Before I got sick, I went on a trip to Córdoba and Sevilla in southern Spain with a group called ESN Salamanca. The only other person I knew on the trip was Diana, my friend from Mexico (she's the person who told me about the trip in the first place).

w/ Diana

It was a fabulous weekend and I met people from all over the world - I love how international tiny Salamanca is!!! I hung out mostly with some people from Mexico, Argentina, and Italy.

First stop - Córdoba! Unfortunately it was super rainy...

Alejandra was the only person smart enough to
bring an umbrella... so we had to share

Córdoba is known for its Islamic influence (it reminded me of Morocco!) and its AMAZING mosque. Since the building isn't used as a mosque anymore (controversial topic...), non-Muslims can actually go inside, unlike the mosques in Morocco.

Outside the mosque

Grand entance

The mosque was huge - like a Costco building or something...

The striped arches went on FOREVER - so cool

The "mosque" is now a cathedral. When the Christians took over and kicked the Arabs out of Andalucía in 1492 (Spanish history note: everything important happened in 1492), they built their cathedral smack dab in the middle of the old mosque. Everywhere else, they destroyed the mosques and built a cathedral in its place, but I guess this mosque was so pretty they couldn't bear to tear it down...

The cathedral in the middle... looking VERY
out-of-place

The big controversy, for the past decade or so, is that Spanish Muslims have been asking the Catholic church to let them pray in their old mosque. The Vatican says no - rude.

Just to get a sense of scale...

We walked around the beautiful old city and found all sorts of adorable little streets and patios filled with flowers.

with Alejandra and Fernanda (Ale and Fer) on
La Calleja de las Flores

Another adorable street in the old Jewish
neighborhood - don't know the name of this one...

A few of us went to the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, one of the castles where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand lived back in the 1400s. The castle was fun to explore, but the best part was the beautiful gardens. Of course, the moment we went outside it started pouring.

Rain and... palm trees?

The gang in the rain - me, Felipe, Diana, Ale, Fer, Facu, and Keitaro
(Felipe and Facu are from Argentina, the othersvare from Mexico)

On Saturday we went to Sevilla. I didn't take as many pictures there, since I'd already been last semester... We went to the cathedral and Plaza de España, explored the city,

Sevilla Cathedral - artsy angle/attempt to fit
everything in the photo

ORANGES!!! I'm not sure why orange trees
make me so happy, but they do

Diana, me, plus the Italians Sergio and Alessandra

The whole group at the Plaza de España

Tomorrow night a bunch of us are getting together for a Mexican/Argentinean dinner, and Alessandra talked about having an Italian dinner sometime next week!!!!!!!!! Good thing I didn't make British friends, he he

Sick in Spain

This week is absolutely awful - lots of assignments, lots of mucus, and no voice. I skipped all my classes today and just stayed in bed, alternating between napping and writing papers. All my host mom's maternal instincts have gone into overdrive and she's been taking good care of me! I went to the doctor this afternoon, so now I'm all stocked up on meds! Now that I've experienced universal healthcare firsthand, I feel inclined to report that I didn't have to wait any longer for an appointment that I would in the United States. Also, my doctor was excellent - she gave me a full checkup and even gave me advice for my scoliosis. Excellent service even without the free market, lol!

Speaking of healthcare, in my Sociology class last week we were debating the cultural impact on philosophies of human rights, and the right to universal healthcare came up. The professor asked "Where's our American student? You should explain the situation in the US to us." I tried to defend us a little against the "Americans don't believe health is a basic human right" argument, since lots of Americans are in favor of expanding healthcare coverage... This also came up with my friend, Alessandra, who's from Italy, and pretty much with every Spaniard that I've met. Europeans can't even comprehend our system - it just goes against all their values. 

Random side note: our Spanish professor told us a joke/poem that's very popular in the European Union. Found a version in English online:

Heaven and Hell

Heaven is a place  where the police are British, 

the cooks French, 

the mechanics German, 

the lovers Italian, 

and it is all organized and run by the Swiss.  

Hell is a place where the police are German, 

the cooks British, 

the mechanics French, 

the lovers Swiss, 

and it is all organized and run by the Italians. 

Aren't stereotypes fun! And a longer version, that includes both the United States and Spain...

Heaven is a place where ...

the Germans are in charge of the organization; all the police are British; all the environmentalists are Norwegian; the French are the chefs; the Swiss are the bankers; all the salesmen are American; the Belgians make the chocolate; the Swedes are the lovers; the goldmines are run by South Africans; all the storytellers are Irish; all the distillers are Scottish; the opera singers are Italian; the Danes are the brewers; all the spices are provided by Indians; the fishermen are Icelandic; all the footballers are Brazilian; the Spanish run the holiday resorts; and the Dutch are the merchants.

Hell is a place where ...

all the police are German; the British are the chefs; the Norwegians are the singers; the French are in charge of organization; the Australians are the lovers; the Swiss run the navy; the Americans are the brewers; the Belgians put up the signposts; all the comedians are Swedish; the South Africans are in charge of racial integration; the only logic is Irish; the speech therapists are Scottish; the Ethiopians are in charge of agricultural policy; the Italians run the armed forces; the Indians are in charge of birth control; the tour companies are run by Icelanders; all the economists are Brazilian; the Serbs are in charge of human rights; the Spanish are the road builders; all the orphanages are run by Romanians; ...and the common language is Dutch

Spaniards are CRAZY

This week, Spain celebrated Los Carnavales, which is basically a combination of Halloween, New Year's, and Summer Send-Off (Kenyon reference...). It's a five-day party all over Spain, but there are several cities that go ALL OUT for this event. Like, literally, they spend the whole year preparing the festivities. Luckily for us, one of the huge spots for celebrating is only about an hour away from Salamanca. Tiny Ciudad Rodrigo is an adorable small town that everyone says is the most boring place in the world the rest of the year.

Away from the party - typical Spanish small town...

...but just a few blocks away the streets were packed

Check out some of the costumes:

priests!

chickens!

Rubik's cubes!

Mario Bros!

Zorro!

We didn't put much effort into our costumes... just bought some cheap masks (not an easy feat on the day before Carnavales - the store was packed with everyone buying costumes and it took about 20 minutes navigate our way to the check-out counter).

Los Carnavales in Cuidad Rodrigo are distinct from the celebrations in the rest of Spain because they incorporate bulls! They have an encierro (running of the bulls) and corridas (bullfights). Yes, I attended both, and I realize that some of you will never forgive me... more on the controversy later.

The running of the bulls was SO MUCH FUN to watch - there were hundreds of people participating (so many IDIOTS!!!!!). Check out these action shots:

Here they come!!!

Idiot... (also, love the guy in the wedding dress)

All guys - I think they're the only ones dumb enough to participate

WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?

two escape routes: over or under the fence

Also, they had a fake running of the bulls for the kids - cutest thing ever:

unfortunately I couldn't get the kids in the photo (they ran by before
I even knew what was happening...)

And now for the bullfight... Just so I don't leave you all with awful Spanish stereotypes, here are some facts to consider: only about 25% of Spaniards support bullfighting, the "aficionados" are mostly old men, and bullfighting is now illegal in a few regions of Spain, such as Cataluña (where Barcelona is). So I viewed it as a dying art that I wanted to see before it disappears completely. I want to assure you all that I am against bullfighting, but I thought it was important to actually see a corrida in order to understand it better. Parts of the spectacle were really amazing to watch - the interactions between the torero and the bull were almost like a dance. It's obvious why it's considered an art rather than a sport. I hated all the other parts, though - stabbing, blood, etc.

So, if you wish, you can scroll down to see the photos (don't worry - I didn't include any gory ones)...