{"id":19851,"date":"2024-03-10T15:28:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T20:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=19851"},"modified":"2026-01-28T13:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:31:07","slug":"ceilidhs-and-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/2024\/03\/10\/ceilidhs-and-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceilidhs and Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My second month in Scotland has been far busier than the first, packed with travel, good food and of course, more coursework. I began the month at a school-organized Ceilidh, a traditional Scottish dance that involves large choreographed dances in groups and with partners. At first, it was difficult keeping up with the Scottish dancers, but after attending a few more I\u2019ve gotten the main dances down\u2014strip the willow, military two-step, flying Scotsman, and many more. I\u2019ve really enjoyed diving deeper into Scottish culture, trying out the dances and food\u2014though I\u2019m still waiting to try haggis at a real restaurant, I\u2019ve been a bit hesitant, or scared, to order it until now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2pFBqeF\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53613152001_ae3e883068.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_7456_Original\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">My flatmates and I at the Ceilidh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of weeks into February, six of my flatmates and I took a weeklong trip to Spain during break, spending two days in Seville and four in Madrid. Seville was breathtaking, filled with beautiful plants and trees, colorful architecture, and warm, sunny weather. We had the opportunity to visit the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a, a gorgeous, massive palace just outside of a serene bird sanctuary, the Catedral de Sevilla, the largest gothic cathedral in the world, and much more. The weather in Madrid was much colder and cloudier, but in its sprawling streets we found an excellent architectural museum, large shopping districts and some of the best tacos I\u2019ve ever had at a restaurant called Takos Al Pastor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2pFDaXi\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53613494179_abc16911d0_z.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0053\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The bird sanctuary outside of the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a in Seville<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Spain was my first dive into a different country with a substantially different culture and language and I enjoyed trying my hand at speaking and ordering in Spanish, even if I wasn\u2019t always successful. February was a fantastic month abroad, full of many new cultural experiences and beautiful sights. After traveling in Spain, I\u2019m especially excited to travel to more countries across Europe. This time, however, I\u2019ll be more prepared for any language barriers to come. In addition, I\u2019ll make it a goal to try haggis this month; without it, I can\u2019t truly say I\u2019ve had the Scottish experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2pFDK2L\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53613605450_f111c3d07f.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_4833\" width=\"500\" height=\"379\" \/><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">My flatmates and I taking a selfie in Madrid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about this blogger\u2019s study abroad program: <a href=\"https:\/\/mystudyabroad.missouri.edu\/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&amp;Program_ID=10893\">Heriot-Watt University<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My second month in Scotland has been far busier than the first, packed with travel, good food and of course, more coursework. I began the month at a school-organized Ceilidh, a traditional Scottish dance that involves large choreographed dances in groups and with partners. At first, it was difficult keeping up with the Scottish dancers, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-19851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19855,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19851\/revisions\/19855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.missouri.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}