On Saturday, our trip to Cordaba was fun! It was about an hour and thirty min bus ride from the train station. On the way down there we have time to look at our bucket list as see how much we still need to cross off before we leave and we only have 2 more weeks in the city of Sevilla. It is absolutely insane how fast time is flying by.
When we got to Cordaba we had to walk across the beautiful roman bridge to enter the actual city. We walked by this creep thing that looked like a very festive deer with a colorful blanket on. It was kind of creepy. It was just a man under there making the deer move like a puppet and trying to get money- interesting. I don’t know how he wasn’t dying of a heat stroke. We also saw a few guys playing the classical guitar and singing, a woman playing the accordion, people making jewelry.
We first went to the Cathedral and Synagogue with our class. They were both beautiful. Inside the Cathedral were tons of beautiful red and white striped aches. The architecture was really stunning. We also had the chance to creep on a wedding at the Cathedral! It was beautiful. I took some really great- creepy, but great- pictures of the wedding. The set up was beautiful.
On our way to the Synagogue we past through a street that is known for all of its beautiful flowers. It was such a beautiful sight. At the end of the street you could see the bell tower of the Cathedral with all of the pretty flowers hanging from the balcony’s of the street.
After we were done touring around those attractions we were free to do whatever we please. Most of our host mom’s packed us sandwiches to go on the trip so we all sat outside the cathedral and had a little picnic! I wasn’t very hungry (probably because of the extremely high carb diet they have in Spain), so I saved half of my sandwich. There was a woman and her baby who were obviously starving and in need of food sitting outside of the Synagogue earlier so Maggie and I decided to walk back and giver them the rest of my food.
We then shopped around a little bit at the cute shops in Corbada. We didn’t buy anything but it was still really fun just to walk around. We hear there was a fair in town so of course we had to go check out a Spanish fair! We walked a few blocks until we reached the fair. It looked a lot like a state fair in Texas, just less rides and more places to eat and drink. Everyone was dressed in there best. Instead of like texas, where we wear our cowboy boots and shorts, here they wore their best Flamenco dresses and looked their very best. We obviously didn’t fit in. Guy and girls rode around on horse back and on carnages.
We decided it was so hot out that we need to sit and have a drink at the fair. We for this little place that played awesome Spanish music and stayed there for a while. While we were there a Batchelor party came! It was so fun! I know it is kind of weird to think of a bachelor party at the fair, but I think the fair is a really “hoppin’” place in Cordaba. The bachelor was dresses in a woman’s Flamenco dress and all the other guys had on the same t-shirt with the guy and his fiancée’s name on it. They were having a blast just dancing around and being silly! We took a few pictures of them and with them. The Bachelor party’s in Spain and In America are very different.
After the Bachelor party moved on we sat for a while longer and watch these beautiful women practice their Flamenco dancing. It was beautiful. I was very tempted to ask them if they could teach me! Maybe next time.
After a while we decided we better head back so we could catch the bus back to Sevilla. I kind of wish we could have stayed the night and went to the fair because I think it would have been 1) really pretty at night and 2) extremely fun!
When we got home our mommy had ice cream waiting for us! She said it was so hot out that she though we would enjoy it! It was so sweet of her! She sat and had ice cream with us and told us about her life. She told us that she has 6 daughters. We have met two of the daughters. She also told us that she was divorced and that after she got divorced she opened up her own restaurant at the center of town. It was a very popular restaurant. When she got older she started to by apartments close to the universities and schools around town and rents them out for a living now. Basically her job is to talk care of Angie and I and she does a great job at it! We couldn’t have luck out on getting a better host mom.
Dinner was an amazing pasta dish, my favorite dish she has made yet. She also remembered that Angie loved this one desert that she made and that I didn’t so she made us two different desserts! She is just so sweet!
Side Note: Our mama when to a disco tech. And got home at the same time as us last night! (Incase you forgot she is like 70)
Last night we were going to Lonestar Bar to watch the Soccer Championship (Manchester vs. Barcelona) but the place was SO crowed. So instead of going to watch the soccer game we stumbled upon this Sevilla renaissance festival. If we were to go to a renaissance festival in Lubbock it would have been super lame, but in Spain it was totally cool. All seriousness though it was a blast! We hung out there for a while and shopped around and watched some sword fighting.
After hanging out there we went and met up with the rest of the group at Big Ben. On our way to Big Ben my friends Maggie, Chelsea and I decided it was a great idea to hope across a busy crosswalk just like Will Ferral on elf. The looks we got were priceless. Big Ben was so much fun when we got there! We celebrated Laura’s birthday and defiantly started another dance party. We met some guys from England who taught me how to play darts. I was a natural.. but I lost. I did hit the bulls-eye one time though! After Big Ben we all walked over to Fundicion and started another awesome dance party. I will never forget how low our friend Drew got on the dance floor or how amazing David’s moves where. It was a great night! Side note: On our way home I took and awesome picture on a Vespa. It was a successful night.
Today we actually got to sleep in! It was amazing! We woke up at 11:30am eat a muffin and when down to this market that is right behind our house. This market is every Sunday morning and most defiantly walks me up every Sunday morning. Angie and I decide to go check it out. When you look out our window the maket looks extremely small, but when you actually start walking through the market, it never ends. We walked around the market for a good hour just browsing. We decided it would be a good idea to buy fans for the Toro that was tonight, so we did.
We finally came to the end of the market and had no idea how to get back to our house. I have to admit, I am extremely proud of Angie for not freaking out that we were kind of lost. We walked around for a good 20 mins until we finally found Alcampo (the grocery store by our house). We made it back just in time for lunch.
After lunch it was time to go meet our class at Alcazar. Alcazar is a royal palace in Sevilla. It was originally a Moorish fort. We took a tour of all of Alcazar and its beautiful gardens. I was quite the photographer today and took roughly 300 photos. I also chased a peacock around the garden in attempt to get a great photo.
After Alcazar some of us girls stopped by Starbucks! I actually had real coffee instead of plain espresso with was very nice! We took a load off our feet for a little bit and then headed over to the Toro (bullfight).
The bullfight was an experience that I can’t really put into words. I don’t really know how I felt about it. It was interesting and a great cultural experience though. It was extremely gruesome and bloody. We watching 6 bulls be killed- not my thought of entertainment. I will be honest- I did tear up quite a bit when the bulls were killed. It was just so violent. It was very interesting though.
To the Spanish bullfighting is an art. It is almost like theater to them, just a lot more dangerous. We actually watched the best of the toreadors be thrown and attacked by a bull. It was extremely scary. They carried him off and we had no idea if he was okay or not. Luckily he was and actually come back to finish the last fight. Te first bull this toreador fought he actually won both of the bull’s ears (if they cut the ears off and give it to the toreador it means they had a great fight- it is like their trophy). I also took about 300 picture of the bullfight.
I left feeling extremely tend and stressed out. Since we were so stressed out we decided to do something to make us happy. We got some Tex-Mex food! We went to Phoenix with just a few people and had some amazing nachos! Oh how I miss you Mexican food. It was just what we needed! After that we just came home and here I am. I need to get a little studying in and then get a good night sleep! We have our first test this week and I really need to actually look at what we have been doing in class for a change. It is just so hard to study when you want to be out experiencing the culture!
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