Week 2: Málaga, Real Alcanzár, Rio Tino Mines, Gruta de las Maravillas, Linares de la Sierra

I know it is a lot, so read what you want to.... (but lets be honest with ourselves, that´s everything).

Málaga: The program took us to Málaga this past weekend. It was pretty much amazing. We pulled up to a 4 star hotel about 5 mintues from downtown. Maybe the nicest hotel I´ve ever been in. After we checked in, we were dropped off downtown to hang out and eat lunch. We walked down to the beach and ate ON the beach. I had a fish that was cooked whole over a fire about 20 from me. I had to cut of the head, pull out the bones, the whole 9 yards, and it was delicous. After that we went to picasso´s museum to see some of his artwork. Some pretty mind blowing stuff. We saw everything from his sketches, to his sculptures, large artwork to the famous pieces we all know. Afterwards, we went out to eat at a very nice Italian restaraunt before a night out on the town. The next day, we went hiking through the mountains. We were actually hiking though an area that used to be completely submeresed. After the technonic shifts of earth´s plates, the mountains were created and what we were hiking on was lifted up and the lake drained away. Very fun. After that it was back to Sevilla.

Real Alcazár: As I´m sure you all knew, Spain has had many different peoples rule over their land. You have the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims who had the most lasting impression. What we walked through is where the current Royalty sleeps if they are in seville. The building was a mixture of early gothic and muslim arquetecture. There was room after room of intracately hand cut, designed and built artwork and stone flooring. After seeing the house, we went outside to see the most amazing garden ever built. It would take you hours to walk through it all. It is filled with hundreds of trees, plants, and flowers, not to mention all of the fountains and pools scattering the garden. Words can´t begin to describe it, so you should just go to Spain and check it out for yourself.

Rio Tinto Mines: These mines had been in service for over 5,000 years until recently when it was deemed to be depleted of the many, many minerals, gold and silver that used to mined. What is especially interesting about these mines is that it has scientific importance. The rover that went on mars found the same chemical makeup that is found in the water of the rio tinto (red river) in the mines. The importance is that in our river is the only place on earth that has been found to have this chemical makeup, the same as that on Mars. For those of you slow on the uptake, that means that there used to be water on mars. Cool stuff

Gruta de las Maravillas: This was an underground cave that was made open to the public in 1914. Originally discovered by a monk in the early 1800´s, it was originally full of water. Over time, much of the water receded, making it possible to enter inside. After going inside and discovering there was much to be mined, they began. Not long after, they realized how georgous the caves were and wanted to preserve them because the mining was destroying everything. Not long after they began preparing it for the public to preserve the caves which are unique, different than any others that have been found in the world. The caves are inside a montain, under the cathedral where the monk that discovered them lived. I wasn´t allowed to take pictures (or touch or sneeze or breathe, you get the idea), but suffice it to say many of the caverns were over 100 meters in height, and more than double that in width and length. It was about 30 minutes of walking, seeing the amazing mineral desposits and pools of 100% pure, drinkable water.

Linares de la Sierra: This was a small small villiage town of about 300 people that really showed us the meaning of old spanish towns. The roads were hand laid with cobblestone. We were told that instead of having doormats, the homeowners would lay intricate stone designs in front of the doorways to be used for wiping feet instead of doormats that would be ruined in the winter weather. All the houses were white-washed to protect the houses from the extreme summer sun. Suprsingly, there was a lot of construction going on, but I was told that much of it was to resotre many of the plazas and fountains to their original quality. One of the fountains that we saw was for the washing of all the towns clothes. The pueblo is very old fashioned, and becuase of this, this fountain is where all the women would go. They did not work, so they all washed the clothes together in order to gossip and hang out with their friends. I was told that the men once got so jealous that they drained the fountain so as to make the women to the laundry in the house... All in all, very quiant, very different from sevilla, haha.

My friends and I are going to Portugal this weekend to the tourist spot of Lagos. Expect stories and pictures soon!

Week 1: Let the games begin

It´s been a while since my last post. This past sunday, I met my host family and moved in with them. It has been very interesting. I live across the river that runs through the city. Each day it takes me about 30-35 minutes to walk to class, but I don´t mind it as much as you would think. I walk past some of the most spectacular sites on the way. I walk past El Torre de Oro, La Catedral (the largest gothic cathedral in the world), and then a bit through the center of town and the town hall. Pictures will come soon that show you what I get to see on the way.

Class started on monday too. Not what I expected. This class is HARD and a lot of work. It is a politics and economics class on the european union. Most of the students in my class of 6 all are IR or polisci majors so they already know a decent bit about this stuff. Hate to admit it, but this is one thing that Neeley school doesn´t do... but I really like the class. 10-1:30 is when it runs every morning, but we get a break during the beginning when we walk 20 seconds to this little bar where we get café con leche for just 1 euro. Really cool shop that is owned by to brothers that are like 65. They both work/live together and they are hilarious. They are always fighting because one likes the Sevilla soccer team and the other the Betis soccer team (both in Seville) that have a HUGE rivalry. Good times

Yesterday was a blast. I was part of an interchange program where I went to a small very very very very rich private school for guys, the equivalent of a college in the states. I had to talk in front of 60 20 year old guys about where I´m from and what I do and yada yada all in spanish and then do a Q&A afterwards. It was pretty funny, especially the things that they ask

I ahve to go because my señora left me a bocadillo (little sandwhich) back home and I need to get there, eat it and get to la catedral for a tour with the program at 3.

¡Que tengan buen día!

¡Sevilla ganó la copa final!

Last night I got to be a part of the biggest party I've ever seen! These spaniards know how to get rowdy...

Backdrop: Seville's soccer team just won the european cup, for the second year straight. This hasn't happened since the mid '80's, and by Real Madrid.

The whole town went nuts. We went to the main plaza in town at about 7 because we heard a ton of noise, and everyone was celebrating. Over the next 5 hours, about 15,000 people came to the plaza. They were all singing in unison songs about seville and their team. It was remarkable. Then, at about 12:15 the soccer team came to the plaza and entered the main building in the plaza. They stuck their heads out the 3 main windows and the crowd went nuts. Then they brought out the actual european cup. All in all, it was unforgettable and words can't describe it. Check out my pictures when I get them up and you should see a little of what it was like.

After all that happened, I asked someone if there had ever been a party like this before. He said "Of course, everytime we win man!"

Getting to Seville

So I just got done eating at my hostel while playing a game of rummy with five 20-somethings from all around Europe. 24 hours ago, the journey began. I left at about 4pm Houston time, and got on my British Airways flight to London. This flight was quick (about 700 mph quick) and we got to London at about 7am their time. Best service I ever had. They offered you something to drink once an hour and fed me a hot chicken meal complete with desert for dinner and then a nice breakfast in the morning. Then I waited a bit and hopped onto a flight to Madrid. I met a couple from the suburb of Kent on the outskirts of London on that flight. They were great. They travel to Spain all the time and so they told me all about it. Sevilla´s soccer team won the European title last night, so he said things should be pretty nuts tonight. I then got on my final flight to Sevilla. This is where the fun began. Nobody speaks Enlgish, so I it was an adventure using the bus system I´d never used to find my way to my Hostel. That is misleading because it sounds like I actually found it right away. Not the case. It took an hour of wandering around the city, talking to a priest, a professor and a construction crew to get me to where I´m typing this now. But I´m here ok, and the city is great!

That´s enough for now, it´s time to explore the city...

Departure

I leave to go to the airport in less than 12 hours. I have not packed... but who would want to have already packed. It isn't like I'm going to be halfway around the world for 3 months. Oh wait... I am.

Needless to say, I'm pumped, and this may just be the best summer of my life. I hope your hungry because I've got study abroad for 9 weeks and then backpacking with my roommate for 3!

I will now pack. I'll be back... as soon as I get to Seville...