Walking in the rain in Cordoba (& other reflections)

Hello all! So I have returned to my blog and I will be authoring it now until I leave. (Sadly there will be no more guest appearances so you're stuck with just me). This past Saturday I went to Cordoba with my program. I will tell you about that in one second ... first lets take a moment to ponder the calendar shall we? Today is Tuesday. Two more days of classes left (Wed, Thurs). Two more weekends in Spain. Finals are next week (Mon-Thurs). In a week I will have taken 2 finals and be two tests away from finishing my academic term here in Madrid. In 2 weeks - ready for this - I will be in the airport: In exactly 2 weeks, I will be sitting in the Madrid airport, a place I have visited often and come to know well, awaiting the boarding call for my flight home. Oh my! But in this short two weeks I have a lot planned. The short list: 2 more essays, 4 final exams, city-wide Christmas lights illumination, Thessyn Museum, Nun candies, El Rastro , Lope de Vega house, a night on the town with Elia, Kaleb's visit, Chrsitmas decorating with Elena! And I am sure I have left out things that I still want to do. Let's just say I am busy. Ok, enough with the future. Let's go back to this past weekend ...


So Thursday night, I was super productive and (drum roll please) I completed my 6.5 page Lit essay in a total of 4.5 hours. Yay for productivity. Friday, I also got headway research done on history (my next hurdle) so I was feeling pretty good by Saturday when we left on the train for Cordoba. Cordoba is in Southern Spain (near Granada and Seville) and it also has evidince of a tri-religion past (Catholic, Jewish, Muslim). We visited the Cathedral of Corodba (that used to be a mosque ans still looks very much like a mosque). It was beautiful with rows and rows of double arched columns: Fun fact, most of the columns are different because lots of them were recycled from Roman ruins. The roman influence is evident too in the (reconstructed) roman bridge that we walked on that still rests on it's somewhat original foundations accross the river. The mosque was every bit as impressive as I had been hoping. It is weird to think of it as a cathedral though. It literally looks like a mosque with a high alter/chior plopped down in the middle. There is even currently a squabble going on. Muslims in Cordoba want the right to go here to pray. But the bishop won't have that because the building is Cordoba's cathedral now. Also the bishop gets really irritated when people refer to it as the mosque of cordoba (Misquita de Cordoba), which nearly everyone does. It is techincally the Mosque/Cathedral of Cordoba. But the bishop is working his hardest to get the word mosque removed completely and have everyone refer to it as the only the Cathedral of Cordoba. It is said that Spain throughout much of it's history has been a land with the rich history of three religions. However, their co-existance is rich. But, as in the past, it is not always peaceful.

After seeing the mosque, we took a walk. It was drizzly all day so this walk was damp and chilly, but still pretty. I tried my hardest to focus on the pretty. We saw several of these hanging gardens that Cordoba is famous for. They were beautiful, made by hanging potted plants on the wall. They filled the patios with life and I loved them. Cordoba actually has a competition every year and people come from all around the world to see these hanging gardens. So pretty! After our walk, Kristine, Molly, Lindsay and I made our way to a tea room for lunch. Isabel negotiated with the owner and arranged it so that we could eat our sack lunches in the warm tea room if we bought tea. It was lovely. We sat in the low couches and tables and warmed up from the cold. We had several yummy tea flavors (including ttwo herbal teas, chai tea, vanilla and (my favorite) cinnamon!). We even got an order of hummus - which I love dearly and have greatly missed during my time here! After lunch, we went to explore the third religious influence of Spain, the Jewish culture. We went to the Jewish neighborhood and went to an old house that is now a museum. My favorite part of this was the mini-concert at the end. A kid studying traditional Jewish violin played some songs (a la Fiddler on the Roof) for us and it was hauntingly beautiful. Finally, we headed home for a final Spanish train ride.


On Sunday, I did some other homework and did my best to be producive. It was difficult because all day I wasn't thinking about my work. I was thinking about that night. Because we had reserved tickets ... for HARRY POTTER 7!! Here: Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte. We did see it in English so try not to judge me too harshly. Mainly, I wanted to see it in English first and I really don't like dubbed films no matter the language. Anyway, I think it has been possibly my favorite film so far. I have been a fan of the Yates influence in the seires and hope that he is able to round out the final film as well as he did this first half. However, I missed seeing this film with my usual midnight-premiere buddies and am glad that the series will not end until the summer when I am back home with you guys. :)

So, thus rounds out my weekend. Yesterday marked my final busy Monday (my day with 3 classes streatching from 9:30 am - 7:00 pm). Today I am on campus with the intention of writing a history paper (a daunting 11 pages) and then Wednesday and Thursday I will be finishing class. I'll probably be back later this week to talk about celebrating Turkey Day outside of the good ole USA. Until then, I miss you all lots and lots. I feel proud that I've kept this up and promise to end the year strong and fill you in on every detail (you know me) of my last two weeks. Chao for now. <3>