Flamenco, Cordoba, and a pretty uneventful week

So, I've been pretty lazy about updating this, so here we go again

Last Thursday was the end of our opening cultural seminar class, and so the entire program went to a Flamenco show in downtown Seville. For those unfamiliar, Flamenco is an art form in the 19th and 20th century Spain which includes a cantor, a guitarrist, and a dancer. It's very expressive with lots of anguish in it. Ver interesting!

The following morning we took a trip to Cordoba. We took a tour of the Cathedral there (there are lots of Cathedrals in Spain) and basically just spent the day walking around the city. It's really pretty and has lots of very old buildings, including an old wooden waterwheel that didn't look like it had been used in the past 200 years.

Since then I really have just been working on the final papers for our cultural seminar. I've started one class, but there's only a little bit of homework so far. Other classes start Monday, so we'll see what my work load is then. That's all for now, I'll try to update a little more often.

Besos-
Marcus

Madrid y mas!

It's been a week since I last updated, so here we go:

In a nutshell, we took a trip to Madrid this weekend. We travelled by AVE, which is a super fast train that just travels in Spain.

When we arrived in Spain, we took a tour of the Prado, a pretty famous art museum containing many works of Velazquez, Goya, and El Greco. It was pretty cool, especially since we've been studying Spanish art for the past week before that and it was pretty cool to actually see things in person.

Saturday afternoon, I met up with Maria Sabugal, a foreign exchange student at Charlotte during my junior year in high school. She showed me around Madrid and we talked about cultural differences...It was really kind of cool to see her again with me being the foreigner this time.

Saturday night was "La Noche en Blanco" (the night in white), a festival held in a few major cities in Europe where they completely block off all the roads to the center of town and just have tons of things going on all night. Theatres are open for backstage tours, museums stay open late, there are circuses, wine tastings, street performers...tons of stuff. There was even going to be a tight rope walker who was going to walk a line over a major street, but chickened out at the last minute because it was too windy. I was a little upset after waiting for 40 minutes to see it.

Sunday, we took a walking tour of the city. It was pretty boring and talked too much about architecture that was all the same. We were supposed to see the Royal Palace, but that trip was cancelled for some reason.

On my way to the train station to get back, there was a Mickey Mouse outside of a park who was handing out balloon animals. This conversation followed (in Spanish of course):

Mickey: Do you want an balloon animal little boy?
Little Boy: How much does it cost?

It was hilarious!

Since we got back not much has happened. We have a grammar test on Thursday and real classes start on Monday. This weekend we go to Cordoba for a day, but for now, some more pictures I stole from other people:

Dinner on Calle Betis

Outside the Royal Palace!

Waiting in a restaurant in Madrid

Hanging out in the Prado

That's all for now!

Besos- Marcus

Spain: A whale stranded on the coast of Europe

So, I found this quote online and thought it was pretty funny. Not anything against Spain, it's just, when you look at a map, that's kind of what it looks like.

Also, in hopes that my camera cord is currently on it's way, for now I am stealing pictures from Maureen and Lauren so that I have something to post on this blog. So, here are a few photos from the trip to Cadiz:

That's the Cathedral in Cadiz way in the back on the left. Seriously, a Cathedral on the beach!!!

p.s. ATLANTIC OCEAN!!!!

Since we last left our hero, he actually took a tour of the Cathedral here in Seville. It was actually really cool and HUGE! I'm pretty sure they said it was the 2nd largest Cathedral area-wise in the world. And of course it was the day when my camera was....not with me. Sad sauce...

Cultural classes have been basically a history class for the past week and I think we are finally done learning about Franco and his 30+ year dictatorship. Class selection for the actual University is on Monday, so I'll actually be taking classes that interest me. Yay!

So, not really much else to report for now. Besos!

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain...

So, it rained yesterday. The first hint of precipitation since I have been here. Which meant that it was cooler yesterday, but also much muggier. At least it was a change.

Also, apparently parents here who have more than one child of the same gender love to dress them the same. Just an observation.

This morning was also very interesting. A friend and I went to go to mass at the Cathedral, however I guess they miscommunicate times just to fool tourists, so we missed the mass. We did go inside the Cathedral though, and it was beautiful!

After coming out of there, this gypsy woman came up to me and handed me a little sprig of some herb and said it was a gift. She then read my palm and told me to pay her, so I gave her ten cents and walked away.

And to top it all off, when we were walking back, there was a group of college age students coming down the street with signs saying "ABRAZOS GRATIS!" (free hugs). These were actually free, so I got a free hug from a comlete stranger on my way home this morning. It's been an interesting day!

Abrazos for all of you too!
-Marcus

¿Vamos a la playa?

So, I have encountered a problem. I cannot upload photos from my trip onto this blog because I am lacking the cord to do so. I am trying to get that worked out and will post pictures on here when I do.

So, yesterday we took a trip to Cadiz, a little town on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean just north of the Straits of Gibraltar. We took a tour of the city, and of the cathedral (which was amazing, it's right next to the ocean), and spent a few hours on the beach. I am slightly sunburned, but it's not bad.

This weekend I start looking at classes I want to take. Classes don't actually start here until September 22. We're still doing cultural and grammatical acclimation classes. Once classes get started, though, I imagine I will be fairly busy.

So, more about Spain. If you ever have a craving for public displays of affection, make a trip here. It's ridiculous! People kissing left and right. And to think, their marriage rate is down and their divorce rate is up...Riddle me that!

Next weekend we take a trip to Madrid. Will most likely post again before that, but just a heads up. Today I plan on being extremely lazy, maybe sitting down for a while at a cafe (which in Spain also double as bars).

Until next time-
Marcus

Audi, Armani, and Another day in Seville

And so, dear reader, to keep you informed of the goings-on here, some more peculiarities.

I would never drive a car in Seville. The lanes are really just suggestions, as are red lights, turnsignals, and sometimes (in the case of motorcycles) so are roads. And yet somehow, there are very few accidents. Riddle me that.

In adding to the fashion world of Spain, they do not sag their pants. However, they do wear them just low enough so that you can read the designer name on the band. I mean, what's the point in wearing expensive underwear if nobody knows it?

I saw some mimes today, but then they talked and bummed some cigarettes off of some guy, so I gave up and left. I guess they weren't very good mimes.

We took a bus tour of the city today. It was great to finally be able to act like a tourist and take loads of pictures. We are currently studying the art and architecture of Spain from about the 14th to the 20th centuries. Not really as fun as it sounds. But I have a hunch that Gaudi (19th-20th century architect) might have done some of the plans for the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Chicago...

This will have to do for now. More reading about Gaudi awaits!

Abrazos y Besos-
Marcus