La Catedral, Capilla Real y La Corrida de Toros

The beginning of La Corrida de Toros with horses!

A matador, with his capote (cape) attempting to control the bull!

Some of the matadors.

A matador with his red cape (called a muleta).

Me at the arena before La Corrida started.


La Catedral y Capilla Real:

Me in La Catedral in front of the columns. They are huge!

La Catedral.

La Catedral.

The outside of La Capilla Real.

The outside of La Capilla Real.

Hello!

As of today I am finished with Intensivo!! Yay! I took the test for that class today and had my other test yesterday, so I am done :) On Thursday Oct 1 our fall break begins and I leave for Pais Vasco (Basque Country) for 6 days! I am super stoked to go :) When I get back next week we start our classes. I am going to be taking Art History (from Baroque to present) and Politics of the European Union, along with a required grammer Spanish class. For the rest of the semester I will be taking these classes along with the Spanish Culture class I have been taking from day one.

So as for the happenings of the past week, besides studying I found time for fun! Libby and I went to a market that was about a block from our house where they were selling fruit, dried fruit, nuts, candy and pastries! Yum! I bought some nuts and a pastry! So good :) On Saturday we had our last "paseo" or walk with Alfonso to La Catedral in Granada (the Cathedral) and La Capilla Real (which is a church where the Catholic kings are buried). They are both amazing buildings and the art and archetecture are awesome. Unfortunatly we couldn't take pictures inside La Capilla Real, but I have lots of pictures from La Catedral!

Then on Sunday Libby and I, along with some other people, went to La Corrida de Toros in Granda. La Corrida is a bull fight, with matadors (bull fighters) and fancy costumes. It's also quite a controversial event because it involves the killing of 6 bulls. For the most part I enjoyed myself. The killing of the bulls and the blood was hard to watch, but having learned about the event in my culture class, I was mentally prepared for it. The coolest parts were the matadores' costumes and how they used the capes (or capotes) to control the bull. It was also helpful that we had some native Spaniards next to us that knew all about the Corrida and they helped to explain to us what was going on some of the time and why certain things happened certain ways. For example, after one bull was killed, two horses dragged it in a circle around the arena. It was a little odd, but the Spaniards said it was a way of commemerating the bull because it had been a good bull. Huh! It's a strange way to commemorate the bull, but I guess it was something! Oh and there was another exciting part! One of the matadors tripped and fell and the bull chased him and knocked him in circles a few times with his horns before the other matadores distracted the bull. The matador got gored in the leg! It wasn't too bad, but he was bleeding. That was in the beginning and but he continued! It was crazy! The whole crowd gasped when it happened! So did I! The matador that got hurt is the one in the orange outfit in my photos (if you look close you can see blood a little above his knee). Anyways, overall I am glad I went because it was an experience I will remember forever.

That was the most exciting event of the weekend because most of it was filled with studying! This week will be crazy busy with travelling. If I don't have time I might not be able to write a post in between my trip to San Sebastian and my trip to Valencia the following weekend. So look forward to a post about my trips in a few weeks!

Un Abrazo (A hug),

Annie