laziness

I haven't made a real post in a while. So I'm doing that now...even though I should be doing homework. Dumb homework. Anyway, I've done a few fun things!

After going to Lisboa, the next weekend we decided to stay in Sevilla. There were some sights I still hadn't seen here, so I wanted to do all the tourist-y things. First up was the Plaza de España. It was built for the world exhibition in 1929 or something, and has each part of Spain represented. There are tiled murals and benches along with maps for each area. Very pretty! Right next to the Plaza is the Maria Luisa Park. Its a huge area of green within the city. Very peaceful and relaxing. Until you step in horse poo on your way to class after wandering around in the park...

Plaza de España

roasted chestnuts in the park? why not?!

Since we had October 12th (a Tuesday) off of school for Día de la Hispanidad, I decided to do some more touristy things that day. What I didn't realize was that every other person in Europe decided to do the same thing. Sofie and I headed over to the Cathedral/Alcázar in the morning to check them out. Only to find incredibly long lines when we got there. So while everyone else stood in line forever, we checked out the "Archivo de las Indias" Museum (India Export company museum/museum of Piracy). There were lots of pirate maps and documents. Pretty cool. When we were done, the lines were still long. So we went to a cafe. Finally by that time the lines weren't so long. We started with the cathedral (free for students yay!). We wandered around, climbed up the Giralda, and took lots of pictures. It's a huge church. Beautiful. The organ is amazing and the view from the Giralda is quite lovely. After we were done there, we headed to the Reáles Alcázares. This is the royal...something...of Sevilla. It is their version of the Alhambra. I didn't really know what to expect when we went there, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is so beautiful. The ornate decorations on the walls, the amazing garden, it's just wonderful! I've decided I may have to go back and make the Alcázar gardens my new study spot....good thing this is also free for students.

The Cathedral

Alcázar

Inside the Alcázar

The next weekend was a busy one. On Friday, we went on a "Medieval Castle" tour. We hopped on a bus to two closeby towns (Alcala de Guadaira and Utrera) where there are some castles. First up was Alcala, where is was quite foggy. The castle was pretty cool, but they are doing some restoration work, so that kind of hindered the view at times. Apparently there's not much else in that town, so after the castle we headed to Utrera. Our guide (who is also the profe of my cinema class) is from Utrera. So he had fun bragging about how great his town is, and running into family and friends during our time there. Utrera was a cute little town, with a couple pretty cathedrals, a lovely Castle and cute cafes with amazing pastries. After seeing the sights and eating some goodies, we headed back home.

Alcalá de Guadaira (this isn't even the castle...didn't get many
good shots of it)

View from the castle's tower in Utrera.

Our interest group met that same night, to learn about bullfighting. We learned a little bit of history then headed to the bullfighting "school" where the young toreros-in-training practice. They have their capes and swords, and also the horns of a bull which they use to pretend to be the bull. It was quite fascinating. It seems like a silly little boy's game, but they take it so seriously. They have the proper stance and posture, and the "bull" makes snorting noises and runs towards the cape (well, slowly walks towards it, its a very slow-motion-like activity). After watching for a bit we got our chance to try it out. The cape is surprisingly heavy and stiff. I didn't try being the "bull" but I got the gist of things. It was a really fun thing to do. I still don't want to see a bullfight (which I can't even if I did want to, as the bullfighting season in Sevilla is over), but I at least know a little more about it now!

Later that weekend we went on a hike! CIEE had a couple hikes earlier, but I couldn't go on them. So I was excited to go this time. I'm not normally much of a hiker, but wanted to see the countryside. This hike was along the Odiel river in Huelva. The river runs through copper mining land. Mining was done there for hundreds of years, and was actually just shut down 10 years ago. Because of the mining processes they used (including burning the rocks to get the copper out, which created deadly fumes and smoke which led to acid rain, etc), the river is so acidic that nothing can live in or around it. There is absolutely no life in the river, and the river banks are completely barren. There is one kind of plant that has learned to live in the acidic soil. But other than that its just rock and dirt. Sounds like it would be a pretty ugly hike, but the forest around the river and on the way to it was beautiful. I wish photos could capture smell. I was just drinking it in. Such a nice break from the smell of urine horse poop that so often invades my nostrils while walking through Sevilla. I wanted to bottle the forest-y smell to bring back with me. Our guides were really fun and knowledgeable about the area. One was tiny and knew all about the plants. The other was huge and knew about the history. I wish I had taken a picture of them together, it was so funny! One was probably 6'7" and his buddy came up to his chest. Pretty funny. I haven't proposed marriage yet to the tall one, but if I go on the next hike I will.....

Green water-not healthy.

Barren land.

Red water-even more unhealthy than green.

Well, that's a really quick wrap-up of the last few weeks. I'll post more about the last weekend soon! (For more photos of all this, go here.)