Sabado en Cordoba

CORDOBA!

This weekend, Seth came to visit from London and on Saturday, we took a day trip to Cordoba, which is only a little over an hour away by train. Unfortunately, weather.com predicted rain all day, but it turned out that it just rained for a little big in the morning when we got there (while it was supposedly raining all day in Sevilla), so we lucked out. It was also really fun using our guidebooks to check out all the best sites around the city. We did so much walking and even kind of knew our way around the city a bit by the end of the day...

This is the train station in Sevilla... only 7.40 euros each way to Cordoba!


Around the city...




The Mezquita, which was built as a mosque in the 700's. It was the location of power of Islam in Spain.. and in the 16th century a cathedral was built in its center.. (I took about 100 pictures here.)



The Jewish quarter and the synogoga from 1350... (the only one in Andalusia to survive the 1492 inquisition of the Jews in Spain)


Here are a park and garden patios we visited..

Catedral de Sevilla

Last Thursday, I went on a school trip to the giant cathedral in the center of the city. The cathedral used to be a mosque in the 12th century and the architecture is absolutely fabulous, and the view from the Giralda is quite breath-taking.

P.S. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is here.

Roman Ruins @ Italica

Fuimos a Italica el jueves pasado... (mas o menos 20 minutos de Sevilla)

Also: I found out who the performer was at the Carnaval de Cadiz concert we attended, and I downloaded the album and it's soo awesome. Her name is Chenoa and the music is Spanish rock/pop...my favorite songs are "Todo Ira Bien" y "Rutinas." (Download them!!)

: )

hmmm... Spain is awesome. I still have moments when I'm like, "I miss home!" but it's gotten so much better and I'm starting to appreciate my experience here more. I really like my teacher and my intensive class (mostly because it's basically all vocab and minimal grammar).. although it is still hard to sit through 4 hours of class each day. In just two weeks I feel like I've come a long way- I can now understand most of what my teacher is saying (which is all in Spanish because we are literally not allowed to speak English AT ALL) and I am also speaking more in class. (And I'm KIND OF understanding my host mother a little bit more...)

Every day in class someone presents a Spanish news article and we have really interesting conversations about the different topics. I am so interested in the Spanish perspective on things and I always like to hear what they think of us Americans. EVERYTHING in the U.S. seems bigger, the cars, the portions, and even the laundry machines. They also conserve energy and water here soooo much more than we do in the U.S. For example, we turn on the hall light to find our way to our room, but before we get into the room, we turn off the hall light. It seems like there is so much less waste here.. we should be taking a lesson from the Spanish! (Mom & Dad- I will definitely be leaving the lights on less when I come home!)

So, today Norah, Theresa, and I ate lunch in el Parque de Maria Luisa (aka the most beautiful place ever) and then after that Norah and I went to find this museum that we found in her guide book (and the same one that I encountered when I briefly got lost today). We got there via Sierpes and I treated Norah to a yummy postre from a fabulous bakery because she had a REALLY bad day.. and we found the museum (which was free because we're students) and as soon as I walked in it was like AHHHHH (in a good way) because I felt so cultured. The majority of the art depicted JESUS CHRIST, but there was also some other cool stuff and the building and courtyard was SOO pretty.

Ok, I must go digest my tortilla de patata (which is not like a tortilla at all) because I am STUFFED. And also we are trying to find a flamenco performance tonight...

The President of Spain is Across the Street

So, I was sitting down to have a nice leisurely lunch when I see--through the living room windows-- a huge crowd of people across the street. Dije: ¿Que es esto? and my host mom starts going crazy (in a not-happy way; she hates politics) about how ZAPATERO (THE PRESIDENT OF SPAIN) is across the street...pretty cool. The crowds seem to have subsided, pero es muy interesante que el presidente estuvo tan cerca de mi edificio.

Mi Barrio

In case anyone was wondering what my neighborhood (well, really just my apartment building and the park next to my building) in Nervion looks like.....here it is in all its glory:

Muy gángster, no?

Donde corremos...

Norah and I (and a few other kids) decided to take a walk where we normally go running to take pictures! So, the following is of the Parque de Maria Luisa and el Plaza de Espana...