Whirlwind

This past week has been a whirlwind, my roommate and I made the very difficult decision to move to a different home stay. However difficult the decision, we are already seeing that the situation was not healthy and the move was the best thing for everyone involved. When I decided to study abroad, my living situation was the least of my worries, but it became evident to me that the place that you live has a huge influence on all other aspects of your life. Our host mom is an incredible woman, but we found that we had unreconcilable differences that were making it difficult for all us to live happily under the same roof.

We are now living with a new woman and her 11 year old daughter. We live about two minutes away from our university and right across the street from my favorite beach, El Palo. It is a stark contrast from where we lived in the city and has confirmed the fact that I am not a city girl. I feel like we have been given the opportunity for a fresh start and I couldn't be happier. I love everything about my new home stay. Our host mom hosts students from all different programs and all different countries. When we first moved in there was a girl from Germany and a girl from Sweden already here. The girl from Germany left on Saturday, but the girl from Sweden will be living here until June. Today two more girls arrived from Norway and will only be staying for one week. It is hard to get to know someone in such a short period of time, but I have enjoyed learning about their different cultures.

Amidst all of the turmoil of our unknown living situation, I told my parents that I was checking things off of my bucket list left and right. Homeless in a foreign country was a very unexpected one, but one that has been checked off of the list nonetheless. My roommate and I made the decision to stay in a hostel for two nights, while our program directors worked to find us a new family to stay with. I do not handle change or the unknown well and was therefore not thrilled with the fact that not only was I in a foreign country, but that I didn't have a place to live. After this very unexpected semester I swear I will be able to handle whatever comes next.

Life is a Fairy Tale

Life is a fairy tale! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend, with better people, in a better place! Dream come true! This weekend 5 friends and I ventured to Dublin, Ireland to spend a long weekend. Our adventures included visits to Trinity College, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Dublin Castle, the Old Jameson Distillery and the beautiful cities of Wicklow and Glendalough. 


The Beautiful City of Dublin

Awesome Graffiti 

We were only in Dublin for three short days, but I think I speak for the entire group when I say that we fell in love. This was the first time in a month in a half that I truly felt at home. I could live in Dublin for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. I almost cried when we had to board the airplane to come back to Málaga. Everyone that I talked to laughed at me, since I was essentially dreading going back to the beach, but at that point the beach didn't even matter. Dublin was pretty cold the entire time that we were there, but that didn't even phase me. The people and the city just had so much life to them. 


The first night that we arrived in Dublin we visited Trinity College and then had the opportunity to eat a traditional three course Irish meal and watch a live Irish music and dance show and the Arlington Hotel. It was the perfect way to start our journey in Ireland off with a bang. I also found discovered two of my favorite drinks of the trip, Bailey's Irish Coffee and The Ride (Absolut Vodka, Cola Schnapps and Pineapple Juice). 


The next day we took an all day tour of the countryside to see the cities of Wicklow and Glendalough. Our tour guide was incredible and the Irish countryside is definitely a sight to see. The houses that we passed were quant and beautiful. They are exactly what you would think of when you think of old small town charm, tucked away in a big city. Hollywood has discovered the beauty of this area too, as P.S. I Love, Leap Year and Braveheart were all filmed here. It was fun to be at the film sights and know where in the movie they took place. 


Wicklow

Glendalough- Guiness Lake

That evening we spent some more time in the very famous Temple Bar District and enjoyed our time sipping drinks and enjoying live Irish music with the locals. The Irish people definitely do drinks right and they are so warm and welcoming.


The following day, and our last full day in Ireland, we started our morning off with a traditional Irish breakfast and then made our way the the Old Jameson Distillery. I was sad to be informed that Jameson Whiskey is made with barely and therefore contains wheat, but the tour was fun nonetheless. One of my friends had to take one for the team and drink my sample of the Whiskey, which I'm pretty sure he didn't mind in the slightest. This was our day of tours and we continued with visits to the Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Dublin Castle. We also got our fill of souvenir shopping in. The Scotland- Ireland Rugby game was being played the weekend that we were in Dublin and we watched the game in a local Irish pub, it doesn't get more Irish than that. 


 The Old Jameson Distillery

 Christ Church Cathedral

 St. Patrick's Cathedral

 Dublin Castle

There was an abundance of chocolate and coffee everywhere we went, that in itself made my weekend. We stayed in a 20 bed hostel which actually worked out better than I thought, except for all the snoring boys. The first night be got there I didn't sleep at all, the second night one of my friends was kind enough to let me borrow his iPod, note to self bring ear plugs. 

Córdoba

This weekend brought a welcome change of pace. I did not welcome the 4 hour roundtrip bus ride, but the excursion to Córdoba was definitely something to look forward to. The city of Córdoba is rich with history and home to The Holy Cathedral Church, as well as, the Jewish quarter that houses the Synagogue. 

Views of the City

The Cathedral, formerly the Mosque has undergone 4 expansions over the years. The first quarter, Abd-ar-Rahman I, was inspired by the Mosque of Damascus. The overlapping arches and the alternating brick and stone (red and beige) in the cross-section of the arches were modelled on the hispanic-roman tradition. The construction of the second quarter, Abd-ar-Rahman II, was carried out during the Independent Emirate and maintained the scheme of the preceding ruler. The third quarter, Al Hakam II, is characterized by beautiful mosaics that were used to build the mihrab (sacred place besode which the imam leads the prayer. The final expansion, Al-Mansur, consisted of 8 aisles alond the east side of the building, including the courtyard. In this quarter, the alternating colors of the arches are not produced with brick and stone, but paint to keep cost low. The Christian influence is apparent in the distinct Chapels, the Transept and the Choir. 


The Cathedral

We also had the opportunity to walk through the Jewish quarter of the city and visit the Synagogue. Cordoba's synagogue was built in 1350. It is the only synagogue in Andalucía to survive the expulsion and inquisition of the Jewish people in 1492. 

The most shocking part of Córdoba was the fact that there were so many families begging on the streets. I know that there are individuals that beg on the streets in the US too, but this was a whole different experience. People came right up to us, kids and all. All of the kids that were begging couldn't have been much older than 5. It made me so sad to think that this was the life that these kids were learning and that they had absolutely no say in the matter. I had to refrain from giving them all the money that I had on me, not knowing what they would do with it and knowing that I couldn't help them all. It broke my heart each time that we walked past one of these families, wanting to help and knowing that I couldn't.