mi buena vida: Excursion-Zaragoza, Fuendetodos, and Belchite (part 1)

Hey Everyone!!
Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I really hope you were able to sleep at night, even though there was nothing to read in my blog :( (ha-ha)

It was a normal week for me but this weekend I went on an excursion to Zaragoza, Fuendetodos, and Belchite, Spain. All three locations had something awesome to offer. Here's a picture of some of the directors and my professor (in the back). They are all truly great people. The woman in the middle is Pilar, the director of the program I'm in. The guy on the very left is her husband, the guy on the very right is Jordi (another director) and the older guy in the back is Professor Gabriel Cardona. I love them all!!!! The directors are so helpful and my professor is AMAZING!!! I was talking to them a lot, it's not because I'm a brown nose, it's because they are SUPER cool!!! (although I am a brown nose, as well). Professor Cardona is really funny, and he's also famous!!! He has a wikipedia page. That entry says he was part of the civil war (against Franco) and he's written more than 50 books!! He teaches History and makes it really fun to learn. (I love having professors like that...they always inspire me to teach and ALWAYS stick out in my mind).

This picture of them is in Belchite, Spain, where a Franquista town was bombed by the republic during the Civil war. The ruins still stand as a reminder of how destructive the Spanish Civil War (as well as all wars) is/are. It was really moving. There are more pictures HERE. NOTHING was left after the bombings. Houses, churches, etc. One website said 6,000 died in that particular town (but I'm not sure about that). It all happened about 70 years ago.

me in front of another "building"

We stayed Friday night in to Saturday morning. We stayed in this town: Fuendetodos. Population ~100 during the winter and ~200 in the summer. (that's what our tour guide said...and she lives there!!) There was ONE restaurant in the town...which we ate at for dinner (fri) and breakfast/lunch (saturday). It was so cute!! It is also the town where Francisco Goya was born. The link on his name is a link to some of his works. He was crazy!!! Besides his paintings, he's famous for "caprichos" which are stamped works of art. He carved drawings into heated copper (i think) then put ink on it and stamped them. We saw some of the original works and they were SO detailed!! Some of his works were really disturbing (aka Saturn eating his son) but others are very beautiful.

This is called La Aljaferia. Inside there is the Aljaferia palace, the Islamic palace, the Christian Medieval palace, the Palace of the Catholic Kings, and a new part where the Aragon Parliament meets. It was so gorgeous but each part was built in a different era. Christopher Columbus was inside the Palace of the Catholic Kings when he met with Isabel and Ferdinand to see about funding a trip to america!!! (I stood in the very same room as him!) I don't really like Christopher Columbus, but I thought that was cool.

Lunch on Friday: Paella and wine!!! YUMMYYYYY

Can't see it...but this was so funny. There were like 3 weddings that I saw on Friday afternoon. I saw this couple (on the left) talking to each other and smoking a cigarette all by themselves right outside of the church. I also saw waht seemed to be their family and friends talking/socializing. I just thought it was funny they needed a cig IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony.

Here's Mo, Me, Janeth, Sam, Stephanie, and Derek in front of a pretty fountain. Derek is our main guy friend, but this past weekend he decided to hang out with other guys instead of us girls so we're kind of mad at him. just kidding derek :)

One of the cathedrals we saw in Zaragoza. It's called La Seo. This type of ceiling is characteristic of the Counter Reformation in the 16th century. The counter reformation was the church's fight against Protestantism. The protestants believed in the INDIVIDUAL and the relationship between God and the individual. The Catholic church was powerful (but threatened by the rise of protestantism) and wanted people to believe they needed a powerful, catholic church to feel closer to God. The high ceilings are supposed to make an individual feel small yet part of a powerful group while they were in church.