Flamenco, Cadiz and Travel, OH MY

Last Friday night, my host father took us girls to a flamenco bar to hear and see some flamenco. It was wonderful to go to a place where there were not 1000 tourists, and it was more of a local joint. So it was more authentic. We got a pitcher of Sangria and sat back. The man sang with a guitar accompany, and the woman danced. Flamenco is like the only type of dance I wish I could do. It was so beautiful and so energetic. You literally just wanted to get up and dance with her. It was nice to spend a little more time with my host father. He loves everything flamenco and plays flamenco guitar during the day. I enjoy walking in the door and hearing the music float through the house.

 

This past weekend, Emily and I decided to head to Cadiz for the last day of summer. Or supposed last day, as its 90 here today… 20 Euros and an hour and a half bus ride later, we were in paradise! We sat on the beach, jumped in the water and then found an umbrella and just people watched. It was a super relaxing weekend and a great way to end an intense week of classes and tests. It was gorgeous and I'm so glad we got to go

Starting this weekend, and running until mid November is the Festival de Naciones. It reminds me of Bumbershoot and Freemont Market mixed together, but entirely Spanish. There are booths of crafts, jewelry, soaps, candy, shoes, clothes, incense, candles, purses, everything! And there is a center stage for dancing or singing. The center stage is surrounded with food tents of every single nation you can think of. There was Mexico, Dominican Republic, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Cuba, China, Greece, you name it, and they had a food booth for it. We went for the Mexican and got margaritas and guacamole Sunday night. But you its free to enter, and very little to eat, so we plan on sampling every food at least once for the next month.

 

This week I start my regular classes. I’m taking 6 classes total. I have a grammar class, a reading class, a Franco Era history class, a Spanish Art History class, a cultural awareness class and an Andalucían cooking class. I’m looking forward to it all, but its definitely going to be busy till winter. Not too busy to travel though, because this weekend I head to Granada and next weekend to Córdoba, both of which I am very excited about as well! ALSO we just booked our flight to PARIS !!! I am SOOOO excited about Paris for 5 days! All my love XOXOXO