Thanksgiving, Birthdays, and Other Business

Phew, I feel like a lot has happened since the last time I wrote, and I want to write about everything, but I don't want to drag on forever. Basically, school has continued for the last 3 weeks, and it has been flying by. With classes, working in the tourist office, and doing my intercambios (conversational exchanges), I have barely noticed that November has almost completely passed me by.

La Granja

One occurrence of interest: last Saturday, we visited the palace of la Granja de San Ildefonso. It is an amazing palace with incredible chandeliers (which kept me craning my neck towards the ceiling the whole time) and extensive gardens. Unfortunately, it has just been getting cold here; it's not cold enough to be terrible, but just enough to make wandering through gardens slightly miserable. I can imagine, though, just how enchanting the gardens could be in the summer or spring.

This last week was my birthday! It was a little funny that I turned 21 in Spain, a country where that means absolutely nothing. Nonetheless, my host mom made me curry (she'd never made it before) and cake for my birthday. It was such a wonderful surprise, and it made me miss home a little less. I don't think I have eaten anything with that many spices in it since August.

The next day was Thanksgiving. To celebrate the day, the program puts together a potluck lunch with all the students and faculty. It was wonderful doing something with everyone on Thanksgiving, but it really made me miss home. I only made one dish, and I felt like I was lacking something because I wasn't running around a kitchen frantically pulling things out of and putting things into the oven, stirring contents of pots, and reorganizing the refrigerator with my mom.

This week, in my European Union class, we were given the assignment of doing some surveys of Spanish people we knew (not including our host families) in order to see how much of the material that we learned in class was known by the general population of Spain. I took the surveys to the tourist office with me today and I asked the questions to my co-workers. Questions included things like "How many countries are in the EU?", "How many countries have the euro?", "When did Spain enter into the EU", and "What does the EU flag look like?". Marian, our professor, warned us that Spanish people are very proud and would get very defensive if they didn't know the answers. I was a little skeptical, but it soon proved to be true. My co-workers were very defensive about not knowing the answers and attempted to look them up on the internet. I tried to explain that they weren't really expected to know all these things. I tried to make them feel better by saying that I didn't know that much about the U.S. But to no avail; they were really distressed that they couldn't respond to all the questions. It was certainly a lesson in communication and culture; perhaps I should have gone about the survey in a completely different way.

As today is a Saturday night, my host siblings will be heading out for the night, leaving at about midnight and coming home sometime around 5 a.m. I am not a very big fan of going out at night, but it is a huge part of the culture of the youth of Spain. I find myself aligning myself more with the opinion of my host mom and my intercambio, who is also a mother, in that it seems a little to crazy for me. For other people, yes, but I can't imagine finding the energy to go out for that long, that late, when I would much rather be sleeping. I think that I feel a little alienated from the Spanish youth that I have met because of my reluctance to go out (though I am perfectly ok with that). 

I can't believe my time here is winding to a close. I hope to make the best of the remainder of my stay.

'Ta luego!

Andalucía!

This past weekend, I went on an excursion with the rest of the students to the region of Andalucía, where we visited two cities, Córdoba and Sevilla. I enjoyed the experience immensely because we visited all the main monuments with the history professor who explained the significance of the monuments and I feel like I learned a lot more than I would have if I had gone by my lonesome. However, we also had free time to explore the cities without the professors which was wonderful. Traveling to Andalucía seemed almost like going to another country. As we rode in the bus, the dark clouds of autumn disappeared and the sun shone furiously bright. We also started seeing cacti along the road, and in Córdoba, I was shocked to see palm trees around the city. The two regions are surprisingly distinct.

La Mezquita de Córdoba

La Catedral in the mosque

After a five hour drive to Córdoba, we started out excursion by visiting la Mezquita, a mosque that was constructed starting around the 7th century and additions were made to it over the course of many years. When the city was retaken by a Christian king, the mosque was partially destroyed and a cathedral was built in the center. I almost can't describe what it is like walking through the mosque and encountering a cathedral in the center. Surrounding the cathedral remains the arcs built originally, which seem to go on for miles. It's hard to believe these two photos come from the same building.

Los Reales Alcázares

The next day, we traveled to Sevilla, where we visited the Los Reales Alcázares, a mass of castles of the Christian kings. The castle features work that can only be described by the Spanish word mudejar, which means work done by the hands of Muslims for use by Christians. In this case, the Christian kings commissioned the palace to be built by workers from the Arabic world, which is apparent in the incredible decorations of the castle. It is said that the work demonstrates a "horror vacui" which in Latin means fear of emptiness; every inch of the castle is covered with intricate geometric designs.

Plaza de España

Plaza de España

In Sevilla, we also visited the Plaza de España, an impressive plaza that represents the relationship between Spain and the Americas. It is enormous, beautiful, and unhurried. Also, I'm told it is where a scene from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones was filmed.

Flamenco

In Córdoba, where we spent both nights, a few of the other students and I sought out a flamenco bar. Flamenco (the dance and music) originated in Andalucía, so I had my heart set on seeing flamenco while I was there. We finally found this bar, and although all the tables had been reserved, we were able to watch the performance standing. Just being in that bar, sipping on Spanish wine, and listening to the music and watching the dance made me feel truly Spanish. The dancers were amazingly talented and the guitarist was almost surreal; watching his fingers was like watching a movie fast-forwarded.

Of course, I have to mention the food we ate. For breakfast, we had a typical Andalucián dish, which was bread toasted and drizzled with olive oil, topped with tomato puree, and sprinkled with salt. I also tried pescaítos, little fried fish, which are famous of the region, and the favorite dish of both my professor and host brother. We also had the signature dessert of Córdoba (it seems like most cities have a signature dessert), which was a pastry (like a pie) filled with angel hair pasta and a sweet filling.

Signature dessert of Córdoba

Pescaítos

Andalucían breakfast

I had an incredible time in Andalucía. I would very much like to go back one day; it is an enchanting place. There is something about Andalucía that is very unique, and it has a charm that I have not yet found anywhere else.