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

"Time to Dispose of" in Morocco

This weekend I added both another country and another continent to the list of places I have been. Going to Morocco certainly was a different experience than my other travels thus far and it was an incredibly valuable and great weekend that will be difficult to really express in words. But I shall try my best to fill you all in. 

We left Cordoba on Friday morning and took a bus to Sevilla where we were meeting up with our tour group for the weekend. Not only was the tour probably the most economical way to go, as it was incredibly well priced and all inclusive (hotel, food, travel from Sevilla) but I would have had no idea where to go and how to get there in Morocco. Our tour guide was an incredible asset to our journey. He also provided the very entertaining phrase that is now the title of this album as he frequently told us that we would have "time to dispose of" in the ferry station, in the market place, before dinner, etc. 

From Sevilla we took a bus to Algeciras where we got the ferry to Cueta. The ferry was quite the impressive boat. Someone commented that the inside of it was like the airplane and airport combined and put on a boat.  The boat was fast and we watched Africa come closer.  And then we were on the African continent. Upon landed in Cueta we were technically still in Spain though (it is one of two cities in northern Africa that are Spanish strongholds). 

We got on a bus and then had to head over the border. Already the view out the bus window was quite different then what we had become accustomed to in Southern Spain: the people we saw, the condition of buildings and roads, slight starkness of the enclosed border cross station. We were there for an hour getting all of our passports stamps and then we went onward after sunset and in darkness arrived at our hotel in Tetuan. We then had a rather delicious dinner, brushed our teeth with bottled water, and turned in early to bed for one of the best night's sleep I have had in quite a while. It was only about 10pm when we went to bed, but surprisingly enough that time was after a two hour time difference between Spain and Morocco. The first hour was because Morocco does not observe daylight savings, but that second hour was a complete mystery to me. 

The next day we awoke to a delicious carb-filled breakfast, then got on the bus to head into the city for our first sights in daylight. 

TETUAN

Our tour in Tetuan was of the old city or "Medina."  We walked through markets, down narrow muddy streets, and past tiny hole in the wall shops. Stray cats wandered everywhere and were a part of the life in the medina.  It was still pretty early in the day when we arrived, so the shops were still in the process of opening and not many shoppers had arrived yet. Shopkeepers sat in their shops and crafts man worked, looking up to watch us as we passed by. It seemed like we were quite the site as this was not a typical tourist destination. Different areas were dedicated to different types of crafts: leather work, wood work, etc.Then there was also the flea market. As we passed through the flea market, one of our guides said, "Flea market, today no fleas." What a very comforting statement. It was here that the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure" came to mind. The entire place really seemed to be filled with trash, yet it was on sale and must be purchased by somebody. 

Other stops in Tetuan included a spice shop and rug shop where the owners explained to us their products. These stops were both very much sales pitches, but also certainly informative of the culture and lifestyle of this city. After our tour, we had our first truly touristy event of the day: lunch. There were performers, music, and a bunch of us got henna tattoos. 

After lunch, it was back on the bus and on our way to our second destination: Tangiers. It was about an hour long drive and I was rather surprised by the scenery we passed through. The green mountains was not what I was expecting from Morocco given the Sahara in the south of the country. Since we were in the northern mountainous region, we were surrounded by farms. Many of the farmers could not afford to take time to go into town to sell their goods, so we would see some women and children sitting along the road to sell their cheese, crafts, etc. 

We drove through the city of Tangiers and the guide pointed out the biggest Mosque of the city just around the corner from the cities Catholic church. Though officially Morocco is an Islamic nation, other religions are present and tolerated. Our guide made a point of telling us that the islam, christianity, and Judaism, were all living side by side harmoniously. Our ride continued on through the city up into the hills where the richest houses of the city are including the king's summer house and a summer palace for the King of Saudi Arabia. Then we drove over to the site where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. 

After the lookout, we drove a little further past some great ocean views and then had an opportunity for a Camel Ride by the Ocean! That is right, I have now rode on a camel. Granted it was only in a short circle, but that is what you get when you only pay one euro. 

After riding we climbed down to the beach and touched the Atlantic from the eastern side. I could not believe how blue it was. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

After the beach side time we went back into the city and checked into the hotel. Then a bunch of us headed out to find the Tangiers market where we mastered the art of haggling. (I got a necklace for 2 Euros/20 durham.) We also walked by an overlook where you can see the Spanish coast a mere 9 miles across the straight of Gibraltar. 

On our way back to the hotel for dinner we passed many cafes and shops where we noticed tons of men sitting for coffee at outdoor tables. They were all sitting with their backs to the shop, facing out to the street. No one sat on the other side and there were no women there for this  evening refreshment. 

After dinner we went to a cultural floor show which was quite the tourist trap rip off and then went back to the hotel for bedtime. Unfortunately this night's sleep was not as successful as the night before as I found a bug and a couple of hairs in my bed when I pulled back the covers. I decided to sleep on top of the covers. Oh well. 

The next day we visited my favorite city of the tour. We had another carb filled breakfast and then drove the tour hours through gorgeous mountains to a small mountain city: Chefchouen. 

CHEFCHOUEN

As you can see, the entire city was blue and i thought it was gorgeous. We had the most ridiculous tour guide (pictured below) and he explained  that the blue was to ward off mosquitos and demons. Many people referred to this tour guide as yoda. He talked like yoda and slowly walked through the small streets making hilarious comments. 

We went to another rug shop in Chefchouen and this one was much more successful at making sales (they had pretty remarkable prices that even college students could afford, and everything could be haggled down). Then we had lunch at a lovely restaurant that felt like a home and a family dinner type environment. 

This city was also not much of a tourist attraction. The tour had been great because it brought us to what I believe is the real Morocco for this northern area of the country. And then the tour had come to an end and we were back on the bus to head to Cueta, take the ferry to Algecieras, and ride on to Sevilla. 

We got back to Sevilla after the last buses and trains had left for Cordoba, so with our tour guides help we had arranged for a private bus to pick us up in Sevilla and bring us home. Since there were so many of us on the trip, it was not too expensive and very much worth it for the night's sleep in our own beds before classes the next day. 

All in all a wonderful trip that has taken me forever to tell you all about (sorry about that, but now, on May 4th, it is finally finished).  I shall try to keep the posts coming in a slightly more timely fashion. 

Hope all is well. 

Adios

Italy with Jordyn!

So now that I am finally writing (on April 20th) it has been a while since my trip to Italia with the lovely Jordyn Sims. Luckily, I took notes along the way and should still be able to give you all a pretty full update and account of the trip. Aren't you so very glad another potentially long post is coming your way. Oh dear. Ok, let's see. 

We left when it was still very much dark outside on Tuesday morning to head to the Sevilla airport. We knew from the start that we had a rather long travel day ahead of us and having had very little sleep the night before, we were tired from the start. After awkwardly waking up the hostel employee on duty so that we could check out and get our deposit back, we were off walking through the city while the street cleaners were still out. Once again, European cities are rather on top of transportation needs and we very easily could grab a bus from the center of the city, which took us directly out to the airport. 

Our flight was on time and we arrived in Milan no problem. (I think we might have even been a little early.) Now, the Milan airport is not a terribly exciting place, but it is also a pretty solid distance and pricey bus into the city itself, so we passed some quality time in the airport on our super long layover. We played cards, played catch up on eachother's lives, ate some food, and found a Maura Soule look alike (Courtney agreed when we showed her photographic proof). Then it was off to Rome!

ROME

Once again a pretty easy flight, we landed in Rome and took a bus right into Termini Station in Rome. Our hostel was an easy walk from the station and Jordyn set about locating it on a map while I bought my train tickets for the coming days (I had tried to buy them online before coming, but tren italia does not like foreign credit cards- that was a nightmare of a story I won't elaborate upon here). We went to our hostel and while checking in found out that while we were on the ground outside we had apparently missed an aftershock of the recent earthquake that was felt higher up in the building. How dramatic that we arrived in Rome the day after such an event. Actually, except for that one moment at the hostel, we did not encounter much of a response or result of the earthquake during our travels. 

After settling in at the slightly sub-par (though perfectly do-able) hostel we walked to the nearby Piazza Venezia to meet my friend Stephanie Turnbull! It was so exciting to see her and was amazingly enough the first time I had seen her in I think three years. The three of us went to dinner and ate some delicious pasta. Stephanie also gave us some great tips for navigating the city, including the must know method of crossing the street: just go for it and make eye contact with anyone driving towards you. They'll stop. I had some trouble with this at first, but Jordyn and I came to master the art of crossing the Roman streets. After dinner, Jordyn and I (the exhausted travelers that we were) headed back to bed. 

As is always best while traveling and seeing as much as possible in a little amount of time, we were up bright and early the next day and off to see the sites. Day 1: The Vatican! Jordyn and I are both fans of discovering cities by walking everywhere, so that is just what we did. The Vatican was a solid distance from our hostel, but we really didn't mind. We set our path so as to pass through Piazza Venezia in the daytime (where we visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier- or what Stephanie tells us is referred to as the Giant Wedding Cake) and the Trevi Fountain. Then we made our way over the river and walked towards St. Peter's square. Lucky for us, it was Wednesday. You may be thinking, what is so lucky about Wednesday? Well, it just so happens that every Wednesday the Pope goes into St. Peter's square to address the public. We arrived right at the end of his public time and walked up to the barriors of the square just in time to see the pope drive in the pope-mobile down the center aisle, around, and out of the square. My initial reaction to this site was complete disbelief. I can't believe our timing! It was wonderful to see him. 

Since the pope had just been out, the place was mobbed with people and the line to get into St. Peter's Basilica was insanely long.  We were considering hopping on a tour which attracted our attention by telling us that on tours you can go into the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's only having to wait to get through the much shorted line at the Museum. Though the tour guide seemed great, we ditched the tour idea and decided to aid our wallets.  The tour had already provided us with a rather fantastic piece of information: there existed a way to get from the Sistine Chapel, directly into St. Peters. 

We decided to use this knowledge to slightly cheat the system. But I am getting ahead of myself: The Sistine Chapel. It is amazing and I was with the perfect travel companion. We both really observe and take things in at a similar rate and with similar methods. We were both entirely content to move rather quickly through the Vatican Museum in order to sit in the chapel and marvel at the magnificent work that is its ceiling. There are so many things to look at. The chapel itself was jammed packed of people and despite the signs and announcements there was no hope for silence in the chapel. But despite the guards "shhhhhs" and commands of "No Photos!!" we certainly enjoyed ourselves. 

And then came the time to cheat. We followed several tour groups out of a door at the other end of the chapel that (let's be honest) is pretty clearly marked for tour groups only. Fun fact, they don't actually check to see that you are with a tour. We were clearly no a part of the asian tour group that we were following, but were completely able to walk through.  We found ourselves under the Basilica and able to see the tombs of the popes which was incredible and very emotional for some of those around us who found themselves brought to tears in this sacred space. Then we head up and into the main doors of the Basilica (no line waiting necessary). How incredibly worth it. The Basilica is beautiful and huge. I didn't realize quite how high and large the ceilings were until I heard a guide tell her group that the letters that run along the bottom of the dome are about seven feet tall. 

After spending some time in St. Peter's Square, we headed off for some delicious pizza for lunch and then walked down a ways to the Trastevere area of Rome. It was a lovely walk with great sites. I really enjoyed this neighborhood. 

After such an extensive day of walking we headed back to the hostel for a bit of a break and then to a restaurant nearby for some dinner. After dinner we decided to check out the Spanish Steps. I enjoyed the nighttime view. There was so much life there.
The next day, Thursday, was our last day in Rome and the day we headed off to Florence. We had decided to start the day with a visit to the Colosseum, but unfortunately we ended up waiting in the decently long line just to find out at the ticket counter that we could not pay with credit cards. No worries, we would press on to other sites and search out an ATM along our way. Our plans now altered, we walked along past the Roman Forum and back up into the center of the city to go to the Pantheon (Rotunda and area in general). 

After that visit we did in fact find an ATM, and cash now in our wallets we headed back over to the Colosseum. 
And I was definitely glad we made the trip back. After pretending that we were from the EU in order to get the student discount which only applies to EU citizens, we were inside. It really is an incredible place to visit. And once again we were able to divide our time between exploration and just sitting and soaking up the atmosphere. A great visit!
Then it was time for lunch (more delicious pizza!). After lunch we took a quick internet break, walked around some more, and then stopped at a cafe on our way to the train station. 

Then we were on the train and off to Florence where we met up with Jordyn's friend Siena who has been studying this semester in Bologna. 

FLORENCE

After meeting up with Siena we walked the remarkably short distance to our hostel to get checked in before heading out for dinner. Our Hostel was amazing! Budget travelers heading to Florence, Stay in Ostello Archi Rossi for big clean rooms, a free breakfast (including 8 options such as eggs and bacon). 

The hostel also had a wonderful location. So close to the train station, it was also close to pretty much everywhere we wanted to go in the city. We walked down our street and found a lovely little restaurant where I got some pesto pasta which was great. After dinner we went over by the Duomo and found an amazing gelato shop (Mark has told me that I missed the best gelato, but I definitely thought this was the best I have ever had) called Grom that the lovely Katie Kuppens had recommended to us. Thanks Katie! We ended up getting gelato there at least four times. After Gelato we walked Siena back to the train station and then headed back to the hostel where we met two of our hostel roommates, Caitlin and Colleen. They are both students at USF and are studying in London. Colleen and Jordyn live very close to each other and discovered several commonalities in their lives. It is always pretty wacky when those small world moments happen.

The next day we had our delicious free breakfast and then went on a walking tour of the historic center of the city, also offered free by our hostel!  It was a nice tour and good to get some info since we had found ourselves feeling a need to search the internet for information pertaining to our non-guided visits in Rome. After the tour Jordyn and I went to lunch which Colleen and Caitlin. They were really nice and it was great to make some friends along our journey. 

Then Jordyn and I went our separate way and headed to go see the statue of David. This was of course on my must do list while in Florence. When we got there, the line was insanely long though. So instead of waste our afternoon away in line, we decided to come back the next morning around opening time (ended up being a very good decision on our part).  Instead, we decided to rent bikes for a couple hours and take off into the Tuscan country side. 

The ride was amazingly beautiful, though hard at the start. I can tell you I was not at all in proper biking shape for the uphill climb that the lady at the bike shop had mapped out for us. But that was okay. After a pit stop for some water, I was feeling better hydrated and we began to head our way back towards the city, this time mostly downhill. From then on had a much better handle on the biking portion of our day. We biked down and then along the river and stopped by some great views of the city.  

Our ride then continued through the city streets for a while and back to the shop where we had rented. 

After the ride we stopped by the markets and both Jordyn and I just couldn't resist buying some leather sandals (that we bartered for!) and then we went back to the hostel for a bit of a rest and shower time. Then it was dinner, more gelato, and bedtime. 

The next day was David day! We got there at a great time and only had to wait for about ten minutes to get inside. David lived up to and then surpassed all of my expectations. I cannot even believe how well he is shaped and how real he is. Every curve, bone, vein, and ligament in its exact place. And his eyes were full and expressive. So many sculptures of that time that I have seen just have blank eyes, but David had the iris and the pupil. Once again, Jordyn and I followed our tour pattern of sitting and absorbing the wonder. Then we walked through the rest of the museum. 

Alas it was my day to leave Jordyn, but we did have the morning together. After the museum, we went to a delicious and adorable little cafe, did some more exploring and market going, and then after a quick lunch, I was off to the train station to begin what ended up being a 17 hour journey back to Cordoba. Woah. 

I took a train to Rome, then a bus from Termini station to the airport. That section of my journey was incredibly easy and got me in at the airport kind of insanely early. Then there was a little bit of drama on the plane when a lady and her daughter who had already boarded, got off the plane just before take off. For some reason her husband could not get on board and she would not leave Rome with out him. As a result the flight attendants had to search her area of the plane and move us three rows at a time with all our stuff. I was sitting next to two men who only spoke spanish and found myself calming their confusion by translation what the english speaking flight attendant was saying to us all.  After that plane fiasco I had some time to kill at the Madrid airport. I then got on a bus that I thought went straight to Cordoba, but alas it actually went to a bus station in Madrid where I then had to wait another hour and a half until 1am for my bus to leave for Cordoba. I finally got home around 6am on Easter Sunday. It was quite the long journey. But the trip was completely worth it.

And then Easter I got to see Sarah Lewis who was in Cordoba for a few days! It was great to see her. We went to Easter Mass together and then I showed her around Cordoba a bit (though she had already done quite a bit of exploring of her own).

Good times with good friends!  Overall I had a wonderful Semana Santa spring break. 

Hope all is well and I shall continue to keep you updated. 

Adios