As some of you may know, becoming acclimated to the Spanish life has been difficult for me. I know it's selfish for me to say that I hate it here, because my host mom and I watch the news every night with pictures and video from Haiti; I know things could be worse. However, coming into a whole new study abroad situation has been harder than I thought. I would never trade the semester I spent in Ecuador, the friendships I made, the experiences or the fried guinea pig for anything. It's both difficult and frustrating that Ecuador and Spain are complete polar opposites, not even the Spanish is the same! And that, my friends, is what made me think about how terrible it would be if I left Spain and went back to Etown, or even Ecuador, for the semester.
The people in my BCA group in Ecuador were amazing and one-of-a-kind people, which has made the transition from a group of seven to twenty-seven hard. Not to mention my director in Ecuador was amazing...and I have found the complete opposite in my director here. I know, enough of the complaining, but only the people who have been in my situation understand the type of rock bottom I have hit. I have great friends here, in the states and in Ecuador this semester who have told me nothing but that "it will be all uphill from here." One of my close friends from Ecuador, who attends the University of Illinois in Champaign , who is obviously wiser than I thought, told me this: "Nothing compares to Ecuador, but this is a whole different experience that shouldn't compare, but compliment it."
So here starts my new life in Spain...
The first week of Spain was spent in a hotel that seemed not far from the university, about a 15-20 minute metro ride, or a 60-90 minute walk depending on how much you love Gaudí. The metro system in Barcelona is not only extremely convenient and easy, but also expensive. But the expensive aspect is something that I am beginning to learn about all of Europe. On Friday the 15th we met our host families over a cafecito, or a coffee for you English speakers. I wasn't as nervous as I was last time when I met my new host family in Ecuador, I feel like living with a new family for four months is a common and natural occurrence these days. So, my director called me in and there was Resu, short for Resurrecion (and yes, Aunt Mary, her name in English would be Resurrection). A spicy old lady, who is either 63 or 73 years old, I didn't quite understand. Any way, the first story this lady tells me is that the reason she doesn't like to host male students is because she likes to be "free" around her house. Excellent, because as my roommates at Etown would tell you, so do I! When my friends asked me about my host mom, I described her as a version of myself in 50 years. She's a gem. She loves to talk and doesn't think I speak Spanish very well...but only because she a) can't hear me or b) she is always talking and leaves no room for a little of my español. My host mom has a hearing problem, and when I mean hearing problem I mean that I can hear the television when I walk in the apartment building...we live on the third floor. On the bright side, when we do watch TV together I can hear and understand all of the Spanish. The stories go on an on about this lady...maybe after the little lady and I get a photo together I can devote an entire blog entry to her.
The second week of the Barca life was filled with a week of conversation, grammar and art history classes. Between classes, a friend of mine and I would walk to a nearby coffee shop called Buenas Migas (Good Crumbs). Not only do we love the delicious scones with imported jams but also the smoke free environment. I'm on the hunt for a Spanish boyfriend who works at Buenas Migas for the sole purpose that he can shower me with scones. Gold digger? I think not. On Friday, a couple chicas and I took a little adventure to the Sagrada Familia, a church that has been in the works since....forever. However, after our little adventure I learned that the date of completion has been set for 2050.
(The chicas from left to right: Shaira, Katie, Mattie, Ali, Lisa, Tracey and Alaina)
(apparently Gaudi´s biggest inspiration was nature, and the pilars reflect a type of tree in Barcelona)
(My main chica y yo, Tracey)
(And of course, I had to top off the day at the Sagrada Familia with an artsy fartsy photo of...fruit)
On Sunday, we left for Andalucia to visit Granada, Sevilla and Córdoba. And fourteen hours later we were in Granada and I have never been more happy to see something horizontal for me to sleep on; the bed and the pillows were heavenly.
(the view from our hotel. you can see the alhambraon the top of the mountain)
Our bus dropped us off and we were off on our "first art history class" with our teacher, Gustavo...who looks a little too much like Fidel Castro. Gustavo guided us down some street and all of a sudden we were at the vista looking at the Alhambra and the city of Granada.
After the vista, Gustavo guided us down the mountain to the very bottom of the Alhambra, while stopping along the way telling us about famous and mysterious apartments. At the bottom Gustavo let us have some "free time" which involved eating lunch and making our way back to the hotel. Because the BCA Barcelona program is so cheap, we got an alloted 50€ for "museum visits to do on our own." That´s funny becuase I would rather eat for a week than spend my 50€ on museums that I can google image and get the same satisfaction.
(Mom and Dad in 3 weeks will be riding segways...it may be almost as good as Aunt Sheilia and Uncle Phil on camels....)
So my friends and I opted on the cheapest way out...Burger King. We were tempted to stumble into the Hagen Daz, but had to remind ourselves that we were indeed broke.
Our next stop was the Alhambra...were Gustavo proceeded to tell us EVERYTHING that ANYONE has ever konwn about the Alhambra. Don´t get me wrong, the Alhambra is a great place to go, but looking at the same really cool walls and the same really cool architecture for three hours really isn´t my thing, I´d rather be rafting in the Amazon.
I´ll admit it, I did learn a thing or two at the Alhambra, Gustavo kept saying how they were afraid of empty walls, so the carvings, paintings, tile work and everything else cool was just like "Hollywood," it´s all fake. If you were to take one pilar away, it wouldn´t destory the structure because it isn´t weight bearing.
As you may notice in the pictures, things were a little cold at the Alhambra that day...and it didn´t help that the minute we started walking around the gardens it started to rain.
(One of my other main chicas, Mattie)
After we finally left the Alhambra we took our bus back to the hotel for some down time, and to warm up. For dinner, a couple of the girls and I went out for tapas and sangria. We had so much fun laughing and eating an endless amount of tapas. We even got free shots from the waiter which made the cold walk back to the hotel a little warmer.
The next day started out early, as we had to load all of our things on the bus to check-out. Our first stop was the Cartuja, a monestary....that is....famous?
As you can tell by the following pictures...Gustavo had a lot to talk about. He told us about the Barroco, I have no idea if this is the name in Spanish or English, influence on the churches and how we can tell the difference. Overall, I remember a church as Barroco if is is filled with unnecessary gold and different colors.
We headed back towards the center of Granada to the Catedral, or Cathedral. Again, Gustavo felt it was important to point out ALL of the Barroccain features, as well as discuss every single painting inside. What I found interesting that day were the giant Bibles. They were giant so that the congregation could read along. Why they couldn´t go to Kinko´s and make smaller copies for all of the members of the church, we´ll never know.
(Where´s Tracey?)
After lunch, we then loaded up the bus and headed for Sevilla, which was only a couple of hours away. For dinner, some of the girls and I headed out, again, for tapas and sangria.
On Wednesday, Gustavo took us to las ruinas, the ruins, of...the greeks?...the romans? (I should probably figure this out before I get tested on it.) This was my favorite part of our trip thus far. It was really cool to see where plays were put on and where the community gathered. Gustavo also showed us how some of people had reserved seats in the amphitheaters (which I finally learned how to spell correctly in English) and how theire name placards were still there; I´m not sure ticketmaster would call it legit, but Gustavo would.
Our next stop was the Palacio Real Alcazar, the palace of the king and queen of Sevilla...I think. I had been here before, as well as the Alhambra, during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. And I´m not gonna lie...I kinda liked it the first time around.
(Look! I found Aunt Mary and Aunt Nancy wondering through the streets of Sevilla!)
(The remains of Christopher Columbus)
Then we decided it was a good idea to walk to the top of the Torre, aka Bell Tower, and have a look of Sevilla.
We were then free for the afternoon to grab lunch and do some souvenir shopping. So, we headed to Starbucks, naturally. After lunch we did some souvenir shopping, were I bought my host-mom a flamenco-style apron for her to cook with while she dances...which is a whole different story for another entry. We then decided that we deserved the 2.50€ gelato. So worth it.
We then hopped on the bus and head to our next stop, Cordoba. When we arrived in Cordoba, Carmen told us that our hotel was "touching the Mezquita," and finally, she wasn´t lying, it was! Carmen also gave us some recomendations on dinner locations, and after we did some google-ing we decided Carmen was right. We headed to a great restaurant that was a Michelin winner or something like that, delicious!
The next day started our final day of touring...the Mezquita, but we had to start a little early because the Mezquita was hoting a meeting for the European Union, no big deal. The Mezquita, which is the Spanish word for Mosque, is a Mosque as well as a Catedral, so it was pretty intersting to see the mixtures of both.
(my two main chicas, Lisa and Mattie)
(the details were insane)
For our final day, Carmen and Gustavo graciously gave us the afternoon off. Our afternoon involved wandering through the streets of Sevilla in search of a medieval market that Carmen had told us about. Along the way, we found a real-life Pichnochio store!
And finally, we found the medieval market, which was SWEET. It felt just like a farmers market, but everyone was in medieval clothes, which obivously made it that much greater!
(Tracey and Lisa found Babe)
At the end of the day, and after some delicious goodies, Lisa and I shared a bratwurst which was delicious!
For dinner the girls and I headed to a nearby Moroccan restaurant for some tea and dinner and then we called it an early night. We loaded up the bus Saturday morning and headed back to Barcelona. We were all so happy to be back in Barelona, not to mention back to our beds and free meals!
To see all of the photos, check out the Flickr albums:
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