William Kealy - Spring 2023

As the train came rolling into el chorro, I was immediately greeted by towering limestone mountains, and amazing views. I immediately started hiking up the hill with my backpacking brimming with climbing gear, absolutely struggling in the heat, but I eventually found the Olive Branch, a climbing hostel which gave me a place to camp. This turned out to be a blessing because I ended up meeting a ton of climbing partners there and every night we would relax and tell stories from the day. There were people from Austria, Germany, Czech, UK. Everyone had gathered to climb and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  I ended up sleeping in a hammock the next 4 nights under the stars because I didn't have a tent, but luckily the weather was quite nice the whole time I was there.  El Chorro at a glance The first day I ended up meeting up with a guy I met on Mountain Project, and online climbing forum. This man was like 70 and the knew the area quite well, had quite the spirit. The next day I was ...

This last weekend we went to Morocco as a group. It was crazy to see the cultural difference no more than 9 km across the straight of Gibraltar. We flew from Seville to Tangier, and immediately were taking in views of the Atlantic Ocean from the back of a camel.  We also got to see the some of the Tangerine culture. Since it is so close to Europe it is very much a melting pot, people could be heard shouting Arabic, Berber, Spanish, and French, as well as the call to prayer over the public loud speaker which happened 5 times per day. My favorite excursion from this trip was definitely going to the blue city of Chefchaouen. The streets, the walls, the buildings, everything was painted blue, and we walked through tight streets while people tried to sell you pieces of colorful cloth, rugs, and spices. The food was amazing there and well seasoned with the Moroccan Spices. Some of our friends got henna tattoos and bought clothing, and gifts for loved ones.  The last day we walked ar...

We visited the historical mosque in Cordoba! It was cool to see the mix of Cristian and Muslim architecture. I had always seen pictures of the famous repeating red striped arches, so it was actually very strange to be there in person. Córdoba also had a sweet bridge, and some pretty flower pots that we were all psyched about. This week I also went climbing at a local crag called Benaoján with a guy I met from Arahal, a neighboring town to Seville.  I'm starting to meet many more people from the local climbing community, and I am doing my best to explore more of the climbing in Andalucía. Pulling through the crux on a classic 6c+ in Benaoján

Thought I would take some time to talk about some of my personal adventures. So far we have gotten the chance to go on trips planned by the school to see sights such as Alhambra, in Granada. Since we had a long weekend in Granada I was feeling like 2 days was too short to explore the whole area.  I wanted to get outdoors, so I decided to skip the van back to Sevilla and go into the mountains the only problem, I was underequipped and freezing cold, in the rain. I didn't have a place lined up to stay either, but I thought I would just figure it out like I normally do, and am soo glad I did.  Ended up finding a sweet hostel up in the valley to stay in and ended up meeting so many new friends that I definitely have reason to go back to Granada now! The first day I took a bus up to Monachil, to go hiking in this giant canyon with towering black and orange walls. I was lucky enough to meet a group of girls on the bus who were also hiking there for the day, so we all got to spend the...

Our first time out of the city the SAIIE group took a trip to Granada. Driving into the city felt surreal because of the Sierra Nevada mountains looming off in the distance. I knew there were mountains in Spain but not like this. We were coming from weather of 70-80 degrees in Sevilla to looking at snow capped peaks in a matter of hours! I was ecstatic, I believe it is possible to be skiing and going to the beach in the same day. We got to stay in a hotel which feels like the ultimate luxury experience to me since I'm used to sleeping on the ground. We all also got to enjoy the tapas tradition in Granada as meet lots of local people that night while out on the town! Granada is a city that has this huge palace on top of the hill called Alhambra, which was especially  fun to see! It has manicured gardens and so much history. We all enjoyed great views looking down on the city from our perch atop the palace. Views from Alhambra

I've met so many rad people this week! The people in my program are super nice and we go for walks around the city all the time, eating food and ogling at all the buildings.  We have gotten to sample lots of the cuisine as well and enjoy some tapas. There's this cured ham that's popular here that we're all crazy about. I immediately set out on the city when I got here to try to find climbing partners, as I have a huge passion for rock climbing. Already have to gym memberships (is that excessive??). More to come on that. This weekend we were able to explore some of the night life as well, walking around the city at night it's hard to believe we are here. Lots of dancing and meeting lots of new friends, met plenty of Spaniards, as well as other international students, studying abroad. Two of my buddies from the Dominican Republic showed me around to some of the discotecas and dance clubs in Sevilla and we danced a lot!      New friends from the SAIIE program, on one o...