So I was mistaken when I thought that I could get you guys caught up with my adventures during this long stretch at sea, but there was no escaping schoolwork and ship activities! Things have been great but super busy on my end, so I didn't have much time to just sit and blog about the ports I've yet to share.
However, I just got done writing a paper for my Women's Health class, so guess what?? I actually have time to blog right now wuhoo!!
Let's see.. where did I leave off least time? Portugal? Spain? Wow those countries seem like ages ago!!! Hopefully I can still remember what I did haha!
Since I've shared some stuff on Portugal on my previous posts, I guess I can wrap it up by sharing this link that directs you to the official Semester at Sea blog:
It's a post on my field lab for my Mixed Media Visual Journal class, where we got to see much of the art in Lisbon. You'll get to see one of my sketches in one of the photos featured :)
And finally, to cap off my European journey, let me share some of the things I did during our short stay in our last European stop: Spain!
SHERRY WINERY FIELD LAB
Since I've been bitten by the lazy blog bug, I will just copy paste the complete description (as written on our syllabus lol) of the field lab we did for my Global Business Ethics class while we were in Spain hehe:
"Spain is the third-largest wine-producing country in the world, just behind Italy and France and the wines are gaining an increasing market share in many countries around the globe. We will visit a winery that specializes in sherry and brandy production. Our goal is to learn first-hand about wine production and the associated ethical, environmental and sustainability issues facing the industry. After touring the facilities, we will meet with one or more managers to discuss their perspectives regarding the management of wine and sherry production with particular emphasis on ethical, environmental and social responsibility issues that face their firm.
The group will travel the short distance to Jerez de la Frontera, home of sherry wine and heart of the sherry triangle. Here, we have arranged a very special talk with a member of the Sherry D.O regulating board. Learn all about the sherry industry from the people who really pull the strings. From here we will travel out to a local sherry vineyard, just outside Jerez in the most fertile part of the sherry triangle. We will meet the Managing Director (CEO) and hear first hand about the ethical and social responsibility issues that face his winery. We will learn about production and sustainability in the countryside and get up close to the vines and the famous albariza soil before returning to Jerez. Once in Jerez it will be time to visit the facility where ageing and bottling takes place and continue our discussions on ethical issues in this industry. This winery produces excellent sherry and brandy on a small but high-quality scale. We will experience a light tapas lunch at the winery whilst sampling the fine sherry products. After lunch and after all our questions have been answered, it will be time to return to Cádiz."
Fancy field trips for the win, what what! That was definitely an awesome experience being out in the winery and learning about different business principles and practices of a different culture. I don't like wine (white wine I can handle, but red--eww), so I didn't even sample sherry wine. However, I did a lot of food sampling during lunch, my favorite part of the field lab! Hehe
VISITING SEVILLE
Seville is the third largest city in Spain, just behind Barcelona and Madrid. We took a day trip to Seville, which was 3 hours away from Cadiz, where the MV Explorer was docked. We visited the Seville Cathedral, the Alcaraz, the Jewish Quarter and climbed the Giralda tower! It was a pretty city, much like Barcelona from what I remember.
Being in a Spanish city always fascinates me because of all the Spanish I hear and can partially understand!! Since Tagalog borrows a lot of Spanish words, I can pick up certain words when I hear a Spanish conversation. I took Spanish lessons back in Manila 2 years ago at the Instituto Cervantes, so I can feel my way around deciphering Espanol lol. It's awesome trying to speak Spanish, too, because Filipinos have the perfect Spanish accent since that is the back base of Tagalog. At a cafe in Cadiz, I had to order something in order to use the wifi so I got some bread and coffee. I walked up to the counter and tried my luck in spanish, and I guess it was pretty successful because the man behind the counter proceeded to converse with me in Spanish while he prepared my order... It wasn't much of a conversation as it was him speaking really fast Espanol and me smiling like a lunatic not knowing how exactly to respond. True story. I finally admitted in english that I'm not actually fluent in Spanish and then said bye good day hahaha
BYE BYE EUROPE
The European leg of our voyage all caught us off guard when we realized we went through 7 countries in a span of one month, and that we would be in Africa 2 days after Spain! We were like, wait what--we're done with Europe?? This voyage continues to catch us by surprise with how fast time flies by!
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