Sevilla and Ronda... I wish I was a Spanish princess!!

Hello everyone!!!

This past weekend was the absolute best weekend I have had yet! Our program took us to the cities Ronda and Sevilla, it was incredible! We first arrived to Ronda and took a walking tour of the town that included a history of Arab settlement and a visit to some Arabian baths. The city rested on exquisite cliffs that overlooked miles of farm land. The view was breathtaking! We learned a lot about how the Muslims came into the city and transformed the architecture and all-around style of the area. The baths were super interesting to see, I had no idea that they were so intricately made and so spiritual! It was also crazy to see how the Christians came into Spain and totally changed everything-- they destroyed the beautiful mosques and changed the style of architecture, crazy! 

Our time in Ronda was a mere three hours, we then took a bus to Sevilla. Sevilla was absolutely gorgeous! We stayed right in the center of the city, next to the river and by a huge park that housed a giant fake palace that was constructed for the World Fair in the 1930s. Right when we got there we were able to take our first non-military style shower since I've been here! It felt so wonderful to not have to turn off the water every thirty seconds. We then went out to dinner and ate in the beautiful Plaza de España. That night we went to a private flamenco show and it was the most incredible, beautiful, passionate, thrilling experience of my whole life! I have never seen something that moved me so much! The show started with two men, one playing beautiful Spanish guitar and the other singing and doing palmas (rhythmic hand clapping). I cried out of happiness twice because it was so wonderful (I'm not even embarrassed about it because I was so happy!). A lady flamenco dancer came onto the stage after a few minutes, I have never seen someone dance with so much power and passion, she was absolutely stunning! I'm pretty sure that I looked totally stupid the whole time because my mouth was wide open in a silly shocked smile, but whatever! She danced for about a half hour and then a man came and changed places with her. His feet moved so quickly and he exhibited so much power... all I can say is wow! I have decided that I absolutely NEED to have a Spanish guitar player and flamenco dancer at my wedding! I wish I could live inside of the theater and listen to the music and dance every single day! Ahhhh I can't even explain how perfect of an experience this was!!!

After the show ended, Riana and I were so awestricken that we decided not to go out (listening to top 40 music just sounded so lame after listening to such beauty). We went back to our lovely hotel and watched some Spanish-dubbed Step Brothers and had a super long talk about people (so typical!). The next morning we went on a tour of the Alcazar, a Spanish palace, and the Cathedral, the third largest one in the whole world! The Alcazar was absolutely beautiful! The architecture was a mix of Arabic and Christian styles and proved to be unbelievably intricate and gorgeous. The palace consisted of multiple rooms and courtyards that served as both the living areas of the royal family and meeting places for the government. The rooms were adorned with decoration from floor to ceiling and each door was a beautiful arch. There were also gardens everywhere and reflecting pools that accentuated the beauty of everything. Basically, I fell in love with it! I would do anything to be a princess in those times! 

We then walked to the Cathedral and found out that it is the third largest cathedral in the whole world. It was gigantic and gorgeous. We climbed all seventeen stories of the bell tower and got to see all of Sevilla. It was so beautiful to see all of the white buildings and plazas. After all of the touring, we were set free to wander the city. Maria, Riana, and I bee-lined for the Plaza de España because we wanted to see what it looked like in the daylight. It was, of course, phenomenal. Even though it wasn't from the 15th century, we still loved the old feel of the plaza and had a lot of fun sitting out in the sunshine. This is the first time that we have honestly felt warm our whole time being here, it was like a drug. We had to force ourselves to leave, and man, it was hard to return to below freezing Granada. I'm just so excited for it to get warm here, I know it's only a few more weeks, but I just want it to be now! I can't wait to be able to walk around the city for hours in sun dresses, it will be divine! 

I guess it all comes down to this: every city in Spain I visit I fall in love with, I literally couldn't love this country more! Like I said before, I feel like a Spanish Infomercial... if only I could get paid for this haha!

Until next time! Sending all my love from Spain!

Flamenco and other beautiful things

 Hello Hello!!

Today marks the end of my first full week of classes and it feels so great! The week absolutely flew by and I was pleasantly surprised at how non-stressful taking all of my classes in Spanish was. Even though Tuesdays are pretty rough (4.5 hours of class in a row in the same room, yikes!), the rest of the week is wonderfully relaxed. So far, I have fallen in love with my flamenco class, half of the class covers the history of the flamenco dance while the other consists of learning the dance. It is basically a more passionate mix of tap and ballet, two of my all-time favorites! Hopefully I'll be able to get it down over the next four months.

Aside from that, I am taking a class called the Spanish experience of the other, which looks at minority groups that live in Granada, such as the Gypsies, Muslims, Chinese, and Jews. It should be a pretty cool class, especially because I am super interested in everything relating to Gypsies. I am also taking Islamic art and architecture, which also rocks because
we get to go on really awesome field trips to the Alhambra and other famous places. Our first trip was to the plaza Bib-rambla, which marks the old entrance to the city. It was really interesting but also a bit rough because it was -2 degrees Celsius outside and we were all freezing and a bit sick.

Yesterday, between classes, Riana and I decided to take a nice long walk (even though our host mom said that we would freeze to death) and it was during this time that I absolutely, completely fell in love with Granada! For a little while I kept comparing Granada to Madrid, thinking that Madrid was quite a bit prettier (embarrassing!). This is because when I stayed in Madrid I was right in the middle of the oldest neighborhood and everything was beautiful and antique, whereas in Granada, I'm living in a newer neighborhood that isn't quite as gorgeous. So when we went on our walk we decided to go into the very oldest part of the city, we were in search of a lion statue (my favorite) not even joking. Riana happened to know of one that was in this beautiful public space called the Palacio de Cordoba. This little garden/baby palace was absolutely stunning! It had beautiful views of the Alhambra and the river that runs through town, basically, it was perfection! Riana and I talked and talked about how she could get married there and how much we wish we were princesses and could live in this kind of beauty every single day. Now I feel so stupid for not understanding Granada's beauty, it's so gorgeous here!

But now I'm off to my Flamenco class and tomorrow we're going to Sevilla and Ronda, I can't even wait!! Good bye! Besos!

When in Spain... eat Chinese/Italian/Mexican food

 Hey everyone!

Today marks the end of the third week that I have been in this wonderful country and I couldn't be loving it more! In the past week I have done a lot of pretty hilariously non-Spanish things, all of which are centered on food. Although I enjoy the Spanish cuisine, I have found myself overcome with great cravings for burgers, quesadillas, pasta, and of course, Chinese chicken.

The first food adventure occurred as a result of Riana's serious need for chicken mcnuggets and so we journeyed out in the 1 degree Celsius evening to make the hour long trek to the only McDonald's on the outskirts of Granada. The embarrassing part of this story is that Riana and I got completely lost, in fact, we never actually knew where it was, and after over an hour of walking in the freezing weather, we decided to turn around. That being said, our need for a little taste of home was soon fulfilled as we bee-lined to the nearest Burger King. We couldn't have been happier to be there. It turned out to be a wonderful evening as we spent a whopping three hours sitting in the restaurant talking about everything from our love of our families to all of the places we want to travel. We also decided that eating at Burger King was a very Spanish experience because it was full of locals and was decked out with marble columns and other beautiful architecture features, who knew eating a burger could be such a beautiful experience!

The following day Riana got sick with the flu and spent the afternoon resting while I went out on a walk to the Alhambra with a group of school buddies. It was so crazy to be hanging out in the center of town one minute and reach the Alhambra (a giant fortress/castle built by the Moors in the mid 1300s). The architecture was absolutely stunning! There were large keyhole shaped doors and entrances that lead to beautiful gardens and the column filled palace. I couldn't believe that something this old could remain in such good shape and be open for all to see and enjoy.  Everything was just so incredible and stunning-- the view overlooking the city made me really realize that this is my new home for the next four months and it is going to be the greatest four months ever!

That evening Clarissa and I happened upon a tempting little Chinese restaurant called Palacio de Jade, how could we turn that down? The prices were wonderfully cheap and they boasted a whole 25 different types of chicken! The restaurant turned out to be completely vacant except for the nice Chinese family that owned the place (and was eating their family dinner at the moment), so we decided to take the chance and go for it. I have been really surprised at the high number of Chinese who live in Spain, according to my host mom, it is great that they are here because they work harder than anyone else haha. 

The next wonderful food adventure occurred after everyone took the Spanish oral placement exams. The only thing that sounded perfect to us was a quesadilla! So Riana, Maria, Emily, Hillary, and I walked to Maria's favorite Cantina, to find out that it wasn't open for another hour. But don't worry too much, we found an ice cream shop that specialized in this wonderful thing called gofres con helado (ice cream on waffles!) it was to die for! I don't think I have ever tasted a more incredible thing! After such a delicious culinary experience, we journeyed over to the Cantina. The waiter at the Cantina was the sweetest, he gave us all a bunch of free tacos and drinks, it was so enjoyable! 

This brings me to last night, it was Maria's 21st birthday and we decided to go out for a nice Italian dinner before going dancing at the Western themed discoteca. The dinner was absolutely fantastic and it was super fun to get all dressed up! The club was also a really fun experience, we were invited to dance  in the VIP section and made some new Spanish friends. It was also pretty silly in that people would ask me if I was from Norway, Belgium, France, Russia, etc., it made me feel so European! But the part I loved the most was dancing with my girlfriends and hanging out in the most "Spanish" of discotecas.

Altogether, I think the thing that makes me the happiest about being here is that I feel like I have really found my place. I have already come to understand so much more about myself (even though I thought I already knew everything haha). Basically, it all comes down to this: when traveling around Latin America I have really felt the presence of my mom as if I was reliving her life, but there was always something that wasn't quite 'mine' about the experience... I always missed home a bit and wanted my comforts. But here it is as if I have lived here forever even though I still know so little of the city. Each day is so exciting and new, yet feels so comfortable. It doesn't even phase me that I'm speaking in a different language, even though I'm not quite fluent. And although I still think about home, it is in more of a "I can't wait to tell everyone about everything" way. I guess I have just realized that instead of trying to relive my mama's life, that I am finally putting my own Sophie twist on the whole thing. Honestly, I don't think I have ever been more happy with a realization. I just feel so lucky to be having such an incredible time, it is all very beautiful.

So yeah, that's my life as of late. I know that sometimes I sound like a Spanish infomercial, but I just want to tell everyone about how wonderful this country is. I'm sending all of my love to you!! Hasta luego!!