La playa

Happy Día de Andalucía! I’m not quite sure what this holiday means, but I don’t have classes so it’s a good holiday in my mind. We just finished up with lunch and I’m slowly entering a food coma, but I told myself I would write a new post today, so here it goes.

If there were a word to sum up the last week, it would be LA PLAYA. For all you non-Spanish speakers out there, that means THE BEACH. This weekend started off with a day trip to Cádiz, about an hour and a half south of Sevilla. On our way to Cádiz (which is also the same city that Carnaval was in last weekend) we stopped at a winery in Jérez.

We had a quick tour of the winery and learned the fermenting process of wine and brandy. It was definitely a neat place, considering it wasn’t even our destination of the day. There were barrels signed by famous people such as Christopher Columbus’ son, the Royal family and even some American celebs. 

 After we had a tour of the different areas of the winery, we got to taste two of the famous wines that are made at this “bodega”. The first one was a white wine, VERY dry and bitter, and the second was a dessert wine (pictured below) and it was so sweet it tasted like you were drinking maple syrup. I liked the sweet wine more, but it was hard to even have a full glass because it was so sweet.

 We traveled about 25 more minutes south and arrived in Cádiz, a beautiful peninsular city on the south coast of Spain. The water was clear and turquoise and the sky was (as always) a perfect blue. We lay on the beach for most of our stay and then took a short walk through a park to get ice cream.

 On Saturday, my friend Bridget and I stayed in Sevilla while others went on local day trips. It still amazes me how social this place is. Now that the weather is warm enough for the Spaniards, everyone is out by the river all day long (weekends and weekdays). So we blended right in (kind of) and people-watched by the river. The funniest part was witnessing what little concept Spaniards have of personal space. We laughed at how close some people would sit to us and it was nothing to them.  Also the PDA is insane. People are basically on top of each other (in public) everywhere you look, and yet we’re the ones who get stared at

After socializing with some locals, we hit the hay early and got up the next day to visit yet another beautiful playa. We hopped on a bus to visit Matalascañas, a beach southwest of here for the day. It was the typical beach town and tanned and relaxed all day long. We even got on the local news for being in our swimsuits at this time of year! Bridget spoke some Spanish into the camera and we laughed at how different it was than the states. The cameraman literally swooped in and started filming us before we could even get our cover-ups on, and definitely didn’t ask to film us. It was funny though; I’ve never even been on the news in the states!

 I really want to try and get better at posting more so I don’t have to sum up everything simply by saying what I did. There are so many other thoughts and observations that go into these daily encounters and mini day trips. But, I guess it’s better that I’m out experiencing it all rather than trying to document it.

Well, we’re off to meet up with our group and hang out by the river for the rest of the day. It’s a short week and then I’m off to Barcelona for the weekend. ¡Hasta luego!

"La vida es un carnaval"

I decided to dedicate an entire post to one night because of how much fun it was. The problem is, even after having experienced one of the biggest traditional events in Spain, I still don't really understand what Carnaval is.

As a j-school student, I've learned the importance of research. So I did just that with this whole Carnaval thing and came to find that the festival I went to last night is said to be the third largest celebration in the world! I believe it, there were thousands of people parading the streets and it was as if their only mission was to party. The festival ironically stems from ancient Christians who would celebrate the end of harsh winters and welcome in the new Spring. They would also incorporate it into their calendars as a celebration before lent. Here in Spain, the festival was outlawed while Franco ran the show, but when he died in the 70's it came back, which I'm guessing is why people go so nuts. Franco was not their favorite person here.

Either way, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into (in a good way). All we knew was it was a night full of celebration. We got home from Granada at 8 p.m. and had to be on a bus at 9 p.m. to depart for Cádiz, which is about an hour south of Sevilla. We bought costumes this last week not really knowing what to do or what to expect. Needless to say, our wigs and masks were nothing compared to how crazy some people got. But it was still fun running around with pom poms on our heads and masks hiding our identities.

Emma and I with our Señora

We got to Cádiz around 11 and the marathon began. We weren't meeting back for the bus until 5:30 a.m. which freaked me out; anyone who knows me knows I do not do well with late nights. Spaniards stay out so late and I did not know how any of us were going to survive until that hour (drinking or not) but that's what Carnaval is all about and we just ran with it!

The entire city revolves around this two weekend-long festival. Every single person that walks the street is wearing some sort of costume and every one of them is having the time of their lives. It was almost like Halloween for adults but a lot less candy and a lot more alcohol. Que loco.

I would definitely say that Carnaval is unlike anything I've ever seen in the States. Streets are packed with people and it's as if laws don't exist. It doesn't make sense that this fiesta originates from a Catholic celebration, but it makes sense why it's the third largest celebration in the world. I'm glad I had the chance to experience it. Mi vida como una española definitely wouldn't be complete without Carnaval.