Estepa & Osuna

Hey, again!

Haha, I'm doing like 3 blog posts today. So much happened over the last few days, I didn't have time to blog!!

So Thursday was Thanksgiving (see previous post). On Friday I got up early to go on a field trip with my school - remember, I have no class on Fridays. The trip was to Estepa and Osuna, small towns in Andalucia about an hour away from Sevilla. Estepa is where my Civilization professor (Enrique) grew up, and it's where his parents live now. Estepa is the only town in the world that makes cookies called mantecados, which are Spanish Christmas cookies, are only sold in Spain only during Christmas time. Enrique's parents own a mantecado factory in Estepa, so we went on the field trip to tour Estepa and the factory. We also went to Osuna to tour that town.

This trip taught me an important lesson in taking risks and taking advantage of opportunities. On Thursday (the day before our day trip to Estepa), a friend of mine started getting really negative about the trip. We weren't being provided food, and she didn't like having to pay for lunch. We also found out it was an all-day trip (rather than just the morning as we'd thought), and my friend didn't like that. She also felt like there was nothing to see in Estepa, and that she was going to waste a day on a trip that wasn't fun. To be honest (and maybe this is a sign of weakness, idk), I started to kind of agree with her. She was saying that she wasn't going to go, and I started thinking that maybe I shouldn't go either. It's easy to get caught up in negativity when you're around someone who's being so negative. We ended up talking to my roommate, who decided to go despite what my other friend was saying. She said that it was a new experience, so of course she wanted to go. I decided then that she was right, and I decided to go too, even though I knew it could be really lame and wind up being a waste of a day, at least I was trying, right? My other two friends both ended up bailing on the trip, for the reason that they wanted to take advantage of being in Sevilla and not waste time on some trip that could wind up being stupid. They're reasoning was "What's there to see in Estepa other than some cookie factory?"

Well - I'll post pictures about it right after this - I wound up having an awesome time. Estepa is settled in the mountains, and we climbed up one side and got a gorgeous view from the top. We got to see nice views of the countryside, too, which I hadn't seen since I went to Gibraltar in September. I am SO GLAD I went on this trip rather than staying at home. Sure, it was a small town. But I got to see a different side of living in Southern Spain. Plus, I got to try these mantecado cookies, which are very important in Spanish culture during Christmastime. I also got to go on a tour put on by my great professor. And - for whatever it's worth - my friends who stayed in Sevilla to take advantage of being there wound up doing nothing that day. I really think they missed out on a great trip. And I wanted to mention this because I think it's important to not be afraid to try new things when you're travelling. Maybe this is obvious, but I know I almost got sucked into a fear of taking risks, of only staying where you're comfortable. And I think I would have really missed out if I had decided not to go to Estepa and Osuna. I'm going to try to remember this for the rest of my time in Europe: a little risk is a good thing when you really have nothing to lose.

Anyway - we arrived in Estepa in the morning and went on a tour of Enrique's family's cookie factory. Enrique was our tour guide, and he was just as animated as he is normally in class. It was really cool to meet his parents and get to see him "in his element".

Part of the factory

Enrique showing us where they store the main ingredients: flour, sugar, almonds, and pork lard!

Raw dough going into the furnace

Coming out of the furnace, have to be cooled (furnace operates at 200C)

Me and Marcela in our factory garb. 

Enrique after he told us he "wanted to be in our pictures!". He's such a cool character. He kept saying he felt like a celebrity with all of us following him around, haha!

Enrique showing us his favorite type - regular mantecado.

They don't just make cookies - they also make chocolates. And they're delicious!

Enrique and his mom

"La Suprema Calidad" (Supreme Quality). True that.

Me and Enrique!

After the tour we got to try them! They had all sorts of mantecados and chocolates! They even had some protein bars, which they manufacture during non-Christmas times.

REALLY good chocolate.

The building you see on the right over the patch of trees is Enrique's high school. Can you imagine focusing on academics with this view?!

Enrique continued being our tour guide for the rest of the trip. He's always fun to listen to!

Remnants of the Muslim wall of the city

More Muslim remnants

View of Estepa

Steps to a convent in the city

me and Estepa

University of Osuna in Osuna

Osuna

Osuna - tower where Enrique's parents got married. I basically learned his whole life story on this trip. Even saw where he lived!

Wind turbines

Funny sign outside a bar. You see this all over Spain, it's how restaurants adverstise which tapas they have that day. It's a list of tapas, and then on the line 2nd from the bottom it says "Lo que diga mi mujer" which means "Whatever my wife says". Thought that was awesome.

That's all about Estepa/Osuna. I think I'm done blogging for today (3 blogs in 1 day is enough! :D). Tomorrow I'm going to do a blog reflecting on my time here so far, so be on the lookout for that.

Talk soon :)