Since Ireland I have simply been enjoying Seville. Classes are starting to speed up, and midterms are next week. Meaning, I have 4 midterms within 2 days this coming week and to be completely honest, I have barely studied for them at all. Turns out, I have become used to not having a lot of homework and not studying at all...and getting motivated has been quite the task!
On top of that, it has been raining alllll week long!! I guess the whole 'the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain' in My Fair Lady is not just a teaching tool, but also a very true statement. The rain also makes it very difficult to want to do anything because every day is one of 'those' days where you want to cuddle up in a blanket and watch movies and TV shows! Which is pretty much what I have been doing :-) so it's been a good few weeks!
These past weeks I have also come to the realization that my time here is flying quickly! I really only have 3 full weekends left in Seville due to my travel plans, which I'm not incredibly happy about. Here are my plans so you guys can know what to expect:
3/18 - 3/20 --> Barcelona
3/24 - 3/26 --> Morocco (with my program and secure guards, so please don't worry!!)
4/8 - 4/10 --> Lagos, Portugal
4/15 - 4/23 --> Tour de Italy, Cinque Terre, Florence and Rome
5/13 - 5/16 --> Paris
5/16 - 5/19 --> London
There may be one weekend trip thrown in my last weekend in Spain, but we'll see how the funds hold up as Italy is going to be incredibly expensive. We'll be traveling there during Easter week, which means it will be an excellent time to be in Rome, but it does up the cost!
Anyways, those trips are in the future, I will now tell you about the trip I took today to Córdoba! Córdoba is a city about 2 hours north of Seville. It houses 'La Mezquita' which is one of the biggest mosques in Spain and has a gorgeous interior, and a very interesting history. The Muslims were obviously the first to build the mosque and though it started small they continued to build it out further. It now contains over 1,000 arches and it would be more if not for the Christians. When the Christians took over Spain they took columns and arches out of the middle of the Mosque and turned the center portion into a Catholic worship area in the shape of a cross. The Christians originally wanted to tear down the entire Mosque, but due to protests from the citizens of Córdoba they settled instead for this option. To this day, the Mosque remains there, however, Muslims are not allowed to pray there, only Christians who hold Mass there every day. To Grandma Ginther --> I couldn't get any stained glass photos that turned out because it was so dark, but to be honest, the guys that did these windows have nothin' on you! Below are some photos:
After 'La Mezquita' we went to the Alcazar, or Palace, of Córdoba. This was pretty, but it's got nothin' on the Alcazar in Seville. Here are some more pictures:
The last place we went to visit was the Jewish Synagogue. After the Jews were kicked out of Spain by the Catholics in the late 1400's their homes and synagogues, but the synagogue was camouflaged so well that the Catholics didn't discover it until 5 years later. During those 5 years it was a refuge for remaining Jews and it was a school for small children. I don't have any pictures of this because it was really only one room, which was well decorated, but not very well lit.
We then walked around the streets of Córdoba for a little while, went to the street of flowers which is a pretty famous street. Last pics of Córdoba below:
So I believe that's all for now! My friend Tracy will be coming to Seville on 3/22 so I'm getting pretty excited for that. It'll be nice to have a visitor since everyone seems to have visitors coming this week and it's making feel a little lonely!
Hope you all have a good week and Spring Break for my Madison friends!!
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