P is for….

This week, ‘P’ is for Paris, Puente, and Peluquería:

PARIS

On the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower

Last weekend, I traveled with Kristin & Joe to Paris! Upon landing we quickly learned that we know very little French, perhaps aside from Parlez-vous anglais? and my limited French number knowledge of “une, deux, trois.” I’ll be forever grateful to my friend Sam for letting us stay in her apartment near the Eiffel Tower and for showing us a great time!

So where did we go? Better question: where did we NOT go? We visited the Louvre, climbed to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower, watched the sunset from the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in Montmartre, passed through the Jewish quarter for some excellent falafel, and more! The Parisian food was definitely a highlight of the weekend, including multiple crepes, a fancy lunch at Le Petit Vatel, numerous types of cheeses (camembert, brie, emmental, …), french onion soup, and escargot. Check out more highlights/photos from the trip HERE.

Fiestas, visitantes, y una media maratón

It’s been another action-filled last two weeks! Lo siento for the tardiness of this post; there’s a lot to catch everyone up on:

MÁS Y MÁS (¡y MÁS!) VIAJES

Running in the Media Maratón Rincón de la Victoria

Málaga & Rincón de la Victoria 1/2 Marathon– Follow the link for photos! The main purpose of this trip was the half marathon, but since Kristin decided to accompany me we made a full weekend out of the excursion. Highlights of the trip: discovering Primark (a very cheap Irish clothing store chain!), visiting the Museo Picasso Málaga and seeing its exhibition on the Grotesque, and, of course, the half marathon! I’d definitely consider the race as one of the more difficult athletic ventures I’ve undertaken, but I really enjoyed the experience. I also placed 2nd in my age group with an overall time of 2:01:52. I’ll surely want to run another 1/2 marathon in the future! I’ve really enjoyed participating in races in Spain: it’s so much cheaper to register and there’s always lots of free regalitos (little gifts). I’ll miss these benefits when I run races back home!

VIDEO from the race (fast-forward to 10:48 to see yours truly!): 

¿Hay huelga? No hay problema

Kristin’s photo from the 14-N manifestación

At least there’s not a problem for us extranjeros! On Wednesday classes and university activities were cancelled for the nationwide huelga. For any of you non-Spanish speakers out there, huelga means strike, although the Spanish version is not what you might typically think. At least when I think ‘strike’, the first thoughts that pop into my mind are sit-ins, workers with picket signs marching in circles, and huge inconveniences. The huelgas in Spain aren’t so completely different in that, yes, people do take to the streets (in thousands!) and there are certainly some inconveniences for those non-strikers who just want to buy a café or go to a favorite store only to discover that it’s closed. But although there can definitely be strikes here against employers, as anywhere, the huelgas in Spain are usually more centered on discontent with the government. The thousands that took to the streets in Sevilla and other large cities on Wednesday were united in that they wanted to send the government a message of their dissatisfaction, but the aims of different coalitions were different:

No big deal… just went to AFRICA!

Meet my new amigo, Señor Camel!

You heard right: how did I spend last weekend? Traveling in MOROCCO! My adventure officially made Africa the third continent I’ve visited. Since southern Spain is so close, it wasn’t so much a question of “Why travel to Morocco?” but more a question of “Why not?!?” Not only was it an extremely enjoyable trip, but it was also eye-opening in ways I didn’t expect. When I told friends or family back home that I was traveling to Morocco, there were lots of warnings to to be careful. The culture is definitely different and I would not have traveled by myself (for more reasons than just security), but I never felt unsafe. Although we saw many poorer areas and it is a developing country, there is also a vibrant culture filled with honest, hard-working people who are just trying to make a living. Also super impressive: most of the Moroccan people speak multiple languages! They known Arabic & Spanish but in many cases also English, French, or other languages. Although some Moroccans have had formal language education (we saw lots of immersion schools), many shopkeepers we spoke with said they picked up many of their language abilities from interacting with tourists.

¡Últimas noticias!

Lots of updates from the past week:

Our group getting ready for the factory tour

TRIPS & PHOTOS

Estepa– Before heading off to Barcelona last weekend, I took a morning trip with MCP to visit La Aurora, a factory in the town of Estepa that makes mantecados (a sweet enjoyed in Sevilla during the Christmas season). But as we learned, mantecados are strictly eaten only during the fall and Christmas season; other months of the year (January-August), the factory makes barritas (energy/sports bars). Check out photos from the trip HERE.

¡Viajes y más!

Once again, I’ve been SUPER busy recently! It’s a different kind of busy than at Penn; aside from class, there’s less crew practice & club meetings but more time spent traveling and even just studying. I’ve even found that I review my notes a lot more here since it’s especially important with all of my classes in Spanish to clarify what I don’t understand every day. I should probably start doing this more at Penn! :p Anyway, here’s some more updates from my last post:

VIAJES:

How surreal is this?!? My favorite photo from Ronda.

Ronda– Two Saturdays ago, I went with the MCP program to visit Ronda, located in the mountains. Let me just say that it was “gorge-ous”! (Yes, I know it’s an awful pun but it was so pretty & there was a huge gorge!) You can check out my photos of Ronda at this link, but here’s some other highlights:

I’m alive!…

…. which I’m sure you all knew, but it’s been quite a while since my last post! After our trip to Cádiz I had intended to post the next day but obviously that never happened. Our directors told us at the very beginning that these first few weeks of orientation were the most intense of the entire program. I didn’t believe them at first but I definitely do now! So what have I been up to?

Just a preview of what I’ve been up to: in front of el Palacio Real in Madrid (with ice cream, of course!)