Another update...
It has been a crazy week since I wrote last so I'll give a little update. I officially signed up to go to Lagos, Portugal for three days in April so I am incredibly excited to touch sand and turquoise waters and soak up the Portuguese sun :) I am trying to plan other trips but it is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Before I got here it seemed like so much time to travel around but now that I'm here and looking at the calendar its like, when am I going to fit all of this in?! I came with the attitude that I may never get to do this again but I sure as hell better be able to come to Europe again because there is soooo much that I want to see. I think top of my list is Italy and then either Greece or France, then England and Prague and Germany and Ireland...see the problem? I suppose it is time to put my mom's favorite phrase to use....it's all about choices....
Well that was a small tangent. Moving on. My classes are going really well. The final line up is Contemporary Film, Contemporary Literature, Spanish Phonetics, and Flamenco Culture. I switched into the Flamenco one instead of the three cultures so I haven't had it yet but I really like all the others. Classes are so different than at Madison. I'm so used to having to read sooo much everyday and never, ever being caught up. In fact I usually have to make some sacrifices on what to read because it just isn't practical. And also at Madison there are many more daily/weekly assignments. Here, basically your whole grade is based on a midterm, a final, and maybe a report, as well as attendance. I'm not used to having free time...what a concept! It will be a beast to go back to real school in the fall after having this and then summer in between!
I also had my first meeting with my interest group on human rights and I really like it. Our trip to Morocco is 4 days and it sounds like its going to be awesome. We get to do a lot of stuff that you usually don't do on a 'tourist' trip, like visit a women's center, which is totally something I would love. And something I'd love to maybe work it someday. I'm also going to start doing some volunteering, I think I'm going to work with little kids either at a school or in a hospital.
Last week Wednesday was insane. People had been talking about the Spain vs. England soccer (futbol) game for like a week and a lot of people had tickets to go, but I didn't get myself organized quick enough to get them ahead of time. The streets were fulllllll of crazy drunk englishmen all thinking we were spanish and offering our first english kiss. How sweet. If only they weren't old men. But on the day of the game me and a friend signed up for our Portugal trip and the guy who worked there offered to help us find tickets at the game. So after an hour run/walk to the stadium, we finally found him and he got me and my friend Amber tickets for 30euros which was not bad at all, most people had paid over 40. We weren't sitting together but I was so excited to be there, I didn't care at all. It was crazier than any Wisconsin game I've ever been to, so exciting and emotional! I sat in the middle of a bunch of Spanish people and even though I didn't know the cheers or the songs, I felt more a part of Spain than I have my entire time here. And my seat was so close!! I was about a 20 foot hypotenus from David Beckam!! I got a great view of him stretching his glutes...haha. He was there because it was a friendly game that didn't count for anything so he came back to play for England. It didn't help them though because we beat them 2-0! It was a great experience and I definetely want to go to more of them.
The weekend of Valentine's Day was fun, and spent with not one, but many many Valentines. Unfortunately, none of them were Spanish or boys. Oh well :) On Saturday me and some friends went to Gibraltar which is an island off of Spain that is a British colony so everyone there speaks English and Spanish. I was totally expecting it to be a beautiful hot sunny day, but it was completely the opposite, which really brought down the whole experience. It was still really cool because we went to a place on the island called Europa Point where you can see Africa right across the water. Algeria, Morrocco, and one other country I can't think of. It's crazy to remember how close we are to Africa and how different things are there. Then we went to Saint Michael's Cave which was really cool and kind of creepy with stalagtites and stalagmites all over and water dripping on us haha. After that we walked outside and were greeted by tons of monkeys!!! They are actually what Gibraltar is really famous for and they were hilarious. They let you get so close, and some of them got a little too close haha. A little one crawled up my friend Danielle and sat on her head and she freeeeeeaked out. Then there was a huge one behind Danielle that I assume was the mom because she opened her mouth and bared her teeth and was about to pounce on Danielle but thankfully the little one jumped off. It was equally hilarious and terrifying. After that we got free time to look around the city. It was a cool trip but I hate being a part of a huge tourist group and the weather could have made it so much better. It was right on the ocean and the water was so pretty but the sun would have made it sparkle even more. The rock of Gibraltar itself was really awesome too though.
Life in Sevilla just continues to get more and more beautiful by the day. The rain has officially said adios and we have had 70+ temperatures all last week and cloudless skies. People hang out by the river all day just drinking sangria or beer and hanging out....I want to be friends with all of them! It is much harder to make Spanish friends than I thought it would be though. You have to find boys who aren't creepy and girls who actually want to be your friend and in general you have to find people who want to take the time to try and understand you. But it will come with time.
Well, it has officially been a month. I can hardly believe it. It is so weird to think about because imagining being at home in Neenah or Madison gets harder and harder by the day. Sometimes it feels like I've been here so long, but at the same time, one fourth of my journey is over and at times I feel like I don't have enough to show for it. Through all these entries I keep saying how I'm not homesick yet, I'm not homesick yet, but I think I am beginning to feel it start to set in. It isn't all the time but I will get short and intense bouts of it lately when certain things happen. I really miss being around people who know me, really know me. I love the friends I have made here but they just can't compare to the ones that know everything about me and love me all the time regardless, and that includes my family above all. Being at home I start feeling really isolated especially without internet—not in an American internet addiction way, but just because I feel so disconnected only being able to talk to people once a week, or less. But a really interesting thing happened to me the first day I was feeling really down. That night I had a dream that it was time for me to go back home to the States and I was so excited to be home and see everyone. And I saw everyone; all my friends and family and Madison and Neenah. And then the dream lasted for awhile and it was like I had been there for awhile and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to go back to Spain and how much I regretted being homesick. It was interesting because I know that one day before I know it, this will all be over, and I will want to be back more than anything. It was just another reminder from myself that I am very very lucky to be where I am. My dreams rarely make sense, much less are they prophetic, but this dream was like a kick in the butt from my subconcious. But of course, I can't help thinking about all of you all the time and wishing you were here :) Love you all, missing you as you know! And I am planning to go online on Sundays at 11:30-12 your time, so if you want to Skype we can do it then! Or at another predetermined time but weekends always work better because of the time change. Besossss!!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Granada, mi amorrrr!
Hello again friends, as predicted I just got back from Granada and I have tons of good things to say. First of all, we started our regular session classes today, so I had my first three classes, Spanish phonetics, Contemporary Spanish Literature and also Spanish Film. They all seem like they'll be really interesting and not too hard so I'm pretty happy about that. Also, tonight I had my first meeting for my interest group which is human rights and we go on a four day trip to Morocco and it looks beyond cool. We go to three different cities and a village in the mountains and we also get to ride camels, which was my only question haha. Its gonna be 130 euros but that really isn't bad at all for three nights and four days which includes everything. Warning: this entry is epic-ly long and probably more than you care to know. Just a heads up.
Now for Granada...where do I begin?! I guess I should start off by saying it was definitely the best weekend I've had since I've been here. On Friday the day before we left for Granada, some friends and I went out for what was supposed to be only a few hours but I didn't end up going to sleep until 3:30 and I had to get up at 7 to get to the bus. Thankfully I didn't miss it or anything, but I couldn't sleep on the three hour bus ride there, so I was pretty tired when we finally got there. But when we got there, I never wanted to shut my eyes again. One of the coolest parts was when we were still on the bus and getting into the mountains...the views were unbelieveable. As the bus climbed up the mountain you could see over the edge at the whole town below with snow capped mountains as the backdrop. Don't worry, I got pictures :)
We stayed in a nice hotel and it was four people to a room and I roomed with my friends Amber, Janelle, and Sarah—(Sarah and Amber both go to Madison and Janelle goes to Penn State...fyi haha.) and we hung out in the hotel room for the painful hour before lunch. I don't know if it was the mountain air or the lack of sleep but we were all in hysterics about everything and just laughing to the point of crying about the bidets and shitty sheets and drafty (open) window and everything else...it reminded me of being with friends at home and just having one of those days where you can't stop laughing, so much fun. At lunch it was the same way and people thought we were on drugs. They had these ice creams in single serving containers and it was a buffet so we all just loaded up on the ice cream and made a tower of empty packets. Maybe you had to be there but we were crying with laughter when the guy came to clear our table.
Anyways! After lunch we went for our tour of La Alhambra, which is the most famous thing in Granada and definitely one of the most famous things in Spain. We got really lucky because the group that went the weekend before us had rain the whole weekend and we had beautiful weather for the most part. Back to the Alhambra. It was nothing short of amazing. (I really need to get new adjectives to describe things here but there isn't any other way to describe it!). We walked through the first part which is a garden called the Generalife (not pronounced how it looks for all you Ameerricins out there), which was added later on or something...I really need to brush up on my history, I was a little absorbed in the beauty of the whole thing and didn't listen as intently as I should have. The garden was pretty and had great views of the city below, but it would have been so much cooler to see it in the spring time with all the flowers. My friends and I really want to make an effort to go back at some point before we leave. After the garden, we entered La Alhambra, which is the last Muslim palace in Spain that wasn't completely destroyed during the Reconquista when Isabel and Fernando forced everyone to become catholic or peace out or get killed. The arquitecture and detail and pure beauty of it all was just indescribable. The most noticeable part of the palace was the element of water...it was always everywhere you looked; fountains, pools, little river things, really beautiful. At the end of the three hour tour we went through the military part of it where the ruins of the military barracks were and we climbed this tower and on top of it you could see evvvveryyythhiinnngg for miles and miles. It sounds so cheesy but standing up there and seeing the city, the mountains, the palace, with the sun on my face just brought my heart into my throat and gave me that feeling like...this is my life, after dreaming of it for years, I made it. I know I sound like such a loser but if you saw it, you would feel the same way.
Also while we were at the Alhambra there were tons of kitties around and one of them let me pet it but the others ran away from me. I chased them down any chance I got though. Oh and Kim, I think I found your female soulmate because my friend Danielle said it is her dream to “punt a cat”, in those exact words. I thought you would enjoy that hahaha.
After La Alhambra, we went to a Teteria, which is a tea shop. Also something about Granada is that, just like the Alhambra, it is heavily Muslim-influenced and very hippy-like so there are tons of hookah bars and tea shops and cool African looking things all around haha. We were all zombies drinking our tea in the dimly lit place, but it was really cool nonetheless. And I got some sweet pictures, artistic of course. Haha another thing is they had like an American soundtrack going that was playing Titanic music, The Last of the Mohigans, and Boondock Saints. I thought it was kind of funny...“like god damnit...the Americans are here, get out the American mixtape.”
After that we walked around a little bit to all of the cool shops. I didn't buy anything except postcards because I kept telling myself they would have the same stuff in Morocco for cheaper and more “authentic”, but now I kind of wish I had.
So, mom, I hear you are editing and printing these off for Omi, so here starts a segment you may want to omit completely. Also, after reading through this next segment, it's kind of an obnoxious play by play that isn't even that interesting, so for those of you with little time or interest, you may want to skip it haha.
So! Being from Wisconsin, (and Penn State), we were all used to the whole pre-gaming deal before we go out so we don't have to pay for drinks when we got out. Some may call it alcoholism, we call it economical. So before we went out we all (the roommates mentioned above), drank and got ready. Remember, nothing in Spain starts until like midnight, so we were chillin for awhile. When we left around 11:30, we stopped at the desk and asked them where we should go. We had planned on going to Granada Diez which is the big club there, but they told us to go to this other place and called us a taxi. Well the taxi ride was like 15 euro (split between four but still!) and we are crossing the highway like thinking...where the eff are we going....? We finally end up at this club that's in a mall, and no one is there and you have to pay 10 euro to get in, so we got another taxi which took us to Granada Diez, but we hit up a couple bars before going in because, like I've said before, no one goes to the discotecas until like 2am. Oh, I forgot to mention we brought some booze with us in a water bottle, (again think economical! And Carli—there were lots of trips to the bathroom, quite reminiscent of our rendezvous at Crave....:)), which will explain future events. The discoteca was a bllllasssstttt. They played great music all night and me and my friends just danced our hearts out. All of my novios (boyfriends) were there too (none of them know they are my novios, they are all guides and I just stalk them from far away), but I didn't really talk to any of them except Antonio who now definitely thinks I am a wack-ass-crazy effing American lol, but that's a story for another day...We danced until like 5am, I have no idea where the time went, it is all a blur of dance and sweat and lights and music. Fantastico!!! I have lots of pictures from that night too though, which were fun to look at the next morning. They were one of very few good things about the next morning in fact....so around 5:30 we were so tired and so we go to collect our coats from the coat check, and I can't find my ticket to claim my coat. I try to explain to the girls behind the counter that I can't find it and they tell me I have to wait until 7 when they close, to get it. We have to be up at 8:30. Even my spanish friends tried to get it for me and couldn't. But around 6:30 I tried to make myself cry and talked to them again and finally got it.
So we got back to the hotel at like 6:45-7. you can imagine my face at 8:30 when the alarm went off. I put on the clothes nearest to me and my glasses and went to breakfast. I wanted to die all day longggg. I don't even think it was the hangover as much as the sleep. Remember the night before I slept for three hours, so in 48 hours I had 6 hours of sleep at best. I have never felt worse in my LIFE! I didn't even realize until we were half way home on the bus that I had never even changed out of the shirt I was wearing the night before. Good times.
So on Sunday we walked through a well known neighborhood in Granada that I think is called Albacin? I don't have my papers with me now so I'll have to look it up. But it is a really old quaint neighborhood, which was really pretty but it reminded me a lot of Sevilla. We stopped at this one place that has (another) amazing view, and the sun was shining and this hippy Spaniard was strumming While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles on his acoustic guitar...*sigh*:) After that we walked to a church/museum where the tombs (and remains) of Isabel and Fernando (the catholic king and queen who gave Colombus permission to go to America, and a lot of other stuff that basically changed the history of the world), and Juana la Loca and her husband Phillipe and their son Enrique, lay. We saw their actual coffins below the church floor. It sounds weird but that was definitely one of the coolest parts of this experience so far. To see the place where two of the most important people to the history of the world once lived and walked and died...I can't even describe it. Every time we go to any of these historical places I think about all the people who once walked where I'm walking and were here...I think about the idea of time a lot, but when I'm somewhere really ancient like that church or la Alhambra or the ruins in Italica...its like a collision of the past and the present, a really eerie feeling, but so interesting at the same time.
Even though I suffered miserably the whole day due to lack of sleep, I still enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. The bus ride home of course I passed out hard for, and felt a tiny bit better afterwards, but I still slept 11 hours on Sunday night and took a 2 hour nap on Monday (today) and plan to sleep for hours and hours tonight. Hopefully I'll regain my personality by tomorrow.
Future plans...me and my friend Amber were planning on going to Madrid this weekend coming up, but now I think we are going to Gibralter for the day of the 14th and play with monkeys. It is snowing in Madrid right now so I think I can hold off on that for a different weekend! I bought postcards in Granada and I'm hoping to send them tomorrow or some time soon. Be on the look out! Well that entry should fill you for awhile, hopefully I'll have pictures up soon, they just take forever and a day to upload so I need a lot of time on the computer, which I never have. Keep checkin the 'book! As always, love you guys, miss you to death, don't forget about me!
Now for Granada...where do I begin?! I guess I should start off by saying it was definitely the best weekend I've had since I've been here. On Friday the day before we left for Granada, some friends and I went out for what was supposed to be only a few hours but I didn't end up going to sleep until 3:30 and I had to get up at 7 to get to the bus. Thankfully I didn't miss it or anything, but I couldn't sleep on the three hour bus ride there, so I was pretty tired when we finally got there. But when we got there, I never wanted to shut my eyes again. One of the coolest parts was when we were still on the bus and getting into the mountains...the views were unbelieveable. As the bus climbed up the mountain you could see over the edge at the whole town below with snow capped mountains as the backdrop. Don't worry, I got pictures :)
We stayed in a nice hotel and it was four people to a room and I roomed with my friends Amber, Janelle, and Sarah—(Sarah and Amber both go to Madison and Janelle goes to Penn State...fyi haha.) and we hung out in the hotel room for the painful hour before lunch. I don't know if it was the mountain air or the lack of sleep but we were all in hysterics about everything and just laughing to the point of crying about the bidets and shitty sheets and drafty (open) window and everything else...it reminded me of being with friends at home and just having one of those days where you can't stop laughing, so much fun. At lunch it was the same way and people thought we were on drugs. They had these ice creams in single serving containers and it was a buffet so we all just loaded up on the ice cream and made a tower of empty packets. Maybe you had to be there but we were crying with laughter when the guy came to clear our table.
Anyways! After lunch we went for our tour of La Alhambra, which is the most famous thing in Granada and definitely one of the most famous things in Spain. We got really lucky because the group that went the weekend before us had rain the whole weekend and we had beautiful weather for the most part. Back to the Alhambra. It was nothing short of amazing. (I really need to get new adjectives to describe things here but there isn't any other way to describe it!). We walked through the first part which is a garden called the Generalife (not pronounced how it looks for all you Ameerricins out there), which was added later on or something...I really need to brush up on my history, I was a little absorbed in the beauty of the whole thing and didn't listen as intently as I should have. The garden was pretty and had great views of the city below, but it would have been so much cooler to see it in the spring time with all the flowers. My friends and I really want to make an effort to go back at some point before we leave. After the garden, we entered La Alhambra, which is the last Muslim palace in Spain that wasn't completely destroyed during the Reconquista when Isabel and Fernando forced everyone to become catholic or peace out or get killed. The arquitecture and detail and pure beauty of it all was just indescribable. The most noticeable part of the palace was the element of water...it was always everywhere you looked; fountains, pools, little river things, really beautiful. At the end of the three hour tour we went through the military part of it where the ruins of the military barracks were and we climbed this tower and on top of it you could see evvvveryyythhiinnngg for miles and miles. It sounds so cheesy but standing up there and seeing the city, the mountains, the palace, with the sun on my face just brought my heart into my throat and gave me that feeling like...this is my life, after dreaming of it for years, I made it. I know I sound like such a loser but if you saw it, you would feel the same way.
Also while we were at the Alhambra there were tons of kitties around and one of them let me pet it but the others ran away from me. I chased them down any chance I got though. Oh and Kim, I think I found your female soulmate because my friend Danielle said it is her dream to “punt a cat”, in those exact words. I thought you would enjoy that hahaha.
After La Alhambra, we went to a Teteria, which is a tea shop. Also something about Granada is that, just like the Alhambra, it is heavily Muslim-influenced and very hippy-like so there are tons of hookah bars and tea shops and cool African looking things all around haha. We were all zombies drinking our tea in the dimly lit place, but it was really cool nonetheless. And I got some sweet pictures, artistic of course. Haha another thing is they had like an American soundtrack going that was playing Titanic music, The Last of the Mohigans, and Boondock Saints. I thought it was kind of funny...“like god damnit...the Americans are here, get out the American mixtape.”
After that we walked around a little bit to all of the cool shops. I didn't buy anything except postcards because I kept telling myself they would have the same stuff in Morocco for cheaper and more “authentic”, but now I kind of wish I had.
So, mom, I hear you are editing and printing these off for Omi, so here starts a segment you may want to omit completely. Also, after reading through this next segment, it's kind of an obnoxious play by play that isn't even that interesting, so for those of you with little time or interest, you may want to skip it haha.
So! Being from Wisconsin, (and Penn State), we were all used to the whole pre-gaming deal before we go out so we don't have to pay for drinks when we got out. Some may call it alcoholism, we call it economical. So before we went out we all (the roommates mentioned above), drank and got ready. Remember, nothing in Spain starts until like midnight, so we were chillin for awhile. When we left around 11:30, we stopped at the desk and asked them where we should go. We had planned on going to Granada Diez which is the big club there, but they told us to go to this other place and called us a taxi. Well the taxi ride was like 15 euro (split between four but still!) and we are crossing the highway like thinking...where the eff are we going....? We finally end up at this club that's in a mall, and no one is there and you have to pay 10 euro to get in, so we got another taxi which took us to Granada Diez, but we hit up a couple bars before going in because, like I've said before, no one goes to the discotecas until like 2am. Oh, I forgot to mention we brought some booze with us in a water bottle, (again think economical! And Carli—there were lots of trips to the bathroom, quite reminiscent of our rendezvous at Crave....:)), which will explain future events. The discoteca was a bllllasssstttt. They played great music all night and me and my friends just danced our hearts out. All of my novios (boyfriends) were there too (none of them know they are my novios, they are all guides and I just stalk them from far away), but I didn't really talk to any of them except Antonio who now definitely thinks I am a wack-ass-crazy effing American lol, but that's a story for another day...We danced until like 5am, I have no idea where the time went, it is all a blur of dance and sweat and lights and music. Fantastico!!! I have lots of pictures from that night too though, which were fun to look at the next morning. They were one of very few good things about the next morning in fact....so around 5:30 we were so tired and so we go to collect our coats from the coat check, and I can't find my ticket to claim my coat. I try to explain to the girls behind the counter that I can't find it and they tell me I have to wait until 7 when they close, to get it. We have to be up at 8:30. Even my spanish friends tried to get it for me and couldn't. But around 6:30 I tried to make myself cry and talked to them again and finally got it.
So we got back to the hotel at like 6:45-7. you can imagine my face at 8:30 when the alarm went off. I put on the clothes nearest to me and my glasses and went to breakfast. I wanted to die all day longggg. I don't even think it was the hangover as much as the sleep. Remember the night before I slept for three hours, so in 48 hours I had 6 hours of sleep at best. I have never felt worse in my LIFE! I didn't even realize until we were half way home on the bus that I had never even changed out of the shirt I was wearing the night before. Good times.
So on Sunday we walked through a well known neighborhood in Granada that I think is called Albacin? I don't have my papers with me now so I'll have to look it up. But it is a really old quaint neighborhood, which was really pretty but it reminded me a lot of Sevilla. We stopped at this one place that has (another) amazing view, and the sun was shining and this hippy Spaniard was strumming While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles on his acoustic guitar...*sigh*:) After that we walked to a church/museum where the tombs (and remains) of Isabel and Fernando (the catholic king and queen who gave Colombus permission to go to America, and a lot of other stuff that basically changed the history of the world), and Juana la Loca and her husband Phillipe and their son Enrique, lay. We saw their actual coffins below the church floor. It sounds weird but that was definitely one of the coolest parts of this experience so far. To see the place where two of the most important people to the history of the world once lived and walked and died...I can't even describe it. Every time we go to any of these historical places I think about all the people who once walked where I'm walking and were here...I think about the idea of time a lot, but when I'm somewhere really ancient like that church or la Alhambra or the ruins in Italica...its like a collision of the past and the present, a really eerie feeling, but so interesting at the same time.
Even though I suffered miserably the whole day due to lack of sleep, I still enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. The bus ride home of course I passed out hard for, and felt a tiny bit better afterwards, but I still slept 11 hours on Sunday night and took a 2 hour nap on Monday (today) and plan to sleep for hours and hours tonight. Hopefully I'll regain my personality by tomorrow.
Future plans...me and my friend Amber were planning on going to Madrid this weekend coming up, but now I think we are going to Gibralter for the day of the 14th and play with monkeys. It is snowing in Madrid right now so I think I can hold off on that for a different weekend! I bought postcards in Granada and I'm hoping to send them tomorrow or some time soon. Be on the look out! Well that entry should fill you for awhile, hopefully I'll have pictures up soon, they just take forever and a day to upload so I need a lot of time on the computer, which I never have. Keep checkin the 'book! As always, love you guys, miss you to death, don't forget about me!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Lleuve a Cántaros!
Lleuve Cántaros!
This is the spanish version of “it's raining cats and dogs”, though literally its saying that it seems like someone is dumping a vase of water on you. There's your Spanish for the day. Right now, it definetely does feel like someone is pouring water on Sevilla. I don't think there has been one day here when it hasn't rained at least a little bit. Some days (like today) it will be really good weather for awhile and then it will rain, then good weather for a few hours, then rain. Or pour as the case was this evening. I was just at an internet cafe I found close to my house (yay!), and I walked outside with my broken umbrella and by the time I got home my jeans were completely soaked, as well as the rest of me. Haha. Awesome. More of Sevilla...
We are approaching three weeks abroad, and so far, still no severe homesickness. I do miss not talking to my family on a regular basis (or ever!), and not being able to text people random stories during my day or when I'm bored in class, and when I see people on Skype, I really miss them, but at the same time, being able to see familiar faces makes it seem like they aren't so far away. Wow that was a huge run on sentence. When I do get a little depressed I just keep reminding myself that this is my dream and when I look back on it in a few months, I will regret every minute I spent sulking around. And when people tell me about the horribly cold weather and monotonous school days...I am definetely not jealous :)
The other day I went running for the first time since i've been here, along the river. If I haven't mentioned before, Sevilla is seperated by the Guadalavir (spelling??) River. It felt good to run even though people looked at me funny. My house and my school are on opposite sides of the river, but it is a really pretty walk, (even though it is 30-40 minutes when you are bookin' it). Speaking of walking my booty everywhere, today I had to use the last hole on my belt, so hopefully things keep going that way and I don't gain the dreaded study abroad poundage that I've heard about.
Something I really DO miss is American TV....ahhhh the days of Sex and the City re-runs and the Office are long behind me. They do show some American shows here but they are all in Spanish and at the end of the day my brain is just too tired to try and listen, though I'm sure I'll resort to them in no time. Back at school before bed I always watched the TBS and CW versions of Sex and the City, so it makes me feel more at home when I watch it before bed here. I have about 10 episodes on my ipod, so I know them all pretty much by heart now. I've also watched the Sex and the City Movie, Dodgeball, and Dane Cook...so I've pretty much exhausted all my resources very early on haha.
Things are still going great with Pepita. She makes great food!! I don't remember if I've talked about the food before but I really like it. I especially like the salads she makes me. They have all kinds of veggies like tomatoes, artichoke hearts, carrots, peppers, avocadoes, onion, corn, and fruit sometimes like oranges and pineapple. And for dressing they put on just olive oil and vinegar with a little salt. SO tasty!!! I also love tortillas españolas. They are kind of like omelettes but its just spinach it a thick egg tortilla thing. Its hard to explain but its delicious. She'll put those on my bocadillos (sandwiches when I need lunch on the go), with a little bit of cheese. Mmmm. Yesterday she also made this lentil soup which now that I think of it reminded me EXACTLY of the rosemary lentil soup at Sunroom!! Man, I'm getting so hungry. She also buys me mangoes since I love them so much. She's the bomb. Except, its a good thing I didn't get new underwear before I left because I now have three more pairs of whitie tighties since she bleached a few pairs of my previously pink ones haha. Luckily I don't like them that much.
Now onto the most exciting thing...school! This week we finish up our “intensive grammar session”, which was one class a day for three hours. I think I had it pretty easy compared to a lot of people. We did a lot of out of the classroom stuff like going to an art museum, observing “sevillana”culture in a place of our choosing (me and my friends chose a cafe), and tomorrow we are going to a museum on Flamenco dance. It has been difficult sitting through three hours of grammar, but I am excited to have three credits for two weeks of class. And lucky for me I think I got into all the classes I wanted for the regular session! Which means I will have a block of two classes a day Monday-Thursday starting at 11 I think, so I'll also be able to eat lunch at mi casa, instead of on the go. So I think my final classes are Phonetics, Spanish Film, Contemporary Spanish Literature, and 3 Cultures of Spain. It was a painnnnn to get that all figured out, so hopefully they will all transfer how I want them to.
Today I went on a visit to the Reales Alcazares, which is where the royal family stays, and has stayed for centuries, when they come to Sevilla. It was amaazzzzzing! There are tons of gardens and fountains and pools and incredible architecture of all kinds, ranging from Gothic to Muslim to Contemporary and more that I've already forgotten. Each new king in power changed some part of it. I hope to be able to put pictures up soon! This weekend I am going to Granada, which I've heard is one of the most beautiful places in Spain, so I will wait until then to add pictures. Obviously when I put them up I am only doing the bare minimum, I know its kind of annoying to look through “Sevilla 1-14”. But of course I'll have tons more to show when I come back.
Now for travel updates...as I said I'm going to Granada this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. For those of you that are unfamiliar, look up La Alhambra, that is what it is most famous for and I've heard its breathtaking. The weekend of the14th I'm still trying to travel somewhere, and of course I'd love to go to the city of love itself, Paris, but I'd also like to visit France when it is a bit warmer. Other possibilities are London, Barcelona, or Prague. I have a friend living in Prague right now and he says its crazy cheap there so it is a definete possibility! Going to other cities in Spain, (like Barecelona or Madrid), isn't as cheap as you would think. Going to another country can many times be cheaper. The weekend of February 21st, I'm going to Cadiz for Carnaval which I'm suuuuper pumped about. Cadiz is on the very south coast of Spain and we also go there with the school but Carnaval is the festival they are famous for and I don't want to miss it. It will be craaazzzy! So far I have no travel plans in March, I'm trying to keep it open in case anyone (mostly my family—i know the rest of you are broke college students), wants to visit me! But if you think you might, please let me know so I don't make any plans. In April, though I haven't signed up for it yet, I will be going to Lagos, Portugal which is on the coast and the travel group I'm going with gets us a hotel that is right on a bluff overlooking the ocean and surfing and sangria cruises and all kinds of stuff for only 149 euros for three days. I am constantly dreaming of being on those beaches...Also in April I am going to Morroccos with the Human Rights interest group I am in over the weekend of the 17th. Wow I am reading this over and I just write run on sentences that make it sound like i'm running out of breath haha my bad.
Tonight, providing it doesn't start pouring again and my friends still want to go, we're going to an International Party at a few of the discotecas here. I guess its a place to meet up with your intercambios, which if I haven't mentioned before, are Spanish people who want to practice English while you practice Spaish. So that should be interesting...I'm sure I will have another long entry once I return from Granada so stay tuned!! Besos, abrazos, y mucho amor! (kisses, hugs, and lots of love!)
This is the spanish version of “it's raining cats and dogs”, though literally its saying that it seems like someone is dumping a vase of water on you. There's your Spanish for the day. Right now, it definetely does feel like someone is pouring water on Sevilla. I don't think there has been one day here when it hasn't rained at least a little bit. Some days (like today) it will be really good weather for awhile and then it will rain, then good weather for a few hours, then rain. Or pour as the case was this evening. I was just at an internet cafe I found close to my house (yay!), and I walked outside with my broken umbrella and by the time I got home my jeans were completely soaked, as well as the rest of me. Haha. Awesome. More of Sevilla...
We are approaching three weeks abroad, and so far, still no severe homesickness. I do miss not talking to my family on a regular basis (or ever!), and not being able to text people random stories during my day or when I'm bored in class, and when I see people on Skype, I really miss them, but at the same time, being able to see familiar faces makes it seem like they aren't so far away. Wow that was a huge run on sentence. When I do get a little depressed I just keep reminding myself that this is my dream and when I look back on it in a few months, I will regret every minute I spent sulking around. And when people tell me about the horribly cold weather and monotonous school days...I am definetely not jealous :)
The other day I went running for the first time since i've been here, along the river. If I haven't mentioned before, Sevilla is seperated by the Guadalavir (spelling??) River. It felt good to run even though people looked at me funny. My house and my school are on opposite sides of the river, but it is a really pretty walk, (even though it is 30-40 minutes when you are bookin' it). Speaking of walking my booty everywhere, today I had to use the last hole on my belt, so hopefully things keep going that way and I don't gain the dreaded study abroad poundage that I've heard about.
Something I really DO miss is American TV....ahhhh the days of Sex and the City re-runs and the Office are long behind me. They do show some American shows here but they are all in Spanish and at the end of the day my brain is just too tired to try and listen, though I'm sure I'll resort to them in no time. Back at school before bed I always watched the TBS and CW versions of Sex and the City, so it makes me feel more at home when I watch it before bed here. I have about 10 episodes on my ipod, so I know them all pretty much by heart now. I've also watched the Sex and the City Movie, Dodgeball, and Dane Cook...so I've pretty much exhausted all my resources very early on haha.
Things are still going great with Pepita. She makes great food!! I don't remember if I've talked about the food before but I really like it. I especially like the salads she makes me. They have all kinds of veggies like tomatoes, artichoke hearts, carrots, peppers, avocadoes, onion, corn, and fruit sometimes like oranges and pineapple. And for dressing they put on just olive oil and vinegar with a little salt. SO tasty!!! I also love tortillas españolas. They are kind of like omelettes but its just spinach it a thick egg tortilla thing. Its hard to explain but its delicious. She'll put those on my bocadillos (sandwiches when I need lunch on the go), with a little bit of cheese. Mmmm. Yesterday she also made this lentil soup which now that I think of it reminded me EXACTLY of the rosemary lentil soup at Sunroom!! Man, I'm getting so hungry. She also buys me mangoes since I love them so much. She's the bomb. Except, its a good thing I didn't get new underwear before I left because I now have three more pairs of whitie tighties since she bleached a few pairs of my previously pink ones haha. Luckily I don't like them that much.
Now onto the most exciting thing...school! This week we finish up our “intensive grammar session”, which was one class a day for three hours. I think I had it pretty easy compared to a lot of people. We did a lot of out of the classroom stuff like going to an art museum, observing “sevillana”culture in a place of our choosing (me and my friends chose a cafe), and tomorrow we are going to a museum on Flamenco dance. It has been difficult sitting through three hours of grammar, but I am excited to have three credits for two weeks of class. And lucky for me I think I got into all the classes I wanted for the regular session! Which means I will have a block of two classes a day Monday-Thursday starting at 11 I think, so I'll also be able to eat lunch at mi casa, instead of on the go. So I think my final classes are Phonetics, Spanish Film, Contemporary Spanish Literature, and 3 Cultures of Spain. It was a painnnnn to get that all figured out, so hopefully they will all transfer how I want them to.
Today I went on a visit to the Reales Alcazares, which is where the royal family stays, and has stayed for centuries, when they come to Sevilla. It was amaazzzzzing! There are tons of gardens and fountains and pools and incredible architecture of all kinds, ranging from Gothic to Muslim to Contemporary and more that I've already forgotten. Each new king in power changed some part of it. I hope to be able to put pictures up soon! This weekend I am going to Granada, which I've heard is one of the most beautiful places in Spain, so I will wait until then to add pictures. Obviously when I put them up I am only doing the bare minimum, I know its kind of annoying to look through “Sevilla 1-14”. But of course I'll have tons more to show when I come back.
Now for travel updates...as I said I'm going to Granada this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. For those of you that are unfamiliar, look up La Alhambra, that is what it is most famous for and I've heard its breathtaking. The weekend of the14th I'm still trying to travel somewhere, and of course I'd love to go to the city of love itself, Paris, but I'd also like to visit France when it is a bit warmer. Other possibilities are London, Barcelona, or Prague. I have a friend living in Prague right now and he says its crazy cheap there so it is a definete possibility! Going to other cities in Spain, (like Barecelona or Madrid), isn't as cheap as you would think. Going to another country can many times be cheaper. The weekend of February 21st, I'm going to Cadiz for Carnaval which I'm suuuuper pumped about. Cadiz is on the very south coast of Spain and we also go there with the school but Carnaval is the festival they are famous for and I don't want to miss it. It will be craaazzzy! So far I have no travel plans in March, I'm trying to keep it open in case anyone (mostly my family—i know the rest of you are broke college students), wants to visit me! But if you think you might, please let me know so I don't make any plans. In April, though I haven't signed up for it yet, I will be going to Lagos, Portugal which is on the coast and the travel group I'm going with gets us a hotel that is right on a bluff overlooking the ocean and surfing and sangria cruises and all kinds of stuff for only 149 euros for three days. I am constantly dreaming of being on those beaches...Also in April I am going to Morroccos with the Human Rights interest group I am in over the weekend of the 17th. Wow I am reading this over and I just write run on sentences that make it sound like i'm running out of breath haha my bad.
Tonight, providing it doesn't start pouring again and my friends still want to go, we're going to an International Party at a few of the discotecas here. I guess its a place to meet up with your intercambios, which if I haven't mentioned before, are Spanish people who want to practice English while you practice Spaish. So that should be interesting...I'm sure I will have another long entry once I return from Granada so stay tuned!! Besos, abrazos, y mucho amor! (kisses, hugs, and lots of love!)
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