The Reflection

So, here I am, back in America, sitting on my bed.  Every time I traveled and I would see all these mind blowing sites and views I would think about how surreal it was that I was in those places.  And now that I am back in New York I kind of can't believe that I'm really here, it's right where I left it.  The past 4 months literally flew by, but I'm realizing that with age life seems to fly by faster and faster.  It's intimidating because a lot of times I just want to slow everything down so I have enough time to take in what's around me. But after experiencing such a unique and extensive semester, it's obvious that I would walk away feeling and thinking about things a little differently.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel when I came home.  While I was abroad I didn't feel like I was changing much but I figured when I was in a different context the differences would slowly come out of the woodwork.  

The two photos above are of Calle Betis, a street that runs along the river in Sevilla.  It is one of the most colorful streets and has a collection of different bars and clubs making it a great party street at night.  Below is a sign for Cruzcampo, the beer of Spain. 

While I don't feel like study abroad has rocked my whole concept of what is important in life or dramatically changed my values, I recognize that it has emphasized what I have already known.  It's emphasized to me how truly beautiful life is and that we can't allow ourselves to get caught up in all the petty happenings because there are too many amazing things for us to experience instead.  Each day I got to see something different and exciting that held a deeper meaning that I could never completely understand, but I would try to.  Though I may not remember every detail I've learned while I was abroad, in the shadow of the Parthanon or on the top of Notre Dame, I saw and was able to appreciate so much more than myself.  I was able to contemplate all the people that came before me, who saw that place, who created that place, who died for that place.  It's important to appreciate what we have and the privileged lives we get to live because it's not the case for everyone.  

Rose Gardens in the Parque de Marie Louisa. 

I got to recognized the beauty in everything around me whether it be gorgeous landscapes, stunning cathedrals, or simply the interactions between people.  Sometimes it takes differences that you see in a new place to appreciate the simplicity in life.  I loved watching families and friends interact with each other everywhere I went, the importance of love and social relationships is universal though sometimes shown differently.  

Quick funny story!! At the end of our stay in Sevilla the weather started to get a little ridiculous, every day for the last week or so it would be between 90-100 degrees outside.  So one day while 5 of us were walking around the city Keliana decided we should go check out the roof top pool of this really nice hotel she'd known about.  After walking into the hotel like we were guests, we made our way up to the roof only to find a little pool with the Cathedral's bell tower hanging right over it.  Next thing I know Keliana's in the pool.  We all watched her swim around and one by one got jealous enough that we all ended up jumping in too.  Right when we decided to get out 2 men came up and asked us for our room number and when we were unable to tell him he said that pool use costs 50 euro each.  We were all kind of pissed and taken aback by the cost, but soon discovered that along with the 50 euros we would be able to use the pool for the rest of the day and get 3 bottles of Champaign!  We decided to make an afternoon out of it and had lovely time hanging by the pool, also one of the guys lowered the price to 40 euros for us because he felt bad. When it's 100 degrees, who wouldn't want to be at the pool sipping Champaign??  

All my roomates at our favorite ice cream place with the owner!  It was interesting living with 11 other girls, and I can safely say that it was a learning experience, but one I'm not sure I would want to run into again anytime soon.  I kind of thought of it as my first and only sorority experience.  I truly did get lucky with the group of girls that I was put with and though some like to eat others food and refuse to clean up their dishes, all of them showed me how important it is to never judge someone based off your first impression.  Each girl had her own quirk, her own interests, and her own faults.  As a psych major being in an apartment with this many people was actually kind of a treat.  Observing social relationships babyyy.  And though I'm not sure who I will and will not stay in contact with I will always think of these people fondly because of all the funn and girly times we shared.  Penthouse Sevilla 4 life!

All dressed up and ready to goo. 

One of my favorite spots in Sevilla 

I think the biggest downside for me about this whole semester is that I could not have conversations with the Spanish people.  It was disappointing to me because I was unable to get to experience Spanish culture first hand through a Spaniard.  I met some but many couldn't speak much English and I know that if I was just a little better I would have been happier.  Something as simple as chatting with the man at our bread store would have made my day.  But, after walking the line of failing Spanish this semester I recognize the difficulty I have with speaking another language.  When I think about it though, it was a challenge I gave myself and at the end I saw that my comprehension and vocabulary were improving. But I can't help but think what this experience would have been like if I could speak Spanish well. 

Cruzcampo everywhere

Ceramic street in Triana

What I lacked in communicative skills I made up in sincere desire to understand a culture.  I focused on trying to see and recognize the differences in Spanish life compared to American life.  With help from my culture class I was given the knowledge of what and why these people do what they do.  The class was the script for the pictures I was taking.  Above are pictures at a bar that sits at the end of the Triana bridge, in the morning we'd go and with the wind blowing cool air from the large open windows, we enjoyed a typical Spanish breakfast. Tostata con tomate, aciete, jamon y cafe con leche.  In Spain eating is largely a social activity, during lunch people sit for hours slowly eating their meals and drinking beers while enjoying the company of their friends and family.  They like to enjoy their meal time as much as possible, and getting food to go is unheard of in Spain. I think adopting this practice would be beneficial for Americans, it would give us the opportunity to slow down our day and relax.  

Reping the glow in the dark Virgin, day in day out.

My biggest companion throughout this whole experience, she always had my back no matter what country we were in. 

The more places I visited the more I realized that Sevilla was the perfect place to study abroad.  It's the perfect size, everything was pretty much walkable and it's one of the most colorful cities I've seen.  I loved that I was in Southern Spain because it's so full of culture and authenticity.  I still think it's weird that I lived in a city, but Sevilla was a great pick because it eased this nature girl into concrete living quite well. 

After all the traveling to various places where we had to always be on our toes, Sevilla was the mellow pretty place we got to come home to.  Traveling was obviously a huge part of my semester, and it's given me a new sense of personal ability.  Before I couldn't even book a flight and sometimes before I was about to travel I'd think,  "omg am I going to be able to do everything I need to at the right time or are we gonna end up broke and stranded in some random place!!"  Haha, but luckily everything went very smoothly for the most part and I'm excited to consider myself a very good traveler.  I've also recognized that I have pretty good directional skills.  Mental map!

Plaza de Espana and Parque de Marie Louisa = my happy place 

This trip also, obviously, allowed me to really break in my camera.  Sometimes when you are in the same place for too long, you don't want to take pictures anymore because nothing is new and different. But with all the traveling I did, I always had my camera up to my face.  At the time it was nothing, but now that I'm editing close to 8,000 pictures it all seems like a pretty big project.  I couldn't be more appreciative to my parents for providing this amazing piece of equipment for me and giving me the chance to beautifully record my experiences. 

Little girls putting on a Sevillanas dance in a plaza 

Hanging out on the Mushroom at night, the Cathedral lit up in the background! 

But with all the positives and negatives in my study abroad semester, I was still able to live in a foreign country for 4 months and travel to 11 countries in total, which is absolutely amazing.  With all the differences you encounter abroad, I learned that you can't really be picky. Though some people might find it hard to believe, I think that I have chilled out even more than I already was.  Being open to differences have just always seemed to enhance my experiences, and being close minded only creates restrictions.  I went into the semester without any real expectations of what I was going to get out of it and now after, I am nothing but appreciative for all the things I got to see, people I got to meet, food I got to eat, and adventures I got to go on.  And overall, I know that I am a better and more well-rounded person for it.  

It was truly something unlike anything I have ever done before, and it makes me excited for all the other great things that are yet to come in my lifetime. This is the last post of my study abroad blog, and I want to thank everyone who took the time to read it and follow me through this crazy semester.
Adios amigos!! 

That Spanish Culture

So amongst all the traveling I've been doing I have also been able to experience a lot of different Spanish traditions.  I'm really glad that I studied in southern Spain, and especially in Andalusia because they like to keep things old school down here. A lot of the traditions are a big deal here where they wouldn't be as important in other parts of Spain.  The first break we had was for Semana Santa and the second break for Feria de Abril, and I was also able to go to a bullfight!

Semana Santa

Each year in Spain and in a lot of other countries, people celebrate Semana Santa or "Holy Week" the week before Easter.  They do this by having pasos which are basically just giant parades and each church's fraternity takes the Virgin Mary out around the city.  The parades usually last about 4 hours and each one has a slightly different style, but all of them are very decked out.  It's pretty interesting because the pasos draw massive crowds making it next to impossible to get around if a paso is on your route.  Also there are around 50 different processions during the week so you usually find yourself running into them more often then not. Since I was traveling most of the time I only got to see 1 paso but I wormed my way through the crowd and got some pretty cool shots.  Also, I learned a lot about Semana Santa in my culture class, so I knew what was up. 

KKK? Nope, just some Spaniards dressing up in some traditional Semana Santa gear.  The outfit doesn't have any real association with the KKK, but the reason that they cover their faces is because the public isn't supposed to know who they are.  The people walking in the parades are supposed to be doing it for Jesus, like by participating in the parade they are servicing him so it's not for show, just for Jesus hah.  

Here is one of the floats, each paso usually has 3 floats each with scenes of christ in the bible.  The coolest part I think about the whole thing is that these floats are carried by men, if you look you can see their feet under the float.  Sometimes at night you can see men practicing walking with the floats.  Someone dictates what the group should do by knocking on the back of the float, also these floats can be huge, the largest float take 40 men to carry it.  

A lot of pasos also have a live band, so you can always hear a paso coming.  

Some people carry crosses that represent sins that they want to repent, others carry massive candles.  

One interesting thing about Semana Santa that I learned is that a lot of the people don't feel a strong religious connection with the event. They do it more as a way to network within the community, in Spain sometimes it's difficult to get certain services, so having a strong social network can be really helpful when it comes to getting work done on your house or getting a job.  A lot of really religious Spaniards don't like Semana Santa because they feel like it's fake and not really representing what it should be.  

During the whole parade I really enjoyed watching all of the people, everyone is socializing and there are kids running around.  Though I can't understand what anyone is saying, I really enjoy just watching Spaniards interact with one another.  A lot of the kids were collecting wax from the giant candles into wax balls.  They would swarm around the people with the candles and collect wax. 

The float on the left is the one with the Virgin Mary, interesting fact, in southern Spain the Virgin is the more cherished figure in Catholicism while in the North they focus more-so on Saints.  As you can see these floats are extremely done up, apparently its pretty expensive to maintain these things.

Bullfight

So CEA set us up to go to a bullfight!! Since I'd studied bullfight in my class and I wrote a paper about it, I was pretty excited to see one of these spectacles first hand.  Bullfighting has a lot more components to it then people realize, for instance during one fight 6 bulls are killed which I hadn't realized before.  Actually before I came to Spain I didn't even know that they killed the bulls during bullfights.   

The bullring is absolutely gorgeous and during the fight I enjoyed watching this huge Spanish man sitting in front of me eating bags of ham chips, so Spanish.  Also a lot of people were really worried about how they'd handle watching the bull get killed, including Keliana.  When the first bull was killed Kel started to cry and ended up leaving early after the 3rd bull.  

When everyone thinks of a bullfight they picture the Matador doing passes with the bull, but before that even happens the bull is weakened by the assistants.  Above is a picture of a picador, he uses a lance and while on the horse stabs the bull in between the shoulder blades. It's a little scary watching this because the bull often rams into the horse, in the past horses would often be casualties to bullfights, but now they have protective shields to keep them safe. 

Then the banderilleros come in and with two sharp sticks run at the bull on foot and plant the sticks into the bull.  These sticks hand down and stay in the bull for the rest of the fight to help bleed and weaken the bull making the kill easier for the Matador.  

Then the Matador comes out and starts to do passes, as he does them he slowly brings the cape closer and closer to his body.  Part of what makes a good Matador is their grace and skill with controlling the bulls movement while also showing courage and agility.  Bullfighting is considered more of an art than a sport, it's not supposed to be a competition between the bull and the man, it's more of a show.  

As the fight progresses it's easy to see the bulls energy weaken as he loses blood and is forced to run back and forth.  

After the bull is worn out the Matador takes his sword and stabs it right behind the bulls head, if the Matador does it correctly blood pours from the bulls mouth and is killed instantly.  Since we had gone to a more amateur bullfight, 4 out of the 6 Matadors didn't kill the bull properly.  When this happens the Matador tries again or other men come over and stab the bull with a dagger until it dies.  It was kind of hard to watch the men stabbing the bull continuously until the bull died but when the bull was killed properly it was really exciting! Everyone stand up and cheers and you can tell that the Matador himself is really proud.

After the bull is killed it's dragged out of the arena.  

If a Matador kills the bull properly he is awarded one of the bulls ears and if the Matador does an amazing job he can get 2 ears and even a tail.  Another interesting thing about the bullfight was that a lot of the Matadors were fairly young. Overall I thought the bullfight was awesome, I chose to look at it as a cultural practice that I was lucky enough to get to experience.  It was interesting watching the different steps and understanding how much technique and practice really goes into these fights.  Contrary to stereotypes, many Spaniards are extremely against or imparcial to bullfighting. Actually a very small percentage of modern day Spaniards have any interest in bullfighting and in several provinces bullfighting is banned.  Regardless I thought it was extremely interesting and was glad that I got to go! Below you can see a young Matador, ear in hand. 

Feria de Abril

The second week long break I had was for Feria, the fair of April.  We had all heard about Feria since we arrived in Sevilla so I was pretty pumped to check it out.  Basically people set up a bunch of tents called casettas, inside the casettas there is eating, drinking, and dancing!  Most casettas are private and only people who are close with the family or belong to the organization of the casetta get to go in.  There are also several public casettas that anyone can go into and enjoy.  While I was at the fair I went mostly in public casettas but a friend of a friend got me into a private casetta as well.  It was cool to be able to get in, but the only real difference to me was that the private one was a little bit nicer.  I think that Feria would be super fun if you belonged to a private casetta yourself, but as a non-spaniard I couldn't tell the difference.  An article described Feria as "The biggest party that you weren't invited to" which is pretty accurate.  

The gate into Feria, isn't it so pretty!  At night it even lights up. 

The best thing about Feria is the atmosphere, everything is colorful and filled with music and all the Spaniards are in traditional outfits.  Everywhere you turn their are horse and buggies and women in flamenco dresses!

At Feria!

Horses all decked out for the fair

I loved looking at the different dresses because it seems like every single one is unique!  In the United States these dresses would be absolutely ridiculous, but here they are just part of the everyday, at least during Feria.  The women usually wear the dress with matching earrings, flower, and shall.  They are all very flashy. 

The dance that people do during Feria is called Sevillanas, which is a dance you do in pairs that mostly consists of stomps, arm raising, and twirls. Though the women wear flamenco dresses, Sevillanas is technically not flamenco but just another Spanish dance.  I was actually pretty bummed that I didn't know how to do Sevillanas because if I had I would have been on the dance floor the entire time if I had.  Regardless, it was still fun to watch all the Spaniards dancing and having a good time.  These pictures aren't great quality because it was kind of dark in the tents, but you get the idea :)

Everybody dressed and ready for Feria.  Drinking is also a big part of Feria, like most Spanish things, so people spend the day drinking with family and friends.  You can see this women with her pitcher hah. 

We got into a private casetta because my friend Lorena's host sister had a connection.  There she is on the far right, a real Spaniard!!

There was also a huge carnival area with rides and food.  We didn't spend too much time there cause as you can see from this picture, there was a massive storm that day! We got kind of caught in it and didn't get a chance to go on the feris wheel or anything.  

We took refuge from the storm in this random casetta, it was really nice!  They really decorate the casettas well, complete with a bar! 

Feria was full with cute kids dressed up in their Spanish clothes!  People watching in general during Feria was great.  It was just another cool opportunity to really observe the culture and get to know this tradition in Spain.  People from all over Spain travel to Sevilla for their Feria even though a lot of places in Spain have some sort of feria, Sevillas is just very well known and popular.

More people dancing Sevillanas!