PERI: Return to the USA

        This is going to be a long blog kind of wrapping everything up, so I figured it would be a little easier to read if I broke it into sections.

Trip Home:  Well, today is Tuesday and I landed in good ol' Boise, Idaho at about 10:30pm on Saturday night and I could NOT be more thankful!  I was originally supposed to go to Geneva, Switzerland from Friday until Monday and then fly home today, but (thankfully) that is not how things panned out.  Elizabeth, Kelly, and I showed up to the airport Friday morning with our backpacks full and many layers of clothes on, prepared to visit the lovely Geneva.  We stepped off the train and up to the information monitors to find out that our flight had been cancelled.  After MUCH frustration dealing with a number of EasyJet employees, we figured out that all the flights to Geneva that day were cancelled due to snow.  We decided that we would not risk going on Saturday because of the chance that we would not get back to BCN on time and hence, home on time.  We went to our respective airlines for the trip home and tried to schedule something for later that day, but to no avail.  5 hours after this process started, we finally took our defeated behinds home.  We were all really upset that our trip had not worked out and we were not able to get home.  BUT after a quick nap, I learned that my mom had worked a miracle and got me on a flight home the next day!!!  So I said my goodbyes to my host family and Elizabeth and got to the airport at 8 o'clock Saturday morning :).  Just by chance, Mitzi and I were both on Delta getting home and our flights were supposed to leave about 45 min. apart from each other so our gates were right next to each other!  It was great to be able to start this trip with her and end with it too, I was so happy :).  Saturday was a very long day... all flights were very delayed and hectic because of the weather conditions all over Europe.  But like Mitzi said, it was hard to feel anything but nostalgic.  Nevertheless, we both made it home on the same day, and it could not have been better timing because all of my program mates that are still in BCN are stuck there and who knows when they will make it home.

Feelings about being home:    Being home feels fantastic: it looks and smells and feels like Christmas and I appreciate being with family and friends so much.  Mitzi and I had a little bit different experiences with our feelings at the end of our programs.  But before I elaborate, I have to say first and foremost that studying abroad is the best thing that I have ever done for myself.  I learned so much about myself, my Spanish speaking improved exponentially, and the experience of living in a foreign country is something that has changed me for the better and I think everyone should experience at one time or another.  Like Mitzi said, I learned a valuable lesson about the things that are important to me in life.  I learned that traveling the world is something that I love to do and want to continue throughout my lifetime, but also that I don't enjoy it as much without the people that I love: it is something that I want to share with them.  My time abroad has confirmed to me that my life at home is exactly the way that I want it to be. Now that I am home and feeling like myself, I realize how much I did not feel like myself.  I would never say that I was unhappy while in Spain, but the instability of situation and emotion did take its toll on me, and it feels good to feel like myself again :)/

I always heard that the reverse-culture shock was going to be a weird, cross-cultural experience in itself, and let me tell you, it is.  I find myself accidentally saying things like "Perdon"(pardon me), and "gracias" and other everyday phrases on accident.  I notice every little difference between Spain and here and immediately want to talk about it (something that our program reminded us of is that people are going to get very tired of our "Well in Spain..." stories, so that is something that I am trying to work on).  It is strange to hear English 100% of the time.  Comfort foods of home are a very welcome change.  It is strange coming home to driving, big homes and rooms, consistently hot water, American time schedules, and so much more.

Looking back:    My perspective of this experience is much clearer now that I have stepped out of it, and I can honestly say that it is something that I would recommend to ANYONE.  It was the most rewarding thing that I have ever done, but it was also the most difficult.  Contrary to the beliefs of some, it is not a whirlwind of jet-setting, euphoric fun, and financial freedom.  Although yes, the jet=setting and euphoria are the high points that are some of the best times in my life, there are extreme lows as well.  It is difficult to be away from your home, your family, and everything familiar, and at some point in the semester, everyone hits a lull in the excitement of being abroad.  That is enough with the negative though, because I don't regret a moment of the last 4 months and I know how much I have learned and grown from it.

Study abroad tips:   I cannot say enough how valuable this experience was for me and would be for any student.  Studying abroad is one of those things that if you say "I will do it someday", it will forever be pushed back until tomorrow and never happen; it is time to take the plunge!!  With some hard work on scholarships, putting money away, and a little sacrifice, it is something that can be afforded... and the experiences that you will have are INvaluable!  Imagine hopping a plane to Paris or Manchester or Prague for $30.00!  As a study abroad veteran, there are a few things that are must-haves and must-knows.

Must-haves:  
--A good, reliable camera
--A blog :)  or journal.  It is important to record your experiences as you go along, otherwise details become fuzzy
--For Europe, boots and scarves are a must :)
--I hate to sound materialistic, but honestly an iPod touch was one of the best investments that I made before going: you can pick up internet on your weekend trips without taking or needing a computer, access email when you are looking for those directions to your hostel, text your friends and family in the US (for free!), use translating apps for those side trips to other countries, GPS apps to find that hole-in-the-wall restaurant you heard a recommendation for, etc. Long story short, it was a life saver!

Must-knows:
--A little street smarts: you may hear that petty crime is very high in Europe... in some cases, this is completely true, however if you keep vigilant and always are using your street smarts, your odds of being pick pocketed are much lower
--A good idea of why you are going abroad.  Are you going to learn a language? travel? party?  Do you want a tranquil location? metropolitan?  I loved Barcelona, but I wish that I would have done a little more research on how it would meet my objectives.  Barcelona is great for people looking for a bustling city, great nightlife, and tons of Catalan culture.  But with these things that are seemingly great, there are consequences such as being expensive, an overwhelming nightlife, and lots of Catalan pride and close-mindedness to the rest of the Spanish culture.
--Keep an open mind:  more than likely, everything that you are accustomed to is going to be different, which is not necessarily bad, as long as you are open to it.  I know that my tastes in food broadened a lot while abroad just from trying different things.  Also customary traditions, preferences, timelines, etc. may seem strange but just go with the flow!

Well I am all out of advice for now but I would love to hear from anyone who is interested in studying abroad :)  I can be reached at pbolts01@gmail.com, and I will do my best to answer any questions that you may have!  Thanks for reading our blog, I hope that it was informative even though it is a bit cumbersome.  ¡Hasta luego!

MITZI: Nostalgia

Disclaimer.  I am sitting alone in the Barcelona airport with all my luggage at 1 in the morning.  I am tired and I still have 17ish more hours of traveling ahead of me. :)  And there are police riding around the terminal on segways... I feel safe.

I can’t believe it’s over.  I seriously just don’t understand.  Did I really just live in Spain for four months?  I definitely feel like I ran out of time, it just went by so fast!!  I was very sad to leave, I kept thinking ‘I don’t want to go back to reality...’  Which is so true.  This whole experience has felt like a dream.  I think that when I wake up in my own bed on Sunday morning that this whole experience will really become like a dream.

Leaving really was bittersweet.  I hate to leave Sevilla and the lifestyle I have become accustomed to, but I am also super pumped to be home for Christmas and spend time with friends and family. 

Sitting here looking back I see that Sevilla really offered me a lifestyle that the US never could.  One of tranquility and self-realization.  I learned a lot about myself and my own independence.  I feel like I have changed, but I can’t really tell still being here.  That’s another reason why I am excited to go home, to really see how my time here studying abroad has changed me.  I really want to bring back with me a part of the mindset that I have now about priorities, and what causes me stress.  I have been so relaxed and more open to new and different things.  I want to be able to stay openminded and remember the importance of my priorities I have had here.

I still just can’t comprehend the things I have seen and experienced over these last four months.  It’s some people’s life dream to go to Italy and I just nonchalantly decided to take a weekend trip there.  It’s just crazy.  I am so appreciative to everyone and everything that helped get me here, I really have been so blessed.  Not just Italy either, Ireland, France, Africa, lots and lots of Spain...  I am one very lucky girl.

What I would like to leave you with may be a little cheesy to some, but I love it.  So there was a Christian king ruling in Sevilla centuries ago and the city adored him.  During his reign his son decided that he was going to try and take over the throne.  However, the people of the city loved him so much that they stuck by him and fought for him and he remained king.  As a thank you to the people of the city he gave the city a motto: NO8DO.  The 8 is in calligraphy and it means a spool of yarn.  A spool of yarn in Spanish is called a ‘madeja.’  So with a play on words it sounds like ‘no madeja do’, or ‘no me ha dejado’ which means it (the city) has never left me.  I really really like this because I know that my own experience from Sevilla will never leave me, because it has changed me.

I hope that you have enjoyed our posts and that they weren’t too long or boring or random or confusing.  But this was my experience in a nutshell.  And I loved it, absolutely adored it. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

NO8DO <3

Mitzi

MITZI: Arab baths and Italy

So for my last weekend in Sevilla some friends and I decided to go an arabic bath in Sevilla.  I had heard from friends who had gone and said it was something I couldn’t miss.  They were 100% correct.  I am so glad I dished out the money to go. It was located right in the heart of my favorite neighborhood, Santa Cruz, on top of an ancient Arab bathhouse (Hamman) and Roman ruins.  During the 16th century, a Viceroy from the Indies built a palace which today is known as the “Aire of Sevilla.”  I literally felt like royalty.  There were four different pools in the basement of this palace, all lit by candles (would be an amazing thing to do for a honeymoon!!).  One pool was a salt pool, the biggest one was tepid, and there was two smaller ones: one hot and one like ice.  It was a very unique experience.  Ahhhh I simply loved it.  I want to go back so bad!! I am so relaxed and happy.  We only paid for the bath part of it, but there are tons of packages with massages and aromatherapy and more.  Definitely something I can happily check off my “culture list,” so Katie calls it.

A little glimpse of my afternoon full of serenity.

Peri already filled you in on our incredible Italy trip (see her blog below for pictures and details!!).  Gosh it was amazing.  As we were jaunting around different places sometimes I would just stop and think, “I’m in Italy, this is some people’s life dream, and I’m here, right now, experiencing it all.”  It was humbling and satisfying at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.  I simply fell in love.  The food, oí, the food was perfection.  All I wanted to do was eat!! And eat I did!  Pizza, pasta, gelato, wine, mmmmmm my tummy was always happy. 

One main highlight of the trip for me (besides the food) was St. Peter’s basilica in Vatican City.  Walking into a church that is so grandiose and intricate at the same time.  Like Peri said, it was really hard to take it all in.  I just stood in the back for a couple minutes with tears in my eyes trying to comprehend the grandness of the basilica.  I like making the connection with St. Peter’s and when Jesus says in Matthew that Peter was the disciple that Christ would build his church.  And here we have one of the largest churches in the world, and I have been lucky enough to stand in it.

St. Peter's.

Another memory that I have of Rome was when us girls where chillin on the Spanish steps eating some gelato.  We were ‘completely innocently’ trying to get into other tourist’s pictures when we see this guy completely tackle another guy selling scarves (probably an illegal immigrant).  It was pretty intense, the guy to tackled the vender guy escorted him up the stairs and everything.  We were convinced he was an undercover cop.  And after that all the vender guys completely disappeared.  Pretty sketchy.  The funny thing was that when the vender guy got tackled he dropped some of his scarves and the undercover cop guy wouldn’t let him go back and get them.  So there was this pile of scarves chillin on the steps waiting for someone to come pick them up.  I really had to restrain myself because you know my love of scarves!!  A little while later two other vender guys came and picked them up.  But it was definitely an interesting little memory.

The aftermath.  That's a good little pile of scarves!

Ok.  Finals week.  I need to study.  But I only have 6 days left in Sevilla!! So bittersweet.  More on my feelings next blog. :)

PERI: When in Rome :)

    This past weekend was a Spanish holiday known as Puente.  Monday was Constitution day and Wednesday was Immaculate Conception day, so lucky for us, we had a 6 day holiday!!  Mitzi, her friend Kristin, my roommate Elizabeth, and myself ventured to Rome!  It was an incredible trip.  Originally we had thought about going to Rome and various other cities in Italy since we had such a long break, but the trains between towns are either expensive or slow... and I am so glad that we decided to spend all five days of our trip in Rome!  We stayed at a nice little hostel that ended up being in the perfect location for exploring the city.  Rome has a terrible metro system (we were informed that the reason the metro is so outdated and has so few lines is because it is impossible to build an underground metro because they are constantly running into ruins beneath the city), so we ended up walking A LOT.  I would say we walked at least 7-8 miles every day.  The first night we were there we ran into some bad weather and got stuck out in a rain storm, but other than that the weather was pretty good.

View from hostel window.

    There is SOOO much to say about Rome that I do not even know where to begin.  We did a great job waking up early and hitting the touristy sites to avoid lines.  There are so many historical and interesting things to see in Rome-- there are literally picture-worthy sites every place you look!  But I feel like we were very efficient in the sites that we saw :)  I think it will be easier to read and write if I list them by day:


Friday: Trevi fountain by night, Pantheon, and a little of the area around our hostel

Trevi Fountain at night

Saturday: St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican City.  These two sites literally took ALLLL day.  We got to the Basilica about 8:30am and were able to walk right in.  The Basilica was so vast that it was hard to comprehend its beauty, one could spend days soaking it all in.  The Vatican was phenomenal, but a lot like the Louvre in Paris in that there is so much to see, and the exhibits are so big, that they become a bit monotonous after a while.  The Sistine Chapel was absolutely mind boggling and fantastic.

Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica

Inside Sistine Chapel

Sunday: Colosseum, Palatino, and Spanish steps.  The Colosseum was absolutely incredible.  The ruins of what is left are so interesting and look different from every angle.  The exhibition they had there about the Colosseum and the events that used to take place there was fascinating.  The Spanish steps are a very large staircase that go up from a main plaza with lots of shops to higher ground in the city.  We sat on the steps eating gelato and people watching.

In front of Colosseum with the rip-off street gladiator...

Inside Colosseum

Spanish Steps

Monday: Took a half hour train ride to Frascati, a small town in a more country area.  The town was so quaint and cute, it was great to get out of the city.

Quaint little Frascati

Along with those main events, we also explored various things, we were always finding something interesting on our walks around the city.

Another very notable thing about Rome is the FOOD!  Honestly, the second we finished one meal we could not wait to feel a little pang of hunger so we could eat again :).  The pizza, gelato, and of course the pasta were to die for!  There are so many other things to mention about beautiful Roma, unfortunately pictures and words just don't do it justice.

Us four ladies at a Romantic Italian dinner :)                          And delicious pasta!!

MITZI: Rain in Spain

The main thing that is on my mind right now is rain, rain, rain, rain, and rain.  I mean, I like the rain and everything, when I am dressed appropriately and am not cold.  I lost my umbrella this last weekend and learned my lesson about not having one in the rain yesterday...

View of a Sevillian rainbow from my window, one plus from the rain.

I was really bummed that it was raining almost the whole time Peri was here this weekend, but we still had a great time, and we even braved the almost monsoon-like rain on Saturday to go tour the cathedral.  I loved having her here and showing her all my favorite eclectic spots.

Peri and I in front of the cathedral.

Peri and I and the girls getting tapas for Pear's 21st birthday!! :)

 Last night on the town.  Two Idaho girls in Sevilla. :) Good times.

Thanksgiving was really good!! ISA put on a really really nice dinner for us.  We had a great time, the food wasn’t the same as home, but the company was great.  And everyone dressed up really nice cocktail style.

Thanksgiving dinner. Yum.

Another thing I would like to comment about Spain in general is their lack of central heating.  I’m an Idaho girl not used to humidity for one, and I just get chilled and can’t get warm again.  And two, our apartment doesn’t have heat, so that’s fun.  It’s a newer complex so it’s insulated better than some of my friend’s apartments, but still when it’s 46 degrees outside, it’s pretty cold.  I’m not really complaining, just commenting.  I actually like being cold more than being hot.  I like to bundle up and cuddle in my bed.  It just  isn’t as much fun when I am battling a cold.  Oh well, it’s all an experience and I am still loving it.

Two weekends ago ISA took us on an excursion to Córdoba and Granada.  I was really looking forward to this excursion because I have learned a lot about the art history in both of these cities, and I had a feeling that I was going to love them.  I was right, I especially loved Granada.  We saw the famous mosque of Córdoba, and had a really funny tour guide who kept calling us his ‘family,’  it was cute.

Mosque of Córdoba

Inside the mosque is incredible, with all the matching arches and history behind the mosque.  I also had the best Spanish tortilla I have had yet.  It’s this like potato cake thing that Spain is known for.

Granada really is my favorite city in Spain now after Sevilla.  It’s farther north so the leaves were changing and it was simply breathtakingly.  We spent a majority of the day at the Alhambra, the palace of Granada.  It was incredible.

Courtesy of Google search again.  The Alhambra.

View from the Alhambra.

It was a Muslim palace on a hill looking over the city.  The views were to die for.  And the intricacy of designs in the walls and decorations of the palace were awesome. 

Katie and I and the Alhambra in the background at night.

It’s hard to really convey what I saw and felt during my excursion.  I simply loved it.  I have been so blessed to have been able to see what I have seen and done what I have done here.  I have learned so much about my self and about our world.  My time here in Sevilla is quickly coming to an end, and reminiscing on my time here is starting to feel just like a dream.  I just want to enjoy every second I have left.

PERI: Girona and one month to go!!

    Well, I can't believe it, as of yesterday I only have one month left in Spain!  It is crazy how fast the time has gone!  I must confess I am very excited to go home, I know there is a lot waiting for me.  Thanksgiving and my birthday without my family will not be the same, but I am thankful that I am going to Sevilla to visit Mitzi for both of these holidays! :)  As for the rest of my time here, I am still trying to improve my language skills every day, finish up my school work, and make the most of the rest of my time.

     This past weekend we had our last ISA excursion to the historical town of Girona and the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres.  Girona is a beautiful city located on a picturesque river just north of Barcelona.  We took a walking tour around the city and visited the ruins of the Roman city walls, the Jewish quarter, and other notable places in the city.  Unfortunately it was a drizzly, cold day so after the tour was over, a group of us decided to warm up indoors with a lovely Menu del Dia.  In Spain, lunch is typically the big meal of the day, so almost every restaurant offers a multi-course meal in the middle of the day at a really reasonable price.  I love sitting down and having a nice long meal with good conversation.  After the bread and olive oil, lasagna, roasted chicken, potatoes, and chocolate cake, needless to say... I was stuffed!!

Classic Girona river scene

We then got on the bus for a short drive to Figueres where the Salvador Dali Theater Museum is.  Don't let the name fool you... it is not a theater museum.  It is an art museum, designed by Salvador Dali himself (in a theater-like setting), that houses most of Dali's greatest works.  Dali is the father of the genre of art called surrealism.  Let me tell you, it does not get much more surreal than this place!! Every inch of the museum was decorated with some strange, off-the-wall piece of art or sculpture or some other installation... it was a sensory overload for sure!! I do really enjoy Dali's art, but it is a lot to take in at once. **One side note... when we got to the museum, there were a lot of people waiting outside, and after a while, one of our directors told us that we were not allowed to go in yet---- because someone had just died inside!!!  We had to wait for the coroners to come and remove the body before we were allowed to enter!  It was sad and very odd.

One of Dali's classics

Hair= big curtain, eyes= large inkblot paintings, nose- fireplace, mouth= couch

MITZI: Fundación Gota de Leche

Starting in late September, every Wednesday morning I have been volunteering with an organization called Fundación Gota de Leche.  They have many different programs that are aimed at helping the needs of women and children.  They have a health focus and run a small clinic near the ISA office.  The program that I have been working with is ‘desayunos’ or breakfast.  What I do is travel to an elementary school in the city and help serve breakfast to kids who need it.  The object is to try to explain to these kids some concept of health, or a healthy breakfast.  I work with a lady, Ana, who works with these kids everyday, and it is awesome to hear stories of how far these kids have from, and to watch the relationship between her and these kids.  The kids all come from pretty rough backgrounds, many are gypsy kids.  They can be intimidated by people who are different from them, such as me, a tall white girl who doesn’t speak perfect Spanish, so I never know how they are going to react to me.  Sometimes they are open to talk, and sometimes they aren’t.  I really do love doing it though.  I feel like it has given me a little more meaning here in Sevilla, and the smile on a kid’s face when I give them a high five is totally worth it.  Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures and put them up in the next couple weeks.  ¡Besitos!

PERI: Andrew and the Pope visit BCN

Well it has been a very eventful week (? two weeks?... sorry!) since I last wrote.  On the 27th my fiance Andrew flew in for a week long visit!  Needless to say, it was fantastic to see him.  His first few experiences in BCN were not very pleasant ones.  Being blonde, I usually get a lot of unwanted attention from the local men, and I was really hoping that this would subside having Drew with me.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  Right off the bat we had people saying very nasty things to us, always ending in "Americanos".  Not only did we get negative attention because we are American, we also got negative attention from the older people because we are an interracial couple.  It really bothered Drew at first, but we learned to make a game with it, and it seemed like the staring and talking lightened up.  That aside, we had a wonderful time!  We did a lot of things: some things that I had never done before, and others that are my favorite things to do around here.  My favorite thing was going to the Labyrinth Park, I had never been before and it was so beautiful and romantic!

Eating gelato in the big market :)

Labyrinth

I am so thankful that he was able to come out here, he has a much better perspective of what my life is like over here now.  My words and stories are just not enough to convey my experiences.  It was really bittersweet saying goodbye; he reminded me of how much I miss home.  BUT, I only have 7 weeks left here, I can't believe it!  The upcoming weekend is the only weekend I have free until I go home... where has the time gone!?!

Fountain in Parque de la Cuidatella 

After Drew left, I spent the weekend catching up on homework and crossing things off my to-do list.  The one thing that I did plan to do this past weekend was head down to La Sagrada Familia Cathedral on Sunday (yesterday) because the Pope was paying Barcelona a visit!  La Sagrada Familia is the famous cathedral designed by Gaudi.  The church has been under construction for almost 100 years and is still not finished!  However, the Pope was coming to consecrate it so that mass can be held there every Sunday.  This is the first time in 20 years that the Pope has been in BCN, so there has been a lot of buzz about it for a long time.  Some people were very excited that he would be in town; others were outraged.  I found out that the cause for anger is not directed at the Catholic church, or at the Pope himself, but at the government.  It cost Spain 7 million Euro (about 9.75 million dollars) to bring the Pope here, and with the state that the country is in financially..... people get a little upset.  We had heard about several riots/protests that were supposed to take place and so we were a little leery of going out, but we decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Turns out, it was not the riots we needed to watch out for...  Myself, my roommate Elizabeth, and another girl from our program Jessica, went out about 10:45am in order to catch the Pope's exit from the cathedral at 12:45.  About 500,000 people were expected to be in this area today so many makeshift squares were set up to accommodate all the people.  Before it started to get really packed, Jessica made a comment about how there were a lot of paramedics and hospital stations around because of the large number of elderly people in attendance (and as it turns out... not just the elderly need them).  Of course, the day's events were running on "Spain time" and at 1:30, the Pope had still not made his exit, and was showing no signs of getting ready to.  By this time, we are pretty packed into this space, us 3 girls were about 4 rows of people back from the barrier on the street.  Long story short, I started to feel a little weak, so I told myself to take deep breaths, don't lock my knees, etc.  I turned to Elizabeth and said "I feel like I am going to pass out" (which I didn't mean literally at the time!), I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and the next thing I know, I am on the ground and I feel like I just woke up from a nap!   Cops and paramedics came out of the crowd to help me up and half-carry me to the ambulance that was close by.  I was in the ambulance for about 20 minutes, one of the paramedics spoke no English, and the other just a little, but they checked my blood sugar, heart rate, respirations, and took my blood pressure about 7 or 8 times.  I believe the reason I passed out was because of low blood pressure: I was hydrated, I had slept and eaten breakfast, and it was not hot in the crowd of people.  I don't remember any of this but apparently after I said I thought I was going to pass out I started to sway so Jessica grabbed me by the jacket and helped me fall gracefully to the ground.  It was a very strange experience!  I am glad that the paramedics were so responsive and were close by and that I had good friends to help me out.  The rest of the day I hydrated and rested, and today I am feeling much better.  Alas, I did not end up seeing the Pope :(.  I hear his exit was very disappointing though: he flew through the crowd in his PopeMobile, without slowing for the cliche parade waves or anything!  Well, that is all for now, sorry for the novel!!!

The last picture I took before I went down!  Lots of people!

MITZI: Morocco!

Before we left the states ISA offered us a chance to take an optional excursion to Morocco.  It was something I had to pay extra for, but I jumped at the chance to go to Africa because I didn’t know if I will ever get the chance to go again.

It was incredible.

A five day trip through the straight of Gibraltar, to the cities of Fes and Meknes, and the Sahara desert.  It was a very humbling trip, for I have never been to a third-world country before, and I feel like I have an ever bigger world view now. 

We left Sevilla at 4 in the morning on Friday and didn’t get into Fes until late afternoon.  The crossing of the border between Morocco and Spain was an interesting thing to see.  After crossing the straight we were physically on the continent of Africa, but in a city called Ceuta, a Spanish province in Africa, so technically still in Spain.  It was there that we crossed the border.  Our ISA directors told us that the Moroccans have an agreement with Spain to have to ability to cross into Ceuta to buy things that Morocco may not have, such as diapers.  It was something that you really have to see to be able to understand, but we were not allowed to take pictures while we were crossing.

Our first night in Fes was pretty relaxing.  A group of my friends and I decided to get some coffee/tea at a tea house near our hotel before dinner.

One thing that Morocco is known for: mint tea.  Needless to say I feel in love.

Walking around the city I felt very out of place.  All the men just stare, and there are hardly any women out, for in the Muslim culture they are not allowed out unless they are married.  Also, it was more like we were in the Middle East than in Africa.  Morocco is 98% Muslim and obviously close to Egypt, so that in itself wasn’t something I was really expecting.

The next day in Fes we basically spent our whole day in the medina.  The medina is an antique marketplace in the city consisting of over 1900 small narrow pedestrian (and donkey!) streets with small venders lining the streets.

View from above of the Medina.

WATCH OUT! Donkey coming through!

They sold anything and everything.  We went to a “pharmacy,” a kind-of apothecary store where they sold spices, perfumes, and beauty products.  We also went to an authentic Moroccan rug store, a ceramic store, a leather store, and my favorite, a linen store where they sold hand woven scarves and linens.

"Pharmacy"

Leather shoes!

The following day was basically another day of travel.  It took us a good 8 hours to get to the Sahara desert.  We arrived at the outskirts of the desert after dusk and then took 4x4 jeeps into our campsite.  We stayed in “Haimas,” basically star wars style tents made of sticks and blankets.  It was awesome.  The first night my friends and I decided to sleep outside under the stars.  It was freezing cold, but totally worth it.  Beautiful scenery. 

Our campsite.  The "Haimas"

"In realizing our own insignificance in the whole of the universe, we
are dumbstruck by a realization of God's indescribable vastness and also
his most loving intentions.:"

The next day we spent a full day in the desert.  We rode camels to one of the big sand dunes and climbed to the top where we were able to see Algeria.

Turban wearin', camel ridin' girl. :)

We explored one of the little desert towns and were followed around by little Berber kids.  I met a couple of Berbers who spoke over 5 languages!  It was really cool to talk to them, when they weren’t trying to sell me stuff...  Their culture is so so so different than ours, it was a very interesting experience.  Actually one of them added me on facebook as soon as I got home which I thought was interesting because their town doesn’t even have clean water, but they have internet!

The next two days were basically just road-tripping it back to Spain.  It was a beautiful drive.

An African view.

By this time more than half of our group, including myself, was Africa sick, meaning we had some interesting smells and “emergency stops,” where you would see some kid running up a hill to find a rock or tree.... Not very enjoyable, but still totally worth it.

Katie and I on the ferry on the Straight of Gibraltar on the way home.  Beautiful sunset.

My trip to Morocco was definitely a unique experience of a lifetime.  It was humbling to see such a dichotomy of rich and poor, and also to see the vastness of this world.  It made me realize even more my own insignificance and gave me even more of a drive to make a difference in this world.

MITZI: Tranquility and Parks

As my time here is progressing I am beginning to find my niche in Sevilla.  I am still finding new things I love about the city everyday, but I am also finding my favorite places that I tend to return.

I went to the alcazar (palace) again because I loved it so much the first time.  And I fell in love with this door.

Real Alcazar.  Round two.

  One new thing that I discovered here is actually quite embarrassing.  I knew that Maria Lousia Park was very close to my apartment, and I had been in it a couple times but only for short periods of time.  I never realized how big it was and how magnificent the Plazas that rest in it are.  Specifically Plaza de España.  It’s near the entrance to the park and is simply glorious.  They just newly renovated it and it has benches tiled specifically for every city in Spain!  Very unique, I quite enjoy it.

Plaza de España

 I decided to go running through the park last weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find the Plaza and little places in the park perfect for reading and relaxing.

Parque Maria Lousia

Perfect reading place. :)

Plaza de España. Courtsey of Google search, they can do what I can't when I don't have my photographer boyfriend with me.

  I love love love love love love love the atmosphere here in Spain.  Everyone and everything is so tranquil.  It’s normal here to just go for a walk and get lost in your thoughts or chat with your friends.  I love it.  No stress, no pressure, no agenda.  Just simply to enjoy life and appreciate what is around you. 

PERI: The Start of Fall

Sorry I have been a little delinquent in my blog writing, I cannot believe how fast time is passing here!  The weather has really changed in the past week or so;  we are no longer able to lounge on the beach (pout!!) and a jacket is definitely necessary when leaving the house in the morning.  I have midterms in the upcoming week and the Monday after;  I am a little unsure about how those will go... the structure of classes here is very different from the States, things are not as straight forward.  However, I feel like I am one of the most prepared students in both of my classes, so I am not worried.  Spanish class is going well, I feel like my Spanish is improving everyday.  It is still a bit difficult to speak with my host mom because of her accent and her strong tendency to mix Catalan words in with Spanish.  One thing that really helps me though is listening to the news.  Every night at dinner the TV is turned on to the news, and although that would be an odd dinner behavior in my house back home, I enjoy listening to the newscasters because they have a nice pace and little accent.

Last weekend Elizabeth and I went to Tarragona, a province about an hour by train south of Barcelona.  Tarragona is famous for its Roman ruins.  It was great to see the ancient amphitheater, palaces, and prison (and even more great because it only cost 5 Euro for students to see all the cites!).  I am really trying to be frugal these days, the worth of the American dollar seems to keep going down compared to the Euro, it seems like the conversion rate is getting consistently worse unfortunately for us American students.

Roman Amphitheater (notice the LC shirt) ;)

This week I learned something VERY cool about where I live.  In my History of Barcelona class, we are learning about the Gothic Quarter, and more specifically, the Jewish Quarter of Barcelona.  In one of our class readings discussing the remaining buildings from this period, MY ADDRESS was mentioned several times!  "Other notable features are part of the [Roman] wall with the walkway across the top and a tower at [my address]... , excavated in 1996... The remaining part of this defensive construction must be partly hidden inside the buildings".  The article also says that that origins of my building were built in the 14th or 15th century.  COOL!  My profesora was very impressed that I get to live here (and I feel very lucky too!).

The part of my street that the article is referring to (my house on the left)

Time passes very strangely here: the days seem to go by too slow (a 16+ hour day here is very normal... hence the siestas), the nights go by too fast, and it seems like the weeks are just disappearing!  This weekend we are traveling to Valencia with our ISA group.  I am so excited I can hardly contain myself for next week.... Andrew, my fiance, is coming to visit for a week!!! :)  After he leaves I have two free weekends then an ISA trip to Girona, Spain, then for Thanksgiving and my birthday I am going to visit Mitzi in Sevilla, then we have our Rome trip, finals week, and then one final trip to Geneva, Switzerland that we booked this week!  It is going to be pretty hectic, but very exciting. All these trips are helping this time fly by until I go home to see my loved ones again!  As much as I love it here, I have to admit that Christmas time is going to be a very very happy time for me :).

MITZI: Midterms and Daily Life

I first want to apologize for not posting sooner.  Time is flying by here, ridiculously fast.  Two months from today I will be home.  Right in time for Christmas, which by the way I think will be my best Christmas yet.  :)  It’s been hard to be away from home, but skype and google talk, and all forms of communication, help me stay in tuned with home.

I am right smack dab in the middle of midterm week right now, and in fact, I should be studying, but I don’t think my mind can take any more Spanish right now.  There are some times here where I am super tired and I physically have to force myself to concentrate when my mamá or whoever is talking to me.  It’s hard!!  I feel like my brain goes on overload and can’t comprehend what they are saying.  Or I will focus on one word and try to translate it in my head, but when I start listening again I missed the ten following words...  I felt like I hit a wall with my comprehension and speaking abilities for a while, but now I feel like I am getting back into the swing of things and feel more confident.

So yes, midterms.  Tomorrow I have a midterm oral exam for my Spanish conversation class where I have to talk with my partner for ten minutes straight about a specific theme (such as food, movies, our childhood, our plans for the future, etc.).  Needless to say it is a bit difficult and we have spent countless hours these past couple of days in Starbucks practicing.  I can only imagine what we sound like to Spaniards trying to enjoy a cup of coffee... Ha.  I also have my midterm for my one class in English tomorrow: History of Spanish Art, which should be interesting.  I have more on thursday and next week but I don’t feel like writing about them because it just reminds me of all that I have to do.

I figure that it might help to understand a typical day for me here in Sevilla.  On weekdays I get up around 730 or 930 depending on classes and make myself breakfast.  I have become addicted to tostadas con aceite, which is toasted french bread with lots of olive oil on it.  Yumm.  Definitely bringing that addiction back to the states. :)  After breakfast I get ready for classes and take the metro (about a 40 minute commute) to school.  I have two classes Monday through Thursday and am home for lunch around 230pm with my family each day.  Every day lunch and dinner are provided for Katie and I, which has been wonderful.  Usually after lunch I will take a little siesta.  Afterwords I will meet with a friend, do homework, go for a walk, or whatever really.  It’s super relaxed and I love it.  Then I have dinner around 9pm and occasionally get together with a friend and go out for dessert.  It’s been great so far. :)

With love,
Mitzi

PERI: General Strike, Mont Serrat, and some Lakers :)

     I swear that things never cease to amaze me here!  Since La Mercé, I have not seen any human towers or people being chased with fireworks, but I have seen some unprecedented things nonetheless!  On September 30th, there was a "Vaga General" (General Strike in Catalan) throughout the country.  The Spanish economy is in very bad shape: the government has had to cut wages, hours, benefits, and jobs in many many areas of work.  Hence, the two main trade unions in the country organized a general strike, the first in the country since 2002.  According to several news stations, it would be "business as usual" throughout the country... this could not be farther from the truth.
     Our program warned us of the possibilities of what could be going on here; they told us that it would be wise to stay in as much as possible, be cautious and aware, but that everything should be just fine.  Our culture classes were cancelled for the day, but language classes were still going to be in session.  My profesora assured us that she would be there (even though the metro would only be running at 25% of their capacity), and that if is was at all possible for us to get to school, that we needed to.  So, the morning of the strike, Elizabeth and I head out for school.  Everything was deathly quiet: shops not preparing to open, no one in the usually-crowded square except for policemen, no men handing out the morning paper, no people with their dogs and strollers in the park... it was eerie.  So we arrive at school and cannot get through the main doors because large protester's banners had been placed over the doors.  We made it in a side door and up to our classes.  Four other students were waiting outside my class as well; we waited about ten minutes, then I decided to text Elizabeth.  She told me that no one showed up at her class, and one of our friend's professors told her that all classes were cancelled because of a large mob that was at the school earlier.  She said that the mob would have come into classes and made them be dismissed, so the professors were telling their students to go home... scary!

      We then decided to go home.  After resting for a few hours, I became very restless and wanted to get out of the room.  Elizabeth and I decided to go out and see what was going on, which was nothing (thankfully).  Garbage-men (which are normally astonishingly efficient) were on strike, so trash was strewn all over the streets, making them smelly and difficult to walk through, but other than that there were not many physical signs of the strike.  I am thankful that our area was so quiet, in other parts of the city, this was not the case.  There were mobs of protestors taking over empty buildings, smashing in store windows and stealing merchandise (Levi's store that I know of), burning trash cans in the streets, blocking off roads, and even, as the picture below shows, burning police cars. ¡Qué fuerte!  It was scary being here in the country and not realizing the full weight of this issue, and not knowing how much the situation was going to progress, and only partially knowing what people are capable of.

Police car-- lit on fire by strikers

Mob of strikers and policemen in Plaza Catalunya-- pictures from Demotix news site

    The strike was held on a Wednesday, and luckily, Thursday things really were back to normal.  On Sunday myself, Elizabeth, and two other girls from our program took a day trip to Montserrat.  Montserrat is about and hour and a half outside of Barcelona by train, and it is a gorgeous mountainous area that looks completely different from the landscape around the city.  Montserrat was, and still is today, a monastery for Benedictine monks; today however, it is also a popular tourist spot.  Once we got off the train, we had to take the furnacular (cable car) to the top of the mountain.  We arrived in the morning, so it was still very foggy and chilly, but luckily as the day went on, the fog wore off.  The buildings surrounding the monastery were gorgeous, and the mountain views are nothing short of incredible.  When the fog was slowly working its way up the mountain and also burning off on top from the sun, I honestly felt as though we were in some strange limbo between heaven and earth, it was breathtaking.  We didn't go into the museum, but we took a 40 minute hike over to a cross on another peak of the mountain.  It was a lovely day trip :).

 Furnacular up to the monastery

 The monastery

 The monastery and other buildings are on the left, cross is barely visible on the far right

    Tonight, the Lakers play Barcelona's Basketball team.  The whole city is buzzing over it because Pau Gasol of the Lakers is from Spain.  We had been hearing rumors about a 2 on 2 tournament between Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and 2 Spanish players.  After hearing bits and pieces, we finally heard of a definite place (a court set up by Foot Locker and Nike in a remote and kind of ghetto back alley) and time.  We went early because we new that it was probably going to be crazy.  I am so glad we did!  There was only one way to get in, and we needed a ticket... dang it!  After talking to the guard at the gate (a little), we stood hopefully waiting for some chance to get in.  Then, one by one, he started slipping us tickets to go in!  All of our group got in and was able to sit together, yay!  We waited over 2 and a half hours to even see Kobe (fashionably late?) and I ended up missing class because it went so long past when it was supposed to, which I hadn't planned on doing.  It was really cool to get to  see Kobe and Pau! Kobe was very relaxed and comfortable and was joking around with the other players.  After the 2 on 2 tournament of various teams of young players finished, the 4 professional players all sat down for a short interview with the commentator.  They then played a short (very short) game of 2 on 2... it was 16 seconds long... But, it was very cool to see the players (especially when the whole city is so excited about them being here), and just feel the electric energy of the whole scene. 

Left to right: Ricky Rubio, Kobe Bryant, Juan Carlos Nevarro, Pau Gasol

 

Spray paint murals they were completing while we watched... very talented!