Mas Andalucia: Jerez y Ronda

Algunas fotos para ti...

Guapisima Ronda:












Ronda is gorges... but not as gorges as Ithaca, of course!


Vino in Jerez:







besos!

Feria y Un Museo

Last night, Norah, Alicia (who we like to call AliTHia, the way the Spanish pronounce it), Lee, and I went to go check out the Feria festivities in Los Remedios. Unfortunately, it was raining (like it has been all week...boo), but it was still fun. A lot of the Spanish girls and women were wearing beautiful flamenco dresses of all patterns... sadly I couldn't really take pictures of them without looking like a stalker. But they were AMAZING! The actual Feria "fair ground" was made up of tents housing different "casetas," these exclusive clubs that Sevillianos belong to where they celebrate Feria with three things (according to my intercambio): food, drink, and dancing. Apparently, people pay hefty monthly dues all year to be able to attend a private caseta, which are usually made up of groups of people who know each other and/or are related. (My intercambio said that her parents belong to a less exclusive casetas for chemists.) There were also public casetas, which we went to. There, we watched dancing and shared Jaras de Rubejito (I think it's spelled like that), which is white wine and Sprite. We also went to the amusement park nearby and ate these yummy chocolate-covered waffles.











Norah, Eric, Melanie, Erin, Sara (from Ithaca), Sara's roommate Jess, and I went to the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo this morning, which is across the river near the amusement park (which I also want to go to when the weather gets better). We saw a really disturbing exhibit from Vienna as well as some Picasso, Dali, and Goya, but the best part was the complex it was in.. an old monastery. There were really pretty gardens too...too bad it was raining!







besos!

Americanas en el Capital

This weekend, I went on an overnight trip to Madrid with my Art History of Spain class. It was fun to actually see the city, not just be in its airport (and we even got to take the AVE there). And, of course, we saw ART, ART, and MORE ART; my favorite was the impressionist work. We visited the Prado (where we saw lots of El Greco), the Reina Sofia (which had a temporary collection of Picasso works that were never sold AND Guernica), the Palacio Real, and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (which had some great impressionist pieces by Monet, Pissarro, Degas, etc. and also Dali's "One Second Before Awakening from a Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate," which I was really surprised to see.. and this was all in a private collection!) We also craved American food this weekend (which is weird for me because at home I usually don't like typical "American" food at home), so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. And, ironically, our hotel was at the Madrid metro stop "Sevilla" (see below).

Foggy Londontown

Last weekend, Norah and I made our way to foggy Londontown to visit all our Ithaca friends who are studying at IC's London Center. We stayed in Luke, Seth, Mary, and Mallory's flat, which was just a block from where Tony Blair lives!!!! (And I even got a bed to sleep in because Mallory was away for the weekend!) It was really awesome to see everyone, although it was raining (of course!).

It was actually really weird to hear people speaking English all around us because this was the first place we've been to this semester where everyone (well, almost everyone) speaks English. We're used to being able to talk about people in front of them because they PROBABLY won't understand us (haha).

A few of the touristy highlights: the Tower of London Bridge, the London Bridge (lame.. it's not even the real one!), fish and chips and Strongbow, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Mind the Gap!, tea and crumpets, Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (from Harry Potter), hot cross buns, the Globe Theatre, Hyde Park, Borough Market, chocolate-covered honey combs, Piccadilly Circus.

Some pictures: