So I know this post is super late (Sorry, Mom!) but Grenada was awesome! The bus ride there was kind of long (5 hours), but the views were absolutely gorgeous. The first night we didn’t do much; once we got to the hotel we had a group dinner (that was not super vegetarian-friendly) and then we had free time the rest of the night. I went over to a friend’s room to watch a movie (Project X) which then pumped us up so much, we had to go out. The bars in Grenada were really nice—the main “downtown” area is around the bull ring, and the bar that we went to was actually underneath the ring. It was a lot less American than most of the bars in Cádiz, so it was nice getting to experience a different bar scene.

The next day we woke up early and toured the Alhambra. Ever since I read a book about the Moors when I was in elementary school I have wanted to see this, and I was not disappointed! It was gorgeous, and I actually learned a lot about the history of both the Alhambra and Spain. Also, I let my friend Chris use my camera, so I actually have pictures, too! That afternoon we were free, so I got lunch with some friends and roamed around Grenada for a while before taking a lengthy, pre-dinner nap. After my nap, I turned on the television (because everybody else was still napping) and got to watch Thundercats in Spanish, which may have been one of the weirdest experiences I have had in Spain. Then, we got ready for dinner in the hotel, again. After that, we went out again, but this time with the whole group. It was a lot of fun! But fun that I sincerely regretted on the 5-hour bus ride the next day when I had run out of Dramamine.

After a plane, a train, and a bus, I made it to Rome last weekend for Carli’s graduation. I left straight from class on Thursday so that I could catch my train (I had originally planned on taking a bus to Madrid before flying to Rome, but the man at the bus station told me I wouldn’t make it in time.). The train ride was pleasant, and when I arrived in Madrid, somebody was nice enough to direct me to the bus to take to the airport. However, by the time I arrived there, I was still 12+ hours early for my flight, and the gate was already closed. There were no benches in the airport before security, but there was a little café, so I got a bottle of red wine and settled in for the night. I got a lot of reading done in that airport (thank God for Kindles!) and even a little sleep (thank God for wine!). Around 5, the Ryan Air gate opened and I went ahead and checked in and went through security so that I could nap on a bench, rather than the tile floor. (Obviously) I made my flight with little trouble, and when I got to Rome I only had to wait several minutes before Dr. Arza picked me up.

When we got back to their apartment, Ms. Angela ushered me in silently before calling out to Carli that she had a surprise for her. Carli, being Carls, was pissed that she had to walk from her bedroom to the family room, but as soon as she saw me she FREAKED OUT. It was awesome. That night we went to her graduation and afterwards we went to Pietro’s (her boyfriend) house for dinner. His mom made some amazing pesto, but Pietro had SAT II’s the next day, so we went to bed rather than going out.

Saturday I mostly hung out with Carli, and in the afternoon (unfortunately for my wallet) we went shopping. Luckily, the Corso (where the stores are) is right between the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon so I was able to tell everybody back in Cadiz that I did do some Rome-y things. I got a couple of cute tops and an adorable bandeau, which I am now obsessed with. That night we went to Campo (where the American bars are) with Kirk, Carls, Pietro, Leo (Pietro’s brother), and few of Leo’s friends. We had fun, but we didn’t get back to the house until around 5am. Because of that, we didn’t wake up until around 1pm the next day, so I barely had time to down one of Dr. Arza’s waffles before they took me to the airport. The journey back was uneventful (3 other girls from Cadiz were on my flight) and I met a bunch of really cool people who went to University of Miami Law School and were studying in Sevilla. I got back in plenty of time to do homework (gross) and then Camilla (my roommate) and I ate (at like 11:30pm) and went to bed.

Last weekend (because I am crazy late on my posting) I went to Sevilla and Cordoba! It was super fun, and it was nice to see all the people in the UGA Sevilla program, but it was exhausting and definitely reinforced how happy I am that I live in Cadiz.

We started off with a two hour bus ride to Sevilla early Saturday morning. When we got there, we dropped our luggage off at the hotel, and went to the Catedral de la Santa Maria de la Sede, the third largest cathedral in the world. Unfortunately, our tour guide was from the university in Sevilla and turned what was supposed to be an hour-long tour into a four-hour cathedral extravaganza. It was not exciting. However, at the end we got to climb the Giralda, or the bell tower. After being so bored for so long, my roommate and I ran up the 34 ramps to the top, which I sincerely regretted later. The views were spectacular; Sevilla really is a beautiful city. Then we went to the Alcazar (one of the Moorish palaces), which I was really excited about, but because we spent so long at the Cathedral we had to rush through the palace tour. It was still breathtaking, but by that point I was so blinded by hunger that I could hardly pay attention. At 4 pm (after eating breakfast at 7am) we finally were dismissed to eat, and I had my go-to bocadillo de tortilla de espana (a carb-fest sandwich with a potato omlette inside of it) and a sangria (I thought the Cadiz sangria was better). Then we had a futbol (soccer) game against the UGA en Sevilla program which we one 7-1 and I was a cheerleader for, due to my complete lack of coordination.

That night we went to a very fancy hotel for a tapas dinner on the roof provided by the program. The food was good, but very little of it was vegetarian and eating tapas never really leaves you feeling satisfied. Luckily, every time we found something that had meat in it or we didn’t like, we just yelled “Taylor, it’s an emergency!” and our friend Taylor came and ate it. That night, we went out to a couple bars, but in Sevilla the night life really doesn’t start until 4am. At Cadiz, none of the clubs open until then, but you can usually find a pretty hoppin’ bar to hang out in until then. In Sevilla, there was nothing, so we went to bed early-ish.

I liked Cordoba much better than Sevilla. It was much smaller (therefore minimizing chances at getting lost), and a little cooler (95 degrees as opposed to 100). I definitely prefer Cadiz over both, though. In Cordoba we toured the city with the same tour guide as we had the previous day, who was blatantly prejudiced against the Cadiz kids. Granted, we hadn’t been that polite the previous day, but he was a total dick. Plus, he was nipping all day and it was gross. We walked around the city, including the Calle de Judios (Street of the Jews). There, I saw the only synagogue I’ve ever seen that contained a crucifix (it was actually a converted church). The big deal site in Cordoba, though, was the mezquita (mosque), which was also the only mosque I’ve ever seen that contained a plethora of crucifixes. It was absolutely beautiful, because it was filled with the Moorish architecture I like so much. My friend Blair and I attracted some attention trying to go into the catacombs (they were unlocked!) but apparently that’s off-limits. By the end of the day I was feeling kind of sick, so I slept the entire bus ride home, but I’m better now!

I know that was super late, but hopefully by the end of this week I will have 2 new posts plus the pics from Sevilla y Granada! As always, excuse the grammar errors and ha’lae! (Anzaluz for hasta luego!)

So, on Tuesday, I spur of the moment went to Africa. Yeah. I just up and went to Africa! And it was shockingly easy! We got the day off of school (the second day to class) due to strikes, which are very Spanish; they strike everything over here. So a group of me and 16 other people went to Morocco. We took a bus to Tarifa, a in Spain on the Strait of Gibraltar that was about an hour and a half away. Then, we took a 45 minute ferry trip to Tangiers, Morocco! It was completely insane. When we bought the ferry tickets, we stumbled upon this amazing deal. For 10 euro less that the ferry alone, we could get ferry tickets, a tour, and lunch all-inclusive with the travel company. After we got off of the ferry, we got onto our tour bus and they drive us through the city, which is absolutely gorgeous. However, I wasn’t expecting all of the poverty. There would be an opulent resort with a golf house next to starving children. The juxtaposition was horrific.

The first thing we did was ride camels. Not for long, and not well, but still. I rode a camel. In Morocco. Then, we got back onto the bus and they drove us around some more. We got off and started walking through the city, which is really more a series of interconnected alley-ways that manage to squeeze through. The architecture was really gorgeous, and the Arabic influence was obvious; it was easy to draw comparisons between it and Spain (something we are doing in my Spanish culture class!). However, people are constantly approaching you and trying to sell you stuff. Not like New York City street venders offering the wares, more like follow you through the city trying to haggle while you avoid eye contact and say “No” in all of the languages that you know. It’s non-stop. The worst is that they will have children approach you and try to sell you a stick of gum for a euro. It’s pretty much the closest thing to real-lifeSlumdog Millionairethat I hope to ever see. The tour guide took us to see a snake charmer, which was kind of a let down. If you had never seen a snake it would have been pretty cool, but I felt like I pretty much could have done his job. Lunch was amazing. We went to this little Moroccan (obviously) restaurant where they served us bread, soup, kabobs (they had some sort of meat on them so I passed), artichoke couscous, and these little fried honey desserts. It was delicious, and despite my concerns I did not get food poisoning.

After lunch we discovered why the tour was such a good deal. The guides then took us to a series of shops, where the people tried to peer pressure us into buying things. Some of the shops were kind of cool (like the spice market), but most of them were selling rugs or just straight-up junk. I was too afraid to buy anything because I knew that as soon as I pulled out my wallet, I would be attacked by street vendors. After a while of that, they took us back to the ferry which we took to the bus station and then went home to Cadiz.

Overall, it was a really neat experience, and I’m really happy I did it because I doubt I would ever have the chance to again. However, I really doubt I would ever go back. The poverty was horrendous, and the street vendors were kind of scary sometimes. I was extremely happy that I was with a bunch of guys. I also heard that Tangiers is the worst place to go in Morocco because it is so tourist-driven. Also, despite all of the irritating live-action infomercials, I’m really happy that we did the tour thing, because otherwise I would have been too intimidated to see the city. However, it was a great experience to have, and I recommend that everybody should if they get the chance; just don’t stay longer than a day. 

So, after a ridiculous 10-hour bus ride, I am finally in Cadiz! I was so excited/nervous the entire journey because once I got here we met our host families and immediately went home with them; I didn’t even know who would be my roommate! However, as we arrived, they told us who our roommates were (mine’s super awesome and also a vegetarian!) and then we met our host family together. It was kind of disconcerting at first because they were speaking very rapidly in Spanish to us, and our host mother was upset because they had just informed her that we didn’t eat meat. However, once we actually got to the house (which was more than a mile of me dragging a 50+lb suitcase down cobblestone roads) she calmed down.

Angela (our host mom) is so nice. Once we got there, we took a walk around the city so that she could show us where the beach and the university were. We brought the dog, Estrellita, who is so fat she could hardly keep up with us! When we got back, she lectured us on how to take showers and then made dinner (cauliflower soup with a tortilla [sort of a Spanish fritatta]). It was kind of awkward because we ate at a separate table, but their apartment is really small, and I don’t think that we could actually all fit at one.

This morning, we ate breakfast (cereal) and Angela walked us to class. There, we met up with the UGA group and had our “orientation,” where all we learned was the wifi password (we don’t have internet in our house, so it was really exciting to finally be able to access it). Then we walked around Cadiz with the group, and Aitor (the program director) pointed out the important sites. It was ridiculously cold, so Camilla (my roommate) and I walked back to the house and changed clothes before meeting everybody in a plaza for cafe con leche. After that, we hung out for a while, and then went back to the house for lunch. Pepe and Angela’s grandson was there playing, so we played with him while Angela cooked. We had rice in a tomato sauce, bread, and cheese. Apparently, Angela believes that because we are vegetarians we are starving to death, because she keeps insisting that we eat more and saying how skinny we are. It’s pretty funny. After lunch, though, while everybody took their siesta, Camilla and I walked back to the university to use the wifi (pronounced wee-fee by the Spaniards). And then it was now!

I promise that not every post will be quite this detailed, but I’ve been internet-less so my mother has been a little anxious. Anyways, as always excuse the grammar mistakes and have a great day!

Madrid was not at all what I expected. It was absolutely beautiful, but more like New York than I anticipated. However, I learned a lot while I was there!

10. Prostitution is legal there, so all of the scantily clad women you see on the streets are INDEED prostitutes!

9. If you are a group of 40 Americans, you cannot get into a club. They will, however, let you into a bar, where you will proceed to spend all of your money on sangria.

8. Sangria. It’s the best. Not only do they have it homemade most places, some bars also have it on tap for a euro. It’s ridiculous, and at the same time it is everything that is right in this world.

7. McDonalds is pretty big there. However, a Big Mac is like 5 euro. This is a much better deal than Burger King, though, where a whopper is a whopping 13 euro.

6. Starbucks is exactly the same. Right down to them completely misspelling your name on the cup.

5. Setting your alarm to 10am American time will not help you when you need to be awake at 11am Spain time.

4. Pizza is 24-hours. When you’re wandering around with your friends at 4am, this really helps.

3. Despite what your mother and the program say, Spaniards do not dress conservatively. While you can clearly tell who the prostitutes are, it’s not as easy as you would think. Actually, they basically dress exactly like Americans.

2. Madrid is an incredibly clean city. Most of Spain is really clean, and it’s because they literally wash the streets every night. At 1am, the trucks begin to hose the streets down and they wash all of the trash into the drains.

1. Finally, Madrid is an absolutely beautiful city. It has all of the culture and history of Spain mixed with all of the advantages of being in a city. It is basically everything that Dylan Kerlin would love (SHOUT OUT!). But really, I loved it so much. I definitely wished I could have spend more time there, and hopefully I will once the program is over!

So, I made it to Madrid! It is absolutely wonderful. I am currently running on 36 hours without sleep, three coffees, and a sangria, but I am having an amazing time! After the flight landed, we dropped our suitcases off at the hotel and got breakfast. Then we just explored Madrid for a while (pictures soon!). The whole thing has been incredibly laid back, and the majority of the time the program directors just let us do what we want. After I stocked up on Euros and acquired a European cell phone (to call all of the Spaniards), we went to the royal palace and a couple other of the big Madrid sites. Then, a lot of the people went back to the hotel, but me and a few other people went and got Sangria and then wandered around the city a little more. It’s very neat, but I haven’t quite adjusted to the fact that I’m in Spain yet. If feels more like a fancy Atlanta where nobody understands what I am saying (although my attempts at Spanish with the locals have been very successful). Anyways, we’re about to take a bus tour of the city and then have dinner with the entirety of the UGA en Espana program, but after that (if I haven’t passed out from exhaustion) I’ll be sure to post the first round of photos!!

So, not surprisingly, I’ve had the Peter, Paul, and Mary version of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” stuck in my head. I am so ridiculously excited combined with so insanely nervous that I don’t even know how to feel. Anyways, in 22 hours I will be on a plane to Madrid, Spain for the next couple months. I decided that rather than having to write everybody emails, it might just be easier to keep a Tumblr, but based on Mary’s experiences that doesn’t generally work too well. However, I’m going to try my hardest (and probably just copy-paste all of the emails I’m writing my mom, haha). So don’t judge my grammar in this blog, and wish me luck on my journeys!