Sevilla: Historia y Más

Cheers to completing my first full week in Sevilla! While that may not seem like much, it is. I was warned time and time again about the heat in Sevilla, especially from the residents of Alicante. They told me I should just stay there and enjoy Spain while I can. Of course, I didn't listen to that advice and I still hauled my life to Sevilla, where I now reside for the next three weeks. And let me tell you, they were not lying.

Sevilla is the hottest city I have ever been to. Like, hotter than any city in the U.S., hotter than any city in Europe, hotter than any city ever. It's unbearably hot here. To make matters worse, we are subjected to exploring the city on foot in the strong southern Spain sun. What I have found here is basically this: you can leave your house between the hours of 11 P.M. and 10 A.M.
Any other time, during the day, stay inside. Seriously, don't go outside.

But really, Sevilla is not as bad as it sounds. While the heat is a lot to handle, it is still an incredibly beautiful city, with so much history. As one of the last Arab cities in Spain, it is really interesting to learn about all of the different buildings and their history, from the original Iberians to the Roman conquerors, to the Arab kings and the conquest of Ferdinand and Isabella, who can be thanked for all the Catholic people in Spain today. Since I'm a history guru, you can imagine just how interesting it is for me to explore the city and find so many historic landmarks, older than any of the buildings or places in the United States.

Arcos de la Frontera

I am also taking a class here called "Art and Architecture in Sevilla," which is basically exactly as it sounds. We learn all about the art and architecture along with the history of Sevilla, and we get to visit lots of historic sites as well as museums in and around Sevilla. While art isn't exactly my forte, it is actually kind of cool to learn about something that is very relevant in the city I am living in.

This weekend was our first trip outside of Sevilla. We were supposed to go to the city of Córdoba, however, there was some type of religious mix-up and all of the buildings were closed there. So instead, we went to Arcos de la Frontera, which is a little white town south of Sevilla. When I say white town, that's what I mean: all of the buildings are white. It was an extremely beautiful and hilly town, and we got to explore inside the church and see all of the views. After exploring for a couple of hours, we headed to La Puerta de Santa Maria, a little beach town on the Atlantic Ocean near the city of Cádiz. We spent a few hours on the beach, however it was really difficult with all of the heat. Because of this, we basically stayed in the water the entire time. The other complication was the winds, because it was so windy that all of the sand blew everywhere and was extremely uncomfortable. Despite these complications, though, it ended up being a good trip.

Real Alcázar

Today is a really hot day here, with temperatures up in the 100s. Earlier this morning we went to the Real Alcázar of Sevilla, which was the palace of the Muslim kings in Sevilla. It was incredibly beautiful, especially outside in the gardens. People were also freaking out because apparently an episode of Game of Thrones was filmed there. I would probably freak out too if I watched Game of Thrones.

Anyway, despite the heat, I have survived my first week here in Sevilla and gotten a chance to see and learn about some parts of the beautiful and historic city. I already know when I leave I will want to come back and visit, however I will try to make that trip in the winter when it isn't 115 degrees outside.

¡Hasta Luego!

Adiós Alicante, Hola Sevilla

I cannot believe how quickly my time in Alicante passed. What's even harder to believe is that I was able to fall in love with a city after only a month of living there. The scenery, the beach, the people, the classes, my host family: everything there could not have been more perfect. Of course, I was tearing up yesterday morning when I had to say goodbye to my host mom Lucia and my host sister Raquel. In such a short time, their family made me feel like Alicante was my home.

Las Hogueras

As inconvenient as it was, I had to leave Alicante during the middle of their most important (and crazy!) festival of the year: Las Hogueras. It's extremely difficult to explain just exactly what Hogueras is, you would just have to see it for yourself to fully understand. However, I will do my best. Hogueras is basically a festival that takes place every June in Alicante, where the people and neighborhoods contribute millions of dollars to build huge, colorful, artistic statues (shown to the right) to be placed throughout the city. During the week of Hogueras there are many fiestas and people are out partying pretty much all hours of the day and night (not kidding). Then, on the last day of Hogueras, all of the millions of dollars worth of beautiful statues are burned to the ground in "la quema," or the burning. I was lucky enough to be in Alicante for the first couple of days of Hogueras, but my host family was very sad I wouldn't be there to see la quema.

Anyway, it is now time for me to find my place in my new home, Sevilla. After only a day of being here, I really love my host mom. Her name is Lola and she is probably one of the coolest people I've met. Sevilla is one of the hottest cities in Spain, and can be up to 120 degrees in the summer time (I picked a great time to come here), but it is also one of the most beautiful. One downside: I was forced to say goodbye to spending every afternoon on the beach in Alicante. That I will really miss. However, Sevilla has a huge history and a culture to match, and I cannot wait to spend the next month here.

Bienvenue à Paris

At times, it still feels like I'm living a dream here. Some days I wake up and I don't know where I am, but I soon realize again once my host mom knocks on my door saying "Kendal! El Desayuno!" (breakfast). Then, I realize how difficult it is to speak fluent Spanish in the morning. 

As unreal as it feels, time is passing faster than I had ever dreamed of, and I only have a week longer in Alicante. Then, it's off to Sevilla for another month. Time flies so quickly here!

Apologies for not writing sooner, but I have basically been traveling my ass off (excuse my French). But speaking of France, I just spent the last weekend in Paris, France. Paris is a city that I (and pretty much everyone else) have always dreamed of going to, to see all of the famous sites and meet the ever-so-snobby French people. We left Alicante at like 5 in the morning on Friday, in order to get to Paris and still have a full day there. Once we got to Paris and took our stuff to the hostel, the people in charge basically said "here's a map of Paris! Have fun!" and we were given free time until later in the afternoon. For being from Iowa and having no idea how to work a big city metro system, I would say my friends and I figured it out pretty quickly. We did a bit of shopping before heading back to meet the program directors in Paris and finding out what else we were doing that weekend. Then, we went on a walking tour of the city (and I mean a TON of walking--Paris is HUGE!) and then got dinner at this cute little Bistro near Notre Dame. My friends and I decided that we had to see the Eiffel Tower the first night we were there, so we hopped on a metro and headed over to the other side of the city, where we drank wine, ate bread, and watched the Eiffel Tower through the sunset. I'm telling you, it couldn't have been more picture-perfect.

On Saturday we headed out early to the Louvre Museum, aka like the biggest art museum in the world, to see the Mona Lisa and the ancient Egyptians and Zeus and all his Ancient Greek friends. The Louvre is way too big to explore in one day, so we basically only got to see one wing of it. Then, we wandered around trying to find a non-touristy place to eat crepes, and stumbled upon a cute little diner with drinks and crepes for lunch. After lunch, we had designated activities where we got to see the less touristy side of Paris. My activity was La Recyclerie, which is an old train station on the edge of Paris that has been turned into a cute restaurant and garden, where the real hipsters of Paris can go to plant things and sell their DIY items. It was a really interesting place to go, but the neighborhood was a bit sketchy if you know what I mean.

Saturday night we went to this huge, really old restaurant where we had super French food: chicken and french fries. French fries are French, right? After that, we went to a hilarious one-man comedy show, put on by a native Parisian who basically makes fun of every single culture, including Paris. The show was called "How to Become Parisian in One Hour," and let me tell you, I was laughing my ass off the entire time (sorry again for the French, I guess it stuck with me over the weekend). Then, we decided to explore the town on Saturday night, and ended up finding a quaint little bar near the canal where there were no tourists. Of course, we stuck out like sore thumbs, because we are tourists. Also, did you know Parisian women don't wear dresses? Yeah, we didn't until then either. But they only wear pants.

Sunday we had the entire day with no planned activities, so we headed out of the hostel early to explore the city. We ended up walking basically the entire city, all while shopping and hitting the final sites we hadn't seen yet. Although my feet hurt now more than they ever have in my entire life, I must say that when I arrived home to Alicante around 1 in the morning, I felt pretty good about life. And then I slept for about 10 hours.

This last week is all back to reality, with a 12-page paper to complete, an oral presentation to give, and a final to take. Then, it will be time to celebrate with the Alicante festival de Hogeras, which are giant, expensive statues that are all over Alicante during the festival, only to be burned on the last day. The festival starts next weekend, so I will get to be here for the first couple days of it, before I head southwest to the extreme heat of Sevilla. 

Some more pictures to share:

The Opera House- Phantom of the Opera

Tiffany Paris

Entrance to La Louvre

Lock I put on the bridge with our initials

Mona Lisa

Notre Dame

Tour Eiffel

Tour Eiffel