The reconquest.

Wow its been really hectic theses past few days. I think all the traveling is finally catching up to me. Right now we are in Sevilla, we got here yesterday, Saturday. Thursday and Friday we were in Torremolinos, which is now my favorite place to be. It has a wonderful beach and ice-cold water. Friday was a free day, so my roommate and I spent the whole day at the beach. It was truly a day of relaxation. We sprawled out on the beach chairs under the umbrella and got a golden tan. Well my roommate got a golden tan, and I just got darker. Either way it was great.

About half way through the day two people walked by selling half hour massages, so we figured we might as well get one. It was great to have a massage while being on such a wonderful beach, for a second there I forgot where I was. I was so relaxed I think I fell asleep shortly after that. As comfortable as I was with just laying down we did get up and get in the water. I swear my toes were blue because the water was so cold. As you walk deeper in your legs start stinging a little because of how cold it is. If you just jump in and start swimming it makes it easier to adjust to the temperature.

Well with a day of relaxation comes several days of work. In class we went over the re-conquest of Spain. One key player of the re-conquest was a man who went between sides, the moor and the Christians, El Cid. El Cid is a native of Burgos, but Spain as a whole adopted him as a national hero. Another major part of the re-conquest was the expelling of the Jewish. They were given a choice to be baptized or to leave and never return. Although they were allowed to take their belongings with them they had to give up all money and land as well as any other property they owned. The Jews were kicked out simply because it was thought that they were persuading others to go back to the old religion. There were several reasons as to why the re-conquest happened. It was to establish political and religious unity, to weaken local political opposition to catholic monarchs; out of fear and profit are just a few of those reasons.

Well I still have much to see as well as much to learn.