Time is Running Out: Last Week in Southern Spain

I have been so busy this week and have struggled to write a blog. Then I wrote it and it got deleted, so here comes my very long second-to-last blog post. I apologize (or are you excited?) in advance.

Sunday, we all went to the town of Peñafiel in the province for Valladolid for a touring of castle and (more importantly) a wine tasting to commemorate our final day in Castilla y León.

My friend Bri and I in front of the view from the castle.

 It was quite the pretentious experience, and I really can't take it seriously. There were so many rules. It just seems silly. But to tell my wine tasting experience, I will be using a few gifs from the most notable wine drunk, Kathy Lee Gifford.

So due to my underage status in the USA and my constant semi-antisocial tendencies, I know nothing about wine except that it's either red or white and sweet or dry. So when we first sat down, he showed us how we should hold the glass, and it's most definitely the last way I would ever consider holding any glass.

I usually hold it something like this (in a much smaller proportion, might I add):

But they wanted us to hold it with 3 fingers at the stem, which is obviously going to end in a wine-stained clothing for me. I know myself better than to delicately hold a glass of liquid, so I obviously didn't listen to that instruction. I just held it how I wanted to and toasted to my devious actions.

Besides the abundance of pretentiousness, there weren't too many exciting stories from the wine tasting. I was hoping that someone would do something embarrassing, but there was no such luck. However, we all got a little bit of a wine buzz. So when we got to the bus, we got to our seats and said:

So Sunday was our last night in Salamanca. It was sad to leave host parents that were so hospitable for the 4 weeks we spent there. They really couldn't have given us a better authentic Spanish experience and I am so grateful for that they were so welcoming to my roommates and I.

After a crazy last night in Salamanca, we embarked for southern Spain for a week of touristing on Monday morning. And the further South we went, the hotter it got. The weather was 100 degrees most of the week, which is a lot different than the occasionally mild weather we encountered in Salamanca. We got off the bus in Sevilla yelling

 The problem with southern Spain is that a lot of the steps and sidewalks are made of marble, which is just a giant invitation for me to embarrass myself. Our first stop in Sevilla was a beautiful palace with a lot of Arabic influence. (Fun fact: Andalucía has a lot of Arabic influence because Muslims used to rule over the Iberic peninsula back in the day, and southern Spain was where they were most prominent.) In this palace, I was walking down marble steps when I took quite the fall down the entire staircase. 

Most of my friends here know about my tendency to fall and they usually laugh, but this fall was so bad that my friend Mark asked if I was ok (and then of course he laughed cause who wouldn't.) Needless to say, it was a moment that bruised me both physically and emotionally cause ya know it's kind of embarrassing to fall in front of a bunch of people.

Now I really love Sevilla. It's one of my favorite cities that we have visited. But it's also extremely large and very confusing because it's filled with tiny street/alley things. On Tuesday, my friend Mary and I stopped to listen to some street performers on the way back to the hotel from lunch. But when we turned around to catch up to the group, they were gone. We weren't entirely sure where we were, but we headed in the general direction of the hotel and hoped we would stumble upon the hotel.

But then we got lost for 2 hours. We really had no idea where we were, but we kept thinking that we recognized certain landmarks. But we didn't. We walked three giant circles around Sevilla in 100 degree weather for an hour and 45 minutes until I realized that I could turn on my data and use my Google Maps on my phone. 

Oops. It was a dumb move by me to forget that very important task on my phone. But oh well, I really didn't care. I had so much fun exploring the city and seeing everything.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday night in Granada and Thursday in Córdoba touring cathedrals and castles and palaces. They were all so beautiful. Thursday night, we went to watch a flamenco dance, which was so incredible to watch, and then we went to Clinton overlook (yes, as in Bill and Hill), which overlooked La Alhambra, the giant palace in Granada. It was breathtaking.

My friend Mary and I in front of Clinton's Overlook.

***DISCLAIMER: SENTIMENTAL MOMENT:

I'm currently writing this post on the bus as we travel back to Madrid so we can catch our flight tomorrow morning. And as I sit here watching everyone chat and interact, I am astonished by how close we have all become in 6 short weeks. Before this trip, I didn't really know anyone on this trip. Now, I'm convinced I have made some great friends and that there will be many more memories to come. This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I will be sad to see it end. Even though we will hang out when we get back to Duquesne, saying goodbye to this group and this experience is going to be rough.

But I am so excited to come back to the USA, land of free water and Netflix (and my loved ones.) Tomorrow, I hope to do one more farewell blog.

Adios for now, amigos!

P.S. My "friends" that I just mentioned above just tricked me into eating potpourri because they told me it was a chip. Just call me Liz Lemon. That's all.