Visit to Sevilla's Cathedral!

Buenas días a todos!

So today for my Art of Spain class we had to meet in the Cathedral - how awesome! Free entrance and all, can't beat that! Judy, our professor gave us our own personal tour of course pointing out all the fabulous art and architecture that the Cathedral contains. She is such a wonderful woman, I am so lucky to be in her class and gain 10x more knowledge about Sevilla then I would have ever known without her!

I walk by the Cathedral almost everyday when I'm out by the University, or on the weekends it's become something more of the "norm" to me, and everyday site, but this visit helped me realize that it's a privilege that I am able to walk by it everyday and just how much it means to Sevilla and Sevilla's history! From the outside the Cathedral is obviously 3 things - huge, beautiful, and old. But, there is SO much more then that and during our trip here I learned that!

The Cathedral of Sevilla us officially the Largest Cathedral of the World and is even proclaimed in the Guinness Book of World Records!! The Cathedral is another example of a mix of all different types of art and architecture - what people here like to call it a "gazpacho" blending of various cultures! 

Check it out - Cathedral so official!

 Video of inside the Cathedral! 

Before the Cathedral was a Cathedral, it was a Mosque made by the Muslims - but an earthquake came and destroyed most of the Arabic structure, thus the building of a Cathedral! It isn't only used for worshipping, but a place of worship and celebration! It is where Fedinand and Isabel, Christopher Columbus and other "New World" explores came to  worship! 

Whats even cooler about the Cathedral is that inside is Christopher Columbus' tomb!!! We got to see it! Super cool, his whole body isn't inside there but they believe that pieces of his bones are inside the tomb. 

Christopher Columbus' Tomb!!! AH

Right next to the Cathedral is the "Giralda" Tower (The Bell Tower!) Similar to the Cathedral, before it was the Cathedral - some of the Giralda was destroyed. The part that was left standing is known as the "minaret." 

La Giralda!

The Giralda is loved by everyone in Sevilla and one of Sevilla's most precious monuments, or at least that's my take on it! As the bells ring - the "duende," spirit of Sevilla roars loudly !!!!

When we finished our tour we were able to climb up to the top of the Giralda tower! Now, I'm not kidding it's a solid 15 minute hike all the way up to the top - thankfully it was a ramp and not stairs. I was EXHAUSTED!! Walking up, but it was definitely worth it. The view was absolutely stunning, and they had windows every couple ramp worths to take a view at all different heights. 

View of Sevilla from the top!!!! IN LOVE!

Where I walk for school everyday.. Just a different angle, haha!

 The beautiful Cathedral itself! The architecture is gorgeous 

Video from the view at the top :) 

My breath was completely taken away when we reached the top - an incredible ariel view of Sevilla - I could see "La Plaza de Toros" "La Plaza de Espana" and so much more from up there - it just put it into perspective just how high we were! Not to mention I got to see the intricate details of the Cathedral being up so high and close. I got to hear the bells ring from up there. It had to be another one of my favorite days here in Sevilla. 

A city full of love and life - waiting and wanting to be discovered by those whom have not traveled it.

That's all I got to say about that :) 

'Ta Luego,
Ayla 

London Bound!!!!

YAY!!!! 

I MADE IT TO LONDON!!!! 

I have been waiting for this trip for forever! I finally went to London and got to visit two of close friends back at school in NJ! How cool is that - just studying abroad and meeting up with friends for the weekend! What luck I have and it was quite an amazing and unforgettable weekend! :)

When I first arrived in London my first thought was "It's freezing!" But, that's also because I've been living in Spain where it's 90 degrees or higher literally every single day hahaha, and talk about culture shock but everything was in ENGLISH!!!!! Oh my goodness, haha that was definitely weird. On the plane, airport, if I had a question it was english - it was like word vomit I was overwhelmed! Oh well.. Not to mention that they actually do drive on the wrong side of the road.. it's real!!

Wrong side!!!! 

Anywhos, I stayed with Erin and Rachel at their school - Regents College! It was beautiful!!!

We had a fun filled weekend with lots of site seeing and excisions. The first day I was there on Friday (since I got there really late Thursday night.) We went off to the "Tower of London" and we did a tour inside the tower. It was awesome! Loved it!! They had all different rooms and parts - one of my favorite rooms was the "Crown of Jewels," which is where they had all the Royal jewels for the ceremonies! The day was rainy, but it didn't 'rain on our parade' haha - see what I did there? ;-) I also saw the "Tower Bridge" while we were over there! 

Erin, Rachel, and I at the Tower of London :) 

Tower Bridge!!! 

The Crown of Jewels! "God save the Queen!"

Inside the Tower of London! 

It was really easy to get to and from the Tower of London -we just took the tube, which was quite easy!!! The tube is London's underground and it's color coded by which line to take - very easy, and very accessible! Totally digging it! You get a card that you put money on and use it to swipe into the underground every time and it's called an "Oyster card." Later that night we went out to a bowling event with the school, which was super fun! Bowling alleys in London are actually bowling alleys to tricks to it! 

On Saturday we went out all day and explored most of the city! We went down by the river the 'Thames' and I got to see the London Eye, Big Ben and the Palace/Parliament, double decker red bus, London bridge, and Tower bridge again!!! 

Me in front of the London Eye!

The London Eye was sooo cool, it's HUGE! We didn't go up in it - but that just means I'll have to come back to do it, which I don't mind. I remember coming out of the underground and seeing Big Ben for the first time and was shocked, completely stunned. I literally thought to myself, "Woe.. this is it" it's also HUGE! Hahahaha, it was sick to see in person and completely beautiful surrounded by Parliament! 

Big Ben is that you?! 

One of the coolest things I learned about London is that there is always something going on - walking in the street and theres a performance, someone dressed up, singing - who knows what but the city of London was like a walking show. I fell in love with the city so quickly! While we were walking down by the 'Thames' there were tons and tons of street performances, shopping booths, people dressed up all wild, and then we found it out it was "Malaysia Week 2012" WOOHOO!! Hahahaha, so we got to watch all the cool stuff as we walked around - and it was a sunny beautiful day out, so no umbrellas needed! We lucked out :)

One of the acts we got to see down by the River! Crazy cool!

Ouch.. 

Gotta love the crazies in London!

Dancing and singing performance in honor of Malaysia week!

After walking down by the Thames we continued to find this ancient pirate ship that is an original used way back when in history! It has obvisiouly been restored from the outside with the new elaborate paint colors, but it was the original ship from the "arrrrrrrgggh" days!

Erin and I in front of the pirate ship!

We also saw this beer race contest - there were groups of friends on this like table with wheels drinking beer and pedaling and it was a contest I guess, and while competing you were drinking hahaha - but they were in the streets with CARS! Another thing you'd only see in London! Gotta love it!

Another night out in London and we explored this bar/club place called "The Purple Monkey"  it was interesting to say the least, but I had fun! :) OMG! And before we got there we took the bus (which are all double decker.. so cool) there were two guys fighting - literally hitting each other and yelling and everyone was calm and all a sudden you hear the bus call out "This bus is under attack please call 999" Like what, I was literally dying. The bus is being attacked? THAT AIN'T GONNA HELP NO ONE!!!! 

Fun Facts: 

The money in London is pounds! and the cents are pents

Line = The Q

Bathrooms = Loo, Toilets

Underground = Tube 

Sunday morning rain is falling.. NOT! Sunshine again! Woohoo!! :) We didn't do too much but walk around Regrets and explored the rose gardens, and I got to shop around to buy some souvenirs, and OF COURSE take my "I'm a tourist" photo in a telephone booth.. which let me tell you what I found out - those are NOT used to make any kind of phone calls, unless it's a late night booty call or the closest bathroom! Hahaha YUCK! 

Sadly I had to make my way back to the airport though :( Back to the tube I go, and the line I was suppose to take was closed but me and my smart-ness figured out an alternate route, haha thank goodness for English in this scenario!!

Had an INCREDIBLE time in London, loved everything I  got to see, spend quality time with two fabulous friends of mine, and memories that'll last a life time! And most of all it was so nice to have a piece of home so close to me <3 Shout out to Erin and Rachel for being the best hosts ever!!!

Rachel, Erin, and I in the Rose Gardens :)

Adios! 

Ayla 

Just Another Entry!

Happy Monday!! 

Boy oh boy am I exhausted from my Trip to London haha - you know there's even a 1 hour time difference between London and Spain? I didn't know until I got there and was extremely confused.. anyways, just figured I'd say hello and give ya some more fun facts about Spain today!!

-Motor bikes are used a lot here and girls drive them!! You go girlfriends!!!
-Electrial voltage is different here you need a converter 
-They write money like 10,00 with commas as opposed to 10.00
-Tipping isn't necessary!
-Mailmen/women here are dressed in yellow shirts and walk around with a cart to deliver mail, definitely different!
-They don't know what Wendys is :( How terrible... broke my heart a little bit!
-NO 8 DO is Sevillas slogan, motto of Sevilla!!!! <3 
-They have the same show as "The Voice" here just called "La Voz"
-They buy milk in cardboard carton fulls - not day by day with expiration it's really different haha it doesn't need to be refrigerated until it's open 
-La Plaza de Espana here in Sevilla was used in films Star Wars and The Dictator!!! 

Check it out: Star Wars Scene Plaza de Espana 

 The Dictator Scene Plaza de Espana

-Professors here dress down - like in button downs, not even that are wrinkled with jeans and flip flop shoes hahahaha imagine that in the states.. not
- WC stands for Water Closet on the bathroom doors!
-When women are engaged they wear their wedding finger on their right hand, not left! 
-Use kilometers not miles to talk about distance
-Some places they charge you 20 centimos to use bathrooms.. WACK!
-In the streets there are people like trying to sell you stuff while you're stuck at a red light... uh ok ok
- Sietas = Nap - AKA best part of the day, the entire city shuts down from like 2-5 all stores are closed!
- Everythings in military time! 23:00 !!! = 11 PM!
- Gas for cars is measured by liters not gallons!

That's all I got for now :) 

OH! And a special 21st birthday shout out to my bestest friend Sofia! Missing you so much BIG!! Hope you have a wonderful day and celebrations that follow!!!!

Love and miss you so so much!

Adio,
Ayla 

Off to Córdoba!

Hello all!!

Despite the rain.. Spain always manages to shine brighter then the sun. Today we had a field trip to Córdoba, another city in Southern Spain (Anadulcia) about 1 1/2 away from Sevilla!



Roman Bridge we walked over to get to the Mezquita!! 

Here we got to visit the "Mezquita," (Mosque) Sinagoga, and the Alcazar! Out of everything we visited, my favorite was the Mezquita and I'll tell you why!

So okay - the reason I fell in LOVE with the Mezquita here in Córdoba was because - well it's not just a Mosque.. there's a Cathedral inside the Mosque. Okay okay, now I know what you're thinking -- WHAAAT! How can you have a mosque and cathedral in one? Well, you can!!!!! Wait, but before we entered we were out by the gardens and there was water falling off from the roof - and since it was raining it was actually "holy water" haha coming from the prayer grounds itself, see what we did there. Too funny (See picture below!!)



La "Mezquita" is HUGE, literally enormous! Imagine how huge a cathedral is.. and now imagine a cathedral inside of a mosque. It was crazy, the first room you walked into was the prayer room of the muslims and there were over 800 red and white double arches that completely took my breath away. We had been learning about it in school and seen photos of it, especially in my art class - but now I got to see it in person for myself. 
The floor of the mezquita was made in a special direction - falling parallel to other mosques that were built before this one, and also the aisles in the prayer room were arranged to the direction in which muslims pray! The "mihrab" is the sacred place where they would lead the prayer. This part of the mosque was decorated beautifully with mosaics!

Mosaics in the Mirhab 

Red and White Arches!!

Vide of the main prayer room with red and white arches!! 

 Before I knew, we were walking.. walking.. walking.. and BOOM! BAM! There was the cathedral right there, holy smokes it's was stunning!!!! I don't think words could do the cathedral justice - the architecture of each crevice, the beautiful colors, stained glass windows.. so I'll just post a video so you can take a look for yourself and see what words you come up with! Because I guarantee you'll be speechless too! Fun fact though --the cathedral is still used actively today - it has mass every morning 9:00-10:00 AM! (See picture below!)

After the Meqzuita we went to the Sinagoa, and the Sinagoga here is one of three ancient synagogues existing in Spain.. it was really cool because inside you saw all 3 different distinct religious traces - christians, muslims, and jews (mudejar!) When you walked into the room the first wall was completely Arabic with their intricate designs, to the right there was a menorah from when the jews were there, and then if you turned left there was a cross for when the Christians came and took over! It is now 

only used as a museum but it was crazy to literally walk in and see traces of all 3 religions in 1 building that was built in 1315!!!!

Video of the Cathedral in La Mezquita!! 

Me in the Cathedral! 

The Alcazar here was cool, but different then the one in Sevilla - it wasn't as big, but it did show just the mudejar style of all 3 different religions, it had the huge beautiful gardens as well! I'm finally catching on to it -- the three religions existing in Spain was a a big deal!! Hahaha, go schooling and education.. womp womp ;-) 

Anywhos, after we finished all the historical stuff we got to have free time and explore around. It was still rainy, but we made the best of it - Me, Dylan, Maile, Alan, and Mish decided to have a photoshoot with our umbrellas in pretty little ally ways.. hahaha, why not! But, we also walked around into a buncha store and I bought this beautiful pair of silver earrings - a type of silver that is very common and typical found here in Cordoba! So now I'll have a piece of Córdoba here with me forever! 




Another picture of Cathedral inside the Mosque!


It was a great day, filled with lots of information, but all interesting and we had a really cool tour guide hahaha, I love when they know english but always have a funny cute little accent, it makes me giggle.. Oh well! 

(Right: Me and Dylan inside the gardens of the Alcazar) 

Me encanta Córdoba! No puede esperar hasta que nos encontremos otra vez!

Photoshoot time!

 The streets of Cordoba! 

That's it for now! 

Adios,

Ayla  

Let's play some FUTBOL!!

It's crazy how you can have a perception of things your entire life, and then just one event can change it. Having always played soccer and loving the sport - I have always wanted to go to a real game and I finally got the opportunity!

There are two futbol teams here in Sevilla - Betis and Sevilla F.C (Futbol Club.) I had the privilege of going to watch a Sevilla F.C game!!!!!!! It was at the 'Stadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan' stadium! 

Me in front of the Stadium! 

It was a special charity fundraiser game called "Champions for Africa" and all proceeds went towards that organization, so the tickets weren't too expensive and we got banging seats! Talk about a win-win :)

I bought myself a "Espana" scarf, which is very common at games here everyone holds them up and waves them around (not actually wearing them as a scarf) Hahahaha, I used it for both!! Anyways, like I said it's crazy to always think of something one way and then it change. I always knew stadiums were huge and had a zillion crazy drunk fans everywhere - but I finally got to experience it. 

Sevilla players warming up! 

Action shots - corner kick! 

Well anyways, back to how I felt.. hehe when I walked into the stadium and saw everything right there in front of me I was definitely on a high - floating on cloud 9. It was HUGE, it was INSANE, it was BEAUTIFUL, and most of all it was FUTBOL !!!!! 

I was speechelss. FINALLY watching a european soccer game it was absolutely tremendous!! I wish I could go to one every week hahahahaha. Since it was a charity game though they had a ceremony and speech celebrating the cause, which was nice and I understood a majority!! (Yay spanish!)

I went with a couple friends from our program and we certainty had a blast. Chiming in on the chants when we understood what they were saying and just screaming like lunatics... I definitely lost my voice after the game!

End of game! 

Just hanging at Sevillas futbol stadium!

Some gals at the game :) 

VAMOS SEVILLA!!!!!!!!!!!

So when you come to Spain.. make sure you go to a game, no exceptions you will regret it if you don't!!!!!! Well, what a good day it was :)

Hasta luego,

Ayla