If you have ever read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or seen the movie, you should recognize that quote... and you should be able to tell what this post is going to be about. That's right. The Harry Potter Studio Tour at WB Studios in Watford, England, where I got to go 2 days after the Grand Opening. Yes. I was one of the first people to ever see the tour, and I was (and still am, let's be honest) super excited about it.
If you don't know what the HP Studio Tour is, basically it's a tour of the part of WB Studios where the HP movies were filmed (for the most part... some scenes were also filmed in Scotland, London, and Oxford), which included sets, soundstages, props, costumes, and behind the scenes stuff.
When you first walk into the building, the HP soundtrack is playing and you see several props (school trunks and the Weasley's Ford Anglia) and cast pictures (Harry, Ron, and Hermione have 1 per year). There's the gift shop, which is a wonder in itself, and the queuing area for the tour. In that area in the cupboard under the stairs, which is actually a lot smaller than the movie makes it seem.
The tour itself began in a cinema, where you watch a short film about the making of HP, and the tour. I won't tell you exactly what happens next, but from there you go see the Great Hall (also smaller than it looks), the prop house, the back lot, and the creature shop. They even have Diagon Alley and a scale model of Hogwarts! All of these are tremendously cool, and you have almost unlimited time to walk around and see them. I got pictures of everything, which sadly ended in my camera dying in the midst of the creature shop.
In the first big part, they have a bunch of sets- Hagrid's hut, Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor Common Room and boys' dormitory, the Ministry of Magic Atrium, Umbridge's ministry office, and many more. There's also an abundance of costumes and props. They're amazing. You think that just because they were in the movie, you know what they look like, but they've got way more detail in real life. The Yule Ball table set ups, for example. Also, I will note that Emma Watson may be the tiniest (and by that I mean skinniest) human alive. Her Yule Ball dress is tiny.
Moving on. In the middle of the tour, in case all the excitement was just too much for you, there's a break in the 'back lot' with a cafe. I will admit that I did drink the butterbeer. It was really good, sort of like cream soda but richer and butterier, and the foam was the best part. While I sipped it, I got to see the actual Knight Bus (it seriously is three stories), Number 4 Privet Drive, and the Potter Cottage, complete with hole blasted in the roof. There was also the giant chess set from HPSS, which was awesome.
When you went back inside (to a different lot) you were in the creature shop, where I almost died of fright when I saw the enormous hairy Acromantula hanging directly above my head. Seriously, the thing was easily ten feet across. *shivers* I also got to see Dobby (post knife wound :[) and Bathilda Bagshot, who is ridiculous creepy even when she's enclosed in a glass case, inanimate, and you know it's not real. They also had the actual moving Buckbeak and (nonmoving) Basilisk's and dragon's heads.
The creature shop dumped out into Diagon Alley. I wanted to take a thousand pictures of it, but my camera only pulled itself together for 2 pictures. It was amazing. All the shops were perfect, and they had Ollivander's and even the Weasley's shop.
The final stop within the tour itself was the model of Hogwarts. When I walked in and realized what I was looking at (go ahead, laugh) my heart actually stopped. It was spectacular. It was a perfect model of the castle, and the one they actually used for all sweeping shots of Hogwarts. I can't even describe how cool it was.
Wait, just kidding. That wasn't the last thing. There was also the wand shop, with boxes of wands they used in filming (although some of the wands were on display in the props area), with the actors' names on them. I could have looked around for hours... there were easily thousands of wand boxes in just that one room.
When I finally made it out, feeling like I could pass out from excitement, I wandered through the gift shop, looking for things I might want. And when I say that, I mean looking for stuff that I can afford, since in reality I wanted everything. I saw one couple drop over 400 pounds on stuff for their kids. In the end, I bought myself Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Time Turner necklace, and a Gryffindor hat.
So basically, you should go see this. It's amazing and wonderful and shows you so much stuff about the entire movie series. I would highly recommend it, as long as you bring no more cash than you intend to spend in the gift shop. You might get carried away...
Yup. That pretty much sums it up.
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Morocco. Better late than never, right?
So I'm not really sure how to describe my trip to Morocco. It was amazing and awesome and fantastic, but hard to describe. The culture was incredibly different from that of the US and even Spain, but there were elements that were the same. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to organize this post, chronologically or by topic, but I'm gonna just go with it. I may post the itinerary so you have general idea, but it may be easier to flow from topic to topic. Also, here is the link to my awesome facebook album! I may add more photos to this, or add another link, because there was one day when only 2 people were allowed to take pictures, and I wasn't one of them. But you'll see them eventually.
Ok, so. Morocco.
I apologize if this is less detailed than my normal posts... it's been a while and I haven't really had much time to write about Morocco. So here it goes.
Saturday morning we woke up to the phone in our hotel room ringing for our wake up call, ate a pretty legit breakfast in the hotel, and got back on the bus to drive to Tarifa, the main port for ferries from Spain to Morocco. In Tarifa we met our guide, Jess. She's a visual artist who has been living in Morocco for several years, but has lived in tons of places and is originally from Wales. She gave us a quick orientation on the ferry, and we chose our team name: Team Guay (guay is the Spanish word for cool). Soon enough we could see Morocco, and landed at the port in Tangier
After taking a walk through the market, learning a few Arabic words (llhumdullah is thank God, and shukran [or something like that] means thank you) we visited a women's center called Darna, or 'Our House'. Darna offers French and Arabic literacy classes, and many skills classes to help the women of Tangiers get jobs to support their families. We got our first glimpse of Moroccan hospitality, and were given copious amounts of tea and pastries while talking to a few girls about our age about life as a woman in Morocco. We ate lunch there, too; it was a salad and chicken tajin, which was delicious.
Since we were spending the night in Rabat, we left and got on our mini bus with Jess and Eva, our IES staff member, and hit the road. I was dozing a bit, and when I opened my eyes for a look around, I saw camels on a beach. Well that's cool, I thought. Then the bus slowed down, and I realized this was it. We were going to ride the camels. Despite the fact that Andrea and Casey were surprised that I actually got on an animal that big, I love animals (except weird ones like the Gibraltar monkeys... or snakes), and I've ridden horses and even elephants before without being scared. And camels are sort of like horses (much smaller than elephants), just taller and with weirder joints. When you get on the camel it's sitting down on the sand. The trainer tells you to hold on tight and lean back, then the camel lifts its butt all the way, straightens out its back legs, then stands up on it's front legs too. It's a little scary, and the way down was 10 times worse, but it was worth it. I was so high up, but not afraid of falling. The ride lasted far too little time, and before I knew it we were once again on our way to Rabat, the capital city.
As soon as we arrived in Rabat we were introduced to our host families, and taken home to rest and have a snack before being led on a tour of the Medina (old city) by our host moms. We had been told that at least one person, be it a parent or teenager, would speak pretty good English. Well, let's just say it's a good thing I took 3 semesters of French, because our host mom, although super sweet and hospitable, was not an English speaker. She gave us tea, cake, and bread for a snack, and after the walk she fed us more tea and also a strange pasta dish, which consisted of cut up angel hair with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Weird but delicious, and served, of course, with more bread.
Our host mom had 2 kids. One was 7, and I don't remember his name. The other, whose name was pronounced 'said' was 2 (I think...) and was attached to his dad's iPad, and watched Tom & Jerry and Justin Bieber the entire time we were there. We didn't get to meet our host dad, because he was in America, visiting Obama with the king of Morocco, for whom he is a bodyguard. No big deal.
Before I continue, I'm going to go completely out of chronological order and talk about Moroccan drivers. With the exception of our bus driver, who did his best to be safe and normal, Moroccans drive like actual crazy people. There were multiple times when we almost got hit by cars, saw people almost get hit by cars, or actually see someone get hit. Luckily, the latter only happened once. Back on track, now.
Breakfast was tea with bread, jam and little biscotti-like cookies. After breakfast, we visited another NGO, called Hope for Saleh (no idea how to spell it, pronounced 'sahlly'), which plans events for people in the shanty-town of Saleh, and teaches boys and girls how to read, write, cook, and gives them skills to get jobs. We talked about politics with a few of the employees, and eventually digressed to religion and modesty and how women dress in Morocco, and it got a little awkward when one of the Moroccan guys started saying that men can't even resist women's eyes because they 'look into them and it's like you're lost in an ocean', so of course they should cover the rest of their body. We also visited some Roman ruins/early Arabic ruins.
That being done, we had lunch at our homestay (by the way, the homestay 'we' was myself and 2 IES girls, Kelsey and Nora), with our hostmom's niece Sarah. We ate couscous and bread and had sour milk. Yes, sour milk. Seriously. Not like, oops guess the milk is sour, but the let's-let-this-milk-go-sour-then-drink-it. It's a thing there, apparently. Definitely a taste I have not (and hope to never) acquire. We also tried on some Moroccan wedding dresses, which can be seen in my album (link at the beginning of the post).
My favorite part of the whole trip happened that night: the Hammam. A hammam is an Arab bath; I can't remember if I've posted about them before, because I've seen about 6 for Islamic Art, but basically it's a girls- or boys-only space with hot and cold water taps, where you clean yourself. Moroccans don't really have in-house showers, so they go to the hammam about once a week. This may sound gross, but you get so clean there that it really isn't; Moroccans may have surface dirt but their skin is clean. Anyways, our hostmom's niece, Sarah, was our hammam guide, and took us (me, Nora, Kelsey, Kassie, Bethine, and Clarissa) to the one she normally goes to.
Basically you get a scrubbing mitt and soap (we also brought shampoo and whatnot), go upstairs, and strip down to just your panties (hence no boys) and scrub for an hour or two. We helped each other scrub our backs, we got massages, and we came out cleaner than ever before. I don't exaggerate; not since the day I was born have I been that clean. I wish the US had hammams (authentic, not touristy ones) so I could repeat the experience. The best part was how casual it all was. When we walked in, there were maybe 3 women there, and one was completely naked but it wasn't a big deal. We didn't sit there judging each other for our bodies, or acting weirded out at the other people, we just cleaned ourselves and got over it. Before we went I was told that Moroccans are very comfortable and intimate within their own sex, and I really understood the extent of that after I went to the hammam.
Once we had removed the top 3-10 layers of skin, we got henna done. Henna is a plant that is ground up and mixed with water, then applied to the surface of the skin with a (blunt, they're not piercing the skin) syringe, to better control the flow of the paste. You leave it on for 2 hours to overnight, and once it comes off it leaves color where the paste was. This typically lasts a week to 10 days, but I will say that the last traces just faded from my pinky, and I got it done 3 weeks ago. This supposedly means that I will have good luck, because the longer it lasts the longer you will have good luck, and I guess it's working. I have had an awesome last few weeks.
Dinner was a spicy minestrone with tea and bread, and the next morning we headed off, eventually to Chefchaouen. We stopped first at the mausoleum that holds the current king's father, uncle, and grandfather, as well as a mosque that was never completed because a)there was an earthquake, partially destroying their work, and b)the king who financed it died.
Two hours later we stopped in Ouissan to have a tea break and go to the market to buy the salad, bread, and other staples for a picnic we were having with a rural family later that day. Kokaale and I volunteered to go with Jess to help carry the produce, and it was amazing. I apologize in advance for the non-structure of the next few sentences. Everything was so colorful. The smells. Spices in piles like mountains. Live chickens, clucking happily next to their dead and plucked brethren. Halves of beef hanging from the ceiling. Fresh. Delicous. The vendors would give us samples of their food, and we eventually made it out without letting our chins totally drop to the floor.
When we got to the family's farm, the girls (the boys played with the family's 6 year old) helped prepare lunch by cutting all sorts of veggies and things: tomatoes, carrots, peppers, avocados, cucumbers, strawberries, bread, and something else whose name escapes me. The family provided couscous. We had veggie sandwiches with soft cheese. They were delicious. The carrots were the sweetest I had ever tasted, the bread was delicious. I don't even have words for how good all of this was. Sincerely. Dessert was oranges, and they were super sweet, but less tangy than in the US or Spain. Delicious nonetheless.
After lunch we hiked up a hill nearby, to see the Rif mountains (technically we were in them but it was a good view) and the family asked us to sing. We sang a few songs, including don't stop believing and a whole new world, and they were so happy. It was amazing to see how much they took pleasure in the simple things around them.
Of the whole day, the funniest thing was the 6 year old, who was a total ham. He posed for photos, with expertise that would have gotten him the title of Morocco's next top model, which was hilariously surprising. He flirted with all of the girls, and gave us flowers. So cute.
Eventually and unwillingly we left, and headed to Chefchaouen. Once there we did a lot of shopping (the exchange rate is excellent) and had dinner at a real restaurant. I had couscous, salad, and for dessert (which we didn't get to choose) there was a type of thin yogurt, flavored with honey, almond, cinnamon and maybe some other spices. It was super super delicious.
On our last morning in Morocco, we met in the hostel lobby at 7:30 and went on a hike(ish) up a hill to see the landscape at sunrise. It was breathtaking, and a really good way to start bringing the trip to an end. We had 1st breakfast at the top, which was drinkable yogurt, dried figs (omg still have those) and almonds. The almonds in Morocco, by the way, were some of the best I've ever eaten. Super buttery and sweet. Second breakfast (so what if we act like hobbits on vacation) was in the town square, and it was orange juice, tea, and some type of bread with honey, butter, and jam.
Sadly, we had to end our journey shortly after, saying goodbye to Jess and crossing the border into Ceuta, a Spanish protectorate (?) in Morocco, then taking the Ferry to La Linea, and coming home by bus. So ended the trip. It was one of the most amazing places I've been, with some of the nicest people who tried to make me eat more than my Spanish host mom does. If anyone is thinking about travelling, I would definitely suggest a trip to Morocco.
Ok, so. Morocco.
I apologize if this is less detailed than my normal posts... it's been a while and I haven't really had much time to write about Morocco. So here it goes.
Saturday morning we woke up to the phone in our hotel room ringing for our wake up call, ate a pretty legit breakfast in the hotel, and got back on the bus to drive to Tarifa, the main port for ferries from Spain to Morocco. In Tarifa we met our guide, Jess. She's a visual artist who has been living in Morocco for several years, but has lived in tons of places and is originally from Wales. She gave us a quick orientation on the ferry, and we chose our team name: Team Guay (guay is the Spanish word for cool). Soon enough we could see Morocco, and landed at the port in Tangier
After taking a walk through the market, learning a few Arabic words (llhumdullah is thank God, and shukran [or something like that] means thank you) we visited a women's center called Darna, or 'Our House'. Darna offers French and Arabic literacy classes, and many skills classes to help the women of Tangiers get jobs to support their families. We got our first glimpse of Moroccan hospitality, and were given copious amounts of tea and pastries while talking to a few girls about our age about life as a woman in Morocco. We ate lunch there, too; it was a salad and chicken tajin, which was delicious.
Since we were spending the night in Rabat, we left and got on our mini bus with Jess and Eva, our IES staff member, and hit the road. I was dozing a bit, and when I opened my eyes for a look around, I saw camels on a beach. Well that's cool, I thought. Then the bus slowed down, and I realized this was it. We were going to ride the camels. Despite the fact that Andrea and Casey were surprised that I actually got on an animal that big, I love animals (except weird ones like the Gibraltar monkeys... or snakes), and I've ridden horses and even elephants before without being scared. And camels are sort of like horses (much smaller than elephants), just taller and with weirder joints. When you get on the camel it's sitting down on the sand. The trainer tells you to hold on tight and lean back, then the camel lifts its butt all the way, straightens out its back legs, then stands up on it's front legs too. It's a little scary, and the way down was 10 times worse, but it was worth it. I was so high up, but not afraid of falling. The ride lasted far too little time, and before I knew it we were once again on our way to Rabat, the capital city.
As soon as we arrived in Rabat we were introduced to our host families, and taken home to rest and have a snack before being led on a tour of the Medina (old city) by our host moms. We had been told that at least one person, be it a parent or teenager, would speak pretty good English. Well, let's just say it's a good thing I took 3 semesters of French, because our host mom, although super sweet and hospitable, was not an English speaker. She gave us tea, cake, and bread for a snack, and after the walk she fed us more tea and also a strange pasta dish, which consisted of cut up angel hair with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Weird but delicious, and served, of course, with more bread.
Our host mom had 2 kids. One was 7, and I don't remember his name. The other, whose name was pronounced 'said' was 2 (I think...) and was attached to his dad's iPad, and watched Tom & Jerry and Justin Bieber the entire time we were there. We didn't get to meet our host dad, because he was in America, visiting Obama with the king of Morocco, for whom he is a bodyguard. No big deal.
Before I continue, I'm going to go completely out of chronological order and talk about Moroccan drivers. With the exception of our bus driver, who did his best to be safe and normal, Moroccans drive like actual crazy people. There were multiple times when we almost got hit by cars, saw people almost get hit by cars, or actually see someone get hit. Luckily, the latter only happened once. Back on track, now.
Breakfast was tea with bread, jam and little biscotti-like cookies. After breakfast, we visited another NGO, called Hope for Saleh (no idea how to spell it, pronounced 'sahlly'), which plans events for people in the shanty-town of Saleh, and teaches boys and girls how to read, write, cook, and gives them skills to get jobs. We talked about politics with a few of the employees, and eventually digressed to religion and modesty and how women dress in Morocco, and it got a little awkward when one of the Moroccan guys started saying that men can't even resist women's eyes because they 'look into them and it's like you're lost in an ocean', so of course they should cover the rest of their body. We also visited some Roman ruins/early Arabic ruins.
That being done, we had lunch at our homestay (by the way, the homestay 'we' was myself and 2 IES girls, Kelsey and Nora), with our hostmom's niece Sarah. We ate couscous and bread and had sour milk. Yes, sour milk. Seriously. Not like, oops guess the milk is sour, but the let's-let-this-milk-go-sour-then-drink-it. It's a thing there, apparently. Definitely a taste I have not (and hope to never) acquire. We also tried on some Moroccan wedding dresses, which can be seen in my album (link at the beginning of the post).
My favorite part of the whole trip happened that night: the Hammam. A hammam is an Arab bath; I can't remember if I've posted about them before, because I've seen about 6 for Islamic Art, but basically it's a girls- or boys-only space with hot and cold water taps, where you clean yourself. Moroccans don't really have in-house showers, so they go to the hammam about once a week. This may sound gross, but you get so clean there that it really isn't; Moroccans may have surface dirt but their skin is clean. Anyways, our hostmom's niece, Sarah, was our hammam guide, and took us (me, Nora, Kelsey, Kassie, Bethine, and Clarissa) to the one she normally goes to.
Basically you get a scrubbing mitt and soap (we also brought shampoo and whatnot), go upstairs, and strip down to just your panties (hence no boys) and scrub for an hour or two. We helped each other scrub our backs, we got massages, and we came out cleaner than ever before. I don't exaggerate; not since the day I was born have I been that clean. I wish the US had hammams (authentic, not touristy ones) so I could repeat the experience. The best part was how casual it all was. When we walked in, there were maybe 3 women there, and one was completely naked but it wasn't a big deal. We didn't sit there judging each other for our bodies, or acting weirded out at the other people, we just cleaned ourselves and got over it. Before we went I was told that Moroccans are very comfortable and intimate within their own sex, and I really understood the extent of that after I went to the hammam.
Once we had removed the top 3-10 layers of skin, we got henna done. Henna is a plant that is ground up and mixed with water, then applied to the surface of the skin with a (blunt, they're not piercing the skin) syringe, to better control the flow of the paste. You leave it on for 2 hours to overnight, and once it comes off it leaves color where the paste was. This typically lasts a week to 10 days, but I will say that the last traces just faded from my pinky, and I got it done 3 weeks ago. This supposedly means that I will have good luck, because the longer it lasts the longer you will have good luck, and I guess it's working. I have had an awesome last few weeks.
Dinner was a spicy minestrone with tea and bread, and the next morning we headed off, eventually to Chefchaouen. We stopped first at the mausoleum that holds the current king's father, uncle, and grandfather, as well as a mosque that was never completed because a)there was an earthquake, partially destroying their work, and b)the king who financed it died.
Two hours later we stopped in Ouissan to have a tea break and go to the market to buy the salad, bread, and other staples for a picnic we were having with a rural family later that day. Kokaale and I volunteered to go with Jess to help carry the produce, and it was amazing. I apologize in advance for the non-structure of the next few sentences. Everything was so colorful. The smells. Spices in piles like mountains. Live chickens, clucking happily next to their dead and plucked brethren. Halves of beef hanging from the ceiling. Fresh. Delicous. The vendors would give us samples of their food, and we eventually made it out without letting our chins totally drop to the floor.
When we got to the family's farm, the girls (the boys played with the family's 6 year old) helped prepare lunch by cutting all sorts of veggies and things: tomatoes, carrots, peppers, avocados, cucumbers, strawberries, bread, and something else whose name escapes me. The family provided couscous. We had veggie sandwiches with soft cheese. They were delicious. The carrots were the sweetest I had ever tasted, the bread was delicious. I don't even have words for how good all of this was. Sincerely. Dessert was oranges, and they were super sweet, but less tangy than in the US or Spain. Delicious nonetheless.
After lunch we hiked up a hill nearby, to see the Rif mountains (technically we were in them but it was a good view) and the family asked us to sing. We sang a few songs, including don't stop believing and a whole new world, and they were so happy. It was amazing to see how much they took pleasure in the simple things around them.
Of the whole day, the funniest thing was the 6 year old, who was a total ham. He posed for photos, with expertise that would have gotten him the title of Morocco's next top model, which was hilariously surprising. He flirted with all of the girls, and gave us flowers. So cute.
Eventually and unwillingly we left, and headed to Chefchaouen. Once there we did a lot of shopping (the exchange rate is excellent) and had dinner at a real restaurant. I had couscous, salad, and for dessert (which we didn't get to choose) there was a type of thin yogurt, flavored with honey, almond, cinnamon and maybe some other spices. It was super super delicious.
On our last morning in Morocco, we met in the hostel lobby at 7:30 and went on a hike(ish) up a hill to see the landscape at sunrise. It was breathtaking, and a really good way to start bringing the trip to an end. We had 1st breakfast at the top, which was drinkable yogurt, dried figs (omg still have those) and almonds. The almonds in Morocco, by the way, were some of the best I've ever eaten. Super buttery and sweet. Second breakfast (so what if we act like hobbits on vacation) was in the town square, and it was orange juice, tea, and some type of bread with honey, butter, and jam.
Sadly, we had to end our journey shortly after, saying goodbye to Jess and crossing the border into Ceuta, a Spanish protectorate (?) in Morocco, then taking the Ferry to La Linea, and coming home by bus. So ended the trip. It was one of the most amazing places I've been, with some of the nicest people who tried to make me eat more than my Spanish host mom does. If anyone is thinking about travelling, I would definitely suggest a trip to Morocco.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Oops
So, I have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to get in a taxi to get on a bus to get on a plane to get on another bus to get to London. Right now, it's 9:38. And I know I promised a Morocco post, but I'm just too tired and my legs hurt (yeah, I'm sitting down, but the pressure of my legs on my feet really hurts right now) so I'm going to be posting about Morocco as soon as I have free time after Semana Santa. Or during Semana Santa, if I can get Claire to let me use the computers at the ICLC.
In the meantime, here's a picture of my EU class. Our prof wanted a group picture with us, so without further ado...
In the meantime, here's a picture of my EU class. Our prof wanted a group picture with us, so without further ado...
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Gibraltar
Before I get to Morocco, I'm going to do a separate post about Gibraltar. Sorry I'm so behind, but I've been busy with midterms and life and a lack of motivation to blog.
A few Fridays ago, I got up early and got on the bus with about 40 other IES students, and we took the 3 hour trip to Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British ... not colony, but sort of like that... in southern Spain
A few Fridays ago, I got up early and got on the bus with about 40 other IES students, and we took the 3 hour trip to Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British ... not colony, but sort of like that... in southern Spain
It's a mere 14 miles from Morocco, and you can see some of the mountains in Morocco, and according to legend, one of those mountains and the Rock of Gibraltar (Which is not, in fact, a rock. It's a mountain) are the pillars of Hercules, or something, which Hercules pushed apart to open the path to the end of the world.
Anyway.
Despite its vicinity to Andalusia, Gibraltar is ridiculously like England. Their currency is the Gibraltar Pound (like the Scottish Pound, it is legal tender in England but is regarded as sketchy there), and everything is English. The signs are in English, the people speak English (although they also speak Andalusian Spanish), the phone booths are English, they even have Zebra (rhymes with Debra) crossings. I loved it, because it reminded me of last spring and whatnot.
After crossing the border, we hopped on mini buses to take tours of the peninsula, including the Rock. We went to Europa Point, which I was told is the southernmost point of Europe, but I don't believe, because I've seen maps and Tarifa is definitely farther south.Our guide/driver, Robert, drove us through town, and through some tunnels in the Rock that were excavated quickly at the beginning of WWII. After Europa Point, we went up the Rock, from which there were some amazing views of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as the Spanish Coast, and, of course, Morocco.
The main attractions on the Rock that we went to were St. Michael's cave, which is the biggest cave in the Rock, and the apes. The cave is big enough to hold concerts in (although all the noise in such a confined and possible fragile space seems like a bad idea to me) and has some beautiful formations. And its gift shop had Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel, so that helped. The apes were sort of terrifying but also wonderful. Some of them were adorable, moms grooming babies and babies grooming other babies, and others were sort of menacing. I think one hissed at us once, and they would just pop up on the wall right next to you out of nowhere. They were used to people, thought, and mostly really chill, so I actually got close enough to one to take a picture with it. A few brave monkeys even jumped on people's heads or into the vans. Thank God neither my head nor my van were involved in that, because I would have freaked out.
The bus dropped us off near the main plaza... square?... where we had some free time. There was an optional hike up the Rock, but I was tired and really just wanted to find some Strongbow, so I opted out. I walked around the town a bit, bought cute postcards (seriously, one is adorable), bought some mini caramel eggs (oh how I've missed those), and had some Strongbow. We regrouped for dinner at a pub called The Clipper, where I got more Strongbow and some fish and chips. It was delicious.
The whole experience in Gibraltar was just beautiful, and made me miss London. Luckily I'll be there again in about 48 hours, for spring break.
and here are some pictures, from other people's albums. The link to my Gibraltar/Morocco album is in the next post.
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| delcious |
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| these things are just everywhere |
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| monkeys and me |
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| view of the Rock from La Linea, the Spanish border town |
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| me with Kassie and her very first Strongbow |
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Salobreña, monte sin leña, mar sin pescao, niños maleducaos, curas pocos y locos
Yesterday was el Dia de Andalucia (festival of Andalusia), which means that we didn't have class! Yay! It was sort of annoying, because we had class Monday (and hence couldn't just take a long weekend to travel), but I still made the best of it. I headed to Salobreña, a beach town about an hour outside of Granada, with some of the girls from IES.
My host mom had told me that Salobreña was the best beach to go to, and when she said that, my host sister said: Salobreña, monte sin leña, mar sin pescao, niños maleducaos, curas pocos y locos. Translation: mountain without trees, sea without fish, rude children, few and crazy priests. It sounds better when it rhymes. Anyways, it wasn't as crazy as all that, and I saw people fishing, so I guess there are fish.
It wasn't super warm or sunny. The sky was sort of hazy, but that actually turned out to be for the best, because I could feel my face burning about 5 minutes after the sun came out. I put on sunscreen after that, so the only difference is that my seasonal freckles are slightly visible.
Once again, I'm too lazy to upload all the photos to blogger, so here's the link to my facebook album.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Food
Today marks the end of my fourth week in Spain! I can't believe that I've already been here for nearly a month; it's seriously flown by. One of the things I've wanted to do on here (since day one) is a post about food. In London, food was pretty much the same, because I bought what I wanted and prepared it in the way I was accustomed too.Here, not so much. I have food in the house for dinner, but lunch and breakfast are done the Spanish way. To make things easier, I'm gonna break it down by meal.
Breakfast: Breakfast here generally consists of toast with jam (or nutella), chocolate milk or coffee, and fruit. Then, due to the glaring lack of protein in this meal, people generally have a coffee break around 11, and usually eat a pastry, too. I don't want to gain 100 pounds, so I bring a granola bar and some juice milk to IES with me.
Juice milk, by the way, is something that I was told about by a former study abroad student, and have fallen in love with. It's just a mix of fruit juice (the best is peach) and skim milk, in a juice box, but it's delicious. Like a smoothie, but less cold and thick.
Lunch: Lunch is the main meal here, and is eaten between 2 and 4. We eat at 2:30. It usually has more than one course, starting with soup or fruit salad, or both, then followed by the main meal and usually dessert. We've had about 10 different kinds of soup, from vegetable purees to chicken and rice to something I can only equate to motzah ball soup. The main course can be anything: pasta and chicken, something like a ratatouille with fried eggs (did I mention eggs aren't a breakfast food here?), croquetas, salad, clams, lasagna, twice baked potatoes, fish, you get the point. The strangest thing I've had for lunch was probably a type of fish that, although it was served in slices, still had scales and bones. Also, my paella had tentacles one day. Not even joking. Dessert can be anything: fruit, cookies, cake, custard, apple tart, whatever. My host mom really likes cooking, so we typically have something homemade. Today is was something like custard, but with a layer of cake on the outside, strawberries on the bottom, and a strawberry puree (that tasted like a whole fruit popsicle!) on top. It was so delicious that she and I both ate two pieces. We always have bread with lunch, and usually don't have drinks at the table, with the exception of my host dad, who drinks tinto de verano (a mix of red wine and lemon fanta).
Dinner: Dinner varies, and I'm going to split it into two categories: home and tapas.
Home: I'm technically supposed to provide my own dinner, but my host mom pretty much always makes something and then says that there's extra (even though I know she makes it for me) and asks if I want it. This can be tortilla (Spanish version of an omelet), crepes, or pizza. Dinner in Spain is a very light meal, basically enough to ensure that you won't be trying to sleep on an empty stomach. When I make my own dinner, it's usually a bowl of cereal, a piece of fruit, pistachios, and juice.
Tapas: The tradition of tapas originated in Granada, and it is pretty much the only place where you can get them for free. There have been several cases of unhappiness when my friends and I have traveled outside of Granada, with IES, and had to actually pay for our food. How it works is you order a drink (alcoholic or otherwise) and, depending on the restaurant, you can choose your tapa or they just bring it to you. In most cases, you can pay to get an extra tapa, but why would you do that when you get them for free with a drink? Tapas I've had so far include: tortilla de patatas (potato omelet), fried rice, chicken wings, serrano ham, croquetas, manchego cheese, noodless, spring rolls, dumplings (yes, we frequent a Chinese tapas bar), bread with toppings ( I think it was meat?), and probably some other stuff in there.
In the future, I'm probably going to post more about food, since it's something I'll be experiencing all semester. Until then, here are some pictures of what I've been eating.
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| tortilla de patatas |
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| my friend Danielle, and some croquetas |
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| potatoes |
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| juice milk. this stuff is legit |
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| more potatoes? also Danielle |
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| noodles and the world's best fried rice |
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| the cake my host mom made |
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| she wanted a picture after it was cut, too. Delicious. |
Monday, February 13, 2012
Ronda y Sevilla
At IES Granada, as there were with the ICLC, there are several fully subsidized trips to surrounding places in Andalucia. Our first was to the Alpujarra, and this weekend's was to Ronda and Sevilla, two cities within three hours of Granada.
In Ronda, we started at the historical Plaza de Toros (bullfighting ring), but didn't go in. Instead, we went to an overlook of the surrounding valley. The view was incredible. I'll post a link to the facebook album at the end of the post. Ronda was built near a very steep, impossible to scale, cliff in order to protect the city. Because of the height, you can see for miles. We were there on a nice, clear day, so it was particularly spectacular.
We then saw the Puente Viejo (old bridge), the support pillars of which apparently used to serve as a prison. If you ticked off your guards, they threw you out a window. Which is only, you know, slightly terrifying. Crossing the bridge, we made it to the old Arab Baths, which were not what I was expecting. Having been to the Roman Baths in England, I was thinking they'd be fairly open, with pools and airy spaces. I forgot to take into account the fact that the Roman Baths are heated naturally by hotspring, while the Arab Baths of Ronda were heated by fire. Therefore, they put a lot more effort into making sure as little heat as possible escaped from the heated rooms. Though there were skylights in the ceiling, for light and sanitation purposes, it was still dim and cave-like. I suppose the twilight would make it more relaxing.
After that, we went to La Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish King), where we saw some pretty gardens and went down into Las Minas. Las minas literally translates as 'the mines'; these tunnels consisted of 194 steps down, through the interior of the cliff, that led to a river below. It was definitely work the burning muscles and absolute terror at walking down slippery wet steps in near darkness, because I don't think I've ever seen water that blue. Maybe in a movie, but never in real life. I personally don't have a ton of pictures (and no group shots) because my friends, took a ton, and told me I could use theirs. Once they're online, I'll post them.
After lunch (eaten picnic style at the lookout) we hopped back on the bus and went to Sevilla. Our first afternoon there consisted of a ton of free time, so my friends Danielle and Dave and I explored a little then got dinner. That night there was a flamenco performance, and it was amazing. I had been to one before, when I was in Barcelona in 2008 (was it really so long ago?), but to be honest I don't remember much of it. This one, however, was amazing. The guitarist, the singer, and the dancers. Everything. The guitar is so intricately played, and the singing is raw and emotional. My favorite part by far was the dancing. Not only was it technically amazing, but the passion in the woman's face really made it spectacular. I mean, you can usually tell the emotional color of a song or dance, but this just burst through. I'm not sure if I was more impressed by the speed at which she was able to move her feet without breaking the rhythm, or by how passionate she was about the dance.
Saturday was just as exciting as Friday. Our first stop was Los Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, or the Royal Palace. When the Spanish royal family is in town, that's where they stay. Because I did a project on Spanish castles this fall, I already knew a few things about the Alcazar, like who originally built it, the architectural style, and the history of some of the areas and their names. One patio in particular, El Patio de Las Doncellas, stands out in my mind. Its name refers to the legend that the Moorish kings demanded 100 virgins each year as a tribute from the Christian kings of the Iberian Peninsula. It, like the palace, is gorgeous. We walked around almost the entire palace, and even saw some peacocks after getting accidentally separated from our group, because our leader didn't give us time to take pictures.
We also saw the Cathedral, which was built after the destruction of the Mosque that was there originally. The only remaining part of the Mosque is La Giralda (the tower). We climbed to the top (thankfully there were ramps, not stairs), and could see the entire city. Within the cathedral itself, we saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus, although one other church claims to have his body.
Below are 3 photos (2 from the trip) that are from some of my friends, but you can look at my facebook album, too.
In Ronda, we started at the historical Plaza de Toros (bullfighting ring), but didn't go in. Instead, we went to an overlook of the surrounding valley. The view was incredible. I'll post a link to the facebook album at the end of the post. Ronda was built near a very steep, impossible to scale, cliff in order to protect the city. Because of the height, you can see for miles. We were there on a nice, clear day, so it was particularly spectacular.
We then saw the Puente Viejo (old bridge), the support pillars of which apparently used to serve as a prison. If you ticked off your guards, they threw you out a window. Which is only, you know, slightly terrifying. Crossing the bridge, we made it to the old Arab Baths, which were not what I was expecting. Having been to the Roman Baths in England, I was thinking they'd be fairly open, with pools and airy spaces. I forgot to take into account the fact that the Roman Baths are heated naturally by hotspring, while the Arab Baths of Ronda were heated by fire. Therefore, they put a lot more effort into making sure as little heat as possible escaped from the heated rooms. Though there were skylights in the ceiling, for light and sanitation purposes, it was still dim and cave-like. I suppose the twilight would make it more relaxing.
After that, we went to La Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish King), where we saw some pretty gardens and went down into Las Minas. Las minas literally translates as 'the mines'; these tunnels consisted of 194 steps down, through the interior of the cliff, that led to a river below. It was definitely work the burning muscles and absolute terror at walking down slippery wet steps in near darkness, because I don't think I've ever seen water that blue. Maybe in a movie, but never in real life. I personally don't have a ton of pictures (and no group shots) because my friends, took a ton, and told me I could use theirs. Once they're online, I'll post them.
After lunch (eaten picnic style at the lookout) we hopped back on the bus and went to Sevilla. Our first afternoon there consisted of a ton of free time, so my friends Danielle and Dave and I explored a little then got dinner. That night there was a flamenco performance, and it was amazing. I had been to one before, when I was in Barcelona in 2008 (was it really so long ago?), but to be honest I don't remember much of it. This one, however, was amazing. The guitarist, the singer, and the dancers. Everything. The guitar is so intricately played, and the singing is raw and emotional. My favorite part by far was the dancing. Not only was it technically amazing, but the passion in the woman's face really made it spectacular. I mean, you can usually tell the emotional color of a song or dance, but this just burst through. I'm not sure if I was more impressed by the speed at which she was able to move her feet without breaking the rhythm, or by how passionate she was about the dance.
Saturday was just as exciting as Friday. Our first stop was Los Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, or the Royal Palace. When the Spanish royal family is in town, that's where they stay. Because I did a project on Spanish castles this fall, I already knew a few things about the Alcazar, like who originally built it, the architectural style, and the history of some of the areas and their names. One patio in particular, El Patio de Las Doncellas, stands out in my mind. Its name refers to the legend that the Moorish kings demanded 100 virgins each year as a tribute from the Christian kings of the Iberian Peninsula. It, like the palace, is gorgeous. We walked around almost the entire palace, and even saw some peacocks after getting accidentally separated from our group, because our leader didn't give us time to take pictures.
We also saw the Cathedral, which was built after the destruction of the Mosque that was there originally. The only remaining part of the Mosque is La Giralda (the tower). We climbed to the top (thankfully there were ramps, not stairs), and could see the entire city. Within the cathedral itself, we saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus, although one other church claims to have his body.
Below are 3 photos (2 from the trip) that are from some of my friends, but you can look at my facebook album, too.
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| This isn't from Sevilla. It's from Wednesday, when Danielle, Alicia (pictured) and I got chocolate y churros. |
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| Dave and I practicing our mapping skills |
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| Playing in the maze at the Alcazares |
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Facebook photos
So I realise that probably about half of the people who read this aren't on facebook, while the majority of my pictures are. You should be able to access the albums (even without a facebook) by clicking here . If you are one of the people who is facebook-less and tries this link, please comment and let me know whether it does, or doesn't work. I would greatly appreciate it :)
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