To say I am loving Spain would be an understatement...there are not enough words to describe how much I am enjoying my experiences here!
Over the past couple weeks I have been further adjusting to my home here and the Spanish culture. A few observations:
1. The schedule here is very different. We eat lunch at 2:30 and dinner at 9:00. Every day, most businesses close mid-day for lunch and "siesta" time.
2. Drivers here are NOT pedestrian friendly. In Madison, if there are a couple seconds left on the crosswalk, people walk. Here you do not want to risk that; the drivers are ruthless and own the road!
3. Classes here are different in the sense that professors do not seem to have much regard for the syllabus; the schedule is more laid back and we complete things taking as much time as needed. This also is a characteristic of the more laid-back culture here. Everything is the US has to be done as quickly as possible and the sense of hurriedness here is not as prominent.
The title of this blog, "Gachas, Gatas y Granada", is basically a summary of what I've been up to! Gachas are a traditional Spanish dish from the Andalucía region of Spain, which is south of Madrid. Mainly composed of flour, gachas can be served with a stew consistency or more like a paste. It is commonly eaten with bread. My host parents invited me to their neighbor's home last weekend for a lunch of gachas and other Spanish food. It was all delicious and I had a wonderful time experiencing more of Spanish culture!
"Gata" is the Spanish word for cat. There are TONS of stray cats here! I want to play with all of them, but unfortunately many are infected and have fleas, so it is safer to just look. But I love kittens!
This weekend my CIEE group and I took a trip to Granada and Cordoba! Both are beautiful cities in the Andalucía region of Spain. Granada is home to the famous "La Alhambra". The Alhambra's architecture is like nothing I have ever seen. The intricate details are remarkable. We also spent some time hiking to a waterfall and to different viewpoints in Granada, which is surrounded by mountains. Between the many tapas bars, white houses and Arabic influence, I cannot decide what I love most about Granada!
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| A view of Granada from inside The Alhambra |
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| The bridge we walked over while hiking to the waterfall; can you say adrenaline rush?! |
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| Granada from the hills at the top of the city |
We also spent two days in Cordoba, which is the most precious city I've been to yet! The narrow, cobblestone streets lined with cute restaurants and Roman architecture is charming. There happened to be a Roman festival this weekend, so we were able to experience even more culture than expected! We visited the famous "La Mezquita" which is a Catholic/Muslim mosque. Again, the architecture is amazingly intricate and beautiful. We were able to attend a Catholic mass there during the day, which was pretty neat. While I wasn't able to understand the entire mass, I was able to follow along and identify where we were in the mass. It is amazing that Catholicism is spread so widely across the globe and that we all are welcome in the House of the Lord no matter what country the church is in or what language the mass in performed in.
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| Cordoba at sunset |
Other than that, not too much is new with me! I am enjoying my classes for the semester and am making a ton of friends through my program and at the Institute! For now, the next big adventure on the calendar is Seville towards the end of February, but I may have to book something before then; I've got the travel bug!
As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me!
XO
Victoria
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