Ayyyy madre mia. I am starting to get a little behind on these blogs. I just read my last entry, about my birthday, and that was almost a month ago, I'm a total slacker. Though I am writing random thoughts in my journal when I get the chance, so I don't forget. This entry is going to be super long because I am going to attempt to combine Barcelona, Cadiz, Madrid, Toledo, Semana Santa, and Lagos together...we'll see how it goes, I may have to break it up somewhere for my sanity and your attention span.
First of all, we'll start with Barcelona. We went the weekend of March 26th-28th because we found some great plane tickets for only 25 euros. I think I've told a lot of you that it is hard for me to describe my trip to Barcelona. Of course it was beautiful, the coast, if nothing else, was worth seeing for sure. Yet many things happened to us that made Barcelona more of a joke of how much it hated us than anything else. I'll attempt to explain this, though I think its something that deserves more of an oral explanation, and even still it could be lost in translation.
Our “Barcelona luck” as it came to be known, (though the mishaps in Madrid turned out to be far more discouraging), started out when Steven missed the bus to the airport. Thankfully he caught the next one and made it on time. Our flight was rather enjoyable, and we were even treated to a grandma classic--Worthers butterscotch candy at the end. We got to our hostel without much trouble and were thrilled at how nice it was. Perfect location (right down the street from Gaudi's Casa Bastille), suppper nice rooms, clean bathrooms, hot showers, free internet and computers, free breakfast, a sweet lounge, a bar (with killer sangria), and some really cool girls studying in Italy that we had as roommates. Brooke fell down about 15 stairs on our way out sightseeing but overall, things started out great. We walked to Casa Bastille, Gaudi's house, which is known for its crazy architecture (refer to pictures for explanation). However, it was 17 euros to go inside, so we opted against that. We moved on towards the Sagrada Familia, which is also a project started by Gaudi a long time ago (not sure of the year...), but he died before it was finished so it has been an on going project in Barcelona to finish it, and it won't be done for like another 75 years. Why, I'm not so sure. It certainly isn't the funding because I'm pretty sure they do alright charging 11 euros to go inside and see a bunch of construction and another 2.50 to go to the top. The views from the top were definetely worth the 2.50, though. Barcelona has great views of the mountains and the ocean which was really neat.
After Sagrada, we headed to the grocery store and picked up some food to make for dinner, (the hostel also had a kitchen we could use). Burned the pizzas to hell but we weren't too concerned. Then we enjoyed some great sangria in the lounge with some live Spanish hiphop/reggae music by a group of 2 spanish girls, which was really cool actually. Before we left, Brooke had done research on bars in Barcelona and found one called the Dow Jones which, true to its name, is a simulation of the stock market (just what we want to see in the middle of the CRISIS—pronounced “cree-sees”), and they would have the drink prices on screens and then the market would “crash” and drinks would be really cheap. We got lost for about an hour going there, and were welcomed by a homeless man telling us to shut the fuck up. Always a good start. The bar was cool but a little less Wall Street than I expected. I wanted screaming and sweat and men crying...unfortunately it was a little mellow. We left a little while later, and were yelled at again as we walked out the door by the crazy man, (we weren't even talking this time, so it was quite unnecessary). This time however, Steven decided to retaliate by singing the beginning of “The Circle of Life” at the top of his lungs. Though ineffective, we all enjoyed it.
The next morning we headed to Parc Guell, also a Gaudi establishment (noticing a pattern?). I should also mention a special idiosyncrasy about Barcelona. They think they are really special and decided to speak their own language (a dialect really, though it is completely indecipherable), Catalan, and have been trying to become their own region for....basically all of time. And they don't even appreciate the most valient efforts in Spanish. So that's why everything was spelled weird and why we got dirty looks despite our most impeccable, ahem, communication skills. The park was really pretty cool. Gaudi was a weird little man...he came up with some very interesting pieces of work. He was a part of the naturalism movement which was completely inspired by nature. The park also had pretty views of the city because it was pretty high up. Afterwards, since it was a really nice day, we took the metro towards the beach. We picked up some groceries on the way for a picnic. We ended up choosing one of the worst spots on the beach for a few reasons. Number one was the guy in love with his body in a Speedo who made a route from the ocean to the showers right behind us, to lather himself in soap, about 17 times. The other much more entertaining reason was the homeless woman who we didn't notice until after we chose our seats because she looked more like a pile of blankets until she started telling us we had whore fingers and came over to ask for a tomato. (yes we gave it to her). She then proceeded to go over to the wall behind us, pull down her pants, and pee on the building, even though there was a perfectly good working public restroom about 20 feet away. Upon returning to her pile, she took off her red underwear and waved them at us. We all agreed to moved, and Steven was scared shitless and threatened to “light her life on fire”. (Don't worry, he didn't say it to her, and he didn't have the capacity to do so). We named her PB (poop bucket, because she had one—though slightly reminiscent of another nickname that has been created and eerily similar in looks...), and moved on. We walked down to the way end of the beach, and to our wonderful surprise it was much calmer, (it was really really windy at the other place). This was probably the best part of the trip. Though we couldn't go in the water, and wouldn't want to even if we had the proper equipment (ie. A swimsuit), we played around in the water and took a bunch of pictures. And then we were greeted with another lovely surprise.
The whole day, asians had been walking up and down the beach offering massages, and to my knowledge, they didn't bring in much business. But as we were playing in the water, we noticed a completely naked man sunning himself, and an asian woman went over to offer her services. Surprisingly, the man accepted and for the next 20 minutes we were hypnotized by the can't-look-can't-look-away car crash syndrome that involved this poor woman massaging this man's oddly tan ass. The punch line came when we witnessed the woman offer her massage to another who accepted, and unbeknownst to them, were being massaged with ass particles from the previous customer.
After getting lost for awhile we finally found the gothic quarter which had old buildings, a plaza, and the cathedral, (which was under reconstruction, obviously). We hiked it back to the hostel to shower and get ready to see this amazing fountain light show we heard about an then out for Amber's birthday. Well, thanks to the woman at the hostel for telling us the wrong time, and also for one of the girls we roomed with for forgetting her metro pass, we arrived 4 minutes too late for any light show. (Are you beginning to notice the little things that continue to happen..?) So we went out to dinner which was nice and then went searching for some bars. For some reason, in every city in Europe there is an Irish pub which usually has decently priced drinks, so we went into the first one we saw. We were immediately attacked by a vulture waitress who wanted to know what we wanted to drink STAT. We all hurriedly ordered a beer and Amber asked what they had to mix with vodka because she wanted a special drink. The answer she got was “I don't know, coke or whisky”. “Coke sounds fine...” And that was how she turned 21. We were on our way to a Chupiteria which is a place that makes a lot of fun shots, (great for birthdays), when a little blonde woman asked us if we wanted free shots. Um, yes. So she gave us a flyer for another Irish pub (we should've known then), and showed us where to go. We get in and find out we have to buy a drink first. Ok fine, give me a beer. Then we go up and the bartender goes “so do you guys want your shots now?” And we said yes and ordered tequila, and got a bill for 8 euro. Hell no. So we explain it to her and she says, oh that is only for vodka. Okay then give me that. I already poured those. I really don't care, I didn't drink them. You have to pay for them. I'm not paying for them, get me the manager. So she goes and gets the fat bouncer who tells me the exact same thing and I tell him the exact same thing in a less calm manner. So I ended it with, I'm not paying, BYE. And left in a fantastic mood. After that we weren't even in a mood to do anything besides sleep.
Our last day it was rainy outside (of course), but we went to the famous market Las Ramblas, which was really cool—they had a tons of fruits and veggies and fish and cheese and meat and candy...everything you could want.
After lunch at Pita Inn (delicious chain restaurant), we headed to the Picasso Museum. On the way there, we found AMAZING smoothies. As we're drinking our smoothies Steven goes “Well something good just happened so I guess that means...we're crashing?”. Unfortunately we had to wait in a bit of a line outside and it kept raining and then stopping and then raining again. I had my umbrella down and felt a little mist so I had put it back up not 24 seconds before I hear two big drops and one of the Italy girls say “Oh dude, you just got pooped on”. And I look up to find two huge shit drops on my umbrella, and the guilty pigeon looking down on me quite contently. Truly, this city did not like us. Or at least me. And I was beginning to accept it. The museum was really cool though, and I told Barcelona to suck it by sneaking some sweet pics of some Picasso works.
We had a few problems getting back, none too serious and none we didn't expect from Barcelona, however. These included almost not getting to the airport in time, Steven's boarding pass not printing, being in the very last row on the plane with no reclining option, and witnessing a “medical emergency” midair which delayed us running off the plane for a good 20 minutes. But we arrived in Sevilla at about 10pm and Amber made us all promise to go out like crazy for her birthday because it was shit all over the night before. So we went out until 7am and slept all the next day :)
Gracias and adios Barcelona.
So now I take you to Semana Santa, which is known world wide because Sevilla is known to have the most elaborate display of pasos and imagenes and nazarenos anywhere in the world. It is also known as our spring break. Don't worry I'll get more into detail into it later. Anyways, most people planned a big trip during this time. Amber and I were not as smart, however. So we did a trip to Madrid and Toledo. But the Saturday we left for Madrid (at 11pm), we went to Cadiz for the day at the beach. We almost didn't go because we were so tired, and almost missed the bus, but made it to Cadiz at 10.30am, prime beach time! Joke. It was cloudy and not a soul was on the beach minus a few dedicated seagulls. At around 2 oclock though, it reeeeeallly warmed up and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was BEAUTIFUL. The water was soooo blue and clear and amazing. I got a lovely little tan and we jumped around in the water, bodysurfing the waves all day. Also, I got pooped on again. My backpack and somehow the sleeve of my sweatshirt were splattered with pigeon shit. I have no idea how or when or most importantly WHY, but by now I just expect it and wasn't too upset. If, however, I ever get shat on in Sevilla, I'm packing up early.
We left for Madrid on the overnight bus at 11 oclock from Sevilla, we were supposed to get into Madrid at 5.15am, yes it was going to be early, but it was better than paying for a night in a hostel. Unfortunately, we got into Madrid a half an hour early...yes, 4.45 in the morning. We were aware of the fact that we would have to spend some time in the bus station, but any extra minute was painful. Thankfully the station was pretty nice and had a restaurant and cafe that opened at like 7. We went to our hostel at about 9, and we couldn't check in until 12 so we dragged our exhausted selves to the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, and Plaza de Espana. The palacio was really cool, but the plazas were nothing compared to the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. We went back to the hostel and tried to sleep for awhile, but of course, we got the room with the broken lock that you had to hit just right in order to open it so every time someone new needed to come into the room, they had to pound on it. Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep that was had. Since we got there on a Sunday, the Prado museum was free for three hours so after our nap we headed in that direction. We went into the botanical gardens right outside the Prado and it was sooo pretty! The flowers were blooming everywhere, and for those of you who know me, you know one of my favorite things to do is taking pictures of flowers. After, we went into the Prado and saw some amazing art, the most impressive being Las Meninas by Velazquez...impressive. That night we took it easy because we planned on going to El Escorial the next morning.
Since I'm tired and talking about it makes me depressed, I'll make the fiasco of the Escorial a long story short. Basically, it was the thing I was most looking forward to; El Escorial is a monastery and some other pretty buildings but the Valley of the Fallen, (where Franco is buried), is apparently really really cool, and I wanted to see it really badly. Well, after going through some hoops just to get to the city outside of Madrid, we come to find out that everything is closed on Mondays because its Spain, and it hates us. So that was a total bust, and after walking around the city for awhile we get back on the train to Madrid. The whole time while we were on our way towards El Escorial we never needed our train tickets and so we wondered why we even bought them. Then a guy comes around three stops before we are in Madrid and asks for our tickets. Of course, I can't find mine anywhere. So he makes me pay 3.50 euro to get back. Which, isn't that much but after the day we had just had, I completely lost it and just started balling in the train. Kind of a bummer of a day. But we got back and visited the Reina Sofia which has tons of awesome art by Picasso, Goya, Dali, and tons of others I'm forgetting now. The most impressive was probably Picasso's “Guernica”. It was so big and overwhelming. We spent the night at the hostel and had a few glasses of sangria and went to bed. In the morning, we found out we had a little too much sangria, and didn't feel the greatest, but we set out for Toledo to spend our last day.
Of course, there was the expected travel problems getting to Toledo, but we did finally make it, and while at a bus stop looking like idiots wondering how to get to the center, I asked a girl and she told us to take the bus she was on. Then when she got off she told us to follow her and she walked us basically right to the church we were looking for. She was SO nice, we couldn't believe our luck. Of course, she left us like 2 streets away from the church and we still got lost for 45 minutes. We got to the church of Saint Tome and saw the amazing work by El Greco, El Entierro de Senor Orgaz...or something along those lines. It was huge and truly stunning. We trekked through Toledo for a few more hours, it was a really adorable little town, with some great views. We had to make the 3.30 bus back to Madrid in order to make our bus home to Sevilla. ONCE AGAIN, we took the wrong bus back to the bus station and had to sprrrrrinnnntttt our butts in order to make the bus on time. Madrid did not want to make it easy on us, but we made a great weekend out of it anyway, and certainly some great stories that will be funny....someday.
Well as I suspected, this is getting to be a little long, and also I am way behind, so I will work on an entry about Semana Santa and Lagos that should be up soon! Sooner than this one at least. Things are just getting crazy here, trying to fit in everything that I can and I've got a “lot” of projects to do before school ends. Which, by the way, I have 13 days left of...holy shit right?? Granted, I have 5 weeks left here, but still....I have no idea where time has gone. I'm exhausted, good night!! Missing you all as always... <3
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cumpleaños en España
This is all pretty outdated because the internet at school was down for a long time (SO annoying), so I couldn´t upload this…it is all about last week. I will have a blog entry up about Barcelona soon!
Ahhh por fin, puedo respirar...finally I can breathe! I just finished my last midterm so I am in a fantastic mood. I mostly forget that I'm actually going to school here until it hits me the week of exams and I get wonderful flashbacks of College Library or the creepy cages in Memorial. Only it's a little bit different because I'm getting tan next to a river in Spain...so I can't complain toooo much :) Though recently (for the past week and a half), Pepita has been getting her kitchen redone and a new bathroom put in, so things have been a little hectic. By hectic I mean that the water in the bathroom with the shower (the pre-existing bathroom), has the water shut off right now so I just showered in the new shower, though the new shower has no doors on it so I pretty much held my head over it and did what I could...I'll be surprised if anything looks clean besides the entire bathroom (which is dripping wet). Oh well, I mean, it's not like I'm going to see my Spanish hottie tomorrow or anything...oh wait...lol. C'est la vie haha.
Besides being done with midterms, as most of you know, I did just celebrate my one and only 21st birthday last week...whoooo!!! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday either. Except to have you all there of course. Even the day of the week was perfect. For years I have been looking at the day that my 21st birthday would be on (Thursday), and I was always pretty satisfied, but since we don't have school on Fridays here, it is probably the best day of the week to have a birthday.
We went out on Wednesday for a little while to a bar that is nearby in Triana, but I wanted to “save myself” for more of a blow out on Thursday, so we didn't go too crazy, though it was still a lot of fun. Thursday morning I woke up and was eating breakfast, (my white chocolate and chocolate nutella on toast with yogurt and fruit...breakfast of champions!), and like I said, we've had construction workers here for a while-- and Pepita came in with a present and started singing Feliz Cumpleanos to me with all the construction guys haha. She gave me a really cute pink shirt and a ring :) Oh Pepita. I had one class on Thursday, with my awesome feminist literature teacher, and we went on a little field trip to the church down the street and she told us about it and then we got organic muffins from the nuns! Awesome. After that I got to talk to my parents and Omi for a long time...it was really good to hear their voices! It felt just like being at Madison or something. Except 80 degrees and cloudless in the middle of March.
For dinner, me and ten friends went to a really good (and cheap) Italian restaurant on Calle Betis. The food was SOOOO good. I had some sort of tortelli pasta with spinach....made me miss spinich ravioli from home, it was delicious. Afterwards we hit up some bars on Betis before finishing the night at a discoteca and dancing are booties off. I know I'm not going into huge detail, but I'm sure you can all fill in the blanks—there was plenty of 21 year old fun that was had. And as my grandma told me, I'm going to have a lot of birthdays, some I'll remember, some I won't, but I will never forget the birthday I spent in Spain...ahh.
I don't want to make any of you too depressed but the weather here is absolutely beautiful. I here you guys got a few warm days though so...whoo! It has been like 80-85 degrees and cloudless pretty much every day lately. I am like as tan as I am in the middle of summer normally. (And Garrett, after this semester, you'll never catch up to me, so you better start fake baking.) The sun makes everyday so enjoyable...though I'd always like to be enjoying it more by the river and not in a classroom...
This last week I got a volunteer job at an after school program with Spanish kids in a poor neighborhood of Sevilla. Its fun but the kids are INSANE. There is no order whatsoever, and if I knew how to yell at them sufficiently I would, but first of all, I have no authority to them, and second of all, they all speak better Spanish than I do so it isn't easy to fight with them. The other leaders are just really inconsistent with their discipline, which is half the problem. They will yell at one kid and then not at another, and then see some fighting and let it go, and yell at others fighting...the kids definetely run the show. I guess we're having a meeting about how to improve so maybe I can kick them into shape. The kids are funny though...they all think it is hilarious how I speak Spanish. “Why do you talk with so many 'S's? You use too many 'r's....you can't speak Spanish...do you even know how to read? Here, come look at a dictionary, it maybe it will help..” Spending two hours with them really cuts me down to size, that's for sure. They love me tho so I know it will be fun. It is also going to be good to say that I'm doing this because I have an interview with the Madison Park and Rec department doing some little kid activities, (and speaking Spanish to them). Which means, yes I will be spending the summer in Madison, and I am sooooo excited. Summer in Madison is like heaven, I love that city. The only problem is that my Carli is going to be making something of herself in far off California....sad. Of course I am beyond excited for her that she's making such an effort in the direction of her future blah blah blah:)
Yesterday we went to the beach that is closest to Sevilla, Matalascañas, in the town of Huelva. When me and Amber left Sevilla at 11 am it was already really hot, so we thought it would be the perfect day at the beach. Well when we got there it was about 20 degrees colder and SO windy. And it also looked like it was about to rain on us for the first hour we were there. But then, all the clouds passed and even though it was still windy, it was really sunny, and I even went up to my knees in the water. The beach was nice, but the water wasn't the pretty turquoise that I love. In fact, the beach reminded me a lot of the beaches on the East coast. We took the bus back at 6 and were really tired (from working so hard during the day obviously), so we stayed in. In fact, I watched the movie The Bridge to Terabithia on Spanish TV and cried like a baby. It was a quality Saturday night.
This coming weekend begins the famous event of Semana Santa (Holy Week), which is known worldwide. It is basically an entire week filled with religious processions through the streets and thousands of flowers and candles and other good stuff. It's supposed to be amazing, but most people in Sevilla don't stay for all of it because there are so many people. The first weekend of it I think I am going to go to Madrid and Toledo, then the last weekend of it I have my trip to Portugal, then the weekend after that I have my four day trip to Morrocco with my interest group, and after that, (though it is still in the works), I am hoping to be going to Italy for part of Feria (the other huge festival here), and then it is my LAST WEEKEND before finals in Sevilla!! I will have four days completely free after finals though so I'll be able to soak in my city as much as possible before I have to leave on the 17th... :( I can't believe how fast time is going here. Which reminds me, I need to get off the computer and disfrutar la vida de sevilla!! Adios mis amores, hasta pronto.
Ahhh por fin, puedo respirar...finally I can breathe! I just finished my last midterm so I am in a fantastic mood. I mostly forget that I'm actually going to school here until it hits me the week of exams and I get wonderful flashbacks of College Library or the creepy cages in Memorial. Only it's a little bit different because I'm getting tan next to a river in Spain...so I can't complain toooo much :) Though recently (for the past week and a half), Pepita has been getting her kitchen redone and a new bathroom put in, so things have been a little hectic. By hectic I mean that the water in the bathroom with the shower (the pre-existing bathroom), has the water shut off right now so I just showered in the new shower, though the new shower has no doors on it so I pretty much held my head over it and did what I could...I'll be surprised if anything looks clean besides the entire bathroom (which is dripping wet). Oh well, I mean, it's not like I'm going to see my Spanish hottie tomorrow or anything...oh wait...lol. C'est la vie haha.
Besides being done with midterms, as most of you know, I did just celebrate my one and only 21st birthday last week...whoooo!!! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday either. Except to have you all there of course. Even the day of the week was perfect. For years I have been looking at the day that my 21st birthday would be on (Thursday), and I was always pretty satisfied, but since we don't have school on Fridays here, it is probably the best day of the week to have a birthday.
We went out on Wednesday for a little while to a bar that is nearby in Triana, but I wanted to “save myself” for more of a blow out on Thursday, so we didn't go too crazy, though it was still a lot of fun. Thursday morning I woke up and was eating breakfast, (my white chocolate and chocolate nutella on toast with yogurt and fruit...breakfast of champions!), and like I said, we've had construction workers here for a while-- and Pepita came in with a present and started singing Feliz Cumpleanos to me with all the construction guys haha. She gave me a really cute pink shirt and a ring :) Oh Pepita. I had one class on Thursday, with my awesome feminist literature teacher, and we went on a little field trip to the church down the street and she told us about it and then we got organic muffins from the nuns! Awesome. After that I got to talk to my parents and Omi for a long time...it was really good to hear their voices! It felt just like being at Madison or something. Except 80 degrees and cloudless in the middle of March.
For dinner, me and ten friends went to a really good (and cheap) Italian restaurant on Calle Betis. The food was SOOOO good. I had some sort of tortelli pasta with spinach....made me miss spinich ravioli from home, it was delicious. Afterwards we hit up some bars on Betis before finishing the night at a discoteca and dancing are booties off. I know I'm not going into huge detail, but I'm sure you can all fill in the blanks—there was plenty of 21 year old fun that was had. And as my grandma told me, I'm going to have a lot of birthdays, some I'll remember, some I won't, but I will never forget the birthday I spent in Spain...ahh.
I don't want to make any of you too depressed but the weather here is absolutely beautiful. I here you guys got a few warm days though so...whoo! It has been like 80-85 degrees and cloudless pretty much every day lately. I am like as tan as I am in the middle of summer normally. (And Garrett, after this semester, you'll never catch up to me, so you better start fake baking.) The sun makes everyday so enjoyable...though I'd always like to be enjoying it more by the river and not in a classroom...
This last week I got a volunteer job at an after school program with Spanish kids in a poor neighborhood of Sevilla. Its fun but the kids are INSANE. There is no order whatsoever, and if I knew how to yell at them sufficiently I would, but first of all, I have no authority to them, and second of all, they all speak better Spanish than I do so it isn't easy to fight with them. The other leaders are just really inconsistent with their discipline, which is half the problem. They will yell at one kid and then not at another, and then see some fighting and let it go, and yell at others fighting...the kids definetely run the show. I guess we're having a meeting about how to improve so maybe I can kick them into shape. The kids are funny though...they all think it is hilarious how I speak Spanish. “Why do you talk with so many 'S's? You use too many 'r's....you can't speak Spanish...do you even know how to read? Here, come look at a dictionary, it maybe it will help..” Spending two hours with them really cuts me down to size, that's for sure. They love me tho so I know it will be fun. It is also going to be good to say that I'm doing this because I have an interview with the Madison Park and Rec department doing some little kid activities, (and speaking Spanish to them). Which means, yes I will be spending the summer in Madison, and I am sooooo excited. Summer in Madison is like heaven, I love that city. The only problem is that my Carli is going to be making something of herself in far off California....sad. Of course I am beyond excited for her that she's making such an effort in the direction of her future blah blah blah:)
Yesterday we went to the beach that is closest to Sevilla, Matalascañas, in the town of Huelva. When me and Amber left Sevilla at 11 am it was already really hot, so we thought it would be the perfect day at the beach. Well when we got there it was about 20 degrees colder and SO windy. And it also looked like it was about to rain on us for the first hour we were there. But then, all the clouds passed and even though it was still windy, it was really sunny, and I even went up to my knees in the water. The beach was nice, but the water wasn't the pretty turquoise that I love. In fact, the beach reminded me a lot of the beaches on the East coast. We took the bus back at 6 and were really tired (from working so hard during the day obviously), so we stayed in. In fact, I watched the movie The Bridge to Terabithia on Spanish TV and cried like a baby. It was a quality Saturday night.
This coming weekend begins the famous event of Semana Santa (Holy Week), which is known worldwide. It is basically an entire week filled with religious processions through the streets and thousands of flowers and candles and other good stuff. It's supposed to be amazing, but most people in Sevilla don't stay for all of it because there are so many people. The first weekend of it I think I am going to go to Madrid and Toledo, then the last weekend of it I have my trip to Portugal, then the weekend after that I have my four day trip to Morrocco with my interest group, and after that, (though it is still in the works), I am hoping to be going to Italy for part of Feria (the other huge festival here), and then it is my LAST WEEKEND before finals in Sevilla!! I will have four days completely free after finals though so I'll be able to soak in my city as much as possible before I have to leave on the 17th... :( I can't believe how fast time is going here. Which reminds me, I need to get off the computer and disfrutar la vida de sevilla!! Adios mis amores, hasta pronto.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Paris, je t´aime
Well my friends, I am safely back from my weekend in Paris and I have lots and lots to say. I'll start off by saying it was easily one of the best weekends of my entire life...absolutely amazing. I was initially very skeptical because I paid more than I planned for the plane ticket after going through hell to get it, and someone who stayed at our hostel said it was horrible, and the weather was supposed to suck, and sooo many people have had horror stories about traveling, but it was better than anything I could have ever hoped for. I'm going to go into a lot of detail because I want to remember it all while it is still fresh so this will probably be pretty long. Sorry in advance! So let me start from the beginning...
We, (we being my friends Amber, Sarah, and Janelle—the girls I roomed with in Granada, and whom I love), left at 5:30pm on Thursday night, and everything went perfectly with the flight from Sevilla to Paris. We got to Paris around 8:00 and we flew over the entire city lit up and we all had the... “oh-my-god-we're-in-Paris” moment as we saw the 'city of lights' below us. From the airport we took a taxi to our hostel...and held our breath the whole way there. To our surprise, it wasn't too bad. We slept in a room that was constantly 100 degrees and smelled like feet with 6 other people who snored and made sounds in their sleep like they were dying, but it wasn't that bad haha. The only time we spent there was to sleep, (even though with the snoring kings we didn't do much of that either), and eat our free breakfast of which we ate countless croissants and rolls with jelly. Once we were settled in we roamed the streets looking for a good place to eat and landed in a French-Italian joint with no other customers. We hadn't been in France for more than 2 hours when we realized how lucky we were to have Obama as president. I mean, aside from everything else, the world loves him, sometimes without even knowing why, which puts us in a wonderful position while traveling because the first thing our waiter said when he found out we were from the US was, “I love Obama!” haha. And on our last night we got crepes and the crepe man told us that Obama was his personal hero, and also that he liked Micheal Buble and Frank Sinatra hahaa. Anyways! So the first night we each ate an entire pizza and walked to the Eiffel Tower. One of the reasons we chose our hostel was because it boasted being only a 10 minute walk from the Tower, so we knew we had to go our first night. When we saw it in its entirety for the first time it was one of those moments of realization, (of which I've been having a lot of during this journey), really affirming it....this isn't a picture in a book...I'm really in Paris. Then it started doing its shimmery light show and we all screamed with excitement.
The next day we got up bright and early for a (FREE) 3.5 hour walking tour we heard about through our hostel that said it would take us to all the major sites in Paris. We really didn't have anything planned out or know how to get to a lot of places, so we figured we didn't have much to lose on a free tour of the city. We hopped on the metro, which was super easy and convenient to navigate, and met our guides at Saint Michel square. Honestly, the tour was one of the best things about the entire trip and I can't possibly tell you everything I learned/saw because you just won't want to read it, but I learned so much!!! I never thought I could be so interested in history, but we had an amaazzzzing guide from New Zealand, Phillip, (yes he was adorable and yes he had an accent), who was hilarious and incredibly intelligent. For instance, did you know that a German general saved Paris from being destroyed in World War II? Hitler knew he wasn't going to get Paris and he didn't want anyone else to have it so he ordered the general to burn the entire city and the general was like screw that so he lit a very small section of it on fire so that the soldiers on the border could tell Hitler it was burning, but really it was fine. If not for him, nothing of what I saw would exist. Also, when Louis XVI was beheaded they dulled the blade of the guillotine and it took about 9 times before his head came off. And also, the Lourve has over 100,000 pieces of art and can only display 35,000 of them at one time and if you looked at every piece for only 30 seconds each and took no bathroom breaks, no food breaks, no sleeping, no nothing, it would take 64 days to go through the entire museum. The Eiffel Tower was built as an entrance to the World Fair and only one person died while it was being built which is unbelieveable. Except for the guy who convince the French government to let him try his flying machine from the top of it...and flew all the way to the ground and made a dent two inches into the pavement. Epic fail. I have tons and tons of stories and history but it is too hard to make it sound coherent, especially without the pictures in front of me. But on top of the history, the guide would throw in pop culture stuff like where Jason Bourne (from the Bourne Identity) was hiding in a certain scene, or where Anne Hathaway dropped her cellphone in a fountain in The Devil Wears Prada, or, my personal favorite, the bridge where Carrie and Big meet in Paris during the finale of Sex and the City :) So on the tour we saw Notre Dame, Pont Neuf (a famous bridge with a great story of its own), the river Seine, the French Academy (where they decide what words to put in the dictionary), the Louvre, the royal gardens, the champs d'elysees, the Arc de Triumphe, the Museum of Orsay (which has the biggest collection of Van Gogh in the world), the place of Napoleon's tomb, the French Opera house, the Hotel de Ville (where all the famous and rich people stay when they come to Paris), the Egyptian obelisk, and of course the Eiffel Tower. I'm sure I'm forgetting some but still that is a lot! A lot of the stuff we saw from a distance, but even still it was useful to know where things were in relation to us and above all, the history was mesmerizing.
We ended our tour near the Arc de Triomphe so we decided to walk down the most expensive street in Paris (and I think the second most expensive in the world), to go see the Arc up close. It was much bigger than I thought, I felt like a midget beneath it. The Arc is surrounded by the biggest roundabout in the world, and also the most dangerous, because the stubborn French people refuse to put any signs on it in order to preserve its history. So in exchange they get a crash every 30 minutes.
After the Arc we marched our way to the Notre Dame, the most famous church in Paris and one of the most well known around the world. But, back in the day it was home to prostitution, gambling, and murder. Whoo! And during the French Revolution when they were killing all of the royalty and artistocrats, they thought that the apostles were wearing crowns, not halos, so they cut off all of their heads and the heads were lost for years and years until one day, pretty recently (I can remember when exactly, within the last 10-20 years), a woman was gardening and found the stone heads of all the apostles in her back yard. What luck! Anyways, inside the Notre Dame was beautiful. When we went they were in the middle of mass and it was really interesting to see. The stained glass windows were really incredible. And the architecture on the outside was amazing as well—the Notre Dame is the first building to use the architectural tool of the flying buttress which allows the walls to be thin without falling apart. A staple in Gothic style architecture, if I'm not mistaken.
A small aside that is necessary for the understanding of the next stop in our journey. During our tour, Philip told us that a certain church, called Sainte Chappelle, is famous for holding ancient relics of Christ, including the Crown of Thorns that he wore when he was crucified. Louis XIV (I may be getting the numbers on these kings wrong), bought the crown and had the church built for it, and they supposedly show it every first Friday of each month. And what would you know, we were in Paris on the first Friday of the month, so we decided we'd probably never get another chance to see the supposed crown of Christ. We went to the church and waited in line, and even went up and asked the people in charge if the crown was there today, and multiple people told us that it was. However, after going through security, paying 5 euros, and exploring the whole church, we found no crown of thorns. And after some more research with other guides we saw, we found out that they showed the crown in the Notre Dame that day, while we were there, and all we had to do was go downstairs and see it. Of course, by the time we went back to Notre Dame, it was closed, and there was no Christly crown to be seen. We saw pictures of it though and it is encased in something and you can't really see it, and I'm not too sure I really believe that King Louis got a hold of the actual Crown of Thorns...seems a little improbable that some sticks could hold their form for a few thousand years. But that's probably my bitterness talking :)
But, on the upside, Friday nights at the Lourve are free, so we hauled our bitterness to the museum before sunset and enjoyed lots of art, including the famous Mona Lisa, which is much less impressive than you might think. Especially since they have solved the two biggest mysteries about it: it is a painting of a woman named Lisa, not Davinci himself as a woman, and her facial expression is 83% happy, according to German and Canadian scientists, respectively. Once you take the mystery out of art, it is much less interesting. The Lourve was really interesting and just enormous, but all of the art we looked at was mostly religious, and I'm more interested in the impressionist styles of art, which I got to see tons of on our second day at the Orsay Museum. Lots of Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Rodin, Seurat, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, and more. I could have stayed in that museum for hours.
After our full day of culture and history we went back to the hostel and had some wine and went over our plans for the following day before passing a few sleepless hours in the 100 degree bedroom. Saturday we got up early again and made our way to the Catacombs of Paris. These were created during the time of the Bubonic Plague and there was no more room in the cemetaries for bodies so they basically created underground cemetaries, and put in the bones in designs. It was definetely creepy, and we were glad to see daylight afterwards. Later on we went to the bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre, which is where all of the artists and singers and dancers lived back in the day, and it still has its artistic charm, as well as Paris's red light district haha. We first climbed our way up to the highest point in Paris, (aside from the top of the Eiffel Tower), which is the hill where the Sacre Coeur is, another huge and gorgeous church, with quite distinct architecture. It was an amazzzzzing view of the entire city, absolutely beautiful. It was a cloudy day but as we sat on the steps and listened to a guy play his acoustic guitar and sing “Imagine”, the sun peaked out and lit up our faces...
When we had our fill of the Parisian jam session, we walked to the red light district, the home of the Moulin Rouge. We had a ton of fun going into “sex museums” and sex toy stores...unfortunately we didn't bring anything home hahaha. From the red light district we headed to the Museum of Orsay which boasts the most (or the second most, can't remember!), Van Gogh paintings in the world. It was so beautiful. I love all the work from those eras. I found a lot of artists I had forgotten about, and some I never knew. I also remembered how much I love art and art history, and how much I wish I could remember from my class in high school that I loved so much. Art history and religion are two classes I want to take when I get back to the states.
We breezed through the Orsay and headed back to our hostel to shower and get ready for the night...we were going to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower to view the City of Light from a place very few get to go in their lifetimes. On the walk there we bought baguettes and cheese and munched on our French dinner all the way there. We had planned on experiencing the Paris night life with a Pub Crawl through the same program that did our free tour, but when we got to the Eiffel we realized we would never make it there it time so we opted for the view of a lifetime rather than the hangover of a lifetime. I'm going to have to search for descriptive words again here, so I'm sorry if I repeat things I've said before....but the view of the city at night...there just aren't words honestly. My eyes were watering just taking in everything around me....the lights, the city, the wind, the stars. It was a feeling of euphoria which I've experienced before but not quite like this...there were so many feelings going through me, I just absolutely feel in love with the city in that moment.
After our romantic date with the city of Paris, we enjoyed our last French crepes and walked to a bar and watched (and participated in), some dancing at a French bar. Afterwards we made our way home and gave the city its last kiss goodnight :)
Sunday was a bit of an anxiety filled day, but we made it to the airport in time and got back to Sevilla without much trouble at all. And though I was sad to be leaving Paris, I wasn't upset about leaving 50 degrees for 80 and sunshine.
Other than Paris, everything else is going great, especially the weather. It is really hard to be sad or homesick when it is so beautiful out. Although, my birthday is coming up (tomorrow!), and it is a weird feeling to know that I won't have the people I love most here to celebrate. Aside from that, turning 21 in the states is a little different from turning 21 here, though I plan to enjoy it equally as much :) It does get me thinking about growing up and what I'm doing, what I'm going to do, what I truly want to do...what the future holds. In a matter of hours I will be a real adult, in every country of the world, and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for it. I'm certainly not ready to get a “real” life or being an “adult”, and if I'm anything like my mother I'll never be one, which I wouldn't be too upset about :) But enough of that seriousness....I am very excited for my birthday and i've been informed by my friends here that I will be celebrating for the entire 24 hours of it, starting wednesday night at midnight. Thursday I'm going to have dinner at a good Italian place and then reeeeally celebrate :) I think when I order drinks i'm going to show them my ID anyways, just so I can have that bamf feeling haha.
As always, I miss and love you all very very much, and I hope things warm up soon for you. Also, upon my arrival in May, we will be having another, proper, United States of America, birthday party, so prepare yourselves :) I have midterms next week so I'm not sure if I'll have time to come online on Sunday but if I do I'll be on at 7pm my time, which I think is 1pm your time since you guys had daylight savings. Love youuu. Besos!
We, (we being my friends Amber, Sarah, and Janelle—the girls I roomed with in Granada, and whom I love), left at 5:30pm on Thursday night, and everything went perfectly with the flight from Sevilla to Paris. We got to Paris around 8:00 and we flew over the entire city lit up and we all had the... “oh-my-god-we're-in-Paris” moment as we saw the 'city of lights' below us. From the airport we took a taxi to our hostel...and held our breath the whole way there. To our surprise, it wasn't too bad. We slept in a room that was constantly 100 degrees and smelled like feet with 6 other people who snored and made sounds in their sleep like they were dying, but it wasn't that bad haha. The only time we spent there was to sleep, (even though with the snoring kings we didn't do much of that either), and eat our free breakfast of which we ate countless croissants and rolls with jelly. Once we were settled in we roamed the streets looking for a good place to eat and landed in a French-Italian joint with no other customers. We hadn't been in France for more than 2 hours when we realized how lucky we were to have Obama as president. I mean, aside from everything else, the world loves him, sometimes without even knowing why, which puts us in a wonderful position while traveling because the first thing our waiter said when he found out we were from the US was, “I love Obama!” haha. And on our last night we got crepes and the crepe man told us that Obama was his personal hero, and also that he liked Micheal Buble and Frank Sinatra hahaa. Anyways! So the first night we each ate an entire pizza and walked to the Eiffel Tower. One of the reasons we chose our hostel was because it boasted being only a 10 minute walk from the Tower, so we knew we had to go our first night. When we saw it in its entirety for the first time it was one of those moments of realization, (of which I've been having a lot of during this journey), really affirming it....this isn't a picture in a book...I'm really in Paris. Then it started doing its shimmery light show and we all screamed with excitement.
The next day we got up bright and early for a (FREE) 3.5 hour walking tour we heard about through our hostel that said it would take us to all the major sites in Paris. We really didn't have anything planned out or know how to get to a lot of places, so we figured we didn't have much to lose on a free tour of the city. We hopped on the metro, which was super easy and convenient to navigate, and met our guides at Saint Michel square. Honestly, the tour was one of the best things about the entire trip and I can't possibly tell you everything I learned/saw because you just won't want to read it, but I learned so much!!! I never thought I could be so interested in history, but we had an amaazzzzing guide from New Zealand, Phillip, (yes he was adorable and yes he had an accent), who was hilarious and incredibly intelligent. For instance, did you know that a German general saved Paris from being destroyed in World War II? Hitler knew he wasn't going to get Paris and he didn't want anyone else to have it so he ordered the general to burn the entire city and the general was like screw that so he lit a very small section of it on fire so that the soldiers on the border could tell Hitler it was burning, but really it was fine. If not for him, nothing of what I saw would exist. Also, when Louis XVI was beheaded they dulled the blade of the guillotine and it took about 9 times before his head came off. And also, the Lourve has over 100,000 pieces of art and can only display 35,000 of them at one time and if you looked at every piece for only 30 seconds each and took no bathroom breaks, no food breaks, no sleeping, no nothing, it would take 64 days to go through the entire museum. The Eiffel Tower was built as an entrance to the World Fair and only one person died while it was being built which is unbelieveable. Except for the guy who convince the French government to let him try his flying machine from the top of it...and flew all the way to the ground and made a dent two inches into the pavement. Epic fail. I have tons and tons of stories and history but it is too hard to make it sound coherent, especially without the pictures in front of me. But on top of the history, the guide would throw in pop culture stuff like where Jason Bourne (from the Bourne Identity) was hiding in a certain scene, or where Anne Hathaway dropped her cellphone in a fountain in The Devil Wears Prada, or, my personal favorite, the bridge where Carrie and Big meet in Paris during the finale of Sex and the City :) So on the tour we saw Notre Dame, Pont Neuf (a famous bridge with a great story of its own), the river Seine, the French Academy (where they decide what words to put in the dictionary), the Louvre, the royal gardens, the champs d'elysees, the Arc de Triumphe, the Museum of Orsay (which has the biggest collection of Van Gogh in the world), the place of Napoleon's tomb, the French Opera house, the Hotel de Ville (where all the famous and rich people stay when they come to Paris), the Egyptian obelisk, and of course the Eiffel Tower. I'm sure I'm forgetting some but still that is a lot! A lot of the stuff we saw from a distance, but even still it was useful to know where things were in relation to us and above all, the history was mesmerizing.
We ended our tour near the Arc de Triomphe so we decided to walk down the most expensive street in Paris (and I think the second most expensive in the world), to go see the Arc up close. It was much bigger than I thought, I felt like a midget beneath it. The Arc is surrounded by the biggest roundabout in the world, and also the most dangerous, because the stubborn French people refuse to put any signs on it in order to preserve its history. So in exchange they get a crash every 30 minutes.
After the Arc we marched our way to the Notre Dame, the most famous church in Paris and one of the most well known around the world. But, back in the day it was home to prostitution, gambling, and murder. Whoo! And during the French Revolution when they were killing all of the royalty and artistocrats, they thought that the apostles were wearing crowns, not halos, so they cut off all of their heads and the heads were lost for years and years until one day, pretty recently (I can remember when exactly, within the last 10-20 years), a woman was gardening and found the stone heads of all the apostles in her back yard. What luck! Anyways, inside the Notre Dame was beautiful. When we went they were in the middle of mass and it was really interesting to see. The stained glass windows were really incredible. And the architecture on the outside was amazing as well—the Notre Dame is the first building to use the architectural tool of the flying buttress which allows the walls to be thin without falling apart. A staple in Gothic style architecture, if I'm not mistaken.
A small aside that is necessary for the understanding of the next stop in our journey. During our tour, Philip told us that a certain church, called Sainte Chappelle, is famous for holding ancient relics of Christ, including the Crown of Thorns that he wore when he was crucified. Louis XIV (I may be getting the numbers on these kings wrong), bought the crown and had the church built for it, and they supposedly show it every first Friday of each month. And what would you know, we were in Paris on the first Friday of the month, so we decided we'd probably never get another chance to see the supposed crown of Christ. We went to the church and waited in line, and even went up and asked the people in charge if the crown was there today, and multiple people told us that it was. However, after going through security, paying 5 euros, and exploring the whole church, we found no crown of thorns. And after some more research with other guides we saw, we found out that they showed the crown in the Notre Dame that day, while we were there, and all we had to do was go downstairs and see it. Of course, by the time we went back to Notre Dame, it was closed, and there was no Christly crown to be seen. We saw pictures of it though and it is encased in something and you can't really see it, and I'm not too sure I really believe that King Louis got a hold of the actual Crown of Thorns...seems a little improbable that some sticks could hold their form for a few thousand years. But that's probably my bitterness talking :)
But, on the upside, Friday nights at the Lourve are free, so we hauled our bitterness to the museum before sunset and enjoyed lots of art, including the famous Mona Lisa, which is much less impressive than you might think. Especially since they have solved the two biggest mysteries about it: it is a painting of a woman named Lisa, not Davinci himself as a woman, and her facial expression is 83% happy, according to German and Canadian scientists, respectively. Once you take the mystery out of art, it is much less interesting. The Lourve was really interesting and just enormous, but all of the art we looked at was mostly religious, and I'm more interested in the impressionist styles of art, which I got to see tons of on our second day at the Orsay Museum. Lots of Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Rodin, Seurat, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, and more. I could have stayed in that museum for hours.
After our full day of culture and history we went back to the hostel and had some wine and went over our plans for the following day before passing a few sleepless hours in the 100 degree bedroom. Saturday we got up early again and made our way to the Catacombs of Paris. These were created during the time of the Bubonic Plague and there was no more room in the cemetaries for bodies so they basically created underground cemetaries, and put in the bones in designs. It was definetely creepy, and we were glad to see daylight afterwards. Later on we went to the bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre, which is where all of the artists and singers and dancers lived back in the day, and it still has its artistic charm, as well as Paris's red light district haha. We first climbed our way up to the highest point in Paris, (aside from the top of the Eiffel Tower), which is the hill where the Sacre Coeur is, another huge and gorgeous church, with quite distinct architecture. It was an amazzzzzing view of the entire city, absolutely beautiful. It was a cloudy day but as we sat on the steps and listened to a guy play his acoustic guitar and sing “Imagine”, the sun peaked out and lit up our faces...
When we had our fill of the Parisian jam session, we walked to the red light district, the home of the Moulin Rouge. We had a ton of fun going into “sex museums” and sex toy stores...unfortunately we didn't bring anything home hahaha. From the red light district we headed to the Museum of Orsay which boasts the most (or the second most, can't remember!), Van Gogh paintings in the world. It was so beautiful. I love all the work from those eras. I found a lot of artists I had forgotten about, and some I never knew. I also remembered how much I love art and art history, and how much I wish I could remember from my class in high school that I loved so much. Art history and religion are two classes I want to take when I get back to the states.
We breezed through the Orsay and headed back to our hostel to shower and get ready for the night...we were going to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower to view the City of Light from a place very few get to go in their lifetimes. On the walk there we bought baguettes and cheese and munched on our French dinner all the way there. We had planned on experiencing the Paris night life with a Pub Crawl through the same program that did our free tour, but when we got to the Eiffel we realized we would never make it there it time so we opted for the view of a lifetime rather than the hangover of a lifetime. I'm going to have to search for descriptive words again here, so I'm sorry if I repeat things I've said before....but the view of the city at night...there just aren't words honestly. My eyes were watering just taking in everything around me....the lights, the city, the wind, the stars. It was a feeling of euphoria which I've experienced before but not quite like this...there were so many feelings going through me, I just absolutely feel in love with the city in that moment.
After our romantic date with the city of Paris, we enjoyed our last French crepes and walked to a bar and watched (and participated in), some dancing at a French bar. Afterwards we made our way home and gave the city its last kiss goodnight :)
Sunday was a bit of an anxiety filled day, but we made it to the airport in time and got back to Sevilla without much trouble at all. And though I was sad to be leaving Paris, I wasn't upset about leaving 50 degrees for 80 and sunshine.
Other than Paris, everything else is going great, especially the weather. It is really hard to be sad or homesick when it is so beautiful out. Although, my birthday is coming up (tomorrow!), and it is a weird feeling to know that I won't have the people I love most here to celebrate. Aside from that, turning 21 in the states is a little different from turning 21 here, though I plan to enjoy it equally as much :) It does get me thinking about growing up and what I'm doing, what I'm going to do, what I truly want to do...what the future holds. In a matter of hours I will be a real adult, in every country of the world, and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for it. I'm certainly not ready to get a “real” life or being an “adult”, and if I'm anything like my mother I'll never be one, which I wouldn't be too upset about :) But enough of that seriousness....I am very excited for my birthday and i've been informed by my friends here that I will be celebrating for the entire 24 hours of it, starting wednesday night at midnight. Thursday I'm going to have dinner at a good Italian place and then reeeeally celebrate :) I think when I order drinks i'm going to show them my ID anyways, just so I can have that bamf feeling haha.
As always, I miss and love you all very very much, and I hope things warm up soon for you. Also, upon my arrival in May, we will be having another, proper, United States of America, birthday party, so prepare yourselves :) I have midterms next week so I'm not sure if I'll have time to come online on Sunday but if I do I'll be on at 7pm my time, which I think is 1pm your time since you guys had daylight savings. Love youuu. Besos!
Monday, March 2, 2009
La edad del pavo
Sorry for taking so long to update! I know some of you (ahem, Kim), have no life and read this religiously so my bad for the delay. For explanation of the title, you´ll have to read the last few paragraphs.
Sevilla is still beautiful, we haven't had rain in like two weeks and it has been absolutely cloudless and sunny, with temperatures around 70-75 degrees. I heard you guys just got some more snow...can't say I'm missing it! Just a couple degrees warmer and it will be perfect weather here and I won't even need a jacket. But before you know it I will be complaining about the heat! I love it though because it smells like spring.....mmm.
There isn't too much to inform about right now, just getting into the grind again with school. It is less work but it is still more work than I would like to do when i'm trying to experience the world hah. I am really enjoying most of my classes though, especially Contemporary Literature and my Film class. I think analyzing literature and film is so interesting and you can see all the symbols and foreshadowing, etc that the author put into their work. I also really love my teacher for my lit class, she seems like a total feminist, which those who know me well, know that I love :)
Going on a bit of a feminist tangent, I want to write about something here that has really affected me, which is gender roles, but more specifically, violence to women. A few weeks ago a 16 year old girl went missing and since then they found out that her ex-boyfriend killed her and threw her in the river, and they are continuing to look for her body. The reason he did it was because they were dating and he had another girlfriend besides her so she started dating someone else. Which according to him, and many like him, was okay for him to do but not her. This case is getting tonnns of media attention in Spain right now, her parents just talked to president Zapatero to try and change the laws because the boy that helped her ex-boyfriend kill her is only going to go to jail for 6 months. I'm not sure how long the ex-boyfriend will be in jail but my teacher said that because he's young and a boy it won't be that long, especially if they can't find her body. Aside from the Marta case, literally every single day on the news there is another woman who was killed by her husband or boyfriend. Yesterday there were two within 24 hours. Sorry for the downer paragraph but it is just something that has really bothered me since I've been here and a huge part of Spain that I hate and I'll never understand. It has also given me ideas about maybe someday coming back and working at a women's center here..who knows. Also, it has made me all the more hesitant about finding a spanish lover :)
Back to good stuff!! This last weekend we went to Cadiz, which is on the south coast of Spain and its where a lot of people go for the beach. However, we went for the infamous and internationally known party, Carnavales, which is, from what I could tell, a lot like Halloween in the states. In fact, it was pretty much exactly Madison Halloween, with more public urination. And yes, of course I wore sandals that were completely soaked by the end of the night. I will continue to tell myself it was water. Before we left for Cadiz, my friend Amber and I chilled on top of her apartment building and enjoyed my first of the wonderful Spanish tradition of the “botellon”, which is a huge bottle of Spanish beer that costs like fifty cents. Aside from the beer, it was really cool on top of the roof and we could see the whole city. We were up there until sunset and took a bus to Cadiz at 8 pm and got back at 6am. It was a looong night. Which ended in me taking my first bite of red meat in over 8 years...from a Burger King hamburger. A bad choice for my first taste of “cow” in awhile. I don't think I'll have a problem staying away from that anymore. In my defense I was starving and they don't have magical places like Ian's or Toppers in Spain...oh the days of late night mac and cheese pizza...I long for you. So we didn't get back to Sevilla until like 6 am which meant that I spent the whole next day making a route around my house from my bed, to the bathroom, to the kitchen, and back to bed. On one of the trips to the bathroom I did make it into the shower, and brought my shoes with me, so they are clean...pretty clean anyway...
EXCITING NEWS!!! I booked a ticket to Paris for next weekend!!! It was a huge pain in the ass that I don't even want to get into but I am actually going to Paris. I can't believe it. We also just got a hostel that is apparently 10 minutes walking from the Eiffel Tower and 23 euros a night. I'm going with the three girls that I spent the weekend in Granada with, so I'm really excited. Now I just need to pray that everything goes according to plan because I've heard so many traveling horror stories. No matter what I'm sure I'll have lots of things to say for my next blog.
Last night was really fun because I met up with my Spanish friend Carlos who I've met a few times but always at a club when you can't hear anything, so it was nice to actually talk to him. And me and my friends talked almost the whole night in Spanish!! Once I start talking I can feel it coming easier and easier, I just really need to speak in Spanish to my American friends too. We also met two guys from PARIS last night, who of course after only one year of Spanish, were completely fluent. And fluent in English as well. God damn Europe worldly-ness.
Tomorrow is Pepita's birthday so all her sons and daughter and their husbands and wives and grandkids are here...and her house is not that big so right now it is chuck full of crazy Spanish family. The two grandaughters are precious. The older one, Maria, is thirteen and her sister Ana is almost three. Ana is sooooooo cute! Ah! And she is enrolled in a bilingual school where she learns equal amounts of English and Spanish. We sang Happy Birthday in English together haha. Pepita told me she knows more English than Spanish. She is two years old! She is going to have such an advantage when she gets older. It's crazy here how knowing a second language is basically expected in Europe, and it isn't unusual for someone to know three or four. I'm so jealous, especially when I've spent the better part of my life trying to master just a second language. Ayyy madre mia! After I get back from Cordoba tomorrow I'm probably going to be thrown into a pit of Spanish Birthday celebrations. I think I'll resort to talking to the bilingual two year old.
Now it is Sunday and I'm recuperating from a weekend of ninos. Yesterday we went to Cordoba and saw the famous Catedral-Mesquita. It is really interesting and strange at the same time. It was made in many parts and depending on who was in charge at the time (the Muslims or the Christians), they would add certain things and take others away and such. There is a HUGE cathedral right in the middle of the mosque, it was crazy! I have never gone to church regularly or considered myself a religious person, but whenever I have gone into a big religious monument, I feel myself on the verge of tears for no apparent reason. Its really weird.
After the Mesquita, we rode the bus to a town about 45 minutes outside of Cordoba to one of the oldest and finest wineries in Spain for a tour and tasting!! Whoo! We stepped into the warehouse where a tonnnnnnnnnnnnnn of wine is stored in big wooden barrels and all I could think about was how much my mom would love it, and my aunt too :) The smell alone was intoxicating....a mix of aging wine and cedar. I never wanted to stop inhaling!! After the tour we got to try three types of wine; a dry appetizer wine, a semi sweet wine, and a very sweet dessert wine. The first one was pretty strong, I liked the second the best even though it was still pretty sweet, and the third one was really weird. It literally tasted like liquid raisins, and looked like it too. It was dark and almost thick...I wasn't a huge fan. I really like Cordoba but it was nothing compared to Granada, and it was of course raining for the first time in two weeks, but I still had fun.
Now today I had probably the most authentic Spanish experience since I've been here, even more than the soccer game. Alllll of Pepita's daughters and sons and their wives and kids were at the house celebrating her birthday and it was just a huge fiesta of food and laughing and music and dancing. It reminded me SO much of our Thanksgivings or big family birthdays or Christmas dinners at home. Except for the fact that they all can play the guitar so well and dance Flamenco and sing Flamenco cantes...it was so amazing to be a part of. And one of her sons, Anival, was so much like Uncle Tim, it was hilarious. Drinking and making jokes about everything, it was so funny. And two of her sons reminded me of me and Lucy because even though they are old (30s or 40s), they were wrestling and just cracking up at everything each other said. Now that I think of it, Jesus was more like my mom because he still has, as they say “la edad del pavo” which literally means the age of the turkey, ie. An adolescent pest. And seeing how Pepita interacted with her kids and grandkids was like a spitting image of my grandmas at home. I literally had to hold back tears at some points, sometimes because I was laughing so much, and sometimes because I wished so badly it was my own family sitting around the table. Even though I couldn't understand everything, I still felt like I was a part of it. They even asked me about the word “cheesehead” hahah. And little Ana fell in love with me too. We played all weekend together and she made me promise to come to visit her in Medida (about 200 km from Sevilla). I took pictures and a video of her singing “Happy Birthday” in English. What a peach. Well my friends, as always, I'm thinking of you all every minute of the day, and hope that everything is good even without my face around :) I should have pictures up from the weekend very soon, and it won't be long until the next blog because I'm going to PARIS next weekend!!! AH! La vida la vida la vida!
Sevilla is still beautiful, we haven't had rain in like two weeks and it has been absolutely cloudless and sunny, with temperatures around 70-75 degrees. I heard you guys just got some more snow...can't say I'm missing it! Just a couple degrees warmer and it will be perfect weather here and I won't even need a jacket. But before you know it I will be complaining about the heat! I love it though because it smells like spring.....mmm.
There isn't too much to inform about right now, just getting into the grind again with school. It is less work but it is still more work than I would like to do when i'm trying to experience the world hah. I am really enjoying most of my classes though, especially Contemporary Literature and my Film class. I think analyzing literature and film is so interesting and you can see all the symbols and foreshadowing, etc that the author put into their work. I also really love my teacher for my lit class, she seems like a total feminist, which those who know me well, know that I love :)
Going on a bit of a feminist tangent, I want to write about something here that has really affected me, which is gender roles, but more specifically, violence to women. A few weeks ago a 16 year old girl went missing and since then they found out that her ex-boyfriend killed her and threw her in the river, and they are continuing to look for her body. The reason he did it was because they were dating and he had another girlfriend besides her so she started dating someone else. Which according to him, and many like him, was okay for him to do but not her. This case is getting tonnns of media attention in Spain right now, her parents just talked to president Zapatero to try and change the laws because the boy that helped her ex-boyfriend kill her is only going to go to jail for 6 months. I'm not sure how long the ex-boyfriend will be in jail but my teacher said that because he's young and a boy it won't be that long, especially if they can't find her body. Aside from the Marta case, literally every single day on the news there is another woman who was killed by her husband or boyfriend. Yesterday there were two within 24 hours. Sorry for the downer paragraph but it is just something that has really bothered me since I've been here and a huge part of Spain that I hate and I'll never understand. It has also given me ideas about maybe someday coming back and working at a women's center here..who knows. Also, it has made me all the more hesitant about finding a spanish lover :)
Back to good stuff!! This last weekend we went to Cadiz, which is on the south coast of Spain and its where a lot of people go for the beach. However, we went for the infamous and internationally known party, Carnavales, which is, from what I could tell, a lot like Halloween in the states. In fact, it was pretty much exactly Madison Halloween, with more public urination. And yes, of course I wore sandals that were completely soaked by the end of the night. I will continue to tell myself it was water. Before we left for Cadiz, my friend Amber and I chilled on top of her apartment building and enjoyed my first of the wonderful Spanish tradition of the “botellon”, which is a huge bottle of Spanish beer that costs like fifty cents. Aside from the beer, it was really cool on top of the roof and we could see the whole city. We were up there until sunset and took a bus to Cadiz at 8 pm and got back at 6am. It was a looong night. Which ended in me taking my first bite of red meat in over 8 years...from a Burger King hamburger. A bad choice for my first taste of “cow” in awhile. I don't think I'll have a problem staying away from that anymore. In my defense I was starving and they don't have magical places like Ian's or Toppers in Spain...oh the days of late night mac and cheese pizza...I long for you. So we didn't get back to Sevilla until like 6 am which meant that I spent the whole next day making a route around my house from my bed, to the bathroom, to the kitchen, and back to bed. On one of the trips to the bathroom I did make it into the shower, and brought my shoes with me, so they are clean...pretty clean anyway...
EXCITING NEWS!!! I booked a ticket to Paris for next weekend!!! It was a huge pain in the ass that I don't even want to get into but I am actually going to Paris. I can't believe it. We also just got a hostel that is apparently 10 minutes walking from the Eiffel Tower and 23 euros a night. I'm going with the three girls that I spent the weekend in Granada with, so I'm really excited. Now I just need to pray that everything goes according to plan because I've heard so many traveling horror stories. No matter what I'm sure I'll have lots of things to say for my next blog.
Last night was really fun because I met up with my Spanish friend Carlos who I've met a few times but always at a club when you can't hear anything, so it was nice to actually talk to him. And me and my friends talked almost the whole night in Spanish!! Once I start talking I can feel it coming easier and easier, I just really need to speak in Spanish to my American friends too. We also met two guys from PARIS last night, who of course after only one year of Spanish, were completely fluent. And fluent in English as well. God damn Europe worldly-ness.
Tomorrow is Pepita's birthday so all her sons and daughter and their husbands and wives and grandkids are here...and her house is not that big so right now it is chuck full of crazy Spanish family. The two grandaughters are precious. The older one, Maria, is thirteen and her sister Ana is almost three. Ana is sooooooo cute! Ah! And she is enrolled in a bilingual school where she learns equal amounts of English and Spanish. We sang Happy Birthday in English together haha. Pepita told me she knows more English than Spanish. She is two years old! She is going to have such an advantage when she gets older. It's crazy here how knowing a second language is basically expected in Europe, and it isn't unusual for someone to know three or four. I'm so jealous, especially when I've spent the better part of my life trying to master just a second language. Ayyy madre mia! After I get back from Cordoba tomorrow I'm probably going to be thrown into a pit of Spanish Birthday celebrations. I think I'll resort to talking to the bilingual two year old.
Now it is Sunday and I'm recuperating from a weekend of ninos. Yesterday we went to Cordoba and saw the famous Catedral-Mesquita. It is really interesting and strange at the same time. It was made in many parts and depending on who was in charge at the time (the Muslims or the Christians), they would add certain things and take others away and such. There is a HUGE cathedral right in the middle of the mosque, it was crazy! I have never gone to church regularly or considered myself a religious person, but whenever I have gone into a big religious monument, I feel myself on the verge of tears for no apparent reason. Its really weird.
After the Mesquita, we rode the bus to a town about 45 minutes outside of Cordoba to one of the oldest and finest wineries in Spain for a tour and tasting!! Whoo! We stepped into the warehouse where a tonnnnnnnnnnnnnn of wine is stored in big wooden barrels and all I could think about was how much my mom would love it, and my aunt too :) The smell alone was intoxicating....a mix of aging wine and cedar. I never wanted to stop inhaling!! After the tour we got to try three types of wine; a dry appetizer wine, a semi sweet wine, and a very sweet dessert wine. The first one was pretty strong, I liked the second the best even though it was still pretty sweet, and the third one was really weird. It literally tasted like liquid raisins, and looked like it too. It was dark and almost thick...I wasn't a huge fan. I really like Cordoba but it was nothing compared to Granada, and it was of course raining for the first time in two weeks, but I still had fun.
Now today I had probably the most authentic Spanish experience since I've been here, even more than the soccer game. Alllll of Pepita's daughters and sons and their wives and kids were at the house celebrating her birthday and it was just a huge fiesta of food and laughing and music and dancing. It reminded me SO much of our Thanksgivings or big family birthdays or Christmas dinners at home. Except for the fact that they all can play the guitar so well and dance Flamenco and sing Flamenco cantes...it was so amazing to be a part of. And one of her sons, Anival, was so much like Uncle Tim, it was hilarious. Drinking and making jokes about everything, it was so funny. And two of her sons reminded me of me and Lucy because even though they are old (30s or 40s), they were wrestling and just cracking up at everything each other said. Now that I think of it, Jesus was more like my mom because he still has, as they say “la edad del pavo” which literally means the age of the turkey, ie. An adolescent pest. And seeing how Pepita interacted with her kids and grandkids was like a spitting image of my grandmas at home. I literally had to hold back tears at some points, sometimes because I was laughing so much, and sometimes because I wished so badly it was my own family sitting around the table. Even though I couldn't understand everything, I still felt like I was a part of it. They even asked me about the word “cheesehead” hahah. And little Ana fell in love with me too. We played all weekend together and she made me promise to come to visit her in Medida (about 200 km from Sevilla). I took pictures and a video of her singing “Happy Birthday” in English. What a peach. Well my friends, as always, I'm thinking of you all every minute of the day, and hope that everything is good even without my face around :) I should have pictures up from the weekend very soon, and it won't be long until the next blog because I'm going to PARIS next weekend!!! AH! La vida la vida la vida!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Te echo de menos..
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!!
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!!
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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