Last Friday at the ripe hour of 7 a.m., Texas Tech loaded up the bus to go to the beautiful Grenada. As soon as we arrived, we unloaded at La Alhambra to tour what was the last thriving Moorish region in Spain. La Alhambra has a mass of gardens that we walked through first which led us into out skirting palaces and eventually into the walls of the city area. Once inside the walls of the city area, we viewed two palaces. One was where Charles I (or V, Holy Roman Emperor, however you want to look at it. He has a lot of titles) fell in love with his wife, Isabella, from Portugal who was considered one of, if not the, most beautiful queen to ever live. The other was the original Palace where the Moorish royalty would have lived. The area was beautiful and open, and the palace had a lot of fountains/water running through it. If I has to pick one word to describe the Alhambra, I would pick enchanting. It was truly a sight to see.
After that, we checked into our hotel rooms. We didn't have too much time to walk around, so we rested a little before heading onto the Real Capilla de Grenada y la catedral. La Capilla was made by Fernando and Isabella de Castilla to mark their victory in the last Moorish territory in Spain. The moors handed over the keys to Isabella (the brain of the operations) in 1492 while her husband (the brawn) was in charge of the troops and being general. La Capilla was their way of staking claim of the city and stronghold. On the building, there are the emblems of Fernando and Isabella, a yoke and arrows. In addition, their initials line the top of the building. Isabella's symbol, the bald eagle with a crown, is found on the outside and inside as well. Once on the inside, the main thing to see is the tomb of Fernando, Isabella de Castilla, their daughter, Juana La Loca, her husband, Felipe El Hermoso, and their boy prince who died when he was young. I couldn't take pictures when I was in there, but that was another truly interesting thing to see. Above the tombs, there are carvings of the married couples out of marble. Fun fact: Isabella's head is sunk deeper into her pillow on their carving because she was very intelligent therefore her head "weighed more" (because of all the knowledge in there). We took stairs down under the statues, and we saw the coffins of two of the most powerful people in history. I'm talking 3 feet away from them. If there wasn't glass over the bars, we could've reached in and touched them. It was wild. Literally history at our fingertips.
We went into the catedral after la Capilla. I'm not going to lie. I thought, "Really? Another cathedral?? I've had it up to my eyes in cathedrals." This one was different though. It was surrounded on all sides by buildings, so it wasn't painted dark on the inside like the others. It was painted white and felt very open and airy. The Gothic style really meshed well with the white, in my opinion, and there was an area where you looked up and saw light blue and gold paint. This part was really beautiful too. I really enjoyed the cathedral more than I thought I would. (A group of girls and I ran to this Henna place after the cathedral because we saw it on the walk there. Peep my photos on Facebook to check it out.)
On Saturday morning, the upper-level Spanish literature students went to the Lorca house to tour it. Federico García Lorca was a poet in the early 1900s in Grenada and openly gay which was taboo at the time. He wrote beautiful poetry, and he also had a theatrical group that he traveled with, wrote for, and designed costumes for. In 1936, he was dragged outside of his home by Nationalist Fascists and killed by gunshot in front of his home to set an example because he was outspoken in his opinions amongst a rise in political and social tensions. He became a symbol for the popularist, but Franco won the civil war in Spain. He has continued living through his work and his family who allow visitors into the house he lived in for the purpose of education.
Sadly, we left Grenada after that. I truly loved the city and its beauty. I would go back again for sure before I leave, and I definitely plan on it if I can find the time. On our was back to Seville (and on the way there too), we had to stop at a rest station for the buses to fuel up. WELL this gas station had RANCH. I wasn't aware of that the first time we stopped there, but during the second time there, I ordered chicken strips and fries. They brought us our trays with ranch, and I actually cried. As silly as it sounds, you don't realize all of the things at home you cherish until they are taken away from you. I've always loved ranch growing up, and it has been sucky not having it. Finally, I found some and cracked. The purpose of me saying this is because if I reacted like that at something as simple as ranch, I don't even know how I'll react when I see my parents and friend, Amber, when they get to Seville in 17 DAYS!!! I am SO excited to have them with me. Being away from home really put into perspective how important everyone is to me. I already knew there were important but going away added a different depth to it. I look forward to seeing them again and hugging them until my arms hurt.
On Sunday, some friends and I went to the top of Las Setas in Seville to watch the sunset. If you don't want what Las Setas are, I'd give it a google because I honestly don't know how to describe it. BUT, I do know it's a great place to watch a sunset. Sevilla sunsets might not be a Texas sunset, but it is close enough. It's all about finding happiness in the small things like having warm tea every morning and finding ranch in a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.
For class Monday, we walked around the Jewish barrio in Seville and were guided by a Jewish singer and her violinist friend. We stopped at different places where she'd give us a brief history, and at some stops, she would sing us a song in old Castilian Spanish while he played the violin. It's amazing to me that Spanish has such a rich culture that one weekend I'm in a Moorish palace, and three days later, I am walking through the Jewish neighborhood listening to people sing traditional Jewish songs. I am very blessed to be here and learning so much. The time is flyingggggggg so quickly for us students. I feel like it was just yesterday that I landed in Madrid when in reality it's the last full week on February.
With February winding down, I am looking forward to having my parents and friend here, going to Cádiz this weekend for carnival and again two weeks when they get here, and going to Barcelona next weekend. I am also counting my many blessings here like my roommate, my host mom, the friends I am making here, the fact that I am even here, my family and friends in the states, and so many other things that I wouldn't have enough time to list them all. I fall asleep at night saying a prayer of thanks because there is so much to be thankful for.
Oh and ranch. Can't forget the ranch. (;
xoxo,
Caroline
P.S. - We had two major exams last week, and I made a 95 and 100!
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