Life is Good

A few weeks ago back on April 28th, my host family and I took  day trip to Cordoba, a very historic city of Spain. We visited the the Great Mosque (Mezquita), as well as a former royal palace. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture. Way back long ago (my history isn't so great) Christians were going through Spain, tearing down all the mosques in order to build Catholic churches in their place. Well, when the Christians came across the Mezquita of Cordoba, they didn't end up destroying it because of its grand beauty. Instead, they built the church inside.  So now when you go inside, one can see both the Muslim and Christian influence between both the architecture and decor. The Mezquita was truly astounding inside. Here are some photos to give you an idea of what it's like:

The most famous view in the Mezquita

The Catholic Church area. People still go in to pray.

This is just one of the incredible ceilings.

My host mom and I

The next weekend I went into the sea for the first time in my life!!! I've lived right next to it for almost eight months, and finally jumped in a couple of weeks ago. It was salty and a even bit rocky at the beach I was in,  but I didn't care; it was an amazing experience!

Such a lovely afternoon at the beach ^_^

On April 13th, I had the chance to go to a real soccer game here! I went to Malaga city with my host parents, along with a family friend and Juan's sister, and we watched Malaga C.F. play AND win! (Malaga is on the same level as Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc. They're kind of a big deal.) It was a very important game for Malaga because if they won, it meant they would be bumped into the National Championships League (for the first time in history) and be playing with the best teams in Europe next season. Everyone was so ecstatic that they won; the energy throughout the entire game was incredible really. People get excited about sports in the US, but not quite like Spain. Spain is passionate about their soccer! People stood cheering for a good 20 minutes or so after Malaga won. People were honking their horns to the Malaga cheer all across town in the middle of the night! The whole city was bustling with joy.

Those have been the highlights of the past few weeks. Other than that, life is pretty normal: school during the week, hanging out with friends on the weekends. I have less than a month of school left. In fact, there's less than a month left until my class trip to Italy!! I am so excited, I can't even explain. It seems unreal. Italy was my second country choice for exchange, so to be able to visit it for a week is such an amazing opportunity. Other than that, the Marbella Fair is coming up in a few weeks. Also, I'll be visiting the Alhambra in Granada soon! My class from the US is taking a trip to Spain next month, so I'm hoping to be able to visit them. June is going to be a pretty busy month, but I don't think I have anything planned for July except to go to the beach with my friends! I hope to visit Madrid and/or Barcelona before I leave, but I still don't know if I'll be able to. I guess we'll see.

I believe that's all for now. Sorry for not posting in a while! I'll talk to you guys soon.
Josie

 P.S. Cinco de Mayo isn't celebrated in Spain -- it's observed in the US and Mexico.