ISA Photo Contest

Hi all!

I have some exciting news! One of my photos from my trip won in the category "I'm with ISA" for the ISA Photo Contest! Here is the lucky one:

Here's the story: While we (ISA Sevilla & ISA Granda) were traveling from a small village in the Sahara desert we got stuck in the sand. This was one the the craziest rides I've  ever experienced. Unforgettable.

Thanks to you oh Sahara desert, I am $50 richer. You owed me. Big time.

Home

After 30+ hours of traveling, I'm finally home.

It's a very surreal feeling that I can't fully comprehend right now. It's a little mix of nostalgia and exhaustion.

I'm trying to do things in steps to keep my sanity;
1. Get out of my pajamas. (Ha, we'll see if that happens.)
2. Unpack...
3. DRIVE! done
4. Cheesy bean and rice burrito from Taco Bell (I know, awful) and done
5. Target (How miss thee)
6. Haircut

So far 6 steps seem reasonable. We'll see how today goes.

Anyway, since my journey has ended and Sevilla la Maravilla is a beautiful memory of mine, it is time to close the doors to this blog. I will, however, be starting another blog! I really enjoyed reflecting on my adventures in Sevilla and don't think it should stop now. Grand Rapids is worthy of blogging about. Here's the link: lifegivesyoulemonskp.blogspot.com

So, here's to Sevilla. A time in my life I'll never forget. A time of freedom and liberation. A time of carefree, no pasa nada living and to adventures I'll always treasure. It's been a treat Sevilla, a real treat. Thanks for reading!

Stay curious my friends, stay curious

There is quote on one of the bathroom stalls at the Universidad de Sevilla that says,

"Stay curious and you will travel to the ends of the earth."

I know bathroom stalls aren't the best places to receive advice, but I don't care because I agree 100% with this statement.

Curiosity is my drive. It's my motor, my energy. It moves me to wander down Sevilla's tiny streets mapless, to get on janky RyanAir flights (oh RyanAir) to see timeless places, and to try food I never thought I would try. I thrive on curiosity. I always have to know how things look, feel, taste, and hear with my own senses.

I never want to loose the curiosity I have for people or places. I want to keep myself open to the big, big world we live in. Therefore, I want to travel more. I want to wander more. I want to learn more. I'm not done just because this adventure of mine is ending. I'm actually just beginning. Traveling is not a dream for me anymore, it's a reality and I'm so thankful for this experience to teach me that. That I can do anything. That I can wander. That I can drift... for awhile. Not forever, but for awhile.

So, thank you Sevilla for igniting my curiosity again. Thank you for the many lessons you've taught me. I'll never forget you.

Feria

Ok, as promised here is your post about the biggest party in Spain: Feria. 

Feria is basically a week of partying, dancing, catching up with family and frends, and dressing up. This craziness has been going on since 1847 (!!!). It is usually in April but because Holy Week was so late this year it was the first week of May.

So, there is this HUGE (I mean HUGE) space set up 2 blocks from my house in the Los Remedios neighborhood. It is all packed sand and looks like crap when Feria isn't here (just sayin'). On that land fit over 1000 "casetas" or small tents and a carnival area. Most of the casetas are private and you can enter by invite only. There are a few large public tents sponsored by various political parties and neighborhoods where you can get the same atomosphere. There are even individual street names to help you navigate your way around crazy town. So helpful, especially when you've had a few too many "rebujitos". Rebujitos are the official drink of Feria. A rebujito is a concoction of vino fino/manzanilla (sherry) and 7up. Yummm. 

La Portada (entrance) by day

and by night

a typical caseta

Rebujito

Are we still tracking? Good. So, when you go to Feria it is almost obligatory to wear a flamenco dress if you are a gal and a nice suit if you are a guy. Observe:

Sorry, it's just the backs but I couldn't be a complete creeper and just stand in front of them and get a foto. Moving on, anyone whose anyone wears some form of Feria dress. Weather your 3 months old or 80 years old. They cost a pretty penny ranging from 100-700 euro. The guys wear some form of European suit (yes, it's different than a US suit) with snazzy ties and colorful shirts. The men also ride horses around the Feria. I don't really know what they do, but they do it. 

Sometimes they even parade around with chicas

So when do people start heading down to paarr-taay, you ask? ANYTIME and I mean anytime. I saw people walking home from Feria at 8:30am, I've also seen people walking to Feria at 3am. Whenever you feel like going or get invited to a caseta then you go!

If you got nothing out of this, know that Spaniards know how to party!

Oh, a few more pictures sobre Feria. Enjoy!

Shenanigans

I apologize for being absent from the blogging world again, but I've been on-the-go for the past week and a half. Hence the fact that I no longer have a voice and slept until noon today.

Recap on what's been going on; 

1. April 27-May 6 Kates dad and gramps where here in lovely Sevilla

Aren't they the cutest?!

2. April 29-30: We rented a car and ventured to Jerez for some wine tasting, Cádiz to see the ocean, Tarifa to stay in the cutest hotel ever, and Gibraltar to see some monkeys!

Tio Pepe Bodega in Jerez

After wine tasting... sleeeeeppyyy

3rd time in Cádiz, still love it!

Tarifa

A monkey on my noggin... no bigs

3. After our escapades in Spain, we headed to Portugal to visit Lagos and Lisbon from May 2-4. I was really excited to see Lagos because I've heard it's absolutely beautiful. Kate and I have already been to Lisbon with ISA, but it was nice to be on our own this time. 

boat cruise through Ponde de Piedade

After swimming in the ocean. Incredible experience.

Paradise

lovin' life

Lisbon

This week I have been enjoying the week off of school to enjoy Feria, a crazy party in Sevilla. All the girls dress up in beautiful flamenco dresses and the guys in classy suits. Everyone dances the Sevillana (a type of flamenco) and drinks rebujitos. It's lovely and I happen to live 2 blocks from the craziness. Go me! I'll post more about it later. For now, I'm going to enjoy my last week in Sevilla!

Sevilla, let's delay our misery

I don't want to leave Sevilla, but I'm dying to see my friends and family.

Does that sentence even make sense?

This is such a torn place I'm in. I've grown to love this city. It's smells, sights, sounds, and feels. I've grown to love this carefree, no pasa nada life. I mean who wouldn't? 

The first wave of ISA students is departing Sevilla this Friday and in 2 weeks it will be me. WHHHHATT? How, how I ask, did this 3 1/2 months go so fast? Someone please explain this to me. 

Sevilla will always have my heart. It's charm that resides in each and every corner will always draw me to explore and wander down it's skinny cobblestone streets. 

Traveling will always have my heart as well. I just love this quote from Eat, Pray, Love;

"I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless, newborn baby--I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to--I just don't care." 

This trip has sparked so many of my "inner intuitions" that would have never surfaced at home and I'm so thankful for these realizations and moments of growth. 

Oh Sevilla do I have to leave you?

SAND

I survived a sand storm. 

I witnessed 6 people throw up in a matter of a few hours.
I went to the bathroom in the desert.
I rode a camel.

I came. I saw. I conquered Morocco.

Maybe not that dramatic, but I did do all the above and it was a blast!

Morocco was a wonderful trip. A little sketchy at times, no a lot sketchy, but still a great experience!

I don't want to bore you with a play by play of my trip, so I'll just share the highlights.

Day 1
We traveled a to Algeciras (next to Gibraltar, but Spanish) and hopped on a ferry to Ceuta (also Spanish... but in Africa). Next we traveled 5 hours to get to Fes and rested for the night, throw-up free.

Day 2
The next day we toured the Medina in Fes, which is the oldest and largest Medina (Arabic for small city/town) in the world. It is a UNCESO World Heritage Site and has a total of 9,400 streets. We visited the market portion, a rug factory, a spice/pharmacy shop, a delicious restaurant, another rug/scarf place, and the oldest leather tannery in Morocco (600 years old).

Average street in the market portion of the Medina

Leather tannery

Cleaning the hyde with pigeon poop

Lots of colors!

Any college student on this trip want a rug that costs 800 euro? I didn't think so...

Couscous

Day 3

We traveled 12 hours to get to the Sahara. Worth it? Definitely. Once we got to the Sahara we took Jeep 4x4s to our camp site which was about an hour away. Once we got to camp, we found that sand was going to be our new best friend for the next couple of days. We were greeted by the sand all over our haimas (tents) and beds.

Haimas

New bff = sand. (Thanks for the pic Ash)

Day 4

We woke up around 6am to see the non existent sunrise (we had great weather... no sunrise and a sand storm) and then took a camel ride to a nearby village/town, I don't know what to call it. The camel ride was definitely one of the highlights of the trips. Since the beginning of a sand storm was brewing, we didn't walk back through the desert to camp. Instead we piled a zillion people to the inside and tops of 2 vans. Then we got stuck in the sand.

Me & my camel!

My favorite picture of the trip. Yes, that's a legit camel.

I was obviously helping a great deal

We got back to camp safety and hung out in the community tent for 4 hours and waited for lunch. I think a more appropriate word for that meal would be dunch. It was almost late enough to be dinner, but it was lunch. We had waited 8 hours to eat since breakfast. See what I mean about being sketchy? Starvation is definitely sketchy. Example number 1. 

Example number 2 would be the bathroom situation in the good ole desert. We had 2 toilets for 100 people. Sick people. People with diarrhea. I'm sorry, TMI. To make a long story short, I went to the bathroom in the desert for the first time in my life! (Character building, Hannah)

That night Kates got sick. Real sick. She had a fever and just was in no condition to stay in the desert another night. Her and another boy went to a nearby hotel with the ISA directors to rest. I'm so glad she went because we had a dance party complete with Spanish techno music in the desert until 1am. I went to bed around midnight and it was still going strong. We also had a major sand storm in which I feel asleep praying because I was so scared our fricken haima was going to fall on us. I swear the winds were probably 30-40mph. There was also lightning. 

Day 5

I obviously survived the night but woke up with a nice layer of sand on my body from the nights previous activities of blowing wind. Did I mention there were no showers. I mean, why would there be showers in the desert? So by this point the sand and I are no longer bffs. We are enemies and I am loosing since the sand is literally all around me. Anyway... I lost the battle and still have sand in my hair after 3 showers. 

So day 5 was probs the worst day to date. Why you ask? Well we were on the road for 13 hours through the winding mountains of northern Africa. I don't know what they're called and am too angry to look them up. Mind you, we are in a large bus and plenty of people are still sick. 6 people threw up within a matter of a couple hours and we didn't stop for one of them. Kate was one of the lucky ones to up-chuck twice. We had a nice pile of puke bags in the front of the bus. My friend Tom passed out from dehydration twice. It was a freak show.

We all made it out alive, barely. Thanks to John Irving and the The Cider House Rules for keeping me distracted from the puking. Oh also a shout out to my man Jack Johnson for singing me to sleep several times.

We arrived in Meknes and were greeted by hot showers, sand free beds, porcelain toilets, and FOOD. I have never been so hungry in my life.

Day 6
Didn't I say I wasn't going to bore you with all the detail? Sorry, I ended up doing just that. Day 6 was home free. We smelled good, no puking occurred, and our stomach issues were under control for the most part. We geared up bright and early and were eager to return home to Sevilla. Unsure about the processions of Semana Santa we half expected it to take 10 years to get home, but luckily we slipped right back into our spot at Hotel Bequer and took a taxi home.

THE END

Morocco here I come!

Tomorrow I depart for one of my last trips of the semester. Morocco.

I really have no idea what to expect from this trip. We are traveling to Gibraltar then taking a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar, then continuing our journey 5 more hours to Fes. We will stay in Fez for a few days then off to the Sahara dessert to camp for 2 nights. Our last stop will be in the city of Meknes for a night.

I am most exciting about the camping in the desert part. I mean, when else in life am I going to camp in the desert? Also, to get to the desert, we will be taking Jeep 4x4s. (!!!) We are also going to be riding camels and watching the sunrise one morning. This is going to be an experience of a lifetime.

Fes (via Flickr)

Anyway, a recap on what's going on here in Sevilla.

It has been hot, hot, hot here. Pushing 90 everyday. The evenings around 8:30pm are perfect. 78 and a beautiful pink and orange dusk sky. My favorite. I have been spending my time just enjoying the noises, smells, and sights of Sevilla. I want to remember everything when I return home. I know I'm going to miss all the little stuff, so I'm trying to be more aware of the small things in my surroundings.

Saturday Katelyn and I spent the day shopping and hanging out. We did our normal rounds to H&M and Blanco, but also to this organic market in the Alameda. I got some honey and some pretty smelling perfume, perfect for spring. Sunday we laid by the river for a very long time, but I still cant get rid of my awful flat tan line on my feet. My toesies are still so pale.

Other than that I have been living my day to day life here in Sevilla. Going to class, hanging out with friends, and soaking up this beautiful experience.

I'll be sure to update with pictures when I return home on Wednesday.

Much love!

Mom & Alex Visit Sevilla

Mom and brother left Sevilla last night. Sad.

Here's what we spent the week doing:

Getting stuck in small spaces (everywhere)

Drinking shandy by the river (Sevilla)

Taking trips down memory lane (Mom's old street, Sevilla)

Eating kabobs at the one and only, KABOB KING (Granada)

Visiting one of the most beautiful views in Andalusia (Granada)

Getting caught in the rain (Granada)

Getting windblown (Cádiz)

Trying new food... like sardines (Cádiz)

Beaching it up (Cádiz)

Eating montaditos at Cien!

And finally, our last day. It was my mom's birthday (she's 25, again). I bought her lunch and then drinks on the terrace of the Doña Maria hotel near the Cathedral.

Mom's bday lunch

GREAT

It was a wonderful week none of us will forget. It was great sharing my home with my fam and hearing all stories of when my mom called Sevilla home too. I can't wait to see them again in 5 weeks!