Alright family, apologies for my lack of journaling...
School is finally picking up, Spanish readings are running rampant, and it’s hard to find time to sit down and write about what I’m doing because there is so much going on! (In a good way.)
This past weekend we had an excursion to Andalucía which is Spain’s southern region. We left last Thursday morning and returned home Monday night. A quick recap of cities in order: Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla and Merida.
This trip was different from the others in that it was clearly the longest, 5 days and 4 nights—a vacation within a vacation, as well as the fact that I was sick sicky sick.. Not so great. Somehow I contracted a bad runnynose-congested-cough-weak-all-i-wanted-to-do-was-sleep-and-not-be-traveling-on-an-uncomfortable-bus-for-seven-plus-hours kind of sick, which John dubbed “The Plague.” So, for the five days that’s how it was referred to by the group gracias a John. Sucked for me, funny for everyone else. (I’ll be the first to admit that I wouldn’t have been first pick of hotel roommates on this trip.) Now, it's Wednesday, and about 5 people have my disease. So for the first day I was miserable and couldn’t really tell you much about what we saw in Granada. That night I went to the farmacia, told the farmatista my síntomas... And life got better with the medicína that she gave me. THANK GOODNESS!
Also thank goodness that we were in Granada for a second day, where we got to see La Alhambra and I got to semi-enjoy it minus all of the boxes of tissues I was going through during that time. La Alhambra is this enormous palatial-like fort that was built by the Muslims when they controlled the south of Spain...and then taken over in 1492 when the reyes catolicos took over... and in my opinion, the Arabs are where it’s at as far as cool things to see. It was dozens of beautiful gardens, fountains, and intricately designed walls in the highest part of Granada which overlooked the entire city. Needless to say, it was very impressive and I’ve never seen anything like it before. If you ever go to Spain, this is something you must see. (As well as Los Picos de Europa) Give yourself plenty of time because it takes about 2-3 hours to see it all---and another quick note--photographer’s paradise.
That night we went to dinner in a place up on the mountain and saw a Flamenco show over dinner. Those women can move their feet! The show was very intimidating because the dancers get into this weird mood and they look possessed because they are so involved with the music as they're dancing. After seeing it I decided that I prefer salsa and Latin style dancing myself, however it was quite a show…their dresses I wouldn’t mind! (In Granada we also saw where King Fernando and Queen Isabella now lay and another Cátedral and… something else, but I wasn’t feeling well so I really couldn’t tell you exactly... that’s so horrible I know, but we all have our days.)
The next day we went to Cordoba and saw the third largest Mosque in the world…it was cool because of its massive size, but other than that I really didn’t like this city very much. It was dirty, I was sick and to top it off... Jackie and I got lost and ended up in the ghetto which I was just informed today while watching the news that a building exploded in that same locatoin. Hmmmm, curioso, no? Wasn't my favorite place.
Next = Sevilla. Here’s where the story is. By this time I was feeling muuuuch better so I put on nice clothes, actually showered (don’t judge), went on a run around the outskirts of town and went for a sauna (we had a sweet hotel this time around.) Then, just my luck—it poured! We visited Reales Alcázares, an Arab garden, which was again, absolutely beautiful (even in the rain), and then saw La Catedral de Sevilla which was really very cool because that is the third largest Cathedral in the world (Vatican city, then one in London or France I think.. then in Sevilla!..Spain has a lot of 3rds) which where the body of Christopher Columbus (supposedly is.. they aren’t 100 percent sure that it’s his body) and this was ESPECIALLY cool because it was the 12 de Octubre which is the day he sailed the ocean blue in 1942! haha. If that wasn't a run-on sentence I don't know what was! We then climbed up 35 floors to the top of the bell tower that over looked the city! Alrighty, touristy group time was over by then and we had our “tiempo libre” and had the option of taking a bus back to our hotel or staying in Sevilla and getting another hotel bus later... By the time we got out of the church the rain had stopped and rumor was that there was a Starbucks close by…… SO you were right in guessing that I stayed.
Most important thing was first—hunt down the Starbucks and overload on caffeine. Jackie, Meredith and I all went. I had a tall black coffee and a muffin. Heaven, to say the least, I was so happy! Next, we found an outdoor art exhibit that was displayed via billboards so we walked and looked at all of those while drugged up on caffeine, wayyy to happy, and singing Christmas carols while other passer byers just stared. (I wish I could tell you that wasn't true.)Then we went shopping and walked through the neighborhoods of Sevilla which are known to be very beautiful. The sun was out by now and I saw a 1,000,001 beautiful things to take pictures of—(including 5 weddings (all at once) and their photo shoots—but of course my camera battery had dies on me, which it always does when something cool happens which is the other reason why I stayed in Sevilla rather than go back to the hotel because my battery was just about dead after seeing the cathedral and that is a big sign that cool/good things are about to happen—when you are with me anyway.) So our journey intented to be 2 hours became 9 hours because before we knew it, it was almost really late and we were stillllll walking around! By this time our feet hurt, we were getting a little low on stamina, and we decided to head for the corner of the city (huge city) that the hotel bus comes to. Well, it turned out that it took us much longer than expected to find that so at 10pm we gave up, stopped for food at the only place that we could find semi-close to the bus stop and got dinner… and wine. J After 2 bottles between the three of us, and more bread with garlic olive oil that one person should ever be allowed to consume, we paid.. Ended up with our 34yr. old waiter’s email address thanks to my giggly-ness (word?), and made it just in time to catch the hotel bus by 11:15…Hmmm. Once back, Jackie decided it would be a good idea for the 3 of us to get the bathing suits on and jump into the freezing, dirty, and closed outdoor pool. Yeah, that ended up being a not-so-good idea…but hey, carpe diem, no? Warmed up after that little experiencia with the sauna—much better idea. I slept really well that night…good for the sinuses.
On Monday we went to see old Roman ruins in Merida that included an amptheater (sp?) and a stadium where gladiators use to fight. The weather was great. It was sunny and about 85 degrees give or take, so being outside rather than inside of a church was a nice change.
In other news... This past week was the half way point of my 101 days. Scary to think that it has gone so fast…although I knew it would. I feel like I’ve just finally adjusted to everything to the point where I am actually living here rather than being really shocked or overly amused by everything I’m seeing, (which happens from time to time, but not nearly as much as the first three weeks) but now I’m just accepting it and going through the daily motions of life in Spain and its lovelinessJ.
So, mom and dad, thank you both a million times over for providing me with this opportunity... and to everyone else, namely grandma, grandpa, Didi, Steve and supportive friends (you know who you are!)—thank you! Sometimes I get so caught up in being here that I forget how lucky I am. Occasionally, more often than not, I have little moments that I wish I could bring all of you here with me with a snap of my fingers to enjoy everything with me. I have friends here too, but it’s not the same.
I can’t wait to go to Romania. That’s just about 3 weeks from now. Best part? I get to do it with Dana which is going to be such an experience I don’t even have words to tell you how excited I am for it! (Don’t worry mama, we won’t forget your birthday.. we will sing to you once we meet up in Amsterdam, and then probably again in Bucharest since you will make us call you when we land there too-- so be ready for the phone calls! Two birthday songs between 1 and 3 o’clock in the morning your time from your beloved daughters hehe... get excited!!)
Plans for this weekend... still deciding. If I’m feeling daring and tickets are cheap ---Strait of Gibraltar via train and Morocco via ferry. If I feel that I need to give myself a break from this psycho traveling then I’ll stay here in Salamanca which would be a first since early September. Money and train schedules are the two contributing factors to this equation… but then again, I’m a crazy person when it comes to traveling…yup. (Sorry grandma, I said that word again... actually I wrote it so it doesn’t count!)
Vamos a ver!
