My favorite ginger Mary has a blog in which she posts about things she hates and loves. It's fiery and hilarious just like her. If I had that blog, it would be pretty one-sided since I don't hate much, but for this post I'm copying the idea since it's perfect for today.
Hate: Un Perro Andaluz. A TERRIBLE movie which I had the misfortune of watching today in my film class. There are only two reasons why I'm not writing this whole section with caps lock on, and those are 1) luckily, the movie was only 17 minutes long, and 2) the screenplay is partially written by Salvador Dalí, so it's (unfortunately) somewhat famous and when it gets mentioned someday in the future, I'll be able to comment on it. It is a representative movie of the Surrealist movement, but I prefer Dalí's paintings (think drooping clocks in the desert) to this movie... although if you like disjointed scenes without a plot, slicing human eyeballs, or ants crawling out of a man's hand, you might like it.
When I came home and told my host mom we watched it, she was almost as angry as me, and fully supported my decision to skip the optional afternoon film class which was another film by the same director (Luis Buñuel).
Love: Andalucía (southern Spain). This is cheating a little since it has to do with yesterday's post, but I want to share more about it. (You may notice the word Andalucía looks kind of the word Andaluz, and that would be because the former is the noun and the latter is an adjective. It's OK, though, because the movie title intentionally has absolutely nothing to do with the movie... Dumb.)
Since last Friday was a local holiday and we didn't have school, a few other girls and I took a 9 hour overnight bus to Seville. Pros: the pleasant surprise of free wifi and not paying for a hotel. Cons: a 9 hour overnight bus. Still, we made it without any problems and successfully managed to take a local city bus to our hostel. We had to ask directions from locals at least 4 times, but this turned out to be the norm for us in Seville, which I'm sure means "a beautiful but confusing maze" in Spanish. The hostel was great, though; they let us eat free breakfast even though we couldn't check in for a few hours, and then we went on a walking tour for a few hours to see the most popular historic sites. Since there are many, the city is pretty touristy, but I actually kind of enjoyed that since here in Leon, we stick out. Also, there are 3 Starbucks... Now I really do love Spanish cafes: each one unique and privately owned, but the coffees are SO SMALL! If you order a "cafe con leche", it is actually 2 inches tall! I loved getting an actual 16 ounce coffee for the first time in weeks.
Favorite Places: The Cathedral (also shown in the previous post), which is the world's largest Gothic building, and and La Giralda, a connected tower which has a ramp instead of stairs, supposedly so that a ruler could ride a horse to the top!
So many gardens! So pleasant to walk through since Leon is pretty much entirely paved... (I hate to think about the day that they start to worry about the percent of impervious surface, since I'm sure it's close to 100% almost everywhere in the city. They even wash streets and plazas here! Think of all the stormwater produced!)
Plaza de Espana. For some reason, my guidebook doesn't put the three little starts signifying this is a "must-see" place, but they're wrong. This is a fantastic and gigantic plaza with a huge building that forms a half-circle... Our tour guide said this is supposed to be like two arms reaching toward America to hug it, as an apology for the past, but he might have been joking... It was always kind of hard to tell. I am sure, however, that the Star Wars planet Naboo (Episode II) was filmed here! Note the similarities between my photo and the background of the Star Wars image.
The Plaza also has 49 other municipalities represented. We found Leon's spot and with the artistic guidance of another UW girl who's studying in Seville and was hanging out with us for the day, took this little gem (photo cred Rachel on Olivia's camera).
We took a much shorter (only 3 hours!) bus ride to Granada, a slightly bigger and less touristy city, to visit the number-one attraction in the country, the Alhambra, a Moorish palace, which I will write about tomorrow!
Hate: Un Perro Andaluz. A TERRIBLE movie which I had the misfortune of watching today in my film class. There are only two reasons why I'm not writing this whole section with caps lock on, and those are 1) luckily, the movie was only 17 minutes long, and 2) the screenplay is partially written by Salvador Dalí, so it's (unfortunately) somewhat famous and when it gets mentioned someday in the future, I'll be able to comment on it. It is a representative movie of the Surrealist movement, but I prefer Dalí's paintings (think drooping clocks in the desert) to this movie... although if you like disjointed scenes without a plot, slicing human eyeballs, or ants crawling out of a man's hand, you might like it.
When I came home and told my host mom we watched it, she was almost as angry as me, and fully supported my decision to skip the optional afternoon film class which was another film by the same director (Luis Buñuel).
Love: Andalucía (southern Spain). This is cheating a little since it has to do with yesterday's post, but I want to share more about it. (You may notice the word Andalucía looks kind of the word Andaluz, and that would be because the former is the noun and the latter is an adjective. It's OK, though, because the movie title intentionally has absolutely nothing to do with the movie... Dumb.)
Since last Friday was a local holiday and we didn't have school, a few other girls and I took a 9 hour overnight bus to Seville. Pros: the pleasant surprise of free wifi and not paying for a hotel. Cons: a 9 hour overnight bus. Still, we made it without any problems and successfully managed to take a local city bus to our hostel. We had to ask directions from locals at least 4 times, but this turned out to be the norm for us in Seville, which I'm sure means "a beautiful but confusing maze" in Spanish. The hostel was great, though; they let us eat free breakfast even though we couldn't check in for a few hours, and then we went on a walking tour for a few hours to see the most popular historic sites. Since there are many, the city is pretty touristy, but I actually kind of enjoyed that since here in Leon, we stick out. Also, there are 3 Starbucks... Now I really do love Spanish cafes: each one unique and privately owned, but the coffees are SO SMALL! If you order a "cafe con leche", it is actually 2 inches tall! I loved getting an actual 16 ounce coffee for the first time in weeks.
Favorite Places: The Cathedral (also shown in the previous post), which is the world's largest Gothic building, and and La Giralda, a connected tower which has a ramp instead of stairs, supposedly so that a ruler could ride a horse to the top!
So many gardens! So pleasant to walk through since Leon is pretty much entirely paved... (I hate to think about the day that they start to worry about the percent of impervious surface, since I'm sure it's close to 100% almost everywhere in the city. They even wash streets and plazas here! Think of all the stormwater produced!)
The Plaza also has 49 other municipalities represented. We found Leon's spot and with the artistic guidance of another UW girl who's studying in Seville and was hanging out with us for the day, took this little gem (photo cred Rachel on Olivia's camera).
We took a much shorter (only 3 hours!) bus ride to Granada, a slightly bigger and less touristy city, to visit the number-one attraction in the country, the Alhambra, a Moorish palace, which I will write about tomorrow!
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