Erika Caceres

Yesterday was a good day. We went to the cathedral of Valencia and I really liked this one a lot. It was all because of a statue of Virgin Mary and Jesus, which was surrounded by real bouquets of flowers (some were fresh and other looked like they had been there for a while). I was walking around with my audio guide and stopped in front of this statue to listen to the information about it. It said that this is a statue where pregnant women come to pray and walk around the cathedral nines times, to bless their nine months of pregnancy. There was a pregnant woman who was there with her mom. I turned to tell her my new found information and she told me that she was already doing her rounds around the cathedral. Then I asked her if she had left flowers at the foot of the statue, and she told me that women do that after the baby is born. This really touched me because I want to be an obstetrician when I am all grown up. There were more then two dozen flower bouquets at the foot of the statue, so that means many children were born close to the time we visited. It was symbolic for me because I have always thought about doing something meaningful in my life and all those flowers represented that the job I want is special. I had to hold back tears when I talked to the mother-to-be because pregnant women are so dear to my heart.

Then we went to this super modern museum called IVAM. There were two paintings that caught my eye, one was called Jupiter and the other was Beauty wounded by Cupid. I am going to talk to you about Beauty wounded by Cupid because I liked that one more. It is of a woman who looks like she just fell because Cupid shoot her. My friends say that I am a lover of love, which means I love anything that has to do with falling in love. The reason why I love this painting is because it represents the feeling of first falling in love or when you first really like someone. It is funny that they use the word “falling” because when you fall, you lose your orientation and you are all out of whack. When I first start liking someone or loving them, I almost feel the same as when I fall. I don’t know how to normally function, I forget how to just be myself. While staring at this painting I could see that.

Our group dinner was that same night and it was fun! I finally got to have some paella and it was delicious. It was great because all 22 of us sat at the same table. Then, we went out for some more food at this really cheap place that the students from Spain had taken us to. The funny thing was that we had all split up after dinner, but then we all ended up in the same place for some food later that night.

Well today was a great day. We went to the City of Science and Art, it was the most modern place that I have been to so far in Spain. We went to an aquarium and got to see fish!!! It was awesome, there was this dome that I walked over and it made me feel as if I was in the bottom of the ocean looking up to the top. They had lights shining through the water so it made it look like the sun shining through the ocean. It was beautiful because I felt like I was a scuba-diver. We also saw sea lions and penguins.

The most interesting thing of the day was that we had a professional photographer. Let me tell you that when a camera is around it definitely changes people. I will be honest I felt so weird at first like a celebrity really… like a day in the life of Gisele Bundchen. I am really camera shy, but I feel like after today, I learned how to be normal in front of a camera. It was pretty fun, I got to know our photographer. His name is Marcin and didn’t finish school, but instead, he started a business with his passion in photography. I thought that was pretty cool because not many people have jobs that they really love. He was really cool and in Barcelona, we may meet up for some good paella.

Then, around 7 pm, we got an awesome treat: two sisters, Maria and Gloria, who live here, came out and spent some time with us. They were so cute and really fun to hang out with. They showed us their favorite place to hang out. It was funny because they pointed us out to where teenagers hang out, and guess where they hang out? McDonald’s, who would have thought that the Spaniard youth would hang out in one of the most prostigious fast food restaurants of the United States. What really made me laugh was that instead of having a drive through window, they had a walk through window.

They brought us to a great bocadillo restaurant with cold sandwiches and beverages for 2 euro. Then, they brought us back to our hotel and we said our goodbyes. They were really sweet, so it was great to spend time with them.

I will end this blog with a song by Lady Gaga..

“I’m your biggest fan
I’ll follow you until you love me
Papa-paparazzi…”

This morning we all woke up excited to travel by bus to Valencia. On our last bus ride from Sevilla to Granada, we road in a coach bus. We all could have gotten individual double seats to ourselves, it was really great. This morning, we took our luggage to the plaza and then looked for our coach bus, ready for our six hour drive. Then, we noticed a little bus on the corner and everyone was like there is no way that is our bus. Cooper G went to the bus and to our surprise it was. Twenty two people all snug in a tinny tiny bus, with luggage under the bus and even in the aisles. I lucked out with a two seater to myself with a strategy I call “make no eye contact”, only one two other people had the same luck!

Yesterday we went to the cathedral in Granada, and it was so different than any other cathedral that we have visited during this trip. It did not have a choir in front of the alter so it made the cathedral look so much bigger than the others. The other cathedrals we visited were so dark and only the alter was lit, which is of Gothic style. However, this one was bright everywhere. Then we went to see the burial ground of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. It looked cool because they had this huge statue of them and under this statue, you went down some steps and saw their real coffins.

Then us girls split and guess what we did? We shopped and ate. It was great because for lunch we were all craving the same thing which was calamari and had my new favorite summer drink called tinto de verano. I plan to make this when I go home.

Then we went out with the professors to a festival. It was a grand adventure. We definitely got to know each other a little bit more. I loved that because I got to see that the professors were actually human and a lot of fun. It was definitely unexpected fun!!

We walked down the mountain and went to lunch in this Moorish restaurant. The feel of the restaurant was chill. They had red, purple, and gold sheets covering the ceiling. The seats were low and comfortable. I had a kebab, which was delicious.

Later that night, we were walking around and one of my friends asked me what lomo meant because I am one of the three native speakers. I thought it was beef and a random girl intervenes and said it was pork. We stopped and all looked at her. She looked sweet, so I decided to ask her where she was from because she was obviously an American. Little did I know that I was about to find out that she lives in the same town as my best friends, which I have known since I was three years old. Then I found out that she knew them and loves them as much as I do. It was so crazy. I invited her to have tapas with us, and she took us to this great place where all we had to do was order drinks and get free tapas. She was great fun and really lovely. It was so surprising to see what a small world this really is.

She was a great help at teaching us where the good places were to eat and other places that we should visit in the city. Granada is much different than the other cities that we have visited. It is not as touristy friendly as the others, so it was really great to get the in on the places we should visit.

We went to a bull fight. It was really interesting, it was my first time ever experiencing something like that. In a bull fight there are two kinds of seats the shade or sun seats. The shade seats are more expensive because it is cooler. We all decided to save money and sit in the sun. The ring was 75% full; the seats left empty were the sun seats. The seats in the bull fight are not comfortable because they are a strip of concrete, which do not have a back, so you are touching the person in front and behind you. As an American that was very different, we never like to be to close to strangers.

In bull fighting there are three rounds per bull: the first shows the bulls strength (Strength of Bull), the second they weaken the bull by stabbing it (Weakening of the bull), and last is when the matador kills the bull with a sword hidden behind the red cape. We sat through four out of the six bulls. The third bull was the best out of the fights that we saw.The matador pumped up the crowd with his moves and skills. The crowd went wild, they even played music for him while he was trying to kill the bull. When he was about to kill the bull, the bull stabbed him with it’s horns. I was so scared for the matador’s life, but surprisingly he continued to fight after. It was crazy!! The crowd was ecstatic when the matador finally killed the bull and everyone stood up and waved a white cloth in the air, representing victory!

After that we went to a tapas bar across from the hotel with some friends. I made a friend with the bartender; he was awesome!! He looked to be in between 40 to 50 years old, he was short and cute. He asked me where I was from and we started to talk about our cultures. My friend Bob was called bonbone (which means “hottie”) by two men on the street earlier that day, I told my new friend this and laughed. His laugh was so funny, it was loud and really high pitched. I wish I would have met him sooner, he told me that when ever I came back to Sevilla I was welcome to come back to the tapas place to chat. As we were leaving, he turned around to Bob and said with a smile, “bye BONBONE!!!” those words made my night.

This morning we went to the Fine Arts Museum of Sevilla. They had a large variety of religious paintings and then had two exhibits off to the side on with pictures from the 1700 to 1800s. Those were my favorite. I think the Spanish artists have a lot of style, but it can get a little repetitive when I have seen 20 painting of the Virgin Mary wearing the white clothes and blue cloak. The painting that I fell in love with was by Andres Parlade called Grata Conversacion with literally means “pleasing conversation”. It was a painting of a woman talking to what looked like a soldier. The woman was sitting on a bench alone and the man was leaning in to talk to her from the back. It was a lovely painting. I saw another one in exhibit that was called Looking for the Rat, it was hilarious. There were two scared girls standing on chairs and two boys laying on the ground looking under the chest.

After the museum a group of us went to go back to the restaurant that my best friend from the other day told me about. When we got there it was closed, so we decided to wander for a bit to find another tapas place. Sevilla on a Sunday morning is completely still and it seemed like half of the restaurants were closed. We found ourselves completely lost. I knew where we were on the map, but have no idea where I actually was because there are no actual street signs. The name of the streets are at the top of buildings where intersections are, so it can get really confusing. I felt so lost and it was very hot. It was rough out there, but luckily we were able to find our way out.

Then we finally finally got to where we knew and we discovered that we had gone in a complete circle. We ended up eating at a really nice tapas place which had umbrellas with misters. The food was good, and while we were eating we got serenaded (Serenade ) by some men. It was lovely and fun. The only thing I am not quiet fond of with the whole tapas experience is that you have to ask for the check because they will not bring it out to you. I always feel so rude when I do that, but that is the way they do it here.

Today we went to the Alcazar in Sevilla. It was magnificent, something out of the ordinary. It was interesting because it was built by Christians, but built to look Moorish. Everything in there is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. The ceilings were very high and there were arches with intricate details everywhere. I loved being around there and trying to picture how the kings and queens used to live. It is amazing to me to just think about how people would actually live in huge places like that.

Later tonight we went out for tapas, but found ourselves longing for American food. One of the girls had mentioned that our professor had chicken fingers and chicken fingers are my weakness. The restaurant that we ended up going was Irish. A tall handsome waiter greeted us in English. The menu had tapas that were mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and burgers. They even had Heinz ketchup which made my night. We ended up sharing fries and getting separate tapas. It was just want I needed. I was really confused on how the waiter could speak English so well then we found out that he came to Sevilla after graduating from Ireland because this job opened up. I thought that was so awesome to see other people from other European countries live in another country.

Then we were off into the city of Sevilla to see what Saturday night life was all about. It is crazy because no place here is opened for dinner until 8pm. We have to wait around to eat until then. Things livens up at this time and the city becomes something else. There are people everywhere, it is crazy!! There is this one plaza that there is always a ton of people there, it is so crowded that people just stand around with their drinks. It is so hard to find a place to sit outside because people stay conversing and eating for hours. After eating I passed a group of friend at a restaurant, I had gone to walk around the city, saw a parade, then got back to the hotel, chilled for a bit, then went back out to where they were sitting and they were still they enjoying their drinks.

Everything is so chill here. It is crazy because there is so much history here, but that is not even what intrigues me, what I am most fascinated by. The Spanish culture is so much fun. In Charlotte only in certain parts of the city do you see people around past 11:30pm. Where we are people are everywhere at this time. I am not exaggerating. Restaurants have people eating outside, people are on the side of steps listening to a band play across the street, and people are walking around with ice cream. It is a city full of life, being here is so wonderful. It really is like nothing I have ever experienced before. It is as if people are free, people here look so calm and relaxed.

I really want to take this love of life back with me to the States.

Yesterday was a jam packed day! We started with breakfast at 8:30am. We met our tour guide named Alvaro and he was cute (in an endearing way). He told us so much cool stuff. Our hotel is located in what was the Jewish corner of the city. I learned that the reason why streets were very narrow and small was for protection. The Moors had built it like this so people from outside the city wouldn’t really know where things were because you cannot see the top of any other building except for the ones your passing.

Alvaro told us a story of this Jewish women named Susona who fell in love with a Christian man and left her religion for the man. After doing this she regretted her decision and asked to be decapitated. Then she asked for her head to be hung from a balcony to remind all Jews to not forsake their faith for love. I thought the whole story was pretty wild. This woman had some strong convictions.

We went to the Serville Cathedral which is the biggest cathedral in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records. It is quiet a sight. When we first got there we climbed the Giralda Bell tower. The tower was not built with stairs but instead is composed of 34 small ramps. The reason why it was build like this was because a horse was supposed to be able to get all the way to the top. Climbing the tower was rough and hilarious that the same time. The whole group started the climb together. I was in the back of the line, and while going up some girls stopped at ramp 15 because they thought it was too hard. Then there were other girls who decided to take a break on ramp 18 because it was so much. I didn’t want to stop, I just wanted to get to the top. By ramp 25, my legs felt like they were going to give out, but getting to the top of the tower felt like such a victory. It was beautiful up there, you could see the city so well.

Then we enter the main cathedral. At the beginning of the trip I was not too fond of cathedrals, I really cannot tell you why. Listening to what Alvaro had to say about it really changed my prospective. He talked about how they build the cathedrals so high because they wanted to be closer to God. He also said that cathedrals were build to try to show God’s glory and I was really impressed by that. It touched my heart.

In the cathedral is were Christoper Columbus is buried. I cannot believe it, I want to see the tomb of the man that discovered the continent I now live in. Alvaro said that there was a dilemma on if his body was really there. The Spanish government was able to confirm that it was him from DNA of his son.

Then we got back together and split into different groups to go to different places. My group had to go to the university, which was really interesting. I had no idea why we had to go there because there wasn’t any museum there, all I knew it that it used to be a tobacco factory. It ended up being really cool. The university is in one building and everything seems to be connected. Nothing looked modern at all. The building and everything was so antique looking. I went to a classroom and was just surprised because it looked like it was from a different century.

At the end of the day we were scheduled to go to flamenco and it was awesome!!!!!! We got in line early because Cooper G said that it was a court yard and if the first seats were taken then we wouldn’t really be able to see anything. She was right, thank goodness that I got a good seat because I am super short. The court yard was intimate, I was expecting something bigger. I really do not know why because everything here is small. The performance was incredible. It opened up with two men: one with a guitar and the other a singer. The singer added to the music his voice, clapping of his hands, and tapping of his feet. Then a another man came who was another clapper, but also a dancer. Then a women came out to dance on a wooden platform in the middle of the court yard. She danced with such confidence, her dance commanded attention. She made music using all of her body, it was great. Then man also danced and he would tap his feet at times very lightly, but it would make beautiful music. I know some girls in the group were moved so much from the dance that they cried. Flamenco is moving because there is so much expression in their faces, you could feel the emotion they were feeling just by watching.

So after from our long day, I also seemed to have time for ice cream no matter how late it is. Caitlin and I have made this a habit in our trip to shop around for ice cream. It is funny because I now know if ice is expensive or not and were to go for some good ice cream. Ending the night with ice cream just makes the day so much better.

I would like to take a moment and say:

RIP post that was deleted because I pressed backspace by accident

The orange juice here is delicious!!! I had breakfast this morning and had this realization. In Spain orange juice does not come from store. They have this machine that squeezes oranges and make the juice. It tastes so fresh, I think I am definitely going to miss it when I go back home. In Sevilla the most trees that I have seen are orange trees. It is awesome because when I look up at the tree there are oranges on them. I always wish I could be tall enough to reach them… but sadly I am not.