MITZI: Sevilla

Yesterday I took a little stroll around my part of town, Nervión.  It’s the newer part of the city, mostly apartments.  I found a super cute park and lots of little restaurants along the street. 

Park in Nervión

I slowly made my way toward the city center, where the cathedral and my favorite part of the city, barrio de santa cruz, is.  I randomly met up with some girls I knew from school and had lunch with them.  It was a good day.

One random thing that I saw a dominos delivery guy... on a motorcycle! Haha I loved it! So awesome!  It had a place for the pizzas on the back and everything!  It makes complete sense too because the streets are so narrow in some places.  On my way back I also saw two couples who had just gotten married.  So cute.  It’s crazy if you go to the center on a saturday, you can just follow people who are super dressed up and end up at a wedding, because they are public!  At least that is what someone told me, and I am definitely going to try it out.

How about a "get-away" horse drawn carriage? :)

One thing that I am really starting to get tired of is how men treat women here.  It is so common to be objectified and cat-called, it is starting to not phase me anymore.  Here we call them “viejos verdes,” they are really just guys who have a cultural license to be rude to women.  They will kiss at you, say super inappropriate stuff, laugh, point, and just stare.  I knew that this would happen when I came, so I wasn’t surprised or anything, it’s just annoying.

I am really really really happy with my living situation.  Katie and I talk a lot about how lucky we are to have a really great host family.  We are all starting to bond a little more, and understand each other’s personalities.  I really like having an older brother to joke around with, and my grandma is freaking hilarious (like most grandmas, always saying the most random, inappropriate stuff), and my mamá is so sweet, I feel like she really actually cares about us.  This weekend she left to go out with a friend and I was staying home, so she came into my room and gave me two kisses “dos besitos” on the cheek.  It was just really comforting.

Today I went to a Spanish Baptist church.  It was two and a half hours long. No joke.  But I really liked it, I was able to understand the gist of what the pastor was saying if I really concentrated.  It was different from the churches back a home, obviously, but it was still a good experience.  It’s just nice to know that it is something that connects people from all parts of the world. :)

MITZI: Bullfight and Ronda

Oh how the time is flying by.  I cannot believe that it has been a month since I started my program with ISA in Madrid.  I am going to be home before I know it.  In this past month Sevilla has grown on me and I feel so much more at home in this wonderful city.  It feels good to know where I am going (most of the time), know different little shortcuts, and start to have favorite little places to go to.  My favorite place so far is the Barrio de Santa Cruz, it’s the old Jewish quarter of the city, super eclectic and rustic, with white buildings and wonderful food, I could get lost in there for hours.

Barrio de Santa Cruz :)

Last weekend I went and saw a bullfight.  It was the last one of the season, and all the matadors were super famous, hence, tickets were expensive.  But it was totally worth it.  Bullfighting is definitely something you have to see if you go to Spain.  It’s all about the culture, and it is a huge part of their history!

Sold out bullring.

The bull & the Picador (the guy on the horse)

"El Juli" a famous matador

A lot of people in our program had mixed feelings about it.  I enjoyed being able to see the fight and learn a little more about Spanish history.  Seeing the bull die didn’t really bother me, I don’t know if I’m just heartless or becoming a true Spaniard. Ha.  But really, it was an amazing experience. 

Pretty intense. :)

 Today ISA took us on a day-trip excursion to Ronda.  It was a beautiful city in the mountains.  Very quaint and homey.  I loved it.  I went on a little hike under the bridge and got some great pictures.

"El Puente Nuevo"

My little hiking buddy. Yup, I hike in a dress. :)

I loved this city. :)

An amazing sight.

 I’m gonna make this one shorter because I am tired of writing such long entries. :)
Enjoy.

PERI: La Mercè!!

   This past weekend was the La Mercé Festival; and also the craziest weekend of my life!!  I will do my very best to describe the madness that all of this weekend had in store.  First of all, La Mercé is the biggest celebration of the year in Barcelona, it is the celebration of the city itself and is a very big source of pride for Catalonians.  Tourists from all over the world come to Barcelona to see the festivities, school everywhere, and even many shops are closed Friday-Sunday to give people a long weekend of partying.  The traditional festivities include: giants of the city (very large puppet-like people that are worn by a single person performing dances to traditional Catalan music in many different events throughout the holiday), Correfoc (fire run where the "devils" of the city run through the streets with fireworks and chase people down, shooting the fireworks "in the air" with sparks falling on spectators (did I mention the majority of these things would be HIGHLY illegal in the states?), castellers (human castle building), lots of concerts throughout the city, and many many more events.

    Thursday night the festivities began at Plaza de Sant Jaume.  Lucky for us, this is one of the main squares where festivities are held and it is literally a three minute walk from our front door!  The opening ceremonies consisted of traditional Catalan music and the introduction of the giants (los gigantes) and the mascots of the city.  Friday was a holiday, and some of the festivities began bright and early in the morning, so Elizabeth  and I woke up early and headed down to the Plaza de Sant Jaume.  The big event of Friday was the catellers, but first even more giants were brought to the square and performed their traditional dances.  By the time the castellers were supposed to perform the square was PACKED: Spaniards, foreigners, babies, old people... everyone was there.  We were squished somewhere in the middle of the plaza, and of course, the festivities run on "Spain time" so everything starts late.  However, the teams did eventually emerge out of a side street and build their "warm-up" towers (a group of people on the ground for support, then a man, woman, and small child all piled on top of each other).  The three teams (all from Barcelona) went on to compete in 3 rounds, each time getting higher and more complex.  It was absolutely incredible to see!  The kids (all about 5-9 years old) are incredibly brave, agile, and fearless!

Giants in Plaza de Sant Jaume

First round of tower building

     That night, we went to see the firework show on the beach; the show was about 20 minutes long and very beautiful, they have different fireworks here than I have ever seen in the states.  After the fireworks, we decided to walk through the park (the same one that we walk through for school, where the large fountain is located).  There were all kinds of things going on there!  The first thing we saw was this amazing lazer-light show, the video I took does it much more justice than the picture, but I felt as though I was in a sci-fi movie!  There were many other strange things going on in the park, so I am glad that we chose to go home that way.

 Lazer!

    Saturday we had most of the day to plan something to do, the major event of the day (Correfoc) was not until 8pm, so Elizabeth and I decided to go to Monjuic, the castle on the hill that overlooks Barcelona.  We rode the metro to the cable cars and then rode those up the hill... it was breathtaking!  We saw EVERYTHING, all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the outskirts of the city.  It looked so huge and diverse!  You don't see that kind of thing when you are just in the streets.  The castle was beautiful, there were all kinds of circus themed things going on there, unfortunately we did not make it into the circus itself, but it was definitely worth the trip.

    After coming home for a quick siesta, hit the streets for the Fire Run, or Correfoc.  It was insane.  Every year, hundreds of people dress up like devils, and take out big sticks, or pitchforks with humungous sparkler fireworks attached to pinwheel swivels, and walk through the streets and huge crowds of people, spraying them with their fireworks.  Some people feel really brave and stand in the streets with the devils, daring them to chase them (which they do without hesitation, even to people who aren't interested).  We were right up on the street, but figured we would be safe because there were a lot of people on the street in front of us, as well as a large bike-rack separating us from the street.  Well, needless to say, we were not safe there, and ended up about 50 feet further from the street when it was all over.  It was incredible to me though, there were no fire trucks, or policeman, or ambulances to be seen-- even though airborne fireworks as well as the hand held ones were going off in masses of people and between skyscrapers!  

   After Correfoc, we walked back to Sant Jaume Plaza and saw the amazing light show going on there.  3 projectors projected a 3D light show on the building that was PERFECTLY lined up with the building and its features: windows, columns, ornamentation.  It looked like the building itself was fluid and rubber and a screen of its own all at once, it was fantastic!

 All of the features you can see on the building, like the lines around the arches on the bottom floor, are projected.  Notice the windows, how they look like they are warped to the left, in person, you could not see the outlines of the real windows at all!

   Sunday, the final day of the festival, was the day of the big castellers competition!  We got up really early to get a good seat in a cafe that overlooks the square.  When we went out, there was hardly anyone in the square, and we got the exact seat we wanted: by the window, second floor, directly out from where they build.  Over the next hour, the square became JAM PACKED.  I was so happy that we got these seats because we got to sit, we were not in the sun, and we had the perfect view.  The castles that we saw on Friday were NOTHING compared to these!  They went up to 8 and 9 stories tall!  As you can see in the picture, there is a large mass of people on the bottom that you can see, but there is an even larger support layer beneath them, that is mixed in with the crowd.  All in all, I would say there are about 80 people on this team.  Again, there were 3 teams competing, I am not entirely sure where they were from because all of the announcing is done in Catalan which is very different from Spanish to the untrained ear.  This team is one of the non-Barcelona teams, they were very impressive BUT.... the tower just before this one, the small child that tops off the tower FELL from the very top and bounced off people all the way down!  THEN on this tower in the picture, literally seconds after I took this picture, the entire thing COLLAPSED!!!! an 80 person dog pile!!! THANK GOODNESS I got it on video, it was the scariest thing I have ever seen!  The poor mother of that little girl all the way at the top!  I cannot believe that this is an actual sport, but it was amazing to see.

   To finish off the festival, there is a huge fireworks display set to music and choreographed with the fountain at the base of the palace at Plaza de Espanya.  All of the Spaniards come out to watch this event, and obviously so do the tourists so the streets for blocks and blocks were completely full.  It was the most amazing firework display I have ever seen.  They did a fun mix of popular English, and Spanish songs, as well as some Spanish versions of English songs.  We rode the metro home after, and it went surprisingly smoothly.  After getting home Sunday night, I have never been more glad for a weekend to be over.  It was absolutely mind-boggling and great, but so tiring!  The city will feel empty once all of the tourists go home and everyone in the city is not trying to be in the same places at the same times.

All in all, it was a great weekend, the Spaniards sure do know how to get the adrenaline pumping and push the limits on what should be legal!  If you ever get a chance to be in Barcelona for La Mercè, I highly suggest it!

MITZI: From Portugal with Love

So one thing about ISA is that included in the tuition you pay for the semester are various excursions to different parts of Spain, and, in my case, Portugal.  Hence, this past weekend I spent my days in the great city of Lisbon, Protugal and had my own little excursion to the town of Sintra. 

Our group packed into two coach busses early Friday morning for our 5 hour trek to Lisbon.  Most people just slept, I mostly failed at that attempt because I am a fairly large person and just do not fit in bus seats, whatever.  When we arrived to Lisbon we went across a bridge called the “25th of April,” which is actually a sister to the Golden Gate in San Francisco! 

The Golden Gate's little sis.

I thought that was neat.  Also near the bridge is a replica of the statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Jeniero.  Also pretty sweet.

Another thing about ISA is that the hotels that we stay at are always super super nice.  I love it.  And the breakfasts are awesome.  Each morning I actually had scrambled eggs, which I was super excited about because I haven’t found them anywhere else here because Europe just doesn’t really do breakfast.  Bread and coffee make them completely content.  No hearty biscuits and gravy or pancakes or anything like that.

Moving on, after checking into the hotel we made our way up a hill (Lisbon is known for the various neighborhoods on the hills of the city) to a castle called “El Castillo de San Jorge.”  It was so awesome.  We came upon a lookout and got some great pictures of the river and the city.

Katherine and I. :)

Photo opportunity!

The castle itself was super cool because it was all still intact.  We were able to walk all around it and explore what it was like to be a soldier during that time. 

Part of the castle.

View from one of the windows of the castle

After our tour of the castle the rest of the day was ours.  My friend, Katherine, and I explored the downtown part of Lisbon and slowly made our way to a part of the city called “Barrio Alto,” where one of our directors mentioned was a really great Portuguese restaurant.  We were so proud of ourselves for actually finding the restaurant on our own, well we did ask a couple people, but at least we didn’t take a taxi!  Side note:  Portuguese people in general are the nicest people I have ever met.  Random people on the street that you meet are super nice, if you are asking for help in my case, and all of my waiters the whole weekend were super talkative and welcoming, it was nice. :)

Inside of Cervejaria Trinidade

Ok, so we found the restaurant “Cervejaria Trindade,” and we were very impressed.  We split the authentic Portuguese dish called “arroz con mariscos,” (look it up online, the pictures are legit) a watery rice dish with all different kinds of seafood, one unique thing being a WHOLE shrimp with eyeballs and everything. Yum. :)

The next day our group toured the “Monasterio de Los Jerónimos” and “La Torre de Belém.”  The monastery was gorgeous. 

Monastery from the outside

View from the interior courtyard of the monastery.

It miraculously survived a huge earthquake in the 1700s when basically the rest of the city was destroyed.  

Belem Tower.

Katie and I at Belem Tower. :)

The Belem Tower was legit too because it was just a fortress used in the olden days to protect the river, but it was super nice inside for a fortress.

The rest of the day was ours again and I really wanted to go see this palace that ISA had recommended.  It was in a city called Sintra, about a 30 minute train ride out of Lisbon.  So I got 5 other people to come with me and we went on a little adventure.  It was the best decision I have ever made.  Seriously, it was the best day I have had in Europe so far.  I was like a little girl when we arrived in this awesome mid-evil town.  It was so cute and eclectic!  I want to go back and explore the city more, life list :). 

We took a bus up one of the lush green hills to get to this palace, called “El Palacio de Pena.”  We paid to get in and had to walk up another hill to actually get to the palace.  But it was definitely worth it.  I was so excited.  I wish the pictures were an actual representation of what it actually looked like.  Oh, and my camera died, so I had to get pictures from the rest of my group, life learning moment right there.  I was slightly annoyed at myself.

El Palacio de Pena, courtesy of google search. :)

We explored the outside a little bit and made our way to the patio looking over what seemed like the whole world.  We were all speechless, I had tears in my eyes.  It was just so beautiful.  I will never be able to really describe what I saw, it was a once in a lifetime experience.  We were able to see cities, rolling green hills, the river, and the atlantic ocean in the distance.  It was unforgettable.

View of the city.

Rolling green hills.

Atlantic ocean in the background.

We were able to go inside the palace and see how the royals lived in their vacation palace.  It was so awesome, they still had all the authentic furniture of the time.  I was surprised at how ‘homey’ it was.  I mean, it was still super nice, but I guess I was expecting it to be super extravagant, but it was just relaxing.  I loved it.  I want to live there. :) 

We were walking through one of the rooms and started talking to one of the nice Portuguese security guards standing in the room.  She was super funny, she said she could tell we were Americans because of the diversity of our group: we had an Asian, an African-American, an Indian, and a Hindu, and of course me and Katherine, but she did say I looked like I was from Germany, which I thought was interesting.  The funny thing was that she said that Aaron, the African-American, looked like Obama, and when we were leaving the room she raised her hand and said “yes we can.” I thought it was hilarious. 

There was a wedding that was getting started at the palace and I was so jealous.  How cool would that be, to get married at a palace.  Gahhhh. :)

All in all, it was definitely an unforgettable weekend, and a part of my heart will forever be in Sintra, Portugal.

PERI: School starts at UPF

    Well, it is official, I am not just here for vacation, I actually have to go to school... ;).  I have been in the Intensive portion of my language class since last Friday.  The class is going well, there is a lot more speaking and listening involved than in any of the other Spanish classes I have taken, and I feel like it will be very beneficial.  I have had a little bit of homework every night, but it has not been overwhelming yet.
     I have been spending my afternoons living the best of Barcelona: on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea and exploring the city with my roommate, Elizabeth.  Yesterday, we decided to take a walk through the giant park in the center of the city; little did we know, we walk through a small portion of it every day on our way to school!  We had no idea how huge it really was, or what it has to offer!  We came upon the main attraction of the park: a gorgeous temple-like pseudo-palace with lakes around and a gorgeous pond with fountains at the foot of it.  We were amazed at how gorgeous it was, but we climbed the steps all the way to the top to see the view from the top.  We then looked out the back of the temple and see ping pong tables... the same ping pong tables we pass on our way to school!!!  We couldn't believe that we walk right past this beautiful installment everyday!  It was pretty funny.

Fountains and temple in the park

Beach :)

Marina and beach :)

     I have really enjoyed exploring this lovely city; I am so proud of Elizabeth and I and our sweet directional skills!! :) (Ok, yes, we have had some minor glitches...) but for the most part we have been finding our way very well around the city!  We are in such a great location; so so so many things are less than a 25 minute walk away, it is fantastic!

     In other news...... Elizabeth, Mitzi, and myself booked flights to Rome!!!  We are so excited!  We have a 6 day break in December so we are going to go spend 4 nights there!  Other random comments.... there is a very noisy bird somewhere in our apartment complex (it doesn't really matter where, because we can here everything going on everywhere), so I have not actually taken a Spanish seista, which I am a little upset about.  Josefa (house mom), has made some strange/interesting dishes, and quite surprisingly, I have not hated any of them (surprising if you know how picky I am)!  I really have been branching out and that makes me happy :).  This weekend, we are going to make a trip to Monserrat, it is an ancient city nestled in the mountains about an hour away from Barcelona; I am so excited to go, the photos I have seen are absolutely breathtaking!  Will post pictures after :)

MITZI: More About Sevilla

    After having spent more than a week in Sevilla things are starting to become more familiar, and I am starting to feel more comfortable in this beautiful city that will forever be a part of my heart.  Last night Katie and I walked to the Cathedral and met up with some friends to watch football at an American sports bar near the central part of the city, it seems that we are always meeting for something near that area, and on our way I used my ipod touch to keep track of how far we walked.  It turns out that it’s a 1.25 mile walk to the center (plaza nueva), no wonder our legs have been hurting...
    Some interesting things I have seen and done in this past week here in Sevilla:
I officially visited/toured the cathedral and learned a lot about the history of the building and it’s presence in Sevilla. 

Ankle-Breakers

We started in the interior garden/patio area, which is the only remaining evidence of the fact that it used to be an ancient Muslim mosque. It had an elaborate system of little canals for fresh water to run through.  This was used as a purifying ceremony for the Muslims before they entered the Mosque.  They would wash their hands, feet, and head before entering.  There is also an abundance of trees which makes a very refreshing place to go after a service.  I termed these extensive canals as “ankle-breakers,” because you definitely need to watch where you are going.

View from the tower

After our stroll though the patio area we headed up the tower.  To get to the top of the tower (Giralda) there are few stairs, there is actually just a spiral slant to the top. This was used so that the bell-ringers could ride their donkeys to the top to ring the bells.  After seeing Sevilla from a different point a view we ventured back down to the main part of the cathedral and saw the interior of the cathedral, the site where Christopher Columbus is buried, and many other small elaborate rooms, each with a distinct purpose.

The high altar

Good ole' Christopher

After our tour of the cathedral we went to the Alcázar of Seville, or the royal palace of Seville, originally a Moorish fort. 

Near the entrance

The gardens!

It was so cool because it is literally in the middle of the city, but once you enter you are instantly refreshed in the gardens of the palace, the whole palace being surrounded by a thick wall, protecting the palace from the harsh city sounds.  I saw so many breathtaking sites here it is hard to recount them all.  I will let the pictures stand for themselves.  It was above all a Shangri-La. :)

Tall girls stick together :)

Intricacy...

One thing that I will address that I have found interesting in all of my tours, not just in Sevilla, is the incorporation of Moorish, Catholic, and Christian history in the architecture, sculptures, paintings, and much more.  I am starting to learn how to differentiate between the three (special thanks to my History of Spanish Art class), and I find it fascinating how much history is literally built right on top of itself.  For instance in the palace there will be rooms that the first floor has an obvious Muslim flair, and then the second Catholic, and on top of that the more modern Christian influence.

The night I talked about attending, Salir con Españoles, was so so so much fun!! Katie and I were in a group with four other girls and we met a Spaniard named José.  He was super nice and we had a fun time getting to know each other and sharing/comparing our different cultures.  He took us to an open plaza to get drinks and thats where we started with all our questions and ice-breakers.  One of the girls had to leave after this so then it was just us four.  After he took us to an amazing tapas place to get a little food and we talked even more.  The last place he took us was to a traditional flamenco dancing spot.  He had a test to take in the morning so we said goodbye to him there, but we all stayed to see/listen to the dance/songs. 

Flamenco girls.

It was incredible.  I loved seeing the woman dance, it was just incredible how fast she was able to move her feet and hands, something that I will never forget.  I definitely want to see more.

Well, that’s about it for now, I will be back with more soon. :)
One thing I do want to say that I am loving so so so much here in Spain is the siestas, just saying, I might be bringing those back home with me.  It is so nice to sleep through the hottest part of the day.
That is all.
Adiós!

PERI: Homestay Family and School Orientation

     After I posted my last link, we met our host mother, or señora, at a bus stop.  She does not speak any English, but luckily my roommate Elizabeth is almost fluent.  It has taken me a couple of days to have a good ear for the Catalan-Spanish accent, it gets a little better everyday and I know that it will continue to do so.  Anyway, Josefa walked us to our new "home"... she assured us that it was a 5 minute walk.  Like 15-18 minutes later, 2 sweaty and tired American girls walked up to their new home in the Gothic neighborhood of Barcelona.  We got our luggage up the rickety elevators and into the small apartment.  Josefa showed us our bedroom and bathroom and went downstairs to start dinner.  We analyzed the living situation: two beds, one small clothes rack, and a 3 drawer nightstand.  We split the 8 hangers on the rack and took up a drawer and a half each, and got inventive with where to put the rest of our stuff.
     The first two days were very rough on me, the toughest that I have experienced yet.  Josefa was cooking with one of her friends (I still don't know her name) and we ate dinner as a "family", but Elizabeth and I were not acknowledged or introduced to anyone the entire night.  The next morning, we had a small breakfast of bread and small coffee and left the house... no keys... not a good idea of how to get back... and no knowledge of our family.  I had a rough day thinking about the house and how it is going to be the rest of the time I am here.  That day, we had our first meeting at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF).  Our day was full of getting to know the university and a bus tour in the evening.  We went to Parc Güell, Antonio Gaudi's famous park.  It was gorgeous, I love Gaudi's whimsical, functional, organic, and beautiful work. We also saw his masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia (the Sacred Family), a gorgeous and ornate temple that was begun in 1882 and is still not completed!!

La Sagrada Familia

Houses in Parc Güell

      The next day, we took the placement test at UPF; it was just like Mitzi said, same format, and harder than I expected.  I am also in Intermediate I which is where I expected to be.  We have two weeks of Intensive language classes (starting in the morning), only 2 and a half hours a day, then... nothing!  We don't start our regular classes until Sept. 27th!  Language classes for now are 10-12:30, and Elizabeth and I have them at the same time so we can walk together to class, it is about an 18 min easy walk.  There is a big festival that takes place here at the end of the month so that will be perfect timing!  (The main festivities of the holiday take place about 2 blocks from our house; they are VERY unusual and exciting!... but I will tell you about that when the time comes)  

      Today we took a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter (or El Barrio Gotic), which just happens to be our neighborhood.  It was great to get a tour of the area and hear about the history and see all of the hidden gems that this area has to offer.  We walked through another gorgeous, elaborate cathedral, out into a square that houses a church where a bomb was dropped during WWII, massacring young children playing outside.  We then turned another corner and were in the Jewish area, where the Jews once thrived and then were persecuted.  We then turned another corner and BAM! we were literally right in front of our house.  We had no idea that all of these amazing historical things were around us. Today was a new day for my outlook on this trip: I love this city so far, I love (and have a new appreciation for) this neighborhood, and our house mother is a fantastic cook (I am soooo excited to learn how to cook Spanish dishes).  It is very difficult for me to be away from home and my loved ones at this time, but I know that I need to focus on the positive.  This will be a great experience for me, I am learning and understanding more of the language each day.  Josefa, her son Fabian, and her grandson Juan (we also met her daughter, Juan's mother today) has opened up a lot in the past two days; she seems very sweet, she addresses us as "guapa" (beautiful) all the time ("Como estas guapa?").

Alley/Street near our house (the uneven stone of the apartment on the right, behind the balcony, is the remains of a Roman building)

    

I just want to make a little comment on this city.... EVERYTHING that I have heard about it could not be more true.  It IS very progressive.  It IS a stunning mix of old and new.  It IS very cultural: Spanish, Catalan, and European.  It IS historical and interesting.  I know that I am going to find something new to love every day.  It is fairly easy to get around, the Metro is simple, and the streets are confusing but I pick up something new every time I walk somewhere.  It is by far my favorite European city so far.  I am so excited that I made the decision to live in Barcelona.