Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Rain in Spain falls Mainly on the Plain

Well, it rained in Sevilla yesterday. For the first time. Literally, it rained the day we arrived and hadn't rained since, and it POURED yesterday.  I got up for class and had to walk the 2 miles or so to the university with rain attacking me from all angles and wind making it difficult to hold onto my umbrella. When I arrived in class (with my hair going crazy and my keds, socks, and jeans soaked up to my knees, i might add), everyone looked rather raggamuffin like.  It was actually funny. No one knows how to handle the rain! A good third of the class arrived late, and pretty much everyone was soaked. It was so weird. It does not rain here. But oh wait! It's supposed to rain again on Thursday. Is that a sign of winter actually arriving? And by winter, I mean that the high temps for the week are all in the low 70s.  Anywho, I'll miss that rain by running of to Istanbul! I probably will have to walk through 2 miles of it with my super-cool backpack to get to the bus that goes to the airport, but I'll worry about that when the time comes!!

So, the past 2 weeks have been crazy, but great! And filled with Lanners love. Last 2 weeks ago on Tuesday, my friend Joan and I left Sevilla on a midnight bus to Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal.  That was an intriguing adventure, being that the bus was your typical greyhound style and the ride was about 7.5 hours long. The bus also arrived in the Sevilla bus station 45 minutes late (making some little American girls worry!).  As soon as we crossed the border into Portugal (no customs, passport check, nada, because we're travelling within the European Union), the bus driver began to speak ONLY in Portuguese. It's a particularly crazy sounding language, and it sounds nothing like Spanish. In any case, we made it to Lisboa after a bad nights sleep on a bus, a metro ride through the early morning (still dark outside), and a bit of searching. We couldn't check in to our hostel at 7:30, but they did kindly let us have some of their homemade breakfast: a choice of scrambled eggs and toast or 2 crepes with nutella. No joke, best breakfasts ever. So after some nutella and crepes, Joan and I headed to see the old town of Lisboa, fondly known as Belem.

Belem is known for it's pastries. So after nutella crepes and a trolly ride to Belem, we ate the best pastry ever. It's filled with a creamy inside (almost like creme brulee, but not) and is fantastic. We then went to the monastery and church in Belem, which are both BEAUTIFUL. Very awesome. Joan and I both have a thing for touring churches and cathedrals. That's what happens when you put a Catholic and a religion major together!  We then checked out the Discovery of the America's monument (pretty cool, and coincidentally shaped like a cross from one angle), and climbed a tower.  For lunch, we found ourselves eating hamburgers and fries. Now before you think we were being typical Americans, I might add that we were NOT. This hamburger was made of pork and the fries were cooked in olive oil, all very Spanish (and Portuguese, apparently) takes on a very American meal. And we knew that. So you know you're a fake Spaniard when you start craving the Spanish version of an American food.

That night, Joan and I went to a very typical Portuguese restaurant with ZERO tourists. That means lots of delicious, fresh fish for very cheap. It also means no English or Spanish is spoken.  But, we learned very quickly that if we speak in Spanish, the Portuguese completely understand us. The problem? We have no idea what they say back to us in Portuguese. It made for an interesting dynamic throughout Portugal, but we were able to communicate!

The next day, we headed to Evora, a small town with little bits of cool history on a small scale. There's some Roman ruins (pretty cool, but small scale), a pretty church (or 2 or 3), and a chapel lined completely with BONES. Yes, apparently Portuguese monks used to meditate in the bones chapel, which reminded them of their mortality.

On Friday, after a visit to the Cathedral of Lisbon, we moved out of our hostel and found MY PARENTS! Yay!  Mom and Dad arrived in Lisbon on Friday. We had lunch, they took a nap, and Joan and I climbed up a mountain to see Lisbon's castle.  The directions we were given to see the castle included, "Walk up the mountain. Just keep going, and you'll find your way there!" Which actually worked...with a few moments of doubt.

Saturday, the whole happy family (Joan included) went to Sintra, a town about 40 minutes from Lisbon that used to be a popular summer destination for the wealthy of Lisboa. For that reason, you've got an awesome castle, a palace, a palace on top of a mountain, and another palace from some random rich guy. It's definitely a cool town (almost more to do there than in Lisbon!) and we had a lovely day!

The next day, Joan and I headed home on another long bus, while Mom and Dad took in the sights of Lisbon.  They flew into Sevilla on Monday, and I began a whirl-wind 3 days of classes, normal activities, writing a paper, and hanging with my 'rents in my current home: Sevilla.  They got to come meet my host family and see the house, which was really funny. Pechi, my host-mom, doesn't speak a word of English, but insisted on serving wine and cheese to my parents. We had a lovely conversation that involved me translating everything for Pechi and my parents. It was really nice and really sweet.

By Wednesday evening, though, I was on a plane with my parents to Bilbao! Bilbao is in northern spain in el Pais Vasco, aka Basque country.  the Basque Country has a really different vibe from Sevilla and southern Spain, and it was cool to see the difference. First thing I noticed: super-clear Spanish. The taxi driver and I chatted about it, and he through a little jab at Sevilla, saying that they talk like they have a mouth filled with marbles. (I found similar jabs from other people...like, "Oh, you study in Sevilla? Your Spanish must be REALLY good if you can understand them!") Bilbao also just has a different feeling. For one, it was cold, and for another it's more of an industrial city, but filled with cool modern art...and the Guggenheim museum. Apparently the Guggenheim really revitalized Bilbao, so modern art is prevalent in the city.  The museum is really cool...it's an architectural wonder of a building. And the inside is cool, but filled with modern art....not really my favorite.

With recommendations from a family friend on things to do, we went in search of Pintxos in Bilbao. What are pintxos? Well, we had no idea. Mom was determined that they were some sort of apartment. I was determined she was wrong. :) They ended up being the Euskeran (Basque language) word for tapas!  But it's a bit different. You walk into a bar that has about 15 plates lined up all along the bar. Each plate is filled with little pre-made tapas. You ask for your own plate, and just grab what you want, then pay later!  They're all cold, but still pretty good. I think I prefer the tapas of Andalusia, but I definitely did enjoy them.

After Bilbao, we headed to San Sebastian, a beautiful beach town near Bilbao.  We had a hotel (we think it actually might have been a hostel) in the middle of the Plaza de la Constitucion in the heart of the old town, which was a really great location.  The hotel/hostel was TINY though. It was funny having the 3 of us try to maneuver around the beds and constantly running into things. San Sebastian really was beautiful though. Beautiful churches, beautiful beaches, a funicular, a castle, and even a Jesus statue on top of the castle!  We also went to a cool museum on Basque history. There's definitely alot of Basque pride in Northern Spain, and we all noted that the museum seemed to scream, "BASQUE COUNTRY IS GREAT AND FILLED WITH CULTURE! DON'T DOUBT IT!"

In any case, it was interesting to learn about some of Basque history. I would've liked to have heard a bit more of modern political Basque history, but I think it's still a relatively fresh subject--ETA, the terrorist Basque political group still exists, and there are definitely still people wanting independence from the rest of Spain.

On a side note, the Basque language is crazy! The taxi driver in Bilbao told me that it doesn't come from Latin, so that's why it's so different from Spanish.  Apparently it was around before the Romans showed up in Spain.  And the Arabs never made it up to northern Spain, so you don't have the Arabic influence in the language either.  Signs around the cities were always written in both Euskera and Spanish, but most people speak Spanish in the cities...more Euskera in the countryside.

So now I'm back home in Sevilla! And mom and dad are back home in GA.  And I'm headed to Istanbul with Joan on Thursday!  Sorry for the painfully long entry that might have gotten a bit to detailed. In any case, I'll try to post after each trip in the future, rather than combining 2.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Remember that time it was October, but still 90 degrees?

So, it's still 90 degrees. Well, to be more accurate, the temperature in Sevilla ranges from a high of 85 and 94 in this crisp autumn month of October. And frankly, I'm ready to wear jeans. I'm always a fan of summer, ALWAYS. I love everything summer stands for: beaches, peaches, swimming, dresses, and general summer happiness. But I really am ready for it to be a bit cooler! Everyone else on my program finds this heat so bizarre. Half go to North Western near Chicago, so they're used to bitter cold in the winter. And well, we won't be getting anywhere near that here in Sevilla!  But even I am not used to having a summer quite this long! Today, a group of about 8 of us took a day trip to Cadiz (the beach!).  It was perfect weather to spend a few hours on the beach, eat some pescaito frito (fried fish...except the restaurant was closed on Sundays so we ate random tapas instead), and head back to Sevilla.  It's about an hour and 45 minutes away by train, and a great way to spend a Sunday, because well, obviously I don't have homework to do. That's a whole 'nother issue...

The Spanish educational system seems a bit bizarre to me. I'm still trying to figure it out, but the general understanding is that there are very few daily assignments. Whereas at Davidson, I'd be reading at least 30 pages of something to prepare for each class, buying a book and reading it for class is basically optional. You're certainly not going to discuss reading in class the next day, so buying a book that the teacher may or may not recommend is really up to you...a personal preference! So, homework doesn't happen super often.
I don't mean to say that I don't work! I've already given a presentation on the country Estonia in my European Union class and written a paper on the American stereotypes of Europe in the movie Eurotrip. And done a few other things...

But, when you're comparing a typical Sunday in Sevilla with a typical Sunday at Davidson....well, writing this blog is the most work I've put in. But that's why I'm going to fill my Sundays with travel! Starting very shortly, I'm going to be a travelling fiend. Tuesday, I'm headed to Portugal with my friend Joan. And on Friday, we'll be joined by my lovely parents! And then the next weekend I'll head to the north of Spain with the padres. And the next weekend to Istanbul, and the next to Granada, and the next to Barcelona, and well, you get the point. I'm not going to be staying put. Because I just want to see the world!!

Now for a bit of a back track of things I've done since the last blog post:

1. Sinogoga: In true religion major fashion, I went with my friend Stef to the teensy little Synagogue here in Sevilla. I'd never been to any sort of Jewish service, so it was really cool! And Stef answered all of my questions! And now I'm more enlightened. Flashback to the first few weeks of the program: I also went to mass in Sevilla's Catedral with my friend Joan. Lots of relig-maj-moments.

2. Ronda: Our group went to visit Ronda, a small town nearby Sevilla that has a REALLY awesome bridge, some Arabic baths, and the oldest Plaza de Toros ever. Stef and I ended up taking the free time we had to climb down a hill to the bottom of the awesome bridge...and it was totally worth it. Beautiful views, beautiful photos, and even a beautiful German student that was also checking out the bridge.

3. Sarah gets Antsy: After the Ronda trip, I got antsy to travel more. These group day trips are lovely, but I'm ready to go places! Well, my wish comes true in 2 days when I leave Sevilla on a midnight bus to Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal.

4. Classes: I've now survived 2 weeks of official classes (in classrooms that usually seem to function without air conditioning...in a really old awesome building, but a really hot old awesome building). 2 weeks also only means 6 days. I only have class Monday through Wednesday!  That does mean that I have 8 hours of class on Wednesday though...a bit like death, but I make it through. My classes? La Proyección de las Tres Culturas: Cristianos, Musulmanes, y Judíos en España Medieval; La Influencia Árabe en la Literatura Española; Técnicas Artísticas; La Unión Europea. Some are more interesting than others, but they do the trick.


5. Bought Flamenco Shoes: I'm taking weekly flamenco classes (Sevillanas being the specific type of flamenco) with my roommate Meital and friend Maddie from an awesome and funny teacher named Carmen. I bought the official shoes, which make me much more legit. They're kinda like character shoes (for my fellow dancers), but a bit different. They're designed to make a bit more noise when you dance.


6. Cordoba: I went to Cordoba for the 3rd time in my life! I went with my fam in high school and the Cadiz group when I studied in Cadiz last summer. La Mezquita de Cordoba es tan impresionante, but I got the point of how beautiful the mosque was after time number 2.  In any case, it was a fun little trip, but I'm ready for big trips to new places!! Portugal in 2 days!


7. Discoteca with Meital's new Spanish friends: Apparently, there are mosh pit moments in Spanish discotecas...that is, if you find yourself in a dubstep discoteca. I'd never heard that word til last night (to my friends' dismay), but it basically is some intense techno type of music.  Not generally a situation you'd picture sweet Sarah in? Well, think again.


8. Cadiz: see earlier paragraph.




And now, I'm here in my room looking writing a really long blog and looking forward to a few things: 1. a 2 day week (Spain has a holiday Wednesday!) 2. heading to Portugal! 3. Seeing Buncie and Jay-los padres llegan en Portugal el viernes! 


That's the update for now!