Thursday, January 29, 2009

enjoying cadiz...








Cadiz is a beautiful little town and we are enjoying walking around here. It is very clean and tidy and compact. We walk for a little while, then sit and have tea, then walk a little more. If you want to know more about the area, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1diz.

Yesterday John did take his group on a little walking tour with a local guide. I took a photo of John with the prof who went with him and a couple of the students from our cabin. John took one of me in the cabin window too. I went with a couple of friends to visit the Cathedral. Many of the buildings here are constructed using coral from the sea.

In the afternoon when John and the students returned, there was a reporter here from the local paper who interviewed some faculty and students. John and I went hunting for the paper today and found a full page spread on Semester at Sea. His photo did not make the cut, and the article was in Spanish, but it was a thrill to find and see it anyway!

The energy around here yesterday was amazing as students got ready for their shore trips and it was fun to see. Many of them have now left for Barcelona and Madrid. The ship is nearly empty and I have to say the quiet is a nice change.


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

spain in the morning!


We had a lovely sunrise yesterday, and I managed to get some photos. Here is one I will share.
We are all very excited to be arriving in Cadiz, Spain in just a few hours. We have seen a couple of ships and a few birds in the last day or two, after days of nothing but ocean. I heard rumors that someone had seen a whale today too. Weather is cooler, but still quite nice in the sun.

John will be taking a group of students to observe non-verbal behaviors in some public places tomorrow. I will be walking to the townsite, which is only a couple of minutes from the port. We had a cultural pre-port meeting last night where we learned a lot about Spain and things we might see and do, then had a logistical pre-port meeting tonight to talk about disembarking, staying safe, emergency phone numbers, etc. This is all managed so well that it is no surprise that there are not a lot of things that go wrong in this program. The people in charge are doing a fabulous job, and this is a great group of students too!