A weekend getaway in Spain!

This past weekend was filled with lots of plans! We began our weekend with going to the beach on Saturday. The beach we planned to go was called Salobrena. This was an adventure in itself. This would be a test of our planning and navigating abilities. To get to Salobrena, we would have to find our own transportation. We headed onto the bus that took us to the bus station. At the bus station, we bought our tickets to get on the bus that is on the way to Salobrena. We scrambled to find the bus but we finally got on it and headed to the beach!

When heading off the bus, we instantly felt a difference. The air was fresher and warmer. There were many palm trees. It felt as if we showed up in a different country. We walked to the beach. A noticeable difference was the rocks instead of sand. I grew up going to east coast beaches and having rocks instead of sand was something I was surprised at. However, the rocks became a lost thought once I looked up and saw the Mediterranean Sea and the large cliff. The water was gorgeous. The cliff was awesome and you were able to climb up on it and see across the whole beach.

We spent the whole day enjoying a relaxing day on the beach. Some of us climbed up the rocks and had a little photo shoot. It's gorgeous and there is so many perfect photos that can be taken! Before leaving, we decided that we should jump into the water. So some of us made the daring venture and jumped into the sea! I was surprised at how salty the water was in comparison to other places I have swam. It was surprisingly warm! I would have kept swimming if we didn't have to leave!

If you wanna enjoy a beautiful day away from the city and cross of swimming in the Mediterranean Sea off your bucket list, Salobrena is where I highly recommend you go! :)

After a long day at the beach, our group had an excursion to Ronda on Sunday. We arrived in Ronda and walked around the beautiful city. My favorite part of the excursion was the Plaza del Toros. A bullfighting ring?! Who would have thought I would ever step my foot into a bullfighting ring!?!

Our tour guide led us through the bullfighting ring. We saw where the horse stables were. Some horses were even there :) We then saw the bull stalls. Our tour guide told us that the bulls are put into the stalls the night before the bull fight. We then walked inside the bull fighting ring. It was so neat! I didn't realize how large the ring was. There is a special section for royalty and we were told that seats were hard to get. They needed to be booked far in advance and were pricey.

After walking in the ring, there was a little museum. There were displays of traditional bullfighting attire. They had the outfits for the bullfighters and then clothing for the women who watched. The museum also had paintings and photos of bullfighters to show how bullfighting is a large part of the culture in Spain. There was also a bull's horn displayed on the wall! It was huge! It definitely made me realize how large these animals are and how dangerous the sport is.

We ended our trip with a fabulous lunch and a bus ride home. Overall, a successful weekend away in Spain :)

Oh and I love this picture of Doris!

Horseback riding!

Today, Amanda, Lindsay, Jamie, Em, Kat, Lauren, Cari and I went horseback riding. Most of us have ridden a horse before but Em and Lauren haven't and were starting to get worried. However, we informed them that it would be a slow pace and there would be trainers walking with us. We went to the country and saw a gorgeous view of the Sierra Nevada. The man from the University (who helped arrange this excursion) told us about skiing in the Sierra Nevada. He then drove us to the farm where the horses were. We get out of the car and see huge, massive horses. I have ridden a horse before but I am certain that it was not the height of the horse standing in front of me. Once everyone got on their horse, we began our travels on the horses.

The ride was smooth for the most part. I was a little startled a few times when my horse would jump and bring its front legs up. I would hold on the handle tightly and hope I didn't fall off. Thank goodness I had an trainer with me the whole time. She told me she would control my horse, who was named Lilia. The instructor told me the reasoning for her jumping. Apparently, my horse gets scared easily and with the other horses around and dogs following us, she jumps a lot. It was really scary at first but it was good that my instructor was there to calm the horse (and me!) down.

When we were on the trail, we had a blast just chit chatting and enjoying the scenery. It was gorgeous to see the Sierra Nevada in front of us the whole time. We had great weather and enjoyed every second of it! While on the trip, we talked with the trainers. My one trainer told me that she was due with her second child in March! I couldn't believe she was walking around the trail for over an hour being 7 months pregnant. She was great though. She asked us about our visit to Spain and what we liked to do. She asked us about the United States as well. At times, there was some confusion due to the language barrier. However, we were able to understand each other for the most part which is great. It's progress on communication! :)

Crazy week ahead that is full of lots of activities! More to come in the next week!:)

Get your Flamenco on!

Last Tuesday, my class began their lessons in flamenco. I was in the first group to go at 4 PM. The nerves were kicking in, especially when the instructor walked in with flamenco heels. We began our lesson with a little history of flamenco. He informed us that flamenco is passionate and is prominent in Granada. After a little history lesson, we were preparing ourselves for flamenco.

Our instructor led us through stretches. Then he taught us the hand motions with flamenco. For guys, they must keep their fingers together while girls can spread them apart. We twist our hands in a circular motion and it can be either turning inward or outward. Next, we combined this motion with our feet. While placing my right foot out, my right hand will be placed out too and move in the circular motion. It then switches to the left side and repeat. He then told us to move our hands upward and we did a few moves like that.

After learning those parts of the dance, our instructor taught us another move. We step back three times and then lift our back leg up to come forward. Once we complete one full spin, we clap and then dance away. It was quite funny to see once he put us all into a circle and watched each other dance these moves with a partner.

He then taught us my favorite part, the 6 step move. I am not sure if it has an exact name but its a foot movement that requires 6 steps. I liked it a lot because I am not very good at dancing and I was able to get this part down! :) He then combined this with other complicated moves. With a partner, I used these dance moves and it worked out well! Gerry was my partner and it was rough at first but it ended up turning out well. :)

This week we went again to flamenco. He expanded on the moves we learned last week. The combination of moves we did last week were used again but he added new hand motions. These hand motions coincide with the feet motion. I have trouble with multi-tasking and telling my body to move my feet in one direction and then my hands in another. However, I am able to say that I worked hard at flamenco and was able to get a few of the dance moves down. :)

I really like flamenco. Its a different way to learn about the culture. I feel like you can hear a lot about flamenco and know about it but you aren't able to really understand until you experience. This dance class allows us to be involved in the culture and have a better understanding of flamenco.

Flashback!

Due to the lack of availability for internet in Madrid, I was not able to update my blog on some our fun adventures! There were many different things we did that I wish to share. So I hope this blog helps to fill in and inform everyone about some cool things we did already :)

Madrid:

We arrived in Spain bright and early. Almost immediately we began our adventures. The first part of the trip began in Madrid. I was surprised to see that Madrid has a very urban environment that is similar to cities in the U.S. Ima, our FABOULOUS tour guide, took us on a walking tour of Madrid. We arrived at Plaza de Sol. She told us that the city was preparing for the 3 Kings holiday. It is a great celebration in Spain where the citizens celebrate when the 3 kings came with gifts and visited Jesus. Kids in Spain receive their gifts. She also mentioned the great sales that go on during the holiday. Woot woot! I love sales! :)

Later that day, we went to the Palacio Royal (Royal Palace). This white palace is extremely large and grand. From the outside, it looks as if it were just made for a movie and it could not be real! Our tour guide led us through the palace and to the different rooms. Each room was different and usually had different themes. One room was asian themed while another was focused on floral decor. We went through many, many rooms. What amazed me though was that we went through many rooms but the whole palace itself has 2800 rooms! That's insane! I guess the royal family is grand, so they have the most lavish lifestyle :) I love palaces and to see this palace with so much history, made me excited.

One of the best things I did in Madrid was watching the 3 Kings Parade. It was so cool! There was a LOT of people there. We saw acrobats and the 3 Kings themselves :) They had fantastic fireworks at the end too!

Segovia:

This city is probably one of my favorite places by far! From the moment we entered the city, I was in awe. We got off the bus to see the amazing aqueducts. These aqueducts were ENORMOUS! Bigger than I could ever imagine. It was so neat. We also heard the legend of the aqueducts and how a young girl almost sold her soul to the devil if he was able to finish the aqueduct in the day.

My favorite part of the day had to be the castle called Alcazar. One word for it: WOW. WOW WOW WOW and WOW. It honestly reminded me of a castle I would see in Disney movies when I was little. It was so elegant and magicallooking. As we

walked through, we saw armor, swords, cannons, and much more. I saw portraits of Isabella, Ferdinand, Philip and other royals. The best part though was definitely climbing to the top of the tower.

Getting to the top of the tower was a struggle! There were small stairs and it was very tight. It was tough climbing up while others were climbing down. However, we made it up all 150 steps! YAY us! Once we caught our breath from the steep staircase, we look out at the view. The view from the top of the tower look all over Segovia. It was breath taking. There was not one single area on the top of the tower that looked bad. It was fantastic and I loved it!

Toledo:

Although sad to leave Madrid and Segovia, our last stop before Granada was Toledo. Similarly to Segovia, Toledo had large aqueducts and had a great view of the city at certain areas. I really enjoyed our walk through the monastery. In the middle, there was a beautiful garden. When walking up to the higher levels, it was gorgeous. I thought it was neat knowing that only nine monks remained there. 9 monks living in that enormous monastery!? Crazy! I liked looking into the key hole too and seeing the library :)

It's crazy how much I am enjoying this trip. I love going to places and feeling as if I am walking through history. Love it!

Alhambra!

As my roommate Kat and I woke up this morning, our host mom began to tell us about Alhambra. She said it was very beautiful and was spectacular. I honestly didn't think she could be accurate. I mean, a fortress that was built on top of many times? Honestly, it wasn't something I was thinking that would be as grand as it was described to me.

While walking up the extremely steep hill to reach the Alhambra, I realized that my host mom was wrong. It wasn't beautiful, it was extremely gorgeous. There is no

words to describe its effect on me. It looks simple and plain but when you get close and look at the details, you realize the intricate designs and carvings. I think the most astonishing thing was the choice of design to incorporate the bellota, pina and concha (symbolism of the community).

Two of my favorite parts of the trip was the Palace of Charles V. Our tour guide informed us that it was built on top of the Alhambra (as if to show everyone that the Catholics had taken over). It was intended to have a dome on the top but it was never completed. I found it interesting because it was very different from the other parts of the Alhambra. It had a Roman architecture and was a very European design rather than the Islamic architecture. This 2 story building made me feel as if I were in a different country such as France or Italy. It was such an interesting feeling to have. Knowing that the intent was to be different and to make a statement, I feel as if King Charles achieved that goal.

Another favorite part of my trip included walking to the top of the Alcazaba and looking over the city. It was so cool to see how the Muslims used this fort for looking over their city. We saw the mountain where they saw the Christians coming over to attack the city. It was extremely far away but I felt the design of the fort was made high enough to make the mountain feel closer!

The Alhambra was magnificent. There is so much history there and it makes you feel as if you are

going back into time.

More to come :)

Hola Espana!

Days ago, we arrived in Spain and began our adventure. We arrived in Madrid and started day one with a trip to the Palacio Real and a walking tour of Madrid. The Palacio Real with magnificent. The rooms were grand and were each themed differently. Some were Asian influenced while others were European influenced.

I have to say that one of my favorite parts of our visit to Madrid had to be the Museo del Prado. The museum had artwork that I have seen in textbooks since I was little!!! I found that the painting called Las Meninas by Velazquez. It was amazing to hear the different stories of its geometrical and astronomical composition. Our tour guide informed us that in the painting, Margarita and the others were placed in specific positions that were to symbolize the stars around the main star (which is Margarita). I was amazed to know that a beautiful painting of a royal family had so much depth and symbolism behind it. It is also has Velazquez painted in the portrait as well.

Also in the museum, I found many paintings and sculptures I had seen previously. One of the portraits was of Mary Tudor, Queen of England and wife of King Philip II of Spain. Being the extreme history nerd that I am, I was determined to find this portrait. I ultimately found it on the last floor of the museum. It was simple, but it was grand. Seeing a picture I have seen over many years up close gives it much more impact. I was able to see many other paintings that I have learned over the years but mostly, I found many of them I learned about in my Art History class. Van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross is one altarpiece we discussed repeatedly in class over the semester. When I saw it at the Museo del Prado, I was surprised at how large it was. It was much bigger than I expected and much more vivid in color.

I never liked art museums until now. Thank you Spain :)

More blogs to come,

Amanda