Semana Santa

Happy Easter from Málaga!

Semana Santa (holy week) is winding down here in Spain, and what a week it was! I had an amazing week full of lots of Spanish experiences, and I got to totally immerse myself in the unique culture of Semana Santa. The week started off with an invitation from Manolo (the man who goes on all our trips with us) to see a procession in the mountains of Málaga. Not everyone has the opportunity to go see this procession, especially foreigners, so I was so lucky to be able to go. A friend and I met up with Manolo and his friend and together we spent the day eating paella, listening to the bands and watching the procession with the mountains in the background. Here are some pictures and so you can see what it was like :

The procession in the mountains was a great way to begin Semana Santa, but compared to the processions in the city center, they were totally different in terms of size and scale! The ones that go through Málaga centro (over 40 in total!) are massive, and some of them are carried by hundreds of people. I saw a bunch, Thursday night is the most important to the Spaniards, so I made sure to see those, here are some pics :

The crowds were intense, people travel from all over Spain, Europe and the world to come see the Málaga processions, as they're respected as some of the biggest and the best in the world. The processions start in the afternoon and go all night long, as each one marches for 5 or 6 hours, seriously hard work for the people carrying the thrones, but it's considered a huge honor to be able to carry them. It was such a neat experience, a lot of people were crying in the streets and very emotional, and with the incense and the music, it was a very cool atmosphere. 

My week continued with an invitation from Manolo to see a bullfight on Saturday night. At first I was very apprehensive and not sure if I wanted to go see, but I figured that I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to see a bullfight while in Spain, and especially since I was going with Manolo, I knew I would have a very worthwhile experience. I won't get too graphic with my descriptions or pictures, but ultimately, I was left with a totally new perspective on bullfights. It was difficult to watch them be killed, but the way the bullfighters and the bulls interact really is an art form, it's almost like a dance between the two. It was fascinating to watch their movements, everything was very precise and strategic, there were no mad attempts to kill the animal. 

I was also struck by how much death is respected-- when it's time for the bull to die, the crowd gets silent and the bullfighter stops and walks away, respecting that the bull needs to die alone. I can understand both sides of the bullfighting controversy, but ultimately I gained a totally new respect for this important part of Spanish culture, and I'm so glad I went. Also, afterwards Manolo used his magic connections and got me a signed photograph by the bullfighter in the picture above, he's a very well-respected toreador so it's a really special reminder of my first bullfight. 

This morning, Easter Sunday, there was one last procession in the center, so I made sure to go and see the end of Semana Santa. It was a really beautiful one, with lots of music and representations of all the processons that had gone on that week. 

Definitely one of the best weeks I've had in Spain and I'm so glad I was able to be here to experience the unique cultural, historic and religious traditions that are part of Semana Santa. 

Hasta luego!

Sarah

Barcelona!

Hola!
So here's my Barcelona post, it was one of my favorite trips we've taken and I totally fell in love with the city-it's so different from anywhere else in Spain I've been, and we had a blast there. Our trip started early on Thursday, when we had to be at the airport at 5:45 in the morning, but it was so worth it because we got to Barcelona by 9 and got to take full advantage of the day. That first day our Dickinson guide Manolo led us on a walk around some of the most famous sights of Barcelona, then we had free time the rest of the afternoon and night. It was interesting to hear and see a totally different language while there, in the Cataluña community the people speak Catalán, a completely different language from the Castellano that we're used to, but everyone speaks Castellano as well so it was easy to communicate and get around. Here are some photos of what we saw while walking around:

Las Ramblas-a famous street full of little markets and shops

Plaza Real

One of my favorite discoveries in Las Ramblas was a food market called La Boqueria, that had all kinds of delicious food and drinks, I made many stops here during our trip. 

In La Boquería-so many juices!!

Jamón of course

A gothic neighborhood dating from the 13th century

After our Manolo-guided walking tour of the city, some of us decided to take a bus to Parque Guell, a famous park designed by the arquitect Gaudi, whose distinctive arquitecture can be seen all over the city. The park was pretty crazy, the arquitecture was so unique and different, and it was really cool to see. 

Looking out over Barcelona

The next day we went to see La Sagrada Familia, an incredible cathedral designed by Gaudi, whose construction began in the 19th century and is still on-going today. It was absolutely incredible, like nothing I've ever seen before. Pictures can't capture how massive or impressive it really is, but here are a couple to give an idea:

One of the coolest places I've ever been, the design was just so unique and with so much detail. We also had the chance to see a house designed by Gaudi, which was just as uniquely designed as La Sagrada Familia. In the 1800s the house was full of aparments with incredible arquitecture, decoration and design, now it serves as a museum. 

View from the roof-La Sagrada Familia in the background

In addition to see so much of Gaudi's work, we also got to go to the Picasso museum in the city, and one morning we took a train to the town of Figueras to visit the Dali museum-that was some interesting artwork! We also were lucky enough to stop by Barcelona's fútbol stadium, a HUGE deal for Barca fans. 

Our last day wrapped up our time in Barcelona perfectly, as I walked down to the port with some friends, we grabbed lunch at a farmer's market and then ate a picnic on the beach before getting on a plane back to Málaga. Overall an amazing trip, I hope that someday I'll be able to go back!

Carnaval in Cádiz

Excuse my tardiness in blog posting, I actually have 2 updates-one about carnaval in Cádiz, and another on Barcelona, which will be coming later this week! Things in Málaga are still great, I can't believe I have less than 2 months left!! It's going to be really hard to say goodbye to my host mom and come back home, although it will be nice to see everyone! But everytime I start getting sad about leaving, I think about how much fun I'm having, and all the plans I have coming up in these next 2 months. One of these fun times was when our whole group went to Cádiz to celebrate carnaval last month.

One of the most famous carnavales in the world, we were determined to get to Cádiz to experience it. Our long journey started at 4 pm on a friday, when we went to the university campus and got on one of 20 buses taking Uni students to Cádiz, about 4 hours away. All the other students' costumes were crazy, Spaniards go all out! In our group, we had 3 ninjas, a pirate, a bee, 3 devils, and a monk (I was a ninja).

Group shot after arriving in Cádiz

After arriving around 8:30, we set off to explore the city and get the party started. The night was a fun mix of music, dancing, parades and wandering around the massive crowds of people. Definitely one of the craziest places I've been, but it was an absolute blast. Our bus didn't leave till 7 a.m. the next morning, so we had plenty of time to soak in all carnaval had to offer, although by the time the morning arrived, we were beat and ready to go home and sleep.

6 a.m., ready to go home

All in all, carnaval in Cádiz was an experience that I will definitely never forget, and I'm so glad to have gotten the opportunity to go and experience one of the world's biggest parties!

Barcelona post coming soon!

xox

New Semester

Hola!
I know it's been a while since my last post, that's because the start of 2012 has been busy with settling into the new routine-new group of students, new classes, and starting my internship. All is going really well so far, the new group is really nice and a lot of fun to hang out with, so although I miss everyone who's back at Dickinson, I'm sure we'll have a great semester. This semester I'm taking 3 classes, literature and theatre, history of Spain and Spanish art history, and my fourth class counts as my internship, which is at a cultural center that archives literature, creates anthologies and puts on monthly cultural events in Málaga. Last week I was able to go to a poetry reading (the theme was wine--we were served a variety of wine to go along with the poetry), which was a great experience. I plan to do more of these types of things this semester!

I also wanted to make sure to write a post about a great trip I took with my other 2 musketeers (the other two girls who are staying for the year) a few weeks ago, before the new group came. Manolo had invited us to a festival in a mountain town, called Comares, and we jumped at the chance to spend the day in the mountain with Manolo and his friends. The celebration was for the patron saint of Comares, and the day consisted of drinking, eating and dancing with the whole village (I think we were the only foreigners, it was a VERY Spanish experience!!)

The town was absolutely beautiful, and the paella was unreal. Manolo, being Manolo, knew about everybody in the town, and even introduced us to the mayor of Comares.

View from Comares

Traditional band

World's biggest paella!!

Getting to do stuff like this makes me so thankful for Manolo, and for having chosen to spend the whole year here in Spain. 

Besos,

Sarah

Trip to Morocco

¡Feliz navidad!
It's Christmas Eve and I'm here in Málaga with Mom, Dad, Christopher and Olivia, it's been great having them come visit, we've had great weather and have spent the first few days walking around so I can show them my favorite parts of the city, (as they recover from jetlag!) I wanted to write a blog post talking about my trip to Morocco, now that I have some free time after the semester ended, and show you some pictures from one of the most incredible trips of my life!

Our journey started early, as we met at 4:30 am to drive to a place where we could cross by ferry to Ceuta, a protectorate of Spain located in Morocco. Once we arrived in Morocco, it was off on our tour bus to Casablanca, where we spent our first night. Along the way we made stops at some notable landmarks, and stopped for a couscous lunch (the first of many couscous feasts of the trip).

The next day we headed off to Marrakech, where we spent a few nights. The city was unbelievable, totally overwhelming/beautiful/scary/amazing at the same time. While in Marrakech, we stopped at a series of mosques and palaces, and also went several times to the famous Sook, an enormous market selling everything you could possibly imagine, along with snake charmers, monkeys, and henna artists. In Morocco, everything you buy is through bartering, which was quite a challenge to get used to. You even have to bargain for a bottle of water! But it was an amazing experience to see the market, one afternoon we had tea up on the roof of a restaurant to watch the sun set, and as it was setting, the call for prayer rang out from the surrounding mosques, which was really amazing to see and hear. 

The Sook at sunset

Gardens outside a mosque

Our next stop was in a city near where we would embark on camels the next morning, and our hotel was wild. We ate a late lunch outside watching the sun set, and then spent the night drumming, singing and dancing with a group of performers from the hotel. 

Next stop: Sahara desert. We arrived at the desert so excited for our camel ride and the night in the desert, and it was an absolutely unbelievable experience. 

Once we arrived, some of us decided to hike up a dune to watch the sunset, which was much harder than expected, since every step you just sink into the deep sand, but once we got to the top and watched the sun go down, it made everything so worth it.

The view of our camp from the top of the dune 

Climbing down the dune

That night we ate dinner, drummed and danced around a campfire, and then went out stargazing late that night. The stars were absolutely indescribable, I've never seen any night sky like that before. Our Berber guides led us out, then told us traditional Berber stories while we watched shooting stars, before we returned back to camp and spent the night in our tents. 

On our way back to Spain we made several other stops along the way, where we saw more mosques, palaces, and historical sites. On the ferry back to Málaga we were all amazed at the week we had just spent in Morocco, it's still hard to believe how much we saw and how lucky we were to have the experience that we did. It was an unbelievable experience, and I'm so grateful for those who helped me make this trip a reality! 

Un besito,

Sarah