AFRICA

This past weekend we traveled to Morocco and spent time in Tangier, Tetouan, and Chefchaouen. It was a great experience. Although VERY different than Spain or any other place I have been, I really enjoyed the weekend. We walked around a lot and took a lot of pictures. The houses are painted very cool colors, mostly shades of blue and green. The colors keep the bugs away and also the blue was painted by the jews and the green by the muslims. The colors represent different things like fertility. It was very interesting to learn about the culture and what life is like in Morocco.

On Saturday morning, the prayer calls woke me up at 4 something in the morning and were repeated at 5, so I had trouble sleeping that night. Since Morocco is a muslim country, the prayer calls remind muslims to pray 5 times a day. However, as I learned over the weekend, there are not only 5 calls. In addition, there are reminder calls for some of the times. I found this part of my experience very interesting and very different. I feel like my experience really broadened my view of the world.

We rode camels on Sunday and that was definitely my favorite part of the trip!

3/18/14

I cannot believe how fast time has flown here! It is already March 18th and I have just a little over a month left in this amazing place. Lately, I have been running by the river every other day. It has been a great way to get out of my room and at the same time get in better shape! The river is only about a 40 minute walk from where I live, which turns into about a 15-20 minute run, which is not bad at all. Running along the river has been extremely peaceful and a great way to enjoy the city! I forgot how much I missed running, I love it so much! I have 37 days left in Sevilla and I plan to enjoy every second!! :) There is still a lot I want to do in the city before I leave, I'm not ready yet! I want to go to the top of Las Setas and definitely inside Plaza de Espana, two things I have not done yet.

This week has been full of exams, but I am looking forward to this weekend, we are heading to Morocco! I cannot wait, I know it will be an amazing weekend!

Italica!

On Friday, we went to Italica and saw the Roman ruins there. It was a very cool trip and Reda, who is our monuments professor, taught us a lot about the history of the place, which was great.

Tina & I looking over the Roman ruins amphitheater

The Amphitheater 

On Sunday, las weekend, Sarah, Tina, Kelley, Amy, and I attended mass at the Cathedral. It was really cool to have that experience. On our way out of mass, a newspaper reporter stopped us to ask a few questions about where we are from, what we are doing here... etc. It turns out we made it into the Diario de Sevilla newspaper here!!

Cordoba

Yesterday we traveled to Córdoba and spent the day there. We had a tour of the Mezquita, which was beautiful. There are  1,013 columns in the mosque. The colors and arches were so cool looking. We had free time to walk around and have lunch. We tried the friend eggplant and honey, which was so good. It was a beautiful day with great weather.

flower street 

Portugal

This past weekend we traveled to Portugal! It was such a beautiful place and we had so much fun. Along with visiting the castles, I think my favorite part was trying the famous secret recipe pastry in Lisboa. It was delicious, but no one knows exactly what the ingredients are because the recipe is a secret, which is pretty cool.

City of Lisboa

Beautiful sunset!

Famous pastry "secret recipe"

Sunset on the way home