My weekend in Italy

I don't know how, but we managed to fit Venice and Rome into a three day weekend, and I still feel pretty good about the few things we managed to see. I traveled with a new friend of mine who also goes to Penn State. We went to Venice first, and then Rome.

Venice:
We arrived in the morning but accidentally missed the correct bus stop for our hotel because it looked like we were stopping in the middle of shady nowhere rather than right next to the big train station of Venice. This messed up the rest of our day because we ended up in the heart of town and completely missed going to the beaches in Lido.
Walking over all the bridges and canals really was amazing though, and the old city was easy to walk around in because there were signs everywhere pointing either towards the Plaza de San Marco or towards  Rialto. We did end up splitting a Gondola ride, and I think personally it was worth the money, because you got to see the city from the water, and the owner gave us a very nice tour of various landmarks, as well as telling us a good deal of interesting facts about the city.
We stayed in Mestre by the station, in a small hotel run by one women who owned and operated everything. Somehow I didn't pack my second boarding pass for the planes, so we had to walk over to this little computer lab run by a nice young Indian man and his wife. It was their second day opening and they still had some bugs to work out, but mestre was fun in that it felt like a small town all on it's own, instead of feeling like Venice, which was a truly amazing place, but one that thrives on tourism, so it's commercial and expensive.


Rome:
too much to say.....We saw a lot of the major monuments and buildings at least from the outside. Toured the Colosseum. Saw my favorite church by my favorite Italian architect. Great food, Great service, great day really. Quite lovely.....

And that's probably all you care to hear in a brief summary. I will say it was nice to get back to Spain where I understand the language and can make my own way around more easily.

OH! And we made a great new friend on the airplane! She's a Chilean girl studying abroad here just like we are only with a different program. She's really good natured and instantly likable, and  I really hope we'll hang out a lot during the summer.

Later this week is the Camino de Santiago, so you probably won't hear from me again until Next Friday.

Love,

Laura

My First Class

courtesy of  blog http://www.thoughttavern.com/camino-de-santiago/

My first  class is all about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that stretches from France to the Northwest of Spain. In class we are spending two weeks talking about the history, legends, and origins of the Camino, as well as modern significance and cultural implications. Then we spend the last 5 days of class walking at the very end of the route, barely seeing any of it, but ending up at Santiago de Compostela.

I am really excited about this class. Not only because I love backpacking, but also because the professor is awesome, the class group is great (and small, which is good for backpacking), and the history and context of this pilgrimage route is really fascinating. I'll explain all of these things briefly:

1. I love backpacking. I haven't exactly done a lot of it, nor can I prepare my own bear bag or anything. Regardless, I really love backpacking, for more reasons than I can mention. I love being outside for such a long period of time, and I love the sense community that develops while on the trail, with the people you're with, as well as people that have walked before you and will walk after you. This route is centuries old, so I'll be joining a very large community of people from all over the world that walk on this trail for all sorts of reasons.

2.  The professor is awesome. Salva (Salvador) seems very smart and easy going, and he is able to relay information is such a way that a three hour class seemed much shorter. Aside from that, during our break today my friend and I ran into him at the cafe when we went for coffee, and he bought our coffees and talked to us for the whole break.

3. There are nine students in the class, four of which I have already met and liked. I think if it was any more people it'd be a harder to develop a class identity in such a short amount of time. Additionally, they're all the kind of people you know you could spend a week with and not feel any frustration or aggravation (Either I'm correct now or I'll swallow my words in a few weeks...vamos a ver).

4. The route is really interesting. It's the primary reason that Spain is catholic, because theoretically St James decided to travel through the Iberian Peninsula (which at the time meant travelling to the ends of the earth because they didn't know about the American continents) converting people as he was directed to do by his leader, Jesus...all of this according to the bible, which often lists James as one of the three most important Apostles, along with his brother John (the baptist) and Peter (the first pope).
Anyway, James, or Santiago, is the patron saint of Spain, along with the Virgin of the pillar (Pilar) who appeared to him and told him to continue and not give up in his travels.

 It's interesting for me to learn about all of these Catholic things in Spain, because my own understanding of religion is Spain is heavily influenced by my understand of the Church's role in the Spanish Civil War. I know my grandfather and his father were both against the Catholic Church in Spain because the Catholic church sided with Franco, and often was corrupt and hypocritical in their personal experience. In literature about the civil war, a lot of others highlight these faults of the church, so I've also learned a lot about the atheists of Spain and those that gave up on the Catholic church. Now I get to look more closely at the origins of Catholicism in Spain and perhaps understand its relationship with the people and the culture more accurately.

So that's how my class is going. If I haven't managed to make it sound as interesting as I think it is, at least you can be glad you're doing something else with your summer.

Orientation

I've spent the last couple days rushing from one place to the next with my orientation group from the program. My classes (which start tomorrow) will be on the other side of the river, Guadalquivir. Located in a renovated palace in the middle of tiny cobblestone streets full of shops and cafes, the CIEE program study center already has a completely different feel than any of my classes at the University. As people may already know of me, if there's a courtyard I'm already happy. This building also features   beautiful ceramic tile work and comfortable furniture around three floors of offices and classrooms.

I think I've figured out one reason I really like courtyards as an architectural feature. It's sort of like a black winter coat that unzips to show a crazy paisley pattern on the inside. Or when you're drinking hot cocoa from a relatively plain mug that happens to have a little design or words at the bottom. The buildings in the city are all so plain on the outside, often with whitewashed or warm, earth colored walls, and relatively few windows looking out. So when you go through a door that opens into a hidden little oasis of water and plants and light streaming down, it's this awesome surprise that's totally blocked off from the public. Your own little paradise inside your home that has all the privacy and tranquility of a small town yard despite being in a compact city with people everywhere.

Anyway, So far in I've already seen a Flamenco show, The Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, many places to eat Tapas. I love crossing the river every day, and I hope at least once we'll be able to rent canoes and travel on it.

We also tool a field trip yesterday to see the Rio Tinto, which is naturally stained red. We also saw the site of the site of the copper and silver mines there which have been closed since the mid 2000s. Unemployment in this area is roughly 50%, but there is a new company that has been make plans for the past several years to reopen the mines. I feel like I connected with this area a lot because I know a lot of people in the US that are struggling financially, and this area has had generations of poor people struggling in the mines to make any sort if money, much like the coal areas of my own state, and even the steel factories of western Pennsylvania have a similar history of fighting against unreasonable wages and working conditions, but working long hours in very hot dangerous conditions in order to sustain families.

After the Mines we traveled to Aracena, an old picturesque town which is mostly known for its Ham and its absolutely enormous cave system, which caught many of us by surprise with its size, complexity, and beauty.  When we got off the bus, our leader gave us a time to arrive back in the center, and then left us on our own to tour the town and explore. At first we were all wandering somewhat aimlessly, but another girl and I caught a glimpse of some castle ruins at the top of the hill, and we convinced our orientation group to go in search of them. Another group caught on, and eventually for some reason I ended up first in line leading about thirty people to find the castle ruins. What we ultimately found was a lovely OLD church and some castle ruins alongside it where many sheep and lambs were grazing with little bells around their necks. It was exactly the kind of off-the beaten-path experience you might hope for in a trip through Europe.


So far, although I get along with my orientation group well, the person I am closest to is a thirty some year old veteran  father of four with a logical mind and many stories to share about the various places he's lived in his lifetime. We don't quite fit into the mold of a lot of students here who think orientation week is for going out to bars every night. We tend to walk together in the guides and both want to practice our Spanish a lot (although since he's spent a good amount of time in Mexico and South America, he's almost fluent already). Today after we went to the Alcazar we decided to check out the Cathedral and showed up just in time for Mass (so everyone can tell Grandma Jane that I went to Mass in the third largest Church in Europe). It was a good experience to have and I think I got a much better idea of why Gothic Architecture is so important in terms of architectural history. It's one thing to know that they built UP as much as possible, but it's another thing entirely to realize that being in such a big Gothic cathedral is kind of like walking through giant trees made of marble. And I'm glad I had a friend to share the experience with. It's nice that we'll both be taking the first class of the summer together and are going on the Camino de Santiago Later.

Best Wishes to Everyone,

Laura

Sevilla:

The Host Family:
I arrived in Sevilla Wednesday afternoon. I live with two grandparents, Antonio and Ana in a lovely little apartment in La Traina neighborhood of Sevilla, very close to the center of the city. Additionally their son lives upstairs with his wife and two (I think) children in a seperate apartment. They are very used to having foreign students in there home. One girl from Japan  that first came here to study, stayed for work, got a boyfriend and eventually, when they got married, Antonio gave her away in place of any family she had in Japan. From this story and other conversations I've had with them, I can gather two things: first that my host family is  very open to having a close relationship with their students, and do not see them merely as a source of income, and second, I have a lot to live up to as a student if I am going to be in any way worth remembering.
My hosts are extremely proud of their family, and having seen all the lovely photos of the nine children and thirteen grandchildren, I have to agree that their grandchildren are extremely cute (at least the little girls are. One grandson in particular has several tattoos and peircings which is questionable, but more normal here than in the states).

I have a twin!

I have a twin sister again! And by that I mean it's been really great to spend time with her and do all of these things together, and it feels so much more normal to be near her even though it's not normal at all because we're in Granada, Spain. I know Karen's been especially excited to see me, so when I arrived she already had a long list of things that she thought were worth seeing  and doing here. On the one hand, this made it very easy to plan days and meet people. On the other hand I have yet to really relax or sit down until now, which is why there's been a delay in starting a blog entry.

Before I go any further, I should note how very proud we should all be of Karen, and how much she has learned here during the past year. Her speaking ability is drastically different from my own, and way better than others in her program that have also been here for a semester or a year. She is exactly the kind of person you want to represent your family and your country, and if I can be like her even a little bit this summer I will be happy.

So here's the itinerary starting Saturday, when I arrived in Granada and got back from the airport: (feel free to skip this, it's mostly for Mom and Dad and Grandma)
Saturday:
- Met Incarnacion, Karen's host mom
- Dropped off stuff and quickly showered
- Went for tapas with a group of friends (mostly spanish) that Karen gathered to meet with me.
- Went out to the Discoteca called Mae West which is themed around this actress and all these western movies. It seems like a strange theme for a fancy and very popular dance hall but it works really well here. I thought it was very crowded but they said if you can move at all it's not crowded.

Sunday:
-Took Karen's host mom and her sister out for lunch, which is the most important meal of the day.
- Went to Albayzin which is the old Moorish part of town with tiny cobblestone streets and whitewashed walls and such. We had tea in a cafe over looking the city and the Alhambra.
-Went to a "festival" that was above Albayzin and behind a church on top of the tallest hill. Kinda hard to find, but really it's a bunch of "jipis" (hippies, also called Perro-flautas because they wander around with dogs and instruments like flutes a lot) that decided to have a party with music and dancing and such hidden in the forest on the outskirts of town. Very cool. Also very close to where most of the cave houses that were originally built and inhabited by gypsies.
- Wandered back downhill through Albayzin and into town, where we tried to catch a bus back into the center, but very calm protests meant that the buses couldn't get to our area so instead we met up by the plaza del toros for tapas with some of her friends.
 Monday:
- A very nice lunch provided by Incarnacion.
-Alhambra
- Turron flavored ice cream
- Tapas with friends

Tomorrow:
- going to class with Karen
- Lunch at one of her favorite cafes
- Wandering ( I think?)
- dinner and/or tapas
- el Mae West

Wednesday:
Leaving for Sevilla!



THINGS OF INTEREST:
Culturally the biggest surprise for me are these social groups that Karen is navigating through. The Pijos (sort of like Preps) and the Jipis (sort of like Hippies from the 70s but not really). These two groups don't really mix much but Karen and some of her friends are in the middle of these two areas and so they can experience both subcultures. I think it's a little odd that the two don't mix because they  jipis remind me of more people in my art classes and a friend that's in France right now, and the pijos are a lot more like my future house mate Herschel and my other engineering friends. Then again, maybe it just means that like Karen in Spain, I also don't quite fit in either category. This all sounds trivial but it's so prevalent that you can't help but notice and think about it.


I loved the Alhambra but with so many tourist around it sort of loses the magical charm that so many writers and poets talked about. Visually and Architecturally it was still awesome though.

I found out I do like dancing here, even though I never dance at home. At home it's hard to enjoy it because a lot of students don't seem to know how to have a good time without being drunk or stupid or often both. Here Karen has found friends that are very good at just having fun without all the crazy.

Karen has bats that live on her windowsill and hang out at night making all sorts of chirping sounds. It doesn't seem to bother her much because she sleeps through it, but because of either the heat or the jetlag I kept waking up to our " neighbors." And there seems to be a daily routine in the morning in which Incarnacion comes in and cries and complains about the bats, whilst grabbing a tissue to clean the window.  Needless to say this was a little disorientating to wake up to first thing in the morning.


Sorry this entry is so matter of fact and rushed, but I'd rather get started and fix my style later.

Pictures coming soon!