Corazones y Granada

I can hardly believe I’ve been in Spain for three weeks already. Time is all of a sudden starting to go so fast and the days just keep getting better. This past week and weekend were definitely the highlight of my trip so far.

           

Valentine’s Day is in fact celebrated in Spain (even though it seems like everyday is Valentine’s Day here with the amount of PDA) and my roommates and I went on a date the day before to get heart-shaped pizza at a pizzeria by our house. Telepizza is pretty commercialized, which is something I wanted to avoid here, but apparently it was the first pizza delivery place in Spain….so I guess that culturally justifies our decision to eat there, and the heart-shaped part helped too J

 Corazones

On the real Valentine’s Day a bunch of us went to a flamenco show because my roommates are in a flamenco class and we got cheap tickets. It was an interesting show with a lot of emotion, but that’s what flamenco is all about. The ‘vestidos’ (dresses) are my favorite part.

Thursday night our program got us free tickets to the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, which is a famous orchestra here in Sevilla. I typically only appreciate/listen to classical music when I’m studying for finals, but the music was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially since it was something I probably wouldn’t have done on my own time.

Friday morning we left for Granada, which is about three hours east of Sevilla. We were only there for about 25 hours (definitely not long enough) but I really did love the city. It reminded me a little bit of L.A. because of how it’s geographically situated beneath the mountains. The Sierra Nevadas frame the old city and give it a beautiful backdrop. It also reminded me of Lawrence (let me explain) because of the steep hills we had to climb when we walked everywhere. People had a hard time believing me that a place in Kansas could have that many hills.

 Rock Chalk from Granada

My roommate's best friend is studying abroad in Granada this semester so we met up with her and she showed us around the city Friday afternoon. She took us to this side street that was lined with little gypsy shops full of beautiful hand-crafted everything. I can't even explain how cool these shops were, and I wanted to buy everything I saw. It was almost overwhelming how many there were, but their stuff was so cheap and fun. We had a blast just looking at everything.

After about an hour of wrestling between buying this or buying that, we decided to just enjoy ourselves and take advantage of the photo opps. I had some fun with my camera to distract myself and resist the urge to spend all of my money in one place. I have always loved photography, and what better place to practice my little hobby than Europe!

After attacking the buffet dinner at our hotel, we were treated to an authentic flamenco experience that is nothing like I've ever seen before. We climbed to the top of a ridiculously steep cobblestone hill to find a hole-in-the-wall (literally, a cave) for the show. There were two "rooms" and we sat along the walls as the dancers stomped through the performance practically on our laps. It was awesome and truly the best way to take it in.

 La cueva (cave)

 Front row seats

They even grabbed some of us and had us dance with them at the end!

Saturday we had a lengthy tour of La Alhambra, which is "the last and greatest Moorish palace, highlighting the splendor of that civilization in the 13th and 14th centuries." It was unbelievable. The views of Granada, the architecture and the gardens (we saw the oldest garden in Spain!) were so interesting. It blows my mind that people could build such massive structures that long ago. It made everything in America seem brand new.

View of Granada from La Alhambra

We left Granada Saturday afternoon and arrived back in Sevilla with just enough time to hop on another bus to Cádiz for Carnaval, which is a whole other story...see the next post. 

aquí y allí

After some minor culture shock and some serious adjusting to a new lifestyle (in another language) I think it’s safe to say I’m finally acclimated to this new world. There is still plenty of ground to cover, but for now I can say that I am happy and starting to get used to the rhythm of this culture.

Being here makes me realize how structured and fast-paced my life has always been. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I have been having a hard time adjusting to a slow-paced relaxed lifestyle. I tend to measure my happiness based on my level of productivity and here, that is not how it works, which was difficult at first. Every time I read about “culture shock” in my orientation books I always passed it up and thought it wouldn’t affect me. I’m used to adapting to new things around people I don’t know, but here it’s more than that.

Needless to say, I feel like I’m finally getting into the swing of things and learning to appreciate the differences rather than compare them to what I’m used to. After all, I didn’t come to Spain to repeat or emulate my American lifestyle in Spanish. That being said, bring on the siestas and leave the alarm clocks and to-do lists behind.

Today was probably one of my favorite days so far. Usually Sundays back home during the year are my least favorite days because the weight of the week is on my shoulders and I hate not being able to relax. But in Spain, they’re a time to be with family and stroll the beautiful streets. Almost everything is closed besides tapas bars and ice cream shops, and everybody is out and about. Today, we decided to venture off and check out this massive wooden structure that some students told us about.

It was built in 2011 entirely out of wood. It’s literally smack in the middle of a plaza and we paid about two bucks to climb to the top. It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but it had some great views of the city.

 We continued our journey of strolling the city by meandering through narrow alleys and purposely getting lost. It’s almost like once you get a grasp on your surroundings and the city itself, you turn a new corner and discover an entirely new plaza or area that is even more beautiful than the last. Ultimately, we ended up making a big loop and knew exactly where we were. After our long walk, we went in search for helado (ice cream) and enjoyed dulce de leche cones in the sun.

My favorite thing so far about Sevilla (aside from the palm trees and fountains) is enjoying a nice cup of café by the river. My roommate and I stumbled upon a cute little rooftop café on the river and just hung out. I also love that the coffee comes in glasses. Weird. 

I am working on a food blog post to showcase all the amazing food I’ve already experienced from my host mom, so that will come soon. I’m also going to try doing a “favorite thing of the week” in my blogs, so this week it’s my “Chi O fountain” 

It might be bigger and more extravagant than the one back home, but it sure does make me happy that I get to walk by it everyday.

XOXO