apart from class and the occasional romp, life has been fairly relaxed. chelsea and i ate out at the nation's fair on wednesday, and i had a delightful gyro from the greek food booth (what can i say? i'm drawn to my roots!). it was nice to eat food other than spanish food. afterwards, we went to bliss (my favorite little cafe) for crepes and juice. in bliss, i meet a lovely australian couple who are currently living and working in scotland. they were visiting sevilla for a week and were seeking restaurant recommendations. it made me feel pretty cool that i could actually give them some good names--like i'm becoming somewhat of a sevillana (native of sevilla). it was nice, and definitely made me smile. thursday was marked by a visit to the cortes ingles for some necessities (chocolate, peanut butter, and granola bars), and then a trip to the center for dance class. we flew through our second dance (though i have by no means mastered it yet) and are now working on our third dance. it involves some complicated footwork that is not meant to be complete by a person with my shoe size. seriously, it's going to be touch-and-go for a while, i just know it. the difficulty of the third dance was compounded by the fact that it was incredibly hot on thursday! i keep waiting for fall to arrive in sevilla, but summer just keeps sticking, pesky and hot. one day in class, i complained to my professor, asking her when fall is going to arrive. she looked at my blankly, asking me if i realized that it was already october and fall is here! not quite the answer i was looking for, but oh well... i really shouldn't complain.
after a relaxing thursday, chelsea and i woke up early on friday to head out on a trip to extremadura, a neighboring state of sevilla. extremadura and sevilla couldn't be more different. sevilla is filled with light-hearted people and sunshine. extremadura is filled with a more serious bunch and harsher weather. in fact, the name "extremadura" comes from the two spanish words "extrema" and "dura", meaning extreme hardship or difficulty. yikes! with a name like that, you would expect extremadura to resemble somewhere truly terrible, like southern nevada or arizona! in fact, though the landscape is rougher, the countryside is covered with rolling mountains and hills composed of a rocky soil. the hills are green, blanketed by pines and other growth (ahh... green!). all through the drive, farms of all types lined the highways--farms with cows, sheep, pigs (oh, HUGE pigs!), olive groves, wheat, corn (made me think of quincy!), and other unidentifiable fruits and vegetables that looked wonderful nonetheless. extremadura is much less populated than andalusia (sevilla's state). in fact, the largest city in extremadura has about 80,000 people, compared to andalusia, which has sevilla (home to 800,000+ inhabitants). despite my long-held conviction that i am more of a city girl, i have to admit: extremadura was beautiful and a refreshing sight after being cooped up in sevilla's city of apartment complexes and traffic jams. my relief to see the farmland even surprised myself! in addition to the gorgeous green and peaceful quite, the climb up into extremadura meant that the climate became less moderate, introducing me to my first (and probably last) taste of fall. ah, the coolness! i actually had to wear a jacket in order to feel comfortable--how glorious!
after traveling through the countryside, we arrived at our first destination, merida. merida was a glorious city during the roman occupation of spain. however, with the invasion of the visigoths and later the moors, the city became abandoned and lost its status. however, during the reconquest of spain during the 15th century, merida was reconquered and made into a christian city. unlike most cities, the reconquest did not mean the immediate destruction of all existing property. instead, a gorgeous roman ampitheatre and theatre still exist very well preserved in merida. the theater especially in incredible, with huge marble columns standing from before the time of Christ. it is the most well-preserved roman theater in western europe (according to my professor... some italians might disagree), and it was indeed spectacular. presiding over the entire spectacle is the roman goddess ceres, the goddess of agriculture, which i found fitting due to the extremadura lifestyle. the ampitheatre was stunning as well, though the ampitheatre in the italica (right next door to good ole sevilla) is slightly better preserved and was, during its former glory, a larger and more important venue. either way, walking amongst roman ruins is an incredibly amazing experience. every time, i can't help but wonder what the walls have seen--too much for my poor mind to comprehend or even imagine!
me and the pretty cool roman ampitheater. it wasn´t quite as well-preserved an large as the ampitheater at itálic, but who´s going to complain?
the really awesome roman theatre in mérida!
me, striking a pose at the roman theatre in mérida... the goddess looking down at my antics with a little bit of amusement in ceres, the roman goddess of agriculture.
following our visit to the ampitheatre and theater, we headed right next door to the museum housing hundreds of roman artifacts excavated from the surrounding city. amongst the artifacts were sculptures, coins, jewelry, pottery, roman glass, and the largest and most impressive mosaics i have ever seen! they were seriously HUGE and incredibly ornate! i can't imagine the time and effort (and MONEY) it must have required to build such an exquisite and wonderful piece of art. and to think--they served at the floor of roman houses! sure puts american decorating to shame really. the museum was interesting, but i personally prefer to be outdoors exploring the sites than in a building looking at the artifacts. fortunately, they museum closed for siesta and the curators rushed us out so they could head home for lunch and a nap. seriously, everything in spain closes for siesta--so different from america! after eating a sack lunch outside, chelsea and i wandered around and explored merida. unfortunately, there really wasn't much to see, as the city is small, somewhat non-touristy, and closed for siesta at 2:00 pm. i was able to procure a few postcards and look over several dozen cheesy roman knock-offs (mosaic made of plastic, anyone?). after exploration and a fabulous ice cream cone (seriously, spanish ice cream is wonderful), we all boarded the bus and took off for our next destination.
large and beautiful mosaic on display in the archeological museum. this is just a small piece of it!
our next destination, caceres, is a beautiful town full with lush, green trees (again, yay green). we arrived at our hotel around 4:00. i was surprised to find that the hotel was very quaint and nice. after taking a nap, chelsea and i grabbed our cameras and our jackets to meet up with the rest of the group. we walked through the heart of town, which was full of cute fashion boutiques and restaurants offering fabulous-smelling food. finally, we arrived at the plaza mayor, which stands directly in front of a gorgeous medieval town. caceres, like merida, was quite the hot spot during the roman age. however, the visigoths and moors didn't take such a liking to it. however, once the catholic rulers reconquered the area, caceres became a popular place once again, with rulers and conquerors of the new world choosing to live and establish their lives in caceres. this means that an entire medieval village, complete with numerous 16th century mansions, a few old churches, and lots of charm. at one point in time, caceres was an independent city, meaning that it didn't fall under the king and queen's rule. because of its independence, the large, rich families in caceres fought tooth-and-nail to control the city. the fighting became so terrible that every house had its own defensive tower built for battle. finally, after years of hatred and feuding ("romeo and juliet" style), the king and queen intervened, declaring caceres under their rulership. as part of this declaration, all of the defensive towers were destroyed. only one house was able to keep its tower because the owner was buddies with queen isabella.
despite its violent and tumultuous history, it's hard to imagine caceres as anything other than beautiful, quaint, and historic. in addition to its many mansions are lovely squares surrounding local parishes. the most stunning church is a white building constructed by the jesuits in the 18th century (i think...). the church is beautiful. unfortunately, the jesuits only got to use it for 12 years before they were expelled from spain. at that time, the church was taken over and became a residence hall--seriously, a residence hall! currently, students and visitors actually stay and live in this old church! pretty cool, if you ask me. the entirety of old-town caceres was unbelievably charming, and i definitely didn't want to leave. we got to watch the sunset on the beautiful buildings. after sunset, we made our way back through downtown caceres, where a large crowd was gathering for some sort of outdoor rock concert. i was happy to return to our quiet hotel and escape the loud music and bustling crowds. in the hotel, we all ate dinner together as a group and it was surprisingly delicious! they served us a wonderful vegetable dish called pisto to start. pisto is made of grilled vegetables (specifically zuchini, onions, squash, and potatoes) with a sauce made of olive oil. it was so good! then they served us chicken cordon bleu, which was pretty great. extremadura is known for its delicious jamon iberico (iberian ham), and it was stuffed inside a juicy, wonderful chicken breast. afterwards, we had a delightful ice cream cake. overall, i ate way too much and enjoyed the food immensely! dinner ended around 11:00 pm, and chelsea and i spent some time hanging out with some fellow students before we retired to our room and went to bed!
me in the middle of old-town cáceres...
a look at old-town cáceres... the sun was setting, so the view isn´t fabulous, but man, was it cool!
me, begging san pedro to bring me a happy marriage. according to legend, if you touch his feet, he will grant you a long and happy marriage... never hurts to wish, right?
me and the jesuit church/residence hall... it was a pretty cool building (note the jacket. yay for cooler weather!).we woke up on saturday morning to bright sunshine and refreshingly cool temperatures. after getting ready, we ate a good breakfast at the hotel (i had a fabulous chocolate croissant, which was far from healthy but absolutely wonderful). then, we grabbed our stuff and boarded the bus. an hour later, we arrived at a small mountain town named trujillo. trujillo's history is the exact same as merida and caceres: a town of former glory, completely ignored by the visigoths and arabs, and then restored to a small place of prominence by the catholic rulers of spain. trujillo had a beautiful plaza mayor surrounded by a lovely church and old stone buildings. trujillo is famous for being the birthplace of pizarro, the spanish conqueror of peru. a large bronze stature stands in his honor and the center of trujillo's plaza mayor, and his lovely house sits in a place of importance right off of the plaza. interestingly enough, extremadura has a reputation for growing conquerors. in addition to pizarro, other famous new-world conquerors, such as hernan cortes (who defeated mexico's mighty aztec empire in the most brutal and bloody of ways). it's difficult to imagine that these peaceful villages could produce men capable of such brutality and cruelty, but that's life, i suppose.
me hanging out in trujillo´s plaza mayor.
chelsea and i hanging out in front of the statue honoring pizarro in la plaza mayor de trujillo. like i said, he´s their favorite local hero and claim to fame.
though the center of trujillo is beautiful, trujillo's true claim to fame is its 10th palace situated at the highest point in the city. the palace was built simply as a refuge during times of war, so it is nothing more than tall walls and towers, but it offers a splendid view of the surrounding city and wonderful countryside. i spent an hour (along with my fellow students) climbing all over the protective structure. in the center of the fortress, above the main entrance, la virgen de la victoria (the virgin of victory) watches over the city. according to legend, la virgen de la victoria appeared in trujillo while the catholic kings were trying to repossess the territory from its current inhabitants. according to legend, she appeared and enabled the kings to win the battle. thus, she is the patron saint of trujillo, and the people respect her greatly. i enjoyed wandering around the old fortress ruins, and trujillo was incredibly enchanting. we returned to the center of town for another fabulous meal at a local restaurant. we had a delicious roasted chicken and a tasty rice pudding for dessert. it goes without saying that this weekend was a weekend of exploring and of eating! after lunch, we boarded the bus once more for our 4 hour trek back to sevilla.
me looking out over the city of trujillo atop its lovely castle/fortress.
me atop the highest point of the trujillo castle/fortress (squint and i promise you´ll be able to see me). the view across the countryside was beautiful!
my sunday has been incredibly relaxing, thus far. i slept in late, read a book, wrote my blog, worked on homework, and went out for coffee with my roommate and her intercambio. in spain, sundays really can't be anything other than relaxed, as all businesses other than coffee shops and restaurants are ordered by law to close their doors. on sunday, it's impossible to find anything open! no shops, no business... just the soccer arena and cafes! it's a pretty stark contrast to the u.s., where my sundays frequently involve grocery shopping or another visit to some sort of commercial venue. that doesn't happen here in spain! however, the soccer arena is DEFINITELY open on sundays! chelsea's intercambio met up with us and we hopped in her car to go find some place to have coffee. we were fairly close to the stadium (maybe 4 blocks away), and we couldn't find a single parking space! not only were there no legal parking spaces, there were absolutely no illegal parking spaces! cars were parked anywhere there was enough room--some teetering on medians, others surrounding the outside edge of a traffic circle. several cars were double, even triple parked down the narrowest streets imaginable! it was hilarious--especially as we watched a pair of policemen survey the scene with wide eyes and then just drive away without distributing a single parking violation. they understand the importance of the soccer games. while we were hanging out in the coffee shop, the soccer game let out, and a flood of people of all ages wearing the traditional red of sevilla (the soccer team). it was quite a sight to see! i'm working hard to go to a soccer game, because i have a feeling that it would be quite an experience indeed. unfortunately, the spainards don't seem to publish a game schedule! a friend of chelsea's intercambio met up with us as he was leaving the soccer game, and i asked him where i could find a match schedule. he looked at me blankly and was unable to produce an answer. instead, he ticked off the upcoming games from memory! i'm beginning to believe that soccer knowledge is something innate here in spain--people don't learn it, they just know it. they know when every game is played. it made me feel somewhat inferior and lame--i didn't know the game schedule! how un-sevillana of me!
tomorrow begins another week of class, and i'm excited for the week to end (though i'm not wishing it to pass too quickly... i'm trying to absorb and enjoy every minute of my wonderful life in spain...) because i travel to exotic and exciting morocco this weekend! i can't wait to experience something so strange and so different. i have been incredibly blessed by my time in spain. i have had the great opportunity to travel to some wonderful places, and i know that my list of completed travel destinations is only going to grow longer, what with my planned excursions to morocco, barcelona, granada, italy, madrid, cadiz, and malaga. hopefully all will go according to plan!
thanks for reading :) check back again soon for exciting stories and updates.
love to all!
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