Granada Significa "Pomegranate"

Hola! I hope everyone is well. For me it is time for another update. This time the update is back in Spain. 

This past friday was the PRESHCO program trip to Granada. Climbing onto the bus friday morning felt like going back to our first days on the tour. It was so very familiar, yet different now that we all know each other so much better. Over the past few weeks, having spent quite a bit of time on trains and buses, I have really developed a love for this travel downtime. It is so lovely to pass a couple of hours listening to music and  staring out windows at absolutely fantastic sites. The country roads through Southern Spain on the way to Granada are absolutely gorgeous.  It was the same route we took to and from Sierra Nevada, and I was happy to see it once again. 

And then the beautiful country changed into sites of Granada. Though some modern areas on the outskirts of the city are not that exciting visually, we continued into some wonderfully interesting areas of the city. First stop was at a church where lie Los Reyes Catolicos (Isabel and Fernando). Our tour guide pointed out some really interesting representations of the Reyes that were depicted in the details of the church. Both the king and queen were the power base. They are represented as equals.  At this church I also learned that the word Granada means pomegranate. This is good to know when you realize how many images and sculptures there are of pomegranates in the city. 

After the seeing the tombs we continued on to the Cathedral. It was nice, but at this point really just seemed like yet another cathedral to me. We have been to many on tours this semester. Basically, it was nice, but nothing compared to what was to come: the Alhambra!The Alhambra was absolutely amazing. We walked and walked (apparently six miles, though I am not sure it was quite that far). The Alhambra is huge and every inch of it was planned and constructed magnificently. Our tour guide explained some symbolism in the design. He was a great tour guide, but I was a little frustrated by how frequently he decided to speak in English. We have become very accustomed to tours in Spanish, and most of this tour was in Spanish, but our tour guide said that he wanted to explain important things in English.  We understood his Spanish, so I think part of his reasoning was that he wanted this outlet to practice his English. I have found that to be the case with one of my professors too actually. In class he speaks in Spanish and then will translate random words sometimes. But he can't possibly be doing it for us because he translates really easy words such as hijo means son (something I have known since sixth grade). Personally in this context I think it is kind of funny. He is just so excited to know words in English.

Anyway, back to the Alhambra...

The day was wonderful and sunny. It was hot too and all the walking was slightly tiring, but nothing in this environment could really get you down. At the end of our tour we walked through the gardens. I wanted to take pictures of every thing that I saw (and I did take over one hundred pictures at the Alhambra) but they just couldn't capture how it really looked, felt, and smelled. It was wonderful for all the senses. 

After the Alhambra we went and checked into our hotel. Laura was my roommate and we both decided to take a much needed nap. Afterwards we walked around a little, talked only in Spanish for over an hour (which was great), and then headed back to the hotel to find dinner buddies. Our dinner that night was simple, but conversation sustained it for hours. It was relaxed and fun and getting back pretty late to the hotel, we turned in for the night. 

Then the next day it was up and out to a nearby town where we went to visit the childhood home of poet Fredrico Garcia Lorca.  It was a more laid back tour experience and I appreciated its laid back nature. And once again, the day was gorgeous. We were back in the city by mid day and had the afternoon to explore and get some lunch before heading back to Cordoba. I guess we had been exploring the wrong neighborhoods the night before, because the Granada that we saw on Saturday was way cooler than the Granada of Friday night. There were tons of shops, tons of people. The muslim influence is all over the city, but also incorporated into new artsy and kind of hippie-ish styles. It was great to explore and then we had lunch at a middle eastern restaurant. 

And then we were back on the bus and back to Cordoba. That night and the next day I was incredibly lazy and now I am back into the swing of classes. This coming weekend I will remain in Cordoba, but after this weekend I will be traveling a great deal! For Spring Break Jordyn is coming down to Spain and then we are going together to Italy. I am so very excited to be reunited with her, I can't wait to show her Cordoba, meet her cousin Kendra (who has been studying in Granada), and see Italy! When I get back from Italy I will be greeted by the lovely Sarah Lewis who is visited Cordoba for a few days. Then the following weekend I am off with some other PRESHCO students to Morocco. I can't believe I am going to Africa! The weekend after than, our program is going to Sevilla, and then the following weekend I go to London to see Jordyn, Sarah, and Sadie. I am going to be a busy girl for all of April. Might be a little crazy, but also an incredible amount of fun. Then my travels are over, and the festivals will begin in Cordoba. May should be fabulous, though I will also possibly actually have quite a bit of work to do then. We shall see. 

Meanwhile, life in Cordoba has really settled into a comfortable schedule. My classes are going pretty well. I really like three out of four. The fourth is a constant question. It is my music class that I am not completely sold on it. The teacher is rather disorganized and hard to understand, but I am trying to stay optimistic. I also have a private voice lesson with that professor once a week and it is kind of the most awkward time in my schedule, but I do think my singing will improve. Other classes: My Women's Studies class has proved quite challenging, but also pretty interesting. I have a mid-term coming up next week. It has been a while since I have really had to take an in-class midterm. I think it should be just fine though. My Film class is great. Our class was pretty big, so we just split into two sections changing around my weekly schedule a bit, but in a good way. The films we have been watching are pretty crazy and I have really liked them (some more than others).  My last class is my Politics class. I really like it as well.  

I have also been taking both Sevillanas (a traditional dance that we will get to dance at the festivals in the Spring) and Flamenco. Sevillanas is fun as is Flamenco, though Flamenco is significantly harder. I need to practice the arm movements and need to always keep my hands and wrists moving. It is rather exhausting. 

So overall all is wonderful. Tonight after another disorganized choir rehearsal and what I am sure will be a delicious dinner with Pilar and Pablo, I will be heading out with some friends to a Jazz club in the center of the city. Should be great!

Hope all is well with everyone. 

Hasta Luego

Adios

Ireland: A Proper Update

Hello Again. Now that I have settled back in and have a bit more time, I thought I would give you a more typical and proper update on my Ireland trip and hopefully also some other goings on. I had a hard time narrowing down pictures for this post, so you may be slightly bombarded by Ireland images, but hopefully you enjoy them. 

In the first picture: Look at how lovely and warm it was in Ireland. Actually we did have lovely weather in Ireland, but this first picture is in Malaga. Our flight left from the Malaga airport and we decided to catch an earlier train to Malaga so that we could explore the city a bit. It was a great decision. We walked around quite a bit through lovely streets, went to Picasso's childhood home, and hiked up through a park in the middle of the city which is really a mountain in the middle of the city. What a beautiful view of the Sea and city. And I think we might have seen Africa from up there, but that could be wishful thinking. 

After exploring it was back to the train station and off to the airport. Side-note: European cities are way ahead of US cities when it comes to transportation to airports. They make it so easy. In Malaga we had two options. One a bus that was taking forever to arrive, or a train which was actually less expensive than the bus and shuttled straight to the airport. When we were leaving Dublin we were able to take a shuttle bus from inside the city straight out to the airport. So easy! Way better than taking three different subways from JFK to Grand Central. Thumbs up to Europe on this one. Also, in most of the cities I have been to the train station and bus station are super close to each-other if not side by side. Once again, just logical and easier. 

So since our transportation was so easy, we got to the airport excessively early and had quite a bit of time to kill before our incredibly easy check in and security check and then another spell of time before the flight actually boarded. In the terminal we met a guy from Cadiz who was also on our flight and so we were able to spend that time practicing our spanish some more before embarking on an english filled weekend. 

The flight was on time and easy, though I must say Ryan air makes it quite difficult for you to sleep on their flights because they are always trying to sell you something. Rather annoying, but it was all okay because then we landed and were in Ireland! We flew into Shannon airport and then after bidding our new Spanish friend goodbye found and taxi to take us out to our Bed and Breakfast for the night. We were spending the night at Tara Green B&B. It was a bit of a splurge for the cheap college traveler, but completely worth it. I slept so well that night in an incredibly comfortable bed and awoke bright and early the next morning to a traditional Irish breakfast complete with delicious homemade bread and eggs that came from the chickens they had in the backyard. To all your Trinity folks out there, this chicken coup did not only have chickens, but had a rooster, and two bantams. That is right, my first real bantam siting. I had such Trinity pride to see our silly little mascot strutting its stuff.  

During breakfast we met an American couple visiting Ireland for the weekend. They lived in Germany. The boyfriend/husband(?) was stationed there with the army. We also met two men from Spain who we once again could practice our Spanish with. They were in Ireland for some sort of Karate class. I don't know, I wasn't entirely clear on the plans of their trip. But I do know that one of them was an anthropology professor which was very exciting for my friend Tara who is an Anthropology major. 

After breakfast we thought we had to head off straight to Limerick to catch our train to Cork, but the woman who ran the B&B was rather insistent that we not rush out and spend time stopping at Bunratty Castle nearby. She even called the train company to see if we could change our reservations. So after paying and receiving a complementary Irish Whiskey shot glass (haha what?), we were off to explore the castle. 

View from a Castle Tower

Coming out of the dungeon

Rayna and Viola atop another tower

The castle was fun to tour and we had a hilarious guide. He was a little Irish man who acted out everything he was describing. Quite entertaining. After a brief tour, we could explore the castle ourselves and headed through some rooms, up to the towers, and down into the dungeon. Our tour guide had explained to us that people would be lead down the narrow stairs to the dungeon and then pushed down the last "stair" which was around and sudden corner and was a five meter drop. ouch. What an unfortunate fate. 

After spending some time in cute shops across the street from the castle we got on a bus to Limerick. We ate lunch quickly in Limerick and then it was off on the train to Cork. 

Tara admiring the beautiful Irish Countryside from the train

Tara and Rayna both have friends studying in Cork and quite the stroke of luck, these friends lived super close to each-other so it was very easy to spend the evening together and then split up for separate sleeping arrangements. We cooked dinner that night in Rayna's friend Rachel's apartment to save on spending and then headed out to a couple of Pubs. I really enjoyed the Pub scene. It was very relaxed and a nice relief to have nightlife without cigarette smoke (which is currently not permitted inside public places in Cork). Tara and I turned in a bit earlier then the others and left with her friend Tess to her apartment. 

The next morning we awoke to see sunshine! We got so lucky with our weather while in Ireland. The first day had been gray and a bit misty, but after that we saw quite a bit of the sun. Tara and I met up with Rayna and Viola, got some breakfast at a nearby grocery store (I had a bagel for the first time since January and it was delicious. I was also quite pleased with the amount of tea I was able to have this weekend). Then we walked around Cork a bit on our way back to the train station. Cork is a small city and was very enjoyable to explore, especially in the lovely sunshine. 

After Cork, it was time to head up to Dublin. The day in Shannon and Cork had been Tara's birthday. Now, Day 2 was dubbed Goat Day. Tara has a friend who lives on a goat farm about an hour outside of Dublin and that was our destination for the evening. It was amazing to go there. In Dublin, after quite a bit of confusion and frustration (we were having cell phone and communication troubles) we met up with Tara's friend Soren and I was able to meet up with Claire! Soren had been in Dublin for a hockey match (men's field hockey that is) and was able to drive us out to the farm. I actually went in the car with two of his hockey friends, Ashley and Chris, who were nice enough to also drive to pick up Claire. It was a huge help and really nice of them. They were great guys and invited us to a Pub to watch the Rugby match, but after being there briefly we had to get to the farm and be able to look around a bit before the sun went down. 

The house was absolutely amazing. They live in the most gorgeous countryside on 500 acres of land. And the house itself is an 18th century farm house. It was huge and easily accommodated all of us. When we got there, Soren's mother offered us tea and apricot cake (which was great) and then we got a bit of a tour of the house. And then it was goat time!

There were so many of them. I won't elaborate on this too much, since there is quite a bit of goat time featured in the film in the previous post, but I will say that I loved seeing the goats and Soren and his mom were very nice to show us around and be such great hosts. After seeing the goats we went with Soren, his brother, and their friend to the Greyhound track to see the greyhound races. Now, I have heard before that greyhounds who race a very mistreated animals, but apparently that is not the case in Ireland. They assured me that all the dogs were treated well. Seeing the races and the families that turned out for this as their Saturday night activity was quite the cultural experience. Tons of people were there. Children got dressed up and girls around my age came dressed as if they were going clubbing: skimpy shiny outfits, tons of makeup, super straightened hair, and incredibly high heels. It seemed a strange place to be dressed like this, especially since a few of us equated the family aspect of it to a night of bowling with your family in the US.  We stayed through I think about 7 of the 11 races and then headed back to the farm where we spent the rest of the evening hanging out around the fire and talking. It was great company and great fun. It was great to be in a place that was not a tourist destination. I really feel we saw some of the real Irish life. And we also learned some Irish lingo such as "That's so savage" to mean "that is so cool." 

The next morning we had planned to get up to see the sunrise over the fields, but unfortunately we misjudged the time and when our alarm went up the sun was already shining. But that was okay, because we were met by a most beautiful morning anyway. We got dressed and headed out to the fields. It was serene. So peaceful and wonderful. Claire described that she was experiencing a weekend she knew she would not forget. I agree completely. It was a dream. 

A view of the house from the field

Claire and I 

After breakfast with the family it was time to leave. I had been such a comfortable stay and they had all been so welcoming. Soren's dad took us to the train station and then we were off back into Dublin. We only had about two hours, but luckily we had Claire with us to show us some sites! She took us to lunch at her favorite destination, Lemon crepe and coffee. It was delicious! After lunch we walked around a bit. The streets were full of people as it was the weekend before St. Patty's day. It was fun to see the crowds, but it did prevent us from getting around quickly and seeing more. Then Claire brought us to our bus stop and bid us farewell. It was wonderful to see her and sad to leave her. 

The airport was pretty easy once again, but we did end up running to our gate since it was really far away from the security check. Turns out we were in no danger of missing our flight, but it certainly didn't hurt to get there as quickly as possible. For Ryan air flights there are no seat assignments so you want to get in line to board as soon as possible if you wants seats together with your fellow travelers. We succeeded on both flights. 

And then we were back in Spain. Our flight got into Malaga to late to make the last train back to Cordoba, so we stayed in a hostel that night (my first hostel experience) and the headed back to the train station bright and early for a 6:45 train back to Cordoba to make my first morningclass at 10am. Needless to say I was quite tired that first day back.  What a wonderful weekend it had been. I must say, it was also quite lovely to arrive in the very familiar Cordoba train station and feel right at home. 

I could take more time right now to update you on Cordoba life, but I feel this had been long enough for one post. Check back in the coming days for more updates. Hope all is well with everyone!

Adios

Tara Day, Goat Day, and Dublin Day- My Amazing Ireland Weekend

I will try to write later, but for now I wanted to put up something of my trip to Ireland. The video below are some very poorly edited clips from our adventure! We started in Shannon, then went to Bunratty Castle, and then Limerick to Cork. We spent the night in Cork with some friends and then the next day it was off to Dublin. My friend Tara has a friend who lives on a goat farm an hour outside Dublin and staying there was incredible! (Don't worry, plenty of the goat farm is featured in the video.) The last day it was back to Dublin briefly, while my good friend Claire showed us a few sights and then we were off to the airport and back to Malaga. It was an absolutely amazing weekend. And while I am happy to be back in Spain, I didn't want to leave. I definitely want to go back at some point hopefully not too long from now and spend more time in Ireland.

Bus Rides and Sunburns: A Spontaneous Day Trip to Sierra Nevada

Today when I walked into my first class, the very first thing my professor said to me was, “Ay, tu cara quemada.” She was commenting on the rather pronounced sunburn I currently have on my face. Oops. People asked me if I had been to the beach this weekend, but no: I was in the mountains.  

Yesterday I went on a rather spontaneous adventure to Sierra Nevada with Sarah, Mary, Rachel, and Sam. Saturday night my fellow travelers had found out about a round trip bus for a day trip Sunday to this snowy mountain ski town, and the next morning, before the sun had even risen we were running to catch the bus. Rather, Sam was running and we were following not too far behind. And as he ran, we saw the bus pull away. Luckily there was another bus of the same company there and the lady on that bus called our bus, which then returned to pick us up. Not only would it have been incredibly frustrating to have been up that early just to miss the bus, but what a day we would have missed out on! It was wonderful. 

Though the day involved hours on a bus, I enjoyed every minute of it. We drove through the most beautiful countryside and I realized that despite the hours that we spent on a bus during our orientation tour, this was my first time traveling by bus through Andalusia. As the bus left Cordoba, we watched the sun rise over the campo, and as we returned that night the sun set over the mountains. Fue Increible! The only unfortunate effect of our drive through the mountains was the motion sickness that is caused for other passengers. The drive only made me slightly woozy, but it had a far more profound effect on my friend Sarah (who was very grateful when we stopped moving) and the young boy in the seat in front of me. Clearly this kid had a history of motion sickness. His parents were prepared. At one point the boy suddenly exclaimed, “Bolso! Bolso! Bolso!” An demand that was quickly obeyed by his mother who handed him a plastic bolso (bag) which he promptly got sick in.  Yet despite his uneasy stomach, in between puking, the boy pointed out the window and showed his incredible excitement at the nearing snowing mountains of Sierra Nevada.  Nothing was going to bring him down.

When we arrived in Sierra Nevada, we realized that it really is only a ski town. But it was gorgeous. I have never seen a ski mountain quite like this. There were no trees on the ski trails themselves, so the pure mountainside of glistening snow looked quite intimidating to an inexperienced skier such as myself. 

Since we were not skiing, I didn’t think too much about it. After wandering a bit, getting a bite to eat, and taking a much needed bathroom stop, we began our journey up into the streets of Sierra Nevada to get a better view of the town and 

mountain. There was so much snow everywhere and we had anticipated cold, but the weather was not what the scene would imply (nor was it what weather.com had predicted). It was so warm and we had so many layers with us. We wandered, climbed up on huge snow banks, built snowmen (Mary’s first time ever doing so), and generally had a leisurely day. It was great (though meanwhile the combination of Spanish sun and reflective snow was leaving its make across my nose and cheeks). Then it was a break for a milkshake and snack and then back to the bus. 

On the bus ride back there was no puking, though a big of queezy feelings as we once again drove on the windy mountain roads. A short way through our journey back was a forty-minute pit stop in Granada. In two weeks we will be back in Granda with our program, so we took this opportunity to lie in this lovely park and relax some more. I barely saw Granada, but I must say it made a great first impression. I loved the park and the life that there was in it.

And then our bus drove off into the sunset and in darkness we returned to Cordoba. All in all it was a wonderful day.

I will write again soon to update on Sevillanas, Flamenco (another dance class I get to take!) and my first private voice lesson. And if I don’t get to that before this weekend, I will also have lots to say about my upcoming trip to Ireland!! I leave on Thursday and can’t wait to go to my second European country and see my good friend Claire.

Hope all is well!

Adios

Mis Clases and Other Updates

Wow, it has been over a week since I last wrote. I am both sorry for the hiatus and amazed that so much time has gone by. The days are flying by already. I can’t believe it is March!

That being said, it is March and I am only on my second full week of classes. Last week the PRESHCO program classes began.  These classes are only for students in our program, but like the classes that we tried out the week before, Universidad de Cordoba professors teach them all. There were a lot of courses being offered that I was interested in, but I was able to narrow it down to a list of four from which I would have to choose to take three. So all of last week I went to an extra class.

The first class Monday morning is a class called Mujeres Solas or Women on Their Own. The title of the class itself was not what interested me. The week before I had met the teacher and really like her. She is very approachable, her Spanish is pretty easy to understand, and she makes her subjects interesting.  I discovered all of this when I went to a preview class of one of her regular university classes. I was writing down notes on the class, and under the professor name I wrote “The one who looks like mom.” That is right. I found my mother’s Spanish twin. Well, not really. Their faces are quite different and the professor is much shorter than mom. But their hair is the same, they both have small hands, she was dressed like mom, and she is a history professor. Pretty spooky, eh?  I think it is pretty funny. Anyway, I have officially decided to take this class and really think it is going to be great. We have been talking about the roles of women and the history of those roles in Spain as well as other countries, using The US as a more familiar example.

Continuing along the path of women’s studies, the classes I have directly after Women on their own is a course on Image, Gender, and Sexuality in Spanish Cinema. I have never taken a cinema class and I am pretty excited about this one. All the films are fairly contemporary (all Post-Franco) and I would say maybe 7 or 8 of them out of the 10 that we watch are directed by Pedro Almodovar. So really, the course should probably be called, Image, Gender, and Sexuality in the films of Almodovar. There are several students in the class who have been in Cordoba all year and took a similar cinema class with the same professor last semester. A bunch of them said it was their favorite class, so I would say chances are very good that I too will like it. So far, I really like the professor. Once again the class feels pretty laid back and he seems very approachable and also kind of funny in a somewhat dorky way, which I love. We haven’t actually watched any films yet, so the class really has yet to take on the dimension that it is going to have for the remainder of the semester. We shall see.  But this is another class that I have now officially signed up for.

My next PRESHCO class isn’t until 5:30pm on Tuesday. It is Comparative Political Institutions: Spain and the United States, and it is team taught by two professors. Last Tuesday we met the first professor, who handed out the syllabus and then spent the rest of class equating basketball to democratic government. Kind of odd, but it was entertaining. Thursday we met the other professor, a young Italian who actually came to Cordoba after studying abroad here himself. He took a class with the professor who he now team-teaches multiple classes with. His Spanish is really easy to understand, though also entertaining to listen to, due to his Italian accent. His class was incredibly engaging. He understands exactly how to connect with a class of foreign students and I really think it would be impossible not to pay attention to him. Now I genuinely say this because I think he was a good speaker and teacher and he came to class very well prepared, but I must also confess that he is the eye candy of the PRESHCO staff and many of the Preshco girls (“Preshquitas” as we are called) are quite fond of him.

Moving on, the last class that I also attended last week was Colonization of America. This is the class I have decided not to take and I really think that is a shame. I saw this class in the brochure for the program over a year ago and decided that I wanted to take it. I think it would be really interesting to learn this history from another prospective. It really seemed the perfect class for my American Studies mind, but alas, it was not. The professor seems incredibly into the subject, but unfortunately his teaching was something I just couldn’t get into.  He said the first class how he likes interactive classes and never wants class to be boring, yet it was incredibly boring and he talked AT us for an hour and a half. Every other class I took that week involved some sort of “my name is Catherine, I go to Trinity College…” but in Colonization, he never even asked us what our names were. He said he wanted us to get to know him and he wanted to get to know us, but he made no effort toward getting the ball rolling on those subjects. And when he lectured, I just couldn’t pay attention or fully comprehend what it was he was saying. Determined to like the class and knowing that first days are always a little different, I decided to give him a second try and went to the second class as well. It was once again an epic failure. So now I have dropped the class, and will not have to sit through it again. Knowing many other students felt this way, I wonder if the class is even going to happen. Each Preshco class needs at least five students enrolled. Oh well.

So those are all of the program classes, but this week was also the first real week of my enhanced direct matriculation class, The History of Song.  I am feeling a little bit worried about the class itself. In the preview classes, the professor was relatively easy to understand, but now the entire class is feeling a little lost in a sea of incredibly fast spoken Spanish by a disorganized professor. Hopefully it will shape up a bit. That class in on Mondays and then our class time on Wednesday is not actually class, but rather is choir rehearsal. What an experience it was going to the first choir rehearsal. I thought the Dischords were ADD, try a choir of eighty Spaniards. There was so much going on. People were chatting away, people came in late (and by late I mean some people came in an hour into the rehearsal). Apparently this was a slightly atypical rehearsal. Usually the first hour is dedicated to technical work and then the second hour to repitoire. This time the whole rehearsal was practice for a performance this past Sunday. The choir sang as a Catholic mass on Sunday and I attended with a few other new Choir members. After the rehearsal I was a little worried that I was hearing a group that was about to perform those songs. It really didn’t sound good. But let me tell you, acoustics of a beautiful church really did wonders for the sound. Also, singing at the mass was not a required activity for all choir members, so clearly those who came, were dedicated to it.

There is something really interesting about attended mass in Spain. Despite the language difference, everything is the same. Now of course the mass is the same in structure, etc. But when I say everything is the same I mean even the rhythm of different prayers. Even though the words sound different, you can always know where in the mass you are because the rhythm of speech never changes. I love that.

More things I love: Every weekend is a three-day weekend as no one in PRESHCO has classes on Friday. Every Saturday we play soccer in a park and people show up and get into it and it is great fun. Siesta is wonderful and should be brought to the United States. There is a lot of chocolate in Spain (at least there certainly is in our apartment). It may be raining today, but the weather here in general is amazing. This weekend I discovered the wonders of the filmoteca: an independent movie theater that is free to the public and reminds me of cinestudio. Tonight I start Sevillanas dance classes. Skype makes communication while abroad ten times better than if I studied abroad a few years ago.

Alright…that is all for now. I hope all is well with you and hope you are enjoying my updates. Shout out to the Slocum family and thanks to all others who are reading! Now post comments and/or send me emails to update me on your lives. Hope those of you in the Northeast are not stuck freezing in a snow bank. Happy March!

Adios. 

Que Guay- Early Days in Cordoba

I have now officially been in Cordoba for a week and my trip continues to be wonderful. Let’s see how well I can recap the past few days. Mostly these days have been days of exploration. Lots of walking all over the city. And let me say that these have been wonderful walks and there will be many more to come. There is still a lot of the city I have not seen.

I left you last on Monday evening, so we shall pick up on Tuesday. Tuesday night was our first group event since we arrived in Cordoba. After a presentation by the teachers of the “cultural classes” available to us (guitar, cooking, sevillanas dance) we headed across the street from our facultad for a slightly awkward cocktail mingling hour where we were able to meet almost all of the Preshco professors. It was a nice idea, but the room was very crowded and loud and actually talking to too many professors wasn’t really much of a possibility. After the mingling session we walked a few blocks over to a flamenco performance! How wonderful! It was a pretty low-key theater experience with wonderful performers. Flamenco is such a passionate dance and we certainly saw a passionate performance. It was so rhythmic and precise, despite improvisational aspects of the flamenco tradition.  The performance was not over until around midnight, so I was feeling pretty tired by the end and pretty much went straight home and to bed.

Cleary I was very tired, because I ended up sleeping until 11:30 the next morning! Yikes. How uncharacteristic of me. After a leisurely morning, Pilar walked with me and Viola to show us where some things were and then we went over to Pilar’s mother’s apartment to meet her. Her apartment was huge and she was very friendly and very excited to meet us. Later Viola and I headed in to class in the evening for my history of song class. It was a little harder to understand the professor this time then on the first class on Monday, but I still think this is going to be a great class and I am pretty happy about the other people with me in the class and thus also with me in the chorus. Should be fun.

Thursday was our next group activity. Before our 6pm meeting time, Mary, Laura, and I went to a wonderful place we had found a few days before: Salon de te. It is an unbelievably gorgeous and cute teashop in/on one of the typical Cordoba patios. Everything is very Arab influenced. We decided to try the Te Andalusi since we are after all in Andalucia. It was delicious and I was so happy to finally have some tea! After our tea date it was off to meet the group. We took a group photo, had a sort of cocktail hour at a bar, and then were officially welcomed into the Universidad de Cordoba in an official ceremony or as our director said “Spain really values protocol.” After our protocol, was cena en grupo. I was pretty excited to have a group dinner, I had enjoyed them so much over the tour. We went to a Chinese restaurant and there was sooooo much food. I absolutely stuffed myself. After dinner, I went with a bunch of people to a bar nearby. We got there around 11/11:30, and it was still a little early for too many Spaniards to be there, but the place started to fill up shortly afterwards. I liked this particular bar. It was really laid back and cozy. But there was the drawback that is unfortunately everywhere here: it is perfectly acceptable to smoke pretty much anywhere. It hasn’t been too big of a deal, but on Thursday a lot of the people I was with were smoking and after a while it was starting to give me a headache. And of course, when I went home my clothes and hair smelled of smoke. Ick. Not my favorite part of European life.

The only downside of Spanish customs I have found so far: dog poop. No one picks up after his or her dogs here. You really have to pay attention to where you walk and it is always unfortunate to find a smeared specimen because then you know some poor soul stepped in it.

Anyway, as there are no classes on Friday, Friday was Mezquita day! It is an incredible building both architecturally and historically. The Christian cathedral was built in it when the Christian re-conquered Cordoba after centuries of arab rule. And what did the Christians do but tear down interior walls of the Mezquita and quite literally build a cathedral within the existing structure. Arab architecture collides with Christian designs. It is incredible.

Other than that, exploring, exploring, exploring. Yesterday I walked around with Viola and our friend Tara and after exploring Pilar invited Viola and me to join her an her friends for a midday cerveza. It was fun, but a little overwhelming because we met quite a few people and it was hard to pay attention to what was going on.  But it was a lovely Saturday activity. We were sitting outside in the square where Pilar’s mom lives. Pablo and Pilar’s friends’ kids where all playing. It was so relaxed and such a lovely lifestyle to have that as a weekend norm.

That is all for now. I am off to explore the Cordoba Botanical Gardens with some friends. Hasta Luego.

Adios.

 

La Casa y Mi Dormitorio

El Piso

La Sala with the table set for lunch

View out the window/terrace 

The Very Narrow Kitchen

My Room in Cordoba

My Bed and the wall of closet (I occupy the center closet section)

Another View