Belgium

As mentioned at the end of my last post, I spent this past weekend in Belgium with 3 friends from Fordham. I left Sevilla on Thursday night and arrived in Barcelona around 1030pm where I met my friend Chris from Fordham who is studying abroad there. Since our flight to Belgium was at 645am Friday morning, we decided to stay up the whole night and leave for the airport a little before 5am. Although I was certainly tired the next day, I slept the whole flight to Belgium and don’t regret the decision. We met our 2 other friends from Fordham (Andrew and Alex, both of whom have recently visited and were mentioned in previous posts) who are studying abroad in Dublin at the hotel in Brussels.

*A side note to show how unprepared we were for this trip: Chris and I landed in Brussels a little after 9am and decided to wait there for Andrew and Alex since their flight got in around 1030am. We talked to Andrew right after they landed, and planned to meet in the terminals. After about 15 minutes and not seeing them yet, Andrew informed us that they didn’t pass any terminals and they had gone through customs and were waiting by the buses. Somewhat confused, Chris and I left the airport as well and headed to the buses. A few phone calls later, we finally realized we had flown to different airports…

Luckily, we were all able to make it to our hotel easily enough and after meeting there, we explored the city. I loved it immediately, possibly because it is so different from Spain and anywhere I’ve visited since my arrival in Europe. Of course, it’s similar in the way that nearly everything is old and has a lot of history, but architecturally the city is quite different. Since I’m not expert at architecture, I will let the pictures show you what I mean.

Royal Galleries of St. Hubert, filled with shops

Grand Place

Since we were all pretty tired from not sleeping the night before, we took a quick nap before dinner. Friday night we went to a place called Delirium Cafe – where they claim to have more than 2000 different types of beers to choose from. I didn’t see a list of beer that long, but we heard they only offer certain beers on certain nights. My favorite was a cherry flavored beer.

me, Chris, Alex and Andrew before going out

On Saturday we woke up early and took a train to Bruges – another popular destination in Belgium. We had all heard great things about it and since the trip was only an hour long, we decided to do it. Bruges was beautiful as well – very similar to Brussels but with canals. It was in Bruges that I indulged in the chocolate Belgium is so famous for – and the 8 euro I spent was well worth it!

one of the many canals

at the main plaza in Bruges

the tower we climbed

the view from the top

the view on the way down

my dream come true!

Saturday night after dinner we headed out in hopes to find a club that I had read about, but none of the taxi drivers we encountered had heard of it. So we went to Delirium Café again, intending to find the club after but a sudden downpour prevented us from getting any further. Since Delirium is so big and there are so many beers to choose from, we didn’t mind staying there another night.

On Sunday morning Chris and I had to leave bright an early for our 930am flight, and I spent nearly the whole day traveling. Luckily, my two flights went smoothly and I got home safely by mid- afternoon.

A few highlights from the trip:

• Gran Place – this reminded me of Plaza Mayor in Spain because they were both rectangular plazas enclosed by beautiful buildings on all four sides. It was especially pretty at night when the buildings were lit up.
• Our day trip to Bruges, specifically when we climbed a tower similar to the bell tower in Sevilla, aside from the incredibly narrow spiral staircase that made for a hellish climb up. This might not sound like a highlight, but it made for a lot of laughs on the way down when Chris repeatedly warned people the climb was not worth the money.
• Delirium Café – for reasons already explained.
• Realizing the famous statue that can be seen in the second picture below is not called "Man who can piss" but "Manneken Pis" which is Dutch for little man urinating, which is actually not much less crude! There are many stories behind this statue, and our favorite was that in the 14th century Brussels was under attack, and when the attackers set fire to some explosives, the little boy peed on them and thus saved the city.
• Waffles and chocolate – two things Belgium is famous for, and rightly so. The waffles are delicious, but are definitely not for breakfast.
• Staying in a hotel and having an amazing shower.

the Grand Place at night

Manneken Pis

Just one of the many waffle places we visited.

If you're wondering why I've barely mentioned classes or my life during the week, it's because the homework is so minimal. I had my first homework assignment due this past week! That's not to say my classes are easy - it's still a challenge to take all of my classes in Spanish. Although there is pretty much no work outside of the classroom, during class I need to really concentrate the entire time, otherwise it's quite easy to miss something and be thrown off for the rest of class. Also, nearly all of my grades depend on just a midterm and a final, so I need to do well on those. I had 2 midterms this past week and I think they went fairly well; now I just have 2 more next week and then I'm on spring break!

Next week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) and since it’s so widely-celebrated here, we have the entire week off. The week is filled with holy processions throughout the city, which I hear are quite intense, but I’ll be traveling during the majority of the week. On Friday morning (March 26), 2 friends of mine and I are flying to Barcelona, where we will stay until Monday. From Monday to Friday we’ll be exploring Paris – which I can’t wait for. Then we’ll be back in Sevilla to witness the end of Semana Santa, and hopefully enjoy more beautiful weather!

Visitors in Spain

It's been nearly 3 weeks since my last update and I apologize, but the majority of my subscribers all visited at some point so I figured I would wait until after.

About 7 friends - both from Fordham and Simsbury - visited me in Sevilla the first weekend in March. Although the weather didn't quite cooperate, overall the weekend was a success. 6 of my visitors are studying abroad this semester as well and came to Sevilla just as a weekend trip. 2 came from Alicante (a smaller city on the eastern coast of Spain), 1 from Granada (another smallish city in southern Spain) 1 from Barcelona, 1 from Rome, and 1 from Dublin. My last friend is from Simsbury and goes to UPenn and was spending his spring break in Spain. I hadn't seen him too recently since he moved to Pennsylvania after high school, but it was so fun to have so many of my friends visiting. Despite the on and off rain, we still managed to see all the most beautiful and important parts of Sevilla - such as the cathedral, the royal palace, plaza de España, a flamenco show and a discothèque, of course. Most of my friends had left by Sunday morning, but one of my roommates who was visiting from Dublin, Alex, and my friend Dave from Simsbury who was visiting Spain on his spring break stayed until Monday. I was really excited for them to stay not only because the weather was a lot better, but also because I was looking forward to catching up with them. I loved having all of my friends visiting but since there were so many people, it was hard to catch up with everyone. So Sunday was spent a bit more relaxed and we went to dinner at a cute little tapas place where we ended up staying for a couple of hours just talking. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend and a great end.

On Wednesday the 10th, my friend Andrew from Fordham who is studying in Dublin came to visit for 24 hours. He arrived bright and early on Wednesday and left bright and early on Thursday. It was his spring break and he was spending it in Barcelona - and since flights are cheap, he decided to come visit Sevilla for the day. I was able to give him a shortened version of the tour I gave my friends the weekend before and we managed to hit all the important sights. Andrew was lucky in terms of weather- blue skies and high 60s. We had a really fun day and I took him to a flamenco show that night which he, like everyone who sees it, loved. After he left Thursday morning, I only had one more day to get through before my family arrived!

Friday morning I had a communication interest group trip to a TV station in Sevilla at which we watched part of a Spanish TV show being taped. It wasn't a live taping and the fairly famous author who we were supposed to watch being interviewed showed up about 45 minutes late. We did get a tour of the building and were able to see about 15 minutes of the interview before we left so it was actually a really cool experience that is something I would not normally have been able to do here if it weren't for my program. After that, I met my family at the hotel! Since my parents, Annie and Chris were all pretty jetlagged from their trip, Friday afternoon we just walked around the main part of the city and relaxed by the river a bit. I had been nervous about the weather all week but from the minute they got here, it was beautiful. It was sunny and reached the 70s nearly everyday. Friday night I took everyone to a cute street right near the cathedral filled with great tapas restaurants everywhere you look. It's one of my favorite streets in the city and has a great atmosphere, and everyone enjoyed their first Spanish meal, which consisted of some typical dishes like ham, croquettes and fish, among other things.

Saturday we all slept in a bit due to the jetlag and first visited the Royal Palace, or the Real Alcazar. I believe I've written about this before because it's one of my favorite places in the city with its large, beautiful gardens. My family loved it as well - I knew they would.

After the palace, we ate lunch outside at a picture perfect restaurant in a plaza right next to the giralda. The sun was so strong at this point that we were all a bit worried about getting sunburned, which is exactly the weather I had been waiting for! After that we wandered around the city for a bit before heading back to the hotel to rest. For dinner we went to a restaurant right on the river with a beautiful view.

Sunday we woke up even later and after a not so quick breakfast (apparently the cafe we went to can only cook one breakfast at a time...) headed to mass at the cathedral followed by a tour. Although I've been to the cathedral many times I still knew very little about the history, so we did an audio tour. Again, the weather was beautiful so we got some great pictures at the top of the bell tower.

Next we walked to Plaza de España and Parque de Maria Luisa. For dinner we had tapas on the same street we went to on the first night, and got some new dishes - goat cheese with honey, grilled eggplant, ham and cheese - which were quite popular.

On Monday I was able to skip my classes and we decided to take a day trip to a small town south of Sevilla called Ronda - the best known of the 'white towns' or pueblos blancos. The bus trip was about an hour and a half and was quite beautiful as it took us through the mountains of Spain. First we visited the Plaza de Toros – or the bullfighting ring, where both Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles have visited.

We soon discovered the main bridge in the city, which is 120 meters tall (nearly 400 feet). There are some incredible views from this bridge that I won’t attempt to describe.

After arriving back in Sevilla that night, we headed out for a quick dinner followed by a flamenco show. This is something I’ve brought all of my guests to because its such an important part of Andalucian culture. The bar that I took my family to is a small, hole in the wall type of place called La Carboneria. There is no signage outside so it’s tough to find, but if you do find it, you feel that much more accomplished. The show that night was particularly good and as expected, my family loved it.

Unfortunately I couldn’t skip my classes 2 days in a row, so I spent Tuesday morning in class and met up with my family just in time for lunch. We then headed to my home stay hoping to meet Ignacia, but we missed her. Everyone really wanted to meet her, and Ignacia wanted to meet my family as well but I’m still glad my family got to see where I live. At 6pm, my mom, Annie and I had an appointment at the Arab Baths of Sevilla. These baths are hard to describe, but similar to a spa experience. There are small pools throughout, all at different temperatures. Annie and I also reserved a 15-minute massage, which was my first massage ever. It was amazing, especially in addition to the baths. Since I didn’t take any pictures, here is a link to the gallery which will give you an idea of what it was like.

After the baths, my family met up with a few friends of mine for their last dinner in Sevilla. It was a great way to end the trip and I’m glad my friends were able to meet my family, who they’ve heard a lot about. I had to say goodbye to my family after dinner since they were leaving early the next day, and it was hard to believe their trip was over. I had been looking forward to their visit, which would mark my halfway point here, since I arrived in Sevilla.

After my family left, I had little time to think about how quickly time has gone by before I was leaving again for another trip. On Thursday, March 18, I was off to Barcelona where I would meet a friend and we would travel to Brussels, Belgium together for the weekend. I’ll save my next post to write about Belgium, which I absolutely loved.

Mad(rid) About You

Another week, another trip. This time – Madrid! But first, my week in Sevilla.

I was expecting rain for the majority of the week and was pleasantly surprised when the forecast was wrong and instead there was lots of sun! I think the weather is finally starting to take a turn for the better.

On Wednesday a few friends and I went out for tapas since we weren’t going to be around Sevilla this weekend. Afterwards, my friend Alex and I went to an outdoor plaza for a few drinks, where we met the most adorable, older couple from Belgium. They told us that years ago they had an American girl live with them while she was studying abroad, ad she loved Belgium so much that she stayed for 3 years. The couple had just returned from their former student’s wedding in Texas, and are staying in Sevilla for a couple weeks before returning home to Antwerp. I should have pointed out that we talked to them in English because they were nearly fluent, but they were so sweet. They loved hearing about our experience here and were quite jealous that we were here until May. I told them I would be visiting Brussels in March and they were so excited that they asked for my email address so that they could give me advice as to where to visit. I’m still waiting for an email, but I hope to hear from them!

After class on Thursday another friend and I visited the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Beautiful Art). Nearly all of the art in the museum seemed to be religious art ranging from the 12^th to the 19^th century (don’t quote me on that though). The art came from all over Europe – not just Spanish art. After the museum we treated ourselves to the best ice cream I’ve had in Sevilla thus far – and I’ve had a lot of ice cream. Thursday night was spent packing and getting to bed early to leave early Friday for Madrid!

I went with 3 friends from CIEE and also met up with Thomas, a friend from Fordham while I was there. Thomas is currently studying abroad in London and visited Madrid for the weekend as well. From Sevilla, my friends and I took a high-speed train which cut the usual 6-hour trip to a quick 2 ½ hours. It was a great way to travel there, especially because I got a window seat and was able to enjoy the view. We passed through some beautiful parts of Spain. After arriving on Friday we walked through the Parque de Buen Retiro (which has been called the Central Park of Madrid) and dropping our stuff at the hostel, we explored the area right around our hostel. We were located very close to Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol – both popular areas in the center of Madrid. Here are a few pictures.

Still a little tired from the early train, I didn't take too many pictures in the 'Central Park' of Madrid,' but here's one.

El Oso Y El Madroño - The Bear and the (Madroño) Tree, the symbol of Madrid.

The view from the hostel! Not bad.

Saturday morning we stumbled upon Mercado de San Miguel which was awesome. Here are some pictures, since I don’t think my attempt to describe it would do it justice.

A shot from the outside.

I've gotten used to see this much meat in markets - it's quite normal in Spain!

This is only half of the Market.

At first, I thought these were repulsive. Then, I decided their facial expressions were hilarious. They look so sad!

After this, we headed to the main Cathedral in Madrid (Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena) followed by the Royal Palace. It seems every city in Spain has their own major Cathedral and Palace.

The Cathedral.

A shot of the interior of the Cathedral. I prefer ours in Sevilla.

Because the Royal Palace is so big, it's hard to capture in a photo. This the best I could do.

After a lunch of delicious bocadillos (sandwiches), we headed to Museo Dell Prado – a major museum in Madrid. I was able to see many artworks I studied in my Art History class at Fordham, such as the Third of May by Francisco Goya and Las Meninas by Diego Velásquez. Saturday night we had tapas at a restaurant right near Plaza Mayor, which also ended up being great. One of the best parts of this trip was the food. We usually just picked places that looked cute, which can be risky, but we actually got quite lucky! We ate a lot of potato dishes as well as various types of seafood tapas. After dinner we met up with a few other kids from my program in Sevilla who were also visiting Madrid to go to Kapital – a 7 floor discoteca. It’s one of the most popular discotecas in Madrid, thanks to its sheer size and different music on every floor.

"The Museo del Prado is more important to Spain than the Republic and Monarchy combined." Manuel Azaña

In the Plaza Mayor.

Every Sunday in Madrid there’s an open market in an area of Madrid called El Rastro. The market was huge and seemed to stretch on and on. We didn’t even make it to the end, but found everything from clothes to artwork to perfumes and old watches. I bought a funky, handmade hair clip that I’m really excited to have as a memento of Spain. After the market, we headed back to the Mercado de San Miguel for lunch where we were able to choose from seafood to ham to various bocadillos. Our plan was to go to the other major museum, Museo de la Reina Sofia, after lunch but somehow had gotten our information mixed up and didn’t realize the museum closed at 2:30 on Sundays. It was frustrating because I was anxious to see Guernica, one of Picasso’s most famous paintings, but we tried not to dwell on it since it was an accident. Instead, we walked to the edge of the city to the Templo de Debod. There’s also a pretty cool view of the area surrounding Madrid, which is actually located on a plateau.

The Templo de Debod.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

I had to document the snails that I tried!

Sunday night we went to dinner at another tapas bar – one that was recommended in Thomas’s guidebook – and I tried snails! I can’t say I really liked them, but I’m proud of myself for trying. After, we got churros con chocolate – a popular Spanish dessert. Monday morning we had to get up early to catch the train home! It was really nice having Monday off and being able to stay in Madrid an extra night.

Going away for this trip really made me feel like Sevilla is my home now. Although I certainly liked Madrid a lot more than I expected, I really don’t think I could have picked a better city than Sevilla to study in. Madrid is considerably bigger and more modern, which is why I think Sevilla is prettier. It’s very hard to compare the cities too because they are so different, and my feeling is that they both have a lot of culture, but very different types. Madrid is the capital of the country and is home to a lot of famous artwork, but you can’t find authentic flamenco or bull fighting in Madrid like you can in Sevilla. Overall the weekend was a big success, but I’m glad to be back in Sevilla enjoying the warmer weather.

Also, when I got home Ignacia had made a tortilla española for me for lunch. I mentioned to her last week that I had only tried the traditional Spanish dish once but really liked it, and it was really sweet of her to make it for me upon returning to Sevilla! Unfortunately I didn’t see it made nor do I know the recipe – it can vary – but the main ingredients are eggs and potatoes. It’s not uncommon to see a tortilla española made with cheese, jam, or other ingredients. It looks similar to a quiche, but tends to be a bit plainer. I like it because you can have it any time of day – breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This coming weekend I have a bunch of friends from Fordham who are also studying abroad coming to visit! I am so excited to show my friends where I live and for them to see what a beautiful place Sevilla is. 2 of my friends who are coming are currently studying in Alicante, Spain; one is in Barcelona; another in Rome and the last one is coming from Dublin. Hopefully we’ll get good weather and I’ll be a good tour guide!