LDOC > FDOC

            With our 6-day trip to Andalucia over, our fake summer extension has finally come to an end. Today marked FDOC. (First day of classes – duh.) Although I’m pretty excited to finally be in one place for more than a few days, it’s sort of bittersweet. Since we’re not all going to be in the same hotel or nearby hostels anymore, our 40+ person group will certainly break up into smaller, more manageable ones. Obviously, there are benefits and detriments to this pending reality. I’m glad that we had as much intensive bonding time as we did (6 hour bus rides, anyone?), but literally am counting down the hours until dinner, because there’s a 100% chance that I am going to bed immediately thereafter. (I don’t understand how Nuria & Eva can handle the tours they put us through 24/7. I guess they’ve had years of practice and have built up some sort of tolerance or something.)

            After finishing packing for Andalucia at 2AM, I was up and ready to go at 7:45. Erin and I were actually early. This was a first and has not yet been continued. During the trek down, I read a lot on my Nook (yep, I’m pretty technologically advanced) and over the course of several of these interminable rides finished “The Shadow of the Wind.” I highly recommend it. (It’s a blog AND a book review site – how lucky can you get?) We arrived in Granada in the late afternoon, and obviously went on a tour in the early evening. Granada’s big thing is the Alhambra, and I did not expect to be as enamored with it as I am. Our tour consisted of a cruel tease – it was a walk through the city center that ended at a spot with a great view of the fortress/palace, but we had to wait to actually go until the next morning. We also got to see the capillas reales (royal chapel) in which Juana la loca and her hubby are interred. There were some neat pictures at the end, and since I am clearly not educated enough to know anything about the two pictures which I was drawn to (don’t worry – I’m taking an art class here), I used my handy little notebook to take note, and just learned a little somethin’ about Saints Jerome and Michael. (If you also want to learn, please see Wikipedia. Also, according to Microsoft word, Wikipedia is a word. Whaaat?)

            We had dinner at the hotel (Hotel Melía) – the nicest we’ve stayed in thus far – and it was pretty good. It was a buffet style which I’m not usually a huge fan of, which is surprising, because I’m always hungry, and I’m super cheap and like to get the most out of my money. So it goes. We wandered around for a bit at night, but turned in early because we were clearly tired out of our minds, as always. The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel (they had our melón!), we went to the Alhambra, and when I say I am obsessed with it, that is an understatement. The walls, the floors, the doors, the ceilings, the gardens – everything was designed so meticulously that it’s basically a control-freak’s paradise. The tiling was all done in geometric designs, which is so cool. The walls had poetry etched in Arabic, which are actually really disappointing when translated, so I won’t ruin that for you. I just wanted to touch it, to be a part of it. I could hardly even fathom how much work it took to build something so intensely beautiful and strong. At its peak, it offered panoramic views of the city (since it was a fortress, this was pretty useful I would think.) It is one of the most visited monuments in the world (I think?) and I could definitely see why.

View from the top

            After the Alhambra, we drove down to Sevilla. We took an unnecessary bus tour, in that no one realized we were supposed to be paying attention (or so we said.) We then arrived at Hotel Béquer, which was right by this huge (or should I say youuuge?) river. Amazingly enough, upon arrival we had some tiempo libre until the following morning! We went in the pool on the ceiling of the hotel (neat views!) and went to dinner at Matahambre. I feel like I think that’s a clever name for a restaurant, but I haven’t committed to that opinion. Regardless, I had some Moorish skewers and some tinto de verano which were both delicious. We hung out in our 40+ group later that night and had a lot of fun taking over an entire outdoor bar right on the river called Capote.

            The next day for some reason actually felt like the longest day of my life. It started off on a high note – we went to a flamenco museum and got some lessons! As is always the case with complicated dances, I rocked it. My hips didn’t lie, and I definitely had no trouble whatsoever with the hand movements. We took a lunch break and went to 100 Montaditos, which was a restaurant that served 100 sandwiches all for less than 2 euro each. Granted they were 3 or 4 bite sandwiches, but I was still thoroughly impressed. I got an 83 – still not totally sure what it is, but I’m a big fan. After lunch, we met up with the group to take a tour of Los Reales Alcázares. (There are a lot of royal things in Spain.) It was pretty neat – it was built over the course of a lot of different architectural movements, so there’s this one square where each visible wall is of a different style. One is Renaissance, one is Arabic, one is Baroque, and one is Gothic. Can you guess which is which? 

            After that, we went on some never ending walk, and everyone was dead tired. I still am not quite sure what it was. I guess the Flamenco really wore us out. Luckily, afterwards we had some tiempo libre until our group dinner. We went to Restaurante el Cabildo and enjoyed a meal of too many courses, as per usual. We were all stuffed after the second plate, but obviously ate all the way through to the last bit of ice cream. We wanted to spend the night by the river like the locals do (we’re trying, sort of) and ended up having a lot of fun. We played a riveting game of charades because we’re secretly 5 year olds. Some people went to a discoteca later in the evening, however, I am not quite ready to break out my flamenco moves on the d-floor, so I held back.

            The next day was short and sweet. It was just a tour of the cathedral in the city central, followed by the climb 34 turns up to the top of the torre de Giralda (the highest point in Sevilla) for an awesome view of the city. Then, as easy as that, we were on our own until Sunday. We stayed the night in Seville at a hostel called the Garden Backpackers. This was my first true hostel experience and it was so cool! Of course, it started off sort of rough. We got there and were sitting at these bar stools at a table, and suddenly I was told not to move by the woman in charge. I look down and am basically on an island, in that water has totally engulfed my chair. Granted, it was easily mopped up in 2 min, but my life just so happens to work out in such a way that when I took out my notebook to record the ominousness of the event, I dropped all of my stuff right in the water. (Note: Microsoft word is saying ominousness is not a word, but my Nook told me it was, so I’m stickin’ with it). Everyone we met was so nice and interesting. We had 5 Duke kids and a rando from Alabama in our room who was really friendly. The other rooms were not as happy with their roomies, but so it goes. Erin, Margo, Mike, and I decided to go for a run (we’re pretty physically fit like that) which ended up actually being a really good one for me. We found an awesome (but really hot) Sangria bar that Rick (Steves) recommended where we got to see a real Flamenco dance while trying not to melt. I realized that I might need a few more lessons before pursuing a career. We ended the night early as we had to get up early the next morning for our trek out to Cádiz for a beach weekend!

view from the top of the tower

            After an uneventful train ride, we wasted at least an hour and a half trying to find our hostel (The Melting Pot) via all sorts of forms of public transportation even though it was apparently a mere 10 minute walk from the train station. It’s funny (sort of) because we were so impressed with ourselves for having been so well prepared. Whoops! We eventually got there, picked up some bread and cheese at the supermercado for lunch, and laid out on the beach all afternoon! The water was warmer than in Galicia, but still fairly chilly. We ended up going to dinner at this little husband-and-wife-owned bar which was delicious and confusing. We met up with the whole group at the nicer beach (a 20 min walk away) that night for the last DIM hurrah before classes. The next morning, we enjoyed some complimentary breakfast (bread), and then walked around for a bit and got lunch on the water before heading back to the train station for the many hours of travel ahead of us. Erin and I tried a tortilla de mariscos (seafood) which was really good. Andalucia is known for its fried fish. We took the train from Cádiz – Sevilla, then Sevilla – Madrid. The Sevilla – Madrid train was an Ave train, which is the Spanish equivalent of an Amtrak train, so it was pretty nice.

            This morning, Erin and I woke up at what we thought was incredibly early to ensure getting an early spot in the line for registration. We were numbers 27 and 28. So predictable, Duke. You would. Anyway, we attempted to register for classes, but technically didn’t get into a specific section of the core course that everyone has to take. We’re the first on the waitlist and I think Amanda and Lauren are going to switch with us because they’re goddesses in human form, but it was/is very, very stressful. This was literally the least efficient way to do this but at least it’s (mostly) done. I’m (hopefully) taking Spanish painting about Modern Spanish art, Contemporary history of Spain (at CEU, with real Spanish students!), Mythography of Madrid (also apparently not a real word, but this one is understandable at least), and the Core Course. I had art today and I like my teacher a lot. She has strong opinions as to what makes art which is refreshing when compared to the general “art is whatever you want it to be” philosophy seems to be so prevalent. I’m nervous about my CEU class but there are other Duke kids in it so it should be okay (as long as I’m able to actually take it.) There were some other vibe killers as well – it seems that the whole Casa Rural business (see previous post) is not being let go. It’s very difficult to defend yourself in a language you don’t fully comprehend. It’s very difficult to defend yourself when there’s not definitive evidence which clears you from guilt. It’s very difficult to defend yourself when you’re a kid in college. It’s very difficult to accept not being able to defend yourself. The hotel is trying to blame us, and I see where they’re coming from, but it’s very, very, very, very, and let me emphasize very obvious that we had nothing to do with the vandalism that occurred. FRUSTRATING. It was a very long and stressful day, but I just had a piece of emergency chocolate (always need to have some of that on hand) and am feeling a lot better about life. I guess there’s a good reason stressed is just desserts spelt backwards, and an equally good reason why I should never give up running.