Khmer Rouge

Just saw this on my desktop news. I find it interesting because last semester I took History of the Vietnam War and one of our lectures covered Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

>Khmer Rouge accused faces survivors at trial<


-clh

Barcelona

Rainy, Lyxan, Good Food, Gaudi, Picasso, La Rambla, Catalan

Madrid, finally I say.

AND EVEN MORE…


I am slightly sick of writing, but I know that if I don’t get it done right now, I probably won’t get back to it. And Madrid was the main city right?

So Madrid beats Sevilla in food, nightlife, shopping, people, music, and art. Have I forgotten anything?
I ate comida Cubano, comida Chino, comida Turco in the capital. Amazing because Spanish food had no flavor. Where is Mexican food when you need it? Oh that’s right, in Texas…

In Madrid I went to the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofia Art Museum, and the Parque de Retiro. I loved loved loved the park which is comparable to Central Park in NYC. And thought I liked the Prado because it holds so many important pieces of art, I am not the hugest fan of religious artwork. Therefore I loved the Reina Sofia much more. It has the most famous Pablo Picasso painting, Guernica, and many paintings by Salvador Dali, Miró, Gris, and more artists.

The park had this cool glass palace, the “only” statue in the world dedicated to the devil, El Angel Caído, music playing hippies, and tons of people watching.

The last night we were there, Saturday, I went with two girls to go to a jazz concert. Too bad that we got there too late and the place was so packed that they couldn’t let us in. So we turned around and headed down the street looking for a place to rest our tired tired feet. Around the corner there was a small place that advertised live music, so we went in and listened to a local band play. I thought they were decent enough, though my friends didn’t agree with me. The only thing that I could have done without was this one chick who played a flute, a clarinet, the piano, and also tried to sing. I think they allowed her into their band out of pity.

Sunday we took the AVE tren home to Sevilla and I arrived in much need of rest. Ironic eh? Isn’t Spring Break supposed to be a relaxing week?? Adios amigos y familia. I’m off to BARCELONA tomorrow with Lyx! Cheers for more traveling!
-Corey

Pictures:

1. Mascarpone cake. The first legit cake I've seen in Spain, and the leftovers heated in our microwave was heaven.
2. The rows and rows of taxis infront of the train station.
3. The band we saw. I think multi-task girl is in the background...
4. And the sign of the band that we didn't see.
5. Dancing for money infront of the famous El Oso y El Madroño (Bear and the Tree).
6. Parque de Retiro at dusk.
7. Hippies playing drums in the park's plaza. The drums were resonating off the walls.
8. A tree that was covered in carvings.
9. The Crystal Palace that was in Retiro.
10. Chillin'. Look at hot stuff in the center there.
11. A street band playing for money. They were really entertaining.

Parte Dos

AND MORE…

After Toledo, I visited the palace of Felipe II built in 1560. It is called El Escorial and let me tell you that it is one big sucker. It wasn’t too beautiful though, because Felipe II was muy religious and liked the cold, austere look. What a guy.

In El Escorial lies the Royal Pantheon, where most of the kings and their wives of Spain have been buried. It was a solemn environment and you could tell that Spaniards take this stuff seriously.

I have my days confused already, so I am not sure about which day we went to El Escorial because I also went to La Granja, the Burbon’s palace from the 18th Century. The gardens there were beautiful and I liked that palace a lot better than Felipe’s. I still didn’t care much for the actual building though, my main focus was outside.

Okay
After La Granja, the final sight outside of Madrid was the Roman aqueduct in Segovia. It doesn’t contain any glue/nails/cement/etc. to hold it together but rather relies on key-blocking. That is when you carve out-ies and in-ies into the large stones and lay them on top of each other. By pure pressure and engineering, they stay put. This structure was amazing because it is still standing 2000 years later.

And Segovia is known for their suckling pig, so I went with some professors and friends to see what it was about. Looked OK :)

Also there was a castle that Walt Disney based his Disney Castle off of, and tiny streets to wander about in. We stumbled upon the old Jewish quarters and there was some very beautiful doors and old wooden beams still supporting buildings.
Off to Madrid.

-clh

Pictures:

1. El Escorial, or at least a tiny part of it.
2. Iglesia de Vera Cruz (Church of the Holy Cross), a perfectly round church in Segovia that has many legends around it.
3. a building in the Jewish quarter, including old wooden beams
4. suckling pig
5. and the bill
6. The Segovia Cathedral, the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain
7. The Roman aqueduct
8. can you see it?
9. at the La Granja, overlooking a part of the jardins (gardens)
10. view of the La Granja from the jardins
    
    

Parte Uno de Spring Break

Happy Spring!

Why do my Mondays seem to be so busy lately? Yesterday we got back from our big Spring Break trip to Toledo, Segovia, and Madrid. We had tons to do and there was never any down time, so I am still a little bit exhausted from traveling. But I better find energy for this weekend because I am meeting my friend Lyxan in Barcelona!

Back to last week though (and this is promising to be a long blog post guys):

I left at 6:30 am and headed to Toledo on Tuesday (16th) by autobus. We made several stops before we got to Toledo. The first one was Castillo de Calatrava la Nueva. It is an old castle that was built and used by the Calatrava Order of Knights. There were way too many stairs and uphill climbing to make life comfortable. The movies make things so much pleasanter. I didn’t take any pictures of the whole castle, so if you want to see how big it is, just google the name and it will pop up.

Then we were off to Almargo, a small town that is famous for their lace and pickled eggplant. The reason we stopped there was to visit this theater that dates back to the 16th or 17th century and a playwright named Lope de Vega used the “Corral” to show his many many plays ( we are talking a couple thousand compared with Shakespeare’s 40).

Finally, thank goodness after an entirely too long bus ride we got to Toledo and ate supper. The next morning about 20 of us went to a Catholic mass in the Cathedral that was very unique. It was an original Gregorian style mass that was chanted in Latin. A once in a lifetime kinda deal unless you live in Toledo.

Also we saw one of the most famous paintings by the artist El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgoz. Of all the artists that we have studied from the 16th and 17th Centuries in Spain, I like El Greco the best.

Hmm, oh yeah, before we got to Toledo we made a quick and windy stop at some old windmills to commemorate Don Quijote de la Mancha. Don Quijote jousted a windmill in the novel by Cervantes, so we had to take a picture in front of one. The wind there reminded me of home sweet home.

Actually, I am going to break this into several posts. I mean crap, I’m already getting bored with this. So this is the first two days of my trip, and here are photos.

-clh

Pictures in order:

1. Map of Spain, the yellow dots are the places I went to last week.
2. An example of a "corral" where the plays were held. This actually might be the one that I saw in Almargo.
3. An illegally taken picture of The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.
4. Windmill somewhere in the mancha of Spain.
5. An above view of part of the Castillo de Calatrava.
6. Landscape view from the Castillo. Spring has definitely hit Spain and I love it.

Monday Madness

Hey!
I am leaving tomorrow morning headed for Toledo, Segovia, and Madrid. We are staying till Sunday and after that, I only have 4 more weeks of school left! hell yeah! And this last Saturday a few of us took a train to the nearby playa (beach) at Cádiz for a day of relaxation. Here are pictures I've taken lately...
Ciao!

Bored

Aww, look at those pretty ladies. I'm excited for Kristen, she is going to study in Germany this summer! And Lyxan is in London right now, and in three weeks, we are meeting up in Barcelona! I can't wait!

Other news: 5 weeks of school left, and I am already getting the lazy bug and not wanting to study or do homework at all :(

And in about a week, our group is going to Madrid for 6 days. Our last excursion together, the rest of the semester is up to individuals to decide if they want to travel more or not.

That's all folks,

corey

Lisboa

"Flora" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Bom dia!


Just got back from four days in Lisbon, Portugal. It was so much different from Seville and I loved it. In Lisbon, we traveled mostly by metro, and I have to say that I enjoy public transportation, even the freaks and creeps who come along with it. Today was the first day of our second semester here, and a halfway point for my time here in Europe.


My room is a mess from unpacking and I am still not back in school mode since getting back late in the afternoon yesterday from our trip. I was going to say that I think spring has made it to Sevilla because of all the flowers I saw yesterday, but today and the rest of this week the weather turned cold and rainy again...yuck. So today I am just going to chill and do homework for my Spanish and History classes..yuck.


What Lisbon offers:

1: a paradise for English speakers-while the language is Portuguese, they speak and understand a lot of my language, thank you Jesus-which leads to #2

2: Cristo Rei- a huge Jesus statue that mirrors the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was built to be smaller on purpose though.

3:The largest suspension bridge in Europe and the longest bridge in Europe-I crossed both on the bus. The April 25th Bridge I crossed 4 times. Any ship in the world cross under it; it is that tall.

4:Great food. I ate at a Brazilian steak house which was delicious, but probably a waste for me because I declined the many pork and beef offers. But there was also great Indian food, Chinese food, and African food to choose from. That's because those places all have close relationships with their mom-country Portugal.

5:One of the largest shopping malls in Europe: Colombo Shopping Center...yeah I went there

6:The second largest oceanarium in the world. It was built in 1998 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Vasco de Gama's voyage. I went there too, but my camera died the night before so no pictures.

7:Fun and diverse nightlife

8:Cool museums and art galleries, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum which is a collection of art that the man of the same name collected throughout his lifetime and when he died in the 1950's, he left it to the city of Lisbon.


I hope y'all have a great week and be safe.

-corey

The Cristo Rei. I stole this picture from the internet.

a lion statue at the Jerónimos Monastery

two randos at the Belém Tower: a fortess built to guard the city in 1515

Belém Tower of Lisbon and its minature-by the way, Belém=Bethlehem

Ponte 25 de Abril (April 25th Bridge) with Lisbon in the background. I am standing under Cristo Rei.

view of the bay