Before I left for Spain I decided to take full advantage of being in Europe and plan a 2-week trip across a few countries, meeting up with Laura in Italy. That plan has since snowballed and turned into a rather epic adventure. Caitlin pulled some strings and managed to get herself a ticket to Spain to come traveling with me! She and I are taking on Spain and France before meeting up with Laura in Italy to continue to Switzerland and Paris. Laura leaves us in Paris to fly home and Caitlin and I will hop up to London for a few days. Being able to do this kind of a trip with my 2 best friends was amazing enough, but then I got in contact with some relatives in Sweden and my trip got another incredible extension. After London, I am taking a flight to Stockholm and will be staying with my Swedish relatives for 2 whole weeks before finally flying home to the USA. Barring disaster, the schedule is as follows:
• May 16th – Caitlin in Sevilla!
• May 17th – Sevilla, Spain
• May 18th – Barcelona, Spain
• May 19th – Barcelona, Spain
• May 20th – Nice, France
• May 21st – Nice, France
• May 22nd – Cinque Terre, Italy
• May 23rd – Cinque Terre, Italy
• May 24th – Zermatt, Switzerland
• May 25th – Zermatt Switzerland
• May 26th – Bern, Switzerland
• May 27th – Paris, France
• May 28th – Paris, France
• May 29th – London, England
• May 30th – London, England
• May 31st – June 14th – Sweden
• June 14th – Flight back to London, London to Chicago, Chicago to Minneapolis…
• June 15th @ 1:40pm HOME
I know that we’re probably trying to do too many places in too short of time and are going to be spending a ridiculous amount of time on trains, but I am SO excited. Regardless what happens this trip is going to be fun and I can’t wait to see so many new places, even if we’re only there a short while. I like to think of it as a sampler platter, scoping out lots of places to decide which places we want to go back to.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Leaving Sevilla 5/17
And here ends my semester in Sevilla. I can’t believe that it’s over and I’m not really sure whet to think or feel. I lived here for 4 months, which seems like a long time but went by much too quickly. I can’t believe that the life I carved out for myself here is ending and that I might never see the people who were a part of my daily routine for a very long time, if ever again. Saying goodbye is always hard, no matter what the circumstances are, but saying goodbye without knowing if/when you will say hello again is the hardest. Leaving my host family was very strange. They have had so many students staying in their house; they can’t get too attached anymore. We had a good semester together and I hope that they enjoyed having me in their house as much as I enjoyed being there but they weren’t terribly sad to see us go. I know that chances are good I’ll never see either of them again, but Maria asked me to leave some photographs of myself behind and told me that if I ever come back to Sevilla I always have somewhere to stay. Spaniards don’t say goodbye, it’s always see you later. So that is the attitude with which I leave my city behind – someday I will return, to walk the streets and take in the sights again in a new stage of my life. The friendships I’ve made, people I’ve met and experiences I’ve had will stay with me forever; they are a part of me now and have left their mark. This semester has been an incredibly ride, so much more than anything I could have imagined. I have learned so much about myself, and my place and purpose in this world.
I am so sad that my life in Sevilla is ending, but in life there is always so much to look forward to. So here begins the next stage of my journey…
I am so sad that my life in Sevilla is ending, but in life there is always so much to look forward to. So here begins the next stage of my journey…
Beach House 5/14 – 5/16
To celebrate the end of classes and mourn the end of our time in Spain my roommate Justyna and I went with some Spanish friends to the beach for the weekend. Lourdes, one of Justyna’s friends, has an aunt and uncle who own a beach house in Huelva, which is roughly 1.5 hours outside of Sevilla. She invited us to stay there with her for the weekend, which was extremely generous and so much fun. In total there were 8 of us: Justyna and me, Lourdes, Javí, Pedro, Javier Francisco, José y Mauri. We spent our 2 days there tanning, collecting shells, swimming in the ocean and of course playing soccer on the beach. Watching all of these Spaniards interact was a hilarious and perfect example of Spanish culture. They are all such nice, friendly people. They didn’t all know each other when we got to the beach house but by the end of 2 days they were best friends. We all helped cook enormous meals of delicious Spanish food and watched the fútbol games on TV. In Sevilla there are 2 teams: Sevilla FC and Betis. Sevilla is really good and Betis has been terrible in recent years but each team has a huge base of extremely loyal fans. It’s true here that fútbol is a lifestyle. One of the things you ask about people, or one of the things you first find out judging by their clothing, tattoos, jewelry, etc, is what team they ‘belong to.’ Sevillanos don’t say, “I’m a fan of…” or “I follow…” or “I like…” a certain team, it’s always “I am.” “Soy Betis” o “Soy Sevilla.” They are true fans to the end regardless of how the team is doing in the standings and they really do feel like they are a part of it. Sevilla and Betis are bitter rivals. While we were at the beach both teams played so we all watched the games together. There was so much yelling and arguing going on between fans of each team, it was hilarious to watch.
It was an excellent weekend overall, and a great way to finish off my semester here.
It was an excellent weekend overall, and a great way to finish off my semester here.
Finals 5/10 – 5/13
Classes here ended with a flurry of exams and papers. As much work as it was, finals really showed me how much my Spanish has improved since coming here 4 months ago. I am so much more confident now, and I am much more comfortable with the language. During finals week a partner and I gave a 45-minute Anthropology presentation in Spanish and wrote an accompanying 13 page paper, I wrote a 7 page paper about my cultural experiences since arriving in Sevilla and my other Anthro group and I wrote a 15 page paper about gender roles and stereotypes in Andalucía. In January, never in a million years would I have thought I would have been able to do all of that. It was a lot of writing and a lot of studying in a short period of time but I came out all in one piece and summer vacation has officially begun! I still can’t quite shake the feeling that this whole semester has been a vacation of sorts, which some work mixed in here and there of course… After classes ended my program threw us a goodbye party at one of the beautiful restaurants on Calle Betis overlooking the Guadalquivir River. They had drinks and bite-sized tapas that were all delicious. It was so strange to see all of the kids from my program together in one room again, I couldn’t believe that it was 4 months ago when we were all lost and confused at orientation at the hotel. The party was so fun, a great way to celebrate the end of finals and the end of the semester altogether.
Lagos 4/21 – 4/ 24
After experiencing Feria for a day or two Erica and I decided that we wanted to take advantage of our week of vacation and do a little bit of traveling. We loved Portugal so much when we traveled to Lisbon so we decided to make a return to the country. We booked a hostel and bus tickets for Lagos, Portugal and away we went.
Lagos is a beautiful beach town on the southern coast of Portugal. It was the perfect place for a short beach vacation. The town is situated above the coastline on high, beautiful red and yellow rock cliffs overlooking the clear, aquamarine ocean. Between the amazing rock formations, brilliant water and blooming flowers there was so much vibrant color in Lagos and it was spectacular. Little secluded beaches are tucked into coves and are only accessible via a cliff walk that runs along the top edge with stairs leading down to the sand. We tried a different beach each day and they were all peaceful and secluded, ideal for relaxing. Besides lying on the beach, we walked the streets of Lagos, ate fabulous Portuguese food and took a cave/cove boat tour guided by a Portuguese fisherman. Overall I liked Lisbon better but if you ever find yourself in Portugal with the opportunity to spend some time in Lagos, I highly recommend it.
Lagos is a beautiful beach town on the southern coast of Portugal. It was the perfect place for a short beach vacation. The town is situated above the coastline on high, beautiful red and yellow rock cliffs overlooking the clear, aquamarine ocean. Between the amazing rock formations, brilliant water and blooming flowers there was so much vibrant color in Lagos and it was spectacular. Little secluded beaches are tucked into coves and are only accessible via a cliff walk that runs along the top edge with stairs leading down to the sand. We tried a different beach each day and they were all peaceful and secluded, ideal for relaxing. Besides lying on the beach, we walked the streets of Lagos, ate fabulous Portuguese food and took a cave/cove boat tour guided by a Portuguese fisherman. Overall I liked Lisbon better but if you ever find yourself in Portugal with the opportunity to spend some time in Lagos, I highly recommend it.
Feria 4/20 – 4/25
My program had a second ‘spring break’ week with no classes to celebrate the Feria de Abril in Sevilla. Feria used to be a celebration centered around cattle auctioning and everyone from the country would come into the city all dressed up for the occasion but today it has lost that original purpose and stands as a celebration of the city of Sevilla. There is no real purpose or intent other than to celebrate everything it means to be a Sevillano in the city that they love. The women all dress up in traditional style flamenco dresses of every shape and color complete with enormous matching earrings, hair combs and the biggest flowers I have ever seen directly on top of their heads. If the men are riding their horses into town or driving a horse-drawn carriage they dress up in traditional ‘cowboy’ clothes, and if not they put on their best suit.
The fair grounds are located in ‘los remedios’, which is a neighborhood just outside of the city center. Here rich families and businesses own ‘casetas’ which are little tents that are completely furnished as houses with floors, tables and chairs, bathrooms and a kitchen in the back. For the week of Feria this is the families house, and they entertain guests all day and night. If you are invited into a private tent they will take care of you, paying for all of your food and drink. An entire, classy tent city goes up for Feria complete with street signs and addresses. The streets are lined with lights and colored paper decorations.
Manzanilla, a very strong white wine, is the traditional drink of Feria, and in recent years people have started mixing it with 7-up to make rebujitos. These are dangerous things because they taste good and dilute the taste of the wine so it’s really easy to drink a few too many. We were well warned by all of our professors and host families but there were many hilarious rebujito-related stories to be told among the CIEE kids after Feria was over.
Like I said, Feria is all about celebrating Sevillan culture. The people come together to eat, drink, and above all, dance. The Sevillana is a style of flamenco dancing that originated and is still performed in Sevilla. Everybody knows how to do it and Feria is where they show it off. Every caseta has some sort of music playing, live bands or recordings, and everyone there is dancing with each other. It’s a beautiful dance and especially impressive with the women in their brightly colored, ruffled flamenco dresses and killer heels. I really don’t know how these Spanish women do it; my friends and I wore heels out to one night of Feria and ended up sitting on the curb before limping home to bed.
Feria is a cultural celebration but it is a very private celebration. There are a few tents open to the public but the majority of the celebrating goes on inside the casetas. My friends and I got into a private company caseta, which was less cool than a family caseta but still quite the experience.
The fair grounds are located in ‘los remedios’, which is a neighborhood just outside of the city center. Here rich families and businesses own ‘casetas’ which are little tents that are completely furnished as houses with floors, tables and chairs, bathrooms and a kitchen in the back. For the week of Feria this is the families house, and they entertain guests all day and night. If you are invited into a private tent they will take care of you, paying for all of your food and drink. An entire, classy tent city goes up for Feria complete with street signs and addresses. The streets are lined with lights and colored paper decorations.
Manzanilla, a very strong white wine, is the traditional drink of Feria, and in recent years people have started mixing it with 7-up to make rebujitos. These are dangerous things because they taste good and dilute the taste of the wine so it’s really easy to drink a few too many. We were well warned by all of our professors and host families but there were many hilarious rebujito-related stories to be told among the CIEE kids after Feria was over.
Like I said, Feria is all about celebrating Sevillan culture. The people come together to eat, drink, and above all, dance. The Sevillana is a style of flamenco dancing that originated and is still performed in Sevilla. Everybody knows how to do it and Feria is where they show it off. Every caseta has some sort of music playing, live bands or recordings, and everyone there is dancing with each other. It’s a beautiful dance and especially impressive with the women in their brightly colored, ruffled flamenco dresses and killer heels. I really don’t know how these Spanish women do it; my friends and I wore heels out to one night of Feria and ended up sitting on the curb before limping home to bed.
Feria is a cultural celebration but it is a very private celebration. There are a few tents open to the public but the majority of the celebrating goes on inside the casetas. My friends and I got into a private company caseta, which was less cool than a family caseta but still quite the experience.
Madrid Art Trip 4/16 - 4/18
Trip to Madrid! Just for fun, my program offers its students the opportunity to be in one of several 'interest groups' that focus on various aspects of Spanish culture (sports, food, cinema, international relations, etc.) I am in the modern art interest group, so all semester we have been going to see various examples of modern art around Sevilla. It has been really interesting and we've seen so many cool things, along with a couple of extremely 'modern' art forms that were a litlte bit puzzling. The interest groups all take a trip at the end of the semester, payed for the the program. My group went to Madrid to see the city and tour the Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen Museums. We took the AVE (Spain's high-speed train) to Madrid and stayed in a ridiculously nice hotel for the weekend, with an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet! Spain doesn't really do breakfast besides a piece of toast or two so we were all very excited to eat a USA-style breakfast, complete with pancakes. The boys in the group put away entire plates of pancakes while all of the Spaniards in the restaurant watched them in awe. But besides the breakfast buffet we did many other equally exciting things in Madrid. It was my first real visit to Spain's capital city, and I was very impressed. Ángel, our amazing group leader and professor, gave us a walking tour of the city, as well as a tour through each museum we went to. I swear that man knows everything. The three museums were very different from each other but I loved them all. It was incredible to get to see so many amazing works of art in person.
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