We went to Andalucia this past long weekend, after our grammar finals. We drove for 6 hours, and went briefly to la Alhambra in Granada, which is a pair of winter and summer palaces for Moorish and early Spanish royalty. It was incredibly beautiful, as was every single other thing we saw, so sorry if I get repetitive in that department. After Alhamba, we got back in the bus and drove to our hotel for the night, in the middle of nowhere. The next morning we woke up early and started driving again, this time down to an area near Malaga, on the beach. We spent the whole day on the beach, and I didnt get burned! We will see in a few months if any damage was done, I guess.
After Malaga we drove back to Granada, but got there so late we didnt really get to see much of it, which was a bummer. I wish we had left the beach after lunch, and headed back earlier, so we could have at least had dinner out in the town or something, it looked like a really cool place.
The next day we woke up, went down to breakfast, and of course I managed to drop a cup and slice my finger open and bleed on the floor and have strange old people stare at me and do nothing. Good times. Its ok though, it didnt hurt to bad, and its still open, but definitely getting better.
So, after that fiasco we got back on the bus for MORE driving, and we went to Sevilla. We walked briefly through an old Jewish neighborhood, and went to this enormous cathedral, which of course was absolutely stunning. Its the biggest cathedral in Spain, and it was definitely impressive. Then a few of us, including a non-Kalamazoo girl named Susan, went to find authentic Sevillan cuisine. I tried a sweet sherry, because thats apparently Sevilla's drink, and wow, was it sweet. I didn't really like it, I couldn't finish it. We ordered a couple tapas to share, and they were SO GOOD. We had sweet peppers in a oil sauce with onions that was phenomenal, and also fried eggplant in a gazpacho sauce, which was so good we ordered another. I was really surprised I liked them, but they were both really amazing!
Then we met back up and walked to a few more gorgeous places, and then we got on the bus once again, this time to drive to Cordoba. We got there kind of late, had dinner and then just hung out and watched a movie. I went to bed early because I was sick and stuff.
In Cordoba we spent a lot more time in a Jewish neighborhood, and also a tiny, old synagogue. It was really interesting to see, and to know how old it must be. It had been converted into a church, as is everything in Spain that was Arab or Jewisih, but you could still see that it was Jewish. There was old and chipped Hebrew all along the wall, and there was a nook for the Torah, and a place for the Cantor to stand, as well as a separate place above for women to sit. And there were 12 windows, one for each of the tribes of Israel. It was fun to see.
After that we went to a HUGE old moorish mosque, that had also been converted into a cathedral. It was amazing. I am going to post more pictures SOON to show everyone.
Today we started our real classes, they look like they are going to be kind of difficult, because they put the intermediate (me) with the advanced, for some reason. I dont understand that, because whats the point of dividing us into groups if you are going to ignore them? I feel totally out of my league, as do all the other intermediate people. None of us are going to feel comfortable talking or anything, its really frustrating. Hopefully tomorrows classes will be better.
Alright, time to go. Adios!