Week 4: Sevilla and Cordova -- 2/12 to 2/15/16

This past weekend I went on an excursion with my ISA group to Sevilla and Cordova! It was a jam-packed weekend with amazing sights and -- my favorite part -- A cathedral and a Mosque--Cathedral.

I have a lot of pictures, so I will just write a quick blurb about the weekend and then show you what we saw!

In Seville we got a tour of the Real Alcazar Palace (for those Game of Thrones fans is the palace that was used to film all the scenes in Dorne in season 5) and then went to the cathedral. Both were beautiful in totally different ways. The highlight of the palace had to be the intricate artwork and woodwork (somewhat like the Alhambra in Granada) and the lush gardens. I want to go back so I can take the time to explore the gardens more, as they were huge. For the Cathedral it had to be the gold and silver plated altars and sheer size of the church itself. It was intensely humbling to walk inside a building and immediately feel small and unimportant. I ended up going to mass the next morning there before we took off, and I was one of a few people who went to the early service so I was able to walk around without huge crowds, and it was quite amazing.

In Sevilla too a couple of us found a cool "hole in the wall" Flamenco bar where we had some sangria and watched some flamenco to move the night on. It was a little far away but worth the walk!

We then headed to Cordova which was much different (smaller, more intimate) than Sevilla. We had time to walk around before doing a tour, and my friend Cameron and I headed to explore the small city. We ended up finding a cool artisan market, within the labyrinth-like streets, where there were woodworkers, leather makers, and other artisans working on pieces to sell. We then got a tour of the Mosque which was converted into a Church. This was so cool because there was a mix of architecture which signified the mixing of cultures between the Moors and the Christians. The most iconic part was the brick and stone mixed arches lining the entire center portion of the Mosque. The building seemed to sprawl out and it was easy to get lost, I had to keep close to our group!

Anyway, to really show the true magnificence of all that I have told you guys about, here are some pictures! Hope you enjoy!

Sevilla:

One of the ceilings at the Real Alcazar 

A fountain in the garden of the Alcazar






A couple fountain areas in the Real Alcazar...or should I say Palace at Dorne

A few pictures of the Cathedral in Seville

Horse drawn carriages were common throughout the streets 

A couple more pictures of the outside of the Cathedral. We also were able to go up to the tower to get a better look of Seville as a whole. 

Massive organ, I wish I could have heard it been played

Christopher Columbus' tomb

Some magnificent ceilings in the Cathedral

One of my favorite altars with the gold plated wall behind it. The gold seemed to shine even with out a light. Truly beautiful. 

Here was where I went to mass Sunday morning inside the Cathedral

A cool view from the tower of the cathedral and Seville

The Andalusia Government building

A bunch of pictures of the Plaza de España 

Cordova:

A picture of the bridge and the gate in Cordova

The Artisan Market Plaza that we found

This man was making wood carvings--as you can see that bust on the right is what he was working on.

It is extremely common in Cordova for people to hang pots with flowers outside their doors. In the Spring the town has a festival of flowers and it draws crowds of people to see the beautiful colors of the flowers and pots. 

Picture from within the Mosque in Cordova

Here are the arches made with brick and stone alternating

A couple awe-inspiring ceilings in the Mosque--Cathedral

One of two dueling organs 

The other dueling organ... I really want to hear how they would sound if played at the same time...

These two statues symbolize Matthew (Angel) and Mark (Lion), two of the four gospel writers

Here are the other two gospel writers: Luke (the Ox) and John (the Eagle).

Tower of the Mosque--Cathedral

Hope you enjoyed!

Week 3 (Part 2): Classes and Volunteering -- 2/8 to 2/11/16

This week has been going well! It is my second week of classes, and there seems to be a little more homework--not too much, but it does take me longer to think and write in Spanish.

Specifically for my Sociopolitical Topics class, every Thursday we are given an article to read and then write a summary/critique. Our professor told us that the point of these asignments is to be able to work through complicated issues and concentrate our thoughgts. It is difficult enough in English to be precise and succinct with ideas, so I had to read the article a couple of times, and then start to form my ideas. If any of you are interested, the article was about the shift from dictatorship in Spain to democracy without war. It worked through the nuances of democracy and the limited promises which it provides (giving forth the view that every governing system has its benefits and pitfalls). It took my a day or two to think about what exactly I was going to say and then actually work through it in Spanish. I definitely had to go back and make sure I was stringing my ideas together and actually making sense instead of just spitting onto the page. I definitely see my writing ability improve though so far, and am looking forward to doing more.

In other news, I signed up to volunteer at the Community Center in Granada on Wednesday to help teach English to kids. Yesterday only about five of them came though (and there were about eight volunteers) so we ended up playing some games which involved them saying the names of animals in English, and trying to guess what each animal was.It was definitely a lot of fun, yet extremely hard to understand the kids at first, since they mumble their words. I´ll tell you more about it after next week!

This weekend my group is heading off to Seville and Cordoba, so I am bound to have a lot of pictures next time, but since I don´t have not taken many photos, here are two that I have taken this week!

This is of a pastry Wyatt and I split the other day...needless to say it was quite good

I happened upon this written in one of the textbooks in the library, why are people so awesome?

Week 3: London! -- 2/5 to 2/7/16

So my friend Dave and I headed to London this weekend, and it was amazing! Wow we packed as much in as possible in our short 48 hours of being there. We flew in Sunday morning and found our air b&b (which was outside of the city, so we got to know the "tube" quite well in our two days), and then met up with my friends Hayley and Kelly!

We packed in everything from Big Ben, the London eye, riding a double decker bus, getting some hot cider at a market, eating fish and chips, seeing a hilarious street magic comedy performance, and then grabbing a beer at a pub! All in one day!

I think we ended up walking around like 12 or 13 miles on Friday, it goes to say I slept well that night.

Oh, also something very interesting happened when I went to buy a tea at a Pret a Manager. I handed a 5 pound note to the cashier, and she looks at me, looks at the note, holds it up to the light, and then asks her manager "what's this?" As for me, I'm standing there thinking the pounds my dad had given me were for some reason counterfeit and I was headed right for prison in literally the first hour of being in England (a little dramatic I know, but still). Anyway, it ended up being just an old note and I needed to go exchange it at the Bank of England, so I had to find the bank of England without wifi google maps and not knowing where I was. We made it though eventually.

Anyway that night we got some fish and chips, saw a hilarious street performer doing a comedy magic performance which was great, and then we headed to a pub to grab a drink. After that Dave and I made our trek home to the "Isle of Dogs" so we had to take the underground and changeover at a couple different stops until we made it to the DLR and then take that to a station and walk 15 minutes to the house we were staying at. It was fun!

The next day we made our way over to Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian, headed to a pub to watch the Manchester City - Leicester City game, and the headed to see Buckingham Palace and another market! It was another busy, tiring, but surreal day in London!

Here are some pictures from the trip!

From left: Kelly, Hayley, Me, and Dave with Big Ben!

                                        

                                        

A bunch of Big Ben pictures :D

  

Hayley really liked this trash can so I am obliged to include it on my blog.

For those Harry Potter fans out there this is the bridge that (in the movie) Voldemort and the death eaters twist and destroy. Oh also that's Kelly and Hayley posing with their tea. Pretty cool right? 

Me and Saint Paul's Cathedral 

We also of course rode on the top of a double decker bus, it was pretty awesome. 

This is a cool modern building, nothing totally special but it looked cool! 

Dave and I with the Tower Bridge

Here is a view of London from the Royal Greenwich Observatory 

This is The Shepard 24-hour Gate Clock

The simple yet majestic Prime Meridian, I took the time to appreciate being in both hemispheres at once too :P

Good ol' Winnie Churchill 

For those Parks and Rec fans, this is where Andy and Lord Covington fly mini helicopters, also pretty cool!

Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria statue

Some pictures of the group on top of Primrose Hill! This is the view of London from the other side (in the morning we were in Greenwich which is on the opposite side of the city).

                            

One of many pictures of me heading to Hogwarts in King's Cross

I'm already planning my next trip back to England! 

Until next time!

                             

Week 2 (Part 2): Classes Continue -- 2/2 to 2/4/16

Classes have been going well so far! Tuesday I had my other three classes--two language and one political science class. The language classes (one grammar and the other speaking and writing) are good because they will force me to stretch my language capacity and force me to speak and write with correct grammar, spelling, etc., but at the same time they are somewhat boring. At least I have my friend Jack Brower in my speaking and writing class to liven things up (he asked for a shoutout on my blog :D)!  I think as the semester goes on they will get better as in the speaking in writing class we will have debates on different topics and give presentations which will definitely be good for me.

As for my political science class, we are focussing on sociopolitical topics in Spain. It is more so looking at the cultural side of politics and how the people are affected. My professor is extremely interesting to listen to as he has so many stories from all of the countries he has been to and all the places he has studied in and experienced. It is a small class of about twelve students, so he said we will be doing a lot of talking, questioning, and working through issues like Catalonian desire for independence, immigration, elections, and other topics like these. I am definitely excited for this because I think there will be a lot of important conversations about what is currently happening in Spain, which is exactly what I want to learn.

Also! My friend Dave and I found a good deal to take a trip to London this weekend! We both really wanted to go and are going to have 2 jampacked days of sightseeing and tea :D. We are going to meet up with my friend Hayley and my sister´s friend Kelly for them to show us around! There will definitely be a lot a pictures come my Monday post! Can´t wait! 

As for the school I am taking classes in, here are a few pictures:

  

                   

Also I tried a pionono which is a spongecake type pastry at a cafe today. It was pretty amazing... a fiesta in my mouth. Anyway, Granada is known for their piononos, so I was obligated to try one! :P



Talk Soon!!

Week 2: Great Weekend and Classes Start -- 1/29 to 2/1/16

I had a great weekend consisting of watching the Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid soccer game, a beautiful sunset (and then sunrise the next morning) overlooking the Alhambra, an early mass Sunday morning, and great practice for my Spanish!

Classes started today, and I am so excited to finally get started. I started out with my Spanish Music: Traditional and Vanguard class at 8:30 am which was comprised of about 13 students and an awesome, relaxing professor. Her name is Maite and she studied classical guitar (so cool) and now teaches music education classes at the University of Granada. I won't have to buy a textbook for the class too which is definitely a plus.

My second class was Spanish Civilization and Culture. The professor was laid back and comical; however, was extremely strict about only speaking in Spanish. It's even more important in the class because there are some students (one I was sitting next to) who do not speak English.

At the same time it is really interesting to think that I could only communicate with Choso (that was the kid's name sitting next to me) in Spanish because he doesn't know English and I don't know Japanese. Nevertheless we were totally fine communicating in Spanish and there were no barriers. It goes to show you the power of learning another language.

Also our professor told us we were studying in Spain at the Center for Modern Languages, so we should be speaking Spanish. He said he would not give us homework if we give full participation in class and give him the energy needed to create an engaging atmosphere. Also a plus the textbook was small and only cost 5 euros.

I was a little surprised about how much I understood in both of my classes. Obviously I did not get every single word that they said or understood every thought, but I was able to keep engaged in the conversation and able to engage when I felt comfortable. It is definitely a different experience taking classes in Spanish. I already see my language proficiency struggling-- or really being stretched and reformed to grow and develop.

Anyway, I'll check back in a couple of days with info on my other three classes! But as always here are some pictures from the past couple of days!

A few pictures from the sunrise yesterday morning! It was a little hike up the the terrace area where we were, but definitely worth it! 

Got my notebooks and my texts for my first two classes! I think I'm prepared! :D

Also here's a picture of my host brother Pedro (middle) and my roommate Sanad (right) as we walked El Camino de Los Tristes.