me encanta siestas

Hola Todos!

Right now it is siesta time. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite times of the day. Everyone in the program is determined to bring it back to the States. (By the way... apparently the Spanish don’t actually sleep throughout the siestas. Maybe 15-20 minutes tops out of the 3-4 hours in the afternoon. But us Americanos are certainly taking advantage of that time and usually sleep through the whole thing!). It gives us some time to recuperate and get some energy for the rest of the day. Let me tell you about my week!

On Wednesday the entire city took a day of for the fiesta, aka everything shut down except for the bars and a handful of restaurants. I woke up a bit earlier and went to go explore the older part of the city with a couple of friends. The city of Córdoba is insanely beautiful. The buildings and the people alike. There were a few gypsies that walked around asking people for money. Some people from my program sounded off the warning and made sure that everyone knew to stay away/avoid them at all costs. Which is normal. The first thing I usually think when I see gypsies is, “If I don’t hold everything REAL tight and they start talking to me, they will definitely steal something!” And then you do that whole eye-aversion thing, thinking that if you’re not looking at them, they obviously can’t see you, right? You know what I’m talking about. But I had asked God to teach me how to see people the way He sees them at the beginning of my trip, and I definitely didn’t have to ask Him twice. I was quickly reminded that they are also people that are very much loved by God. I looked again at those gypsies and that second time I just saw some beautiful women. Nothing less. I hope they know how loved they are. And I hope that if I see them again, I will remember to have the attitude that Christ has been teaching me. Believe me, I will be the first to admit--these lessons are the hardest to remember (selective memory at its best) , but I guess Jesus isn’t going to let me play the ignorant card anymore. Gotta love the freedom in making conscious choices.

Back to Córdoba. The more I walked into the city, the more I fell in love with it. We saw a few monuments along the way, but my favorite part was walking along El Río Guadalquivir to El Puente Romano (the Roman Bridge) and by the famous Mezquita. The walk by the river was absolutely beautiful. It was so cool to think about how long everything had been there for. For example, El Puente Romano dates back to the Roman Córdoba era (2nd Century B.C - 1st Century A.D.) Here are some pictures:

Roman Temple Ruins

El Puente Romano

The next day was our first day of school. We had to take placement tests earlier in the week to figure out what level of Spanish we were to be in. I did well enough to take the Art History elective I needed for some GE credit at UCSD. That HAS to be a miracle because you can ask anyone here, mi espańol es bastante roto (my spanish is quite broken). It’s really hard to focus in class because it’s all in Spanish...and you DEFINITELY can’t zone out because you will miss everything the professor is saying and will never be able to put it together. Gratefully, all of the professors are very nice and patient. It’s a good thing for all parties involved that they understand that us Americans are probably going to give them blank states for at least a good month. 

Hasta que el tiempo próximo! (Until next time)

PS: just so you know, these are long just for you Mom!