Conference, and it was way different than any Stake Conference that I’ve ever been to. Instead of hearing from the Stake Presidency, we got to hear from our new prophet President Monson, Elder Richard G. Scott, and there were two other speakers that I can’t remember exactly who they were. It was really cool though because it felt like they were really talking to us specifically, and they knew exactly who we were. It was being broadcast in Spanish for the natives, but for us we had our own English room. However, when Elder Scott got up to speak, he did the whole thing in Spanish, and I didn’t know this, but he was the mission president in Argentina for a while, so he’s fluent in Spanish, and I guess he’s been trying to learn Portuguese too.
Anyway, the only other fun thing from today was that I made flan for my first time for class tomorrow. I haven’t tried it yet, but Brooke said it was good. Tomorrow, I’m going to find out how good it really is!!
Tuesday February 19th, 2008
I signed up for my summer classes today, and I’m going to take Religion 122 which is the second half of the Book of Mormon, Math 110 which is College Algebra, Social Dance, and HEPE just to get it out of the way, and all together it’s 6.0 credits which is full time. If I remember right, the only time I had a class after one is the dance class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5p-6:50p I think, and I might be able to change that. I don’t know the times for HEPE yet, but it might not even be necessary to take it as a class and I could maybe do it online.
So I learned something funny yesterday that I forgot to write about. When someone sneezes, in Spanish you say “salud” the first time for health; “dinero” the second time for money; “amor” the third time for love; and here’s the kicker that the missionaries told someone in our group: you say “bautismo” the fourth time for baptism. Kind of funny huh? Anyway, that’s about the most exciting things for today. Good night. J
Friday February 22, 2008
Today we went to the Valle de los Caidos and El Escorial, and before we left I went running, which felt great! Valle de los Caidos was especially cool because that’s where Francisco Franco is buried. Let me just give a picture here: as we were driving up to the Basilica, the main thing you can see is this 450 foot cross sticking up off the side of the mountain and the Basilica sitting beneath it where Franco is buried. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the feeling was gloomy, and actually kind of creepy. It would have been creepy anyway, but the weather added to the effect as well with the dark clouds in the background and you got the feeling that it was threatening to rain but not quite fulfilling the threat. Inside the Basilica you aren’t supposed to take pictures, but you know what, you don’t see the tomb of Franco every day, I mean he’s only one of the biggest parts of the history of Spain. So yes, I took some pictures, and I can’t say that I regret it, I mean, they are for me, I’m not going to post them on the internet or anything, they’re just going to stay on my computer. It was really weird to stand next to the tomb of on of the most influential dictators in the world. At dinner, we asked our parents about what they thought about him, and they didn’t really talk about him as a person but more what the country was like with him in charge. They said that there was less crime, more respect, and things were just under more control with Franco in charge, and they didn’t seem to have any strong feelings any way or the other. I’ve been wanting to ask them about what they thought for quite some time, but this was the best opportunity I had to bring it up.
Anywho, we went to El Escorial and walked around inside of that for a while. You aren’t allowed to take pictures in there either, and so I didn’t break the rules too much, I only took one picture and it’s not very good anyway. There’s really not much to say about it though, I mean it was a lot like the other palaces we’ve seen and there wasn’t really anything that was super unique about it. After that on the way home we stopped at this castle (which had just closed) and took some fun pictures, and then we came home. It was more laid back today than last Friday, and I didn’t feel like I was going to die by the end of today.
Okay, so for the new food for today. We haven’t had anything new for a while so I haven’t written about it. But today after I finished my bocadillo, I knew I was going to be hungry again later, and there was this little shop that we went inside and got gelato at. Me and Natausha shared some, it was vanilla brownie and some sort of vanilla with caramel, chocolate, and nuts (yummy!). then the sandwiches were really cheap, and I got a pavo y manzana (turkey and apple) sandwich, and it was pretty good. It was kind of like a tuna fish sandwich only a different taste. Okay, so then for dinner we had this fish that I have no idea what it was, but it tasted like cod kind of, not really fishy but a little bit. I really liked it and I didn’t have a hard time eating it. You ate it with your fingers and you just kind of eat it off the bone, but by the time Brooke had barely gotten done with her first, I had finished three, so she was having kind of a hard time with it. Other than that, nothing else fun really happened today, and tomorrow I’m going to do some homework, go to Madrid to do a walk, and make some calls to the states tomorrow night.
I think that’s about it, once March gets here I have four large trips that I’m going on, so I’ll have a ton to write about. Yay!!!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Valle de los Caidos and El Escorial from 2/22/08
this is what is known as the Valle de los Caidos, or Valley of the Fallen. inside the Basilica is where the tomb of FranciscoFranco lies, and this place is more for seeing this tomb than for actual worship. and i have to be honest it was quite strange standing next to the tomb of Spain's most recent dictator. however, it was interesting too.
below, you can see also the El Escorial, and me jumping into a pile of leaves that we found by the Basilicas at the Valle de los Caidos. i got some serious air on that too!!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Andalucia
We got back from Andalucía last night, and let me tell you, the whole trip was awesome! We were super tired once we got home, but we had such a blast. I can’t say which city was my favorite because each one is different and has something unique to offer. But I definitely liked all of them!!!
Thursday February 7, 2008
I cannot believe I haven’t written in my journal for five days! I haven’t done this the whole trip, and suddenly I have transformed into a slacker. Well, time to catch up!!
Sunday we went to church, and then afterwards, Madre made paella for us. Yes, it was amazing. She put chicken, calamari, mussels, artichokes, peppers, and all kinds of other stuff that I didn’t know what it was. She put so much food on my plate, and I have no idea how I ate it all. I had more than even Jave or Nacho (Ana’s husband). Then after that, I felt so sick to my stomach because I was so full, and I decided to go running. Running helped quite a bit, but then we were supposed to go to the Shumway’s for dinner, so we left for that. And they were having paella too. I didn’t eat anything though since I was so full from our lunch. Then we just hung out with everyone that night, and I checked email and stuff.
On Monday, basically I went to school, religion, the bank, Carrefour, and the post office to buy stamps. That night I got really sick to my stomach, and I had developed a little bit of a cold. But I packed for the trip, and went to bed, that was about it though.
Tuesday, we left in the morning for Andalucía, and we got to Merida around 1pm. Merida is a city that has a lot of Roman architecture and artifacts. We went into a Roman museum, a park that had a Roman amphitheater and theater. I took lots of pictures, like 100 I think. We also walked around the city a lot, and we found this little market that was going on for the carnival, and I got a little clay plate with my name “Raquel” on it. We also stopped by a wall with Muslim origins and took lots of pictures. One of the other fun things we did was we stopped in this little restaurant to use the bathroom and get drinks and they had pink toilet paper! It was sweet! Kaitlyn kept some to put in her journal. The bartender was really funny, and when we were leaving, instead of saying Buenos días, he was like “bye, bye, this is how you say it right”. It was really cute. When we finally got back to the bus, we still had another couple hours before getting to Sevilla, and we were all pretty tired. Once we got into Sevilla, I guess Dr. Shumway and the bus driver didn’t know exactly where to go for the Hotel America that we were staying in, so we sat on the side of the road trying to figure it out for about a half hour. Once we got into our hotel rooms (I was rooming with Natausha and Laura), we decided to try and find somewhere to get some food or bread and fruit. So we wandered around the hotel area and we found a sandwich shop that sold them for pretty cheap, so some of the girls got food there. But I bought a lot of food at Carrefour for the trip, so I just went back to the hotel to eat an orange and a napolitana.
Finally yesterday (Wednesday), we went to the Cathedral and the Alcazár and we walked around the city and did some souvenir shopping as well. The Cathedral was pretty cool, and we also climbed the Giralda tower which overlooks the whole city (beautiful view). When we were standing outside the Cathedral, a gypsie came up and wanted to give us some herbs, and then she proceeded to read my fortune, even though I told her “no gracias”. The most important things she told me was that I was very strong, loving, smart, and that I would marry soon. Ya shows how much she knows huh. However, I liked the Alcazár better which is also a place that the Royals sometimes go for weekend getaways or whatever. The gardens go on forever, and it was absolutely amazing. The whole thing is full or orange trees, and even some lemon trees, and there are lots of ducks, doves, and other birds too. It was so peaceful, I could have sat there all day reading a book and been completely content. Kaitlyn told us some cool stories about the people that used to live there. Like there was this poet who lived there who would use the skulls of his enemies as flower pots, which is really bizarre. And then Pedro the Cruel wanted to marry this girl who was already married, so Pedro had her husband killed, but because she didn’t want to marry Pedro, she poured boiling wax over her face to make him not want here anymore. Kind of sad, but romantic too. Afterwards, we mosied on back to the hotel to eat and relax for a little while, and then we took off to look around the city. The group I was with stopped in a lot of stores, and I got scarves for my sisters, a tie with matching cuffs for Laren (plus it’s really cool because it could match with a blue, brown, tan, black, or even green suit), and a flamenco apron for my mom. Then we went down to the Plaza de España which was beautiful as well, and then we went back to the hotel to eat before Flamenco dancing. We went to this little tapas bar that Laura found in her guide book, and everyone bought something and then shared it with everyone else. Kaitlyn, Natausha, and I split the cost to get octopus, fried cod (which we got because it was the waiter’s favorite), lobster crepes, and grilled mushrooms. I actually really liked the octopus and lobster crepes, but the mushrooms didn’t really have that good of a taste. Then we headed back to the hotel to leave for Flamenco dancing, which was included in our budget. So we got to the Flamenco place, and Lisa and I sat in the front row, which turned out to be the best seats in the house. There’s really no way to describe it AND do it justice. It was totally what Flamenco dancing seemed like it should be though. They used the Spanish fans, canes, flowers, and castanets as props during their dances. All of the dancers were really good, and they made it look so elegant and authentic. To drink, I had a “zumo de melocotón” which was awesome, all their juices are way better here than they are in the States. Anyway, it lasted for an hour and a half, and the whole time was totally worth the money. Flamenco dancing is actually a lot like tap dancing, so that was kind of special for me. When we got back to the hotel, me and Brooke went and met up with all the people that were going to Portugal for Santa Semana. Last week when we looked at the prices, it was going to be 25€ on the plane there, and 45€ on the way back. But the prices jumped, and I ended up paying 40€ there, and 66€ on the way back. We are flying out of Madrid into Lisbon, and taking the same route back from March 13-March 15, which is actually the weekend before Santa Semana. But the prices were way more expensive for the next week, and this way we can go two places if we want to for March. I’m not sure what I’m doing yet, but I would like to go somewhere for sure. It took forever to order tickets, and I didn’t get to bed until about 2:30am.
Finally this morning (Thursday), we go up and ate a ton for breakfast, and then me, Tausha, and Laura went and walked down the river for a while and saw some of the Jewish quarters which was really nice. And now, we are on the bus on the way to Córdoba which should be fun. The weather has been so nice here in Sevilla. I didn’t wear coat or sweater almost the whole time I was there, and today was sunny, and actually good weather for shorts, which of course I do not have.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for now. As far as the scenery goes, it’s all really green, and the fields/hills go on for miles. The cities are typical with the white-washed buildings and orange trees all over the place. And of course, there are lots of balconies with the vine plants hanging off the sides, which look like the ones you see in the movies. Everything looks like a scene in a movie, and I still absolutely cannot believe that I’m in Spain!!!
Thursday February 7, 2008
Okay, so I know that I already wrote in here today, but other stuff has happened that I need to write about. I’m in Córdoba right now in our hotel room, and to be honest, I haven’t been all that impressed with it. The city is pretty right by the river, but other than that, the only exciting thing to see here is the Mezquita. The rest of the city is kind of dumpy. Which is really ironic because it used to be one of the most economically powerful cities in Spain back in the day, but after a while, it just couldn’t keep up with the changes in technology or whatever.
Example A: we were going to go see the house of Cervantes, but we couldn’t because it looks like an old rundown junkyard with rubble and crap all over the place. Pretty much a lot of the city looks like that actually. There’s quite a few shops in the one part of town, but other than that, there really isn’t anything to see here other than the Mezquita and the Alcazár, which we are seeing tomorrow.
We did have one funny experience though here in Córdoba. When we were walking around trying to find something exciting to do, we meandered over to this plaza that was supposed to be “muy bonita”, and that was a dump too. So we were wandering a little ways away from that, and some of the girls were taking funny pictures, but I could smell something that just stunk SO bad. It smelled like cat or dog poo, and I HATE that smell more than anything else. I kept complaining about how bad it smelled, and how we needed to get away from that area so I could breathe again. As we were getting up to leave, I said “I’m going to kill someone if they stepped in it”. I proceeded to demonstrate that I could not possibly be that person, when (yes, you know this is coming) I lifted up my foot, and there smeared across the bottom of my shoe…was the poo. It was no wonder why I could smell it so much better than everyone else. And despite all my efforts to get it off my shoe, because of the lack of grass in these cities, and the plentitude of cobblestones, I had quite a time of getting it off. It was then that I resolved to buy new shoes. You see, the sole is already falling off as it is, and now I have another reason to add as to why I shouldn’t wear them anymore: they’ve been smothered in poo. I tried finding a pair, and I found some that I really liked, but as fate would have it, they did not carry my size (go figure), and so, alas, I am destined to wear these shoes, through thick and thin, sole or sole-less, poo or poo-less. That is how I will remember Córdoba, not for the Mezquita, and not for the rest of the boring city, but for stepping in poo, and how funny it was.
After abandoning all efforts in search of new shoes, we returned to the hotel and I took an amazing shower, and then a bunch of us got together to watch “Maverick” with Mel Gibson, which I had never seen before. It was pretty good, but I was so sleepy and wanting to lay in my own bed that I left, and now I’m here.
Saturday February 9, 2008
Right now we are on the bus again, and we are leaving Granada to head back home. Yesterday we got into Granada and first off we checked into the hotel, and then we left to go down to the Alhambra.
Everything is situated on a hill in Granada, so we had to hike down a hill to get to the Alhambra, and then the terrain changes inside as well, so we had to climb lots of stairs and hike up and down hills a lot. But the Alhambra is absolutely massive, and it took us about two hours to get through seeing everything. It was really pretty though. Inside on the walls, the words “Only Allah is victorious” is written in Arabic over 9,000 times. Mostly all of the rooms are really elaborate, and like everywhere else there are lots of fountains and reflection pools. The famous Fountain of the Lions was under construction so we couldn’t see that, but mostly everything else was okay. There are quite a few towers, and we climbed up on top of those to look out over the city. The staircases are really narrow, so that was uncomfortable, but otherwise it was really cool. We also went into the Generalife Gardens of the Alhambra which are really pretty, but not as large as the ones at the Alcazár in Sevilla. After we got done at the Alhambra, a group of us wanted to go watch the sunset at this place called San Nicolas mirador. Emily and I stayed behind to wait for Brooke to go to the bathroom while the others went ahead, so when Brooke finally got back we ran to catch up with everyone else, and we ended up passing them. So we met back up with the rest of the group and then went the rest of the way together. Once we got up to the mirador, it was just like in a movie. There’s this wall that everyone sits on to watch the sunset, and there are people playing their guitars and singing, and the feeling is just so relaxing and makes you wish you could always have that feeling. From this point you have a perfect view of the Alhambra and the whole city, and so we sat together on the wall watching the sunset and taking pictures. All I can say was that it was absolutely beautiful, and it really made me glad to be there. Anyway, after that we headed back down to the main plaza and we got kebabs, and they were way yummier than the one I had in Toledo. I got the kebab with cheese and beef, and besides that they put lettuce, a spicy red sauce, a white cucumber-like sauce, and I don’t remember what else, but it was SOOOO good. I don’t know why we don’t eat these more in the states, but we should.
This morning Natausha’s guidebook had a walking tour that was suggested to do around the city. It turned out that it was pretty much the same route that we took last night to watch the sunset. We got kind of turned around on the way there, but we got there okay and then we got separated, so we headed back to the plaza with the kebabs. On the way to the lookout point, we had gone into this little store, and I found this shirt that was SO cute. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted it or not, so I went back after we had gone up to the lookout point, and I tried on a couple different versions of the same shirt. There was a purple one that I really liked, a green one, and then a brown and orange one. I really like the purple one at first, but then I tried on the brown and orange one, and it was like we had met in the pre-existence, so I had to get it. It was only 10€, and I figured that I’ve been really careful with my money so it was okay to spend that much on this one shirt. Plus, all the money I’ve spent on this trip has been spent really well.
So anyway, I really liked Granada, but I wish we would have had more time there because we didn’t really get to see all that much. Oh well, you can’t ever see everything can you? It’s so hard to try to decide what to spend your time on since it’s so limited. I feel like I’ve seen so much, and words are really hard to try and describe everything I’m seeing and feeling, because it’s all so amazing and if you’re not there, there’s no way I can make it real without actually seeing it.
Okay, I think that’s about it for now, I’m working on pictures and I know I’m really behind, but I will get it going soon!
Thursday February 7, 2008
I cannot believe I haven’t written in my journal for five days! I haven’t done this the whole trip, and suddenly I have transformed into a slacker. Well, time to catch up!!
Sunday we went to church, and then afterwards, Madre made paella for us. Yes, it was amazing. She put chicken, calamari, mussels, artichokes, peppers, and all kinds of other stuff that I didn’t know what it was. She put so much food on my plate, and I have no idea how I ate it all. I had more than even Jave or Nacho (Ana’s husband). Then after that, I felt so sick to my stomach because I was so full, and I decided to go running. Running helped quite a bit, but then we were supposed to go to the Shumway’s for dinner, so we left for that. And they were having paella too. I didn’t eat anything though since I was so full from our lunch. Then we just hung out with everyone that night, and I checked email and stuff.
On Monday, basically I went to school, religion, the bank, Carrefour, and the post office to buy stamps. That night I got really sick to my stomach, and I had developed a little bit of a cold. But I packed for the trip, and went to bed, that was about it though.
Tuesday, we left in the morning for Andalucía, and we got to Merida around 1pm. Merida is a city that has a lot of Roman architecture and artifacts. We went into a Roman museum, a park that had a Roman amphitheater and theater. I took lots of pictures, like 100 I think. We also walked around the city a lot, and we found this little market that was going on for the carnival, and I got a little clay plate with my name “Raquel” on it. We also stopped by a wall with Muslim origins and took lots of pictures. One of the other fun things we did was we stopped in this little restaurant to use the bathroom and get drinks and they had pink toilet paper! It was sweet! Kaitlyn kept some to put in her journal. The bartender was really funny, and when we were leaving, instead of saying Buenos días, he was like “bye, bye, this is how you say it right”. It was really cute. When we finally got back to the bus, we still had another couple hours before getting to Sevilla, and we were all pretty tired. Once we got into Sevilla, I guess Dr. Shumway and the bus driver didn’t know exactly where to go for the Hotel America that we were staying in, so we sat on the side of the road trying to figure it out for about a half hour. Once we got into our hotel rooms (I was rooming with Natausha and Laura), we decided to try and find somewhere to get some food or bread and fruit. So we wandered around the hotel area and we found a sandwich shop that sold them for pretty cheap, so some of the girls got food there. But I bought a lot of food at Carrefour for the trip, so I just went back to the hotel to eat an orange and a napolitana.
Finally yesterday (Wednesday), we went to the Cathedral and the Alcazár and we walked around the city and did some souvenir shopping as well. The Cathedral was pretty cool, and we also climbed the Giralda tower which overlooks the whole city (beautiful view). When we were standing outside the Cathedral, a gypsie came up and wanted to give us some herbs, and then she proceeded to read my fortune, even though I told her “no gracias”. The most important things she told me was that I was very strong, loving, smart, and that I would marry soon. Ya shows how much she knows huh. However, I liked the Alcazár better which is also a place that the Royals sometimes go for weekend getaways or whatever. The gardens go on forever, and it was absolutely amazing. The whole thing is full or orange trees, and even some lemon trees, and there are lots of ducks, doves, and other birds too. It was so peaceful, I could have sat there all day reading a book and been completely content. Kaitlyn told us some cool stories about the people that used to live there. Like there was this poet who lived there who would use the skulls of his enemies as flower pots, which is really bizarre. And then Pedro the Cruel wanted to marry this girl who was already married, so Pedro had her husband killed, but because she didn’t want to marry Pedro, she poured boiling wax over her face to make him not want here anymore. Kind of sad, but romantic too. Afterwards, we mosied on back to the hotel to eat and relax for a little while, and then we took off to look around the city. The group I was with stopped in a lot of stores, and I got scarves for my sisters, a tie with matching cuffs for Laren (plus it’s really cool because it could match with a blue, brown, tan, black, or even green suit), and a flamenco apron for my mom. Then we went down to the Plaza de España which was beautiful as well, and then we went back to the hotel to eat before Flamenco dancing. We went to this little tapas bar that Laura found in her guide book, and everyone bought something and then shared it with everyone else. Kaitlyn, Natausha, and I split the cost to get octopus, fried cod (which we got because it was the waiter’s favorite), lobster crepes, and grilled mushrooms. I actually really liked the octopus and lobster crepes, but the mushrooms didn’t really have that good of a taste. Then we headed back to the hotel to leave for Flamenco dancing, which was included in our budget. So we got to the Flamenco place, and Lisa and I sat in the front row, which turned out to be the best seats in the house. There’s really no way to describe it AND do it justice. It was totally what Flamenco dancing seemed like it should be though. They used the Spanish fans, canes, flowers, and castanets as props during their dances. All of the dancers were really good, and they made it look so elegant and authentic. To drink, I had a “zumo de melocotón” which was awesome, all their juices are way better here than they are in the States. Anyway, it lasted for an hour and a half, and the whole time was totally worth the money. Flamenco dancing is actually a lot like tap dancing, so that was kind of special for me. When we got back to the hotel, me and Brooke went and met up with all the people that were going to Portugal for Santa Semana. Last week when we looked at the prices, it was going to be 25€ on the plane there, and 45€ on the way back. But the prices jumped, and I ended up paying 40€ there, and 66€ on the way back. We are flying out of Madrid into Lisbon, and taking the same route back from March 13-March 15, which is actually the weekend before Santa Semana. But the prices were way more expensive for the next week, and this way we can go two places if we want to for March. I’m not sure what I’m doing yet, but I would like to go somewhere for sure. It took forever to order tickets, and I didn’t get to bed until about 2:30am.
Finally this morning (Thursday), we go up and ate a ton for breakfast, and then me, Tausha, and Laura went and walked down the river for a while and saw some of the Jewish quarters which was really nice. And now, we are on the bus on the way to Córdoba which should be fun. The weather has been so nice here in Sevilla. I didn’t wear coat or sweater almost the whole time I was there, and today was sunny, and actually good weather for shorts, which of course I do not have.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for now. As far as the scenery goes, it’s all really green, and the fields/hills go on for miles. The cities are typical with the white-washed buildings and orange trees all over the place. And of course, there are lots of balconies with the vine plants hanging off the sides, which look like the ones you see in the movies. Everything looks like a scene in a movie, and I still absolutely cannot believe that I’m in Spain!!!
Thursday February 7, 2008
Okay, so I know that I already wrote in here today, but other stuff has happened that I need to write about. I’m in Córdoba right now in our hotel room, and to be honest, I haven’t been all that impressed with it. The city is pretty right by the river, but other than that, the only exciting thing to see here is the Mezquita. The rest of the city is kind of dumpy. Which is really ironic because it used to be one of the most economically powerful cities in Spain back in the day, but after a while, it just couldn’t keep up with the changes in technology or whatever.
Example A: we were going to go see the house of Cervantes, but we couldn’t because it looks like an old rundown junkyard with rubble and crap all over the place. Pretty much a lot of the city looks like that actually. There’s quite a few shops in the one part of town, but other than that, there really isn’t anything to see here other than the Mezquita and the Alcazár, which we are seeing tomorrow.
We did have one funny experience though here in Córdoba. When we were walking around trying to find something exciting to do, we meandered over to this plaza that was supposed to be “muy bonita”, and that was a dump too. So we were wandering a little ways away from that, and some of the girls were taking funny pictures, but I could smell something that just stunk SO bad. It smelled like cat or dog poo, and I HATE that smell more than anything else. I kept complaining about how bad it smelled, and how we needed to get away from that area so I could breathe again. As we were getting up to leave, I said “I’m going to kill someone if they stepped in it”. I proceeded to demonstrate that I could not possibly be that person, when (yes, you know this is coming) I lifted up my foot, and there smeared across the bottom of my shoe…was the poo. It was no wonder why I could smell it so much better than everyone else. And despite all my efforts to get it off my shoe, because of the lack of grass in these cities, and the plentitude of cobblestones, I had quite a time of getting it off. It was then that I resolved to buy new shoes. You see, the sole is already falling off as it is, and now I have another reason to add as to why I shouldn’t wear them anymore: they’ve been smothered in poo. I tried finding a pair, and I found some that I really liked, but as fate would have it, they did not carry my size (go figure), and so, alas, I am destined to wear these shoes, through thick and thin, sole or sole-less, poo or poo-less. That is how I will remember Córdoba, not for the Mezquita, and not for the rest of the boring city, but for stepping in poo, and how funny it was.
After abandoning all efforts in search of new shoes, we returned to the hotel and I took an amazing shower, and then a bunch of us got together to watch “Maverick” with Mel Gibson, which I had never seen before. It was pretty good, but I was so sleepy and wanting to lay in my own bed that I left, and now I’m here.
Saturday February 9, 2008
Right now we are on the bus again, and we are leaving Granada to head back home. Yesterday we got into Granada and first off we checked into the hotel, and then we left to go down to the Alhambra.
Everything is situated on a hill in Granada, so we had to hike down a hill to get to the Alhambra, and then the terrain changes inside as well, so we had to climb lots of stairs and hike up and down hills a lot. But the Alhambra is absolutely massive, and it took us about two hours to get through seeing everything. It was really pretty though. Inside on the walls, the words “Only Allah is victorious” is written in Arabic over 9,000 times. Mostly all of the rooms are really elaborate, and like everywhere else there are lots of fountains and reflection pools. The famous Fountain of the Lions was under construction so we couldn’t see that, but mostly everything else was okay. There are quite a few towers, and we climbed up on top of those to look out over the city. The staircases are really narrow, so that was uncomfortable, but otherwise it was really cool. We also went into the Generalife Gardens of the Alhambra which are really pretty, but not as large as the ones at the Alcazár in Sevilla. After we got done at the Alhambra, a group of us wanted to go watch the sunset at this place called San Nicolas mirador. Emily and I stayed behind to wait for Brooke to go to the bathroom while the others went ahead, so when Brooke finally got back we ran to catch up with everyone else, and we ended up passing them. So we met back up with the rest of the group and then went the rest of the way together. Once we got up to the mirador, it was just like in a movie. There’s this wall that everyone sits on to watch the sunset, and there are people playing their guitars and singing, and the feeling is just so relaxing and makes you wish you could always have that feeling. From this point you have a perfect view of the Alhambra and the whole city, and so we sat together on the wall watching the sunset and taking pictures. All I can say was that it was absolutely beautiful, and it really made me glad to be there. Anyway, after that we headed back down to the main plaza and we got kebabs, and they were way yummier than the one I had in Toledo. I got the kebab with cheese and beef, and besides that they put lettuce, a spicy red sauce, a white cucumber-like sauce, and I don’t remember what else, but it was SOOOO good. I don’t know why we don’t eat these more in the states, but we should.
This morning Natausha’s guidebook had a walking tour that was suggested to do around the city. It turned out that it was pretty much the same route that we took last night to watch the sunset. We got kind of turned around on the way there, but we got there okay and then we got separated, so we headed back to the plaza with the kebabs. On the way to the lookout point, we had gone into this little store, and I found this shirt that was SO cute. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted it or not, so I went back after we had gone up to the lookout point, and I tried on a couple different versions of the same shirt. There was a purple one that I really liked, a green one, and then a brown and orange one. I really like the purple one at first, but then I tried on the brown and orange one, and it was like we had met in the pre-existence, so I had to get it. It was only 10€, and I figured that I’ve been really careful with my money so it was okay to spend that much on this one shirt. Plus, all the money I’ve spent on this trip has been spent really well.
So anyway, I really liked Granada, but I wish we would have had more time there because we didn’t really get to see all that much. Oh well, you can’t ever see everything can you? It’s so hard to try to decide what to spend your time on since it’s so limited. I feel like I’ve seen so much, and words are really hard to try and describe everything I’m seeing and feeling, because it’s all so amazing and if you’re not there, there’s no way I can make it real without actually seeing it.
Okay, I think that’s about it for now, I’m working on pictures and I know I’m really behind, but I will get it going soon!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Not much...
There wasn’t much of excitement that happened this week, so I only included the highlights, and everything else was basically me going to school and getting homework done. Not really any new foods, however, we are finally having paella today for lunch!!! So I’m really excited about that.
This next week we are going to Andalucía and we’ll be stopping along the way in Merida, Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba. So I’ll have lots to write about once we get back, and lots more pictures.
Friday February 1, 2008
Last night I went to my first discoteca, and even though it was really fun, I don’t see myself going again. There was so much smoke, especially in the first one, and I’ve never been much of a partier anyway, but it was fun to get out and go dancing again. We went to Cabana, and then to this other one called the CanCan, and I personally liked the second one better. The first one had tons of smoke and no ventilation system or anything so that made it hard to enjoy. But the CanCan had air conditioning and ventilation, so you weren’t quite so congested from the smoke. We got to the first club around 1:30a, and then I got home a little after four. Since we were going to Madrid today, Emily Bourne and I left before everyone else and walked home together since we live pretty close together. When I got home, I could tell that I smelled really bad, and Brooke woke up because it reeked so much of smoke. I definitely don’t think I’ll be making a habit out of it.
This morning I woke up around 8:30a and then Brooke and I left to meet everyone at the train station at ten to go to Madrid. I was so tired, but the rest of the day, I really wasn’t all that tired, and then I napped on the train home. Kaitlyn didn’t show up though, so me and Laura paired up and we went to the Puerta del Sol to do a little bit of shopping. After that, we looked around for a while and then we went and checked out the Plaza Mayor because neither of us had seen it yet. There actually wasn’t really much to see, so we didn’t stick around for long. Then it was about time to go meet the rest of the group at the Royal Palace, so we headed over there, and as soon as Laura and I started eating lunch the rest of our group showed up too. So we ate, and then we paid to go inside the Royal Palace. This thing is massive, and it has about 3,000 rooms altogether, and most of those weren’t ever even used. Of course, the rooms you are allowed to see don’t constitute a very large percentage of that, but it was amazing how elaborate each room was. Every single room had a different design of chandelier, wall paper/decoration, color scheme, and purpose. I don’t know how anyone ever got anything done in that place, they would have been spending more time just walking from room to room. It was really impressive though, and really neat to think that that building is where kings, queens, and various other royalty lived and walked down those hallways. Even weirder to think that Queen Isabella and King Fernando, the initiators of the Spanish Inquisition, lived in that palace.
This next week we are going to Andalucía and we’ll be stopping along the way in Merida, Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba. So I’ll have lots to write about once we get back, and lots more pictures.
Friday February 1, 2008
Last night I went to my first discoteca, and even though it was really fun, I don’t see myself going again. There was so much smoke, especially in the first one, and I’ve never been much of a partier anyway, but it was fun to get out and go dancing again. We went to Cabana, and then to this other one called the CanCan, and I personally liked the second one better. The first one had tons of smoke and no ventilation system or anything so that made it hard to enjoy. But the CanCan had air conditioning and ventilation, so you weren’t quite so congested from the smoke. We got to the first club around 1:30a, and then I got home a little after four. Since we were going to Madrid today, Emily Bourne and I left before everyone else and walked home together since we live pretty close together. When I got home, I could tell that I smelled really bad, and Brooke woke up because it reeked so much of smoke. I definitely don’t think I’ll be making a habit out of it.
This morning I woke up around 8:30a and then Brooke and I left to meet everyone at the train station at ten to go to Madrid. I was so tired, but the rest of the day, I really wasn’t all that tired, and then I napped on the train home. Kaitlyn didn’t show up though, so me and Laura paired up and we went to the Puerta del Sol to do a little bit of shopping. After that, we looked around for a while and then we went and checked out the Plaza Mayor because neither of us had seen it yet. There actually wasn’t really much to see, so we didn’t stick around for long. Then it was about time to go meet the rest of the group at the Royal Palace, so we headed over there, and as soon as Laura and I started eating lunch the rest of our group showed up too. So we ate, and then we paid to go inside the Royal Palace. This thing is massive, and it has about 3,000 rooms altogether, and most of those weren’t ever even used. Of course, the rooms you are allowed to see don’t constitute a very large percentage of that, but it was amazing how elaborate each room was. Every single room had a different design of chandelier, wall paper/decoration, color scheme, and purpose. I don’t know how anyone ever got anything done in that place, they would have been spending more time just walking from room to room. It was really impressive though, and really neat to think that that building is where kings, queens, and various other royalty lived and walked down those hallways. Even weirder to think that Queen Isabella and King Fernando, the initiators of the Spanish Inquisition, lived in that palace.
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