LA FERIA in Sevilla- The Greatest Fair in The World!

"The Sevillanos love their sleep as much as anybody else, but they are not afraid to sacrifice some of it in a good cause. Not for work, of course. But for their social lives? Absolutely." 
                             -Dancing in the Fountain, Karen McCann


I blinked on April 1st and all of a sudden it's May 6th....... NO! April has come and gone right before my eyes. It was truly a great month. Kickin' it off with Morocco, we came back to Sevilla for BEAUTIFUL weather. You pretty much skip Spring and go right into Summer here (Although apparently Summer in Sevilla is unbearably hot). The following weekend started off La Feria de Abril (The Seville Fair). This is one of the biggest celebrations in Sevilla--pretty much everyone had the week off of school and work.

Many of our friends were traveling during this week off of class, so Florencia and I soaked up all of our time galavanting around beautiful Sevilla. Through her host mom's English Time school, we got the opportunity to teach some Spaniards English (THANK YOU, FLO!) It's a conversation class and we have met some really cool people. My class is a bunch of 20-something year olds and I fully plan on keeping in touch with them when I go back to the states. Friday night we went out with them and they showed us a true "Sevillano" evening. We hung outside in the busy plazas, then we hopped around from place to place getting tapas and drinks. We all put money in towards a "bote," which is typical thing to do in Spain. For example, we all put in 10 euro and someone held onto it and we'd buy as many tapas/drinks throughout the night until it runs out. It's pretty nice, actually. I am SO happy that I met these people. We have had so much fun just talking about everything. I am really, really sad to leave them. Thank you for everything Alicia, Alejandro, Alberto, and Juan Carlos!! Os quiero y voy a volver, pronto :) O venid a Nueva York conmigo!

Night out with Alicia, Alberto, and Alejandro. Don't want to leave you!

La Feria was one of the coolest thing I've experienced in Sevilla. Picture this--- a huuuuuuugee fairground filled with tents side-by-side and beautiful colors, lights, music, and people. A countless number of horse-drawn carriages driving through the streets. The "casetas" (tents) are lined up for miles. Families own these casetas and they are filled with bars, tables, lights, decorations, and of course, beautiful Sevillianos. The women of ALL ages wear these "trajes" or flamenco dresses. From the first look, one may think they are a little different, maybe even a tad unattractive, but every Spanish person at the fair that week was STUNNING. I was mesmerized. Flo and I would walk around just staring and smiling. And the men looked very handsome in their jackets. I thought it was amazing the tradition behind the whole Feria. They play the typical Sevillana music and drink "Rebujitos" and Manzanilla. When they play their typical music, there is a 4-stage dance that everyone knows. It's incredible.

  

This isn't the greatest video but a girl can only be so creepy. Typically the dance is between a male and a female and they see it as a way of "flirting" but whenever they hear this song everyone starts dancing, regardless of who you're with.

We went in our friend Alvaro's caseta with a bunch of his friends and it was a ball! Him and his brother played music while everyone danced. After we met up with Alicia and Alejandro for a bit! These people stay up until 6 am everynight just partying and enjoying life. The carnival part of the fair was probably the best display I've ever seen. They had the greatest rides. We took the ferris wheel and it was the most breathtaking thing overlooking the fair.

View from the Ferris Wheel: Aerial view of the casetas and people!

Manzanilla, typical drink of La Feria

Horse-drawn carriages all over the city

WHEN I come back to Sevilla (if I ever leave), I most definitely shall be returning during La Feria. 
It just completely solidified my obsession with this city. 

  

Morocco, Africa -- A Weekend I'll Never Forget

To attempt to put this past weekend into words is impossible because I simply can not.

My program includes a four-day trip to Morocco, Africa. This trip is something that I've been looking forward to the whole semester so we were pretty pumped to go.

7 a.m. Thursday morning, 28 of us hopped on a bus to the Port of Tarifa, the southernmost part of Spain, to catch the Ferry to Tangier, Morocco. We then met our leader for the rest of the weekend--Allen, a middle-aged man who is one of the head honchos for Morocco Exchange (the program we went through). Allen lives in Madrid and has been taking students to Morocco for the last 9 years. Allen was a character to say the least.

So Allen is taking 28 females to Morocco...obviously he whips out a "Snack bag" within the first five minutes we get onto the Ferry. It's full of cookies, chocolate, chips and all sorts of junk--definitely his scheme to keep us happy and quiet for a while (worked for me). Minutes after everyone devours the snack bag, we embark on the ROUGHEST 45 minute ferry imaginable. People were puking everywhere. Meanwhile, I am taking some videos and dying laughing at this scenario. It was like a bad scene from a movie. We finally got to Tangier and settled into a 15 passenger van which would be our travel means for the next three days. The trip was planned PERFECTLY. We would spend time in one city, then drive the van around to different locations and through the countryside to another village or city. It was the best way to see as much as we could in the short amount of time there.

First, we went to the Darna Center for Girls in Tangier. It was basically a place that provides safe and stable temporary daytime communal learning environments, with an education in job skills. This was our first interaction with Moroccan people. We met two girls and a guy who were roughly our age. Over lunch we had a discussion about our different cultures. It was pretty incredible. They also spoke beautiful English. One girl, Nora, wore her jibab covering her hair and we asked her why she wore it. She responded that it was something personal to her and her way to be modest and preserve her beauty. That when she meets a guy they like her for who she is and not for what she looks like. I thought that was outstanding. They basically told us about their lives in general and how they pray a lot. Mostly the men go to the Mosque to pray because if the women go, they stay to the back because they may distract the man's mind and he needs to be completely focused on his prayer. Also, they can't really date, only in private. Girls don't really go to bars or drink at all in their Muslim culture. This was our first time trying their mint tea which was delicious but SO sugary. They love sweet things and have one of the highest rates of diabetes. They even eat their desserts first sometimes (which I believe is the right way to do it).

We then rode some camels. Unfortunately it was in the middle of a monsoon so it was only for a short time but it was really fun. We walked around another city with a lot of cool street art. After, we took our bus over to the capital city of Rebat. Oh yeah and not only did I drink one glass of the tap water that you aren't supposed to drink...I drank TWO by accident. I was fine, though. We then were assigned to our homestay family for the next two nights and Florencia and I met our woman, Johanna (we think). We had the best time with her. The first words she says to us is, "AH.. My princesses. My girls. I treat you like princesses." In Morocco they speak Arabic and French mostly. She spoke a bit of English. After everything she said she would use "my love" at the end in a whisper. First, she comes into our room with tea and cookies and pours the tea from like 3 feet above and motions us to eat her cookies, "Have more of my cookie...Please, my love." HAHA Everything we ate she would give us more and more. At night, we had a chicken dish with some sort of sauce and vegetables. We notice that there is not any silverware on the table. She then showed us 'how to do it' and reached into the big dish with her hands and started to eat. She then continued to pick up food and put it on our plate. It was quite the experience. Since I'm the worst person when it comes to laughing in serious situations, I had to kick Florencia under the table so many times to help me. She would always eat her own food and be the first one to say, "Ahhh delicious." If we ever said how good it was, or laughed at a joke of hers, she'd say, "AHHH I love you. Please stay with me." Another funny thing she would always say is, "Ah yes, You're welcome." For example, I'd say, "Oh I think it's going to be sunny today." She would respond, "Yes, yes you're welcome," haha This may really not be funny but next time I see you, I'll reenact her voice. (I'm sure it STILL won't be funny but..)

Florencia is gluten-free, so of course all we were offered was bread and foods with wheat. We actually had to pocket some bread at times (horrible, I know.. desperate times, desperate measures) We really had an awesome experience with her. The last night we stayed there, she was telling a story and she started laughing hysterically. Next thing you know, the three of us were crying laughing for about 10 minutes. One of the coolest things about being abroad has been my experiences with the locals. It's like no matter where you're from or what language you speak, we are all the same and think the same basic thoughts--like what's funny or not (obviously with room for variation). I am sitting around a table in Rabat, Morocco, 3,600 miles from home with a women in a hijab and a girl from Seattle I just met 3 months ago (who is one of my very good friends now, might I add. Hey FLO) and we are so comfortable and just laughing about God knows what. I feel like this everyday with my host family. THAT is one of my favorite things about being over here. After an exchange of contacts and a plee for us to move to Morocco, we said goodbye to Johanna and Rabat.

We had a conversation with a girl from the Peace Corps in Morocco. We thought we were going to get a spheel to join the cause, but she was real with us. She said everything is to the extreme, that she has had some of the best of the best days and the worst days were some of the worst of her life. She said that the men in the streets were the worst part for her. It was awesome to hear about her time there. A mission is 27 months and she said that some people leave the first day. She has been there for two years now and I completely respect that. If it wasn't 27 months long, I would strongly consider doing something like the Peace Corps.

All of us girls really wanted to get a taste for the culture so we went to the "Hammam." It's basically just a public bath. I won't go into detail about that one but it was definitely an experience to say the least haha. 

We went to the Hope for Sale house. We met some really cool people.We asked one of the girls at Hope for Sale if she had the option to choose faith or freedom what she would choose and she instinctively said, "Faith because my faith allows me to be free." We also asked if she thought, as a woman in a Muslim country, that she was free. She said she thought she had complete freedom. After this and all of our preconceived notions on how oppressed Muslim women were, we were reallllly questioning things about women in the Muslim society. 

Shanty Town

We first stopped in a little town to get some tea and food for lunch (and to replenish the snack bag, of course.) The snack bag was a running joke because we would eat SO much and then being the typical women we are...we were all mad at Allen for getting so much junk food. We blamed the weight we gained/how much we ate on him (Fellas, you can never win!) Probably one of my favorite moments of the trip was when we rode the bus up this crazy steep mountain side to a small village to visit a family. We had a nice conversation about their lives and what not (with a translator, of course). They were SO hospitable. There were three women there. One was 26 years old with three children, another was 17 years old with a baby, and the other was 20 years old. We helped them to prepare lunch and played with the kids. It was just really cool to see the lifestyle in which they lived. We asked what was the worst thing about living in this village and the father responded, "Nothing. There isn't a bad thing about living here." I had chills after that. This was a family who didn't have a toilet, some of the rooms didn't even have a roof, they lived over an hour from the closest city, and so many more "unfortunate (to us)" things. I was completely thrown off and humbled when he answered that. Reallly, really puts things into perspective. Us girls had a discussion after about how we always want to save these people from their situations but in reality some are really happy/don't want to be saved. Sometimes as Americans we think that everyone who doesn't have as much as us envies us, when in reality many people are completely content with the lives they lead. I actually envy them a little bit. Although they work hard during the day, they have just a simple lifestyle. Someone also asked the father what he wanted for his daughters when they grew up and he said whatever they want to do as long as they are happy. We also asked one of the women if she would ever like to leave the village and do something different with her life. She responded that it's in the hands of Allah and whatever is meant to be will happen. It was really incredible how much faith they had.

The 20 year old woman was not married and I think she really wanted to get out of the village and do something with her life. In an exchange of some hand motions, we proposed switching lives. Although we couldn't communicate, I really had an affinity for her. I felt bad that the two other women had husbands and children, and I could tell she really wanted more. Right before we left, I gave her my "Pursue Happiness" bracelet. I figured she needed it more than I did. It was an awesome experience. We actually almost hopped on the other trip back the village the next day. 

We then were off to Chefchaoeun for our last night. It was a fantastic city. We walked around and shopped for a while. You are supposed to do some bargainning but as you can imagine...I'm not too good at that. We then got henna tattoos and had a nice meal in this Aladdin restaurant. We went back to our hostel and kind of wrapped up the weekend. Then as a perfect end to the weekend, we sat up on the terrace that overlooked the city and the mountains. It was SO beautiful. That night a few of us sat and talked for a while with our new Moroccan friend, Bachir. It was beautiful

We took a nice morning hike before we left. A complete influx of blue and white buildings. I definitely didn't want to leave. We then took the bus back to the border. We got out of the van and walked across the border which is pretty cool thing to have done. We crossed the Ceuta border fence, which is the barrier between Morocco and Spain. We also got to see the Rock of Gibraltar from a distance. Luckily the ferry back was much smoother.

The weekend was crafted perfectly. We got to interact with so many awesome people and learn a lot. It was one of the best trips that I've taken so far. I can't wait to go backkkkkkkkk!

2 Month mark & Beach house in Huelva, España

Two weekends ago was awesome for a few reasons: 

1.) It marked my two month mark of officially arriving in Spain.

2.) A few friends and I traveled to a city just an hour out of Sevilla to our Spanish friend's beach house.

3.) It marked the day that I fully realized how ridiculously lucky I am to be here.

2 months?! (now almost 3) Get out of town-- It seems like just yesterday I was sitting around a table with three strangers, eating strange food, who were rambling strange words. People are typically a little reluctant to choose the home-stay option, but I'm so happy I did. I really lucked out with my family. They are SO sweet and patient. I really wanted to do something nice for them for the two-month mark, but I wasn't sure what was appropriate for a husband, wife, and little kid. I ended up buying my host mother a bouquet of flowers. When I gave them to her she was so surprised and grateful that she almost cried. "Por qué, Nicole (knee-cole)?!" What for Nicole? (It's really not common to do that here, I guess). They actually are still on the table, slowly dying haha. SO.. two months was a crazy reality check. And not to mention thinking about the fact that I have only known my friends here for a little over two months? It truly feels like years. (They are great and there shall be a post about my family and friends soon, I promise). 

Thursday and Friday were just awesome days-- walking around the city and such. Finally tried this one restaurant we've been dying to go to, Eslava. Super good. Stumbled upon this little place one night and it was the most perfect, tranquil night ever. The reflections of the Plaza de España on the water were crystal clear. Pretty breathtaking. 

The Cathedral, Eslava, and mi amigo Jon

Islantilla Beach- Huelva, Spain

On Saturday morning, my friends Alex and Nicole, and I went to our friend's beach house in Huelva, Spain. When we arrived, we were extremely excited! It was like a little resort right on the beach. The best part about it was that it was so peaceful and empty because it's March and the summer weather isn't quite here yet. Also, I didn't have my phone or any connection to the outside world which it made it even more of an experience. 

So it was us Americans with four Spaniards from Sevilla. We pretty much only spoke Spanish the whole time, which was very fun/interesting. Half of them know English so they really tried to help us practice and learn different things. It was SO much fun. Of course we thought that we were pretty much fluent when we left. Alvaro made us some delicious Paella, a typical Spanish plate. We then went down to the beach and relaxed. It was a gorgeous day. We also walked around the little town and it was so quaint and cute, it kind of resembled the Lake George village area. 

Later that night, we had burgers and relaxed on the balcony area. We played some games and spoke a lot more Spanish. Alvaro then took out his guitar and played a bunch of new Spanish music that we LOVE. I told them about my nickname, "Coco," and they loved it. They even dedicated a song to me, naming it, "Cocquito's song." It was great. We really wanted to learn some Spanish dances, so Carmen taught us how to dance Sevilliana, a typical dance from in Seville. We had a great time.

How often can you really say that you packed up a car and went to your Spanish friend's beach house when you were abroad. We were so happy we went. Not only did we have a ton of fun and practice our Spanish, we really got a taste of the true Spanish culture. I'm so glad I got to do that. We love our Spaniard friends!

Most importantly, there shall be a post on my complete manifestation with Seville! 

Dublin, Ireland! PC Edition

So the following weekend I made the trek up to Dublin! February 28 was a holiday for us here in Spain, El Día de Andalucía, so I was able to make a long weekend out of it. Megan and Dodie are studying at the University of Dublin and Meg so graciously hosted me (Thank you). I was super excited to see them. Annnnnd not to mention...Michele and the girls were coming for PC's spring break! 

It was just SO nice to see them, it didn't matter where we were. Of course, it felt as though we never even left each other. It was great to catch up with everyone throughout the trip. Also, I love that I've gotten the chance to see the lives my friends lead abroad! 

Meg and I did a ton of exploring throughout the city. Dublin is pretty much just as I pictured it! Everyone is SO sweet and willing to sit and have a conversation with you, or physically walk you in the direction you need to go. It was great. At one point Meg and I were walking down the street and I had sushi rolls in one hand, soy sauce in another, my camera hanging on my shoulder and my bag pretty much open. An Irish man stopped us and said, "Where abouts in America are ya from? I got to give ya some advice, ya need to be careful." Is it SO obvious we are Americans? Not to mention, he was definitely the person who would be stealing your stuff. He said, "Especially if you're disorganized, and this one looks like a mess." And pointed to me haha. We were dying. (definitely one of those funnier-at-the-time moments)

Downtown Dubin is so much fun! There were so many shops and restaurants. There was also live music on the streets, which will always be a plus in my book. And some real good Irish music at that! The River Liffey is the river that runs through the center of Dublin. All the coolest cities have rivers :)

River Liffey

So we went to the Old Jameson Distillery, which was really fun and interesting to see how it was made and how much they pride themselves on their whiskey. They constantly made jabs at Americans, saying how the types that are too weak for the Irish would be way too strong for us. Had my first real Irish Coffee, yum!

One of my favorite parts about the city were the colored doors all over! 'Colored Doors of Dublin.' Blue, red, yellow, green. It was fantastic.

So of course just to be that person, I asked Meg if there are really little munchkin leprechauns in Ireland. Of course she starts laughing and calls me crazy. Come to find out, I see about 5 midgets throughout the weekend. The next thing you know, I saw a little leprechaun. So I will validate the myth here--there ARE, in fact, leprechauns in Ireland...

A little Wilde in his hometown

Finally the Providence girls arrived and I was simply thrilled to be with everyone! We had a great time exploring the city and the George's Street Arcade market. I wish I could have gotten to spend more time with them, but I enjoyed seeing everyone. It was so nice to hang out with Dodie, Bridget, Jenna, and Erin because I never get to spend much time with them at school. We had a ball! Michele is just as funny as ever. She was also told that "There are no other girls in Europe quite like her." God I love her.

We ended the incredible weekend at the Guinness factory with sky bar overlooking the city. The band played our song, "Galway Girl" and it was perfect. To say that I was sitting overlooking the capital city of Ireland with two of my best friends is one of the greatest feelings ever.

Just necessary

  "Galway Girl" at the Guinness Factory

Dublin was just awesome. It was everything I pictured and more. I couldn't be happier that everyone is enjoying their respective places around Europe (and down under, Cay) (and the Northeast haha, suckers) I think everyone made the right choice on where to study. I know Dublin is perfect for Megan and that comforts me :) Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me! 


Erin go Bragh!

Granada, España

Ahhh! Now let's get back to the positive posts. I'm sorry I haven't kept you updated on my latest excursions. I've been too busy falling in love with the rest of the world. 

A ver... (Let's see)...

A few weeks ago, my friends and I visited Granada, a beautiful city in Southern Spain. I was pretty excited about this because up until now I have done most of my traveling by myself! I have come to love traveling and I do not mind doing it alone a single bit. However, it is nice to have some company sometimes. A ton of us trained it over to Granada (3 hours) on Friday morning.

Granada was awesome. The whole city was surrounded by mountains, most importantly Sierra Nevada. I would have loved to ski or hike there but unfortunately we didn't have time and the weather was difficult. Up until now I was fortunate enough to have a friend in every city I have visited, so this was my first hostel stay and it was awesome! This one had a cool rooftop area, a bar, kitchen, and outside patio. At night the people made Paella for everyone and people from all over ate together and got to know each other. Then in the morning there were some breakfast food out and you could serve yourself and eat with all different residents of the hostel. Then after you would do your own dishes. Call me crazy but I thought it was cool haha. I'm a nerd. It's the simple things for me :)

Our hostel (Oasis Granada)

So obviously you can't go to Granada without seeing the beautiful Alhambra! For those of you who live under a rock, the Alhambra is a beautiful palace/fortress in Granada and one of the most important sites in all of Spain. There are so many different parts to the Alhambra and it is extra beautiful because it is located on top of a hill and surrounded by the gorgeous Sierra Nevada mountain range. Also, you could overlook the entire city. I am so happy that I got a chance to see the Alhambra while I was in Spain because I've learned about it for years.

Later in the evening, we went to Plaza de San Nicholas. It is a super cool spot to watch the sunset over the city. Take the beauty of this picture and multiply it by 100. The mountains in the background were probably the coolest thing. It didn't even look real. The Alhambra looked like some crazy, Medieval fortress you see in the movies.

I loved the hill-y layout of the city

Rooftop Sunrise in Granada

I had a fantastic time in Granada. Ate lots of Babel, went to a cave bar overlooking the city, stayed in my first hostel, had some 3 a.m. french-fries covered in Kabobs/mysterious sauces, saw a sunrise and a sunset, as well as some of the most spectacular architectural sites in Spain, anddddd got to spend it with all of my new friends (a.k.a. the people that my parents paid to hang out with me for a semester). 

I love Granada.