Osuna

Osuna is a small pueblo about an hour away from Sevilla. It was named Osuna because there used to be lots of bears in the town and a bear in spanish is "oso." In Osuna we first went to a monastery. In the monastery, two nuns showed us around. In this monastery, all nuns are committed to god and do not see or talk to the public. However, there are two nuns that have an exception to this and are allowed to give tours. Every three years the sisters get a new head of their monastery and at this time the sisters rotate and change which nuns are the ones allowed to give the tours and be seen by the public. One of the nuns told us that this rotation was happening in May and although she was happy to give her time to god, she was sad that she would have to not see her family, but as long as they were happy she was happy. The nuns were very inspiring and liked to give little inspirational speeches that made us all tear up. My favorite quote one said was "queda tus ojos en el cielo y tus pies en el suelo." This translates to "keep your eyes on the sky/heaven and your feet on the ground." I really loved the opportunity of meeting these nuns, they were truly some of the sweetest people I have ever met.

One of the nuns!

The patio in the monastery

The monastery

Where the nuns stay when they are hidden from public

After touring the monastery we toured the main church of Osuna. At the end of the tour we were able to hold the keys that opened and locked the whole cathedral! We then took a very steep walk down to the main town. It was Sunday so most of the stores and restaurants were closed, but we all huddled into a bar and got café in order to warm up! Overall it was a fun little excursion and a cute little pueblo.

We saw people practicing carrying floats for semana santa parades!

Inside the church!

Scenic view of Osuna

Holding the keys to the church

By the way on a side note: I'm not sure I ever posted my address here but here it is in case anyone was looking!

Caitlin Tarantiles
CIEE Study Center in Seville
Calle Muñoz y Pabón, 9
41004 - Sevilla, Spain

Córdoba

Saturday morning, I woke up and dragged myself out of bed to get to the 9am bus to go to Córdoba. Córdoba is a small city, that was once the capital of Spain, about 2 hours from Sevilla. When we got to Córdoba the first thing we saw was the famous Mosque. This mosque was huge and beautiful and our tour guide taught us all about the different types of architecture within the mosque. This mosque has now been converted into a church so we saw the church portion of the mosque as well.

Famous arches. The top ones are arch shape and the bottom ones are horseshoes.

How detailed!

Outside

Beautiful Ceiling

After we saw the mosque, we traveled through the Jewish quarter.  We also walked up and down the streets and saw a famous flower street. Our group kept running into this group of Italian tourists who insisted they took pictures with all the american girls. I think they were trying to be sweet and compliment us, but all of us just thought their behavior was too intrusive and we tried avoiding them. In the afternoon we went to an alcazar (a type of castle or fortress) and enjoyed the beautiful views. We also had free time where we ate sandwiches on steps and enjoyed the sunny afternoon before returning to Sevilla.

Córdoba view

Meghan and I in the Alcázar

Bell tower

Flower street

Beautiful city, disgustingly dirty river

More pretty flowers

Rub his foot for good luck and intelligence

View from a tower in the castle

Elon Reunion in Sevilla

  

Friday, February 22nd, the day started out with a kayaking trip down rio guadalquivir. It was raining and cold outside, but it was still great to be able to do an activity that is very popular in Sevilla.

After Kayaking, I went and met up with my friend Matt, who goes to Elon with me, and was visiting from Toledo. We went and grabbed lunch at a restaurant near the cathedral. We both ordered the 12 euro menu of the day, which consisted of a salad, fish paella, and flan. It was delicious and it was great to be able to catch up.

Paella marisco

Flan

After a short siesta, I met back up with Matt and 3 other girls who are studying in Sevilla with me, Marisa, Mackenzie, and Mackenzie. We also happened to bump into a bunch of students who go to Carolina (UNC Chapel Hill), so we all ended up wandering around and hanging out together. We decided to show Matt, and another girl who was visiting from Paris, Parque Maria Luisa and Plaza de España. After we showed them these beautiful Sevilla sights we all went to a café and hung out before parting ways. It was really nice to spend time with people from Elon and from North Carolina!

Plaza de España

 

Magdalenas y Palacios (Muffins and Palaces)

Yesterday, February 20th, was an eventful day. My day started off with my culture of food class. It was a pretty typical lecture where I learned about ham. Fun fact: chorizo is pig's neck stuffed in pig's intestine... gross.  My next class was contemporary literature. In this class we had a special treat! My teacher took us to a monastery where we met a nun who had lived there for 70 years. We bought special magdalenas (muffins) for the nuns and learned that the only money they live off of is the profits they get from selling these muffins. The muffins were delicious and we took them to the nearby café and drank cafe con leche, ate muffins, and analyzed our literature book! A perfect class!

Medusa tiled floor

After going home and eating a chickpea and spinach soup, I went for an afternoon tour at palacio lebrijo. This palace was owned by the Countess of Lebrija who bought the home and stored all of her antiques and turned it into a museum. This palace was adorned with countless handmade tiles, roman ruins, and ceramic plates. The art was absolutely gorgeous and I would definitely love to live in a palace like this one!

The owner of the palace

Staircase in the palace

In the kitchen... the beautiful plates

I'm moving in...

The main patio

Bell/Watch tower

Another outdoor patio, I would love a tree in my house!

Palma Mallorca - Weekend in Paradise

This weekend I went to Palma Mallorca, a Spanish island. I went with my friends Gabi and Lida. We left Sevilla Thursday right after my classes. We flew out of the Sevilla airport on the airline Ryanair. The flight was one of the oddest flights I have ever been on. They made announcements the entire time and tried selling a various assortment of items, such as lottery tickets, cigarettes, and "surprise bags." They also charged for drinks and I missed having my standard cran apple juice!

The first night in Mallorca was very low-key. It was valentine's day night so the three of us were trying to stay busy and not think about the holiday we wish we were spending with our boyfriends. We made the best of it though and had ourselves a lovely valentine's meal at a Chinese restaurant! It was absolutely delicious and we got to see a gorgeous moon on the water. The hostel we were staying in was very modest and we had our own private room with three beds! There were only two outlets in our room, which was very odd, but besides that we were very pleased with our sleeping arrangements!

Friday, the next morning, we woke up and took a bus into the main part of town! We spent the entire day wandering around the little streets of town and saw the main cathedral. We ate crossaints for breakfast, pasta and salad for lunch and for dinner we had delicious paella. We also met this wonderful lady in a pearl shop, who gave us free mallorcan pearls!

The beautiful cathedral

The second day, Saturday, we took a taxi up to this castle, but after discovering it cost an extra 20euros per person to get inside, we just wandered around the hiking trails to get back down to the main part of town. We wandered around a little pueblo and then took a taxi into the main part of town again. The rest of the day consisted of exploring and appreciating the beauty of Mallorca! Perfect weekend!!

hiking trail in the mountainside

On a side note: while wandering down the streets of Mallorca I found a gorgeous wedding dress and while hiking down from the castle I found a perfect church in the mountainside! In 10 years who knows? A perfect wedding location, a perfect dress.. a girl can dream right?