Carnaval de Cádiz

A photo montage for your understanding of the event...

My friends and I dressed as an arco iris (a rainbow) for Carnaval!

We also had a Native American in our group (my roommate Leah). This is at one of the many bars we were at while it was raining outside...

Obviously we were one of the more conventional groups. These "dutch maids" were one of many singing groups marching along the streets in costume.

We saw a concert here later at night with many Spanish singers. Also, those large balloons were wildly popular here. We liked the unicorn ones the best.

These are two of my friends (red and blue from the rainbow) and one of the more beautiful street lights. This was a plaza, so it had one large animal-shaped light, but most streets were lined with strings of lights in different friendly shapes.

Okay some more of the details:
My darling readers -- I write to you from my warm, soft bed after a very interesting experience in Cádiz. Yesterday morning some friends of mine and I (and several hundred other people) got on one of the many buses going to Cádiz for Carnaval, one of the most historically epic festivals in Spain. It is celebrated in many countries besides Spain such as Brazil, Italy, Trinidad, etc. and it's what Mardi Gras in the States comes from. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:30am Saturday (it left around 11:30 in line with typical Spanish tardiness) and then leave Cádiz at 6:30am Sunday morning.

The trip started out wonderfully. As you see above, some friends and I dressed as colors of teh rainbow, plus we managed to get on the nicest bus with the fewest people, thus affording us each our own pair of seats to sleep on there and back (the trip was about 4 hours). It was pretty spectacular when we arrived as well! There were tons of cute little children dressed in ADORABLE costumes -- a baby cow, a baby pig, a small little Stitch, some princesses, cowboys, etc. People were everywhere, there were strangely dressed groups of singers/musicians in every crowd, and we walked along the pier where my friend Ferry (who coincidentally lived on a boat for a good portion of her life -- the jokes never end) was near tears with excitement to see the ocean again -- all good things. We even managed to have pizza (the first time since I've arrived in Europe) and made friends with some male Snow Whites. However, roughly around midnight or one the rain started. Let me remind you all again that streets in Spain do not drain and puddle up instead. Let me also mention that the umbrella I had was probably the worst made piece of plastic/metal I have ever owned (I won it on the bus earlier that day -- unclear as to why). Things we did in the rain: watched a concert that was pretty fun, but obviously all the lyrics were in Spanish, ran around to many different bars trying to escape the rain, stood under a big arch and talked to Spaniards, got lost trying to find places that were open.

Around 3am, the rain gig was enough even for me, so about half of us went back to the bus to see if the driver was there. WORST IDEA EVER. Not only did we get SOAKED legitimately sprinting through the rain to the bus a couple miles away, but my umbrella broke beyond repair and the bus driver was no where in sight. Thus, the six of us who went back huddled under two umbrellas in the pouring rain between our bus and another one for over an hour. I suffered physical pain from being so cold. My feet have still not recovered full feeling. Trying to back a bad situation bearable, we started playing a game. Suddenly, a man pops out from the non-our bus storage compartment under his bus and tells us to be quiet because he's trying to sleep. Okay news to us: Spanish bus drivers sleep under their buses???? What??? Anyway, around 4:15am we finally got some other bus driver to let us sit on his bus, which was much drier than standing outside, but not a whole lot warmer. FINALLY, at like 5:30am we got onto our bus, with the heat on, and practically died. I cannot tell you what I would have done for warm, dry socks at that moment.

We successfully got back to Granada (although we left late again, of course) and I have since showered and put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, so I am considerably better than this morning. However, I do think I got sick from the experience, so wish better health on me before this weekend -- I'm going to Amsterdam!

Una vida española

It finally feels like I live here. I have a solid group of friends, some favorite tapas bars, I know my way around a little, I started running consistently, and I'm several pages into my notebook of lists [I keep lists of almost everything in my blank notebook: things to do, homework, people to talk to, etc.] The dishes my host mother cooks have started to repeat (I'm pretty impressed -- it took almost a month!) and I have nearly all the trips for the rest of the semester booked and scheduled. I can also get around by myself in Spanish. I am nowhere near fluent at all, but I seem to be able to communicate. So that's at least the first step.

Things coming up: Tomorrow a dozen friends of mine and I are going to Cádiz for Carnaval! It should be quite the experience. Also, Monday, my classes at the University of Granada start and I am planning on taking a Spanish to English translation class (quite popular here -- the facultad de traducción, meaning the translation major) and possibly a psychology class, although that is undecided. My schedule is very spread out and poorly organized -- the Spanish education system here is poorly put together in my opinion. None of the classes seem to be at reasonable times (Mon 1-3 and Tuesday 4-5, for example) and all of the different facultades (each major has its own building) are scattered across the entire city, making scheduling even more difficult. What's more is that "siesta" is roughly between 2pm and 6pm, so rarely are classes even available during those times. But somehow I managed.. however, I will essentially be in class all day with long breaks in between, Mon-Thurs.

Anyway, the most exciting thing this past week was going to the Alhambra with my Islamic Art and Architecture class (for my first time ever!) and seeing the lion statues in the patio. Here they are (I did not take this -- it was raining when we went)!

La nieva y, como siempre, más comida...

So this morning I actually had breakfast. No, I mean, normally I have breakfast, but its this type of Spanish corn flakes and strangely flavored yogurt. Today, since it is the weekend, my parents cooked Leah and I pan tostado con tomates (literally translated: toast with tomatoes) which is bread toasted on this strange grill pan they put on the stove and then drizzled heavily in olive oil and topped with extremely a sauce made of finely chopped tomatoes with salt and a variety of other things (hand-made by my madre!). It is extremely delicious. See below (disclaimer: this is from google images and not my actual breakfast).


In other food news: My friends and I have just discovered a Chinese tapas place that give you literally an entire plate of noodles, fried rice, or egg rolls as the free appetizer you receive with every drink. So delicious! Another note: few Spanish people actually like Chinese food and this bar is usually filled with British and French people.

Something even rarer than Chinese people in Spain: SNOW. And it snowed yesterday!! I mean, not very long and it didn't stick, but there were legitimate, large snowflakes falling from the sky yesterday evening. IN SOUTHERN SPAIN. It's the apocalypse. But at least I didn't wake up this morning having my backyard look like this:


... which is what all my friends back at school in Philly continually get to wake up. I love Haverford a lot a lot, but I am SO GLAD I missed the multiple blizzards the have sadly befallen the entire east coast. So even though it snowed in Spain, it's still Amanda: 1, Haverford: 0 (degrees Celsius, hahaha).

Some more Spanish news: Carnaval started this weekend! I saw on TV LOTS of costumes and exciting dances/songs from all over Spain and even in Brazil. I am so excited to go next weekend! And hopefully it will not be snowing then...

Sevilla y Ronda (y mi vida en general)

I returned yesterday from Sevilla and Ronda!


This is the cathedral in Sevilla. It's HUGE (third biggest in the world I think) and it's beautiful.


This is inside the cathedral. The organ on the right still works! And you can walk up 36 ramps to the top of the tower and see a 360 view of Sevilla. It's gorgeous! The ramps were made so that the archbishop could ride his horse up to the top (and not have to walk).


This is half of an orange (symbolically -- it's really a dome in a building in the gardens we visited in Sevilla). The phrase "you're my other half" in English comes from the Spanish phrase "you're my half-orange (mi media naranja)." So cute :)


These are a section of the gardens we visited. There was a labyrinth also, made of hedges, which was awesome. There are also orange trees EVERYWHERE! They're so capturing, with their bright green leaves and bright orange fruit. The fruit is supposedly rather bitter this time of year though (even though they look ripe!) and are exported to England to make orange marmalade. They do eat mandarins and oranges every day here (like 2-5 at lunch), but these I guess are not the same as the oranges on the trees.

This is Ronda. It was far prettier than Sevilla in my opinion, although Sevilla was beautiful. Ronda is in the hills with lots of cliffs to overlook. Everywhere you look there is a breathtaking view and it was very warm there as well. I ate an ice cream cone in a t-shirt there. It was lovely, especially because right now there are 28 inches of snow at Haverford - the record largest blizzard ever to hit the east coast. Thank god I'm in the south of Spain.

Anyway, Friday we went to Sevilla and stayed overnight there. We saw the beautiful gardens seen above and the cathedral and then the whole group went to see flamenco! Unfortunately, I had an interview and had to skip the flamenco, but it's okay. Also, turns out the night life in Sevilla is pretty sub-par because there are no free tapas (Granada is the last Spanish city with free tapas) and tons of tourists, plus all the locals hate tourists, especially Americans... But Saturday we went to Ronda and it is all kinds of beautiful. We saw old Arabic baths from when Granada and Ronda belonged to the Moors. These were the last two cities to be conquered by the Spanish and all of the architecture shows an interesting mix between traditional Arabic structure and strands of Christian influence. The Arabic baths we saw were in these huge stone rooms underground and I seriously can't imagine taking my clothes off in such a cold place, but apparently they had some sort of complicated system for heating one of the rooms similarly to a sauna. Creative civilization... The history here is incredible and everything is stone. It's fabulous.

In other news: I pretty much only eat ham and cheese sandwiches on baguettes now. They are absolutely delicious. There are little bocaderillas (sandwich stores) everywhere and I eat these types of meat/cheese sandwiches for dinner all the time. I am planning on going to Cadiz next weekend for Carnaval. Mini-bananas with nutella is one of the best snacks ever -- rivaling apples and peanut butter. And it seems more and more obvious to me that Granada is better than everywhere else.

Classes (I am studying abroad): I start classes tomorrow (only 3 of my five -- Haverford requires that I take two at the University of Granada and those don't start until Feb 22). I am in an advanced Spanish class (though not the highest one offered) which is great because it will focus on speaking and not so much on grammar, which I have for the most part learned already in school. My Spanish is getting better! I can understand a lot and although I speak haltingly, I usually can formulate sentences. Also, the Spanish use LOTS of hand gestures when they speak so that helps. What does not help is that everyone here in Andalucia (the region that Granada is in) has what they call a "lazy tongue" and drop all of their "s" 's and half of every word. It's a little difficult. I'm also taking Islamic Art and Architecture. This class meets once a week in a classroom and once a week has a field trip (to the Alhambra for example) to see architecture that is local. It should be wonderful, especially here. Additionally I am either taking the Arab World and the West or Mediterranean Ecosystems (which has a field trip component). I will see which one I like. In two weeks when I start class at UGR (University of Granada) I am hoping to take a psychology class and either a political science class or maybe a translation class. I will keep you all posted -- I know you're holding your breath to hear about my exact schedule.

Travel: Like I said earlier, I'm hoping to go to Cadiz for Carnaval this weekend with some friends! In March I want to go to London for a long weekend (I never have Friday class). I have 8 friends studying abroad in London, plus I've never been, so I am very excited!!! I also want to go to Barcelona with my friends. At the end of March I have spring break when I'm planning to visit my former exchange student outside of Venice (possibly visit friends of mine in Rome and Florence) and then fly mid-week to Galway, Ireland where my best friend from school is studying abroad. Then Morocco with my study abroad program for a week in April! I am also hoping to go to Paris sometime in the spring! Hopefully all of these plans will work out.

Ahhh after day-dreaming about traveling, I have to get back to applying for summer internships. Cross your fingers for me! Hopefully, I'll get to stay in Seattle. But we'll see... Sorry for the long post! Wish me luck in class tomorrow!

Algunas fotografias de Granada

La gran via de colon -- the name of the main street I walk on to school every day. Such beautiful buildings! And the street is named because of a statue of Christopher Columbus that is in the plaza I took this photo from.


Several friends of mine here in Granada - Alex, Liz, Leah, Molly and me! Alex and Liz are from Haverford, Leah is my roommate (from Grinnell College in Iowa) and Molly is from George Washington University. Las todas chicas son buenas!


This the Alhambra! The view is from a historically Arabic neighborhood called the Albayzin (ahl-bai-cine) up in the hills.


Also from the Albayzin, a view of Granada!


A street of tea shops (teterias), part of the Moroccan influence. Lots of scarves and colorful clothes and ornately decorated shops with crepes and tea!


This is a shot from the other side of the mountain when we went hiking in the Alpujarra. We hiked past many small villages (roughly 300 people) and we saw one house that was 800 years old! Hard to imagine now, since hiking in the Sierra Nevadas is COLD in January, but the houses are white in order to stay cool in the summer.