A Very Busy Weekend, and a Long Blog to Describe It

Last weekend ended up being very busy!  After a trip to the beach planned for Friday was cancelled because of a bus strike, friends and I took advantage of the day to get to know Granada better.  We started the morning with a trip to the Arab baths.  I had already been with my art history class, so I was able to act as tour guide, which was fun.  The Arab Baths are located at the bottom of the Albaicin, next to one of the two rivers in Granada.  It was built in this location because when the Moors were here, the mosque was also located in this area.  The baths were used for total ablutions before going to mosque.  Now there are two sets of Arab baths, one functioning, and the ruins of the original baths.  They are not big or especially impressive, and if you are walking down the street you could easily miss them because there is no sign or indication that they are there.  Although looking for them may be frustrating, once you find them it is very interesting. 

The baths are free to get into, making it one of my favorite things here.  All you have to do when you go in is tell the employee where you are from, for statistical purposes.  You enter in the patio, which has a small pool of water in the center.  The pool currently has four or five giant goldfish swimming around it.  The first indoor room you walk into is where the people would change out of their clothes, and receive a towel from the servant.  Then they pass through to the cold room, where they would scrub themselves.  The next room is the temperate room, then the hot room, where the baths were located.  The hot room also had a fire burning.  There was a passage that ran under the floors of each room and the heat would pass through it.  In the ceilings there are cutouts that could be opened or closed, and between the heating system and the cutouts the temperatures were controlled. 

After our tour of the Arab baths, we headed to the Cathedral in the city center.  It was enormous! There were many small chapels inside.  There were also two very impressive pipe organs.  The Cathedral is hard to describe, and I don’t know much of the history of it, so I can’t write too much about it.  My favorite part was the “candles” you could light in prayer for somebody.  They were actually just the fake candles, with light bulbs, enclosed in glass cases.  I thought they were very amusing.  After the cathedral we looked at a couple produce stands, and stands that sold dried fruit and tea.  We actually came across many of them as we walked through plazas and a few of the narrow streets.  It ended up being a fun day even though it was not what we were originally planning on doing. 

Saturday was even busier than the day before.  We caught an early bus to Cordoba for a day trip in what was the capital of the Caliphate during the Moorish rule.  After a three hour ride, we got into to Cordoba and headed straight to the mosque/cathedral.  The mosque was something else I had learned about in my art history class, so it was fun to get to see it in person.  Abd Al-Rahman had the mosque built during his rule in the eighth century, and hired the architects from Damascus.  Mosques are supposed to face towards Mecca, but since the architects were not from Spain, they built it oriented in the wrong direction.

 You enter into the Patio, which could pass for a small park.  In the park is a fountain that was used for ablutions (like the baths, but not as extensive).   The interior of the mosque is full of arches and columns.  The head of the columns are all different patterns and techniques, because they were taken from the architecture that was already present in many cities the Moors conquered.  The mosque is an extremely interesting building, but I won’t bore you with all the facts.  Inside the mosque, you can also find a cathedral.  The cathedral was built in the center of the mosque, after the catholic kings re-conquered Al-Andulus.  It was very interesting to look at the Christian architecture side by side with the Arabic architecture.  I liked the architecture of the mosque much better.  It is much simpler than that of the cathedral, which makes it much more appealing.   

After the mosque, we went to the old Jewish quarter of Cordoba.  The Jewish people played a very active role in Spanish history, until they were expelled by the Catholic kings in 1492.  This section of town is where you will find one of three synagogues in Spain.  The other two are located in Toledo.  We accidently snuck into the synagogue with a tour group, and it was very pretty.  It’s very, very small, but the decoration is very pretty, and there is a patio at the entrance with flower pots and plants growing.  After looking at the synagogue, we walked through the town.  The buildings are all white washed and there are many flowers in the windows, and courtyards also filled with flowers.  The roads are all cobblestone, and I wasn’t wearing very sensible shoes that day.  One of my sandals ended up breaking, and I had to buy a pair of weird looking shoes.  My friends said I couldn’t walk around barefoot.    

Our last stop for the day was actually about 10 km outside of the city.  Built in the mountains was a city, Medina Al-zahra, that served as the residential and official location for the Caliphate.  Only a fraction of the city has been excavated, but it was very big.  I can only imagine what it looked like complete, and not in ruins.  Before you go into the ruins there is a great museum.  It was very interesting, and had the history of the city, and information about its architecture.  I enjoyed it a lot.  Once I finished reading all the signs, we headed into the ruins.  It was fascinating.  You can just walk through them.  They did have one section blocked off for refurbishing, which was a bit disappointing.  It was the “throne room”, so I am sure it would have been great to see.  However, the rest of the city was impressive enough.  The architecture remaining is gorgeous.  I tried my hardest to picture the city full of people, and not in ruins but it was difficult.  Despite its grandeur and the amount of work that was put into it, the city was actually only functioning for a little over seventy years.  War ended the Caliphate, and the capital was moved elsewhere.  At first the city was looted, but eventually it was completely forgotten about. 

After Medina Al-zahra, we went back to the bus station and caught the bus back to Granada.  Sunday we met up again and went to a huge open air market.  There were stands selling clothes, jewelry, shoes, and produce.  Basically, everything you could think of you could probably find at this market.  The vendors were all screaming about their bargains over everything, and it was filled with people.  It was so fun.  I bought half a kilo of strawberries, and ate them all when I got back to the apartment.  After lunch we went and walked around the Albaicin and enjoyed the weather and people watching.  The whole weekend was great, and filled with both ancient and modern culture.  I don’t know if this weekend is going to be quite as busy.  The weather is starting to warm up a lot here, and the city is starting to fill with tourists.  There are more and more people out and about, and it is fun to just stay in town and enjoy the hustle and bustle of spring.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away??

I feel like I have to apologize once again for such a big gap of time between my last blog and this one.  After getting back from Ireland things got a bit chaotic; midterms started and I was sick for a bit.  Now that things have calmed down a bit I can pick up the blogs again, and I am going to do my best to not forget anything.   The weekend after Ireland we had a day trip with our program to the Alpujarras.  Las Alpujarras is a mountainous region in Spain with small pueblos (towns).  The excursion was a hiking trip, and the bus drove us up to Capileira, where we started the hike.  The itinerary for the day was to hike down from Capileira to another town called Bubion, and from Bubion to Pompeneira, where the bus would pick us up.

The pueblos on the hike were very, very small.  They all had a few restaurants, and a couple of gift shops and that was about it.  The fun part of the trip was the hike to get to the pueblos, not exploring the pueblos themselves (there really wasn’t much to explore).  When we set off from Capileira we followed a well worn path, but after a bit, the path became less obvious.  The director of our program turned to us a couple of times and said “Nothing is ever fun without a bit of doubt.  We never are really sure where we are going when we do this excursion”.  I think I would have preferred it if she hadn’t said that.  It was a great day, and the scenery was amazing.  There were huge gorges and we were completely surrounded by mountains.  There was also a lot of farm land, and animals.  Towards the beginning of the hike we came across a horse with a one month old horse.  We also saw chickens and roosters and learned that in Spanish, the roosters don’t say cock-a- doodle- doo, they say “quiquiriquí”. 

The hike to the first town took about two hours, with a fifteen or so minute break by a waterfall.  Once we arrived in Bubion we sat in the sun, ate some snacks, and drank a lot of water from the fountain in the middle of the town square.  There are water fountains everywhere in Andulusia, and the water is always amazing.  I don’t know why but I love them.  After half an hour in Bubion we hiked another 45 minutes or so to Pampeneira.  In Pampeneira we saw a “washing machine”, which I believe we were told was from the 10^th or 11^th Century.  Afterwards we found a restaurant, and I had a traditional Alpujarran lunch, which consisted of a fried egg, Serrano ham, a couple different kinds of sausages, and fried potatoes.  It was… interesting.  I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t think it’s something I will ever try to make for myself.  After lunch we just looked in a couple gift shops.  The people of Alpujarra make a specific kind of rug, and so they were everywhere and in many different shapes, sizes and colors.  It was fun, but I was ready to get on the bus and relax the rest of the day.  The hike was exhausting, especially since the sun was so strong that day. 

I also was exhausted because at that point I had been sick for about a week.  I started getting sick the day we flew back from Dublin, and the next morning I woke up with an awful cough.  I decided to let it go for a bit, hoping it was just a cold.  Last Monday after nights of not sleeping and a couple days with a fever, I decided I needed to get over my fear of going to a Spanish doctor. My host mom had been feeding me honey by the spoonful to try and help with the cough, but it wasn’t helping that much and I decided I needed some medicine.  The program I am in uses a doctor who speaks some English, so I made an appointment to get checked out.  Although she advertises herself as an English speaking doctor, she spoke to me almost completely in Spanish.  I was surprised by the fact that I was able to tell her all of my symptoms in Spanish, and we barely used any English in the appointment.  I learned a lot of vocabulary that day.  It took her about five minutes to diagnose me with bronchitis and she wrote out four prescriptions for me.  She also wrote me a note to give to my teachers excusing me from class for three days.  I only skipped one and a half days, but I loved that I had the note just in case. 

I was dreading going to fill my prescriptions at the pharmacy, thinking that I would have to pay an arm and a leg for them.  Insurance here is very different from at home.  At the appointment, I paid 50 euros upfront.  After the appointment you fill out a form and send it in with the receipt to the insurance company who pays you back.  I hated having to pay 50 euros, and I was sure I would have to pay at least that amount for the prescriptions.  I was shocked when the pharmacists rang me out and asked me for fourteen euros.  I asked her to repeat herself, and I think she thought I didn’t understand her Spanish, because in English she said very slowly and loudly “FOUR TEEN EUROS AND FORTY CENTS”.  I was thrilled.  After antibiotics and a week of cough syrup and a decongestant, I am feeling much better.  I’m glad I finally decided to go to the doctors.  It made me feel better, and it was just another chance to practice my Spanish.  

In Dublin’s Fair City, Where the Girls Are So Pretty

This past weekend, five friends and I took off for an international excursion. Friday morning we woke up very, very early and made our way to the Malaga airport to catch our flight to Dublin, Ireland. I was very excited, as Ireland has always been somewhere I have wanted to go. Coming from a family with a strong Irish heritage also made going to Ireland very exciting. We arrived in Dublin around 2:30, and went outside to cold weather and a bit of rain. It was overcast the entire week end, and much cooler than we have become accustomed to in southern Spain, but we didn’t let the weather slow us down. First we made our way to the hostel, which was right in the center of the city. It was my first experience staying in a hostel and I loved it. Within an hour of being there we had made a friend from Australia, who was on her first day of an eight month backpacking trip through Europe. After dropping our bags in our room and checking our email we were ready to start exploring Dublin.

Jennie, Shelley, and our new friend JJ and I set off in hopes of seeing St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We got lost a couple of times, but the people in Ireland are all very willing to help and we eventually found the cathedral. Of course, it was already closed for the day, so we just took some pictures of the outside and then wandered around St. Patrick’s Park. We walked around the city a bit more, and stopped at a hole in the wall shop for some fish and chips. The shop was small, with no seating, so we took our fish and chips back to the hostel and relaxed. It was an enormous meal, and everybody was thrilled with it. Since we were all pretty beat from traveling all day, we decided to stay in for the night, and watched P.S. I Love You, since it was the only movie the hostel had that took place in Ireland. After that we went to bed. The bed in the hostel was much more comfortable than my bed in Spain, and I slept great.

We woke up early the next day, grabbed breakfast from the hostel kitchen (toast with jam and a cup of tea) and then set out for our first and only full day in Dublin. Our first stop was Trinity College, to see the Book of Kells. We also took a thirty minute tour of the campus, which was just as gorgeous as our tour guide and his accent (that’s saying a lot, trust me). The tour ended at the library where half the Book of Kells was on display. The Book of Kells is a copy of all four gospels, from about 800 AD. It is written in Latin, and intricately illustrated. Recently the book was torn into four sections for “preservation’s sake”, and they only keep half of it out on display. They had set up an exhibit about the book which was very interesting, and of course the book itself was amazing. A monk could spend his whole life working on just one of the pages, that’s how detailed it is.

Once we got through the exhibit on the book of Kells, we headed to Dublin Castle. Dublin Castle was so great, because it was a much smaller scale castle. Of course it was still enormous, but not in an overwhelming sense. My favorite room was the drawing room where the ladies would wait for the men to ask them to dance during the ball. It was pink, and floor to ceiling mirrors so the ladies could constantly check and make sure they looked good. The throne was also fun. Our tour guide told us the story about how the throne had to be shortened for Queen Victoria I because she couldn’t get into it without the help of three ladies in waiting. They cut the lion’s claws (the decoration kind, not real lion’s claws) off each leg and put a step stool so that she could seat herself in the throne. They also brought us to the section of the castle from 1100 that is currently being excavated. You can see the tower, and the castle wall. The river that flowed through the moat is still there. The tour ended with the old castle, and it was almost 2 so we decided to grab some lunch.

After some sandwiches and candy bars, we headed to the Guinness Storehouse. The old storehouse has been turned into a museum of sorts. You learn the history of Guinness, how the beer is made, the advertising, and much more. They also had a room where they taught us the proper way to taste beer, which is essentially the same as wine tasting but with beer. The storehouse has many floors and you work your way from the bottom up. The last level is the Sky Bar, which has amazing views of the whole city. It is also where you get your free pint of Guinness, which was kind of gross but I drank it because it was part of the experience. While we were there, they had a man recite a Yeats poem, and then he led us all in song. The whole bar was belting out Molly Malone; don’t worry, I joined in.

After Guinness we went to Penny’s which sells really cheap clothing, a rare occurrence in Europe. We met up with more friends from the program who were also in Dublin for the week end, and we all decided to go out for dinner. We met up again around 9, a typical time for dinner in Spain, and went to find a restaurant and traditional Irish food. Apparently Ireland does not follow the same eating schedule as Spain. I think we went into 6 or 7 places, and had one person tell us the only food we would find would be fast food or pizza. But we persevered and finally found a pub with a kitchen that was still open. We ended up having a great dinner, and we got a lot of attention from the waiter, since we were the last people in all of Dublin eating dinner. We finished dinner pretty late, so we just headed back to the hostel.

Sunday morning we went back to the cathedral, and went inside. It was gorgeous, and the choir was practicing, so we even had some music while we wandered around. After a while, all the cathedrals start to look alike, but it was still interesting and very pretty. After walking through the cathedral we went souvenir shopping, checked out of the hostel and went back to the airport. We didn’t get back to Granada until about midnight. Switching back to speaking Spanish was a little difficult, but I was glad to be back. I had missed speaking the language, and it was nice to be somewhere that was familiar to us. I was a little sad that I didn’t have more time to spend in Ireland though. Dublin was a beautiful city, and the people are amazing. I would have loved to get a chance to explore the rest of the country, and become more acquainted with the Irish culture. I have decided I will just have to go back, someday.

A Taste of Spanish Culture

About two weeks ago, our program organized an intercambio. An intercambio is where English speaking students and Spanish speaking students meet and talk with one another. The goal is that the native English speakers practice their Spanish with native Spanish speakers, and vice versa. I was extremely nervous about going, but decided it would be worth it, if only because we got two free tapas out of the occasion. When we got to the bar where the intercambio was taking place we were all seated at separate tables opposite a Spaniard. I have never done speed dating, but that is essentially what this was. In total I spoke with three Spanish people. The first round I was sat opposite two Spanish speakers, which made it feel very much like an interview. But once I relaxed it actually was very fun. We spoke Spanish for about twenty five minutes, and then switched to English. One of the boys was a very big Glee fan, and asked me if every school had Cheerios. I tried my best to explain that the show was actually an exaggeration of every aspect of high school, but he walked away still thinking that the head cheerleader ALWAYS dates the captain of the football team.

The second round I talked to one person, but this time I spoke in the Spanish the whole time and he responded in English. I found it very challenging to have to switch back and forth between the two languages, but eventually I got the hang of it. My intercambio partner for that round wanted to know what I had done while in Granada, and I went through all the sights I had seen and places I had explored. He was shocked to learn that my friends and I hadn’t been to a discotecha (basically a club) yet. He insisted that we all go out with him and his friends that weekend to one of the larger discotechas in the city, Granada Diez. Nightlife is very much an aspect of the Spanish culture, and the discos are open until six or seven in the morning. My friends Shelley, Cristen, and I went, but we only lasted until four and then we were done. I now understand why the Spaniards need their siesta. Dancing until 7 in the morning must be absolutely exhausting. I felt completely worn out and I only lasted about half the night.

Another aspect of Spanish culture I have now experienced is “futbol”, or as it is known in the states, soccer. The program brought us all to a soccer match between Granada and Salamanca. I showed up wearing Salamanca’s colors by mistake, and we of course sat in the Granada cheering section. Needless to say, I felt a bit out of place. It might not be as bad as wearing a Yankees shirt at Fenway park, but I definitely stood out. Other than that small detail, the match was so fun. I have never watched a soccer match beginning to end, so I wasn’t sure how much fun I would have but I found myself getting very into it. I even tried to do the chants with the rest of the crowd, and cheered and groaned when appropriate. Overall it was a great experience. There were so many people there; it was very easy to get caught up in the excitement of the game. The Europeans take their soccer very seriously, but they do have a lot of fun at the matches.

One other aspect of Spanish culture is Carneval. Carneval is the same concept and is celebrated in a similar fashion to Mardi Gras. It takes place the week before Lent begins, and people wear ornate costumes, and go to the streets to celebrate. The biggest celebration takes place in Cadiz, about five hours from Granada on the coast of southern Spain. I opted out of that celebration, as it tends to be out of control. However, I did get to celebrate Carneval in a special way. Last Thursday, the organizations in Almanjayer (where I volunteer) all got together and had a fiesta for the kids in the program. We all wore disfrases (costumes). Our group wore green and red garbage bags decorated with paper flowers that had been decorated by all the kids. The kids all wore paper hats, and the volunteers clipped flowers in our hair. At the fiesta, every organization performed a song. It was very fun, and our group won the award that goes to the song that best reflects the sentiments of carneval. I like to think I was a part of that, as I also got up on stage and sang along with the kids. It was a great experience, because I got to see that even the kids in Spain are very much excited by Carneval and celebrating it is looked forward to every year, even by the very young population of the country.

Every day I get to experience more of the culture, but the more immersed I become here the harder it is to distinguish the differences between here and home. I am falling in love with the Spanish mentality and way of life. I still struggle with the language, especially verb tenses, but that too is still improving. Last week we went to see a movie (Tambien la Lluvia) and I understood almost everything. It was a great movie, and I was able to not only understand what was being said but also enjoy watching it. I am very much settled into life here, and love it so much. When I get homesick, it is usually because I am missing friends and family. Every once in a while I miss cultural aspects of life in the US, such as customer service or things starting on time, but I am very happy here. I know I will return to my typical life soon enough, so for now I am trying to embrace the culture here.

Whitewashed Towns, White Capped Mountains

Last weekend was a long(er) weekend because Monday was a holiday, Día de Andalucía. With four days to fill up, my friends and I decided it was finally time for a couple of day trips. Friday we just stayed in Granada, and did some shopping and people watching. The weather was perfect last week, the temperature close to 70 or over every day. Friday night I stayed in and went to bed early, because on Saturday I was getting up around 5 A.M. to catch a train to Ronda. Ronda is one of Andalucia’s whitewashed towns. It gets so hot in the summer, that all the buildings are painted white in an attempt to keep heat at bay on the streets. We got to the train station around 6, and boarded the train at 7. After a two and a half hour train ride, we finally arrived in Ronda.

It was nice to get away from the big city feel for a day. Ronda is very quiet, and although there are plenty of shops and restaurants, it definitely achieves the quaint town feel. We walked through a park in search for Puente Nueva, a bridge built in the 1700s. Ronda is located in a very mountainous area, and the Puente Nueva is situated about 400 feet above a canyon. All the view points of it were also about 400 feet above the canyon, which made me a bit nervous, but it was amazing. After getting a view of the Puente, we headed to the tourism office to see what they suggested we do (we are, after all, still tourists sometimes).

The woman at the tourism office was very nice, and suggested we check out the Plaza de Toros, or bullfighting ring. It is the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain, and has a little museum inside. Once inside the bullring, we posed for a few ridiculous pictures and just hung out and tried to imagine what it must be like when there is an actual bullfight happening. It was very warm that day, so we sat in the stands and enjoyed the sun and the weather. I was pretty excited about the whole thing, because you can actually go down into the ring where the fights happen and walk around. I think it is the closest I will come to a bullfight while here in Spain, I don’t know if I could handle a real one. We also walked through the museum. I learned that in somewhere around three hundred years of bullfights, the bull ring we were in had only seen one bull fighter die. After hanging out in the bull ring we grabbed lunch and then crossed over the bridge for a hike through the other side of Ronda. I really wanted to get a good view of the whole town, because it was absolutely amazing. We found a few great views, and got a good walk in. We finally went back to the train station, on the other side of town, and were pretty relieved to finally board the train and head back to Granada. It was a good day trip, but we were all pretty beat and ready for home cooked food and sleep.

The next day was not one for resting after the last day trip. We got up relatively early again and headed to the bus station. We caught the 10:00 bus to the Sierra Nevadas, an absolutely terrifying 45 minute ride. I don’t ever get motion sick, but I did on Sunday. The altitude change, combined with the fact that when you looked out the window of the bus you were literally looking over the side of the mountain, did not combine for a settled stomach. The ride was definitely worth it though. All three of my friends and I come from places where there is usually a lot of snow in the winter, and being surrounded by it once again made us feel a little like we were home. Although, it was in the 50s, so it wasn’t quite the same as a New England winter. There are many ski resorts up there and a little tourist town has built up around them, so we just walked around and enjoyed the little shops and the scenery. We had a couple impromptu snowball fights, ate some lunch, walked around a bit more and then boarded the bus back home. Although it was a pretty laid back day, it was still a lot of fun. I got to see another part of Spain that is beautiful and enjoy it with friends. That’s a good day in my book.

Monday we stayed in Granada, but because of the holiday almost everything was closed. Our program sent us an email earlier in the week letting us know that because of the holiday, la Parque de las Ciencias would be free. Parque de las Ciencias is a HUGE science museum, with interactive exhibits both inside and outside. It was at least twice the size of the Boston Science Museum. My friends and I spent three hours there, and I don’t even know if we saw half of it. We went to the Planetarium first. The presentation was in Spanish, and it was very excited because I actually understood a lot of it. It was a presentation geared towards native speakers, so I was thrilled that I understood as much as did even though the presenter was speaking at a typical pace. After the Planetarium we went through a few of the exhibits inside, and then went to the outside half. There was a lot to do, including a butterfly exhibit, and a giant chess board. My friend Jennie and I started a game of chess, and we were both loving it, until a group of about 4 kids ran up and grabbed a bunch of the pieces and fighting each other with them. That was the end of the chess game. The exhibits were very interesting, and we are definitely going to go back and try and see the rest of them. We spent the rest of Monday shopping in the Albaicin where there are a lot of little shops that stayed open despite the holiday.

The whole weekend was really enjoyable, but I was exhausted by the time Monday night rolled around. The early mornings and day long adventures can really take a lot out of a person. The exploration, however, absolutely outweighs the exhaustion. Spain is a beautiful and breathtaking place, and being able to experience so many aspects of it in one weekend was amazing.