When in Spain!

January 29, 2009

Well its been while since I undated and so much has happened so I thought I’d start now. First off, I’m in Spain!!! But I’ll get to that later…

After being on a ship for a whole week seeing nothing but water I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see a ships lights in the distance at night! That’s what happened the other night while me and some of the other girls went out on deck to get smoothies. Some students said they saw a whale earlier in the week also, but I’m not sure if that was true or not. I think the last time I updated was Sunday. Basically things are the same, still going to classes, things are getting more in depth. I’ve gotten used to the ship and its rocking, and I think its actually slowed down quite a bit. We were averaging 21 knots or so and now we’re down to 15. We were ahead of schedule I guess and couldn’t get to Spain early so we slowed down, which a lot of people appreciate a lot. I had my first play rehearsal as stage manager and it went well. Should be interesting to see how well the actors hold things together on stage while the ship may be rocking. Hopefully it turns out to be a good show though. Went to the choir club on Monday, it was nice to sing again. I really miss choir at Clarke, we’re really good I think. Thanks to Fran, he’s an awesome director and a ton of fun. I’m sad he will be leaving the end of this year ☹ Hi Fran and Clarke choir! I miss singing with you!

Everyone is getting excited for Spain! On Tuesday night before we were supposed to arrive we had a pre-port meeting for Spain and they also covered a lot of basic info for the other countries as well. Topics included; transportation, security, safety in port, what to do for emergencies, rules and regulations, health issues, political issues, field trips, independent trips and other tips. They scared us all with the safety precautions telling us stories of past SAS-ers finding themselves in trouble with getting robbed and such. It made me kind of paranoid. I’m not going to carry a bag anywhere on my back and if I need a bag it will be wrapped around me and in front. Leave nothing in your pockets, but keep a money belt. Those are really nice; I got one here and it works really well. You can’t even tell I’m wearing it under my pants. It only looks awkward when you’re trying to reach to get money out haha.

I’ve been hanging out with Courtney quite a bit. We decided on Thursday that we were gonna travel to Seville together on Friday with some others possibly, we looked things up in the guide book and are going to catch a train and see the city, it supposed to be really neat! The videographer and another filmer has been walking around taking pictures of students in class and activities and has recently been filming them and interviewing them on topics such as the ship, classes and port, specifically Spain right now. I was stopped 3 times by him to talk to the camera, this last time I was with Courtney in the library and he interviewed us. I think were going to be on the video! He took our names down and our schools! I really hope we are, that would be soo exciting ☺ We talked about Spain, what we learned at pre-port and what we were looking forward to the most about going to Spain and the other countries and the program.

That night I didn’t get any sleep at all, my roommate Valeria (pronounced Validia) talked until about 2 or 3 am about lots of things and getting to know each other even better. We were too excited to sleep! We were going to be in Spain in a few hours and couldn’t wait! That morning about 6 Courtney called and woke me up and then I got ready and met her at my door. We were going up on deck because we we’re to be arriving in Spain very soon and wanted to watch the ship pull into its first port of call. I can’t describe the mixed feelings of surprise, astonishment and excitement when we opened the door to the top deck and saw the lights of the city in the dark. The sun doesn’t rise till 8:30 so it was pitch black still. We were in Spain!! We hadn’t seen land in over 7 days and we were finally here! It was so quiet and peaceful and the ship very slowly glided closer to the port. Many more students had gathered up on deck to take pictures, and everyone was buzzing with excitement. It was so cold; people were all bundled up in coats and blankets. I took lots of pictures of the blackness and Courtney and I recorded a video! I’ve lost so much sleep recently but I am taking past SAS-ers advice and not going to bed when I still have the chance to hang out with people and experience things. We watched as the ship pulled in and was tied to the dock. The captain and crew were all abuzz and were preparing things. They loaded the gangway down and those who were still on deck watching, watched as the first crewmember stepped on land. We were in Spain! We greeted the Spanish ship workers from the deck who helped us pull in and greeted our crew. They looked like important people. Probably a political officer of some kind and customs people, they were coming aboard to check all of our passports through. Everyone was all excited and ran below decks to begin getting ready, we couldn’t wait to get off the ship and explore.

Courtney and I went to get breakfast on the ship and we watched the sun rise over the city of Cadiz. I sat with one of the professors and his wife. They are from Great Britain and I loved listening to the accents when they talked with me. The professor’s wife, Maggie is in the play that I am stage-managing. We talked for a while about the show and where we all from. They have traveled a lot and were fun to converse with. We talked for a while about Spain and what we were each all doing while in the country.

I went back to my cabin to get ready for the day and emailed my parents and best friend back home telling them I was in Spain! It was nighttime in Iowa so I knew they wouldn’t receive the e-mail till morning or whenever they checked it but I still wanted to share the exciting news! I headed upstairs and met up with some friends including Katy, Kelly, Danielle and Laura. We were going to walk around the city before our field-trips started that afternoon. It definitely hit me when I couldn’t read anything! We all waited in line to walk down the gangway and finally it was my turn! I walked down to the bottom with such excitement I jumped rather than stepped off onto the dock. I took my first steps in Spain, and that was only the beginning of my journey around the world on Semester at Sea.

The city of Cadiz is really pretty and I was surprised to see palm trees everywhere! Not something I was first expecting to see in Spain, but it is surrounded by water and the climate supports it. We walked around for a good few hours trying to get acquainted with the layout. The streets are so tiny and the buildings are old-fashioned and compact together just like you’d see in an old “Christmas Carol” movie. It was a culture shock to try and figure out ways to communicate when we didn’t know any Spanish. Those that took it in high school were our only hope, luckily Katy knew it well enough and was able to converse. The local people also knew some English so it was a mixture of languages being used while trying to communicate. Maybe I’ll try filming it sometime, its quite interesting and something totally new for me and quite exciting! It was especially challenging (but a good experience and fun) stopping at a outdoor café for lunch. We weren’t sure how to get a table and had to go ask them and they cleared one for us. We all ordered by trying to speak some Spanish, Katy spoke for us since she knew a little and we all ordered our food by pointing to the pictures in the menu. I was glad they had pictures and noticed many places did that, perhaps for that very reason. I wasn’t too daring because I was starving so I wanted something I knew I would like, I got Spaghetti. Yes, I really did that. I did try the other’s food as well! I’m not sure how to spell the food names but some included a sort of tortilla and churros. I also tried my first sangria and got a picture with it! We learned that they don’t split checks, so us being a large group put everything on someone’s credit card and payed her back in cash Euros.

Cadiz is so cute with all of there little shops. There are a lot of local people out, it seems they don’t work. But they do, its just like in the cities back at home. Everyone seems to be so layed-back and relaxed and happy, they were all just enjoying the day visiting the local stores. The city is beautiful because it has that old fashioned feel to it and all the streets are hand-layed cobble stone which was really neat. Something else that fascinated me was that the walls in the city are made of old shells! I learned that between the hours of 2-4 or so the shops shut down and the locals go home to eat and sleep and then come back to work, it’s a requirement to go rest. Isn’t that nice!? Quite interesting! We all walked back to the ship to get on buses for each of our respective tours and were on our way. I was on the Cadiz City Orientation tour, and Kelly and Danielle were on my tour as well which was nice! We hung out during the tour and had a lot of fun. Basically we already saw everything on the “walking tour” because we had already walked around the city ourselves but visiting the cathedral and museums were interesting and having a guide provided us with a lot of information and history. I took so many pictures and was pleased that they all turned out very well. I’m excited to share them with friends and family back home. Once the tour was complete we walked back to the ship and all got ready for another field-excursion through SAS, the Flamenco show and bloodless bullfight! To get a real classic feel for spain and a taste of local history and custom as well as music and dance, this was great!! Upon arrival we were greeted by rows of workers serving us Spanish – after-dinner drinks. It was nice of them, however I was not a big fan of the drink itself, but I did try it atleast. The shows were quite impressive and very entertaining and I’m glad I was able to do this trip and recommend it to future SAS-ers!! After the show in the bullring we were brought into a great hall where there was more food, drinks and entertainment, which even involved some audience participation in some parts, which was a lot of fun! I took a lot of pictures and lots of videos as well. Its hard enough to share the real experience through a picture, so I thought taking videos would be really nice to remember things by later but also share with people when talking about my trip.

Courtney and I hung out together at the show and we met some new girls on the bus on the way back to the ship. We got to the ship and it was a long line waiting to check-in and board the ship again. Everyone was anxious to go out later. I got ready and met a bunch of people to go out to a local pub. I made the mistake of forgetting I was wearing heels from the show before and we ended up walking all over town and my feet hurt so bad. We finally made it to the pub but I wasn’t all about the drinking and the smoke in the bar was really bothering it and me was hard to breathe. It was something I wasn’t used to since it banned in U.S. which I was so glad about. I really can’t be around smoke at all, I’m not sure why it affects me so much but it does, plus the smell just irritates me. Courtney and I walked around, we wanted to get away from the crowd who were being somewhat obnoxious and loud. We didn’t want to be known as the “so and so Americans”. That’s probably the one thing that I don’t like about this trip. I knew I would probably run into it so I was prepared but still it really bothers me. There are a lot of people here, NOT EVERYONE, NOT EVEN ALOT, but some for sure who seem to be here for the wrong reasons, motivations and excitement for being here or at least don’t show it very well. Perhaps I’m wrong and I’m not talking about everyone at all but there are select people who are very different than me I guess. One is able to find some people who will be a bit prissy and stuck on themselves and their looks and look down upon others. I have run into people here who have complained about not getting enough money from there parents to spend, specifically using foul language because they thought 5000 dollars PER PORT to spend wasn’t enough! Another someone I ran into was upset we were going to places like third world countries, because they didn’t want to be exposed to that and would be depressed. It seemed they were bored with the touring and seeing the country stuff and were more concerned about bars, drinking, partying and clubbing rather. How could someone be so ignorant and selfish?!? I knew these people existed but I choose not to associate with them, but now even talking to them and hearing it all first hand just really upsets me. These are poor countries we are going to and we are like kings to them and have everything where they struggle to even get some water for a week!! It’s not fair and I find it outrageous that people can be so ignorant, uncaring, selfish and unkind! I don’t think there are many places to party in India, I could be wrong. But the point is, that IS NOT what this experience is about. It also upsets me to see some students “pre-party” before going to night activities, such as the Flamenco night I went to. I left out the fact that some people showed up drunk to the event and made quite a scene when she entered the stadium and toppled over us sitting to go jump on some guy. Also later on running up on stage during one of the performances. It’s a great embarrassment to us students, the program and America. It seems we have a reputation of abusing alcohol. But that isn’t the case at all! I don’t want to be lumped into that crowd because that is certainly NOT me at all! Maybe its cause I’m a little older than most of the students and going out just isn’t in my interest anymore, although even a few years ago I wasn’t interested in drinking every night either. I guess you’ll run into these kinds of people who are really into that stuff, you’ll always find people who do things you don’t agree with and you just have to deal with them and do your best in each situation. I don’t want to start a “bashing or venting” blog here because that is NOT what I’m trying to do. I guess I’m just sharing the variety of types of people on this ship, the different backgrounds, values and thoughts and if someone is curious about this program to know that there will be some exposure. I’m NOT saying this about the program, but there will be some students who choose to behave in this way. It’s not the program, but the few student’s personal choices and actions.

I really try to stay positive and look for the best in every situation, people come into your lives for a reason and if anything these people I’ve met and the things they value just make me that more passionate about the real reason I’m here and want to help those who need it because that is what’s important and not designer clothes, lots of money, electronics, alcohol and partying. But All in all, I’ve met some great people otherwise, and feel bad for those who make dumb decisions, and there are those people wherever you go. I’m here to see the world and meet people, break my bubble that I Ieft. I want to be challenged and inspired, learn more about myself and grow as a person and expand my worldview. I want to not only see but experience how the real world really is in hopes that I can understand others, empathize and be inspired to travel back and do my part to help as much as I can.

Well enough of that. Thursday I got up to catch an SAS bus to travel to Arcos and Ronda for the “White-Town Route”. This has been my favorite SAS tour so far! It was beautiful!! It’s called the white towns because all the buildings are white in this small town. It reminded me of Greece and Ireland put together. It was gorgeous to look at the scenery from atop a mountain and see a bunch of little white villages on top of a mountain with deep gorges below covered in greenery and flowers and water falling to the crick below. It was so beautiful my eyes hurt to even look at it after awhile because it didn’t even seem real. One takes so many pictures and get caught up in the moment of capturing it on film that they don’t really just stare and look at it, taking it all in. I had looked at this trip on the pre-sale but didn’t sign up for it and did the city orientation instead. But when we arrived at the ship the first day we were able to sign up for trips that weren’t filled yet and so I signed up for this one cause I didn’t know what else to do and I had an interest in it before but my Dad wasn’t sure what it really was or how great it would be so he said I should do the city orientation tour instead. That is what I did, and I realized one really doesn’t need the Cadiz city orientation because you can pretty much do it on your own just walking around. I’m sooo glad I did the white-town route! My Dad and Mom would have fallen in love with the village and the scenery was breathtaking every time! I took so many pictures and videos to share.

We had a fabulous tour guide as well who spoke 10 languages who knew so much! He was very interesting to talk to and his accent was a little mixture of all of the different accents so it was fun to listen, he was a great guide and had a good sense of humor. Including the sites we saw he also took us to a real bull fighting ring!! It was quite exciting and I really felt like I was in Spain!!
We all ate lunch at a local restaurant with a traditional Spanish meal. It was alright and I ate it. Spanish is not my favorite food, I’ll always prefer Italian and I’m still missing American food or atleast American versions of Chinese and Italian. I met some new friends though which was really nice! They’re names are Taylor and Molly (who’s doing the play with me) and one other one but I forget her names. We sat at the same table at lunch just us four chatting about where we were from, politics, worldviews and the countries we were going to next on our trip. We sat near each other and chatted on the bus together and walked around with the tour together and hung out during it. I was glad to have made new friends to talk to. There was soo much walking during this trip, I’m glad I wore my “comfort” shoes that my mom bought me, they have come in handy during these walking tours. I got some good exercise but was exhausted and slept on the bus ride home from Ronda back to the ship in Cadiz. When I got back I cleaned up the cabin a bit on my side, chatted online and fell asleep watching the movies they were playing on the SAS t.v.’s in our rooms.

Friday Courtney and I got up early and walked over to the bus station to buy round-trip tickets to Seville. Once we finally were able to get across specifically what we wanted we received our tickets and boarded the bus. It was about an hour and a half ride. Courtney slept and I listened to her Ipod and watched Spain as we drove by. Once we got to Seville our first stop was and ATM and then breakfast somewhere. We stopped in a café because the doorman greeted us very nicely. He didn’t seem to speak any English at all and Courtney and I definitely didn’t know any Spanish. So using our hands and our own languages we tried to explain what we wanted. The chef came out with different plates of food trying to help us out but everything was all too fancy. Finally something he said sounded like Toast so Courtney and I said si, and pointed to each other and held our fingers showing the number 2 indicating that we both wanted some. The chef then proceeded to cut a loaf of bread in pieces and put them in a toaster. Yay. The doorman who was also beside us helping, indicated to us to sit down. I thought it was funny how he did it because he said the Spanish word that sounded like sit and began squatting in the restaurant as if he were going to sit down on air. I got excited because we found a way to communicate and responded by squatting with him up and down saying si, si. I felt silly afterwards, but it got the job done. He brought us to a table and shortly after brought out our orange juice which by the way was REAL orange juice, freshly squeezed from an orange itself, not processed, it was AMAZING! He soon after brought out our toast and I mimed spreading butter in my hand to tell him I wanted jelly. He understood and brought some out. The art of communicating with someone when neither of you know a bit of the language amazes me! It is a challenge for sure, but its so thrilling when it works out and you find you can communicate with someone and find you understand them when you are both from different worlds. Our breakfast was good and it was definitely a great experience. For the past two days I was with people who spoke Spanish so I found it easier to get around but today was going to be interesting for sure!

We walked around the city and looked in the little shops however for the most part they all seemed to be touristy stores which is something that I wasn’t interested in at all. We’re here to experience the real culture and trying not to be so “touristy” if all possible. We went to the cathedral of Seville, I’ve never seen a cathedral so beautiful and huge! I’ve been to some in Ireland but even this was greater. Courtney said she thought is was bigger than Notre Dame, I don’t know, I’ve never been to France yet. We walked all around it and I took lots of pictures and videos to share back at home. The Cathedral used to be a mosque but a cathedral was expanded on that and I think Courtney said it took 3000 years to build? Idk about that. She had come the day before and was telling me what she remembered from the tour. It did look like it was in the gothic style, I found myself remembering conversations in music history when we would talk about art and architecture. I felt so privileged to be able to go out and actually see it and what we discussed in class in little ole’ Iowa. We walked all over. The artwork is beautiful and I know it was something that Fran would have loved haha, I don’t even know how to describe the enormity of the size, and all-around beauty of the place, I was simply amazed! We proceeded to the bell tower entrance and walked 35 flights until we finally reached the top where we could look out on the whole city! I was so tired, but the view was worth it! It was awesome! There were so many bells up there too, large ones and little ones for ringing. I took a video for my Dad. I know he would have loved to have come to the cathedral and really hope he can visit it someday if he hasn’t because I just know he would like it a lot. We walked back down and decided to go to the Alcazar, and Moroccan and Arabian inspired building. It was gorgeous as well!!! I don’t know how to describe the beauty of the art, paintings, tapestry and gardens in words. I took a ton of pictures and video. It still fascinates and amazes me to see how huge these buildings are compared to me when I get my picture taken by them, it reminds me how small and insignificant I am in this world compared to such beauty and I feel so thankful that I am able to see it, experience it and be a part of it. I wish I could share it with everyone and take them to see it as well and see the inspiration and reflection it gives and brings about to them like it has me.

After we finished there we decided to grab some lunch we walked back to the main city area and walked into a café. I had to get the waiter behind the counter’s attention and motion him to follow me and I pointed to the sandwich I wanted in the glass case. He got it out and wrote down the price and I paid him. Courtney and I took our lunch and ate on the steps of a large building outside and watched the people walk by. There was a flutist playing his flute but not classical stuff, it was like old medieval and renaissance tunes that he was improvising. It fit perfect with the scenery and I really enjoyed listening to his music. On the way back to the bus station later in the day we stopped in a little shop and I bought some really neat accessories which I’m excited to take back and I got something for my mom that I think she will like so I can’t wait to give it to her. Courtney and I had a lot of fun in Seville shopping and sightseeing, taking pictures and walking around and chatting and our “Spanish” encounters were a lot of fun too! I’ve really enjoyed my time in Spain with friends and seeing everything! We rushed back to the bus station and got there just in time, we found a bus that said Cadiz and then went to the driver and showed him our ticket, he said or motioned as well, that it was the right bus but we had to exchange our tickets to one that said “to Cadiz” really. We bought one way, but we had to get a copy from their station as well. He motioned us to run cause they were leaving soon so we ran back inside and handed it to the teller and said to Cadiz and he did some stuff and gave us another ticket so we brought it back to the bus and the driver tore a piece of the ticket and nodded us on. We got on and saw some others from SAS as well and were driven home.


It was a peaceful ride, when we got back to the ship we both went to our cabins for awhile until dinner. I came back and loaded my pictures on. The ship was showing the movie “The Perfect Storm” on the televisions in our room, I don’t know why they would show that movie, it’s not very comforting while were living on a ship ha. Holly stopped by and invited me over to her room and Courtney came soon after as well. We all decided to go to dinner with Brandee and Katy and another friend they met. We chatted for awhile and caught up with each other about our travels and then walked to a café. We took a much longer way than we had to we realized on accident. It was sprinkling outside and misty but not a big deal. We got to the Spanish/Italian restaurant and all ordered Italian food, we weren’t a big fan of the Spanish food, or I wasn’t anyway and Italian sounded wonderful as always and it was the cheapest entrees I’ve seen in Spain so we were sold, we all got gelato or little cakes afterward. It was really nice to hang out with them again, it had been awhile and I missed it. It was a lot of fun. When we were walking back however, it was raining harder and then we got to the gate and they wouldn’t let us through because it was after 11pm, we had to walk around the whole dock to the other gate to get in. It was about 4 miles away just to get to the gate and then 4 miles back to the ship. That’s what someone told me. It was raining when we began but the wind picked up and it started pouring, we were in a monsoon! It was crazy and wet and uncomfortable but still a lot of fun! Finally I got back to my cabin and Val was back, she had stayed in Seville overnight with her friend Janelle the night before in Seville and they were back now. I was just glad to be in warm dry clothes, we watched some movies on the t.v. and chatted with each other and Janelle.

Saturday I slept in till 10, it was really nice. Valeria, Courtney, Janelle and I got up and went out into the city to get some breakfast. Val speaks Spanish fluently so things were pretty easy today. We walked around town taking pictures and shopped. It was a good day, we were all sad we were leaving though. I’ve had a blast in Spain but I can’t wait to get to Morocco. I found myself being drawn to the little Indian shops in Spain. So I guess that’s a good thing we’re going then, I like the style. We all split up later during Siesta and Courtney and I got lunch at the Italian place and then went to get some ice cream before heading back to the ship. It was fun walking around and we tries to soak up the last of Spain that we could. We got back to the dock and the line to get on the ship was so long, we were glad we got there sooner rather than later. It was a half hour before we got to the door, so about 5:15 I made it on and the line was still really long behind me. We had to be back on and checked in by 6pm (two hours before sailing). Some people are going to get dock time and that will not be fun. Even if you’re a minute late that means you have to stay on dock for three hours before you can get off the ship in the next port, its 1-15 min. If you’re 15- 30 min that’s six hours dock time and it just keeps getting worse after that.

Were all back on now though and headed to Gibraltar to refuel the ship, I wish I could get off and just touch the land so I could officially say that I’ve been in that country to and saw it, maybe just being in the city in the water could count? Either way, I’ll see the place from the ship so maybe I could kinda say that I’ve been there cause I kinda have.

Today is Superbowl Sunday, we won’t be watching it until midnight our time. Today was rainy and rough seas, we made it to Gibraltar and are refueling now. Tonight we have to tape our drawers again and prepare our cabins for rough seas again. The books in the library are all taped up and the clothing store and SAS shop. All the tables and chairs are still binded together from last nights weather. Should be a bumpy ride, more so than usual if we have to secure things down. Anyways, then were off to Morocco and will be there in the morning! I’m doing a 3 night/4 day camel trek in the Palm Groves Sahara Desert and a trip to Marrakech, I can’t wait! This is the sort of places I was really interested to see the most! Here I come! ☺

*~ Em ~*

EKNelson@semesteratsea.net