Spain!

Hello everyone! So I’ve been on the ship for two and a half weeks now, and it’s definitely begun to feel like home. I boarded on Wednesday, August 27, to begin my work study position, and then helped all the other students board the next morning, so we could depart Halifax at 1700 hours on the 28th of August (Among other things, Semester at Sea has made me very efficient with the 24-hour time clock). The ship is nice- there are 9 classrooms, 2 dining areas, a pool, a gym, a library, and a computer lab- but everything is very small! There are also snack bars and various seating areas, like on the outside decks or a “piano lounge” in the middle of the ship.

Classes are good; they’re very interesting and small so there’s always a lot of discussion and involvement. I love traveling between class days because it makes our lessons very relevant and applicable. Everyone on the ship has to take global studies, and I am also taking anthropology of reproduction, intercultural communication, and the U.S. South. We go to class almost every day that we are at sea, and our schedule depends on alternating “A” and “B” days (i.e.- I have global studies and US south on A days, and intercultural communication and anthropology on B days). So far, we have had 6 days of classes, 3 of each day. In fact, because we don’t have class while in port and we have various days off like Neptune Day and Sea Olympics (more to come on those), we only have 46 days of class total during this 109 day voyage.

Enough about the ship, on to my adventures! I am rooming with my cousin, Chloe, who is a sophomore at Pepperdine and we are having a great time. We get along wonderfully, which I believe stems from the fact that we both strive for the best academically, but also want to absorb and experience the cultures when we are in port and out of class. Seasickness consumed me for awhile but I survived due to free motion sickness pills and no classes to worry about for the first couple days. On September 5, after eight days at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean, we arrived in our first port of call- Cadiz, Spain. I took a tour sponsored by SAS called “Churches of Cadiz”, which was essentially a city tour with a focus on the churches and cathedrals in the city. It was a great way to be introduced to the city and see some of its greatest sights. After that, Chloe and I explored the city on our own, which only took a couple hours; Cadiz is very small. It was a wonderful representation of a small European town though- flower markets, lots of vespas zooming about, decorated balconies, tiny back streets of cobblestones, and gorgeous architecture everywhere. That night we went to a free flamenco show in the square by our ship, which was truly entrancing. We could not look away as the women took the stage in their beautiful dresses and men played live music behind them. After the dancers, multiple men came on stage and played guitar or sang. It was a fantastic way to spend our first night in Espana.

The next morning, Chloe and I began our independent Spanish adventure by catching a bus to Sevilla. After we found our way away from the bus station to the main part of Sevilla, we visited the enormous Sevilla Cathedral. This is the largest Cathedral in the world and proves so by displaying a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records. Chloe and I could have spent hours in there, it was more like a museum than a church, with all of its various sections dedicated to different people, art, and architecture. If you are ever in Spain, this is not something to miss. Especially with a discounted rate for students with a school ID! We then proceeded to our hostel, a tucked away place called “Oasis”. We found this hostel through the advice of the prior occupants of our room. It is tradition for the students to write on the back of the large picture hanging on the wall in each cabin, so the two girls who stayed in this room before us left the advice “In Spain, take the train to Sevilla, and stay at the Oasis hostel”, which is exactly what we did. The hostel was terrific, we met young people from all over the world- traveling and seeing the world, just like us. Our roommates were Australian, French, and Indian, and we all had a great time getting to know one another and exploring the city together. Chloe and I heard through the grapevine that there was a bullfight that night, and we hopped in a taxi to see it. For the sake of anyone reading this, I will spare the details, but it is fair to say that we were both horrified and fascinated by this event. The matadors are quite incredible, beautiful, talented, and graceful, but this display unfortunately ends up in a relatively gruesome death for multiple bulls. We then went to dinner and discovered the lengthy event that is a Spanish dinner- something we were not able to get used to even after eating multiple meals in the country.

The next morning we woke up early to get breakfast, and passed by a large church in the middle of a service. We joined in for some readings and communion, accepting “El cuerpo de Christo” (the body of Christ), before ducking out to see what else Sevilla had to offer. We checked out Casa de Pilatos, a large house that was legendary for its relation to Pontius Pilate. The entire ground floor consists of a grand courtyard, gardens, and multiple rooms COMPLETELY covered in tile. It was absolutely gorgeous and consumed us for hours. One of the best things about Spanish culture is the traditional Siesta, which Chloe and I had no problem participating in that afternoon. We had new hostel roommates who joined us for paella dinner on the rooftop of our hotel, a local flamenco show, and a fun night out in the squares around Sevilla.

We packed up the next morning in preparation for our bus back to Cadiz, but began the day by going to the Real Alcazar, a palace that is absolutely gigantic and far too easy to get lost in (and free for students with ID!). Parts of the architecture date back to AD 913 and the splendor of this palace is indescribable. We quickly made friends with a gardener, Raphael, who became our personal tour guide and catered to our very tight schedule. We pointed to a picture in the guidebook, he said a bunch of stuff in very fast Spanish, and then took off through the maze of rooms and gardens to take us to the spot we were looking for. We read the description of the area, took pictures, tried to decipher what Raphael was telling us, and moved on. We made it to the bus stop for an early afternoon bus and arrived back in Cadiz around 1530 hours, plenty early for the mandatory on-ship time of 1800 hours.

So then the ship set sail again. The seasickness came back and I was in bed early! Sevilla was incredible and Chloe and I agree that we had a successful first trip which we were proud to have planned and executed on our own. Besides the long meals, very fast Spanish, and intolerance of many of the locals (waiters, taxi drivers, store owners) towards our broken Spanish and unfamiliarity with the city, we had a wonderful time finding our way around southern Spain. There are a few things we are planning to bring from Spain to the US- painted wooden fans, flamenco dresses, and siesta time, to name a few.

Rather than going back to class after Spain, the shipboard community participated in “Morocco Day” during the one day it took to get from Spain to Morocco. This day consisted of a guest speaker, a movie, and multiple meetings relating to the culture of Morocco and the logistics of being a Semester at Sea student in Morocco. Only 36 hours after leaving Cadiz, we arrived in Casablanca, Morocco. And that is where this long entry ends. I will write again when we set sail from Casablanca!