Gallavanting around Germany

Just got back from Munich today! What a weekend. Germany was definitely a good time, despite the cold weather and long trip to get to Munich. I only had 2 and a half days there, so I tried to jam in as many German things as possible:

Saw the German countryside as I rode for five hours on the Bahn from Dusseldorf to Munich...

I tried German beer. Never been a fan of beer, but I admit this was not bad...

Visited my friend from school...

Tried sauerkraut...

Tried liver...

Tried bratwurst...

Climbed a cathedral to get a gorgeous view of Munich...

And went to a Skrillex concert.

The weekend just flew by so quickly. Despite all the German activities I attempted to squish into these few days, there is definitely so much more to see, and I would for sure return sometime in the future. But now I'm off to bed, seeing as I got pretty much no sleep last night (yay 6am flight!). Good night!

Off to Munich!

Going to Germany tomorrow to see my friend Eileen who is studying abroad in Munich! First trip of the semester, here I come :)

3 cities, 1 day

Another week gone by! This week I began my ODE class, which actually isn't so bad...thus far. The professor is very nice and accommodating, and is letting me take the final exam early so that I can get home at a reasonable date (late May, instead of mid June). And luckily, the math library has TONS of books on diff eq's in English, so I checked some out so that I can self study. But I have to say that in a way, while it is the only regular university course I'm taking, ODE is more bearable than my humanities courses designed for exchange students. Taking the derivative or integral of a function is universal, written in the same notation no matter what language in which the subject is taught. On the other hand, I have to make an extra effort to pay attention to every word being said in my other three classes because of the nature of humanities classes...everything is about the written word and lecture. Now I truly know that math/science/numbers are my home base, intellectually :D

Anyways, yesterday was a Saturday filled with many festivities! In the morning, JYS had a day trip to Córdoba. We left Sevilla (city number 1) at 8:30 in the morning, embarking on the 1.5-hour bus ride. In Córdoba, we saw the beautiful mezquita, a giant mosque with a Gothic cathedral inside of it. The city is absolutely majestic. There is a long bridge across a river that leads into the city - it reminded me of the royal city in "Tangled"!

Well, kind of. But walking across that bridge in the bright sunlight just felt somewhat surreal. I can only imagine how much more beautiful it must be in the spring when all the flowers have bloomed. Definitely taking a trip back in a month or so when the weather warms up!

So that was city number two. We got back home at around 6pm, and I rushed home to get ready for the carnavales in Cádiz! Los carnavales are two weeks of crazy costumes and street music and food all over the city of Cádiz in the southern coast of Andalucia. It's kind of like a mix of Halloween and Mardi Gras. On crack.

My señora lent me her witch hat for the night! My costume was definitely weak in comparison to the others...there were chickens, cows, sumo wrestlers, and even mushrooms. At 8pm I was back on the bus with a couple of friends from JYS, bound for Cádiz (city number 3!) At 10 we arrived and were dropped off so that we could venture off on our own. The narrow cobblestone streets were absolutely jam-packed! I felt as if I were inside a can of sardines. In the plazas scattered throughout the city there were people gathered, dancing with music playing and street vendors selling chorizos. It was probably one of the most ridiculous nights of my life.

Definitely a one-of-a-kind experience worth having, that's for sure! That, and being in 3 completely different major Spanish cities in one day. Now I'm completely tired, and ready for bed. Good thing I don't have class til noon tomorrow :)

What a week!

Finished with my first week of university classes today! Shopping for classes was definitely hectic. Back at home I'm used to just taking whatever class is lined up for major (math major ftw) but here I have been trying out all sorts of humanities classes! After attending like 8 of them throughout the week, I finally have my final schedule. I'll be taking a Spanish film class, a literature class on Sevilla, a class on cooking and food in the ancient Mediterranean, and ordinary differential equations. ODE doesn't start til next Monday, and is at an entirely different campus. And it's going to be the only class where I will be the only American student...eep! Right now I'm banking on the idea that math should be more or less a universal subject, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Yesterday, a few of us from JYS went on a day trip by bus to Jerez de la Frontera, a little town about an hour and a half south of Sevilla. Jerez means "sherry", and the town is famous for its bodegas, or wine-making factories. Jerez is one of southern Spain's pueblos blancos, or "white villages" scattered throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is really quaint and easy to navigate, with cute plazas and fountains and a lot of gorgeous cathedrals as well.

We went on a tour of one of the most well-known ones, called Tío Pepe. One of the best parts of the tour was getting to go on a ride on this train:

I felt as if I were in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Anyways, we saw a bunch of contraptions for wine filtration. All the rooms were filled with the aroma of wine...it smelled so good.

And at the end there was the wine-tasting! I tried 4 types of sherry, two dry and two sweet. My favorite was the pale cream, a white colored sweet sherry. But I'd have to say that sherry, especially the sharper dry kind, is definitely an acquired taste. It was hard to get down without continuously munching on that bowl of potato chips that came with the wine tasting! 

But all in all, it was a gorgeous Saturday in Jerez de la Frontera chilling with new friends. Perfect way to end a crazy first week at the university!