back home, but with a heavy heart.

So we’re finally back home in Salamanca now, after traveling for about a week and a half, we just got back from a four city tour of Andalucía on Monday, which was really great, but I’m sure glad to be back. Though knowing about all that has occurred in Virginia these past few days has made me resent Salamanca just a little bit, as I would prefer to be in the States during this time.

Just a note--please excuse me as you read, because I’m sure that at times it may seem like I have a disregard for all that has passed this week with my use of sarcasm or humor, but I wrote most of this entry before knowing.

We got back from Dublin on a Tuesday and had one day in Salamanca before leaving for Andalucía on Thursday. It was my last day with Hannah so we hung out most of the afternoon and evening. It was a bit rainy, but in the early evening, it cleared up and we walked around the city one last time. We went to this garden near the cathedral that neither of us had been to. It was really beautiful, a good view of the city and also the cathedral.

view of the cathedral from the garden.


We just hung around there for a while and talked, till it got too cold to just sit. Then we stopped at a café for coffee and then went back. I made dinner for her and her roommates that evening and we just hung around, Hannah, Sophie, Mike and me and had one last hurrah. Unfortunatley Matthieu was still at home in Pau, France and I'm not really sure where Alex was that night. It would have been cool for us all to be together one last time.

hannah, sophie, mike and me.

Thursday morning we left early for Andalucía and got to Granada early afternoon. We had a few hours to eat and rest and then we headed into the city and visited the Capilla Real, where the bodies of Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, as well as their daughter Juana “La Loca” and her husband Felipe. We were going to go watch the sunset, but it was cloudy and rainy, so we were just given free time to walk around the city and do whatever. We wandered a bit, I bought a killer pair of earrings and then we headed back home right as the rain was starting to pour. We got soaked. And it was magnificent.

emily, kate, katie and katie in the rain.

We had dinner in the hotel and just hung around the rest of the night.

katie, me and lisa at dinner.

Friday morning we got up and then went to the Cathedral of Granada. Its construction began in 1521 and is actually attached to the Capilla Real. It too was beautiful, but to be honest, I’m getting a little burned out on Cathedrals. It’s hard to keep them all straight now; I think we’ve seen about 65 of them so far.

part of the cathedral.

We had some free time and then after that we went to La Alhambra, basically what Granada is known for. It’s an old Muslim Palace/fortress/independent city that was constructed in the 11^th century and it is where the Muslim king lived. It is made up of three parts, the Palacios Nazaríes, the gardens of the Generalife, which is the summer palace, and the Alcazaba, which is the outside, military part. Id been here before and have seen it all, but it was still cool to go there again. It’s a beautiful, beautiful place, the Generalife is just a huge garden with a few buildings, and the Palace is just glorious, so much decoration-tiles and carved and painted plaster walls. We did get to climb up the tower of the Alcazaba, which I didn’t do before and that was really cool. It gave you a great view of Granada.

garden of the generalife


beautiful forsythia (?)--reminded me of you elizabeth.


part of the palacio nazari


juliet and me at la alhambra.


That evening we got all dressed up and went to see a Flamenco show in Albacín, an old Moorish barrio of Granada. We walked through part of the city before the show and the streets were narrow and beautiful, it kind of reminded me of Toledo. The show was very cool; it was in this tavern which looked like a cave in this really neat part of town. The show was pretty sweet, I was all the way in the back row, so I couldn’t see terribly well, but it was an experience. The music and singing were amazing, I loved that, and the dancing was just very cool to watch.

maggie and i before the show.


flamenco dancers

Saturday we got up and set out for Córdoba. When we got there, we were in for quite a treat--it was sunny and warm!! In Granada it had been rainy and cold, so this was a pretty great thing. So we visited the Mezquita of Córdoba. This place was amazing. It was originally a Muslim Mezquita, but after the Muslims were kicked out of Spain in 1492, part of the Mezquita was turned in to a Christian Cathedral. In the Mezquita is the Mihrab, the wall which faces in the direction of Mecca and amplifies the words of the prayer leader. When originally constructed, the design would have naturally sent worshipers to the Mihrab, but after the additions in 1523, the Christian cathedral is the center of the building. While it’s a terrible shame that part of the Mezquita, a very unique and beautifully created piece of architecture, was destroyed and a church built instead, it is pretty cool that there were two styles of architecture and two places of worship in one. This place of worship is known for its double arcs, and I’m pretty sure that it’s the only mosque in Spain that has them. They are made of alternating brick and stone, so they have this neat striped look

arcs in the mezquita.


stained glass in cathedral part.

When that was over, we headed to Sevilla and went to the hotel. There was a great lawn by the pool at our hotel, so some of us just sat out in the sun until the sun set and read and wrote. It was great to finally have warm and sunny weather. Good for the soul. We all cleaned up and ate dinner in the hotel and then most of us just stayed in and hung out. Some people went into the city, but our hotel was terribly far we hadn’t been in the city at all yet, so some of us just didn’t want to have to take a taxi and then have no idea what to do.

Sunday we got up and went to visit the Reales Alcázares, a palace with beautiful gardens that the leaders of Sevilla have lived in for hundreds of years. In the Reales Alcázares is a chapel, the Patio de las Doncellas, and many private rooms for the rulers. In this palace, there were a lot of the same types of decorations as in La Alhambra. Even though it was a palace for Christian kings, there’s still so much Muslim influence.

walls inside the alcazar.


gardens of patio de las doncellas

After that we had free time for lunch. Laura, Mike and I just went to a park with some fountains and just sat in the sun for a while. It was perfect. Well, nearly, except for the lack of grass. They don’t have grass in Spain, if I didn’t tell you. Or at least if they do have it, you’re not allowed to get on it. So we just had to sit on this brick wall thing near the fountain.

park in sevilla

After that, it was yet again, time for another Cathedral. But this was a little different, a little more interesting. It’s the largest Gothic cathedral in Spain, as well as Europe. Its construction began in 1402 and completed just 104 years later. Inside is a monument to Christopher Columbus, and some of his remains also are here. His remains and also the remains of someone else, as DNA tests done by scientists at Salamanca have actually proven. Kind of funny, huh? We got to climb up the Minaret of the cathedral too and we had a great view of Sevilla. Climbing up towers of old cathedrals has got to be one of the coolest things we’re doing here.

view of sevilla from the minaret.


mike, stacy, me and will at the top.

We had all afternoon free on Sunday, and most of the group actually went to a bull fight. But you couldn’t’ pay Laura and I to go to one of those, so we just went back to the hotel and sat outside and read our Spanish novel ‘Niebla’ that we have to read for Cine on the lawn and later took baths and relaxed. It was so nice.

Monday morning we got up early and headed out of Seville. We stopped in a town called

Mérida, which is in La Comunidad de Extremadura, on the way back to Salamanca. This was the old capital of the Roman province of Lusitania and it has the most Roman remains in all Spain. Here we saw an old Roman amphitheater and theater. This was so cool. There was some sort of festival going on this week with students at local schools, so there were all these elementary students at the teatro when we were there.

roman teatro


arcs on the entrance to the anfiteatro


spanish kiddies!


the kids were putting on a play of pandora's box.

So we returned to Salamanca Monday evening, and it was so very good to be back home, but when we got back, we heard the news about the shooting at Virginia Tech. It’s just a terrible thing that’s happened, in all aspects, in the fact that lives of young people were taken and that the young man who did all this must have been in such pain to commit this crime and then take his own life. The whole situation is just heartbreaking. It’s been hard to know what to make of it all, being so far away and not feeling like we really know all that’s going on. It’s been on the news over and over again and the images are just horrible, as Spain’s media seems to be much less censored than the US. It’s very difficult being here, not feeling like we can do anything at all. I wish I could see my friends and just hold them. But truly, I think it’s best this way, because it’s good to realize in situations such as this, we as humans, really can’t do anything at all. We must just give it all up to God and trust Him to lead us through.

It’s been a quiet week so far, for obvious reasons, and I’ve been fortunate to just be able to take it easy, be studious, and spend time with people I care about. Our friends and families have rallied around us, knowing that though we may not be directly affected by this tragedy, we all feel the burden of the pain of our peers. It’s just so hard to make sense of all this, I’m just praying for clarity in understanding the gravity of what has happened and how to appropriately respond.

That’s all for now, I love you all. And I really mean it.