From Friday to Sunday, Murcia has been in a full blown carnival celebration. After the first week of classes, it felt like everyone was ready to have a good weekend. On Friday, we had a welcome lunch/wine of honor ceremony with the president of the university. It lasted about 30 minutes and at the end said "Now, let's go drink some beer and wine." Only in Europe would a university president encourage the students to raise a glass to a good semester. The appetizers were delicious and chatting with some of the other students and professors was great fun.
That night, we went to Badulake for a carnival night. Since during carnival you're supposed to dress up, Megan, Isabella and I dressed up as the 3 Blind Mice (Los Tres Ratoncitos Ciegos). We found mouse ears for 1 euro at a convenience store and thought it would be a great idea. At the bar, they played a lot of Portuguese music since carnival is big in Brazil. It was possibly the best night at that bar because the music was great, there were live Portuguese drummers every once in a while and everyone was dressed up and having a good time...until the next day when we had to wake up at 8am to go to Cartagena at 9am with all the other international students.
Cartagena started off great because the sun was actually out for the first time in weeks and it was warm enough to wear a light jacket rather than a heavier coat. I have never been so excited to see water in a very long time. When we got off the bus and after roaming around the city, I was shocked at how beautiful Cartagena actually was and how close to Murcia it actually is (45 min.). After visiting the old theater and other buildings, we had lunch right in the center of the main plaza, outside, in the sun, with a checkered table cloth and with a delicious, unhealthy 8 euro meal. It consisted of a glass bottle diet coke with a lime, bread, fresh potato fries, a boiled egg and breaded calamari. The setting and the food was worth those 8 euros. After lunch, we walked around the port, sat in the sun, had some ice cream, visited a museum about a ship from about 2,700 years ago that they are just now excavating under the sea, browsed the shops and people watched. Overall, it's hard to describe Cartagena in words. It felt good to get out of the city of Murcia and into such a different atmosphere. I'm sure once summer starts, we will be taking plenty of bus trips down to the beaches of Cartagena. Since I'm failing miserably at describing Cartagena, I hope the pictures do it justice.
The old theater in Cartagena. It was so strange to see such an old building with normal apartments all around it. I saw a little boy running around with his soccer ball on the side of the theater like it was an everyday thing.
Another view of the theater from a look out place. You can see all the normal apartment buildings around it. Imagine waking up every morning to see that.
The water was so clear, I can't imagine what it's like to swim at the beach on the other side of the mountain during the summer.
On a more educational note, I started classes last week and because we don't actually pick them until next week, I only went to a few to check them out. For two of my classes (Fotojournalism and Graphic Design), I have to take a 30 minute bus ride to the other campus two times a week. Riding the bus isn't that bad, it's actually nice to have 30 minutes to prepare your brain for class. I also went to a literature of the 19th century class and a journalism law class. Because spanish journalism laws wouldn't help me and the literature class mainly focused on poetry, the other two classes I'm probably going to be taking are literature figures of latin america and another class about Spain that is supposed to be enjoyable for exchange students. Once the weather is nicer, I'll post pictures of both the campus in the city and the larger one outside of the city. In that post, I'll also try to describe the differences between going to class here and in the states because it definitely feels different...a good different.
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