VIVA ESPANA!!!

So, I know it’s been a while since I’ve written but it’s been craaaazy busy here!! We docked in Cadiz, Spain on the 24th of June and everyone got up and watched the sunrise coming over the cathedral. That was amazing! The first day we stayed in Cadiz and a bunch of us went exploring and sightseeing in the city. There was so much to do but we ended up fitting most everything in. We ate lunch in the Plaza by the cathedral and this weird man with an portable piano/acordian thing came up to our table and we told him it was Heather’s birthday (which is kind of true because her birthday was June 20th) and he proceeded to sing her happy birthday with his instrument with a microphone to everyone at the plaza and it was HYSTERICAL! Hahahaha….Heather wanted to kill us all but it’s ok. She got over it. We also ran into a small but somewhat hilarious problem at lunch. We had an inner port lecturer, David Geiss, who told us all about what to order food/drink related when we got to Spain. Well, we all really wanted to get tapas and sangria the first day but when we got to the restaurant we saw that there was a sign for a “tapitas special” for 10 euros…hooray! Well tapas and tapitas are completely different. The five of us receive tiny little bowls of five different foods and we had to share this between all of us…and lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day in Spain. Then when we got the check we saw that our sangria was 12 euros…ridiculous. Lesson learned: always make sure to check prices and exactly WHAT you’re going to order before you sit down (but it was very funny…). After lunch we met up with more people from the ship and explored until 6 when we returned to have a “siesta” on the ship and got ready to go out and watch the US vs. Spain soccer game in the Plaza de Mina. That was a very interesting cultural experience. The Plaza was FILLED with people of every age and size when we got there. All the children were at the front of the crowd yelling at the television and running around. There were families conversing and laughing with each other and friends and I got yelled at a couple times from older men that were sitting behind me because I was in there line of vision. They take soccer very seriously. Then some of the CHILDREN started yelling and getting violent with the game when the US scored the first point, so I decided since I’m not an avid soccer fan, we should get a group to go to another restaurant bar and watch the rest of the game. That was much quieter and safer as an end result. Later that night we decided to out to the nightlife in Cadiz and we ended up getting a group of what was 30 people from Semester at Sea at one point. Well, I HATE groups that big because everyone has a different opinion and wants to do something different so it was impossible to get people together to do anything. We met some really nice girls that went to the University in Cadiz and we walked around the city with them for a bit. Our friend Caroline did the majority of talking for us during our time in Cadiz because she studied abroad in Spain and she was fluent. I tried out my 8th and 9th grade Spanish on them and that was really entertaining on both ends. We ended up having a great time. The next two days we went on a SAS overnight trip to Sevilla and Cordoba which was amazing! We saw the cathedrals, mosques, Jewish quarters, palaces, gardens and the night we stayed in Cordoba a group of us went to an outdoor concert in the botanical gardens there. It was beautiful. The band was Jewish with mostly stringed instruments and a flute. It was great because we were the only Americans there and it was only locals of Cordoba was it was a real cultural experience. The fourth day of Spain we got a group to go independently to Arcos, a town much like Greece with it’s whitewashed houses and hills. We found out the majority of everything closes down on Saturdays and since we went on a Saturday there was not much to do, but we had a fabulous time relaxing and talking with people anyway. It was nice not to be rushed and running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off for a day. ;) After we got back on the boat we have had two days at sea and one more day at sea and then we will be in ITALY!!! So excited!!! I will update you more as soon as I can!! LOVE YOU!!!! MISS YOU!!!!

Angie ☺