Sea's the Moments: 9/5/10

Hey everyone,
Sorry about all the blog issues. It’s been a crazy few days of adjustments and literally figuring out which way is north. I am currently in Morocco; we were not supposed to arrive here until tomorrow. We were supposed to refuel in Gibraltar but instead are now fueling up in the Canary Islands. This threw everyone off because as students lost our reading day aka a day to catch up on work and sleep and now professors feel bad because of the amount of reading we have and no time to do it. It was a bit of a whirlwind going from being in Spain one day and Africa today. I am doing my best to keep on top of the blogs, it’s been a little difficult with all the moving around.

Now about Spain, Spain was amazing. I had a great few days and got to explore some new places. The history of Spain is absolutely breathtaking. We saw ruins that dated back to before the Romans. We went to one historical site that contained over 3000years of history. We found out about it by climbing the bell tower at the New Cathedral. The cool thing about the site was that during your entire visit you walked on a glass floor. It was surreal knowing that we were walking above where Roman citizens once walked. This happened several times throughout our trip in Spain. The history of Spain is so rich and the influences so apparent. While there was a stark contrast between the ruins and modern day buildings, there was a sense of assimilation and everything belonged just the way it was. This took place on the first day when Kori, Jillian and I just wandered around Cadiz which was loads of fun. Spain as a whole is very safe albeit so long as you use common sense. We went to a few different places including the Cathedral, the Bell Tower, lunch and just plain wandered and soaked up the culture. It was interesting to be thrown into a situation where most people don’t understand your language. I had some trouble when it came to using my Spanish, in part because I was nervous of screwing up but also because the Spanish in Spain is so different. There were even some native speakers from South and Central America that had difficulties communicated which in a weird way made me feel better. That night, we ended up having to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner simply because everywhere else was closed and wouldn’t let us in. It was humorous because we were in Spain where they have some of the most amazing food and we had Italian. Either way the food there was amazing and one of the waitresses spoke English extremely well which really helped us out.

The second day Kori and I went on the White Town route tour. We went to two towns, Arcos and Ronda. Since we went on a Sunday, not much was open as is custom in Spain. In Arcos, there were only a few cafés open but that was about all. When we arrived there we had to walk up a huge hill in order to make it to the top of the town where the two churches were. It was an interesting story because the two churches, St. Mary’s and St. Peter’s would fight over which church was the center of town and to resolve it, someone was sent to the pope so he could make a decision. It ended up taking 40 years and several popes before a decision was made. The decision was that St. Mary’s was the official church but it didn’t end there. As retaliation St. Peter’s got a relic of a saint and then St. Mary’s responded by getting relics of two saints. No one is really sure how either church got the relics other than the fact that there were some people in Arcos at the time that had connections in Rome and money and therefore where able to get them. The second town Ronda was actually extremely lively. The reason many of the store were open was because it was the celebration of their saint. It was the last of three days of festivities. There were street vendors all over the place and people were celebrating. It was a lot of fun and a unique experience to be a part of. Kori and I wandered about by ourselves and took everything in. We had the opportunity to experience the music and the people. The guide also explained to us about the bull fights that were taking/had taken place. On the first day, the newer and more inexperienced matadors took the stage. These bullfighters have yet to make their mark in the bullfighting world and were working their way up. On the second day, the more traditional bullfights took place with some of the best bullfighters in the sport. These bullfights were a combination of being on foot and horseback and the matador had helpers that would assist him throughout the fight and even perform some of the parts of the fight. The third day, the day we went, the entire bullfight was on horseback. In the second day fight the horses were both padded and blindfolded because the bull would literally charge the bull. However, on this day, the horses were neither protected nor blindfolded. This was because the horse needed to see the bull and know where/when to move. Our guide explained to us that the matador simply had to use his leg muscles and the horse would know instantly how to move and how fast. These horses are chosen at a young age and go through a series of tests to see if they are able to perform in a bullfight. In contrast, we also saw these carriages that were a part of a contest. The drivers competed in groups from 2-7 horses per carriages and they had to be able to perform complex moves. These horses too were picked from a young age and tested then trained. All of these horses came from different owners and were used in different parades and for the government as well. As a part of this experience, I learned that horses are as much as an integral part of the Spanish culture as bullfights are.

Sea's the Moments

Saturday, September 11, 2010

11 years and the Spanish is different-Spain Part 1

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Late Blog Posts with Altered Dates...Courtesy of Corri