December in Murcia

I visited a couple new places in Murcia last week. With my language conversation exchange partner, María, I went to Espinardo campus and Thader. Espinardo is the Catholic University in Murcia and Thader is a large shopping center. María did her undergraduate studies at Espinardo so she gave me a driving/walking tour of the place. My overall opinion is that it’s a very big, imposing campus with some nice grounds. At Thader, we walked around a bit and I took some pictures of the giant waterwheel that’s inside the mall. We got lunch at one of my favorite places, 100 Montaditos, and it was just as good as I’d remembered from my days in Sevilla. Actually, it was even better. So basically 100 Montaditos is a place devoted to little sandwiches. It’s fantastic because they range from a euro to at most a euro and a half so you can get a few different ones to try without spending tons of money. Probably the best thing about this place is the chocolate sandwiches. When I would eat them in Sevilla the options were normal bread with a piece of melted chocolate or melted carmel. Now this section of the menu has been upgraded to chocolate bread and yummy fillings that include cookies and cream or white chocolate. I chose a chocolate sandwich with cool whip, melted chocolate and strawberry sauce and needless to say it was incredible. My only regret is that I didn’t think to take a picture of it so that I could have proof that such a yummy thing exists.

Waterwheel!

Another exciting happening of the week was that I lost my voice thanks to a cold. Okay so it’s not exciting, but it made for an interesting Thursday at school. Everyone knew something was out of the ordinary when I showed up with a travel mug. Unlike in the U.S. where it’s super common to see someone carrying around a travel mug containing a hot beverage, it’s not really done over here in Spain. The same goes for getting hot beverages to go from coffee shops/cafes. There’s only one place I know of here that you can take your drink out of the cafe and that’s Piccadilly Coffee which is like the British version of a Starbucks. So anyway, back to my sudden loss of voice. I brought tea with honey in the hope that it would help me get through the day filled with talking. I survived it anyway, but boy was I glad that I didn’t lose my voice until the last day of my workweek. If I was dealing with that for multiple days of almost constant speaking, it would have been miserable. The kids seemed to get a kick out of my half rasp/ half squeak form of talking so I guess it would have brought enjoyment to some. The most inconvenient thing about losing my voice was that I was supposed to help the kids in fourth grade with the lyrics to the Christmas song they’re learning, and I was not able to be of much help with my lack of voice. The song they’re performing for the parents, next Tuesday, on the last day of school is “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”, thanks to my suggesting it to the teacher. I know it’s kind of an obnoxious song when sung by that one kid on the radio, but it’s really quite entertaining to hear a classroom full of Spanish children sing it.  

On Sunday I went to Mass at Murcia’s Cathedral and then, although it was drizzling slightly, I took some pictures of the cathedral because I’ve been meaning to do it for the longest time. As I was standing in the plaza outside of the cathedral I noticed some huge statues of possibly two of the three kings, outside of the Episcopal Palace. So I walked over to take a look and saw a sign to see Murcia’s Belén (Nativity Scene) inside and since it was open to the public I decided to go in. It wasn’t as impressive as the Belén I saw in October at Salzillo Museum, but it was still very elaborate and depicted from the Annunciation up to the family at home in Nazareth after returning from Egypt. After leaving the Episcopal Palace, I wandered down Gran Via Alfonso X el Sabio (a main street) and there were a lot of stands set up with handmade goods to purchase as part of a Christmas market. It had many of the same types of goods as the Christmas markets in Sevilla: cheese, sweets, candles, perfume, jewelry, statues, shoes and the list goes on. Always a good time to be had checking out a Christmas market or just a market in general. 

 Cathedral

 Episcopal Palace

 Belén

Christmas lights

This week my cold was much improved and my voice was completely back. On Tuesday and Thursday I did Christmas projects with the two girls I teach in the afternoons, since this was my last week with them until after Christmas vacation. On Tuesday we made Rudolph, (the one where you trace your hands and one foot) and the girls really got a kick out of that. Thursday’s project wasn’t as successful. I printed out Christmas cards for them to color and give to their parents, but they weren’t as excited about that. I think the main problem was that their aunt and grandparents were over and they were distracted by wanting to visit with them rather than focus on English. However, when we ended they gave me hugs and María del Mar, the seven-year old, gave me a note that said “I love you”. They are just too precious. 

Rudolph

This week was a little on the sad side cause it involved two goodbyes. I was so fortunate this semester to get amazing flatmates and I really can’t imagine what it will be like this whole next semester without them. Ines and Lisa, both from France, finished their semester early so they left this week. Fortunately, I didn’t have to say goodbye to all of my flatmates just yet since Cecilia will be finishing the semester in January. But after that I’ll be the only original inhabitant of the flat with three newbies. So this week I made sure to spend some quality time with the girls before they left. We went to 100 Montaditos for chocolate sandwiches and I again forgot to take a picture. Such a bummer, cause we had a nice platter full of different kinds and it would have been a good opportunity for a photo. Oh well, a good time was had by all. It was sad saying goodbye on Friday to Lisa and then to Ines today (Saturday), but I’m glad I was able to get to know them and in this day and age, internet will help me to stay in touch. On a lighter note, I’m in the process of switching rooms since I had the smallest room and now that two have opened up I’m greedily taking the biggest one. It has drawers for clothing, unlike my other room, and the best part, a balcony! It will be just like my semester in Sevilla. I’m definitely moving up in life, haha. Well this is most likely my last blog post till after Christmas so Feliz Navidad a todos!

Me with my lovely French flatmates, Lisa and Ines

Sojourn in Sevilla

I took a walk down memory lane this weekend. With two of my flatmates (American and French) and three other lovely people from the country of France, I traveled to Sevilla, the beautiful city in Andalucía, Spain where I studied for three months in the spring of 2012. I was planning on only going once to Sevilla, in March when my good friend Paige comes to visit me, but when my flatmates decided to go I really couldn’t let them visit the best place in Spain without me, now could I? Plus I’ve never been to Sevilla at Christmastime so I was curious to see it in a different setting. Well the city was as great as I’d remembered. I was once again reminded why I love the place so much. This time around, I had a different type of experience, since I wasn’t with a host family but instead in a hostel. While the hostel had some drawbacks, such as one bathroom for everyone on the ground floor to share, overall it wasn’t a bad place and it was fun traveling with a group of people for a change. Plus, I guess I had to have the hostel experience at least once while in Europe. 

Okay, let’s start from the beginning. We took a 10 pm bus from Murcia on Thursday night and with a lot of little stops along the way, we didn’t get to Sevilla until after 6 am on Friday. It would have been better if I’d been able to get a good amount of sleep, but I barely managed a little over an hour, so I was exhausted when we reached our destination. Fortunately, everyone else was also craving some more sleep, so after finding our hostel we all crashed for a couple hours. Rejuvenated, we ate lunch along the busy Avenida de la Constitución right next to the cathedral, which was the next stop of the day. Sevilla’s cathedral is I believe the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and so we spent a good amount of time visiting it as well climbing the Giralda to get a great view of the city. The Giralda is a tower attached to the cathedral and is the only remnant of the mosque that used to be where the cathedral now stands. Then we stopped for Starbucks because while Sevilla has at least four, Murcia doesn’t have a single one, so we had to take advantage of the opportunity presented us. I had a white mocha frappuccino and in case you were wondering, it was delicious. Next up was a visit to the incredible Plaza de España which is probably my favorite place in Sevilla. It was as beautiful as I’d remembered. All the other plaza de España’s that I’ve visited in other cities have been a letdown after seeing this one. This was one of the first things I saw in Spain because I’m pretty sure back in January of 2012 I went on a walking tour the day after my arrival and got to see the plaza at night. Good memories. After spending some time back at the hostel (which provided free sangria) we ate supper at an Indian restaurant where I had a dish with a name I don’t remember but it was basically lamb in a super spicy sauce with rice. Now I love spicy foods, but this was probably one of the most intense things I’ve ever eaten, so I was grateful we’d ordered bread to help balance out the fiery food. 

 View from the cathedral

Orange grove in the courtyard

 The one and only Plaza de España, Sevilla

Las chicas!

The next day we took a bus to Italica, just outside of Sevilla, which was once a Roman town so there were a lot of ruins to behold. The best part was definitely the amphitheater which was a smaller version of the colosseum and we were able to walk around inside it. After returning to Sevilla I split up from the group to visit my host mother, Concepción. First of all, she is the sweetest person ever. When I called her ahead of time to tell her I was coming to Sevilla, she was so excited that I could hardly get a word in between her saying things like “guapa”, “mi alma” and other Spanish terms of endearment. So I met her at her apartment and she had two of her five grandkids with her (Martina and Fran) and they are absolutely adorable. I remember seeing Martina as a baby, so it was so cool getting to see her a little bit more grown up and with a toddler baby brother. We talked for a bit and then walked to a nearby plaza (known for its huge mushroom structure) where there were balloon houses and rides set up for kids. Of course Martina and Fran had to get in on the action so Concepción and I had a good time watching/helping them. On the way to the plaza, Fran had suddenly decided he didn’t want to go and just plopped down in the middle of the street and wouldn’t get up for anyone. So I helped out by carrying him. I felt so cool walking down the street with an adorable little Spanish boy in my arms. It was awesome. As we were leaving, I bought both the kids big balloons, and although they were expensive, it was worth it to see their excitement. Plus it was helpful in getting them to willingly leave the plaza. I’m not above giving a bribe for a good cause. After saying goodbye with a promise to visit when I return in March, I went to a vigil Mass for Sunday and then stopped by a Christmas market in Plaza de la Alameda de Hércules. There were all sorts of booths set up for anything and everything whether it be Christmasy stuff, jewelry and purses, food, or soap. There were also rides for children including some ponies and a string of camels. I also loved how all the streets had their Christmas lights turned on, which hadn’t yet happened in Murcia. After meeting back up with the gang, we stopped for some quick pizza for supper and then took the winding-through-little-streets way back to the hostel to avoid the crowds. I’m proud to say that I didn’t need to look at the map once to get us there. 

 Italica

 Concepción and I

With the adorable grandkids

Christmastime!

Sunday morning we bid the hostel farewell and settled in for the long bus ride back to Murcia. Around 2 pm we stopped in Granada for an hour break, which gave us just enough time to eat lunch before continuing onward. The scenery from Granada back to Murcia was incredible. Since it was night when we left for Sevilla, the return trip was my first time seeing the landscape. The Sierra Nevada was visible in all its snowy splendor on the right side of the bus and on the left side the terrain was dry with reddish-brown cliffs looking like something in Arizona or New Mexico. There weren’t many people on the bus, so I spent some time sitting on both sides to enjoy the views. Eventually we arrived back in good old Murcia. It was an amazing couple days spent with some pretty awesome people and in my favorite city in Spain. I already can’t wait to go back in March.

 Sierra Nevada

Desert side of the highway