So starting tomorrow spring break is officially over...sadness. Mom, dad and Noah came to visit me for my break and that was a lot of fun! They arrived the Wednesday before my break began and we spent the rest of the week and weekend in Madrid, with me playing a bit of tour guide and all of us exploring together. We went all over the city: to the Palacio Real, Prado, Reina Sofia, Parque Retiro, Sol, Plaza Mayor, etc etc. We had pretty nice weather while in Madrid so that was nice. Even sun for a few days (although that was majorly shortlived). Then, early Sunday morning we set off for Lisbon, Portugal!
Our journey to Lisbon was supposed to be quick and easy but towards the end of our flight the captain announced that we couldn't land in Lisbon for some unannounced reason and we didn't have enough fuel to hang around so we had to land in a city in the south of Portugal and then retake off and fly back to Lisbon. We later learned that the reason we couldn't land was because there was a dog on the runway and it took them forever to get it off! Oh, Portugal...
Once in Lisbon we settled into our hotel and kind of took it easy for the day. Typical of me, I got sick once my family arrived so I was trying to recover a bit. Lisbon is really beautiful, surrounded by ocean and mountains, but it is definitely not as modern a city as Madrid and it shows. It's a lot more run down and visibly old, which in some cases is beautiful but in other cases was kind of dirty...We spent our days walking around the city, attempting to find restaurants that suited all our tastes (some people in my family are picky eaters...*cough* Noah *cough*) and resting. We took an old trolley to Belem, along the coast and ate the famous desserts at the pastry shop there. Delicious!
One of the days we took a train to a tiny town about 40 minutes outside of Lisbon called Sintra. Sintra was absolutely beautiful! It was home to two palaces and an 8th century Moorish castle, along with tons of cute little shops and winding streets and outdoor cafes. We visited one of the palaces that was right in town - really beautiful. Then, after lunch, we took a scary bus ride up the windy hills to the castle, which was amazing! Old rock walls and towers snaked along the green hillsides overlooking Sintra and Lisbon and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. They really were breathtaking views.
After we wrapped up our stay in Portugal, we headed back to Madrid where we had once last night in the city before my family left ridiculously early the next morning for their long journey home. It was really nice to have them here - a little taste of home - and it's sad that they're gone now. But school is starting up again and things will quickly get back to their normal Madrid ways. This past weekend people started coming back from their trips so I had a fun and busy weekend with friends, and of course, homework avoidance.
Oh, quick new flash...not sure if you all read about the Greek cruise ship that sank last week, but two of my friends from the program were actually on board the ship! They're back in Madrid now, safe and sound, but sadly all of their things are now at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Glad to have them back safe though!
Alright I should finally get to my reading. Hasta luego!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Massive Update!
So this is officially the longest I've gone between posts. Ooops! Let me try and play catch up for a bit...Where did I leave off?
Things have been great. Incredibly busy, as the semester is starting to wind down which is nuts. Two weekends ago I went to Barcelona again with a few girls from the program and to see Jessica. I love that city (it actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco) so that was a lot of fun! We ventured by train to Figueres which is where the Dali Museum is and that was fantastic. We spent most of the day there just wandering around the exhibits and slightly exploring the tiny but charming town. The weather is Barcelona was wonderful, heaven compared to freezing Madrid. We also celebrated St. Patty's day there which was really fun (I got an awesome green guinness top hat from one of the bars)!
Once back, we had a quick half week of classes because early Thursday morning we left for our group trip to the north of Spain! It was a fantastic trip! We went by bus and our first stop was Bilbao to see the Guggenheim museum. Sadly, we had a bad guided tour which kind of ruined the museum for me, but it was still a very cool building. Then we continued on to San Sebastian which was by far my favorite stop on the trip. It was absolutely beautiful! And it was really rainy and gross out so I can't imagine how amazing it would be in the sunny, warm weather. Ha! We had the afternoon/night there so we explored the city and its nightlife and then the next day had a guided walking tour all around the city, from one end of the beach to the other and into the center, etc. It was a lot of walking but such a pretty city! We had lunch at a great restaurant at the top of a hill overlooking San Sebastian's bay. Amazing view!
From San Sebastian we took our bus to a tiny little town in the La Rioja region of Spain. The town was called Haro and was really small and quaint, with not a lot going on but it was a cute place. We stayed there overnight because it was close to the winery/wine museum we were visiting the next day. We went to a wine museum which was cool, but kind of a tease because I think most of us wanted to see the vineyards, wine cellars and taste the wine. Apparently we were supposed to have a wine tasting at the same place but something got messed up and we didn't end up getting to do that (which was VERY disappointing). So from there we drove to another small town for lunch at supposedly one of the best restaurants in Spain. It was in a really cool building, like someone's old house and the food was good and we more than made up for the lack of wine tasting because they just kept bringing us jugs and jugs of wine at the table. :-)
From there we went to our last overnight stop on the trip, Burgos. We stayed in a really nice hotel (as SC always puts us up in reallly nice hotels) and just relaxed there for a bit before venturing out into the cold (and snow!) at night. The town is really pretty, right on the river and really beautiful. But I think we were all ready to head back to Madrid after our whirlwind tour of the North!
The next day we stopped in Laguardia for lunch in a palace, which was really good and a nice ending to the trip and then we headed back to Madrid. It's still cold here and poured this morning but hopefully it will start to clear up and warm up because I'm MORE than ready for some sun! Tomorrow night my family comes!! I'm really excited for them to come and be able to show them the city and then Sunday morning we go to Portugal for a few days which I'm really excited about. Hopefully it will be warm/sunny there!!
Ok I think that's a lot of catch up for now...Hopefully I'll remember/have the time to write again soon!
Things have been great. Incredibly busy, as the semester is starting to wind down which is nuts. Two weekends ago I went to Barcelona again with a few girls from the program and to see Jessica. I love that city (it actually reminds me a lot of San Francisco) so that was a lot of fun! We ventured by train to Figueres which is where the Dali Museum is and that was fantastic. We spent most of the day there just wandering around the exhibits and slightly exploring the tiny but charming town. The weather is Barcelona was wonderful, heaven compared to freezing Madrid. We also celebrated St. Patty's day there which was really fun (I got an awesome green guinness top hat from one of the bars)!
Once back, we had a quick half week of classes because early Thursday morning we left for our group trip to the north of Spain! It was a fantastic trip! We went by bus and our first stop was Bilbao to see the Guggenheim museum. Sadly, we had a bad guided tour which kind of ruined the museum for me, but it was still a very cool building. Then we continued on to San Sebastian which was by far my favorite stop on the trip. It was absolutely beautiful! And it was really rainy and gross out so I can't imagine how amazing it would be in the sunny, warm weather. Ha! We had the afternoon/night there so we explored the city and its nightlife and then the next day had a guided walking tour all around the city, from one end of the beach to the other and into the center, etc. It was a lot of walking but such a pretty city! We had lunch at a great restaurant at the top of a hill overlooking San Sebastian's bay. Amazing view!
From San Sebastian we took our bus to a tiny little town in the La Rioja region of Spain. The town was called Haro and was really small and quaint, with not a lot going on but it was a cute place. We stayed there overnight because it was close to the winery/wine museum we were visiting the next day. We went to a wine museum which was cool, but kind of a tease because I think most of us wanted to see the vineyards, wine cellars and taste the wine. Apparently we were supposed to have a wine tasting at the same place but something got messed up and we didn't end up getting to do that (which was VERY disappointing). So from there we drove to another small town for lunch at supposedly one of the best restaurants in Spain. It was in a really cool building, like someone's old house and the food was good and we more than made up for the lack of wine tasting because they just kept bringing us jugs and jugs of wine at the table. :-)
From there we went to our last overnight stop on the trip, Burgos. We stayed in a really nice hotel (as SC always puts us up in reallly nice hotels) and just relaxed there for a bit before venturing out into the cold (and snow!) at night. The town is really pretty, right on the river and really beautiful. But I think we were all ready to head back to Madrid after our whirlwind tour of the North!
The next day we stopped in Laguardia for lunch in a palace, which was really good and a nice ending to the trip and then we headed back to Madrid. It's still cold here and poured this morning but hopefully it will start to clear up and warm up because I'm MORE than ready for some sun! Tomorrow night my family comes!! I'm really excited for them to come and be able to show them the city and then Sunday morning we go to Portugal for a few days which I'm really excited about. Hopefully it will be warm/sunny there!!
Ok I think that's a lot of catch up for now...Hopefully I'll remember/have the time to write again soon!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Halfway through...
Midterms are over!!! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief on Thursday afternoon after our last test (art history). The past week was hell, a lot of writing and studying all crammed into a few days. But it's over now and there's been a bit of time to relax. :-)
But the scary thing about that is that, ok, midterms are over, but that means the program is half gone as well! This semester has really flown by, it's crazy how fast it's going. This weekend I'm here in Madrid just relaxing, and it has been wonderful so far. Yesterday, I did absolutely nothing except for catch up on some American tv shows and read (which I haven't done since probably the first week I was here) so that was a nice little break. Today I'm waiting for lunch at home and then going to venture out to the park (because it's finally sunny! - although still kind of cold) and continue my search for cute flat shoes. Very productive I know.
Thursday, after midterms, those of us from my theater class that were still in town (a bunch of people left for their weekend trips early) went to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba at the theater. I had read and seen the play in high school (yay C.T.E) but the class had just finished reading it so it was a great way to make sure we all fully understood the script. Plus, the play was obviously in Spanish which was of course different from the version I saw. The play was great, I really enjoyed it. By far the best one we've seen here in Madrid so far. There were tons of American students in the audience, probably because almost everyone reads the play in a Spanish drama/literature/culture class so that was kind of a neat experience.
After the show, I went out to dinner with some of the girls in the program. Mexican food at the only good Mexican restaurant I've found in Spain so far. Yum! I do miss my L.A. Mexican food though. Then, we treated ourself to some churros con chocolate and tried to make it home before the metro closed.
As I said before, this semester is really flying by! I'm here this weekend, then next weekend I actually head to Barcelona again (I just can't stay away), then the weekend after that we have a group trip to the north of Spain. Then my family comes!! Yay! And it's spring break where I show them around for a few days and then we head to Portugal. Then it's April, basically the last month of our program and I'm here in Madrid for a few of the weekends and traveling to Amsterdam for one of them. :-) Craziness...
Alright well it's just about lunch time (I hope...) so I'm going to head off. More updates to come if something exciting happens!
Ciao!
But the scary thing about that is that, ok, midterms are over, but that means the program is half gone as well! This semester has really flown by, it's crazy how fast it's going. This weekend I'm here in Madrid just relaxing, and it has been wonderful so far. Yesterday, I did absolutely nothing except for catch up on some American tv shows and read (which I haven't done since probably the first week I was here) so that was a nice little break. Today I'm waiting for lunch at home and then going to venture out to the park (because it's finally sunny! - although still kind of cold) and continue my search for cute flat shoes. Very productive I know.
Thursday, after midterms, those of us from my theater class that were still in town (a bunch of people left for their weekend trips early) went to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba at the theater. I had read and seen the play in high school (yay C.T.E) but the class had just finished reading it so it was a great way to make sure we all fully understood the script. Plus, the play was obviously in Spanish which was of course different from the version I saw. The play was great, I really enjoyed it. By far the best one we've seen here in Madrid so far. There were tons of American students in the audience, probably because almost everyone reads the play in a Spanish drama/literature/culture class so that was kind of a neat experience.
After the show, I went out to dinner with some of the girls in the program. Mexican food at the only good Mexican restaurant I've found in Spain so far. Yum! I do miss my L.A. Mexican food though. Then, we treated ourself to some churros con chocolate and tried to make it home before the metro closed.
As I said before, this semester is really flying by! I'm here this weekend, then next weekend I actually head to Barcelona again (I just can't stay away), then the weekend after that we have a group trip to the north of Spain. Then my family comes!! Yay! And it's spring break where I show them around for a few days and then we head to Portugal. Then it's April, basically the last month of our program and I'm here in Madrid for a few of the weekends and traveling to Amsterdam for one of them. :-) Craziness...
Alright well it's just about lunch time (I hope...) so I'm going to head off. More updates to come if something exciting happens!
Ciao!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Midterm Avoidance
It's that dreaded week again: midterms. Lovely USC Madrid scheduled all of our midterms in the same week, and yet we still have our normal class schedule as well, so it's going to be a bit of a hectic week. I had a paper due today for my theater class (in spanish of course) so at least that's out of the way, but still three more tests to go! Two on Wednesday and one on Thursday. But then I'm done :-)
This past week was relatively uneventful, as I spent most of it sick at home. :-( But now I'm feeling much better, so at least it was worth it. On Friday we had a group day trip to El Escorial, a royal palace built by Felipe II about an hour away from Madrid. It's in a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains which still have snow on them and lavish gardens. The palace itself is very dark and gloomy though. Felipe II was a very Catholic king and wanted to show the citizens of Spain that even the king lives by Catholic principles, which apparently meant his palace had to be cold and dark. There were tiny windows and big stone walls, and although lots of magnificent artwork, not enough light to appreciate it with. There was, however, a very cool library (with almost all of the original books!) that was beautifully decorated and lavish in contrast to the rest of the building.
On Saturday, frustrated with my theater paper, I left and met up with a few girls to explore more of Madrid. It is finally sunny and (slightly) warmer so we walked ALL around the city for hours, exploring parts we hadn't gotten to yet. It was definitely nice to see more of the city, instead of traveling from freezing point A to freezing point B underground on the Metro. Saturday night we celebrated one of the girl's birthdays on the trip. We started at this restaurant/bar/hookah spot near her homestay which was really fun and different and then of course the big group split up and my part headed to the university area to check out some of the cheaper bars. It was a fun night!
Today I am avoiding studying for my tests (as always) and trying to figure out my plans for after the program ends. Planning travel is always very stressful for me. Anyway, just a quick catchup to a slightly uneventful week. This weekend I'm in Madrid again (taking a break from traveling for a few weeks) so I'm sure I'll find time to post soon!
This past week was relatively uneventful, as I spent most of it sick at home. :-( But now I'm feeling much better, so at least it was worth it. On Friday we had a group day trip to El Escorial, a royal palace built by Felipe II about an hour away from Madrid. It's in a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains which still have snow on them and lavish gardens. The palace itself is very dark and gloomy though. Felipe II was a very Catholic king and wanted to show the citizens of Spain that even the king lives by Catholic principles, which apparently meant his palace had to be cold and dark. There were tiny windows and big stone walls, and although lots of magnificent artwork, not enough light to appreciate it with. There was, however, a very cool library (with almost all of the original books!) that was beautifully decorated and lavish in contrast to the rest of the building.
On Saturday, frustrated with my theater paper, I left and met up with a few girls to explore more of Madrid. It is finally sunny and (slightly) warmer so we walked ALL around the city for hours, exploring parts we hadn't gotten to yet. It was definitely nice to see more of the city, instead of traveling from freezing point A to freezing point B underground on the Metro. Saturday night we celebrated one of the girl's birthdays on the trip. We started at this restaurant/bar/hookah spot near her homestay which was really fun and different and then of course the big group split up and my part headed to the university area to check out some of the cheaper bars. It was a fun night!
Today I am avoiding studying for my tests (as always) and trying to figure out my plans for after the program ends. Planning travel is always very stressful for me. Anyway, just a quick catchup to a slightly uneventful week. This weekend I'm in Madrid again (taking a break from traveling for a few weeks) so I'm sure I'll find time to post soon!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Flamenco and Florencia
So once again it's been quite a while since I've written. Maybe this will turn into a once a week type of thing...
This past week was hectic and fun as usual. Classes are really picking up (we have midterms next week, ah!) and I'm struggling to keep up with all the reading as always. But...this past weekend I went to Florence with Jessica to see Bekah which was amazing! It was so wonderful to see friends from home and explore Italy (which is absolutely wonderful).
Oh, before I get into my Italy trip...last Thursday my program organized a trip to a Flamenco show for all of us, which was so cool! It was in this old taberna and featured a 5-piece band (2 guitarists, a drummer and two vocalists) and two dancers. The show was great! I loved the guitarists, I still can't believe how fast they played and they way the just improvised these incredible pieces. Dad, you would have loved it! The dancers were also amazing. There was a man and a woman who danced together at first and then the woman had a solo and then the guy got to dance on his own also. They were both very talented, but very different dancers. The woman was so passionate, it looked like she was in pain while she was moving and the guy was smiling and looked like he was having a lot of fun up there, so for me that was a little more enjoyable to watch (although I know Flamenco is often a very serious, somber dance).
Anyway, so that ended late and I had to get a cab at 5 am in order to catch my 6:30 am flight. Woo hoo! I met Jessica in Milan, where we flew together to Florence. From the airport, we took a cab to our hostel (Leonardo House). It was basically this guy's house which he had converted into a hostel with a few rooms and a couple bathrooms. He was really nice and helpful and the place was clean and in a great location, so we lucked out. Yay hostelworld.com haha. Bekah was spending the day in Sienna with her mom who was in town to visit so Jessica and I spent the day wandering the city. We climbed the Duomo (all 500 steps!) to see the gorgeous view of Florence. The climb was intense, with tiny and narrow spiral staircases that wound up forever and considering they were all open and I'm terrified of heights, I'd say it was quite an accomplishment. The view was beautiful. Florence is so pretty with its red rooftops and sprawling hills. And small enough so that you can see it all at once! After our climb, Jessica and I treated ourselves to a really yummy lunch on Piazza de Republica. I LOVE Italian food! I could eat pizza, pasta and gelato forever. Not kidding. After lunch we wandered around for a bit more and then napped (much needed) and then finally met up with Bekah and her mom for dinner. Dinner was again, wonderful. We joked how our days just revolved around food...you kind of do things in between meals but it's really all about the food. Haha. After dinner, we went back and saw Bekah's dorm (which is so cute!) and then went out for the night. Florence night life was really fun, although it's weird because there are SO many Americans. You seriously hear more English than Italian on the streets. We ended up at a club (with no cover charge...amazing!) that was actually playing American music. Yesss!
Saturday was another busy day. We went and got coffee (sooo good) and then got in line to see Michaelangelo's David. The line moved quickly and the statue was magnificent. It was such the opposite experience from when I saw the Mona Lisa last summer (I was really underwhelmed). The statue was bigger and more beautiful than I thought. We just sat and looked for a while, taking it all in. We then wandered around for a while, touring the open-air market and the old bridge and then ducked back to the hostel before it started to really rain. Dinner was incredible (how could it not be...) and then Saturday night was fun as well, although I was starting to feel really sick so we made it a relatively early night.
Sunday was a really long day of traveling (they cancelled my flight and had to reroute me around for a few hours) but now I'm back in Madrid. Sadly, all my weeks of fighting really hard to not get sick failed and now I'm sick. :-( Hopefully my many medicines I stocked up on before I came here will help!
Anyway I must get to the homework I did not do today while I was searching for a doctor's office. Hope everything is great back at home!
Adios!
This past week was hectic and fun as usual. Classes are really picking up (we have midterms next week, ah!) and I'm struggling to keep up with all the reading as always. But...this past weekend I went to Florence with Jessica to see Bekah which was amazing! It was so wonderful to see friends from home and explore Italy (which is absolutely wonderful).
Oh, before I get into my Italy trip...last Thursday my program organized a trip to a Flamenco show for all of us, which was so cool! It was in this old taberna and featured a 5-piece band (2 guitarists, a drummer and two vocalists) and two dancers. The show was great! I loved the guitarists, I still can't believe how fast they played and they way the just improvised these incredible pieces. Dad, you would have loved it! The dancers were also amazing. There was a man and a woman who danced together at first and then the woman had a solo and then the guy got to dance on his own also. They were both very talented, but very different dancers. The woman was so passionate, it looked like she was in pain while she was moving and the guy was smiling and looked like he was having a lot of fun up there, so for me that was a little more enjoyable to watch (although I know Flamenco is often a very serious, somber dance).
Anyway, so that ended late and I had to get a cab at 5 am in order to catch my 6:30 am flight. Woo hoo! I met Jessica in Milan, where we flew together to Florence. From the airport, we took a cab to our hostel (Leonardo House). It was basically this guy's house which he had converted into a hostel with a few rooms and a couple bathrooms. He was really nice and helpful and the place was clean and in a great location, so we lucked out. Yay hostelworld.com haha. Bekah was spending the day in Sienna with her mom who was in town to visit so Jessica and I spent the day wandering the city. We climbed the Duomo (all 500 steps!) to see the gorgeous view of Florence. The climb was intense, with tiny and narrow spiral staircases that wound up forever and considering they were all open and I'm terrified of heights, I'd say it was quite an accomplishment. The view was beautiful. Florence is so pretty with its red rooftops and sprawling hills. And small enough so that you can see it all at once! After our climb, Jessica and I treated ourselves to a really yummy lunch on Piazza de Republica. I LOVE Italian food! I could eat pizza, pasta and gelato forever. Not kidding. After lunch we wandered around for a bit more and then napped (much needed) and then finally met up with Bekah and her mom for dinner. Dinner was again, wonderful. We joked how our days just revolved around food...you kind of do things in between meals but it's really all about the food. Haha. After dinner, we went back and saw Bekah's dorm (which is so cute!) and then went out for the night. Florence night life was really fun, although it's weird because there are SO many Americans. You seriously hear more English than Italian on the streets. We ended up at a club (with no cover charge...amazing!) that was actually playing American music. Yesss!
Saturday was another busy day. We went and got coffee (sooo good) and then got in line to see Michaelangelo's David. The line moved quickly and the statue was magnificent. It was such the opposite experience from when I saw the Mona Lisa last summer (I was really underwhelmed). The statue was bigger and more beautiful than I thought. We just sat and looked for a while, taking it all in. We then wandered around for a while, touring the open-air market and the old bridge and then ducked back to the hostel before it started to really rain. Dinner was incredible (how could it not be...) and then Saturday night was fun as well, although I was starting to feel really sick so we made it a relatively early night.
Sunday was a really long day of traveling (they cancelled my flight and had to reroute me around for a few hours) but now I'm back in Madrid. Sadly, all my weeks of fighting really hard to not get sick failed and now I'm sick. :-( Hopefully my many medicines I stocked up on before I came here will help!
Anyway I must get to the homework I did not do today while I was searching for a doctor's office. Hope everything is great back at home!
Adios!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tour al Sur!!
Just got back to Madrid from a whirlwind tour of the south of Spain. During the program, USC has organized two entire group tours of other parts of Spain, and last Wednesday we set out for the south of Spain. The trip was incredible! We spent two nights in Sevilla, two nights in Granada, and just a few hours in Cordoba on the way back up to Madrid. Each of the cities were distinct and absolutely beautiful, filled with reminders of Spain's history and the years of Muslim control of much of Spain.
Our first stop, Sevilla, was my favorite of the trip. The city is a strange mix of modern and old, but it seems to work. On our first day there, we took a bus tour of the city. Our guide explained that the city has changed a lot in recent years because it hosted an Iberian American Exhibition in 1929 and a World's Fair (i think) in 1992. So the city is filled with pavillions built by each country represented in the Iberian American Exhibition and then also with modern looking structures (like bridges and arenas) for the more recent exhibition. After our bus tour, we stopped in the Juderia, the old Jewish neighborhood from before the Spainish Inquisition. This part of town has maintained its old world feeling, with tiny streets and whitewashed houses with potted plants spilling off the balconies. From there, we walked to the Cathedral, which is one of the most beautiful things I've seen on my trip so far. The current Cathedral was built in the same spot as Sevilla's old mosque and some of the mosque's features have been preserved (like the orange tree filled patio and the minaret). We took a tour of the inside and then climbed the 41 floors to the top of the minaret for spectacular views of the city. So beautiful!
After a group lunch (meals on the trip were paid for by the program so that was fabulous), we were given some free time which most of us used to nap because we had to be at the train station ridiculously early that morning. Then it was time to explore Sevilla's nightlife. The city has a large university so there are a lot of students and a lively nightlife. It was one of my favorite nights out!
Our second day in Sevilla, we took a bus to the site where Columbus set sail for the Americas. We visited the monastery where he sought support and then got to play on replica's of his boats. It was a fun excursion, although we had one of the grumpiest tour guides ever. We got back to Sevilla just in time for another fun night out and then early the next morning, we set out for Granada.
When in Granada, we toured the old part of the city up on the hill, just at the foot of Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. From there we got an incredible view of the Alhambra and got to soak up some sun at the lookout point. We saved our Alhambra tour for the next day, which was a bit unfortunate because the next day, the temperature dropped about 40 degrees and rained consistently, so the Alhambra trip was a bit miserable. However, it was still breathtakingly beautiful with its manicured gardens, fountains and beautiful architecture. I think I'm going to need to go back when it's sunny though to really appreciate it fully.
After two exhausting days and nights in Granada, we took a bus to Cordoba where we toured the Mosque (in which is housed a Catholic cathedral because they didn't want to fully destroy the mosque). It's a beautiful city, but I think we were all tired and ready to get "home" to Madrid so we didn't spend as much time there as we could have.
Sadly, it was not a good technology weekend for me. I stupidly dropped my camera and it broke right before we visited the Alhambra so from that point on, I don't have any pictures to share. :-( However, I'll be sure to steal some of my friend's pictures and try and post those. Haha. Also, my phone just decided to stop working so sorry if I don't keep up with my phone calls or return messages for a few days.
Anyway, hopefully I'll get those things fixed soon...hope everything is well in the states! I need to get back to my reading. :-)
Hasta luego!
Our first stop, Sevilla, was my favorite of the trip. The city is a strange mix of modern and old, but it seems to work. On our first day there, we took a bus tour of the city. Our guide explained that the city has changed a lot in recent years because it hosted an Iberian American Exhibition in 1929 and a World's Fair (i think) in 1992. So the city is filled with pavillions built by each country represented in the Iberian American Exhibition and then also with modern looking structures (like bridges and arenas) for the more recent exhibition. After our bus tour, we stopped in the Juderia, the old Jewish neighborhood from before the Spainish Inquisition. This part of town has maintained its old world feeling, with tiny streets and whitewashed houses with potted plants spilling off the balconies. From there, we walked to the Cathedral, which is one of the most beautiful things I've seen on my trip so far. The current Cathedral was built in the same spot as Sevilla's old mosque and some of the mosque's features have been preserved (like the orange tree filled patio and the minaret). We took a tour of the inside and then climbed the 41 floors to the top of the minaret for spectacular views of the city. So beautiful!
After a group lunch (meals on the trip were paid for by the program so that was fabulous), we were given some free time which most of us used to nap because we had to be at the train station ridiculously early that morning. Then it was time to explore Sevilla's nightlife. The city has a large university so there are a lot of students and a lively nightlife. It was one of my favorite nights out!
Our second day in Sevilla, we took a bus to the site where Columbus set sail for the Americas. We visited the monastery where he sought support and then got to play on replica's of his boats. It was a fun excursion, although we had one of the grumpiest tour guides ever. We got back to Sevilla just in time for another fun night out and then early the next morning, we set out for Granada.
When in Granada, we toured the old part of the city up on the hill, just at the foot of Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains. From there we got an incredible view of the Alhambra and got to soak up some sun at the lookout point. We saved our Alhambra tour for the next day, which was a bit unfortunate because the next day, the temperature dropped about 40 degrees and rained consistently, so the Alhambra trip was a bit miserable. However, it was still breathtakingly beautiful with its manicured gardens, fountains and beautiful architecture. I think I'm going to need to go back when it's sunny though to really appreciate it fully.
After two exhausting days and nights in Granada, we took a bus to Cordoba where we toured the Mosque (in which is housed a Catholic cathedral because they didn't want to fully destroy the mosque). It's a beautiful city, but I think we were all tired and ready to get "home" to Madrid so we didn't spend as much time there as we could have.
Sadly, it was not a good technology weekend for me. I stupidly dropped my camera and it broke right before we visited the Alhambra so from that point on, I don't have any pictures to share. :-( However, I'll be sure to steal some of my friend's pictures and try and post those. Haha. Also, my phone just decided to stop working so sorry if I don't keep up with my phone calls or return messages for a few days.
Anyway, hopefully I'll get those things fixed soon...hope everything is well in the states! I need to get back to my reading. :-)
Hasta luego!
Monday, February 12, 2007
One Month Down!
So apparently I fail at updating this regularly...sorry! This past week was fabulous, with classes, nights out and a last minute weekend trip to Barcelona!
Classes are going well. It's crazy to think that we're already prepping for midterms. Wednesday it will be one month since I left, which is just crazy to think about. It's gone so fast! I've been doing a ton of reading for my literature classes, some of which I understand, some of which I don't. Oh well. On Wednesday we went to see another play for my theater class, this one called "El arquitecto y el relojero" (The architect and the clockmaker). It was a two person play centering on the theme of whether or not to preserve Spain's somewhat tumultuous recent history (Civil War, Franco, etc). The idea of it was interesting and I think if I had read the script, I would have liked it much more, but it was a ton of dialogue (because only two people...) and I couldn't understand all of it. So basically we were sitting there a bit bored and confused for two hours. Oh well, hopefully we'll be seeing a few good plays this semester! Haha. Art history is still going really well. I really wish I had taken something like this before, but I think part of why I like the class is first of all because of the teacher and secondly because we talk about all these styles, etc and then get to go see the actual thing the next class! So it really sinks in...
Anyway, enough about school. On Thursday night, I left with a couple girls from the program to Barcelona!! It was a last minute decision, but after I found out that Jessica (friend from high school) was going to be in town that weekend, I had to go. We did a whirlwind tour of the city during the two full days we had there, seeing everything from Gaudi's famous building to parks to shopping to yummy coffees on Las Ramblas. I love Barcelona! It's such a bustling city, but it really has an old world feel with its amazing architecture and laid back attitude. Plus, it has a beach! Sadly it wasn't warm enough to lay in the sand. Maybe later in the year...Anyway after our long days of tourism we unwound at some very cool bars. We went to one called The Fairy Bar, which had incredible decorations of an enchanted forest. So cool! (Check out my pictures to see.) I also got to go out with Jessica and her friends, which was fun to see how her program is working out and who she's met there. And always nice to see a friend from home :-)
Anyway this week is a short one (only two days of classes!) because early Wednesday morning the USC program is taking us all to the south of Spain. We are going to Sevilla for a few nights, then Granada and then Cordoba. I'm so excited because I've never been there and it sounds amazing (and also, I have to admit, because it's going to be warmer there...I'm over the cold weather). We have a pretty busy schedule, with tours, museums and meals (paid for by SC...yes!) but also some free time to explore so that should be nice.
I must get back to my art history reading, but I'll try and post more regularly. I don't know what my internet situation is going to be on our trip, but if I get a chance I'll keep you updated. I hope you are enjoying reading about my travels! :-)
Love from Spain!
Classes are going well. It's crazy to think that we're already prepping for midterms. Wednesday it will be one month since I left, which is just crazy to think about. It's gone so fast! I've been doing a ton of reading for my literature classes, some of which I understand, some of which I don't. Oh well. On Wednesday we went to see another play for my theater class, this one called "El arquitecto y el relojero" (The architect and the clockmaker). It was a two person play centering on the theme of whether or not to preserve Spain's somewhat tumultuous recent history (Civil War, Franco, etc). The idea of it was interesting and I think if I had read the script, I would have liked it much more, but it was a ton of dialogue (because only two people...) and I couldn't understand all of it. So basically we were sitting there a bit bored and confused for two hours. Oh well, hopefully we'll be seeing a few good plays this semester! Haha. Art history is still going really well. I really wish I had taken something like this before, but I think part of why I like the class is first of all because of the teacher and secondly because we talk about all these styles, etc and then get to go see the actual thing the next class! So it really sinks in...
Anyway, enough about school. On Thursday night, I left with a couple girls from the program to Barcelona!! It was a last minute decision, but after I found out that Jessica (friend from high school) was going to be in town that weekend, I had to go. We did a whirlwind tour of the city during the two full days we had there, seeing everything from Gaudi's famous building to parks to shopping to yummy coffees on Las Ramblas. I love Barcelona! It's such a bustling city, but it really has an old world feel with its amazing architecture and laid back attitude. Plus, it has a beach! Sadly it wasn't warm enough to lay in the sand. Maybe later in the year...Anyway after our long days of tourism we unwound at some very cool bars. We went to one called The Fairy Bar, which had incredible decorations of an enchanted forest. So cool! (Check out my pictures to see.) I also got to go out with Jessica and her friends, which was fun to see how her program is working out and who she's met there. And always nice to see a friend from home :-)
Anyway this week is a short one (only two days of classes!) because early Wednesday morning the USC program is taking us all to the south of Spain. We are going to Sevilla for a few nights, then Granada and then Cordoba. I'm so excited because I've never been there and it sounds amazing (and also, I have to admit, because it's going to be warmer there...I'm over the cold weather). We have a pretty busy schedule, with tours, museums and meals (paid for by SC...yes!) but also some free time to explore so that should be nice.
I must get back to my art history reading, but I'll try and post more regularly. I don't know what my internet situation is going to be on our trip, but if I get a chance I'll keep you updated. I hope you are enjoying reading about my travels! :-)
Love from Spain!
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