Una mezcla

Time has honestly been flying. I remember when I was a freshman in high school, sitting in one of my classes the week before finals wondering where the year went. Now I am a junior in college, seriously (okay not that seriously - yet...) thinking about life after graduation and wondering where all this time has gone. I know all of you adults are thinking, "Preach it to the choir honey," but you should know by now that us young people rarely believe what you tell us until we experience it ourselves. So I just thought I'd let you know that I get it now. And its kind of a bummer.

But lets not dwell on how much time I don't have left in this beautiful city, let's instead recount what I've been doing with my life this week :)

More homework:

I have finished my first Spanish novel, Nada. 299 pages, more than half of it without a dictionary! I'm also in the process of finishing a play, La Lola se va a los puertos, of which I have 50 of the 190 pages left.

Meeting with my interest group:

I'm not sure how they got a group of 15 college students into a teeny tiny room for a theater improv session. They had us dancing around like idiots and growling and pretending to wash each other's hair. For a while I thought it was all a joke and they were secretly just videotaping us so they could laugh at us later. But then our CIEE prof jumped in and I realized that no, they had just bribed us with a free trip to Madrid if we attend a certain number of these activities. No pasa nada though... since the activity happened over dinner it gave Molly and I reason to go to our secret bar for croquetas, jajaja.

Outings:

Wednesday afternoon I went to la Cartuja, a building with a rather interesting history. It was originally a monastery, but was later converted to a factory for the Ceramics of Sevilla. It is now an important government building for the entrance of political figures into Sevilla, but functions as a modern art building. Yeahhhh.

La Cartuja

Samples of different ceramic designs made in the factory

Modern art in the monastery

It was really interesting to see the contrast of the modern art in the old rooms. However Sevilla is full of these contrasts: the tram that runs right past the Cathedral, the hundreds of people who botellón in front of the Torre del Oro, college classes in an old tobacco factory, the list goes on.

Thursday night Molly and I went out with her intercambio Ramón and some of his friends. It was fun to just hang out and chat, especially since most of his friends didn't know much English. It took us awhile to explain the concept of nerd to them but after awhile I'm pretty sure they understood. I had been nervous that I wouldn't be able to have legitimate conversations with them because of my limited understanding of the language, but so far it hasn't provided the same barrier I expected. Social norms and phrases are still a work in progress but I'm learning every day.

Friday night we went to see a movie with my friend Nadia from my dance class. We saw Amador, which had an intriguing mix of comical and serious elements. Afterward we went to a cafe and sat and chatted until about 2 AM, when Nadia invited us to come meet up with her friends. Unfortunately Molly and I do not have the Spaniard stamina and had to decline the offer this time around. We got back from an 'early night' at 3 AM.

Since I doubt any of you are going to be watching a Spanish film any time soon, I'll give you a brief synopsis. The main character, Yolanda, takes a summer job caring for an old man to pay for an unexpected pregnancy by her long-term boyfriend. The old man dies shortly into the film, but because she hasn't told her boyfriend about the pregnancy, she needs the money and doesn't tell the daughter he has died. Instead she continually goes to the pharmacy to pick up his pills, brings a ridiculous number of flowers from her boyfriend's flower business to cover the stench, and works on finishing his puzzle. The only other person who knows is the old man's long time hooker, a rather comical 50 year old española. At the end of the movie, the daughter and her husband come to the apartment and admit they knew he was dead, but decided to go along with it so they could keep receiving his pension to finish the construction of their new house. I'm sure this doesn't really do it proper justice but at least it explains the rather peculiar plot. We all really enjoyed it... especially since Molly and I could understand it!

Saturday night was a night in to rejuvenate from the beginning of the weekend and get some homework done. I also watched Encantada (Enchanted) with my señora :) I'm happy to say the Disney quality was maintained with the Spanish voice-overs.

Today we went to Córdoba, a city less than 2 hours from Sevilla along the Guadalquivir. Córdoba is known for its historical peacefulness within the three main cultures of Spain: the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews. The main attraction, the World Heritage Site of the cathedral, is actually the first mosque in Spain that was later converted. Thus I've learned a lot about it in my Islamic art class and was excited to see it in real life!

La Mezquita Mayor of Córoba
...techinally the Cathedral of Córdoba

The Mezquita is the only mosque that isn't orientated towards Mecca. It is instead oriented towards Damascos, the city in Syria where the Abderramán I fled from after his entire family (Omeya) was killed.

El bosque de columnas (The forest of columns)

The alternation of colors and decoration of the mosque was an artistic decision to make the mosque seem much larger than it really was. This was a sign of power of Abderramán I, after being exiled from Damascos. However after expansion by Abderramán II and III, it is now the second largest mosque in the world.

Mihrab

Today, however, the mosque is now a cathedral and is thus filled with Christian paintings and tiny chapels. There is even a cathedral built in the center of the mosque. Because of this contrast in religions within the building, it is a completely unique monument and is an accurate representation of the history of the cultures in the city.

Altar of the cathedral

Honestly, as I was walking through the building, it was difficult to comprehend. To the left and right of the cathedral were the repetitive arches and columns of which the majority of the mosque consisted.

Transition of cathedral area into mosque area

Overall, because of the impressive integration of cultures Córdoba is nominated as one of the cities to be the capital of European Culture in 2016. How cool is that? I love that the peaceful coexistence of these cultures could be recognized so distinctly in all of Europe.

Last but not least, Córdoba is known for some unique tapas, which of course we had to try...

Fried eggplant with honey

Thicker than gazpacho, served with ham and eggs

Ta-ta for now,
Much love from Spain.