Hola, Hola!
Hope everyone is going well! This past week was the same old, same old. Just doing school stuff and working on papers [I'm trying to finish them all before the family gets here, so I can focus on spending time with them instead of my homework]. This weekend, I went to the Canary Islands with some friends to catch some sun and take a much needed relaxing vacation. There's not to much to see in the Canaries, we spent both of our days there bumming on the beach...and that's about it. I got quite nicely sun burnt on my back, it looks like I have lungs on my back. I'm not quite sure how exactly that happened, but it did!
Besides bumming on the beach, we had some really yummy food while in the Canaries, including SUSHI! I was so happy, and it was really, really good! I've been missing Maru, and while I didn't get to have my playboy roll, I did had some yummy California type roll thingy. I know, great description, but it was delish. Oh! And last night, we went to this italian-esque place, I got ravioli stuffed with pumpkin and parmesean--yum-o! It was amazing, serious some of the best ravs, I've had [but they've got nothing on homemade ravs at Christmas]!
I also got to experience RyanAir for the first time, which was interesting. For those of you who haven't heard of RyanAir, its a super cheap airline that you can fly around Europe, but it's got all these crazy rules and regulations. Like, baggage restrictions [only 1 carry-on, including your purse], and they try to sell you stuff like every 5 minutes. But, overall, it wasn't that bad.
Unfortunately, I did not take many pictures while in the Canaries, just a few of the beach on my phone and I'm feeling kind of lazy because the weather here is gross [seriously, its freezing here, like mid-40s right now--not fun] so I probably won't upload them for a while.
On Wednesday, I'm leaving for Lisboa, Portugal with my friends Ray and Amber, which I'm super excited about. It'll be my first time leaving Spain since getting here! Expect a long update with lots of pictures next week!
XOXO,
Kelsey
PS--Book recommendation: The Fault of Our Stars by John Green; its a little sad at the end, but really really good
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Week 14: All About Barça
Hola, Hola, Hola!
Like most weeks, this one was fairly chill. I went to class, taught some English, studied, and went to Barcelona [oh, you know, no big deal ;)]. But before I get to the Barcelona stuff, here's an update on my classes: all of them are going pretty well. School is starting to wrap up a bit, and my schedule is about to get a little cray. This week is a four day week, then Friday-Sunday I'm in the Canary Islands [I know, it sounds so exotic!], then I've got two days of class, and Wednesday-Sunday I'm in Lisbon, Portugal! After that, I've got 2 weeks until finals which means I have to write 3 term papers and study for 4 exams before I can actually think about relaxing and traveling in June. One of my term papers/presentations is for my Cultura Andalusi class, its about Architecture in Andalucia. The second is for my La Mujer en Literatura Espanola and I have to read a short story and compare it to one of the ones we've read in class. My last paper is for my Prado class and I'm comparing and contrasting La Inmaculada Concepcion by Zubaran and La Inmaculada Concepcion by Murillo. So, basically, I'm going to be writing and studying A LOT the next few weeks while trying to balance out traveling.
Now, onto the good stuff: Barcelona! We had some travel hiccups, but none that were too terrible. My friend Ray and I got into Barcelona around 9, so we checked into our hostel, Casa Gracia, and grabbed some dinner. Casa Gracia was amazing, it was a little bit more expensive than the other hostels I've stayed in--but worth it! It had pretty much everything you could want in a hostel (breakfast and towels being the most important)! It was pretty much like a mini-hotel! It was in a really good location, right off the Blue Line of the Metro (only 3 stops from the train station in one direction, and only 3 stops from the Sagrada Familia in the other direction)! Basically, if you are staying in Barcelona, I highly recommend staying there.
We walked around a bit at night and checked out the Block of Discord, the area of Passeig de Graçia that has Casa Batllo and a few other modernisme [a style of architcture] buildings. Casa Batllo was built by Antoni Gaudi, the most famous modernisme architect [and a Barcelona native]. On Saturday, we saw the Sagrada Familia, which I may or may not have fangirled over. It was absolutely amazing, if you go to Barcelona it's the one thins you absoluetly must see. I've seen plenty of pictures of it, but seeing it in person is more impressive than the pictures could ever be. Gaudi put so much thought into every single detail of it, every architectural aspect has a specific reason and significance behind it. My favorite parts were the towers and the stained glass. We took the elevator to the top of the tower and we got to see an amazing view of Barcelona. It was so high even I was starting to get a little freaked out--and I'm not even afraid of heights! The stained glass was absolutely amazing as well, the interior of the Sagrada Familia is very white/light and airy and the stained glass is brightly colored so when the sun hits it, all the colors from the stained glass are splashed across the walls. The ceiling is absolutely amazing as well, Gaudi designed it to look like a forest, so the ceiling looks like the branches of a tree making a canopy over your head. Like I've said already, its absolutely stunning. If you only have time to do one thing in Barcelona, you MUST do the Sagrada Familia.
After the Sagrada Familia, we went to La Rambla which is the giant pedestrian street in Barcelona. It kind of reminds me of Calle Preciosa and the Rastro here in Madrid. There are 5 different ramblas that makes up this street and each has a specific thing they sell. For example, La Rambla de Flores sells flowers. Las Ramblas extend from Plaça de Cataluyna (Barça's Plaza Mayor) all the way to the sea. We stopped in the Mercat [Market] along the way. I got some delicious fresh kiwis and strawberries. There were some amazing street artist along the Ramblas as well. We ended up at Rambla del Mar, which is basically a giant pier. I almost died a couple of times--the seagulls there were absolutely massive and Ray had no problems pointing out when they were flying close to me [for those who don't know, I'm slightly terrified of birds...especially pigeons].
On Sunday, we got up and went to Camp Nou, which is Barça's futbol [soccer] stadium, it's one of the largest in all of Europe. It was really cool to see. We headed back to the Plaça de Cataluyna and did a self-guided walking tour, courtesy of Rick Steves (my friends lent me their book so we could use it while in Barcelona). We ended up walking though the Barri Gotic, which is where the center of Barcelona was until about 1850, when the city started to expand. We saw the Catedral, a really cool bridge and some of the places young Picasso hung out. While we were in front of the Catedral, we were able to see a sardana, which is the dance of Cataluyna. It was really cool to see because during Franco's rule over Spain, the sardana and the Catalan language were outlawed, but people still learned it and passed it down to the younger generations. We also were able to see some Roman ruins along our walk. During the Roman era of Spain, Barcelona was the city of Barcino. Barcino was surrounded by a wall and had a aqueduct system that was still in use until the 20th century.
Overall, I enjoyed Barcelona, but it definitely wasn't my favorite place I've been. I much preferred Sevilla and Granada. As much as I love the architecture and history, Barcelona is a very touristy city and it didn't really do that much for me. I never quite got that "this is Barcelona" feeling like I've gotten in other cities. It was kind of interesting to be in Spain and not be able to speak the language because in Barcelona (and the rest of Cataluyna) they speak Catalan as their first language. Most everyone spoke Castellano (regular spanish) so we got by just fine!
Side note: Spain is a beautiful country. It's filled with rolling hills, giant mountains, little streams and creeks, and ruins nestled into hills and forests. Its absolutely gorgeous. If you're in Spain, I highly recommend busing or taking the train around instead of flying so you don't miss anything!
Well, that's all I've got. The next few weeks, updates may be a little off schedule since I've got a wacky break schedule going on.
XOXO,
Kelsey
Shout-out to all my Purdue peeps: Try not to get too stressed out this week! Good luck with finals, you can do it!
Like most weeks, this one was fairly chill. I went to class, taught some English, studied, and went to Barcelona [oh, you know, no big deal ;)]. But before I get to the Barcelona stuff, here's an update on my classes: all of them are going pretty well. School is starting to wrap up a bit, and my schedule is about to get a little cray. This week is a four day week, then Friday-Sunday I'm in the Canary Islands [I know, it sounds so exotic!], then I've got two days of class, and Wednesday-Sunday I'm in Lisbon, Portugal! After that, I've got 2 weeks until finals which means I have to write 3 term papers and study for 4 exams before I can actually think about relaxing and traveling in June. One of my term papers/presentations is for my Cultura Andalusi class, its about Architecture in Andalucia. The second is for my La Mujer en Literatura Espanola and I have to read a short story and compare it to one of the ones we've read in class. My last paper is for my Prado class and I'm comparing and contrasting La Inmaculada Concepcion by Zubaran and La Inmaculada Concepcion by Murillo. So, basically, I'm going to be writing and studying A LOT the next few weeks while trying to balance out traveling.
Now, onto the good stuff: Barcelona! We had some travel hiccups, but none that were too terrible. My friend Ray and I got into Barcelona around 9, so we checked into our hostel, Casa Gracia, and grabbed some dinner. Casa Gracia was amazing, it was a little bit more expensive than the other hostels I've stayed in--but worth it! It had pretty much everything you could want in a hostel (breakfast and towels being the most important)! It was pretty much like a mini-hotel! It was in a really good location, right off the Blue Line of the Metro (only 3 stops from the train station in one direction, and only 3 stops from the Sagrada Familia in the other direction)! Basically, if you are staying in Barcelona, I highly recommend staying there.
We walked around a bit at night and checked out the Block of Discord, the area of Passeig de Graçia that has Casa Batllo and a few other modernisme [a style of architcture] buildings. Casa Batllo was built by Antoni Gaudi, the most famous modernisme architect [and a Barcelona native]. On Saturday, we saw the Sagrada Familia, which I may or may not have fangirled over. It was absolutely amazing, if you go to Barcelona it's the one thins you absoluetly must see. I've seen plenty of pictures of it, but seeing it in person is more impressive than the pictures could ever be. Gaudi put so much thought into every single detail of it, every architectural aspect has a specific reason and significance behind it. My favorite parts were the towers and the stained glass. We took the elevator to the top of the tower and we got to see an amazing view of Barcelona. It was so high even I was starting to get a little freaked out--and I'm not even afraid of heights! The stained glass was absolutely amazing as well, the interior of the Sagrada Familia is very white/light and airy and the stained glass is brightly colored so when the sun hits it, all the colors from the stained glass are splashed across the walls. The ceiling is absolutely amazing as well, Gaudi designed it to look like a forest, so the ceiling looks like the branches of a tree making a canopy over your head. Like I've said already, its absolutely stunning. If you only have time to do one thing in Barcelona, you MUST do the Sagrada Familia.
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| View for Torre Passion |
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| Beautiful Stained Glass |
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| Just hanging out! |
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| Ceiling of Sagrada Familia |
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| More beautiful stained glass |
After the Sagrada Familia, we went to La Rambla which is the giant pedestrian street in Barcelona. It kind of reminds me of Calle Preciosa and the Rastro here in Madrid. There are 5 different ramblas that makes up this street and each has a specific thing they sell. For example, La Rambla de Flores sells flowers. Las Ramblas extend from Plaça de Cataluyna (Barça's Plaza Mayor) all the way to the sea. We stopped in the Mercat [Market] along the way. I got some delicious fresh kiwis and strawberries. There were some amazing street artist along the Ramblas as well. We ended up at Rambla del Mar, which is basically a giant pier. I almost died a couple of times--the seagulls there were absolutely massive and Ray had no problems pointing out when they were flying close to me [for those who don't know, I'm slightly terrified of birds...especially pigeons].
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| Las Ramblas |
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| Camp Nou |
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| Roman towers in Barri Gotic |
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| Catedral |
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| Reconstruction of an aqueduct |
Side note: Spain is a beautiful country. It's filled with rolling hills, giant mountains, little streams and creeks, and ruins nestled into hills and forests. Its absolutely gorgeous. If you're in Spain, I highly recommend busing or taking the train around instead of flying so you don't miss anything!
Well, that's all I've got. The next few weeks, updates may be a little off schedule since I've got a wacky break schedule going on.
XOXO,
Kelsey
Shout-out to all my Purdue peeps: Try not to get too stressed out this week! Good luck with finals, you can do it!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Week 13: Climbing the Walls
Hi everyone!
This week was pretty boring. I had my Prado midterm on Tuesday [which I found out I got an A on, phew!], and I got a package from Mom and Liz on Wednesday or Thursday! Which, I know I've said thank you billions of times already but once more can't hurt! THANK YOU!!! I got some great pictures from home and two new dresses!
The weather in Madrid has been pretty gross, cold and rainy for pretty much the past month [it's seriously rained pretty much every day. I think the sun has only popped out, like once]. But! I'm happy to say that this weekend, we finally hit the 70s and 80s! Springtime is finally here!
This past weekend was my program's overnight trip to Extremadura. Extremadura is a region of Spain that is above Andalucia and next to Portugal.
While we were there, we say 3 cities: Merida, Caceres, and Trujillo. The main claim to fame in Extremadura are all of the Roman ruins. We left Madrid on Saturday morning to to go to Merida. We were supposed to leave at 8, but because one of the people in my program was running late we ended up waiting 40 minutes for them to show up; which was kind of a pain because it cut into the free time we had in the city.
Once we got to Merida, we got to see some really awesome ruins. We got to see an amphitheater, the stadium where gladiators fought, and where chariot races were held. We also got to see the Alcazaba, which was the castle of the monarchs in Merida.
After grabbing some lunch in Merida and visiting the Museo de Arte Romano [The museum where all the artifacts/art from the ruins is kept], we headed to Caceres. Caceres was really cool. We checked into our hotel and then we headed to the historic area. On our way, we passed through Caceres's Plaza Mayor. It was really cool, there were tons of people in the street botelloning and there was a band playing music. I really wanted to ditch out on the tour and join in with everyone in the streets.
The historic district was amazing. It is basically a preserved medieval city. It was really cool to see the differences between the architecture in Merida [which was strictly Roman] and Caceres. Caceres had a lot of Latin American influence in their architecture [because most of it was built after the discovery of the New World]. After we toured the historic district, we went on to dinner which was prepaid by our program [yay!]. Now, Spaniards love to eat, and when they eat it usually spans like an hour and a half, maybe two hours. But we sat down for dinner around 10 and we didn't finish until almost 1 in the morning. There were seven courses...SEVEN! They just kept coming and coming and coming, I seriously felt like I was going to explode. It was delicious, but so so so so much food!
The next morning we got up nice and early and did another tour of the historic district and another museum before attempting to head back to the bus. Little did we know, but there ended up being a marathon going through the city when we were trying to get back to the buses. They had completely blocked off the Plaza Mayor and a lot of the streets. My program ended up having to play a game of frogger with sixty people trying to cut through the marathong [while there were no runners, of course] while being yelled at by the people running the marathon. Once we cut through the race path, we ended up having to walk in a giant circle around the city to get to where our bus was. Needless to say, in the 45 minute bus ride between Caceres and Trujillo, we all passed out.
After the craziness of Merida and Caceres, I think our tour guides [Pablo and Ricardo (Ricardo is my prof for my Prado class)] noticed how exhausted all of us were, and not to mention we were a solid hour and a half behind schedule. So instead of dragging us all over Trujillo, we stopped in the Plaza Mayor, they pointed out some architectural things and turned us loose on the city. My friends and I ended up going up the castillo [castle] and we basically acted like a bunch of kids. We were climbing up walls, running through the ruins and taking lots of silly pictures. The views from the top of the castillo were amazing. Before getting back on the bus, we grabbed some lunch at a cute little cafe.
And so wraps up another trip. It's hard to believe that as of today, I've been in Spain for 3 whole months. I'm amazed by how quickly time has gone by, but it also makes me sad. I know I've still got a solid two and a half months left, but it feels like it's going to be tomorrow and there's still going to be so much I want to do and see here--but hey, at least that's a reason to come back...right?
I'm also really excited to say that my friends Ray, Amber, and I have officially booked our trip to PORTUGAL! We're going for 5 days right at the beginning of May, I can't wait! That's all for now, next week: Barcelona!
XOXO,
Kelsey
This week was pretty boring. I had my Prado midterm on Tuesday [which I found out I got an A on, phew!], and I got a package from Mom and Liz on Wednesday or Thursday! Which, I know I've said thank you billions of times already but once more can't hurt! THANK YOU!!! I got some great pictures from home and two new dresses!
The weather in Madrid has been pretty gross, cold and rainy for pretty much the past month [it's seriously rained pretty much every day. I think the sun has only popped out, like once]. But! I'm happy to say that this weekend, we finally hit the 70s and 80s! Springtime is finally here!
This past weekend was my program's overnight trip to Extremadura. Extremadura is a region of Spain that is above Andalucia and next to Portugal.
Once we got to Merida, we got to see some really awesome ruins. We got to see an amphitheater, the stadium where gladiators fought, and where chariot races were held. We also got to see the Alcazaba, which was the castle of the monarchs in Merida.
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| Ruins in Merida |
The historic district was amazing. It is basically a preserved medieval city. It was really cool to see the differences between the architecture in Merida [which was strictly Roman] and Caceres. Caceres had a lot of Latin American influence in their architecture [because most of it was built after the discovery of the New World]. After we toured the historic district, we went on to dinner which was prepaid by our program [yay!]. Now, Spaniards love to eat, and when they eat it usually spans like an hour and a half, maybe two hours. But we sat down for dinner around 10 and we didn't finish until almost 1 in the morning. There were seven courses...SEVEN! They just kept coming and coming and coming, I seriously felt like I was going to explode. It was delicious, but so so so so much food!
The next morning we got up nice and early and did another tour of the historic district and another museum before attempting to head back to the bus. Little did we know, but there ended up being a marathon going through the city when we were trying to get back to the buses. They had completely blocked off the Plaza Mayor and a lot of the streets. My program ended up having to play a game of frogger with sixty people trying to cut through the marathong [while there were no runners, of course] while being yelled at by the people running the marathon. Once we cut through the race path, we ended up having to walk in a giant circle around the city to get to where our bus was. Needless to say, in the 45 minute bus ride between Caceres and Trujillo, we all passed out.
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| Catedral in Caceres |
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| Another amazing view! |
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| My friend Jake's and my reaction to the server bring out more food |
After the craziness of Merida and Caceres, I think our tour guides [Pablo and Ricardo (Ricardo is my prof for my Prado class)] noticed how exhausted all of us were, and not to mention we were a solid hour and a half behind schedule. So instead of dragging us all over Trujillo, we stopped in the Plaza Mayor, they pointed out some architectural things and turned us loose on the city. My friends and I ended up going up the castillo [castle] and we basically acted like a bunch of kids. We were climbing up walls, running through the ruins and taking lots of silly pictures. The views from the top of the castillo were amazing. Before getting back on the bus, we grabbed some lunch at a cute little cafe.
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| View from the Castillo |
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| Another amazing view! |
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| Just messing around on the wall |
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| Another view |
I'm also really excited to say that my friends Ray, Amber, and I have officially booked our trip to PORTUGAL! We're going for 5 days right at the beginning of May, I can't wait! That's all for now, next week: Barcelona!
XOXO,
Kelsey
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Week 12: Back to Reality...
This week was my first week back after Semana Santa, and it was a long one! Even though we didn't have class on Monday I still felt like this week dragged on. I've been sick pretty much all week, which has not been fun.
This past week has been a "holy crap, I only have like a month left of classes" kind of week. I've kind of been neglecting my school work for the past few months, because (1) I never have homework, only readings and (2) I'm in Spain. But reality set in this week when I realized I only have like 6 weeks of class left and so much to catch up on. This week I've been attempting to study for my Prado midterm on Tuesday, its just been hard because our exam is only like 5 questions and we have 64 paintings to study. SIXTY-FOUR! Personally, I think it's a bit ridiculous, especially because after a while some of these paintings start to look the same...but what can I do? Just got to keep chugging along! [If you're interested, right now we're learning about Zubaran and Velazquez, and pretty soon we will get to GOYA!]
I can't remember if I've mentioned this yet, but I've starting teaching English to kids here. I've only got two students, one is a 14 year old boy who speaks English really well and just needs to practice his conversation skills. The other is a 3 year old girl who speaks zero English. It's been interesting trying to organize lessons for them because they have such different levels. My 14-year-old seems to know already know everything that I'm teaching him and my 3-year-old can be a bit sassy. But, it's still a lot of fun and good practice for when I'm a grown up [which is coming up surprisingly fast--I just registered for my SENIOR YEAR classes! Seriously, where did the past three years go?!?!?!]
Anyways, besides teaching and studying I went to a Master Class put on by DMM [Disfruta Madrid Mas] at the Museo Thyssen which was about their exhibition: Impresionismo y el Aire Libre. It was some seriously cool stuff, I got to see some Monets, Van Goghs, and Sorollas! I could have touched them, that's how close I was able to get to them! I think that impressionism is my favorite style of art and Sorolla is probably my favorite Spanish painter. I'm a little bummed that my Prado class doesn't get to study him at all--but hey, there's a museum here in Madrid specifically about Sorolla!
This week I officially booked my tickets and hostel to Barcelona (or as some of the Spaniards call it: Barceloca). I'm really really excited to go see the Sagrada Familia and all of Gaudi's works! Andddd, that's all I've got! Until next week everyone!
XOXO,
Kelsey
This past week has been a "holy crap, I only have like a month left of classes" kind of week. I've kind of been neglecting my school work for the past few months, because (1) I never have homework, only readings and (2) I'm in Spain. But reality set in this week when I realized I only have like 6 weeks of class left and so much to catch up on. This week I've been attempting to study for my Prado midterm on Tuesday, its just been hard because our exam is only like 5 questions and we have 64 paintings to study. SIXTY-FOUR! Personally, I think it's a bit ridiculous, especially because after a while some of these paintings start to look the same...but what can I do? Just got to keep chugging along! [If you're interested, right now we're learning about Zubaran and Velazquez, and pretty soon we will get to GOYA!]
I can't remember if I've mentioned this yet, but I've starting teaching English to kids here. I've only got two students, one is a 14 year old boy who speaks English really well and just needs to practice his conversation skills. The other is a 3 year old girl who speaks zero English. It's been interesting trying to organize lessons for them because they have such different levels. My 14-year-old seems to know already know everything that I'm teaching him and my 3-year-old can be a bit sassy. But, it's still a lot of fun and good practice for when I'm a grown up [which is coming up surprisingly fast--I just registered for my SENIOR YEAR classes! Seriously, where did the past three years go?!?!?!]
Anyways, besides teaching and studying I went to a Master Class put on by DMM [Disfruta Madrid Mas] at the Museo Thyssen which was about their exhibition: Impresionismo y el Aire Libre. It was some seriously cool stuff, I got to see some Monets, Van Goghs, and Sorollas! I could have touched them, that's how close I was able to get to them! I think that impressionism is my favorite style of art and Sorolla is probably my favorite Spanish painter. I'm a little bummed that my Prado class doesn't get to study him at all--but hey, there's a museum here in Madrid specifically about Sorolla!
This week I officially booked my tickets and hostel to Barcelona (or as some of the Spaniards call it: Barceloca). I'm really really excited to go see the Sagrada Familia and all of Gaudi's works! Andddd, that's all I've got! Until next week everyone!
XOXO,
Kelsey
Monday, April 1, 2013
Week 11: Falling in Love...
Words can't even describe how amazing this past week was. I saw so much of Spain and I got to be a part of some incredible traditions. I went to Andalucia with 5 of my friends: Olivia, Maddy, Ray, Sarah, and Victoria. We started by taking the train to Sevilla and staying there for three and a half days, then we took the bus to Cordoba, then to Granada, and then to Malaga before taking the train back to Madrid today. And, I can now say I've been backpacking through southern Spain because all I packed in was a normal school backpack (shout out to Liz for giving me the tip to pack everything into Ziploc baggies before putting it in my backpack!).
Sevilla [Days 1, 2, 3, and4]
I got my first taste of Andalucia in Sevilla. After getting off the train, we decided to try to walk from the train station to our hostel because according to Google maps, it was only like a twenty minute walk. We may or may not have gotten lost in the pouring rain for an hour and a half, but we finally made it*!
Since Semana Santa [holy week] started on Sunday, we just wandered around the city and did some tapearing [went out for tapas]. On Sunday, we got up early and went to misa [mass] for Domingo de las Ramas [Palm Sunday]. It was a really interesting experience for me because I'm not Catholic and I've never been to a catholic mass before. It was really cool because we got to go to mass in the Catedral of Sevilla. The catedral is one of the oldest gothic style cathedrals in Spain (and all of Europe!). Also, Colombus' [or Cristobol Colon] tomb was in the cathedral too! After mass, a two of my friends had a Rick Steve's Spain guide book so we did a walking tour around the juderia. The juderia is the old Jewish neighborhood that all the jews in Spain had to live in during the Inquisition. A lot of the streets are very tiny and narrow, a lot of them are called "kissing lanes" because of how close together they are. We also found the statue of the original Don Juan and the hostel where he supposedly stayed and the play is based on. We also found a plaza that originally had a synagogue that was converted into a church, which was then destroyed by Napoleon when he invaded Spain. A bit of irony--the French consulate is right next to this plaza. It's also where Murillo is supposedly buried! If you go to Sevilla, I highly recommend checking out the juderia!
On Monday, we went to the Real Alcazar de Sevilla, the Alcazar is basically a giant palace. It's actually the oldest Royal Palace in Europe that is still in use. Basically that means that when the Spanish Royals are in Sevilla they stay in the Alcazar. It was really really pretty. There was a ton of moorish influence mixed with catholic architecture. There was a lot of tile and plaster work, with tons of intricate little details. We had a lot of fun taking lots of pictures. One of my friends is really into photography, so I tried to match her pictures by taking some "artsy" pictures. After the Alcazar, we had some paella and sangria* for lunch. After lunch, we decided to head to the Torre de Oro. The Torre de Oro was the place where all goods entered Spain way back when Sevilla was the main port in Spain. We were able to climb to the top where we got to see a pretty cool view of the city.
Both Sunday and Monday we were able to catch Semana Santa processions. For those of you who haven't ever heard about Semana Santa in Spain before, let me share some background info. Basically, each day there are processions at night that include penitents and a float carried by penitents. Pentinents are dressed from head to toe in robes (some are all white, others all black, some are red or purple, green or blue, it really all depends on which hermanidad [brotherhood] they are from), these penitents are people who are repenting their sins which is why they are walking around in the robes, so that they can hide their identity. Most of them walk barefoot and they also carry the floats in the processions. Each procession is sponsored by a different church/brotherhood. Each float depicts a different scene from Holy Week in the Bible. They were really impressive to see. I still can't believe that I was able to take part in the largest Semana Santa celebrations in Spain!
Tuesday morning, we packed up and check out of our hostel. Before heading to the bus station, we stopped by the Museo de Bellas Artes where we got to see some works by Zubaran and Murillo. I felt really artsy in there because I could compare the works and see the differences between the painters. For example, Zubaran's subjects tend to be very rigid, and sculpture-esque, whereas Murillo has a better use of light and his subjects are a lot softer and look more life like [thank you, Ricardo and Fran--my profs for my Prado class]. I felt very high-class after leaving because I could kind of understand what the paintings were meant to be about and why they painted a certain way :)
Cordoba [Days 4 and 5]
We were in Cordoba for exactly 24 hrs. I absolutely loved Cordoba--it was a great change of pace from Sevilla! Sevilla was very crowded and there was so much we wanted to cram into the three and a half days we were there whereas Cordoba wasn't very crowded and a much less stressful atmosphere. The main thing we went to Cordoba to see was the Mezquita/Catedral de Cordoba. The Mezquita is absolutely amazing. It has so many different styles of architecture for three different types of religious buildings! When you walk into the Mezquita the first thing you see are the arches (which is what it's famous for), the arches are part of the Moorish style of architecture. These arches are incredible, there are hundreds of them! They all are identically painted with red stripes. It's kind of eerie to see in the darkness of the building. Besides the Moorish arches and tilework, there is also a wing of a Visigoth church that the Mezquita was built on top of. And plopped right in the middle of all of that is a Catholic cathedral! It was really amazing to see how well it all meshed together with some fluidity even though each aspect was so different!
After walking around the Mezquita, we decided to explore a bit more of the historic district of Cordoba. Like the rest of Andalucia, it was filled with narrow, windy cobblestone streets. It was gorgeous! We found this little synagogue, which is one of the three synagogues left in Spain that predates the XIV century (all the rest had been destroyed by the Inquisition/Catholic Monarchs). The synagogue had actually been converted into a church at some point--there is a faded cross painted onto one of the walls. After leaving the synagogue, we stumbled across this little plaza. It was on a little off-shoot of the main road, you got there by walking down a narrow street that had little arches to walk under. When you get to the end of the street, you are greeted by two-store stone-faced buildings on three sides and a whitewall covered in potted plants with a staircase going up it. It was beautiful, there was a guy strumming flamenco guitar while we were there. It was in that little plaza that I had my Spain epiphany. It only took me three months to get there, but I finally had that "Holy cow, I'm in Spain!" moment. It was amazing.
We also got to see a procession in Cordoba. It came out of the Mezquita (all of them have to pass through the cathedrals in whichever city they are in), and it stopped literally right in front of us. We could see through the detail work and look at the guys who were carrying it! It was amazing to see. We could see every single little detail! This time the penitents were wearing white and purple robes, and most of them were wearing shoes. There were also a lot more kids in this one than in the other ones.
Granada [Days 5, 6, and 7]
We got to Granada mid-afternoon, so all we did was walk around the city. Our hostel [White Nest Hostel] was in a fantastic location. It was on Calle Santismo, which is really close to the Albazyn, which is the old Moorish neighborhood.
On Thursday morning, we got up pretty early and did another Rick Steve's walking tour through the center of Granada. We saw part of the old Silk Trail, the Cathedral, another large Plaza, and [my personal favorite] the Capilla Real! The Capilla Real is where the tombs of the Reyes Catolicos and their kids are! The Reyes Catolicos are Rey Fernando II of Aragon and Reina Isabel I de Castilla. They had a daughter, Juana la Loca [long story short, she was crazy] and her husband Felipe el Hermoso, are also buried there. [Juana and Felipe's son is Carlos I/V (I because of Spanish Emperor, V because of Holy Roman Empire]. It was really, really cool to see their tombs because they had such a large impact on both Spain's history and the history of the new world, after all without them Colombus never would have discovered the New World!
After the walking tour, we went to lunch and got kebaps. Kebaps are pretty much gyros, but you can get them with chicken or falafel too! They were my favorite food that we got on the trip, and when I was walking back to my piso after dinner the other night, I found a kebap place here in Madrid, so I'm super happy!
After lunch, we went to THE ALHAMBRA! I could write pages and pages and pages about the Alhambra. It was absolutely breath taking and amazing! I still can't believe that I've been there! For those of you who've no idea what I'm talking about, the Alhambra is a castle/city on top of a hill over looking all of Granada. Its where the Arab saltans from 1237-1492 lived and later the Reyes Catolicos after the reconquering of Granada. I learned tons of new things about it, for example, of the 22 saltans that lived there only 7 of them had enough money to build their own palace. And of the 7 palaces, only 2 are still fully standing. Like I said, it was absolutely incredible to be standing there and absorbing the history of it all. The Alhambra is the one place that I absolutely had to go to in Spain! I've been wanting to go there since like sophomore year of high school when I first learned about it, and now I can say I've been!
After the Alhambra, we went to Flamenco in the caves. It was really cool to see. The dancers were amazing! I really enjoyed the flamenco guitar as well. [Mom, Dad, when you come, we'll go see some in Madrid!]. After Flamenco we decided to get some kebaps and hang out in city center for the night. We knew that there was going to be a procession so we figured we would try to catch it, but we didn't know that the entire city of Granada was going to be crammed into Plaza Nueva. It was mobbed. We ended up loosing Maddy and Olivia for the rest of the night [no worries, they were together!] and we lost Ray for a solid hour. After meeting up with Ray, we gave up on trying to battle our way back to the hostel until after the procession. I'm glad that we stayed because the procession was called "El Silencio" [The Silence]. They turned off all of the street lights and everyone stood in complete silence as the procession passed. All the penitents wore black and had chains connecting them to each other, so as they walked all you could here were the chains moving against the ground. The float was of Jesus on the cross. It was such a somber and dark move compared to the rest of the processions we saw. It was absolutely incredible, even if we had to deal with some very rude Spaniards all night.
Malaga [Days 6, 7, and 8]
By the time we got to Malaga, all of us were completely exhausted. Our hostel was really really nice, they had a nice little bar and they made dinner there every night. Since we were only there for one full day, I spent the day laying on the beach and soaking in the sun. Maybe a bit too much sun because I'm extremely sunburnt and I think I got a little sun sick...oops! I'm much better now, but I've got some pretty awesome tan lines right now.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Overall, Andalucia was absolutely amazing. If I couldn't have studied in Madrid, I definitley would've gone to Sevilla. As much as I enjoyed the trip, I definitely am planning on going back to Sevilla and Granada because I want to see what its like without all of the Semana Santa craziness going on.
This trip has got me thinking a lot about what I want to do after college, and its made me realize that I don't necessarily want to settle down in a high school or middle school right after college. There's still so much of the world that I want to see. So, I'm planning on talking to my coordinator about teaching English in Spain after I graduate. Who knows? Maybe it'll work out, maybe not, but I at least want to try!
Interested in seeing my pictures of Andalucia or the rest of the places I've been? Check out my shutterfly page: lavidamadrilenafotos.shutterfly.com
It's way easier than trying to get pictures on here or on facebook! I've got a lot of pictures to load so I'll be working on getting them all up within the week!
XOXO,
Kelsey
Sevilla [Days 1, 2, 3, and4]
I got my first taste of Andalucia in Sevilla. After getting off the train, we decided to try to walk from the train station to our hostel because according to Google maps, it was only like a twenty minute walk. We may or may not have gotten lost in the pouring rain for an hour and a half, but we finally made it*!
| *Sidenote: Sevilla (and most of Andalucia) has really really narrow streets--and even narrower | sidewalks! We almost got hit by a few cars/buses!Our hostel [Sevilla Inn Backpackers] was in a fantastic location. It was on a little side street about 2 minutes away from the Catedral and city center. Since there were six of us we were able to have a dorm all to ourselves!
Since Semana Santa [holy week] started on Sunday, we just wandered around the city and did some tapearing [went out for tapas]. On Sunday, we got up early and went to misa [mass] for Domingo de las Ramas [Palm Sunday]. It was a really interesting experience for me because I'm not Catholic and I've never been to a catholic mass before. It was really cool because we got to go to mass in the Catedral of Sevilla. The catedral is one of the oldest gothic style cathedrals in Spain (and all of Europe!). Also, Colombus' [or Cristobol Colon] tomb was in the cathedral too! After mass, a two of my friends had a Rick Steve's Spain guide book so we did a walking tour around the juderia. The juderia is the old Jewish neighborhood that all the jews in Spain had to live in during the Inquisition. A lot of the streets are very tiny and narrow, a lot of them are called "kissing lanes" because of how close together they are. We also found the statue of the original Don Juan and the hostel where he supposedly stayed and the play is based on. We also found a plaza that originally had a synagogue that was converted into a church, which was then destroyed by Napoleon when he invaded Spain. A bit of irony--the French consulate is right next to this plaza. It's also where Murillo is supposedly buried! If you go to Sevilla, I highly recommend checking out the juderia!
On Monday, we went to the Real Alcazar de Sevilla, the Alcazar is basically a giant palace. It's actually the oldest Royal Palace in Europe that is still in use. Basically that means that when the Spanish Royals are in Sevilla they stay in the Alcazar. It was really really pretty. There was a ton of moorish influence mixed with catholic architecture. There was a lot of tile and plaster work, with tons of intricate little details. We had a lot of fun taking lots of pictures. One of my friends is really into photography, so I tried to match her pictures by taking some "artsy" pictures. After the Alcazar, we had some paella and sangria* for lunch. After lunch, we decided to head to the Torre de Oro. The Torre de Oro was the place where all goods entered Spain way back when Sevilla was the main port in Spain. We were able to climb to the top where we got to see a pretty cool view of the city.
|*Sidenote: The sangria we had was like spiked sangria. Normally sangria isn't very strong (or at least the sangria I've had). After we had been drinking it for a|while, one of the waiters came up to us and told us to be careful when we stood up because it |ad black rum, vermouth, and wine in it. We were drinking it on an empty stomach, so that had kinda a damper on our plans for the afternoon! But after a nice long lunch, we were ready to go!
Both Sunday and Monday we were able to catch Semana Santa processions. For those of you who haven't ever heard about Semana Santa in Spain before, let me share some background info. Basically, each day there are processions at night that include penitents and a float carried by penitents. Pentinents are dressed from head to toe in robes (some are all white, others all black, some are red or purple, green or blue, it really all depends on which hermanidad [brotherhood] they are from), these penitents are people who are repenting their sins which is why they are walking around in the robes, so that they can hide their identity. Most of them walk barefoot and they also carry the floats in the processions. Each procession is sponsored by a different church/brotherhood. Each float depicts a different scene from Holy Week in the Bible. They were really impressive to see. I still can't believe that I was able to take part in the largest Semana Santa celebrations in Spain!
Tuesday morning, we packed up and check out of our hostel. Before heading to the bus station, we stopped by the Museo de Bellas Artes where we got to see some works by Zubaran and Murillo. I felt really artsy in there because I could compare the works and see the differences between the painters. For example, Zubaran's subjects tend to be very rigid, and sculpture-esque, whereas Murillo has a better use of light and his subjects are a lot softer and look more life like [thank you, Ricardo and Fran--my profs for my Prado class]. I felt very high-class after leaving because I could kind of understand what the paintings were meant to be about and why they painted a certain way :)
Cordoba [Days 4 and 5]
We were in Cordoba for exactly 24 hrs. I absolutely loved Cordoba--it was a great change of pace from Sevilla! Sevilla was very crowded and there was so much we wanted to cram into the three and a half days we were there whereas Cordoba wasn't very crowded and a much less stressful atmosphere. The main thing we went to Cordoba to see was the Mezquita/Catedral de Cordoba. The Mezquita is absolutely amazing. It has so many different styles of architecture for three different types of religious buildings! When you walk into the Mezquita the first thing you see are the arches (which is what it's famous for), the arches are part of the Moorish style of architecture. These arches are incredible, there are hundreds of them! They all are identically painted with red stripes. It's kind of eerie to see in the darkness of the building. Besides the Moorish arches and tilework, there is also a wing of a Visigoth church that the Mezquita was built on top of. And plopped right in the middle of all of that is a Catholic cathedral! It was really amazing to see how well it all meshed together with some fluidity even though each aspect was so different!
After walking around the Mezquita, we decided to explore a bit more of the historic district of Cordoba. Like the rest of Andalucia, it was filled with narrow, windy cobblestone streets. It was gorgeous! We found this little synagogue, which is one of the three synagogues left in Spain that predates the XIV century (all the rest had been destroyed by the Inquisition/Catholic Monarchs). The synagogue had actually been converted into a church at some point--there is a faded cross painted onto one of the walls. After leaving the synagogue, we stumbled across this little plaza. It was on a little off-shoot of the main road, you got there by walking down a narrow street that had little arches to walk under. When you get to the end of the street, you are greeted by two-store stone-faced buildings on three sides and a whitewall covered in potted plants with a staircase going up it. It was beautiful, there was a guy strumming flamenco guitar while we were there. It was in that little plaza that I had my Spain epiphany. It only took me three months to get there, but I finally had that "Holy cow, I'm in Spain!" moment. It was amazing.
We also got to see a procession in Cordoba. It came out of the Mezquita (all of them have to pass through the cathedrals in whichever city they are in), and it stopped literally right in front of us. We could see through the detail work and look at the guys who were carrying it! It was amazing to see. We could see every single little detail! This time the penitents were wearing white and purple robes, and most of them were wearing shoes. There were also a lot more kids in this one than in the other ones.
Granada [Days 5, 6, and 7]
We got to Granada mid-afternoon, so all we did was walk around the city. Our hostel [White Nest Hostel] was in a fantastic location. It was on Calle Santismo, which is really close to the Albazyn, which is the old Moorish neighborhood.
| Quick Spanish history lesson if you're wondering why Andalucia has so much Arab/Moorish influence. The first people to settle in Spain were the Visogoths, Celts, and Romans. After then in about 711 came the Arabs from Africa. They held domain over southern Spain until 1492 (when Colombus sailed the ocean blue...and all the Jews were kicked out of Spain thanks to the Inquisition and Catholic Kings). In 1492, The Reyes Catolicos [catholic kings] reconquered Granada, which was the capital of Andalucia.We were right along the river, which flows underneath Plaza Nueva, which was the main square. While I was in Granada, I really felt like I was in Spain. I'm guessing that's probably because I could see the Alhambra [!!!!!] from my hostel room.
On Thursday morning, we got up pretty early and did another Rick Steve's walking tour through the center of Granada. We saw part of the old Silk Trail, the Cathedral, another large Plaza, and [my personal favorite] the Capilla Real! The Capilla Real is where the tombs of the Reyes Catolicos and their kids are! The Reyes Catolicos are Rey Fernando II of Aragon and Reina Isabel I de Castilla. They had a daughter, Juana la Loca [long story short, she was crazy] and her husband Felipe el Hermoso, are also buried there. [Juana and Felipe's son is Carlos I/V (I because of Spanish Emperor, V because of Holy Roman Empire]. It was really, really cool to see their tombs because they had such a large impact on both Spain's history and the history of the new world, after all without them Colombus never would have discovered the New World!
After the walking tour, we went to lunch and got kebaps. Kebaps are pretty much gyros, but you can get them with chicken or falafel too! They were my favorite food that we got on the trip, and when I was walking back to my piso after dinner the other night, I found a kebap place here in Madrid, so I'm super happy!
After lunch, we went to THE ALHAMBRA! I could write pages and pages and pages about the Alhambra. It was absolutely breath taking and amazing! I still can't believe that I've been there! For those of you who've no idea what I'm talking about, the Alhambra is a castle/city on top of a hill over looking all of Granada. Its where the Arab saltans from 1237-1492 lived and later the Reyes Catolicos after the reconquering of Granada. I learned tons of new things about it, for example, of the 22 saltans that lived there only 7 of them had enough money to build their own palace. And of the 7 palaces, only 2 are still fully standing. Like I said, it was absolutely incredible to be standing there and absorbing the history of it all. The Alhambra is the one place that I absolutely had to go to in Spain! I've been wanting to go there since like sophomore year of high school when I first learned about it, and now I can say I've been!
After the Alhambra, we went to Flamenco in the caves. It was really cool to see. The dancers were amazing! I really enjoyed the flamenco guitar as well. [Mom, Dad, when you come, we'll go see some in Madrid!]. After Flamenco we decided to get some kebaps and hang out in city center for the night. We knew that there was going to be a procession so we figured we would try to catch it, but we didn't know that the entire city of Granada was going to be crammed into Plaza Nueva. It was mobbed. We ended up loosing Maddy and Olivia for the rest of the night [no worries, they were together!] and we lost Ray for a solid hour. After meeting up with Ray, we gave up on trying to battle our way back to the hostel until after the procession. I'm glad that we stayed because the procession was called "El Silencio" [The Silence]. They turned off all of the street lights and everyone stood in complete silence as the procession passed. All the penitents wore black and had chains connecting them to each other, so as they walked all you could here were the chains moving against the ground. The float was of Jesus on the cross. It was such a somber and dark move compared to the rest of the processions we saw. It was absolutely incredible, even if we had to deal with some very rude Spaniards all night.
Malaga [Days 6, 7, and 8]
By the time we got to Malaga, all of us were completely exhausted. Our hostel was really really nice, they had a nice little bar and they made dinner there every night. Since we were only there for one full day, I spent the day laying on the beach and soaking in the sun. Maybe a bit too much sun because I'm extremely sunburnt and I think I got a little sun sick...oops! I'm much better now, but I've got some pretty awesome tan lines right now.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Overall, Andalucia was absolutely amazing. If I couldn't have studied in Madrid, I definitley would've gone to Sevilla. As much as I enjoyed the trip, I definitely am planning on going back to Sevilla and Granada because I want to see what its like without all of the Semana Santa craziness going on.
This trip has got me thinking a lot about what I want to do after college, and its made me realize that I don't necessarily want to settle down in a high school or middle school right after college. There's still so much of the world that I want to see. So, I'm planning on talking to my coordinator about teaching English in Spain after I graduate. Who knows? Maybe it'll work out, maybe not, but I at least want to try!
Interested in seeing my pictures of Andalucia or the rest of the places I've been? Check out my shutterfly page: lavidamadrilenafotos.shutterfly.com
It's way easier than trying to get pictures on here or on facebook! I've got a lot of pictures to load so I'll be working on getting them all up within the week!
XOXO,
Kelsey
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