We'll teach you how to bargain if you teach us how to dougie

For the last weekend that I was in Spain, I decided to book a trip to Morocco through a tour group called DiscoverSevilla; a bunch of other students form my program booked it too.
Friday evening, June 15, we rode three hours on a bus, one hour on a ferry, and then another hour and a half to our hotel in M'Diq.  Despite the long trip, we were finally in Africa!!

Quick sidenote about our group leaders
Our tour group was lead by four guys: Oscar, Benny, Terry, and Toba
Oscar: A Cordoba native who is actually an actor but goes on these trips because he speaks French and knows First Aid
Terry: An American and University of Maryland graduate, but he looks like and sounds like he's 16.  Until he told us about the Maryland thing, I thought he was younger than all of us.
Benny: A Portugal native who speaks with an English accent (both of his parents were British) we bonded a bit when I dissed English food because he had to argue with me about that, but I quickly redeemed myself and talked about how delicious English breakfasts are, so we're friends now.
Toba: I am actually not sure if words can describe this man.  There is a Seinfeld episode when George mentions Kramer and Jerry responds, "now, he's a character."  Well, that's Toba for you.  He's essentially the younger and Spanish version of Kramer.  He stands up on camels, creates Spanglish phrases with English swear words, and on top of that he looks like Jack Sparrow.

 A solo shot of Toba

Back to the trip.  So, Friday night was rather uneventful since we had been traveling all day.  We were served a nice dinner at our hotel and then went straight to bed since we were tired and had a long day ahead of us.  We were up at 7 Saturday morning and grabbed a quick breakfast at our hotel before heading to Chefchaouen.  It was a three hour bus ride to get there, but it was well worth it because I found the town to be quite charming.  It is a rather remote town so there is not a very strong urban influence.  The town is painted entirely in blue and white in order to keep insects away.  We started off with a tour of the town by a local guide named Muhamad, and then took a lunch break.  After lunch, it was time for shopping! Chefchaouen has lots of small shops to find trinkets in, so this is where the bargaining comes in.  Our guides told us that they will teach us how to bargain "if we teach them how to dougie." So, we held up our end of the bargain, meaning that they had to hold up theirs.  Apparently, the best way to bargain is to find an item and decide how much you are willing to pay for that, and then start your negotiating at a third of that price and work your way to finding middle ground with the vendor.  Some people were better at this than others, but regardless of that, everyone still had a great time.  We returned to our hotel in the afternoon and had some beach time (since our hotel was beachfront).  Our guides made some sangria and we all lounged in the Moroccan sun for the rest of the afternoon.  That night, we were served dinner at our hotel again, but one of the girls on our trip had a birthday.  You would think that everyone would just sing her "happy birthday" and be done with it right? Well, that's not how they do things in Morocco.  The hotel staff served us all cake and there were a bunch of dancers who came in and performed a cool number in honor of her birthday.  It was quite a show an I'm so glad I got to see that.  After dinner, we all went to the hotel lounge and sipped some drinks, played music, and chatted for the rest of the night.

 Toba giving us bread from a bakery in Chefchouan.  They make it in ovens and the women must come pick it up.

The next day we travelled to the city of Tetouan.  This city was a much more urban environment that Chefchaouen.  While in this city, a guide gave us a tour and then we stopped at a local pharmacy where the pharmacist told us about all of the various products they offer.  There was some "de-stress" oil that you could put on your temples to help you relax when you are feeling overwhelmed.  There was also a bag of seeds that supposedly helped you to stop snoring.  As long as you took a whiff of the seeds before you go to bed, you should be good to go.  I was tempted to purchase these, since I have been told in the past that I have a problem with snoring, but I decided against it.

Our last stop on this trip was the port city of Tangiers, where we got to ride camels.  I'm not going to lie, this was the main reason that a lot of us went on this trip.  The experience was definitely something that I will carry for the rest of my life; I enjoyed it very much.  After our camel rides, it was time to ride the bus back to the ferry and return to Spain.

I have many wonderful remarks about my trip to Morocco, but I must say that while it was a neat experience to see the country, I don't feel the need to return there anytime soon.  It is definitely a trip that I can check off my bucket list though, and I have nothing but good sentiments regarding the trip.  Since this was my last trip before returning to the states, I was glad that it went so smoothly.

xoxo,

Sarah

Where in the World is Hope Davis?

So, this past weekend was a four-day weekend, which could only mean one thing...TRIP!! So, as my friends and I pondered where in the world we should go, many possibilities were put on the table.  We thought about Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Paris, and many others, but in the end it came down to budgeting and proximity.  After we looked at all of the possible flights and hostels, we determined that we needed to go to ITALY!  We decided to spend two days in Rome and one day in Venice, and knew that it was gong to be a challenge since we had so little time and so much to see, but we were up for it.  So, we booked our flights and our hostels, and waited for the weekend to get here.

We began our journey by flying from Seville to Barcelona, where we would then catch a flight to Rome.  So, we had a flight out of Seville at 8:25am, but since we had no idea how long it would take to get through the airport, we wanted to leave ourselves as much time as possible.  We were up at 4:30 am that morning and at the bus stop by 5:30, along with many other students in our program who were going to Barcelona for the weekend.  We knew that there was an airport bus, but we all seemed to have been told different stops that we needed to be at.  While we were at the one we had originally planned to be, there were some Spanish teenagers at that stop who told us that the airport bus doesn't stop here.  Of course, we went down the street to another bus stop where they had told us to go, but we didn't see a sign for the airport bus there either.  After going back and forth for a little while and having to continue to receive criticism front he teenagers about how we were at the wrong stop, we just decided to take our chances.  We saw the bus driving up the road, and all 20 of us decided to "dominate" per say, and literally ran out into the road and stood there to wave it down, because that way the driver would HAVE to stop.  The driver did pull over to the stop where we were waiting and we all got on.  We asked him if he would have stopped here regardless of our blockade and he said that he would have because it is on the route.  So, thanks Spanish teenagers. For nothing. We all gave them a few smirks as we sat on the bus and they remained at the stop (not classy, I know, but it was 5:00 in the morning and I hadn't had my coffee yet, and those of you who know me know that I am NOT to be messed with before having my coffee).

The rest of our journey to Barcelona went off without a hitch.  We were a little nervous about flying RyanAir.  Since the prices were so cheap, we were afraid we would be flying in a tin can.  But, to our surprise the plane was well furnished and didn't seem to be lacking in anything important.
(side note: I don't know if it was the quality of the airplanes or just purely coincidental, but every flight we took had ridiculous turbulence, so who knows)
Once we got to the Barcelona airport, we had a seven hour layover.  How were we going to entertain ourselves, we weren't sure, but we knew we would come up with something.  We ended up playing around on the moving walkways in an empty wing of the airport for a solid hour (yes, our maturity level is astounding).  After the agony of being quarantined in the airport for seven hours, we finally boarded our plane and set out for Rome.  When we arrived, we caught a bus from the airport to the center of town where our hostel was and dropped our stuff off before heading out to dinner and then seeing a few of the sights.  We had our first real Italian meal and then walked to the Trevi Fountain, where we all took turns throwing coins in. After that, we wandered around to see the Roman Forum and the Collesium at night.  While we were planning on visiting both of those sites the next day, we thought it would be pretty to see them all lit up at night.  We got back to our room around 1:00AM and went right to bed since we had a full day ahead of us.

 

Coliseum at Night

After we left our hostel early the next morning, we went to see the Spanish Steps.  Well, this was two days before the Italy vs Spain soccer game for the Euro Cup, so there were a bunch of Spaniards lined up on the steps in owl costumes and Spanish flags chanting some sort of cheer.  While I admired their Spanish pride, they made it difficult for me to take pictures.  Sorry Spaniards, but the steps are prettier and more famous than you all.  Fortunately, I managed to get some good shots.  After we went to the steps, we made our way to Vatican City because we had a reservation at noon to get into the Vatican.  Since we purchased our tickets online ahead of time, we got to go right to the front of the line and waltz on in.  We could not have timed it better.  While the Vatican museum was really cool, we were all starting to get a little tired after wandering through room after room after room.  We wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, and there were signs pointing us in the right direction, but the rooms seemed to go on and on and on and on.  Getting to the chapel was like walking through a labyrinth.  We finally reached the Chapel and realized that it was all worth it.  The Chapel was exquisite.  Michelangelo's work was too beautiful for words.  We were told that their was a strict policy against taking pictures in the Chapel, and we wondered why.  Apparently, the Japanese worked out some copyright deal back in 1988 that prohibits anyone from taking pictures of the Chapel until the year 2030.

 

obnoxious Spaniards on the Spanish steps


Our day was no where close to being over after seeing the Vatican.  Next, we went to St. Peter's square (where the Basilica is) and then went to the Pantheon.  We climbed some super tall stairs to see a magnificent view of Rome, and then moved on to the Forum, the Coliseum and the Palatine.  After doing all that, we headed back to our hostel to freshen up before going ot dinner.  After dinner, we went straight to bed since we had to get up at 4:30 again the next day to catch a bus to the airport because our flight to Venice was at 7:00AM.

In St. Peter's Square in Vatican City

 climbing up the steep stairs

During this trip, everything seemed to be going well.  Everyone's alarms went off, the bus was on time, we made it to the airport, we got through security, but then we tried to board the plane.  Our friend Hope had a boarding pass with the same flight number as the rest of us, but a different date.  Therefore, they REFUSED to let her on the plane.  Even though there were 30 empty seats on our flight, Hope was left in the Rome Airport.  We got to Venice and had no idea where in the world Hope was, literally, we did not know what country she was in.  We had no idea if she went back to Spain, if she caught a different flight to Venice, if she was in another country, we really had no idea.  We were trying to find our hostel so that we could find a wi-fi connection to attempt to contact her, but there was a problem: our hostel was in Narnia.  We went to the street that the address said, but we could not find it anywhere.  After three hours of hopelessly searching, we were about to give up.  We had no idea where Hope was, and we couldn't even put our bags down.  As we were walking up the street we hear someone shout "GUYS!" and we turn around, and HOPE WAS STANDING BEHIND US ON THE STREET! All of us actually thought we were dreaming, but it actually was her.  She had found us by randomly running into us in Venice.  Apparently, she couldn't get any flights to Venice or Spain on the cheap, "fake" airlines, as we call them, so she had to purchase a ticket to Venice on an actual Italian airline.  We were so happy that we had been reunited and we were motivated to keep searching for our hostel.
Well, apparently there are three streets with the same name as the one that our hostel was on.  Therefore, we had been searching on the wrong street for hours.  Fortunately, we finally found the hostel and were able to regroup before heading out to explore more of Venice.

My friend Riley was dying to go to the island of Murano, which is a short boat ride from Venice.  This island is famous for its glass-blowing.  Since Venetian glass is world famous, I was eager to visit there as well.  I absolutely loved everything about Murano because it was away from the massive tourist traps (like San Marco square).  The glass was beautiful (and not tacky which can sometimes be problem in these types of places).  After walking around the island all afternoon, we returned to mainland Venice.  Fortunately, it was late enough in the day that all of the day-tourists had left.  It was also dusk, which was the best time to walk around.  We went to the Rialto Bridge and since it wasn't super crowded we were able to get right up front and take lots of pictures.  The sun setting over the Venetian water was every photographer's dream.

All of us on Murano

The Rialto Bridge at dusk

We returned to our hotel to turn in for the night because we had to be up at 5:30AM the following morning to catch our flight back to Seville.  Fortunately, everyone got on the plane this time.

 Celebrating the fact that everyone got on the flight home (incluidng Hope)!!!

My next trip will be to Morocco! We will be visiting Tetouan, Chefchouen, and Tangiers.  I have never been to Africa before, so I am super excited about this trip.  I only have a week left in Spain so I am excited to have one last big trip before I have to return to the states.

Ciao!
sworonoff

So, where's my boyfriend?

Hi All!
Today our entire program took a day trip to Cordoba which was about a two hour bus ride from Seville.  When we got there, we toured (yet another) mosque/cathedral...shocker, I know.  But, this one was actually my favorite of the many that I have been to because the Arabic architecture was so prominent that it really made the building exotic and interesting to see.

a view from the outside

In the courtyard of the cathedral/mosque, there is what we called the "boyfriend fountain."  Rumor has it that if you drink from this fountain, you will get a boyfriend.  Since I follow a "when in Spain" mindset, I decided to take a few sips along with a few others from our group.  So, magical fountain, where's my boyfriend? It's been almost 8 hours and I'm still waiting for a boy to materialize.  Will I meet him tonight? Will I meet him five years from now? Is there a time stamp on this thing? I wish you would give me a little more to go on here.

 The spigot we drank from

 a full shot of the fountain

When touring the actual building, it was extremely strange to go back and fourth between Catholic and Islamic architecture, but it was also cool at the same time.  With each new room we went into, you never really knew what to expect.

 Part Islamic...

 Part Roman Catholic..

Another thing I must note about: the Asian tour groups.  I kid you not, everywhere we have gone in Spain, there has been at least three busloads of Asian tourists there too (complete with their cameras around their necks and fanny packs).  These tourists are a rather tight bunch, by that I mean they do not separate from each other. Period.  Well today, I did the unthinkable...I (accidentally!) broke up the pack!  It wasn't my fault! We were all walking through the same narrow space and I got in between a few people.  Yeah, they don't like that.  They basically ran me over.  Clearly personal space is not in their vocabulary.  I'm sorry Asian tourists! I promise I did not mean to be that person!

After another hour or so of admiring the building, we moved on to view the synagogue of Cordoba.  The synagogue was a small room with very little decorations that could barely fit the fifty of us.  It was mind-blowing to see the differences between the two buildings.

After the synagogue, we were granted two hours of free time before we had to get back on the bus to return to Seville.  We used that time to do a little shopping and grab a drink.

Next week we have a four day weekend and I will be going to Italy!! Words cannot describe how excited I am, so be on the lookout for a stellar blog post about that trip.  So, until next time, chao chicos!!

love,
sworonoff

P.S. To any Woronoff, Pellisero, or Padden who is reading this, I saw something today in the cathedral that you may appreciate...

...Liberty's cousin.

The Canyons of Ronda

Today was a holiday in Seville which meant that we didn't have class (yay!) so while most people would use this day to catch up on sleep, we opted for a different approach to our day off.  Being the eager study abroad students that we are, about 20 students from my program and I decided to buy bus tickets and travel to Ronda, which is a mountain town about an hour and a half away from Seville.  The town is perched on top of a canyon, which allows for the most breathtaking views I think I have ever seen.  Apparently, Ernest Hemingway spent many summers in Ronda and wrote about its beauty and I can see why he admired this town so much.
When we got off the bus, everyone went their separate ways; we had six hours to explore Ronda before we had to catch the bus back to Seville.
Ronda's main attractions are the "Puente Viejo" (old bridge) and the "Puente Nuevo" (new bridge).  Both bridges span the canyon and give you amazing views of the city and its surroundings.  So, my four friends and I decided to make our way towards the old bridge, and do some shopping/exploring along the way.  We first came across a city park, so we decided to take a look around.  This park allowed you to see miles into the distance, so after we took tons of photos of this new viewpoint we had found, we continued to make our way towards the old bridge.

 Riley and me at the park

 the view from the park

 another viewpoint from the park

After stopping in various shops along the way, we finally reached our destination.  The bridge was beautiful and looking down into the canyon was absolutely breathtaking.  There was one section that had a locked gate, but beyond that gate was a path that lead all the way down to the bottom of the canyon towards the water.  Riley and Hope were determined to get down there, so Riley tried to pick the lock with a bobby pin, but that didn't work.  Hope and was close to hopping over the wall beside the gate and then jumping onto the path, but we convinced her to leave it be and that is was probably marked off due to some danger hazard.

 The view of the new bridge, from the old bridge. Complex, I know.

All of us on the old bridge

As we continued along the bridge, we came across the entrance to "Casa del Rey Moro," which is the remains of an old Arab palace.  We explored the magnificent gardens, but nothing was more exciting that exploring "la mina" (the mine).  The 289 stairs that make up this mine shaft bring you down to the very bottom of the canyon by the water (so Hope didn't need to jump a fence after all).  It was a little scary making the trek through the dark tavern and down the steep stairwell; it reminded me of The Hidden Staircase (hey, once a Nancy Drew fan, always a Nancy Drew fan).  But, once we reached the bottom, we walked out onto a metal grate over the water and our surroundings were absolutely stunning to see.    
A nice German couple that we met during the trek told us that this passageway was originally used by slaves to transport food that had come by boat to the palace.
  

 me walking down the creepy staircase through the taverns

 oh hey! The first lady and the first daughters also walked down through the cave!

After our cave explorations, we continued on to make our way towards the new bridge, and by new bridge, I mean the bridge that was built a little over 200 years ago...bit of a misnomer if you ask me.  After seeing more views of the Spanish countryside from that bridge, we stopped to get a quick bite to eat and a refreshing drink since we were famished from our earlier activities.  Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the bus station to return to Seville.  All I have to say is, this was definitely one of the greatest days off from school I've ever had.

We ran into some other girls from our program and got a shot of all of us on the new bridge

I will be traveling to Cordoba this weekend with our entire program, so look out for my next blog post!

xoxo,
sworonoff

Arabian Nights...In Granada

Hello All!
This weekend, our entire program traveled to Granada, which is about a three and a half hour bus ride from Seville.  If there is one word I can use to describe this city is would be: BEAUTIFUL.  The mountainous setting combined with the Arabic influence makes this town extremely unique.  We departed Seville around 9AM, and since the bus departed from a hotel that was about a half an hour walk from most of our houses, it was a bit of a rough morning.  For the next three hours on the bus, everyone did their own thing: some were fighting their hangovers, some listened to music, some read Fifty Shades of Grey (on kindles of course), and others read the Granada section of Rick Steves' Spain guidebook, and by others I mean me.
(Sidenote: Later on during this trip, I did find another student, my new bff Jacob, who is a Rick Steves enthusiast too, so I am not entirely alone!)
Once we reached Granada, we checked into our super-nice hotel and then were given four hours of free time before we were to meet back at the hotel to go to the chapel and cathedral of Granada.  Our hotel had a pool, so while some people spent the afternoon soaking up the Spanish sun, some friends and I decided to use this time to explore Granada.  One girl had read about an Arab market in the downtown area, so we all decided to go check that out.  "El Mercado de la Artesania" is located in several narrow alleyways right off the main plaza (don't worry mom and dad, it is not as sketchy as it sounds).  When I walked through those alleyways, I felt as though it was right out of the movie Aladdin.  There were carpets, pillowcases, and various other trinkets with Arabic patterns and roots.  I didn't buy anything, but several of my friends went a little crazy.

 our hotel (apparently it was four stars)

 A photo of one of the shops in the Arabian market

 I was not elaborating, the alleyways really were narrow

After walking around the market for a few hours, we went back to the hotel to meet as a group and walk to the Royal Chapel of Granada, or the "Capilla Real."  This chapel serves as a mausoleum because it houses the remains of famous monarchs Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, as well as those of their daughter Queen Juana I and her husband Felipe I.  As we walked around the chapel, we were told of the history, but nothing prepared us for when we got to the room where the monarchs are buried.  We saw the monuments that covered their tombs, and of course we all assumed that they were buried under the statues, but we didn't realize that there was a small staircase that you could walk down to actually look at what was buried below.  As I walked down those stairs, I had no idea what I was going to see.  For all I knew, I was going to see the skeletal remains.  What I actually saw was their coffins, so while it isn't as bad as their skeletons, it was still rather eery.

 The outside of the Capilla Real

After the Capilla, we walked to the Cathedral.  Ok, while cathedrals are SUPER cool and all... this was not exactly the first one I had seen on this trip, so it became harder to pay attention as we walked around.  It was also late in the day, so all of us were basically running on fumes.  That aside, I was still able to learn a great deal about this cathedral.  Unlike most of the cathedrals in Spain, this one had to await the acquisition of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada from its Muslim rulers.  Therefore, the church was constructed during a time when Spanish Renaissance designs were succeeding those of Gothic architecture that had been prominent throughout Spain in prior centuries.
After we toured the cathedral, we went back to our hotel and had a few hours of free time before dinner.  We decided to stop at the ice cream shop called "Los Italianos" that is apparently "the best in the city," and I must say that is a fairly accurate statement.

After a delicious dinner provided by the hotel, we were given the opportunity to take a night walk up to the top of the city where we would have a spectacular view of Alhambra , a palace and fortress complex that was constructed in the 14th century.  The Moorish palace was created by the last Muslims in Spain, the Nasrid Dynasty. After the reconquista by the Catholic monarchs, some portions were then used by Christian rulers (Charles V built a palace within the Alhambra).  Today, it stands as one of the best examples of the country's Islamic architecture.  We were not disappointed because despite the hike up to the vista point, the view was so amazing that I don't know if I can describe it.  A few of my friends and I decided to get a drink at the outdoor cafe by the vista point.  As we sat in the lounge area the restaurant had and sipped our glasses of wine while looking at the magnificent palace, fireworks were shot off from one of the interior courtyards (talk about being in the right place at the right time!)  That moment was probably my favorite moment of this entire trip.

This doesn't really do it justice, but it will have to do.

The next day, we actually visited the Alhambra; it was even more spectacular from the inside.  This would be our last destination in Granada before we hopped back on the bus to travel back to Seville.

A group of us on top of the guard tower at Alhambra

Max and I strike a pose while climbing some stairs at Alhambra

 This is part of Charles V's palace

Here is an example of the Islamic architecture that is rampant throughout the palace

Tomorrow is a holiday in Seville, which means that we don't have class.  A bunch of us are taking a day trip to Ronda, so I am looking forward to that. 

Until next time, chao!

L, sworonoff

Vamos a la Playa, A mi me gusta bailar

This weekend five of my friends and I decided to travel to Cadiz, a coastal Spanish town, to soak up a little Spanish sun.  We hopped on a train early Saturday morning and arrived in Cadiz around 10:30.  The hostel that we were staying at provided us with directions from the train station, but they consisted of no numbers or street names.  For example, we were told to go to the church outside the train station and follow the red line.  The hostel said that once the line ends, they were the second door on the left; they also added "we didn't put it there but it sure is convenient."   Well, apparently there is also a red line that goes all over Cadiz because we followed that one.  After walking around in circles for 15 minutes, we ended up right back where we started.  We realized that the hostel was not far from the train station at all, and that there is no end to the red line, but rather a break in the red line, which is where the hostel sat at the second door on the left.  Once we entered the hostel, we were prepared to use our Spanish skills, but the hostel employee said, "sup yall?" in response to our various "holas;" he was from Chicago.  His name was Michael and he was quite entertaining.
We couldn't officially check into our hostel until 1:00, so we dropped our stuff off and set out to walk around Cadiz for the remainder of the morning.  We went to a couple of forts that sat out on the water and took a few pictures.  Riley and Hope really liked climbing on rocks, and they were lucky it was low tide.
Once we checked into our hostel, we hung out on the rooftop terrace for the rest of the afternoon and napped/tanned.  
Around 7, Michael gave us a tour around the city that provided us with both history and lots of humor as well.  We saw the beach where Halle Berry had her infamous bikini scene in the James Bond flick "Die Another Day."  But, we found out a little secret about Halle Berry.  So, Cadiz is a lot like San Francisco, you think it is a warm climate, but the wind that comes off the water makes it a rather chilly city.  We had this experience in the middle of May, and Halle Berry shot that movie in February.  So, she apparently put her feet in the water and said that there was no way she was getting in because it was too cold; apparently it was her body double that actually filmed that scene.  Our friend Max (and the only boy on the trip) then said that basically his entire teenage years were ruined now.  So, I'm sorry to any guys reading this who have that same reaction.
We also saw the ruins of the second largest Roman theater which were discovered when a guy was "rolling some joints," as Michael put it, and fell asleep, thus burning down the modern building that sat atop these ruins.  During the clean-up process, fire fighters discovered what seemed to be ancient artifacts, so the called up some archeologists and voila! A Roman theater was discovered.
This was also my first time staying in a hostel, which I found to be a great experience because you meet people from all over Europe.  A met a young woman from Russia, a boy from Germany, two men from Italy, and a young woman from Sweden.  The hostel's rooftop terrace was where we would congregate and chat about what each of us was doing in Cadiz.
This was such a fantastic city and I was so happy that I got to visit it during my time here in Spain.

Sorry I've been off-grid for a little while.  The past two days have not been super exciting so I'll keep this post relatively short.  My first day of classes was yesterday and I can tell that I'm really going to enjoy them.  There are only other UNC students in my classes so we are all on the same level in terms of our speaking skills.  I am taking a class about Spanish Art and a class about Spanish Grammar and Composition.  I am particularly excited about the art class because I have never studied anything like it before.  Both classes are taught completely in Spanish, but the professors make it very easy to follow along.  Tonight, we had to listen to a presentation about the different festivals that occur in Seville throughout the year; this was also neat to learn about. 
I also get to go on a tour of the Cathedral in Seville (which is the third largest in the world after The Vatican and St. Paul's in London) on Thursday.  Colombus' tomb is part of that tour so I am super excited to see that. 
My friends and I have planned our first weekend trip to Cadiz, Spain this coming weekend and not that all of the planning and logistics are complete, it is so nice to finally be able to relax and get excited about the trip!

I'll try to keep the blog updated as frequently as possible!

xoxo,
sworonoff

Bullfighters: the men who make tight pants look good

Today I saw my first bullfight (and maybe my last, since it was a lot to take in).  Riley adn I basically lounged around all day on the "day of rest" but when evening rolled around, we went to see if we could get tickets to a bullfight that we knew was occuring in Seville that day.  Since we are in Spain, we both wanted to see a bullfight very badly and decided to take the chance and see if we could get tickets.  Fortunately, it was not hard at all.  When we were about to enter into the section where our seats were located, the security guard stopped us and told us that he needed ot remove the plastic tops from our water bottles.  This was very strange to us since in the US you cannot even bring outside food or drink into an event.  We asked our host dad once we got back why he only asked for the top and Pablo told us that it is because they are afraid people will throw the water bottle at the bullfighter and they don't want the plastic top to hit them.  It's a strange concept but apparently very common.  The bullfight itself was so interesting because I never really knew what garnered applause and what didn't, so I just sort of followed the crowd.  When we got into the arena, we found out that not only us, but basically every other person in our group had the same idea because we saw everyone there.  It was also a cool experience for us because this event was tourist central, so not only were there tons of other Americans, but there were Brits, Germans, Swedes, and many more Northern Europeans present at this event.  We got the cheap seats in the balcony, but they were still super close to the ring.  If that location is the Spanish version of the nosebleeds, I'm not complaining.  For as close as we were it may has well have been what we refer to as lower level seating.

 Our view from the "nose bleeds"

The way that bullfights work is that there are three bullfighters and they each get two different bulls, so there are six rounds altogether.  The rounds go by the strength and agility of the bulls, so the bullfighter who participates in the third and sixth round garners the most applause since he had the greatest challenge.  There are different types of uniforms that the fighters wear as well.  If a fighter has gold on their uniform, that means that they actually fight the bull and dodge it with the cape, but if they have silver on their uniform, they are only responsible for stabbing the bull to make it mad and therefore attack the bullfighter in gold.  There are also novice bullfighters without silver and gold in the arena whose main purpose is to draw the bull's attention away from they bullfighter while he regroups or whatnot.  The bullfighters are dressed to kill in their "suits of light" and are the heartthrobs of Spain; apparently many teenage girls have posters of bullfighters on their walls.  This doesn't shock me because Riley and I both commented on how good looking all of the fighters were.  It was also pretty when the sun would shine on the arena and their uniforms would literally light up.

Here are the "toreros" in their uniforms.The three in front are the ones in gold, the fighters.

This as the bullfighter who took on the third and sixth bulls.  He was also our favorite ;)

 

There are also men who come out on horses (both of which are covered from head to toe in padding and shields).  The bulls rams into the horse while the rider stabs it to provoke it.  The whole experience was a lot to take in; PETA better not get anywhere near a fight like this.  After the fight, the bulls are taken to a city where they are cooked and are apparently delicious and served as a very expensive dish.  While it is a bit of a culture shock to us, we were told that the bulls would be killed anyways, and to die this way is an honor rather than just merely being slaughtered.
The fight fulfilled all expectations that I had and I'm really excited that I go to see one while I'm here in Spain,  and apparently some of the best bullfighting is done in Seville.

The horse in the back is the one I was talking about with all of the padding