¡Oye ve! It’s been quite a while with lots of happenings
here in Sevilla. You might actually want to read this whole one because I went
to Marruecos (Morocco) this past weekend!! Before we get there though, in my
literature and the kitchen class, I ate brain last week…and yes, I am much
smarter now. We ate a brain soufflé so if any of you would like a personal chef
when I get home, I’d be glad to whip that up for you. We have also had normal
stuff too like fish, tortilla española, and three different types of gazpacho.
Other than that, I’m still enjoying each of my classes, each brings something
different that I will surly bring back to the states with me. Outside of class
recently has been filled with working on an honors grant for my thesis next
year and my application for the Riley Children’s Hospital internship..looks
like I brought a little bit of my work load from the US with me.
But now for the stuff you have all been waiting
for….CULTURE!!!!!!! Just wanna tell you real quick about this little guy called
la estufa or el brasero…it’s this great little heater that goes under the table
which is set with a tablecloth/ blanket that goes all the way to the floor.
When we eat, we get to tuck our feet under and feel real heat, which is a true
rarity when you are inside the home.
Ok, but really, now I’ll tell you about Marruecos. We left
on Friday and headed to Tarifa where we got on a HUGE ferry to Tangiers,
Morocco. The bus ride was about 2 hours and the ferry took only 45 minutes or
so. From Tangiers we headed to the hotel, which was about an hour away. I had
to smack myself in the hand a few times because I kept feeling like I was in
Slumdog Millionaire so I needed to recognize how culturally inaccurate that
was. Regardless, when we got to the hotel we had an AMAZING cous cous (or as an
Andalucían could pronounce, coo coo) with chicken, eggplant, carrots, zucchini,
and sweet potatoes.
The next day we went to the city of Assilah. En route we
learned some Arabic words from our guide who sung for us and told us stories.
The biggest thing I learned was that you cannot determine a person’s religion
by their garb. I really liked that we were told that right off the bat so that
it wiped out any judgements that we were already making about the people we
were seeing. I definitely think that that lesson applies in the states in more
subtle ways, so I will definitely bring home the lesson to live out what you
believe and stand for, not just show it in a piece of jewelry or say it. Our
guide also gave me an Arabic name, Laila, which means “night beauty” so I guess
you can take that whichever way you’d like.
In Assilah we
got to tour the city and see their beautiful murals that are replaced each
year. Some people got henna and we got to browse the markets some, but I was
fascinated by the murals and chose to try to see as many as I could instead.
Later on, we went to Tangiers, where we rode camels, ran
around on the dunes (did that one just with someone else—wasn’t really the
trendy thing to do), visited los cuevas de Hercules, and saw el Cabo Spartel
(the point in which the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet). Cada sitio era precioso
y muy muy impresionante. Marruecos es un mundo totalmente diferente de cada
lugar que he visto antes.
Sunday we visited Chefchauen, which is a city built into the
mountains of Morocco. The city is surrounded in a wall. The streets are tight
and hilly and BLUE! It is unbelievable how much blue there is there. So so
gorgeous. In Chefchauen we wandered and saw the markets and ate lunch on the
roof of an amazing restaurant that overlooked the whole city.
All in all we had an unbelievable weekend. I am very
thankful we travelled with a group because we felt safe the whole time and
everything was organized, but we still got to do our own thing for a lot of the
time.
Saludos,
Kelsey
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