The Romance of Cordoba

When I got back to Valencia after Stockholm it was 1:30am, and as you can imagine, I was exhausted, BUT I was leaving for Cordoba with my university group at seven, so that night was 1.5 hours of sleep and the rest was showering, packing, and COFFEE. We took a huge tourist bus to Cordoba, which was 6 hours of uncomfortable but gratifying sleep. As soon as we stepped off the bus I fell in love. One deep breath in and I could smell fresh flowers, the bark of the trees, and the sun beating upon my skin. It was almost romantic, but not quite. Right outside of our hotel was a line from a poem: "Por fin te he encontrado." Which means: "Finally, I have found you." Okay, now it was romantic. Not to mention I was sharing a hotel room with three of the coolest chics on the program and our room had two balconies facing the street and if you opened the windows you got slamed with the smell of flowers, and we had a full kitchen, complete with plates and silverware. Totally romantic. I was so happy.

the view outside our window of the hotel

checking out the balconies

After we got settled in we took off into the casco antiguo, or the old city. It was like Toledo, which meant you got lost if you looked at a map. It was just better to wander and eventually you always ended up in the same spot. I was super excited because the harsh change in temperature from northern Sweden to southern Spain was MAGNIFICENT. We all got a wee bit sunburnt but loved it. What a gorgeous day. Not to mention that besides Cuenca, Cordoba is my favorite city in Spain. Every city has a specific feeling, and for me, Cordoba was one of general-good-feelingness-romance. Yeah, I know that's not english, but hey, back off. I'm going a little nuts. It's exam time and I've been pacing back and forth gulping coffee and writing about the nonexistence of reality. Whew.

sunny, gorgeous streets, complete with gorgeous Kaitlin

romance! Hilary and I

True love: Rocinante and I

in the streets of Cordoba

this dude is a jewish philosopher (forget his name), but the legend is is that if you rub his feet you'll get good luck

wow, the first sunset I saw in Spain!

That night, because we were all poor and was aching to cook, the girls had a dinner which consisted of a salad of fresh greens, strawberries, walnuts, goat cheese, and carrrots. Yummmmm Tapas of bread, cheeeeeeese, olives (which were immediatly and completely devoured) and some wine. Yeah, we like it classy. It was a great night, tranquil, for the most part, and the first time all the girls ate dinner together. Very nice. We had a modeling competicion, which, no worries, was totally not serious, but completely hilarious. I lost. I won't post the pictures so as not to embarrass ourselves. :)

chef Anna

yes, there are 3 bottles of wine, but there were 9 girls...

yummmmm