Jillian in Madrid

I don't really have a lot to say about this trip except wow is Segovia pretty. When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was the giant, 20-century old Roman Aqueduct that was constructed entirely of stone and without any grout or sealant to hold the thing together, so it's literally relied on gravity and physics to not topple down and crush anyone who walks under it. The second thing we noticed was how COLD and WINDY it was. Consequently, it seemed like our handy dandy tour guide, Marta, wasn't really feeling the whole tour thing. Understandable. Considering today was the first time I've felt even mildly cold in Spain, I can only imagine what the poor Spaniards who lack decades of conditioning from Minnesota winters feel like.   We walked by the Cathedral of Segovia, which was actually probably my favorite that we have seen so far. Rather than the Gothic architecture that inspired most of Spain's cathedrals, this one is Roman inspired and cracked the munda...

"Let's take an overnight bus to Portugal," I said. "We're young, and 10 hours isn't that long," I said. Well, after this trip I realized that I'm not as young as I thought, and that 10 hours is a looooooooong time to spend on a bus. Despite the soul-sucking journey which left me ill for the whole weekend, my time in Lisbon, Portugal was extremely... pleasant. I had received some insight from my internship supervisor, Luis, about Portugal before I left. In addition to recommending we visit Sintra and Cascais (which we did), he explained that everyone in Portugal is very kind and pleasant, and that the town of Lisbon itself is a bit run-down (due to its position along the Atlantic and exposure to the elements), but nevertheless full of old-world charm. Seeing as we arrived at 5:30am, an hour before the metro opened and could take us to our hostel, the charm wasn't made apparent right away. However, once we made it to our hostel, Luis...

After a grueling 2-day week our entire program group loaded onto a private bus and made our way to Andalucía, the southernmost autonomous community of Spain, for a 3-day educational excursion. On the docket, Córdoba and Granada. First stop, Córdoba  Córdoba was at one point the most important Muslim city in all of Spain, and was a central part of the Islamic world during the Middle Ages. Accordingly, it is home to one of the most elaborate mosques in the world: La Mezquita de Córdoba. Over the centuries, the mosque has gone through numerous renovations. Adhering to the traditional simplicity of Islamic architecture, it began as a rather humble building, less than a 10th of its current size. One renovation doubled its size to accommodate for population growth, another doubled it again, and a final renovation tripled its size. It's really neat because you can denote on the floor where each new renovation began. Like Toledo, Córdoba was targeted once the Ca...