Córdoba-- Pretty but SO COLD

Went to Córdoba yesterday with my group as a field trip. We had to wake up at 7 a.m. and the bus ride was a long two-and-a-half hours, but I sat with Alyssa and we planned our trip to Paris!

So far there are definitely three of us going to Paris-- me, Alyssa and Alice. We lucked out because the week after Elly leaves is Semana Santa, meaning we have no class and will be able to stay a few extra days to tour the country!

Plans so far: we are flying from Sevilla to Paris on Friday, April 8 after class is out. We'll stay in a hostel in Paris (to be determined, but luckily a girl who stayed in my apartment before me left a really good book called "hostels in european cities" that tells us all about which hostels are good and which ones are not.) In Paris we will meet up with Elly and Caroline and see all the sights until Elly leaves on Monday. Then we will either take a train to Marseille and spend a day there, then go back to Paris and fly back to Sevilla (Alice really wants to see Marseille, but it's super expensive to fly from Marseille to Sevilla) OR we will go to Brussels, spend a day there and fly from Brussels to Sevilla (the cheapest option.)

I am also planning trips to Portugal (Lagos or Lisbon?) and to see Taylor Swift in Madrid-- more information to come!


Anyway, we got to Córdoba and it was SO COLD. (Actually it was only about 40 degrees, but that is cold to us.) Córdoba was a pretty little town. The main part of the trip was the tour of the mosque-cathedral, which was given by our professor, Fernando.

The mosque-cathedral was interesting. It started out as a pagan temple, then was converted into a mosque. After the Spanish reconquest, it became a Roman Catholic church and a cathedral was inserted into the building. Walking through it is bizarre. When you first come in, you are greeted by a big, open room filled with rows and rows of columns and archways in a red and white striped pattern. It looks exactly like a Muslim praying hall.


Then, suddenly, in the middle of this mosque you come to an elegant and elaborate cathedral.

Striped arches of the mosque and the elaborately decorated cathedral together

Me and Alex in front of some of the arches

After the tour of the mosque-cathedral we walked through the old Jewish quarters of town, which were a lot like Santa Cruz, the Jewish quarters of Sevilla-- very narrow streets with flowers overflowing from balconies. We went into the synagogue, which was a very small building compared to the huge cathedral-mosque.

After the tour ended I went with some friends to Oh-la-la!, a pizzeria WITH HEAT. We had churros and coffee and hot dogs.

Overall a good trip, though I wish it hadn't been as cold and we could have explored the city some more!


Last night we tried to go out, but it was a total bust because we were a huge group of Americans and none of the discotecas would let us in! We ended up eating late-night Mexican food!

Then this morning I went to mass in the Cathedral in Sevilla. Yes, that's right, THE cathedral. It was pretty awesome. Even though it was in Spanish, I could at least tell which stories they were reading from the Bible and which part of the litergy they were doing.

THIS is where we had mass

Other than this morning, not much has been going on today. Cee Cee called me last night and left a message telling me to call her back, and I found out through facebook that SHE IS ENGAGED. I have been trying to call her all day but she hasn't been answering.

That's about it for now. More later---