Finals Days: Feria and Lluvia de Estrellas

Alegrías

Tomorrow I leave Córdoba for Madrid and the day after that I fly back home to the USA! I am excited to go home but will also be very sad to leave this place. I really love Córdoba and have become so accustomed to it and comfortable here. I will miss the experiences and the friends, but in the mean time have been having quite the wonderful last week. I will update you all more later, but for now I thought I would offer this video.

Last night was the Lluvia de Estrellas final performance and party of the semester. The students from the guitar classes performed, followed by the coro (fun as always), and dance. I performed both Sevillanas and flamenco. The video below is of our flamenco piece. The video is a little shaky and the quality is not very good, but at least it is something. Enjoy:

I'll write more later.

Adios

Romería in Cañete de los Torres

Hello Everyone! The countdown has begun and my final days in Córdoba are here. This coming week I have finals and then following that is Feria in Córdoba (a week long celebration that will be coming to a close when we leave Córdoba).

Today was another exciting festival in the PRESHCO schedule. We headed out to Cañete de los Torres, a small town about 45 minutes outside of Córdoba and hometown to one of our program directors, Maribel, for their Romería celebration. The Romería is a celebration of the patron saint of Cañete, San Isidoro, the patron saint of agriculture. We arrived early in the day and fully decked out in traditional gitano dresses and suits. The celebration began with a parade which was really a type of pilgrimage. The procession began in townS lead by the hermano and hermana mayor. This year these two important roles were played by the PRESHCO director Carlos and Maribel.

We joined the parade and walked through the town. A brass band played us down our path and we followed the float of San Isidoro.

Then it was into the Campo. It was unbelievably beautiful. There were rolling hills, fields, olive trees. Many people rode through on the path on horses making our trail a bit more complicated as we found ourselves dodging horse shit the entire 3km journey.
The end of the path was a lovely small church where a mass was held. Surrounding the church were tons of tents called "casetas." PRESHCO's caseta was set up and ready to go filled with long tables, a bar, and decorations. We ate, we talked, we danced. It was wonderful and a day I think I will always remember.
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures and the brief record of the event. Here is a video to make it come alive just a little bit more for you. It has a few clips of people dancing sevillanas, the traditional dance that we have been learning this semester.

Hope all is well with everyone and I can't believe I will be home is less then two weeks. I am really excited to go home and see everyone, but I will be very sad to leave this place. It has been such and amazing semester and I am going to continue to enjoy it right up to the last moment (that is after I get all my work done! yikes).

Adios

London Calling

This weekend was my last trip outside of Spain before returning home to the United States at the end of this month. (I can't believe how soon it will be. The semester has of course been flying by!) From now on I will be happily enjoying the festival life that consumes Córdoba every May. But that is not the point of this post, this post is about London!Early Friday Morning (May 1st) I was off. My train left for Málaga at 7am and as we road through el campo, we were surrounded by fog. It was quiet and tranquil and then the sun began to peek through the clouds and I was in the sea side city of Málaga. From here there was another short train out to the airport. The weather was perfect at this point and since I was rather early for my flight I spent some time sitting outside the airport writing. At this point I was also a bit nervous of the airport because of all of the coverage in the news about the swine flu. I had purchased a face mask the day before to be prepared for the flight, but I can now happily report that over the entire weekend I did not see a single person wearing a mask. Instead the flight was easy and worry free and I arrived in Luton Airport. I was in England! I rushed past other getting off my plane in hopes of getting in the front of the passport check line. There was a rather long line when I arrived, but lucky me I did not have to wait in it. It was for UK and EU passports. There was only one person infront of me for "all other passangers." I was loving my US passport at this point. Because of this easy exit I was able to make an earlier bus into the city and met up with Jordyn and Greg 20 minutes before previously planned. It was so exciting to be greated by both of their smiling faces!

After meeting at Victoria Station in London, the three of us hopped on the tube and went to Jordyn's room on the Queen Mary campus. On the way we stopped off at a coffee shop near Queen Mary for a little snack. This particular coffee shop environment is something I have been missing in Spain so I loved it. Then we continued to Jordyn's room. After settling in there and taking a bit of a break, Jordyn's friend Jillian met us. By a crazy coincidence, Jillian is from Norwalk, went to Norwalk High, and lives just on the other side of Stew Leonard's probably less than five minutes from my house. What a small world. Jillian and Jordyn lead us to a super market on our way to dinner. We were in search of pancake cooking materials. I had never realized that pancakes were a uniquely american thing. We did not find pancake mix, but did discover genaric batter mix (which we believe was meant to be for crepes). We also could not find syrup, but we got some nutella and honey. We were set for a delicious breakfast the next day and we continued to find a dinner destination for that evening. Our goal: Indian Food. Our Destination: anywhere on brick lane. It was delicious! I was so happy to have Indian as I haven't had any this entire semester. It was a great dinner with great company.

After dinner, we were walked back down Brick Lane. We passed three girls coming towards us on the sidewalk and I was shocked to see that one of them was Sarah Lewis! Out of all the people in London, we had just happened to bump into each other. For some reason the only way I could think of to get her attention was to hit her in the shoulder. Sorry about that Sarah, but it was a joyous reunion none the less. Then Sarah and her friends continued on to their dinner, Jillian headed back to Queen Mary, and Greg, Jordyn, and I went off to Kings Cross Station in search of the platform for the Hogwarts Express. That is right, platform 9 and 3/4.

After taking some lovely photographs at the platform, we went back to Queen Mary. My friend Sadie is also studying at Queen Mary. I knew I was going to meet up with Sarah and Sadie the enxt day, but we didn't have specific plans and I didn't have Sadie's phone number, so Jordyn and I found Sadie's room number and then went to find her. Before we had even reached Sadie's building, there she was walking towards us on her way to pick up her laundry. Plans made, Jordyn and I went back to the room where Greg had been waiting for us and spent some quality time on skype calling friends who are currently at Trinity. It was so fun and entertaining to talk to so many people, though it did also have the effect of making us a little bit homesick. After the calls, we just hung around the room and managed to stay up rather late despite Greg's need to get up around four to leave for the airport.

The next morning, Greg headed out and Jordyn and I caught a few extra hours of sleep (though still not enough) before our breakfast date with Jillian. Time for those pancakes! Though there were not exactly pancakes as we know and love them in the US, they were still delcious and we stuffed ourselves. Then Jordyn and I headed into the city for our site seeing London day.
We walked by the Tower of London, then down the river for great views of the Tower Bridge and the much less exciting London Bridge. Then Jordyn took me by St. Paul's Cathedral (where I took the obligatory phone booth picture that's above) and we walked over the millenium footbridge to the Globe Theater!
The Globe was something I was definitely willing to pay to enter and Jordyn had so enjoyed going there the first time she had gone that she too was willing to pay again to get a tour of this destination. I loved it! Our tour guide was amazing and the exhibition section that we could explore before the tour was quite interesting. I particularly enjoyed seeing a copy of Romeo and Juliet translated into Spanish: "Ah, Romeo, Romeo, Por qué eres Romeo?Niega a tu padre y rechaza tu nombre, o si no, júrame tu amor y ya nunca seré un Capuleto."
After the Globe we met Sarah and walked down to Borough market where we were suppose to meet Sadie for lunch. Unfortunately Sadie slept through our lunch date (don't worry we did meet up with her later), but Sarah, Jordyn, and I found some delicious chicken wraps in the market and got a chance to taste testers of amazing food in the market. It was wonderful. Then we went back out to the river and walked back down toward the globe to continue on to Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.
It was a gorgeous day and a nice walk along the river, past the Eye of London and over the Westminster Bridge. At Westminster Abbey we lay on the lawn outside and actually took a bit of a power nap while waiting for Sadie who was coming to meet us. Then we were all reunited and we walked on to Trafalgar Square where I climbed on top of one of the lions, was slightly burned by how hot it was, and we witnessed a rather unenthused response to a marriage proposal (awkward). Then we went down to the crypt of St. Martin's on the Green for some tea and scones.

Our last destination of the day was the rather incredbile British Museam. It is definitely a museam that deserves more time than we dedicated to it, but once we had been walking all day, we only really had the energy for the highlights that Jordyn and Sarah could point out to me (including the InterArts throw back sighting of Kente Cloth).
After the museam we walked a bit more and then went our seperate ways. I was supposed to meet up with Sarah again later for dinner, but after getting back to Jordyn's room we realized how extremely tired we were and I decided to stay in and cook with Jordyn instead. We made some pasta and brocolli and then went back to the coffee shop for some dessert. It was a lovely laid back evening and nice to have some time with Jordyn since I won't see her again until August.

Then it was early to bed, early to rise, and off to the airport once again. It was a rather short visit and I wish I could have been there longer. Jordyn's parents arrived in London just after I left and it would have been lovely if our visits had overlapped, but oh well.

I made it back to Córdoba without any problems and caught up on some homework before going to bed. Overall it was a wonderful weekend with its only downside being how quickly it went by!

So now I am in Córdoba till the end which is only a few weeks away. I have two more weeks of classes and then finals. After finals end we have one more week in the city which is going to be filled with celebrations and Feria in Córdoba, then we are going home. Wow. I will be sad to leave, but also really excited to see everyone at home.

Miss you all and hope all is well whereever in the world you are!

Adios

Coro, Coro, and more Coro

Last Tuesday night was the big Choral concert for the UCO PRESHCO Coro. What an experience that has been! (And I won't lie, I don't really mean that as a positive) For two weeks prior to the concert we had hours after hours of rehearsals. This was not what I signed up for. Good news is those mega rehearsals are over now and did provide moments of bonding with the Spaniards in the coro who were also feeling the long hours wear on their stomachs and patience.

The day before the concert (Monday) we rehearsed from 7pm till midnight and then the next day was the big day. Dressed in all black the 65 person chorus took the stage at the Conservatory of Córdoba. The concert had some good moments. We performed with some really impressive flamenco musicians. After singing a classical mass piece, El Credo, we moved into the main section of the concert which was the flamenco section. It had some good moments and I am really starting to like flamenco music, but it went on too long. I did have one of my friends film parts of the concert (a special thanks to Sarah Basile!), so here is one song for your viewing pleasure:

After the flamenco section was a short final section of the concert which was comprised of American music. We sang "Think of Me" from Les Meiserables, "Tonight" from West Side Story, and then "Moon River." Unfortunately I do not have this section on tape at this moment, but I must say this is the part I would most like to share with the world. It was just so insane and terrible at the end, that it is hard to describe. A little bit into Moon River the two soprano soloists (who both are amazing by the way) began talking with eachother as if complaining and describing a reason to be angry. Then suddenly the flamenco singer picked up her music and water bottle and stormed off stage. None of us knew what was going on and it was rather dramatic to have the chorus look as confused as the audience. I really did not think she was going to come back and she had a solo coming up! Turns out this had all been planned, we just hadn't been filled in on the act. After vamping for a bit, she reemerged in full flamenco garb, bringing the guitarist and drummer back on stage with her. Flamenco was back and sounding pretty great up until the unfortunate moment when she began singing the words to moon river in a flamenco style. Let me tell you, this was not a good idea! It sounded ridiculous. Then the chorus was supposed to come in on an entrance we hadn't really rehearsed. The guitarist came in in the wrong key and none of us knew what we were doing. It sounded terrible until the pianist made a gallant attempt to save the ending. And then, there you go. That was the concert. Quite the experience and I am quite glad it is over.

A Lovely Sunday Morning: Batalla de las Flores

The morning after my Sevilla excursion was Cordoba's Batalla de las Flores. One of the many events that happen at the end of April and into May, Batalla de las Flores involved floats full of people riding down the main avenue and throwing carnations into the crowds that the crowds then throw back at the floats. A rather odd tradition with a significance that I have yet to discover, but it was great fun and pretty hilarious. Take a peek:

I decided if I was a child I would want to be one of the girls who got to be on the floats in these awesome outfits:

So many flowers

This was my favorite float. These women were having so much fun!

Fun for all ages...

...and beauty queens

And a little video footage:

Sevilla con PRESCHO

Don't  be fooled by the Córdoba sign in this picture, this is indeed a post about a trip to Sevilla! On Friday April 24th was the PRESHCO day trip to Sevilla and our first stop was in the Plaza de España where there are "bancos" for each Spanish city. Above is a picture in the banco de Córdoba. The plaza itself is gorgeous and one of the sites I had visited a few weeks earlier with Jordyn, Kendra, and Drew during Semana Santa. Now was my opportunity to see the city without all the chaos of the Semana Santa pasos. 

After the plaza it was off to the Catedral de Sevilla. This Cathedral is the third largest cathedral in the world. Like the Mezquita in Córdoba, this cathedral had been a mosque and then became the site for the cathedral when the Catholics regained control of the city. Our tour guide pointed out some interesting art pieces. Some Preshco students in an art history class had just taken their mid-term and were excited to see some of the pieces they studied for it now on display in person. We also saw  the tomb (pictured below) where there are about 300g of Christopher Colombus. Most of his body is somewhere in the Caribbean, but they brought some of him back to Spain. Kind of odd, but there you go. 

Where the catholics of Córdoba built there cathedral within the still standing structure of the mosque, the mosque of Sevilla was torn down to allow a new structure on the same site. Two things that do remain of the original site are the courtyard and bell tower that we were able to climb after our tour for an incredible site of the city.

 Instead of stairs to the top there were 36 ramps to climb. It had been constructed that way so that the person who rang the bells for the five times daily call to prayer would be able to ride a horse up to the top. 

After the cathedral we walked through Sevilla to the Alcazar and its Gardens. What a gorgeous place. The Alcazar itself was rather reminiscent of the Alhambra with intricate arab designs and running water. 

The gardens were fantastic and a bunch of us spent some time there after our tour before heading off to find some ice cream and shade. It was so hot that day that it was hard to stay active a really explore too far around the city. 

While a good portion of the group headed to the bus to go back to Córdoba, a group of us collected our stuff from the bus and then went to check into a hostel for the night for a little extra time in Sevilla. Our hostel was great though they had managed to mess up our reservation. This ended up working in our favor since it was there fault and they put three of us in private double and single for the same price we would have paid for the dorm style room we reserved. 

After relaxing and recuperating in the hostel for a bit, we headed back out. We went to a bar for a while where we were stumbled upon a 30 year old's birthday party and were welcomed into the celebration. After being there for a while, many decided to stay, but I left with three others to get some tapas, then dessert, and a nice walk around the city before bedtime. A lovely and relaxing evening. 

The next day was another relaxing day. Emily, Laura, and I headed off separately from the other since we needed to buy our train tickets for that evening, and then spent the rest of the day exploring, shopping, and eating. It was great and then we were on the train and back to Cordoba. 

I have loved both of my short trips to Sevilla. It is a really nice city and I recommend it as a travel destination for anyone who takes a trip to Spain!

That's all for now...

Adios