Flamenco class!

On Friday we got our very own flamenco lesson! Carin, my roommate who was here last semester, said that when she went last semester the teacher was really intense and she didn't have a good time at the lesson so I didn't know what to expect.

We did the lesson in two groups because the cave (yes cave, all good flamenco is done in a cave) was too small for us all. The whole experience ended up being a lot of fun. Some of us were just so terrible that we couldn't stop laughing which got us death stares from our teacher (all in good fun). He just taught us some simple moves that we put together into a mini routine. I really liked it. I kind of wish I could take actual classes like Tess but I'm not quite willing to spend that kind of money.

After our lesson we went and got tapas together and came back for the actual show. It was more extravagant than the show I was with my parents and a little less serious. They had multiple dancers and half way through switched with a different group of performers. At the end the dancer's grabbed people from the crow to get up and dance with them. It was a blast!

The guys getting into it, especially Sam

Our teacher attempting to teach Kelsey how to move her hips

Parent's weekend!

Mom and dad made the trek all the way to southern Spain to visit me this past weekend!

They got here Thursday evening and I brought them out for tapas on their first real Spanish experience. The next day we drove to the coastal town of Motril. We ate a great restaurant right on the beach and then drove over to Salobreña (which is just one big hill of tiny, winding streets). The views were beautiful and we went to the old Arabic fort that is on top of the city.

The next day we drove to Málaga and after a very stressful drive into town we found beautiful city center. We found a Roman theater, cute churches and restaurants, and great shopping. We went to the Picasso Museum there (Picasso is from Málaga) and it was really great. It was rather small but had really quality paintings and you didn't feel overwhelmed when you were done. After some shopping we decided to drive back to Motril for the night.

The next morning we explored the beaches on the coast some more before heading back to Granada. I took Mom for some more shopping in the Arabic shops around the cathedral and walked around the Albaicin a bit and then later that night we went to a flamenco show! It was very intense and passionate and so so good. Everyone really enjoyed it!

The next day we headed up to the Alhambra. We toured the Generalife and Alcazaba. It was really nice to take our time going through the gardens because when I first went with my program we were kind of rushed. This was my mom's favorite part of the trip, there were lots of flowers for her to gush over! After the Alhambra we went back to my place for lunch. It was a little surreal to have lunch with my parents and Adela but pretty cool too. Everyone has different language abilities which made everything even more interesting (Adela: Spanish, tiny bit of English, Me: English & Spanish, Dad: English & Spanish, Mom: English, tiny bit of Spanish). Even though my mom and Adela don't speak the same language they got along great and bonded and were cute.

That night I took the parents out for chocolate con churros! We went to the cafe that Adela first took me on my first night and I really do think that they are the best in town. Erika, Ruth and Katie also joined us which was nice for them to meet my friends here. The next morning I actually went to class and met them during my break for coffee. We said our goodbyes for the next few months but it was easier saying goodbye than it was the first time because this time we all know I'm doing great here in Spain! 

Alhambra

 The Alhambra is Granada's most famous monument and is the main reason most people come here. It was first build around 900 AD as a fortress and later became a palace for Moorish ad later Catholic royalty. It was the last Moorish strong hold in Spain, held by the Arabs until 1942. It's a huge citadel complex filled with gardens, palaces and beautiful views of the city. 

There is a lot of the Alhambra that is open to the public so it is a great place just to go sit or walk around the gardens. I've toured the Alhambra twice so far, both days were cloudy and a bit rainy so I can't wait to go back to see everything in the spring when all the gardens are in full boom.

Granada seen from the Alhambra

The Alcazaba, the fortress section of the Alhambra

All the walls are detailed with Arabic designs

The Alhambra at night

Palacio de Carlos V, built after the Cathoic monarchs took over

The dome of the Sultana's bedroom

Patio de los leones.

Protest

As we all know the financial crisis has reached well out of the United States and one of the hardest hit European countries has been Spain. Like most of Europe, Spain has a socialist government but under these hard times the government has had to make huge cuts to public programs. With the people of Spain still pay huge taxes, but getting less in return, there have been a rise in protests across the country.

Last week Tess, Ruth and I went to go check out one that was happening in Granada. Here is a video I took of the demonstration.


Here is an article (in Spanish) about the demonstration which also took place in 80 cities across Spain on the same day.

The group who put together the demonstrations is called Marea Ciudadana who describe themselves as a group of "various professional sectors who fight for the rights of working people, for the public goods and services, and against harmful and antisocial policy of ruling elites who suffer". It was very peaceful with lots of people there with their families, singing, and playing music!

ROMA (Pantheon, Vatican Crashing)

Day 3 of our Roman adventure we spent exploring all of the smaller monuments around the city.

We started out by walking back to Trajan's Market and looking around there and stopping at the Piazza Venezia which is this huge monument that has the Roman Unknown Soldier. Then we continued on to find the Trevi Fountain and threw our coins in! It was really pretty and not too crowded. Then we wandered and found the Pantheon! The Pantheon has been my favorite building since I first learned about it and and have always dreamed of going to visit it. It was every bit as wonderful and beautiful as I thought it would be!

We then walked around and found a square with dozens of people selling small paintings of all different places in Rome, I found one of the Pantheon and got it and then we went off to find some food. The last time Katie was in Rome, her family ate at a really great restaurant so we found it and boy was she right! I got gnocchi and it was the best thing I ate in Rome!

After we hit up those two big sites we decided to wonder over across the river. We found a castle and then all of a sudden someone was calling me name, it was David Pulju! He's studying in Rome this semester and we had planned on meeting up the next day to get coffee but we randomly ran into each other! What a crazy, small world.

By this time it was getting to be late afternoon so we started wondering back to our side of town. We tried to see Augustus's mosuleum but it was under some sort of construction. We went back to the church with The Calling of St. Matthew by Caravaggio and I got to see my favorite painting! It was so beautiful but it was on a weird side wall so you can't look at it straight on, which is pretty damn stupid. Then we got some gelato and ate it infront of the Pantheon! We talked to a woman from the Peace Corps for a while which was really interesting then we went back to our hostel so for the night.


Day 4! Vatican crashing!

On our last day we headed to the Vatican and of course got a later start than we wanted to. After getting lost a few times, we finally arrived at the very crowded Vatican City (can't even imagine what its like during the tourist season). I saw some girls from on of my classes (seriously, small world) and we wondered to the entrance of the Vatican Museum. On the way there we were absolutely harassed by people trying to get us to buy a tour. One of them started chasing us saying " I know you speak English" then when we started running away he chased after us saying "Oh it's a running tour, we can see the Sistine Chapel in under 5 minutes!" It was so funny, I was almost crying. We FINALLY got inside after the line and security and started wondering the huge museum. When we got to this outside courtyard we saw Sam, Kelsy and Rachel from our program (I have said "small world" right?) who were also in Rome the weekend. We went through the rest of the museum together and after going from a maze of ornate rooms we finally saw the Sistine Chapel. Now, I wouldnt say that I was disappointed but maybe a bit underwhelmed. That rooms you have to go through to see the chapel are so overwhelming that it almost makes you numb by the end. It was still very amazing to see Michelangelo's work.

Then we went to meet David for coffee and it was pouring! It was terrible and cold. But it stopped and we went to get into St. Peter's. We knew that it was going to be mass but we thought we'd be able to get in during it and see the Pieta. Then we asked and found out that you have to have a mass slip to get in. We were about to give up but then magically got mass slips from a nun! So we waited in the LONG line for like an hour but it was worth it to see the Pieta, right? Wrong. When we got in, the crowd was very controlled and Katie went to look around a bit and the Pieta was curtained off. Screw you Vatican. But we were so tired we needed to sit down... so we stayed for mass. Katie and I are NOT Catholic and do NOT agree with anything Catholic so we just sat there and laughed about how we were heathens, sneaking into Vatican mass. Unfortunately, St. Peter's doesn't have wifi so we were telling each other what we would have been tweeting and we were laughing so hard. We got dirty looks from nuns. It was hilarious.

(When we got back to our hostel we tweeted up a storm, here are some highlights)

"Went to mass at the vatican just so we could have a place to sit #sorrynotcatholic #desperate"

"I guess I'm seeing the Pope instead of the Pieta. #superpissed #disappointed #Vatican2013 #whoisthisguy"

"I see a clown, a butler and a conductor who s packing... what is this circus? #Vatican2013"

"Heathens pee outside. #skippingout with @KtAhlgren"

Then mass started and we had to be more discreet with how funny we found this whole situation was. The pope was there and everyone was taking pictures and what not. I honestly just didn't care. He's just an old guy who has too much influence over too many mindless people. When we had to stand for the second time we left. Thank God we got out before the kneeling started. We waited for Ruth at a cafe (mass took another hour to finish) and headed back.

It was an amazing trip!

My AMAZING gnocchi, Ruth's pesto and Katie's pizza

undercover in the Vatican

Edit: Here's the final video from our trip!

Rome from Elizabeth Ortiz on Vimeo.

ROMA! (Arrival, Colosseum & Forum)

What a trip! Rome was exciting, adventurous, exhausting and wonderful! I'm going to do my best to put into words how amazing my trip to Rome was!

Katie, Ruth and I caught our bus from Granada to Madrid at 2am on Wednesday morning! Super early but hey it got us to the airport at the perfect time for our flight! Our travel went smoothly and We arrived in Rome around 12:30pm and caught a bus to the city center. It was amazing to look out the window and see ancient aqueducts passing us by so casually!

We found our hostel, The Funny Palace, easily enough and put our stuff down to go through a walk through our neighborhood. We found the Spanish Steps and then this wonderful lookout over the whole city at sunset! Its was gorgeous! We headed back to our hostel and discovered we had a roommate (The scarf in the closet was in fact not actually a complementary scarf. But we did get a complementary bottle of wine). We never learned his actual name but we dubbed him Frenchy, as he was from France.

 Day 2 we headed out to the Colosseum and Roman Forum!

We started out with the Roman Forum and were immediately over whelmed by all the sites to see. Its huge! We spent over 2 hours finding all of the best hidden spots. We found a random bath which may have been the best part. Then we heading to the Colosseum! The weather was so nice it was the perfect day to spend outside at all of the sites. We explored there for awhile and after looking for the hidden staircase that went up to the third level to no avail we took some picture with the arch of Constantine and headed across the river stopping to have a race in the Circus (where the had chariot races).

We went to a neighborhood that our hostel recommended to us and it was great! We were so hungry but almost nothing was open for dinner because it was only like 4pm. So we got some pizza and explored the plazas and side streets until we could get some real dinner! I got pesto and it was delicious! We ended the night with some gelato before turning in for the night.