El Reencuentro de OMAMers y Derkas

Friends, fun, food, sunsets, Duomo, Michael, leather, food, beauty, ponte Vecchio, leaning tower, oh WOW that was a whirlwind of a 36 hours!!

La Visita con Jane, Kelli y Cara: Roma

Vatican Museum, pretty cool ceilings I guess

Spanish Steps

Modern Architecture in Rome

La Palma de Mallorca

Cuevas de Drach

National Geographic style- Largest subterranean lake in the world, unbelievable stalagmites and stalactites

Pirates

Whoops, so I stopped doing this whole blogging thing for a while, but since it's finals week and I want to distract myself from those three tests, three papers, and my upcoming departure from Sevilla, I decided to upload some pictures.

La Ciudad Más Antigua De Europa: Cádiz

Old Cathedral in Cádiz

Desde arriba de la Torre del Catedral Nueva

Lost his marbles

Look familiar? Think Die Another Day--Filmed on this beach because Cuba isn't the most friendly to outsiders.

 

La Semana Santa

I spent the end of Semana Santa here in Sevilla, watching pasos and celebrating with my family and Taylor. Semana Santa in Sevilla is the biggest in the world. There are people everywhere and there are processions, what we would call parades, almost all the time. Each procession leaves from their church, walks to the cathedral in el centro, then returns to their church. Each procession has two pasos, or gigantic float, that they carry. One paso is el cristo, an image of Jesus, and one is la virgen, an image of The Virgin Mary.

56 processions in total leave during Semana Santa, and they vary in length, size, solemnity, dress, etc. My ‘brother’ here left in one of the largest, with over 2,000 people, that lasted 12 hours! 3PM- 3AM..quite the marathon.

Handsome Miguel before his procession

Holy Thursday is called La Madrugada. Processions leave for 24 hours straight, and people stay up all night watching them. This is the night that is the most somber because it signifies the night of Jesus' death. Typically, people need to stand when they watch the processions and map out their nights for where they can see each. But, there are others who own seats, and Tay and I are lucky enough to be friends with one of them! We stayed up all night (until 8 am) watching the pasos from our sillas that were right in front of el Catedral, so we got to see all of the action since every single paso goes there. It was so great to spend the night with a Sevillano who could answer all of our questions. It was definitely a different view of Semana Santa than most people get to experience.

Some Vocab:

Capirote: the pointed or cone shaped hood worn by the nazarenos, symbolizing repentance and grief.

Costalero: men hidden below the paso to carry it. There are more costaleros than will fit beneath the float, and at certain times they will change to give others a rest.

Cofradia: hermandad, or brotherhood: members of the church who are part of the procession

Nazareno: member of the hermandad, who dresses in a robe and cone shaped hood to hide his or her identity. Somenazarenos from particular processions are prohibited from speaking with anyone once dressed in their gown and cap. Colors of robes and hoods depend on the procession

Paso: float with the Virgin Mary or Christ, the main attraction of a procesión decorated with candles and flowers and at times depicting scenes from the bible.

Penitente: a member of the procession - nazareno without thecapirote - repenting of their sins carrying one or more crosses over shoulder. Some have up to 4 crosses depending on the amount of repenting, and many walk barefoot through the streets.

Torrijas: the most important: like french toast, prepared with honey, eggs and white wine. A typical food prepared during Semana Santa. I'll fight anyone who thinks they have a better recipe than my mother-in-law ;)

Some Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXILbKVOdLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Lahu810GA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBmBWH0xMdQ

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBDwBJyZDZk

Ahora…ha llegado Feria!!! No puedo creer que ya hubo pasado 3 meses aquí en España. Mientras Taylor y yo estabamos tomando un copa de vino repetidamente nos damos cuenta..estamos en SEVILLA..en europa. Este es una vex en la vida oportunidad q no quiero gastar ni dar por sentado. Quiero continuar aprendiendo, creciendo, y disfrutando todo.

Saludos,

Kelsey

El Viaje a Portugal

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Monday, JANE arrived from Rome to travel with us to Portugal. We left via bus for Lagos in the afternoon. All of Tuesday was spent in Lagos, a beach town in Southern Portugal. We wanted to be able to go hiking and go on a little boat tour of the caves there, but it was raining all day, and nothing can happen in a beach town when it’s raining.

So, Wednesday we took a bus up to Lisbon. We only had that night and until the next afternoon there, so we went hard there, going to see their old cathedrals , el Castillo de San Jorge, el Torre de Belém, Jeronimos Monastery, Rossio, Park of Commerce, and Pasteis de Belém Café. But first, we had lunch, splitting fresh fish (whole) that the owner of the restaurant had just caught that day. SO flavorful.

We hiked up to el Castillo de San Jorge where we could see all of the city along with the ocean. The views were breathtaking and we had some funny ‘what if’ talks of what we would do if we lived in the castle way back when. Pasteis de Belém Café is a very famous bakery that sells Pastel de Belém/ Pastel de Nata. They are little pastries with cream in the middle. Unbelievable. They are little so it was the perfect treat, not too sweet and perfect to enjoy on our walk along the beach.

That night we went to tapas for dinner at a cool place called ‘We love wine’. There was a great guitarist there who sang and played all night long so the ambience was amazing. We sat and talked for quite some time, enjoying all being together again and observing some serious wine-o’s doing there thing.

Thursday Tay and I woke up early from our awesome hostel, Independente Hostal, to drink our coffee at the lookout, Miradouro de São Pedro, which was just across the street from our hostel. That was by far the coolest hostel I have ever stayed at. Only 12 euro a night, breakfast included, AND three story bunk beds!!

Before leaving, we explored the different barrios of Lisbon. They were filled with bookstores, restaurants, cafés, record shops, and art stores; each had such unique architecture and great graffiti. We tried this typical cherry drink there called Ginjinha, from a street vendor who was the most animated street vendor I have ever encountered, she was lovin’ life, shouting for people to try “Ginjinha!” over and over. And over. And over as we walked down the street.

Lisbon is very very hilly and there are trams everywhere. It looks a lot like San Francisco because of the hills and their Ponte 25 de abril (bridge) looks just like the Golden Gate Bridge.  

El Comienzo de Semana Santa

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We were sad to leave Madrid, but really wanted to start Semana Santa with our families for Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday). I had breakfast with my family and we talked about their different Semana Santa traditions and opinions. Then I headed out to tour a friend from Morale, Jenna, who was passing through Sevilla from Florence, on her way to Lagos. I loved playing tour guide and showing off the beautiful city and all of the sites to her. They just never get old so it was great to see everything and tell her stories while catching up.

For dinner I went to Taylor’s home for tapas, wine, processions, and conversations. Unfortunately, it was raining so many of the processions were cancelled, but I got to see one on Sunday that was from Triana, so I got to get a taste of Semana Santa right off the bat.