Horseback-Riding on the Beach!

Two weekends ago my roommate Jessa and I went on a trip with Discover Sevilla to go to Mataslascañas Beach for a day of riding horses and enjoying the coast! It was actually the first time I went horsebacking-riding, so it was very exciting. My friend Jeanie was on the same trip, and I talked a bit with a few other travelers too, most of whom were study abroad students.

Jessa and me enjoying the playa

My friends and I were in the first group to ride the horses. My horse was really calm, and her name was Albina (she was albino!). Our trail led from the stables through Doñana National Park. At first we were just riding through the trees. As we got higher into the hills, we had a beautiful view of the beach to our left and the valleys to our right. To head back to the stables, we went down the hills to the shore and rode most of the way back along the coast! A short trail through Doñana National Park lead us the rest of the way back from the beach.

I do not have pictures from the horseback ride (can you imagine holding a camera while riding a horse?), 

but here is a short video from their webpage to give you an idea of the scenery.

It was really nice being in the first group to ride because it gave us the rest of the afternoon to relax without any interruptions. After enjoying a glass of the free Sangria provided for us, Jeanie and I headed to a seafood restaurant for lunch with one of the other travelers. We got an outside table with a view of the beach that was right in the sun. It was perfect. The local shrimp was especially tasty :) The weather that day was sunny and warm, but also had quite a bit of wind - at times it was a little chilly, but while we were at the restaurant, the building blocked the wind for us!

Jeanie and me after lunch

I finished out the afternoon with attempted napping/sunbathing, walking along the beach, finding a souvenir seashell, and grabbing dessert with friends. 

Matalascañas Beach, in the providence of Huelva

On my horse for the day, in the morning before the ride.

Sevilla-Venice-Sevilla

Sevilla: For most of my flights this year, the Sevilla airport will be most convenient. I am okay with this, as it is a great city and I enjoy returning to my old "home." I met up with one friend going on the trip to Venice in the early evening before our flight. We were craving Chinese food, so I tried to remember where I ate my one Chinese meal while studying abroad. When I knew we were close, we asked for directions. People sent us all. over. town. But, we eventually came to a different Chinese restaurant that was just as good. Two of our other friends arrived to Sevilla shortly after this, so we reunited with them and headed to the airport for a little sleepover before our early morning flight. 

This is the restaurant I was trying to find.

Venice- Day 1: Once in Venice the next day, we met up with the 5th member of our group. We found our hostel by wandering through the little streets until we reached Via TraGHETTO (I'm sure the Italian have a more elegant way of pronouncing that, but it made it easy to remember our street name). We saw a unique Da Vinici Museum that had interactive inventions in addition to the paintings and sculptures. We also stumbled upon what became our favorite café, which we returned to two more times during our short stay. For dinner that night we went to a small Italian restaurant, where the waiters made a couple move to another table so our group of 5 would could sit together ...that was a bit awkward, sitting outside or waiting would have been alright. Our group continued to the University area that night, which had a pretty fun atmosphere & there were a lot of people out.

On the Rialto Bridge

Venice- Day 2: Although Italian mealtimes are similar to America's, we had a surprisingly hard time following them because we are so accustomed to our Spanish schedules. Luckily we did eat lunch early (for us) this day because we found a cool restaurant in which the entrance was almost hidden. We ate on the outside terrace & there were plants and flowers all around. We saw the major tourist attractions this afternoon, including San Marco's Basilica & the Doge's Palace. Although they were both gorgeous, I actually enjoyed the palace more. I think part of it was that I knew the basilica would be incredible, but since I did not know much about the palace, I went in with very few expectations. Many Doges lived in the palace at the same time, so it had to be huge. In addition to living quarters and salons, it also had meeting rooms and prisons. All of the rooms were filled with artwork. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in the University square just to relax and people-watch for a few minutes. We opted to participate in the pasta + salad dinner our hostel hosted this night, which was a great, affordable choice!

Inside Doge's Palace

Venice- Day 3: Venice has a few surrounding smaller islands, in addition to the main island, so we chose the explore Murano on our last day. Murano is known for its glasswork (sculptures, dishes, glasses, clocks, vases, etc.) We saw some pretty neat artwork and I loved all the colors of the glass. There wasn't a whole lot more to do on this island though, so we did not stay too long. One fun thing we did on the way over was take a gondola! Well, a 50 cent public gondola that is. It lasts about 2-3 minutes and just takes you straight across the Grand Canal with 8-10 other people. All throughout the trip we devoted some time wandering through the cute streets and browsing the little shops of Venetian masks, and this day was no different. Masks were as cheap as 3.50€ and as expensive as a few hundred! Each of us was able to find one we liked on the lower end of that spectrum. It makes a unique room decoration & has definite potential for costume usage in the future.

Glass sculpture on Murano island. 

Sevilla, round 2: We arrived to Sevilla in the afternoon of the 31st. While walking to our hostel, we ran into another auxiliar! (One of my friends said, "I feel like auxiliares are so nice and helpful to each other, it's almost like we have automatic friendships because we are in similar situations" and I could not agree more. It is pretty cool to have a network of auxiliares all around Spain to meet up with while traveling.) For lunch we found a tapas restaurant with lots of variety and even more flavor. My friend Angela met up with us to explore Sevilla and celebrate Halloween. The Festival of the Nations was going on while we were in Sevilla; it was comprised of markets and food stands. Several of the markets represented other countries, and they sold purses, clothes, jewelry, wallets, belts, and candy, just to name a few items. In the food half, we were almost overwhelmed by the amount of options we had. Anyone who has lived in Spain knows that Spanish food is not spicy. Ever. Flavorful, yes. Delicious, yes. But spicy, no. So, we did want many other expats would do in our situation & created a meal out of a few of the countries with spicier food; however, we did not entirely stray from Spanish culture because we realized going at it tapas style (sharing one plate per country) allowed us to taste the most dishes. I already mentioned Halloween in my previous post, so check that out to hear about the rest of my trip.

Tasting various ethnic foods at the Festival of the Nations.

I know this post was long, so I'll leave you with a few extra pictures from the trip (:

Some of the more elaborate Venetian Masks 

Group shot along the Grand Canal

There were tons of little footbridges throughout the city.

San Marco's Basilica

This is near the palace that I loved.

Halloween in Spain

Several people have asked about Halloween over here, so here's a bit of an explanation: Halloween is becoming more and more popular in Europe, especially in the larger cities. It still is not hugely celebrated, but most of the students learn about it in their English classes.

Some of my students had made pretty neat crafts earlier in the week that they presented on my day with their class

Over here, they focus only on the scary side of Halloween & not on how creative it can be. If they dress up (like for a festival, there is not trick-or-treating here), it is only as a vampire, witch, ghost, spider, etc. My students (and some of the teachers) were surprised to hear that it is also very popular to wear costumes of princesses, celebrities, animals, movie characters, etc. 

Besides scary costumes, the other thing associated with the holiday is Michael Jackson's song "Thriller." I was in Sevilla on Halloween; while at The Festival of the Nations the song was played on repeat throughout the short Halloween performance that was incorporated into the festival. 

November 1st is a holiday here, not October 31st, and it's called All Saints Day. So, no school/work on Tuesday Nov. 1 means Monday Oct. 31 was a puente! (puente=bridge: when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, they automatically turn it into a long weekend! Awesome concept, I wish America would follow suit!) This also made the 31st a popular night to go out with friends even though it was a Monday, regardless of whether the Spaniards were celebrating Halloween. A few bars had decorations and one offered a drink special, but otherwise it was just a normal night. There were more people in costumes than I expected, but most of them were study abroad students. 

My friends and I contemplated wearing our newly purchased Venetian masks

Last Days of "Vacation" Before Working

Apartment searching in Spain was far less intimidating than I expected :) One of my biggest concerns before I got here was finding housing, but it turned out there were TONS of options, so I had nothing to worry about! You can use your other senses to find what you want, which you cannot do for things such as setting up internet or opening a bank account. I talked with a few other auxiliares about housing over the summer. One of them, Jessa, had contacted a realtor about 2 she saw online. I arrived a few days earlier than her, so I was able to look at them and send her pictures. This made things move a bit faster once she arrived. Our favorite had an extra room; shortly after arriving I met Mariana, an auxiliar from Puerto Rico, so she was able to join up with us. Jessa’s boyfriend Patrick is also in Spain this year, so there are 4 of us total. Our piso is in a great location & it’s a nice size. So far the landlord has been on top of taking care of things when we ask, which is a good sign incase other things come up.

This is the view from my bedroom window! 

What’s the next step after moving in to a new apartment in a foreign country? TAKE A VACATION!! Well, not always, but that’s what I did! I wanted to take advantage of having a few days off before work starts, so Mariana and I went to Lagos, Portugal. It was a great time to go to the beach, because it was still sunny everyday. Lagos has the prettiest beaches out of any I have visited, and we explored a new little beach near our hostel each day. We met a few others our age, mainly from Germany, so it was fun to hang out with them a bit too. Our bus ride was a bit long, but it was well worth the trip! On the way down we had to switch buses in Sevilla (there’s not a bus straight to Lagos from my city), and so we got the chance to walk around a bit and eat lunch in a cafe. Mariana and I had both been to Sevilla in the past, so it was fun to reminisce.

Mariana and I in Lagos

The past 2 days we had our orientation in Cáceres, an hour north of Mérida. Most of the information they gave us was pretty basic, but I enjoyed exploring a new city. Cáceres has an old section with lots of beautiful, medieval architecture. Their main plaza is huge and the city as a whole seems like it’d be a fun place to live. (Badajoz, Cáceres, and Mérida are the 3 largest cities in my region of Extremadura.) All of the auxiliares from Extremadura were there; I think there are about 100 of us. There are a lot more in Mérida than I realized: 2 from France, 1 from Puerto Rico, 1 from England, 1 from Canada, and 4 from the US. In addition to my roommates, I spent a lot of time with Fachon (French) and Jess (English), so we spoke in all Spanish because that was our common language. It was neat to use so much Spanish because I speak a lot of English with my roommates, and the 3 of us were at a similar level of Spanish.

I haven't uploaded any Cáceres pictures yet, so here's another picture from Portugal :)

Things here in Spain are moving along pretty smoothly so far. My main frustration has been that I wish my Spanish was better; however, I know that will improve with time. It can be easy to forget how much progress I’ve made with the language when I'm speaking with native speakers. The most beneficial thing I took away from orientation was realizing that my Spanish is decent.

Photos & Intros

I found the pic below as I was browsing the internet. It was a causal, unofficial meet-up for new participants of a teach abroad program a couple years back. I love this about Spain (and Europe in general). Awesome things surround you everywhere you go. Just taking a walk around town can be a breath-taking experience.

...ok, now for a confession: Even though my blog title implies I'm currently in Spain, I will not be there until mid-September. I will be working in a Spanish public school as a Language & Culture Assistant!

I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain for 4 months in 2009. I cannot believe I will be returning so soon! When I left, I promised myself I would go back and visit within 5-10 years but did not know how and when this would be possible... Less than 3 years later, this will be a reality. And not just for a vacation, but TO LIVE. For now, I'll leave you with a flashback to that semester...

I love living in cities on water! I crossed over this river nearly every day. Oh, the little 

tower on the right side of the photo is La Torre del Oro. My Art History class met 

right next to the torre for the lesson we studied it. nbd.

The architecture of La Catedral in Sevilla is absolutely gorgeous. It's the 3rd largest cathedral in Europe!

My classes were held in a portion of this building, which used to be a hotel.