Going Down South

Wow what weekend! We had our last Emory excursion to Andalusia, the southern part of Spain. We saw three cities in four days. I was exhausted by Sunday! We went to Cordoba (stayed for a few hours), Granada (stayed a night), and Seville (stayed two nights). The weather, though not rainy, was FREEZING, which was unexpected for most people on the trip. Despite the weather, I had a wonderful time, and it was a great trip to have towards the end of the program.

Cordoba: Our first stop was Cordoba, and because we were on a tight schedule, we only stayed for a few hours. We walked around the city a bit, and we saw an incredible mosque/cathedral. The mosque was built in the 700s by the visigoths, but during La Reconquista, the Spanish Kings edited the building and transformed it into a Cathedral. It was massive, and it was really cool to see the mixture of Islam and Christianity mashed into one magnificent building.

The outside was a bit unexciting, but here's a picture of the interior of the mosque/cathedral.

Granada: Our next stop was Granada, which (fun fact) means pomegranate in Spanish. We got in around dinner time, so my friends and I enjoyed some traditional Middle-Eastern food typically found in Granada. It was so nice to eat something other than potatoes and eggs! I'm a bit tired of Spanish food, and although it was no Roman pasta, it hit the spot. After dinner, we went to a view point of the palace Alhambra lit up in the night. It took us a while, and we passed some creepy looking men wandering about, but we made it, safe and sound! The view was gorgeous, and my pictures don't even begin to give it justice.

We spent most of our Friday exploring the inside of the Alhambra, which was absolutely wonderful. It was freezing, but the palace and gardens were breathtaking because, like the mosque/cathedral in Cordoba, the palace had a mixture of Islamic and Christian influences. At the beginning we had a bit of an unfortunate circumstance, however. One of the girls on our trip got a little close to the edge of the pond and fell in, soaking herself completely! When our program director Carlos tried to help her, he got pulled in as well! They both had their phones, and the girl her purse, camera, and tablet. It was quite a scene, and they had to miss out on the rest of the tour to go dry off. I don't think that happens to frequently because the people who worked there looked alarmed and had no idea what to do! All in all, it was awful, but luckily they were okay!

Group picture at the Alhambra! (only half the group)

Seville: Our last two days were spent in Seville. On our trip, we saw the Plaza España, the cathedral, the view of Seville from the cathedral tower, and a flamenco show. I will skip talking about the cathedral because although it was gorgeous, the program directors made us walk around for over an hour and discuss all the details. On top of that, it's at least the seventh cathedral we've explored in depth. So onto the flamenco show! It was incredible! I've never seen anyones feet move so fast! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos. Both the female and male dancer wore traditional clothing (a suit for the man and a floor length, long sleeve dress and shall for the woman), and they danced separately. I can't believe they didn't die of heat up on the stage! It really was an amazing performance, and I would definitely see it again.

La Plaza España

Erica, me, and Neha at the top of the cathedral's tower.

As with most of my trips, I wish we had had more time to explore the city. I would have loved to study in Seville! It was so much bigger and more alive than Salamanca. I will have to go back when it's a bit warmer, and maybe I won't have a strict agenda to follow :).

When in Rome

I think one of my favorite trips so far was the trip I took to Rome with my friend Erica. Everything went so well during the trip! We saw my friend Rupert, ate delicious food, stayed in the most comfortable (and conveniently located) bed and breakfast, and we saw so many things even though we were only there for two full days.

Thursday night we got in quite late, so we stayed at Rupert's apartment for just the first night. So moving on to Friday.

Friday: Erica, Rupert, and I set out to explore a bit of Rome. Since Rupert is studying there, he knew of some cool churches to take us into and an AMAZING pizza place to eat lunch.

Rupert then left us to explore Vatican City on our own. At first it looked like Erica and I weren't going to have much luck with the rest of our day; The Sistine Chapel, though beautiful, was a little underwhelming and took less than an hour. We wanted to see St. Peter's Basilica afterwards, but a guide told us the Basilica was closed for the whole day.Then we were foolish and stopped for coffee in the Vatican (BAD IDEA) and ended up paying 5 and a half euros each for a small cup of coffee… However, our luck turned around because as we were leaving, we decided to take one last picture of the Basilica, and we realized it had reopened! Though the line was long, it moved quickly, and the inside of St. Peter's was well worth the wait! On top of that, we were surprised to learn that the Pope himself was giving mass! Though neither of us are Catholic, it was still really cool to accidentally be in the same room as the Pope! We even had a pretty good view of him, and it was cool to hear him speak (even though we couldn't understand).

Here's the Pope!

Me and Erica outside of St. Peters Basilica

Later that night, Erica and I met up again with Rupert, and we ate some more delicious food and saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the cat sanctuary (yes that's a real place) and the New Plaza all in one night! We had a great time walking all around Rome and seeing the different sights.

Me and Rupert outside the Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain! We made many wishes

Spanish students on the Spanish Steps!

Saturday: Erica and I once again met up with Rupert to do a tour of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. It was incredible! The Forum was massive, and we wandered around for a good two hours, taking tons of pictures. Then we headed over to the Colosseum. It was really amazing for me to see all these ruins, and I especially enjoyed going into them because I know little to nothing about Roman history. Now I feel like I can say I know something! That took a good bit of the day. We said goodbye to Rupert after lunch, and then Erica and I did some shopping and more eating.

The Roman Forum

Me and Erica inside the Colosseum

We met up with our friends Nikita and Lizzie and two of their friends for dinner. I swear, every meal was more delicious than the last. And we found a DELICIOUS gelato place that dips your gelato in chocolate. Oh my god. I thought I was going to die of happiness. Even though the dinner we had eaten had me STUFFED, I couldn't resist the cookie batter chocolate dipped gelato.

Sunday morning Erica and I woke up early to catch our flight. We were very sad to say goodbye. Rome was absolutely incredible, and I hope I can go back soon! One weekend was simply not enough.

Lisbon Loving

Two weeks ago, the Emory crew took us to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Wow it makes me wish I was studying there! It's a gorgeous city, and we had lots of free time to explore. The city itself has so many hills, and we did TONS of walking, so I definitely got my exercise for the weekend.

I thought it was funny that when we drove past the border, no one stopped us on the way in or out of Portugal. Imagine if that was in the case in the United States. That would never happen. It was also a bit of a shock when they people spoke because I kept forgetting that we weren't in Spain anymore, and they didn't speak Spanish! I tried to speak in Spanish, but the Portuguese actually preferred to speak to us in English over Castilian Spanish… So I didn't do too much Spanish practicing that weekend.

Lisbon has some incredible view points, too. Here are some pictures I took from the top of various mountains that we climbed.

We also saw some incredible monasteries. I know I sound lame when I say this, but the details of the architecture were amazing! I have never seen anything like these buildings. I wish we had some to show off in the U.S. Although I'm sure my program directors told us (sometimes they talk a bit too much), I don't know why this monastery is famous besides the fact that is huge and gorgeous. 

Below is a group photo inside the monastery!

Me with Sara and Carlos, two of the program directors

After we spent the day touring the monastery, we had some free time to ourselves. I went with my friends Tom, Erica, Nikita, Sarah, and Elena to a park a bit outside the center of the city. I was expecting a park with foliage and benches and paths, so it was a bit of a surprise when I realized it was actually an industrial park. It turned out to be fine, though, because we saw the most incredible view of the Vasco de Gama bridge (the longest bridge in Europe). We were there at sunset, so we watched the sun go down, and took tons of pictures. If you look really closely at the picture, you can see the bridge in the horizon.

Erica, Nikita, and me

I would love to go back, especially when it's a bit warmer, because there was so much more I would have liked to see. (Hint hint, mom ;))

Back to Madrid

Though I was technically in Madrid at the very beginning of my trip, I didn't have much time to really explore the city, so my friends Erica and Nikita and I went for a long weekend recently. We stayed in a hostel that was a little old and the mattress were hard, but we didn't get any bed bugs, and we had a great time, so all in all it was successful! It was weird because we stayed really close the hotel we had stayed at with Emory when we first landed in Spain back in August. Since we walked everywhere, we got to know our way around pretty well, so it was funny to see where our hotel was in context to all the landmarks. I can't believe I hadn't noticed before!

Madrid is so much bigger than Salamanca, so it was really nice to experience a bit of a big city. There are tons of museums, the royal palace, grand cathedrals, and the streets are way bigger. We went over a festival weekend, so there were tons of people out and about. Not to mention the weather was gorgeous! We really lucked out. Since it was a holiday, the museums we went to were free entry! And there was a military parade with the royal family, although there were so many people and I am so short that I only saw the top of people's heads. Here's a picture I managed to snap of someone waving the Spanish flag:

The museums we went to were the Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia, which were really cool. I liked the Reina Sofia much better, though, because the artwork was more modern and significantly less boring to look at, but it was cool to see some famous paintings in the Museo del Prado, too. We saw Las Meninas painted by Velazquez and some paintings by El Greco. Below is a picture of me with Erica standing in front of the museum. 

At the Reina Sofia, we saw lots of Dalí, Picasso, and Miró, which I appreciated a lot more. Below is a picture of Guernica by Picasso. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snapped one secretly, which is why it's a bit crooked. It's a famous painting depicting the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War by the Germans. It was especially interesting for me to see because I actually learned about it in my Spanish class, so it was nice to see it in person.

We walked around after out two hour siesta and managed to catch the sun setting in front of the cathedral of the royal palace. The photo below that is a picture of the royal palace from the back.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend, but it was nice to get back to Salamanca where I had my own room, free food, and cheaper ice cream. I hope I'll get to go back to Madrid soon, though, because I know there is so much more for me to see.

Exploring Spain

It's October! The weather is now in the 50s and 60s, and restaurants are putting up flyers about Halloween parties on the 31st. My host mom said that although there's no trick-or-treating here, there are so many American students that many bar and restaurants have adopted Halloween as a day to celebrate. How interesting! I don't think people dress up though... November first is a holiday here, and it's a day to remember the dead. Our program director told us it's a very solemn day, and people pay respect to their family members that have past away. They also do a lot of resting because they night before many of the young adults stay out till seven in the morning to celebrate Halloween. I won't be able to witness any of this first hand, though, because that's the weekend I'm traveling to Amsterdam, which I'm really excited about!

Speaking of trips, I've been on a few with the Emory group. A few weeks ago we visited Segovia and Avila, and we saw the old aqueduct in Segovia and the gigantic wall, muralla in Spanish, that surrounds the city of Avila. A highlight from the day was lunch in Segovia. Most of us ate a traditional meal, famous in Segovia. It was a cochinillo asado, or a roast suckling pig. The presentation of the food was just as crazy as the food itself! The waiter brought out the roasted big, complete with the head, and chopped it into pieces using a plate! Then, he took the plate and threw it on the ground. We each received chunks of the pig, and mine had a little ear and parts of the spine... yum.

View of Segovia

El cochinillo asado

Last weekend, I went with Emory to Galicia, the northern region of Spain. Galicia was so fun much! Although it was rainy the whole weekend, we had an awesome time eating fresh seafood and exploring different cities. We wine tasted at a vineyard and ate freshly caught mussels and shrimp on a boat in Sanxenxo. Here are pictures of the vineyard and the boat:

Above is the vineyard

Above is the boat ride and us enjoying the fresh mussels!

And here is a picture of our wonderful program directors! From the left: Sara, Maica, and Carlos

The second day of our trip, we traveled to Santiago, a city famous for the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral is an incredible building that marks the end of the Santiago pilgrimage. Our program director, Carlos, has actually walked a portion of the pilgrimage twice, and he told us about his experiences. Many pilgrims stay in rooms for free or for a low price in each town. They are given breakfast and sometimes they can clean their clothes, and they usually wake up around five to continue walking, stopping mid day in a new town. There are many different routes to take to get to Santiago, and each route is a different distance. The shortest route is 100 km and takes around 3 days. Here are pictures of the cathedral:

The front of the cathedral. 

Inside the cathedral. In the center is Santiago de Compostela, the saint the city is named after.

Carlos telling us about his own experiences while walking the pilgrimage.

 We had such a great time in Galicia, and I'm really looking forward to our next trip, which is October 25th, and we're going to Lisbon in Portugal.

Bulls, Books, and Body Building

I can't believe it's already the end of my third week in Salamanca! I've even had a test already (got an A). It was incredibly easy, though; We just had to identify similes and metaphors for the most part. I have a grammar test Wednesday, though, that I am a bit more stressed about. Hopefully I will do as well!

Last Friday I went to a bullfight. It was horrible! The matadors poke at the bull and stab it. In the end, the main matador kills it and cuts off its ears. Then two men on horses attach it to the horses and drag it around the ring. They do this with 6 bulls each night! My friends and I could only stay for two bulls. I asked my host mom about the bullfighting, and she said she enjoyed them! She understood why I wanted to leave, and although it's controversial even in Spain, it's incredibly popular in Salamanca. After the bull gets killed, everyone in the stadium stands up and waves a white handkerchief (or whatever wave-able white object they have). It was definitely interesting, but I have no desire to ever go back to one again.

Here are some pictures of the bullfighting. The bottom picture is of Erica, Amelia, and me standing outside the bullfighting ring.

The other day while I was on my run with my friends, we ran into some free workout equipment! At first glance it looks like a jungle gym, but really it's a place to work out your muscles! There are no weights, but most of them use your body resistance, so you actually feel like you're working something. We saw some old people working the machines, and they used them so normally that clearly this park is not abnormal to them. Of course, my friends and I thought they were hilarious and had a fun time trying them out and taking pictures.

The outside gym!

The other day Carlos, one of the program directors, and Sarah, the assistant director, gave us a tour around the old University of Salamanca. It was really lovely! We got to see some of the original classrooms and the library. The university was founded in the 1200s, so the building is incredibly old!

The old library in the university! Unfortunately, you can't walk around because they don't want anyone touching the antique books. We stood behind a glass window.

Here is the entrance to the university!

An old courtyard where they used to hold classes.