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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 31th: Corpus Christi and Plaza España

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Today was the Spanish holiday Corpus Christi so we had a free day. Hanna and I decided to try and get the most out of Spanish immersion experience by going to watch the corpus Christi precession. There was a mass at 8 and then the parade started at 8:30 so we left the apartment at 8 for the parade. As we walked, we saw that some of the streets were covered in rosemary sprigs, creating a path for the parade to follow! Many of the storefronts were decorated ant there were plenty of catholic alters all around. The Corpus is the feast of the Catholic Church so the holiday Corpus Christi is held to celebrate the Eucharist. All of the alters I saw had bread in them representing the body of Christ and some even had bread in flower bouquets. We went to the Plaza San Francisco and found a spot to watch the parade. There was a children’s choir and a band that stood on the Plaza steps and played music as the precession went by. It was different from any parade have been to, it wasn’t loud or c
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 30th: Cordoba day trip

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We met at the train station at 9am to take our bus to Cordoba. I stopped in the McDonalds at the train station to get coffee and I met a nice man from South Africa! He was vacationing in Spain for a few weeks. I told him that a few of my friends have just finished studying in South Africa with a group from my school! This made him vary happy, he said travel is the best way to learn! He Also says he wants to visit the United States! I think he should! Especially since he spoke English! It was about a 1.5 hour drive. We met our tour guide at Cordoba who lead us through the giant mosque/cathedral. Our guide told us that in southern Spain, if you want tourism go to Seville, if you want romanticism go to Granada, if you want history go to Cordoba. Historic is the best way to describe Cordoba. I love history so Cordoba was especially thrilling. Christians ruled Cordoba until 786AD then it was overtook by Muslims who ruled it until 1236 when it was retook by Christians. I call it a mosque/
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 29th:Interview with rowing athletes and Flamenco show

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Before the trip, I asked Maria about fun things to do in Sevilla during our free time. She told us that she highly recommended the Arab baths of Sevilla. It’s kind of like a spa made from the ancient Islam bath house from when Muslims ruled Spain. When Christians retook the country, they didn’t tear down the bath area, so now it is restored and used for the same purpose it was built for! There were many options for spa visits we could choose. Some included massages, a visit to the rooftop bath or the wine bath. Hanna, Brooke and I chose the option where we could wander through their 6 main baths: warm bath, hot bath, cold bath, salt bath, steam bath and jet bath. When we got to the Arab baths, we were allowed to sit in lobby and drink tea while we waited for our session. Then we were lead upstairs to a locker room where we put on soft robes and aqua socks on our feet! We were then free to wander through the maze of baths for 90 minutes. The cold bath reminded me of taking ice bath
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 27th

Hanna and I slept in today, as most Spaniards do on Sundays. We got up and watched some cartoons with the kids who are getting cuter each day! We then got breakfast at a café. I got a chocolate croissant and a Cappuccino con coco! So delicious! I’m definitely going to miss these Spanish pastries when I go home! After breakfast Hanna and went to the Sevilla cathedral to see if we could attend a mass. I had heard that mass at the cathedral was free and all we had to do was show up when it was about to start. But when we got to the cathedral entrance, there was quite a crowd. Just inside the cathedral there was a metal gate and a security guard. I asked if we could go in for mass and he said yes and let us through the gate. He didn’t speak much English, but I think his job was to prevent tourists from getting in the cathedral only for sightseeing, and he was only letting those in who wanted to attend mass. The service was beautiful, it was in Spanish so unfortunately, I could only unders
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 26th: Granada weekend trip

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Hanna, Griffin and I got up early so we could check out the Granada cathedral before heading back to Sevilla. It is smaller than the Sevilla cathedral but just as beautiful! We tried to go inside but it was closed until 10 am. So while we waited, we got breakfast and did some shopping. I had cafe con leche, and toast with tomato and olive oil. The tomato was delicious! It wasn’t tomato slices, but puréed tomatoes that I spread on my toast! We had fun wandering around the city of granada. We stumbled upon a gorgeous building that I found out was the city hall. There were some guards in uniform and many policemen. There wer many people setting up flowers and gathering into the city hall. I later looked up Granada holidays and found out that they were prepairing to celebrate Feria del Corpus de Granada. This event is is Granada’s biggest fair. It starts every year on a Saturday, at midnight, with the alumbrao, when thousands of lights are turned on the main entrance to the fairground
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 25th: Granada weekend trip

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Hanna and I woke up at 8:30, packed our backpacks for Granada and met at the train station to take our bus to Granada! It was about a 4 hour ride and I slept pretty much the whole way! We arrived around 1:30 to Granada! The town was named after pomegranates, so pomegranate are the symbol of the city! There were pomegranate trees everywhere! The trees has blossoms but no fruit because pomegranate season is in the fall. Our tour guide had us use headsets so that we could hear what she was saying even when we weren’t close to her, but if i got too far away, I would start hearing static. This was good because I tend to wander around when taking pictures, so when I started hearing static, that was my cue to go catch up to the group! We toured Alhambra, a beautiful palace built by the Islam’s before the Catholics took over in 1492. It was full of the most gorgeous flowers I had ever seen! The roses were huge and there was colors everywhere you looked. The entire palace smelled like a f
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Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 24th: Ronda day trip

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Hanna and I woke up at 7:30 so we could get Café con Leche before our 9am but trip to Ronda. We met the group at the McDonalds by the train station. I was curious, so I looked around the McDonalds to compare it to the US, and wow, there a difference! The McDonalds has shelfs of beautiful pastries, macaroons and fresh oranges. They also have a small basketball room and a mini track for the kids to play in instead of a McDonalds play place. After exploring, we got on the bus and headed for Ronda! I’m really glad we got coffee because then I didn’t sleep on the bus and the drive to Ronda was beautiful! It took about 2 hours. This was 2 hours of beautiful olive orchards, sheep herds, and mountains. By the time we got to the town of Ronda, we were pretty high up in the mountains. We had a little bit of free time and then we met out tour guide. She asked Sean if the tour should be in English or Spanish. Her English was great, I understood every word!  Plaza de Toros de Ronda She gave us
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