Flamenco Class

Every Fall and Spring semesters the Semester In Spain programs offers flamenco classes for the students. The classes are taught by Sylvia Santoro a professional dancer from Barcelona who now lives in Sevilla with her husband. Sylvia teaches the class a certain type of flamenco dance called sevillanas which just about anyone born in Sevilla grows up learning.

The classes take place on every Monday night in the library at the school and the semester of classes end with a Fiesta de Flamenco where the girls borrow flamenco dresses and the boys dress their best to put on a show for the rest of the school. This year the fiesta took place at La Caridad a convalescent home for elderly men.

Enjoy these videos of the two different groups of students!

Those who attend the Spring semester then get to then use their newly acquired skill to dance sevillanas with the locals at the annual Feria, a week long festival of eating, drinking, and dancing sevillanas.

Ronda

Last week Friday the school took a trip through the winding mountainous roads to the city of Ronda, found in the province of Malaga. Unfortunately, once because of the large amount of rain once again, we were unable to stop by the Roman ruins of Acinipo because the road had been washed out. But that meant that more time could be spent exploring Ronda.

The first stop in Ronda was the plaza de toros, which in fact is the oldest operating bull fighting ring in Spain. Ronda is also know for its horsemanship so students got to view a training session in la Escuela de Equitación next to the ring.

Random Fact: Madonna shot her music video for the song "Take a Bow" in this ring.

Profesora Cecilia came along as a tour guide on this excursion. She knows Ronda well because her husband Enrique was born there. Her mother-in-law or "suegra" met up with us to help show us around.

One of the most impressive structures in the city is the Puente Nuevo or the "New Bridge" built in 1751. The bridge took 42 years to build. The chamber underneath has been used for a variety of things, including a prison.

After crossing the bridge to explore the old part of the city, we found ourselves with beautiful views on all sides with many different lookout points available.

The last part of the day we entered into the old water mine below La Casa del Rey Morro. It was built to be an easy access to the Guadalevin River if the city was under siege. It actually ended up being the downfall of the Moors when that Catholic Monarchs captured the mine and were able to cut off the city's water supply.

The view from the bottom, about 300 ft. down. It feels like being in a different world.

The trip to Ronda from Sevilla is definitely worth the 2 1/2 hour bus ride. It is really a city like no other and is often found to be the favorite excursion of many students.

Los Molinos and Toledo

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."

- from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Last week Thursday and Friday the school took at trip up to Toledo. On the way we stopped briefly at the windmills or "molinos" in Castile-La Mancha made famous in the book Don Quixote.

You can view more of our photos HERE

This is a view of the city of Toledo from "the mirador," a viewing spot on the other side of the river. This gives you an idea that the city was built in medieval times with protection in mind. Toledo was the original capital of Spain.

After we arrived and got settled into the the hotel we met up again at the church of Santo Tomé to view the most famous painting of Renaissance painter El Greco. No pictures were allowed of the painting but here is a image from the internet. I don't believe that any camera could capture the large size and color of real life. The story behind the painting is very interesting so if you would like, you can read more HERE.

Next we headed to the Monasterio San Juan de los Reyes.

This monastery was founded by the famous King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and has motifs and coat of arms of the Catholic Monarchs everywhere. Students enjoyed the peacefulness of the small garden in the middle of the cloister. More info HERE

The rest of the day students had the opportunity to wander the small maze-like streets of the medieval city. It was easy to stumble upon stores filled to the brim with swords made by the famous smiths of Toledo.

The next day, after having seen only the tower stick out high above from the streets the day before, we finally found ourselves in front of the great cathedral of Toledo. This cathedral is considered to be the pinnacle of the Gothic style in Spain. Students explored the inside and took in all the beautiful architecture and history. Inside the vestry we found a great collection of paintings and artifacts, including more famous paintings by El Greco. Read more about the cathedral HERE.

After the cathedral some of us head back to Sevilla and others took advantage of their proximity to Madrid and headed to the current capital for the weekend. Madrid is a half an hour train ride from Toledo.

You can view more of our pictures from Toledo HERE

Serving at Los Naranjos

On Saturday, students had the opportunity to serve one of the local churches in the area by helping them fix up their retreat center. The church is called Prosperidad and each week they let us use their building for a service on Wednesday nights called Encuentro. The retreat center is called Los Naranjos and is a hour and a half train ride out of the city. Prosperidad, along with four other churches, bought the old military base years ago and have slowly been improving it and expanding it as a retreat center.

Our job for the day was to repaint and clean one of the apartments.

Emily, Kat, and Liz jumped on the chance to serve.

The owners treated us to a nice lunch, served camp style.

After lunch we enjoyed a nice walk along the river to the waterfall. The cool part about this was that normally it is not much of a waterfall, but because of all the recent rain, the river is stronger than ever.

The finished product!

The couple who ran the camp were very grateful for the help and the students enjoyed the change of scenery from the city for a day. They invited us back to come and help out or just enjoy the camp anytime.

Trip to Cordoba

Last week friday, Semester in Spain took a trip to the city of Cordoba. Cordoba is well known for La Mezquita, or the great mosque, which is actually used as a cathedral today. Professors José María Navarro (History) and Carmen Suarez (Art History) came along as the professional tour guides.

The architecture inside La Mezquita tells its history. The first thing you notice on entering is the seemingly endless Muslim double arches and the 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble, and granite. On the other side you will see the beautifully decorated mihrab, which is just as famous for its beauty as it is for the fact that it faces directly south even though Mecca is southwest.

But as you wander into the middle you find yourself in a drastically different atmosphere. For when Cordoba was recaptured from the Muslim army in 1236, the mosque was converted into a Christian church. A Gothic style nave was built in the very middle of the structure.

After exploring the church the group walked over the Roman bridge and entered in the Calahorra Tower where audio tours were available about the history of the city and how the three cultures of Christianity, Muslim, and Judaism lived side by side. One highlight of the trip, for student Kat Hewett, was being able to climb the stairs to the roof of the tower and get a great view of the bridge and city.

After the tour the student were set loose to eat lunch and explore the city. The bridge and cathedral are found in the old part of the city where you encounter small winding streets in the old Jewish quarter.

Cordoba makes a great day trip from Seville, being only an hour and forty-five minutes away.

You can view more photos from the trip HERE.

Video!