Day 8, Tuesday

Today was our second day of classes. We met with our same teachers and studied new material. We learned the you plural familiar verb form which is not used in Latin America and not emphasized by many teachers in the U.S. After class, we returned to our homes for lunch and rest. Our excursion today was to El Castillo de Gibralfaro which translates to the castle of the rock and lighthouse. The castle was built by the Muslims (Moors) in 929 when they occupied Spain from 711 to1492. Although built by the Muslims, the castle includes lots of Roman architecture throughout the compound. Before the Muslims' 781 years in Spain, the Romans had occupied the port city of Málaga. When the Muslims built their castle they integrated lots of Roman columns and many other distinct types of architecture. The Muslims also included lots of pools into the design of the castle. For many of the Sultan’s visitors, pools were not an everyday sight as they were accustomed to the desert. The pools also helped with the heat of the summer months here in Málaga. While walking through the castle we noticed all of the original flooring was marble and was chosen to help keep temperatures down as well. The white marble flooring remains cool throughout the summer months and rugs were placed in the winter to keep the Sultan’s feet warm. The Catholic monarchs later seized the castle by bringing 50,000 soldiers to the city of Málaga and capturing the port and castle in 1487. They never had to fight the Muslims inside of the castle as they surrendered due to a lack of food and water as their port was seized. Once the Christians arrived they added a few things to the castle but it remained almost identical. To finish of the day, we went to the museum of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and saw the throne where the statue of Our Lady is carried by 200 men. The throne weighs over 10,000 pounds and it is carried around town for around 8 hours during this procession (Antonio Banderas, a native of Málaga used to be one of the carriers of the statute). We also learned of the waiting list to become a carrier of the throne, including unborn children. To finish off the day we returned to our homes once again to do our homework and eat dinner with our Spanish families.

Ryan