'Cause this is Africa

This past weekend, I went to Morocco with a student travel company called Discover Excursions. It was so beautiful and unlike any place I have been in my life. Sevilla is located in Southwestern Spain, which makes traveling to Morocco easier than getting to most places in Europe. With that being said, I decided to take the amazing opportunity and step foot on another continent! 

...And boy am I glad I did! Even though I was only in Morocco for a weekend, I think I got a pretty good feel for the beauty, unique culture, and charm this small, northern African country has to offer. It definitely felt much more European than the image that probably comes to mind when you think of Africa, but that didn't mean that it was anything like the other places I have been in Europe.

I have never been to an Arabic country, so that alone was an entirely new experience for me. Prayer calls could be heard all across the cities at different times throughout the day, and women are covered from head to toe. Even though I knew these things about the culture in Morocco, it was still quite an experience to be surrounded by it all. 

Our trip began on Friday afternoon, when I met up with my friends and the other people who would be spending the weekend on the trip. I went with Lindsay, my friend from my high school, and Caela, my friend from college. We loaded the bus for our two and a half hour ride down to Tarifa, Spain, where we would went through customs and got on a ferry to cross the straight of Gibraltar. The ferry was surprisingly nice, and the ride only lasted an hour. 

After going through customs in Morocco (yay to getting a new stamp!), we got back on a bus to travel down to our hotel, which was about an hour away in Tétouan. Our hotel was very nice, and we were greeted with delicious Moroccan tea and a feast of soup and couscous. We crashed before midnight to get ready for our early wakeup call the next morning.

On Saturday, we spent the day in Chefchaouen, a beautiful city where most of the buildings are painted blue. We stopped about half way to take a look at a beautiful lake in between mountains. 

With Lindsay and Caela

Once we arrived in Chefchaouen, we were greeted by the most adorable little Moroccan man who would be our guide for the day. I can't remember his name, but I can tell you that he has lived in this beautifully blue city for his whole life, so he was a total expert.

(Our guide)

Our guide led us on a walking tour around the city, which is home to about 26,000 people. I was shocked that even though it is a similar size to my town back home, it felt much bigger. I guess it is just because it is very concentrated. The highlights of the walking tour for me were admiring the beautiful shades of blue and colorful art, as well as observing the people and everyday life around me in a whole new culture. 

Also, I can't fail to mention all of the unique doors throughout the city. I absolutely fell in love with the shapes, colors, and details of every door I saw. The story behind the doors is quite interesting, as well. From what I remember, Chefchaouen used to be divided religiously, so the color of your door let the people know if you were a Jew, Berber, etc. 

Our walking tour also brought us up along the side of a mountain overlooking the city. It was a pretty beautiful site...

After the tour, we had lunch provided by our program at a restaurant called Aladdin. It was the perfect arabic-feeling place. We then had a few hours of free-time to shop. Caela and I had mentioned to our tour guide that we were looking to buy Moroccan blankets, so he told us to meet him in the main square after lunch so he could take us to the best place and help us get a good deal. He took us to a really cool shop that had blankets and rugs piled up to the ceiling and a loom where the items are made in-house. (See for yourself below!) Caela, Lindsay, and I all ended up buying beautiful blankets to take back home to the US. It was the perfect souvenir. 

I finished out the day in Chefchaouen with an amazing cup of Moroccan mint tea. Anyone who knows me can probably imagine how happy it made me! :) 

We went back to our hotel to have dinner, which included a show of traditional Moroccan music and dance. The program hosted a sangria party that night, which we went to for a total of about 8 minutes until we realized that it was an awkward gathering of people basically drinking juice in a room meant for business presentations. We decided it was more worth it to get our things together and get some sleep before waking up and needing to be out of our rooms by around 7:30 am.

On Sunday, we loaded our things on the bus and drove to go see the Caves of Hercules in Tangier. As you can (kind of) see below, the cave's opening to the ocean is said to look like the shape of Africa.

Then came the moment that everyone was waiting for... THE CAMEL RIDE!!!!! We all got to ride a camel on a cliff along the beach in Tangier. It wasn't a very long ride, but it was just the right amount of time to get to enjoy such a crazy experience! As you can see by my friends' faces in the picture below, it was pretty scary when the camel stood up and sat down. I held on tight to my saddle at first, but I quickly got over it and put my arms up for what I'm sure will be a picture I will look at year after year.

Because no camel ride is complete without a camel selfie!

The last stop on our whirlwind of a day was Asilah, a coastal town with a cool, artistic vibe. It hosts lots of art and music festivals, including a street art competition that allows the winners to keep their work up on the walls throughout the city for two years. We went on a walking tour around the city and spent a little time sitting in the sun at the beach.

On our walking tour, we came up to a wall that was painted as a "Relationship Tree." It was so cool to see everyone's love expressed in so many different languages. I'm a huge cheese ball, so I of course whipped out a pen and made my mark! Shout out to my Ben! (Especially if he is still reading this post- haha!)

I, once again, ended my visit with a glass of mint tea. Our visit to Asilah was a bit too quick for my liking, but I did manage to score an adorable decorative tea pot for my room!

After another bus ride back to Tangier, we got on the ferry to head back up to Spain. We got on just in time for sunset, which was a really cool sight. It was a great end to an even better trip. I'm one lucky, lucky girl!

So long, Africa!

 Thanks for reading!!
A

Un fin de semana español

I'm happy to share that I had one of the most "Spanish" weekends of my time here in Spain! Meeting and spending time with Spaniards has been harder than I thought. I have made many incredible American friends, but I have been determined this semester to speak more Spanish and make more Spanish friends. This weekend gave me such an great outlook on the rest of the semester- thanks almost completely to my wonderful Spanish friend, Luisa, who graciously hosted me all weekend and is always patient with my still sub-par Spanish skills.

Since I am lucky enough not to have class on Friday (although it does mean that I have 7 hours of class on Mondays and Wednesdays), my weekends begin on Thursday nights. On Thursday nights, my program usually has a language exchange with American and Spanish students, which is called an "intercambio." This semester, the "intercambios" have been huge, with around 60 people attending. We usually go to a tapas restaurant and get some drinks and tapas (snacks). It's great practice, and I am actually meeting with a Spanish girl I met there tonight. After the intercambio event, I went out with some people from my program for a bit.

On Friday, I went on a nice run through the Parque María Luisa. I'm so lucky to have this enormous, beautiful park practically in my backyard. I have kept up with my goal of running at least three days a week so far, and I'm feeling so great that I think I'm going to sign up for a 10K in Madrid for the end of April!

Pretty damn lucky to get to run in such beautiful scenery. On Friday night, I went to my Spanish friend Luisa's house for dinner with some of her friends who I had never met. Luisa studied abroad in France last year, so she made us some delicious crepes. Her friends were all very nice, and although I couldn't participate in the conversation too much (they talk so fast!!), they were all very friendly. 

On Saturday, I got some things done during the day and then headed back over to Luisa's. We went to her friend Teresa's house to have dinner with a couple other friends again. Then we went out to a couple small bars that I had never been to, which was exciting. It was definitely more of a "locals" scene, and I really enjoyed feeling like a Spaniard for a bit!

Luisa & Me!

On Sunday, Luisa and I took a bus out to Aracena in the province of Huelva, Spain. Aracena is a smaller town in the Sierra de Aracena mountain range a little over an hour northwest of Sevilla. Our first stop on our fun day trip was the Gruta de las Maravillas, which is a huge path of absolutely incredible underground caves. It was one of the coolest places I've ever been in my life. We accompanied a large family tour group on a 45 minute tour through the caves, which included lots of different "rooms," tunnels, small bodies of water, and crystals, all at nearly 100% humidity. 

Wonderful quality selfie

After the caves, we were pretty hungry. We had only eaten a little snack for breakfast, so we went to a small cafe to 'desayunar.' Aracena and the surrounding areas are known to have some of the best ham in Spain (and therefore, the world), so I decided to go with a typical breakfast of tomato sauce with some ham. It was such a nice way to start the day. Ben, my boyfriend, was absolutely obsessed with Spanish jamón, and insists that I send him pictures anytime I eat it. I think this picture made him even more ready to come back to visit me and enjoy a ham-filled Spring Break trip! (He is coming in April)

Me with my favorite animal outside the restaurant... Sorry I just ate you!

We ended our time in Aracena with a walk around the town to see the beautiful white-washed buildings. Our walk wasn't complete without a stop at the famous pastry shop, Confitería Rufino. Apparently, people drive all the way out to Aracena from Sevilla just to get these pastries. I decided to buy two boxes of assorted small pastries--one for Luisa's family and one to take home to my Spanish family.

The bullring in Aracena

Our next stop was to an even smaller town outside of Aracena where Luisa and her family have a country home, called Fuenteheridos. Her mom came to pick us up and took us to the center of town, where the ~10 friends that Luisa's parents had over for the day were having a beer. I was greeted with lots of double cheek kisses by older women, and they were all so welcoming and funny. 

We all walked to Luisa's house and helped prepare a huge Spanish lunch of meat from Aracena, delicious green beans, salad, homemade bread, salmon, cake, and pastries--accompanied, of course, by wine and beer. Everyone was talking at the same time, singing, and moving all around the kitchen and dining room. We all sat around a huge table and enjoyed our 3:30 p.m. extremely Spanish lunch. 

When lunch was complete, it was time to siesta. And when I say siesta, I actually mean that all 15 of us slept for at least half an hour--as if the day could have gotten more Spanish. When I woke up, Luisa's mom made me some hot chocolate, and we all relaxed in the living room. Luisa and I then said goodbye to everyone and went on a walk around town. First, she showed me their big yard. 

Luisa opening up the gate to their land

Their land was beautiful, and there was a big pool that I'm sure is quite refreshing during the Spanish summers. Her yard is filled with chestnut trees, which right now are bare and have left the ground full of prickly-cased chestnuts. I thought they looked pretty cool on the ground, but Luisa explained to me how beautiful and green all of the chestnut trees are during the summer.

We walked back to the center of town to see the fountain that the town is named after. "Fuente" means fountain in Spanish. I don't quite understand all of the history about the name, but I thought the fountain was pretty cool and unique.

We finished up our tour by seeing more beautiful, white-washed buildings, the town cathedral, and some beautiful horses. 

At around 7pm, we drove back to Sevilla with Luisa's parents. It was such a great weekend, and, even though at times I can't participate fully in the conversation, I spoke a lot of Spanish all weekend! I'm really feeling good about how much my speaking skills will improve this semester.

Gracias a Luisa por un fin de semana maravilloso :)

A

First (two) week(s) of class!!

One of my goals for this blog was to write more about my everyday life in Spain, as well as about more general cultural ideas, etc... (Still hoping to muster up the courage to do a weekly Spanish street style post). So, in order to start the second semester off on the right foot, I give you: MY FIRST WEEK(S) OF CLASSES POST!

Last semester, I took all of my classes at the University of Sevilla through a program for international students (which really just meant all Americans). I enjoyed my classes and got to meet a lot of people from around the U.S., but when I looked forward to my next semester in Spain, I realized I was ready for a different type of classroom experience. Thus, I decided to switch in to the "Integrated Studies" program, which allows you to take some or all of your classes with Spaniards.

When I arrived in Spain about two weeks ago, I had no idea about the two-weeks of crazy I was in for- and not the fun, stay out 'til 5 am crazy. Turns out, as I wrote in an earlier post, my study abroad program failed to mention that the classes with Spaniards did not start until the following week. So, I decided to try out a couple classes with Americans, because I knew I wanted to take either one or two of those classes. It turned out to be nice to have that time to get my Spanish back to where it was.

After a quick one-night trip to Granada last weekend and a very relaxing stay-inside-all-day-because-it's-rainy Sunday, I woke up last Monday ready to take on my first class with Spaniards. My first class was called "Anthropology of Social Organization," and went pretty well. However, the rest of the week did not go so well. I went to somewhere around seven different classes, while still attending my classes with Americans, as I was unsure how many classes with each program I would take in the end. I went to numerous history classes and literature classes. I found a decent class called "Spanish Literature of the 16th century." At that point, I had two down, but I had absolutely no idea where to go from there and I was getting extremely discouraged by how terrible most of the professors were.

Here begins my rant about Spanish vs. American higher education... I have had some degree of "culture shock" while attending classes with Spaniards. I thought my first semester would prepare me for the classroom differences, but it turns out the classes for American students are very "Americanized." The majority of classes I've gone to this week involved an older, male professor standing at the front of a classroom mumbling with no type of notes and no powerpoint, while a room full of 30-60 Spaniards scribble down every last word. The courses also have much more general topics, less choices overall, and the entire grade is often made up of just the final exam. The students usually only take classes in their major, and their schedules are made for them.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to be surrounded by Spanish and Spaniards as I take classes at one of the most prestigious universities in the country. I have just come to a whole new level of appreciation for the American higher education system. As much as we complain about gen-eds/core requirements, we are so lucky to be able to take classes of so many different disciplines, have double majors or minors, "hand-picking" each class we want to take along the way, and take classes from professors who are (usually) pretty engaging. I know our education system has flaws of its own, and I wouldn't trade my time here for the world, but this whole week has made me very thankful. -END RANT-

After spending at least 7 hours in class per day last week, I finally figured out my schedule. I went to a Latin American History class this morning at 9 a.m. I really didn't want to take 9 a.m. classes, but it was my last hope. It ended up being the best class I had gone to all week, so I found the courage to go up to the professor after class and ask him if he could meet, since I had missed the first 3 classes. He graciously invited me to meet with him in his office right then, so we trekked up to his office and talked about the course. As it turns out, he taught at the University of Chicago in the 80s, and has taught at Harvard and in England, as well! He was extremely welcoming, and I am excited to learn about the colonization era from a Spanish professor's perspective. (I'm a nerd...)

Despite the stress of the week, I think I ended up with some good classes and a balance I am happy with- 3 with Spaniards and 2 with Americans. My classes include:

• History of Latin America in the Era of Colonization (with Spaniards)
• Anthropology of Social Organization (with Spaniards)
• Spanish Literature of the 16th Century (with Spaniards)
• Contrastive Grammar (with Americans)
• History and Culture of Judaism in Spain (with Americans)

Well, I'm highly doubting most of you read all of that, but I'm happy to have this even just for myself to look back and laugh at how crazy stressed I was about my classes. But, hey, I figured it out (and calmed down) in the end!

My school... I am ONE. LUCKY. GIRL.

Looking forward to telling you all about my fun, Spanish weekend. Should be up on the blog tomorrow. :)

Hasta luego,

A

Flamenco... The Soul of Andalucía

Since this is my fourth month living here in Andalucía (the region in the south of Spain- "Andalusia" in English), I figured it was about time I wrote a blog post featuring perhaps the soul of Andalucía: Flamenco! I just got back from spending two days in Granada, where I saw a flamenco show for at least the sixth time, so I felt like I was ready to tell you guys all about this traditional Spanish dance.

Flamenco is a form of Spanish folk music and dancing that originated in Andalucía, specifically in Western Andalucía, where my home of Sevilla is located. It is known to date back to the late 18th century, but it has grown to be prevalent throughout the entire country, and is even taught in Asia, the United States, and around the world.

The flamenco experience is made up of dancing, singing, guitar playing, and claps (sometimes substituted by castanets--shell-like, hand-held clappers). It is historically associated with the gypsies of Spain, which still largely holds true today (although not exclusively). Flamenco shows can take place spontaneously in small bars, at more elaborate dinner shows, as meticulously choreographed shows in theaters, and even in caves, like this show I went to in Granada:

(Throwback to first semester- miss you guys!)

Enough of the history, though. I want to tell you what flamenco is actually like. If I had to describe flamenco in one word, it would be passionate. The singers sometimes sound like they are suffering--but in a beautiful way. I have heard both male and female singers. Usually there is at least one dancer accompanying their music, but sometimes there are periods of just singing/guitar playing.

As a dancer myself, I can feel the emotions the dancers move with, as they display a look of (for lack of a good synonym) passion on their faces. The dancing includes a lot of foot stomping/tapping paired with more graceful arm, wrist, and hand movements. I have seen group dancing (both women and men), partner dancing (man & woman or 2 women), and single person dancing (man or woman).

The female dancers wear typical flamenco dresses with ruffled skirts, and of course some dresses are much more extravagant than others- usually depending on how formal the show is. The skirts are often used to compliment the dance movements. The male dancers usually wear formal clothing, as well, usually suit pants, a vest, and a button down shirt.

I have been to a few different flamenco shows in Sevilla and two in Granada, so I've collected lots of pictures and videos from my experiences. Now it's time for you to see for yourself!

Is it different than what you expected? It's definitely different than what I expected!

Que tengas un buen día :)

A

Welcome to Second Semester!

I'M BACK, SEVILLA! After one extremely turbulent flight and a train ride, I arrived at my home in Sevilla on Friday afternoon.

On Friday, it felt extremely weird to be back. I felt like my time both here in Sevilla first semester and at home over break were whirlwind experiences, so it just didn't seem like it was time to be back yet. I got settled in, showered, went on a long walk, and ended up going out that night for just an hour and a half or so to meet some people that my new roommate, Ali, had met during orientation.

Turns out, I think my feelings of strangeness and sadness were symptoms of my pure exhaustion, because I felt much better when I woke up on Saturday at THREE IN THE AFTERNOON after 13 uninterrupted hours of sleep. I'm serious. I actually did not wake up once during that 13-hour period... And that was exactly what my body (and mind) needed. I then met up with some more new people, as well as my friend who is here for the year, Raechel. We tried to go to my favorite ice cream place, Rayas, but I forgot that it was closed for the winter. Apparently 65 and sunny is too cold for ice cream! ;)

I decided not to go out on Saturday in order to try to get on the right sleeping pattern for class on Monday (today). I have extra energy at night and I'm super tired in the morning/early afternoon, but that's nothing that a few days and some melatonin at night can't fix!

On Sunday, my new roommate, Ali, and I went to the flamenco fashion show/exposition where my host mom, Eva, was working. She is a fashion stylist, which means she works in the dressing rooms with the models getting their looks together and making sure the show goes smoothly. This is the third event of hers that I have gone to, after "Miss World Sevilla" and a more contemporary fashion show called "Moda de Sevilla." Anyone who knows me can probably imagine how thrilled I am to have these opportunities. At Miss World Sevilla in December, I was even able to "help out" backstage- which mostly meant just hanging out and watching everyone prepare for the show.

Eva sent me this picture from the dressing room!

And finally, yesterday and today were my first two days of classes, however only my classes with American students have started, and my classes with Spaniards start next week. I'm still trying to figure out how many classes to take with Americans and how many to take with Spaniards. I was only informed they day classes started (yesterday) that my classes with Spaniards don't start yet until next week, but I'm glad to have another week to freshen up my Spanish before I have to go sit with a bunch of natives and listen to a professor who without a doubt will not slow anything down.

To conclude my first post back, I wanted to write down some goals for my second semester. I'm so fortunate to be in Sevilla for a second time around, and it that has allowed me to reevaluate and think about what I'd like to change for this semester. I may have more, but these are the ones that are on my mind.

Second Semester Goals:

• Run more (as you may have seen on my Facebook).
• Take 3-4 classes directly with Spaniards.
• Actually talk to the Spaniards and professors of those classes.
• Take more walks through the beautiful María Luísa Park, including Plaza de España and Plaza de America. 
• Go to Morocco (among many other places I'm dying to see, but this is one I'm not sure I'll ever get back to). 
• Do more language exchanges, which are called "intercambios" here.
• Last but not least, BLOG MORE! I need to write more about my time here in my Spanish hometown of Sevilla, rather than just about my weekend travels.

Plaza de España

Plaza de España

Plaza de America

¡Hasta pronto!

A