Santillana del mar, Comillas, y Semana Santa

Today was an amazing day, other than the start, but other than that I don't want to forget about it hence me writing :] 

First off, I had a regular day of school, but got out HW free for the night. LUCKY ME!!

Second, after school we had our second excursion aka giant field trip on our big fat purple bus :] 

            Our first stop on this excursion is a town called Comilla, which is close to the caves we visited that had paintings from stone age in them (super awesome btw). Comilla is famous for a palace there, which is a "summer home" for a very well known family. First off, its a palace so its awesome. Secondly, the outside of the palace is modeled off of the gothic style, which I am quickly realizing is my favorite style. The amount of detail and creativity and patience it takes to create something like that is just completely mind-blowing to me!! The inside of the palace was mostly restored and certain things were replaced with fakes because people insist on stealing things. idiots. One part that was still original was the floors. All of them. Keep in mind this palace is over 200 years old and the floors are made of WOOD!! Our tour guide said that they clean the floors about once a month and they're fine. There is also no protective covering on it. incredible. 

           Our second stop is in a little coast town called Santillana del mar. This is what I love about my art history class: we learn about a certain time period and then get to see it! In Santillana is a cathedral of the type we have been learning about (roman style, built with rock, in the form of a giant cross, etc etc.)  We got to walk around the edges of it and then got to go inside. In. Cred. I. Ble.  It had high ceilings and was possibly one of the most serene places I have ever been (other than the tourists wandering around). After we toured the church, we had a bit of free time, in which I chose to visit the museo de tortura aka the museum of nasty ways of torturing bad people. I have to admit, they were VERY creative in the medieval ages with their spikes and chains and whips and points and saws..ugh. Chills. This town is a town from the medieval ages that still has the original buildings, the original roads, and I'm assuming the original smells also haha aka HORSE CRAP. But this city was amazing and I love being able to apply my knowledge and see it in real life. Completely adds to the whole learning experience. 

         When I was on my way home, keep in mind it's still Semana Santa, every road I took to get home got louder with the POUNDING of drums. I walked down my street to my house and was met with the beginning of the procession for today, which is my mama de espana's favorite procession. So far it was my favorite too!! I have missed the past couple days because I was meeting with my speaking partner. But it is what it is. I have decided on Friday to visit a small town that re-enacts the crucification of jesus christ. But the WHOLE town participates. I think this is goign to be one of those things that may completely blow my mind, like a real- life passion of the christ thing. eek.

I have attached a video (or two, if it will work) of today's procession for semana santa. One is ground view and the other is from my view from the balcony of the apartment. Enjoy!! Miss you all!

Semana Santa, school, and everything in between

OK so I really suck at this whole blog thing. I dont even know when the last time I wrote was SOOO i'm just going to assume it was around the first week of school. 


oh school.


its easy, yet hard at the same time.  I mean, to grasp the concepts taught in spanish is the hardest part. all the homework is just busy work, which is lame when i could be laying on a beach instead. but that's all i'm gong to say about school, cuz really, that's a minor part of this trip. 


This week is Semana Santa or literally "saint week." This is by far one of the biggest holidays in the hispanic culture and I am so excited to be here for it. Yesterday we ran into the first procession of this week and it was more creepy then anything.  All the men were dressed head to toe in black. EVERYTHING covered in black, even faces, hands, let me re-iterate EVERRRYYYTHINGGG :) It was accompanied with a slow drum rhythm of snare and bass (you'll see in the video and pic I post) it was kind of a truly awesome experience. Best part is that there are processions every day!! I am going to try and get videos of all of them. They also carry a HUGE float with like a life size statue of different figures which are incredibly detailed and hand made!! 


This week is my first paper assignment, but we only have class 3 days, which is awesome, and then a 4 day weekend. We actually have two 4 day weekends in a row!! how awesome is that?! bad news of that is that we have to make up the days we have off :\ 


Lots of changes are happening and they're all amazing. This trip so far has forced me to learn some things about me and make some hard decisions. Overall, this is the best experience of my life and I wouldn't change anything. I miss all my friends and family so much, but this trip has really helped me grow as an individual so far so I can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of the 6 weeks!! 


hasta luego!!