The sun is shining: February 2009

This past week my group traveled to three different cities in Southern Spain in an area called Andalusia. It was an exhausting trip, full of a lot of driving, a lot of walking and very little sleep. The weather was terrible majority of the time we were there, of course it couldn't warm up or stay dry when we have to walk everywhere all day. We have grown accustomed to being cold and wet but still can't wait for the day when it will get warmer and actually stay that way. There was so much we did that I can't even remember, the week seemed so long. But I will try my best...

Granada

On our 4 hour bus ride to Granada we drove through really beautiful big fields and farmland. The country is so different in so many places and its nice to travel around and see every side of it. We stopped at these giant windmills that Spain is famous for from the book Don Quixote, they were so cool. At the top of the hill where the windmills were, it was so windy, I can honestly say I have never been in wind that strong. We would jump in the air and you could stay there for a few seconds. The stop was short because no one could handle the freezing cold wind. We arrived in Granada and were welcomed by the rain. We got into our hotel and then had free time that night. A few of us walked around the city and just explored, it was a cool city, not my most favorite but pretty. The Alhambra is in Granada, its an Arabic palace from when they ruled the city before it was conuered by spanish King Ferdinand. It was actually really cool, all of the Muslim architecture and gardens, it was a huge. The view of the city from up high made me think more highly of Granada.

Cordoba

We left Granada after the Alhambra and got back on our bus and drove a couple hours to Cordoba. That drive was beautiful. There was hill after hill of the greenest grass I have ever seen. It was nice and sunny all the way there and once we stepped off the bus a huge cloud covered us. It started pouring on our 15 minute walk to our hotel. Carrying our suitcases and getting drenched was a perfect way to start our visit to Cordoba. Everything in my bag was wet and had to be laid out all night, I was just hoping I would have something to wear the rest of the week. We dried up as much as we could and headed to a mosque that was turned into a cathedral after the Christians conquered it. If you haven't noticed there was a lot of religious and racial turmoil in Spain between the Christians, Muslims and Jews. Everything in the culture today is a little mixture of all three. Later that night we went out to dinner with our group, and then a few of us went out. We went to a bar that had live music and watched a bunch of guys play Spanish guitar and sing. We stood out so bad and everyone kept looking at us the entire time, we stick out a lot worse when there is more of us. But after a while the stares stopped and we were having fun. That night we played in the rain running through the cobblestone streets and running through the waterfalls that fell off the cathedral. It is just simple times like that that I love most about Spain.

Sevilla

By far my favorite city that I have been to. Luckily we got to stay in Sevilla longer than anywhere else. It was so tiring going from hotel to hotel and driving for so long. The city just has such an awesome feel to it. It was big but not too overwhelming, there was so much to do and see. Everyone rode bikes around. I loved it. We visited the biggest cathedral in the world where Christopher Columbus is buried. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and saw the huge bells and the whole city. Its painful to be up there when the bells ring, we had to run back down when a few started going off. My favorite moment was sitting in the Plaza de Espana on the one nice day of the whole trip and just relaxing. It was a beautiful building in a semi circle that was built for one of the World's Fairs. There were bridges over water that were covered in colorful ceramic and a giant fountain in the middle. This is my new "happy place", I can honestly say it felt like a dreamland. Everyone just kept saying how it didn't even feel real. We attended a Flemenco show twice, one was a professional show and the other was just one they do at a bar every night. It was nice to see both and see how they were different but both were amazing. I can't even describe it really, its kind of intimidating to watch as the performers tend to all have intense stares. I was glad I got to experience that. We all try to go out at night, Spain is famous for its discotecas, or clubs but we never seem to make it, we are always so tired. Our professor keeps making fun of us because we are all back to the hotel by 12, he says we are going to bed when the Spaniards are just getting started. If you can't tell he is a pretty laid back guy. Him and his wife lived in Spain twice and they showed us their old house in Sevilla and their old neighborhood. Its nice to have a guide who knows so much about the city.

After a seven hour bus ride home we finally arrived back in Alcala, its starting to feel more and more like home after we have been gone a long time. Mostly its just nice to get back to a normal schedule. Or as normal as we can get here....

Plaza de Espana