Business Classes

Although I wrote about my liberal arts classes months ago, I just realized that I've never written about my business classes here. Considering I'm in a business program, I figured that I should fix that before the end of the semester. To be honest, they are not nearly as exciting as my liberal arts classes and I don't enjoy them as much. The level of Spanish expected of the business students is lower than that expected of the liberal arts students, many of whom are Spanish majors. They're not nearly as challenging and I haven't learned as much Spanish, though the business vocabulary that I have learned will probably be more useful to me in my future career.

The business classes are held at the University of Sevilla College of Business building. This building used to be a women's prison- it is not nearly as pretty as the palacio where my other classes are. 

I am enrolled in European Economy as well as International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. European Economy is my favorite class of the two. It has focused almost exclusively on the European Union, its structure, and its economic policies. Although I would have preferred more of a current events approach, it is interesting information to know. 

My Negotiation class, on the other hand, has been uninteresting and rather useless to be honest. Again, I hoped that it would take a current events approach where we would discuss and analyze the current conflicts and negotiation that are ongoing today. For example, the Israel-Palestine conflict or Turkey petitioning to enter the EU. Unfortunately, that is not the direction that it has taken. Instead, we are learning techniques and strategies that we act out in fake negotiation scenarios that I truly believe are meant for middle school kids. It has not turned out to be the class that it could have been, in my opinion. 

Overall, I do enjoy my liberal arts classes better- I have learned more about Spain and Spanish, which was the reason I came here to study in the first place. Although its crazy how fast this semester has flown- I have finals this week and my program ends on May 13. I can't believe I'm almost done with study abroad and junior year!

Corrida de Toros

Despite the controversy surrounding the tradition, I didn't think it was right that I leave Spain without experiencing at least one bullfight (known as la corrida de toros in Spanish). This tradition is particularly popular in southern Spain, so Sevilla was a great location to go see it. The first bullfight of the season is on Easter Sunday, and they continue every night for two weeks to kick off the start of the season. The best bullfighters in Spain come to Sevilla during these two weeks to kick-start the season. After that, there are bullfights every Sunday through October (except in July and August, when it is too hot to spend that much time outside). 

Although we commonly refer to bullfighters as 'matadors,' they are more commonly referred to as 'toreros' in Spain. The word 'matador' literally translates to 'killer' whereas 'torero' loosely translates to 'someone who works with bulls.' Each bullfight consists of six separate fights; the three toreros of the evening each fight two bulls. 

Before the bullfight begins, there is a procession to show off all of the people that will be participating in that night's bullfight. I had no idea, but each torero has six other men helping him throughout the bullfight. 

With each bull, the torero and his assistants go through several rounds. The first round consists of testing the strength and ferocity of the bull by antagonizing it and then hiding behind these shelters. The torero uses this stage to learn the type of bull that it is. The torero and his assistants use pink capes during this round. At the end of the round, men on horseback (picadores) come out and use lances to weaken the bull by attacking its neck muscles. This leads to the bull holding its head lower for the rest of the fight which allows the torero to kill it at the end of the bullfight.

The second round consists of three banderilleros that each attempt to stick two banderillas (sharp sticks with a claw at the end) into the bulls' shoulders. This further weakers the bull before the kill.

The third and final round is the round that most Americans think of when they think of a bullfight. This round is torero versus the bull, one on one. The torero uses the red cape to antagonize the bull and tire him out before finally killing him with a sword. If the torero has performed well, he may be awarded one or two ears from the bull as a prize. 

I knew the concept of the bullfight before I went, and I honestly didn't think it would bother me. However, I really did not enjoy seeing the process. To me, it seemed to be a very unfair fight. I recognize that the bullfight is considered an art form and that it is of high cultural significance, but I probably won't be returning to see one anytime soon. 

Semana Santa

Semana Santa (or Holy Week as we like to say in English) is a very very big holiday in Spain. Sevilla in particular has the largest Semana Santa celebrations in Spain. Although I suppose 'celebrations' would really be the wrong word to use. Southern Spain is extremely Catholic, so in general Semana Santa focuses on the suffering of Christ and sadness of his crucifixion. In contrast I always felt that the emphasis was on the resurrection and the happiness of Easter Sunday in the US. 

For my Art and Fiesta class we went on a small field trip to several churches throughout Sevilla to see some of the pasos for Semana Santa. Within the Catholic church there are brotherhoods, which (I believe) each have a home base at a church in the city. Each brotherhood has a paso (pictured below) which features a saint or a depiction of a story from the bible. These are massive structures decorated in gold and silver and flowers and candles. Throughout the week, each paso is carried through the streets by the members of its respective brotherhood and paraded with a band and a crowd of followers in a procession. These processions last for hours and go throughout the entire historic area of the city, but they always start and end at their 'base' church and they all pass by the cathedral. 

In the weeks leading up to Semana Santa, the pasos are displayed in the churches for people to see while the caretakers put on the finishing touches. Many churches only have one, while some have two, three or even four pasos. 

The processions go throughout each day from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. I was traveling through mid-day Thursday, but we planned to be back in time for La Madrugada, or the processions in the middle of the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Some of the most famous pasos are carried through the city at this time. Although I'd missed several days of processions, I was excited to see this. Unfortunately, it had been raining for a few days so very few pasos had actually left their churches prior to our return. And the rain continued- La Madrugada was cancelled for the first time in over 60 years. I am a little sad that I didn't get to see it. 

All pasos were also cancelled on Friday and Saturday. Instead, we walked around to a few more churches to see more pasos. It amazes me that people actually carry there through the cobblestone streets in the heat of the day.

Luckily, the two processions on Easter Sunday were not cancelled due to good weather and I was able to see one of them in the street. In this parade was a band and the members of the brotherhood in their traditional robes (which look very similar to KKK robes- though I would assume that these traditional Catholic robes came first). 

After seeing the procession, we went to the church where La Macarena paso was located in the Sevilla neighborhood known as Macarena (which inspired the dance). There was actually a second paso there as well, but the star was La Virgen de la Macarena, with tears falling down her face. This paso should have been part of the Madrugada processions. 

I did find the coin machine outside of La Macarena comical, however. Have you ever seen one of those machines at zoos that imprint the face of an animal on a coin? This machine imprints the crying face of La Virgen de la Macarena on coins for people to purchase. 

Why waste an opportunity to make money?

Trip to Budapest

On Tuesday morning we finally arrived at the final destination of our trip- Budapest, Hungary. I was particularly excited to go to Budapest because my late grandmother was Hungarian. Still, I knew very little about Hungary. I knew that one of their largest, if not the largest, export is paprika and that a national dish is chicken paprikash (made with paprika). So basically I was pretty clueless. Our first day in the city we went to some of the city markets, in the building below.

The food was all fresh and looked delicious, but it was much more raw ingredients and a lot less prepared foods, like there had been in Vienna. We were unable to make a satisfactory meal of it, so we had a traditional Hungarian lunch instead- sausage, beef goulash soup, and chicken paprikash. It was delicious. 

After lunch, we gave ourselves a walking tour of the city. Like most European cities, Budapest has a river that runs through it. One side is the Buda side, the other is known as Pest. They used to be two separate cities until they were combined into one.

Our hostel situation worked out perfectly- a pipe had burst closing the dorm room that we were supposed to stay in. Instead, we were given a private apartment for the evening with our own bathroom and kitchen. We stopped at a grocery store to make dinner for ourselves before enjoying an evening out with new friends from our hostel. We went to a karaoke bar then a ruinpub (created from old factories and houses that were to be destroyed). These ruinpubs were each unique and were all over the city- they gave it a lot of character.

The next day we decided to go on a free walking tour centered on communism in Hungary. Our tour guide was a 40 year old Hungarian woman who had grown up in Hungary during the last years of communism. She was extremely interesting to listen to because she included a lot of personal stories and experiences on the tour- I really enjoyed it. 

This is a bomb shelter, meant for the highest party members and their wives. Apparently two of the three metro lines in Budapest were also designed as bomb shelters for the general public. 

A monument to the Soviet soldiers that died in WWII. 

The US embassy is the building that looks out on this statue...kind of ironic. 

The Parliament building. 

Standing on the bridge between communism and democracy, facing the Parliament building.

Shrapnel and bullet holes in buildings leftover from WWII. 

A poorly taken picture of a ruinpub in Budapest. 

After the walking tour ended, we went to Heroes' Square. The statues commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarians in the current location of Hungary. They are also all equipped with the famed Hungarian mustaches that we enjoyed seeing throughout our stay in Budapest. 

We ended our trip with a night in at the hostel. We made dinner and watched Pulp Fiction, which we selected from their large electronic movie library. Overall it was a great trip with two of my favorite people (and future roommates). I enjoyed all three of our stops, but I think Budapest was my favorite city of the three!

Trip to Vienna

After an eventful last night in Prague, we set off for Vienna bright and early on Palm Sunday. I was not particularly looking forward to our 4 hour bus ride, but I was pleasantly surprised- it was the nicest bus I had ever been on. The seats were comfortable, there were two movies and we were provided with headphones and refreshments (water, hot chocolate or coffee) by the bus attendant. I wish all of my bus rides were that pleasant. 

Danielle has family friends that live in Vienna, and they were nice enough to take us out to lunch upon our arrival in the city. We met up with Edda, her daughter Feliz, and Feliz's boyfriend for lunch at the cafe terrace by the museums. The meal was delicious, and Edda was kind enough to map out a basic walking tour of the city for us to explore after eating. 

We started by heading to the main park in the city. The Vienna marathon had taken place that morning, so it was more cluttered than usual, I would imagine. 

We also saw the main cathedral (which was mostly under construction) and all of the grand buildings and statues that Vienna has to offer. 

Although we couldn't get tickets to that evening's opera, we were able to watch Anne Boleyn outside the opera house on the big screen for free. Apparently a famous Russian opera singer was in town that night, so tickets were hard to come by. But it was fun watching a story that we know so we could easily follow what was happening, despite the fact the opera was in another language (we think Italian). 

We went to dinner at a great restaurant on Edda's recommendation. Although we didn't have a reservation, we were seated as soon as we mentioned Edda's name. The menu was entirely in German, but our waiter kindly translated every dish to English for us so we were able to order. It was a fantastic meal. 

The next day, we went to the fresh food markets in Vienna. We enjoyed a lunch of several different flavors of hummus, falafels and pita bread in a park across the street. Afterward, we went to the Summer Palace. We walked in at the front to find more Easter markets and traditional knick-knacks and food. 

After our audio-guided tour, we went out back to explore the gardens. Photography is not allowed inside the palace, but it was quite as impressive as its exterior. We climbed the hill at the end of the property for a better view of the palace itself.  It was such a gorgeous day and we were so exhausted from a few days of traveling that we ended up taking a nap in the sunshine. 

After a relaxing afternoon, we went to get ready for dinner. Robert, Edda's husband, had just gotten back from a weekend of playing polo in Italy and invited the three of us to dinner. We met up with the family at their Vienna apartment, which was absolutely gorgeous. They live in a hotel overlooking a park. In addition to their fantastic art collection, they have a magnificent terrace with a great view of the city. It was quite an impressive living situation.

(Both taken from the camera of Danielle Davis)

Robert, Edda and both of their daughters (Feliz and Coco) took us out to dinner to their favorite traditional Austrian restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious meal of Wiener Schnitzel with cranberries and potatoes. It was a fantastic meal- we were extremely well-fed throughout our stay in Vienna.

(Taken from the camera of Danielle Davis)

After dinner, Feliz took us out on the town. She is a senior in high school and had just completed her last day of class- she will be attending university in New York next year. It was fun to meet her friends from around the world- she attends an international school in Vienna so the majority of the students are not Austrian. It was the end to a great last night in Austria. Time for Budapest.