Where I last left off, I had just gotten back from a trip to Córdoba in the south of Spain. This post will start off with a different trip that I took at the beginning of December to Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz, two cities also in the south of Spain.
We were given off the weekend of the 4 December to celebrate “Constitution Day” here in Spain. Essentially, after the fall of Franco´s dictatorship on the 20 November 1975, a new constitution was written in 1978, which to this day, continues to guide Spanish governmental affairs. What better way to commemorate this holiday than to take a trip? It wasn´t just any trip, however, as it was a trip to the area where Spain´s very first constitution in 1812 was written after their independence from the French.
Jerez de la Frontera was our first stop, a city famous for its sherry and horses. The sherry is said to be good (friends of mine attest to it—I was given a non-alcoholic alternative to respect my religious beliefs) and various celebrities (Pasión Vega ) to important political figures (Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill) have traveled to Jerez just to try its famous drink. My favorite part of the trip, however, was a little journey through the city from inside a dark room known as a “cámara oscura.” In it, a lens and a mirror combine to give an impressive visual image of the city and highlighted all the important areas to visit, including the grand cathedral, the Moorish castle, the Tío Pepe Factory. The picture below shows the cathedral, as seen from the cámara oscura:
When we returned to Madrid, it was time to get back into finishing up what was left of the semester before winter break (exams are not until January/February). Even without exams, this time got to be really busy for a lot of students, myself included. In the last week alone, I have written three papers in Spanish for a total of about 45 pages of academic writing. It was exhausting. At least I´m getting practice, I guess! This will be a very helpful learning experience depending on what I do for graduate school.
To help celebrate the approaching festivities, and as a sign of gratitude to our office staff for such a great semester, we threw them a little surprise “thank you” gathering in our WIP office. We had the cake made in a pastelería (pastry shop) by my apartment—chocolate truffle—and, I must say, it was delicious. We also made a collage of various pictures of everyone in the program from throughout the semester, which is now proudly displayed in our office. According to Amy Olson, the student services coordinator for WIP, this was the first time in her memory that a group of students did this for them—go, Badgers!
I wrap up this post wishing you all the happiest of holidays and the safest of travels. ¡Felices fiestas!
