Barcelona

We went to Barcelona this weekend and it was so much fun! A few friends and I rented an apartment in the neighborhood of Clot and had an awesome time. The first day we went to the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batilo, Casa Mila and Park Guell. Gaudi had a huge influence on Barcelona. All these places were so amazing. I've been to other European cities but none are so distinct like Barcelona. Every corner, there is a different beautiful building or piece of art. I can't even describe it, so I think I'll just show some amazing pictures and let them speak for themselves.

Sagrada Familia.

Casa Mila by Gaudi.

Casa Batilo by Gaudi.

A beautiful park.

Park Guell by Gaudi.

Park Guell ceilings.

Amazing architecture in Park Guell.

Looking over the whole city of Barcelona at Park Montjuic.

It's been awhile..

It's been a while since my last entry, but I've been pretty busy. My boyfriend, Willie, and our friend, Matt, came to Europe for their spring break! I met them in London two weekends ago and we stayed in the Marriot right across from Big Ben and Parliament. The city is huge! It is so much bigger than Granada and I was not used to taking a metro to get everywhere. We went to a soccer match at the Chelsea Football Club Stadium. It was really fun, for not understanding much, but Chelsea won and I got a sweatshirt, so all in all, it was a good game! We got to meet up with my roomie from Ithaca, Alyssa. It was great to see her because I get homesick sometimes and it's so nice to see a familiar face. The next day, we went to Camden Market, which is an outdoor market with all kinds of different foods and clothes for sale. It was really fun! We then went to a typical English pub and got a few beers and it was definitely some culture shock (compared to Granada, that is). Before we left, we went to look at the Olympic stadium that was built for the Olympics this summer, which was very interesting.

After leaving London, they both came back here with me to stay for the rest of the week. I showed them around Granada, including the awesome views, gardens and different neighborhoods. I also introduced them to the world of 'tapas.' For those of you who don't know what tapas are; when you order a drink in Spain, you get a small ration of food with it. In most of Spain you have to pay for this food, but not in Granada! I brought them to some of the parks in the city with my friends from the program. We went to the discotecas and walked around a lot. It was so good to see my boyfriend and to show off my city. It makes me even MORE proud to study here.

I'm going to Barcelona, so there will definitely be a blog post after that! Ciao!

Cordoba

This Friday we went to Cordoba to see the Madina Al-Zahra and the Great Mosque of Cordoba. I have been learning in both my Arab World and the West and my Islamic Art and Architecture that Muslims had a huge influence on Spanish architecture and culture. We were learning about these buildings on Wednesday and went to see them on Friday. It really helps to see the actual places instead of just learning by seeing pictures and learning facts.

Anyways, so the city of Al-Zahra was built in the 10th century by the first Muslim leader in Spain. The city was eventually ruined and pillaged and naturally covered by a mudslide of the hill behind it. It was then spoken about only as a myth. But in 1910, an architect uncovered the entire city and now the ruins tell us more about the Islamic influence here in Spain. Here are some pictures of the ruins:

Madinat Al- Zahra ruins.

The old city walls.

More views of the mythical city.

Horseshoe archs, representative of the Muslim architects.

An intricate capital.

After the ruins, we went to the Great Mosque of Cordoba. This mosque was built in the same time period as the city above. It had to be enlarged every generation that Muslims were still in power. Then when Christians claimed Cordoba, they didn't want a mosque in the center of the city and therefore, built a cathedral within the mosque. The architects that did this didn't know how to build because now, the mosque's supports and archs are leaning because of the huge dome the Catholics placed in the middle of the mosque. The archs in the mosque were not built for such a structure and will eventually break. It is a sad story, but for now, the beauty remains! Here are a few pictures from the mosque:

Mihrab of the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

The minaret at the Mosque, where they used to call prayer from.

The cathedral ceiling, inside the mosque.

Infinite arches to symbolize Allah's infinite presence.

Outside the mosque.

The immense altar. 

The rest of the weekend was really great. I met up with some friends from high school who happened to be visiting and we all went out together. Yesterday, I finalized all my plans for spring break and today I am relaxing and doing homework with friends. I love this city and never want to leave! But I am traveling to London this weekend to meet up with  my boyfriend, Willie and then he and his friend will be coming back to Granada for the week! A lot of exciting things coming up!

A good day

Today, after a long, exhausting weekend, I had a field trip for my Arab World and the West class. We went to the mosque about 15 minute walk from our school. It was amazing and so uplifting. The lady that took us on the trip was originally from California. She left the US when she was in her mid-twenties and decided to travel for a year, thinking she was going to return after seeing the world a little more. She found Islam and Spain and fell in love. She started a new life here and she has a family within her community now: her Islam family. She is married to a Spaniard and helped build one of the newest mosques in Granada. She was so impressive and so was the Mosque! It had a great garden with a great view of the Alhambra.

The visit really put my education in Granada in perspective. I really appreciate the culture, architecture and history so much more than I would solely taking the class.

Open Mic and Alhambra Museum

So yesterday was a packed day! I had my Islamic Art class and we went to the Alhambra to visit the museum. We didn't go inside the Alhambra but learned a lot about Muslims and their architectural styles and art styles. The most interesting thing we saw were lion statues and a marble bath from the old hospital. The Muslim people were some of the only people in history who treated mentally ill people with care and respect, rather than animals. They believed that the mentally ill people were solely people who had a vision from God and were blinded from it, as if it were too much. They also believed that these people needed to be in a comfortable, calming environment and linked personal diets to mental health. These were some revolutionary people!

Last night, IES organized an open mic night for all of us and I performed with my friend Jack for two songs: Badfish by Sublime and Country Road by Jack Johnson. There were a lot of people there from the program and we've got quite a talented crowd. More updates soon!

Sevilla and Ronda

This weekend, we had a trip with IES to Ronda and Sevilla. We stopped in Ronda on the way to Sevilla, and went to the Arab Baths and saw an amazing old mine, with awesome water at the bottom. The Arab baths were really cool because of the history and architecture. They had such an advanced system of making different rooms different temperatures. The mine was on the property of an old king. There are huge gorges in Ronda that protected the city in medieval times, so under the house there is a huge staircase down to the bottom of the gorge. There is a great area at the bottom with crystal clear water, it was so beautiful and definitely worth the huge walk back up.

After we went to Ronda, we made it to Sevilla and had free time and because my best friend is studying there, my friends from IES and I met up with her and walked around and ate some pizza and also churros con chocolate! Sevilla has such a different vibe than Granada. It is the capital of Andalusia and a lot bigger than Granada. Going there definitely made me appreciate Granada a lot more. It's beautiful but there is something about Granada that makes me love it so much.

IES went to a flamenco show at night and it was phenomenal. I liked it a lot better than the one I saw earlier in the week. There was a man dancer as well as a woman this time and it was a lot more powerful in general. After the flamenco show, we met with Heather (my friend) at this flamenco bar and eventually went to a couple other bars to meet up with other IES. It is definitely more expensive in Sevilla for drinks and food.

Today we went to the third largest cathedral in the world, Giralda. It is in the center of Sevilla and it was absolutely beautiful. They have a bell tower that you can walk up and see all of Sevilla. It was absolutely amazing!

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun, just a little too short. I am absolutely exhausted from the weekend, hence my reasoning for being in my bed writing this on a Saturday night. I am happy to be back in Granada, and have nothing much to do tomorrow. I love it here. It's beginning to be home.

View in Ronda.

The old prison of Ronda.

Beautiful blue water.

The caves in Ronda.

Taking a little nap in Ronda.

Giralda Cathedral, Sevilla.

The Royal Palace, Sevilla.

Flamenco

Today I went to my first Flamenco performance at la Parque de las Ciencias (Science Park) that is near me. My host mom was working the show and got me and my friend free tickets. It was pretty awesome to see her at work. She was owning the auditorium; having maintanence men lined up at her cue. Anyways, I  have never seen dancing like Flamenco, it was such an empowering show. She danced with so many different styles like 'stepping', some belly dancing and some hip hop moves. It was insane though, most dancing people see have girls making moves in order to entice men but that was not how I felt about Flamenco dancing. She was so confident and powerful and just dancing for herself, not for any men. It was great. Here's some pictures, they are kinda blurry but you can still see her.

Flamenco dancer grooving.

Such quick and intense movements.

Dancer, the guitarist and vocalist.