Field Trip 1 - Southern Spain

Madrid:
Our first stop on our amazing trip was Madrid. We all were dead tired and had no idea what to expect from this trip. As we get of the plane my first reaction as that it was a lot colder then Barcelona since it didn't have the Mediterranean warm winds blowing on it. We check-in to our rooms then head to Plaza Mayor. We entered this grand plaza from a ascending street. It had a very unique style with 4 major towers rising up from the facades. I later found out that all the streets leading out of the plaza lead to some landmark around the city which if its true would be a very unique and appealing design. As we started to draw a marching band of men and women dressed in matching clothing; yellow hair wig, blue skirts, white blouses and red shoes. After our first sketch myself and a few fellow students stayed in Plaza Mayor to watch a street performer. He was daring I will give him that much; he climbed a light post until he noticed police officers started to come over to get him, so he ran into the crowd to finish his performance as the officers waited in the back till after his performance to get him. This first night a group of us went to a local oriental restaurant and then called it a night. The next day we woke to a very cold and rainy day which caused a lot of people to have a negative reaction toward the city if felt. We traveled around and saw an amazing park and I would have loved to stay in for hours and hours, but had to move on. We later traveled to the Prado and then we freely walked the city before heading the the hotel to get ready for an soon to be amazing time at a bar to watch the NFL Super Bowl live, congrats New York Giants!! Then it was off to our next location...Cordoba!

Cordoba:
We took a train, my first time on one, and arrived to a completely different life from anything I have ever known. The weather was beautiful and the city was small, but grand in my eyes.
As I got out of the cab an older women approached me with a piece of tree in her hand. Not knowing what to expect I just went along with it, but then found that she wanted to read my palm to get money in return. Luckily I had no money on me and got away from it with all my money and luggage. We got our rooms then were free for lunch, but Matteusz and I decided we were going to take a look around the town since we were only there for one night. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up walking at least 3 or 4 miles trying to get back. We arrived late, but jumped right into our next drawing assignment which was to sketch the inside and outside of the Mezquita. What a grand structure that was. It went through construction by 4 different rulers, but started by a 17 year old prince who's family was murdered. After that we relaxed until the real fun began...Arab Bath time! After a relaxing bath we all called it a night to wake up for our next stop on the Great Adventure...Granada!

Granada:
To get to Granada we took a 3 hour bus ride across beautiful terrain that seemed similar to a desert with mountains surrounding you. We arrived at the bus stop and cabbed over to our hotels. As we traveled through i wasn't sure what to expect, but little did I know there was beautiful and amazing sites around every corner. We walked to the Cathedral of the Annunciation then traveled into the old town for lunch. I ate a Spanish Omelet which consisted of potatoes and egg topped with sliced tomatoes and mayo...amazing! After eating we were given an assignment to get lost in the town and sketch something interesting to you. I walked around and came across this small lookout, but yet was unknowing to its grandness. I meet up with some people to return to this spot...wow...what a sign it was of the mighty Alhambra. We returned to meet up with the rest of our class to show what we did and to relax before our night time adventure back to the lookout which I discovered earlier to watch the sunset over the Alhambra. After experiencing the sunset and the personality of the town is when i realized that Granada was going to be my favorite city of the trip. The next day the class spend the majority of the day at the Alhambra looking around and learning about all the history it had. I was very moved by the beauty and the history and I never wanted to leave but I had to and as I descended the mountain Jesse and I went to look at art, we stopped for a quick yet relaxing drink in a local tea house and proceeded to walk around till we could by a fountain pen. Later in the night a large group of us went to a local bar/flamenco were we got a first hand experience with the musical life style of Spain. After we had an amazing time at the bar we returned to our room to sleep of the alcohol for our final destination....Seville!