Spain is the second country that I’ve been to, and it’s also the second country that I’ve been too that I would return to, if not live in. Spain was a great country to go to to get Semester at Sea started. The first thing that I noticed was the color of the water…it was beautiful. It was a cross between turquoise and cerulean, being more turquoise colored near the shore, combining in between to make an eye popping azure, and the further you looked out it was cerulean through and through. Spain was beautiful even before I set foot on land.
The ship has a set of meetings in the union that go over cultural and logistic information for the next port, which for Spain was a few nights leading up to getting in port. For Morocco, it’s the day of getting into port, all rolled into one. Dean David (who is a Spanish Knight) went over things to do in Spain, Spanish food, Spanish art, and Spanish architecture; all great things to know since I was entirely ignorant of Spanish culture. Before we are allowed to get off the ship, customs must come aboard the ship and check all of the passports, which you can then pick up if you need it, or wait to if you don’t.
After getting off the ship, one thing became obvious as I made my way into the city. It’s obvious because we were in Spain, but no one was speaking English. All of the signs were in Spanish, and it was a daunting feeling. It was the unfamiliar, the strange, and it was intriguing. I was uncomfortable to the point that I forgot all of the Spanish I ever knew, and it was something that I found myself very aware of, but only when I had to talk to people. It was an odd feeling, going from being so comfortable at home, to being uncomfortable on the ship until I got the feel of it, and then to being thrown into another country, another culture…another world. It’s quite an experience.
I got off the ship with a group of people and we walked around Cadiz for the day. It is a small city, easy to navigate, and lined with shops and restaurants bustling with activity. We walked along the main street, stopping to see the golden topped cathedral, and then we stopped at the beach, putting our feet in the water, and observing the locals. While we moved around the city the whole day, and our location changed…one thing did not; people never stopped looking at us. Whether it was when we stopped to get sangria and tapas, or when we went out to dinner, and even when we went to a bar afterwards, we got stares the entire time. They weren’t obvious, nor where they looks of anger or of offence…just looks of intrigue and wonder, almost verging on marvel. We were a foreign people in their little city, and they wanted to know what we were all about.
It sounds so pompous to say that I assumed that people would speak English, and it probably is, but I did assume that people would speak English, especially being in Europe…however that wasn’t the case…not even close. When I say that no one spoke English, I mean it. No one spoke English, and even as I emphasize this I am aware that they (citizens of Spain) should not be expected to speak English. Why should we expect or assume that they would do something to make my time in their country easier? But actually one person did speak English, one very unlikely person. Let me digress so that I may explain. There is a large plaza, about a ten minute walk from the port entrance in which anyone may use the free Wi-Fi that is provided. Along the sides of the plaza are cafes, restaurants, and a few shops. However, the main focal point of the plaza is the large golden dome topped cathedral, of which during our stay you could find a number of Semester at Sea students sitting on its 900 year old steps. The plaza is filled with any number of people eating, enjoying some coffee or sangria, or grabbing a quick cup or cone of gelato (I had some mojito flavored gelato…AMAZING!), but the one group of people that you could always count on being in the plaza were a homeless trio. They consisted of a woman and two men, and were sometimes (but not often) joined by a third man. They were dirty, dressed in ragged clothing, and always had large bottles of beer with them, which they constantly drank from. Anyway, getting back to the English thing, this woman, with her black feet, and ratty hair who had not showered in days in not weeks, had somehow found the time to learn English. I was shocked, partly because she was the only person I met in Spain that understood what I was saying, but because it really showed me that appearance has nothing to do with the person within. Even across the Atlantic ocean, simple philosophies of treating people the way we would want to be treated apply. Many people would write this woman off as worthless, and lazy mooching off of society, yet those that would think that did so without knowing the effort that she had put into learning a language that no one spoke where she was from, and was most likely not an easy feat. Even if the only conversation we had consisted of her asking me for cigarettes, and when I said no asking me for money for cigarettes it’s just something that I find worthy of observation, and even though she’ll never read this, worthy of credit.
Anyway, after exploring the city for the day, Shelley, Ariel, and myself returned to the ship to shower, nap, and relax. Later that evening a group of us all met up and went out to explore the nightlife. We really wanted to get some tapas, as earlier that day we wondered about and finally settled for lunch at café, so this time we were not about to go without. Traveling with a group of eleven can be difficult. Not only because we have to try to stay together, but also because in Europe, everything is smaller, including their restaurants, which meant that seating that many people was almost impossible. We finally found a place that brought tables outside for us. After overlooking the menus (and finding many different types of tapas) we ordered, and awaited our meal with many glasses of sangria. I had ordered croquettes and chorizo, and the chorizo was delicious, but the croquettes had an odd consistently that I wasn’t a fan of. The dinner conversation was fantastic, the atmosphere was amazing, and the night was still young at midnight (well in Spain it was, where it is normal for small children to still be out at two or three in the morning). To wrap the dinner up, our waitress Inés brought us out free shots of Sobieski caramel flavored vodka, and after a toast and a cheer, we tossed them down, and it was delicious!
Inés had also given us free drink tickets to a local bar down the street, thanks to Shelley and her Spanish, so we walked around for a few minutes and made our way over. Not everyone came with us, so we had a little bit of a smaller group, which was nice, and we were also the only Americans there, which was also very nice. Hanging out with the locals is always fun, and some of us had a little more fun than others, but it was an awesome night, and I’m glad that I went. After going to the bar, we all headed back to the ship, but once inside I saw a few more people going out again, and even though it was four in the morning, I got a second wind and went back out with some other people and got back and into bed at seven in the morning.
The next day was pretty uneventful, since I slept until four thirty in the afternoon. When I finally got up my roommate was on the way out and I left with him, still not wanting to go out on my own as it was only the second day in Spain. We were on our way to the plaza to use the internet, but on the way I saw Jordan, who I went out with the night before, and sat down with her and her friend Katie to show them the pictures from the night before. We made plans to go back to the ship, hang out, then go back out and use the internet at the plaza, and then go out for sangria and tapas again. When we went back to the plaza we were all sitting on the steps of the cathedral with our computers on our laps, making quite a spectacle of ourselves. People (not only Spaniards, but also other SAS’ers) were taking pictures of seven of us sitting in a row. After that we went back to the ship to drop our computers off, and then went back out for food, having to split up into two groups because we had picked more people along the way. My group went back to the same place that I ate at the night before to see Inés again, who once again provided excellent service and brought us out free shots of the same delicious vodka that she had the night before. After dinner, everyone but a girl named Rachel and I wanted to stay out, and ended up running into some friends of mine Liz and Elizabeth, and decided to go sit outside at a bar and relax. When they closed at 12:30, we walked back to the ship, and were able to get a photo session with the port police, who graciously agreed to pretend to arrest me for a photo. That night was really fun, and Liz and Elizabeth are a blast to hang out with...so much so that I passed out as soon as I got back to my room.
The next morning, I had to wake up early so that I could make it to my trip to Seville and Cordoba. After breakfast, we got on the bus for a two hour bus ride to Seville. The day consisted of a tour of the city, unfortunately making us into obvious tourists. After being on the bus for two hours, we were on the bus, off the bus for the entire day, stopping at various sites around the city, with fifty people (all with their cameras out) until we left. It was awful. Unfortunately the trip was $389 and couldn’t be traded, or (as bad as it was) given away, so I stuck it out. The highlight was going to the cathedral which housed the remains of Christopher Columbus, something that I really wanted to see, and was glad that I did. We left Seville in the afternoon and made our way to Cordoba, which was another two hours in the bus. When we got to Cordoba, we had free time until dinner, which was unfortunate because there was nothing to do there. The hotel was uncomfortable, the food was really bad, but the company was decent, and the experience of going other places besides staying in Cadiz was worth it, which overshadowed everything else. The second day in Cordoba was the same was the day before, with a city tour, on and off the bus, being as touristy as we could. I would have loved to be dropped off and allowed to explore the city on my own, but the whole experience was…well and experience. If I could have gone back and done something different I definitely would not have booked any SAS day trip tours, as they bring unwanted attention and disallow seeing the true essence of the city. I was grateful to even be there so in the long run, it wasn’t that big of a concern.
After getting back to the ship (which took a four hour bus ride) I took a shower and relaxed. Later that night I went out with my roommate Jon and a few of our friends for a good time. We were planning on going to a bar on the beach; however they were all closed so we found somewhere else and enjoyed the night there. We ran into two kids from England who were studying abroad in Spain, as well as a mother and daughter from Germany who were visiting Cadiz, and it was great to be able to talk to some other people in English for a while. It was a fun last night in Spain.
My last day in Spain was just running around and getting a few things done. I went out with a few people and we got some stamps and stopped at a café to get churros con chocolate. Unfortunately I couldn’t partake in their deliciousness. The day before I had an unfortunate incidence with my jaw; while I was eating breakfast the day before my jaw clicked out of place and wouldn’t go back. I was left in severe pain and could barely talk, let alone eat. I had to sit and watch four plates of delicious churros be consumed in front of me without getting a single bite. Unfortunately my jaw never went back to normal and I was unable to eat for the entire day.
Spain was amazing, and I feel so privileged to have been able to spend five days there. Cadiz was nothing like I would have expected, and neither was Seville or Cordoba. From enjoying amazing sangria at every meal, to resting during the midday siesta, eating amazing tapas, or just sitting on the steps of the cathedral, I had an amazing time. I would definitely go back to Spain, not only to visit, but possibly to live if I had the chance. I loved Spain, and I loved my time there. Thank you Spain, it’s been fantastico.
