Volcanic Disruption

The week before Feria de Abril began, I had a lot of make-up work to finish. First I had to make up a day of work so I was in the office for 15 hours. Joyy. Second, I had to start writing some of the papers that I had kept putting off. I literally hadn't begun any of them yet. Procrastination is somehow worse abroad. Then, during this week a nice volcano is Iceland decided to erupt! That was a nice little bump in our spring week plans. The ash kept spreading to almost everywhere in europe. It started in Ireland and the UK, then Paris, then east from there. People had trips to Italy that were being cancelled. Luckily it didn't hit Spain, but almost anywhere you wanted to go in Europe had flights cancelled. Our original flight was to fly to Dublin on Saturday, and that was cancelled on Friday night. We had originally had a connecting flight to paris, and then we would be back in Sevilla for the second weekend to enjoy Feria.

Since we couldn't fly to Dublin now, we enjoyed the beginning of feria which was probably more fun to see the first few days. There are less tourists, and everyone is still really excited to enjoy their week off. There is also a HUGE carnival park section. The rides here put anything in the states to shame. The rides seem taller/faster. There was even a bull ride type thing that I had really wanted to try. The other half of Feria is tents that people rent out for the week. However, tents is an understatement. The only thing I can compare it to is the tents in Harry Potter movies. They literally looked like big tents from the outside, but inside it was decorated like a house. There were chandeliers in some, picture frames, tables with white clothes...lavish stuff. They didn't leave anything out. The people hang out in the "casetas" and there are a few public ones, but the fun is in the privately rented tents. Our family didn't have one, so we tried our luck in the public ones and those were still fun. We tried the typical feria drink, got some food and watched the people start to dance Flamenco. It is no joke that once the music turns on, the women (some brave men) will go up in paris and dance in front of the tent. It's cute to see, and makes me want to learn. They wear their typical flamenco dresses (even in the heat of the day) and everyone dresses up for Feria. If you aren't wearing your flamenco dress, you are at least dressed up. The men wore suits or torero-ish type clothing. There were horse drawn carriages and men on horses throughout the whole thing. I felt like I had gone back in time 100 years.

However, my thoughts still kept thinking about Dublin/Paris. We thought maybe if the volcano ash slowed down or changed direction we could fly to Paris on Wed (as we had originally planned) but instead do Dublin the second weekend. We were lucky enough to fly to Paris because the flights opened up partially on Tues, and then fully operating on Wed through our airline (some still weren't open).

We did make it to Paris, and LOVED it. It had so much history and culture. Even though there were a ton of tourists, it didn't seem to lose any of its "spirit". It was still very rich in french things ;) We had a girl from IU show us around the first day and helped us get our bearings in France...like how to even say simple things like "water". Anyway, we first saw the Arc de Triumph and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the 2nd floor (the top floor was only the restaurant I believe) and then got chocolate crepes after! It was wonderful two hours. The Eiffel Tower was cool because we could literally see all of Paris. It was an awesome view, and the river was almost right below us. That night, we went to a cute little fondue place right around the corner from our hostal! We got meat and cheese, and they gave us wine in baby bottles. We had some americans to our left, and some germans to our right. It was a tight squeeze with everyone in one small room, but there was writing on all of the walls and just a fun Paris experience.

The next day we woke up early to go see the Sacre Coeur. This was also right up the street from our hostal so it was an easy walk. It is a famous church in Paris, but my favorite part was walking up to the Dome to the view points. The Sacre Coeur was on a hill to begin with, and then after climbing the what seemed like millions of stairs, we got to the top to possibly one of the best lookout points in Paris (in my opinion). It was cool because it was more to one side of the city so we see the Eiffel Tower without having to walk around many tourists and it was a smaller 360 degree view which meant it was easier to see more at once. We also decided that later that night we wanted to do a bike tour, but with the tour we didn't go into any of the buildings that we passed. Therefore we made it to the Louvre (Mona Lisa), the Musée d'Orsay (Van Gosh and Monet works) during the day. We also grabbed some yummy French Onion soup (best I've ever had) and a few more crepes (one apple one, and one egg one for dinner).

One of my top favorite things that I've done so far, is the night bike tour in Paris. We stopped at the Notre Dame around sunset, got ice cream, rode up and down the Latin quarters. My favorite part was when we probably made it to the Louvre. It was dark at this point (no worries we had bright yellow reflector vests...so cool!) but the Louvre was lit up and the buildings around it were so pretty. It was probably the prettiest part of the tour. Last we made our way past the Eiffel Tower and saw it light up again for 10 minutes of sparkles. Before the tour ended we got a boat cruise up and down the Seine river and saw some of the most famous monuments in Paris at night. It was love.

The next day we got up early to see Moulin Rouge (red light district) before we took our plane back to Madrid. We decided to spend some time in Madrid before we headed home to Sevilla. We saw the royal palace and got some quality spanish food.

Overall, everything ended up working out well. I am still a little upset that I didn't get to go to Ireland, but I'm already planning on returning! at some point... We were lucky enough to go to Paris with the volcano, and I got to travel with my two best friends in the program. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Success.

Two weeks of normal before FeRiA

So we have two normal weeks of school before Feria de Abril begins in Sevilla (April Fair). During this time I...1. got a haircut for 12 euros in Sevilla, and it was actually decent 2. went back to dos de mayo to show christine and pam how good the food is and how great paco is 3. saw a movie in a spanish theater (remember me with Robert Pattinson) aka Recuerdame. We actually understood a good amount. 4. in the weekend between our spring breaks Christine and I went to Barcelona to meet up with some of her friends. We took our time actually enjoying this city since it was our last city in spain to visit other than Sevilla. Friday after we checked in and met her two friends Hillary and Kristen, we got food and then went to the beach to catch some sun and just enjoyed the day. Saturday and Sunday we did more sightseeing type things and saw Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell (both of these are by Gaudí), saw Kristen's host family's house which was the nicest spanish house I think ive seen yet, watched the Barce/Madrid futbol game on tv, then celebrated the win on the streets with the people of Barcelona, walked down las Ramblas, and just had a more laid back vacation-esq visit. We also walked in La Boquería (produce market), saw the Columbus monument, and Casa Milá (another Gaudí building). I forgot to mention that in Parque Guell, where one of the finals of America's Next Top Model was filmed, we did our own runway fashion model photo shoot for fun =] Quittte entertaining. It was nice because so far a lot of our visits have been more rushed because we want to see everything, and we had our own personal tour guide (thank you kristen!) and could just enjoy being in Spain.

Three of the craziest/best weeks EVER

SO since I have a lot to recap, I am going to try and give smaller descriptions of everything (if possible). Katelyn, Olivia, and Amanda all came during the week of st. Pattys day (aka IU spring break, Katelyn's birthday, and amanda just took off ; )) Unfortunately, I had midterms so I had to miss out on some stuff with them, but every other possible second I was with them. It was great having some of my best friends from home come visit for many reason. First, I had my best friends in Spain with me. Second, Katelyn is basically fluent in spanish so I had my own person spanish tutor for the week. Thirdly, it was amanda and olivia's first time in spain so it was fun to experience it with them. Fourth, we tried new restaurants that Katelyn knew about since she studied in Sevilla two falls ago. Fifth, I met new people! aka Paco (the happiest/best waiter I have ever met..and this is an accomplishment to do in Spain when 90% of the waiters are some of the worst that I've ever had) and some of katelyn's friends from the US/Spain (yes I notice a lot of this involves what Katelyn does, but she knows her stuff! We also met a bobby deglane along the way...amanda and olivia should be happy to learn that I gave him an honorable mention on my blog. The last night out, I stayed in a hostal with them so we could all go out together and then spend the next day shopping/sightseeing until my parents came in, and katelyn and olivia got on their bus to the airport.

With that being said...My second week began/ended with a dinner with my family and my friends (a happy/sad dinner). My parents got in Friday night, and my friends left saturday night and sunday morning. We went to a flamenco show at La Carboneria which I had been to before and I really liked the dances there. Sunday, the family went to a smaller town about two hours away by bus called Ronda. I had been there earlier in the semester and really enjoyed the sights. It had some great lookout points and this really cool mine/hike that I wanted to show my parents and my brother. The day started out a little cold/rainy, but by the time we left the sun was out and had warmed everything up.

Monday was a busy day for me, but we decided to take a later bus to Granada for the night so that we could wake up early on Tuesday to see La Alhambra. La Alhambra is a palace/fortress constructed by the Moors on a hill in Granada (southern city in Spain) and is one of the more popular things to see in Spain, in my opinion at least. It has four different parts, but our two favorites were the red fortress and the Nasrid Palace. The palace was interesting because it was where Christopher Columbus had asked and received permission to sail to the New World. The fortress had the best lookout points and from there you could see all of Granada and also the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind you. There was snow!! We didn't have a lot of extra time in Granada, but I really liked the city and would love to go back someday if I can.

Once we were back in Sevilla, we did a few more touristy things. We already had done the Alcázar and the gardens, they did the Catedral y La Giralda another day without me, and we were able to do the on/off bus on another free day. It was nice getting to see the city without having to walk everywhere and to actually hear some of the more historical points that I might not have otherwise known. My last night with my parents, I had them meet my host family. It was an interesting evening as my parents don't know spanish and my host family doesnt know english. I was doing some translating and I was also lucky enough to have Christine be at the apartment to help. We had a few tapas together before we went out for our last night. I choose a cute restaurant by the river that I had been waiting to take my parents to see. It had a great view of the bridge and the Torre de Oro! Saying goodbye was hard, of course, but at this point I had around 2 months left before I went home, so I knew it wouldn't be too long until I saw them again. I LOVED being able to show them around and having them be able to experience the same things that I've gotten to do for my time abroad. Having visitors from home was something that I had been looking forward to since I had arrived, and it was greater than I had imagined.

Continuing on to the next week...

Part of the reason that I didn't have an extra night with my parents is because our program took us to Morocco. We left Thursday morning at 7a.m. to take a bus, ferry, and then bus tp cross the Straight of Gibraltar, then to Ceuta which is Spanish territory in Africa, and then on another bus to our hotel in Morocco.

Our first city and our hotel was in the city of Tetuan. This was the first place we stopped and we got to see an art/crafts school for moroccans to learn different types of craftsmanship such as mosaics, woodcarving, painting, dressmaking, and metal crafts. It was REALLLLY interesting to see. Then we checked into our hotel and we had four girls together in the pent house. woooot. Our next stop was into the medina of Tetuan and we had our first Moroccan meal. It was coucous which was a rice like meal with vegetables. At the end of almost every meal on this trip we had a really sweet minty tea that I began to love. One of the men in the restuarant did a flaming candle balancing act and danced for us all. It was obvious to me that this was one of the nicest restaurants that we could have found in that area, and that it had been picked for a reason (aka american students would enjoy the "upper scale" atmosphere. Later we came back for a Q and A session about the islamic culture. Before we set out to do our tour of the medina (oldest part of town) we did a money exchange from euros to dirhams. (40 euros = 440 approx. dirhams)

Then our guide took us into the heart of the medina. Everything was so old and kind of dirty. I felt like aladdin style exploring. We saw all different kinds of markets in the streets (fish venders, nuts, cheese, meat (with alive and dead chickens) and then just random stuff that looked like it had been left somewhere in the garbage, like scrap metal for instance. We basically walked around for hours viewing the city. It was incredible and a little scary at times because it was so different. I never felt unsafe, but it was literally a different world. We always had our two programs guides, and then 3 other Moroccan guides with us at all times (not that we really needed that many because the people really were nice there, but just to be safe I guess). Also, midway through our tour, I was chosen with two other girls to try on typical Bere-Bere styles of Moroccan clothing. I represented the north and wore a clothe skirt around my waist with another clothe wrapped around my top half as a shirt. My last few garments were a headdress/veil type of garment to cover our hair. It finished with a hat. The lady dressing me liked me and said she would trade me for 5 camels. At first I didn't understand what she was saying until our guide (who called himself Michael Douglas) translated for me. I laughed it off, but secretly I was like get me outttt of here! hahaha it was a greatt photo opportunity. I think she was joking anyways....

One of the last things that we saw in Tetuan was the tannery. This was where they kill/wash the sheep for the wool and the leather type products. There were little "water" pools which had blood in it and smelled HORRIBLE. It was terrifying. Something I will never forget even if I tried. They gave us spearmint to hold to our noses to cover the stench. thanks ciee.

The next day we got up early and took the bus to Tánger. After seeing Tetuan, I didn't know what to expect, but Tanger was a more turisty city and was a lot more europeanized. Looking back, Tetuan was def a huge culture shock and it was a lot to take in, especially in one day. Tanger is the second most industrialized city in Morocco and also the second most popular for tourists.

The first thing we did was a company visit to the Coca-Cola factory. As a business program we got to meet with some of the workers and they showed us how they make the production of their different sodas.

After we left the factory, they took us to the Tánger caves which was basically just one open cave into the Atlantic ocean (maybe mediterranean?) Howevere, it was gorgeous. Supposedly Hercules rested here after completing his 12 tasks. The cave is famous because it is shaped like Africa backwards. Once outside the caves they let us ride camels ; ) Finally we had lunch which was a patilla? I think is how they say it. It is a Moroccan sandwich which is wrapped in fillo crust, covered in powdered sugar and it has a sugary chicken on the inside. It sounds like a weird combination but it is one of the greatest things ever. You have to try it to believe it!

Our next stop was the business school. Apparently to be able to attend the school, you have to get one of the highest marks on your standardized test and they compared it as the Harvard of Morocco. We even had some Moroccan students travel with us this day, so we got to learn a little bit more about them.

Finally, we had some free time. They took us to the local market area to bargain shop with the vendors. We felt a little like meat being stared at probably because we were obviously American, but still everyone was really nice. There were mostly men in the streets, but it was still cool to see the different cultures compared. The store owners would haggle you to come into their store saying they had the best stuff, but everyone said that so we really took our time looking around. Eventually I bought an imitation wallet. Wooo

Our last day in Morocco we went to Chefchouen. This was the farthest away, but I also thought that it was the prettiest. By the third day we were getting worn out and I was getting tired of listening to the guided tours but I tried. The city was more in the mountains and there were cool water systems running through the town as well. Chefchouen was particularly cool to see because they painted a lot of the walls/doors blue. From what I gathered it was a way to keep the city seeming fresh during the hot summer months. We also had free time at the end to buy things if we wanted before beginning our 6 hour transport via bus/ferry/bus back to Sevilla.

Once we were finally back in Sevilla, Semana Santa began. Semana Santa is the holy week leading up to Easter, and in Sevilla this is a big deal as everything shuts down for processions in the streets. However, all of the bars/restaurants remain open for the people when they dont have a procession. Basically, it is a party in the street when you arent waiting for your church's turn to parade/walk down the street. Originally, I thought that this was a very serious week (and in a lot of ways it is) but it is also a celebration and Sevillanos enjoy their time eating and drinking when they can.

Since we had a two days before we began to travel, Christine and I decided to go out and experience Semana Santa. We first realized how crowded it was when we tried to get on the metro and had to wait 40 minutes until we could finally get on. Once we were downtown, we sat by the river and got bread and cheese to view the processions crossing the Triana bridge. It was an awesome day, very relaxing, nice weather and we got to see the very beginning of Semana Santa when all of the people wear their Sunday best. We did a lot of walking around the central area and there were so many people! We then went out again on Monday, but it was a little rainy at first. I liked Sunday better as people were more dressed up for the first day, but Monday still had a ton of people in the streets. Although we only had two days, I felt like we got a good taste of Semana Santa before we began our travels...Spring break numero uno began Tuesday morning.

Tuesday we woke up and took a plane to Milan, Italy. We spent a few hours walking around Milan (got to see the Duomo which is one of the coolest churches, saw some of the shopping stores in Milan) and then from there we took one of the best train rides I think I will ever have through part of the Swiss Alps to get to Interlaken, Switzerland. The next morning we woke up and got ready to go hang- gliding. Christine, Jen, and I all went. Callie wasn't quite up for the challenge so she did some touring of Interlaken while we were flying. I was the last one to go. Jen and Christine went first and said how cool it was, but I was still a little nervous to go. It was about a 20 minute car ride up through the mountain, and then took about 10 minutes to walk to our landing pad and set up. He did a few practice runs with me, showing me how to hold onto him and how to take off. I helped him set up, and then we took 3-4 steps before we were off the ground flying in the air. I don't know how it is possible to describe it other than incredible. There were two different lakes on either side of the city. When we took off the city was in front and to the left of us, with the alps surrounding us on all sides. The two lakes bordered Interlaken on either sides and the views were literally the prettiest sights. I could see the river running through Interlaken as well, and the water isn't just normal water, it was glacier water so it was the prettiest blue you could imagine. Even the lakes looked fake because they were so colorful. My guide was really nice and really funny. He took pictures and we got some great shots of the scenery. He even let me fly over the cows! As we descended, right at the end he did a couple of dives/turns which almost made me nautious (luckily I had taken dramamine before = )). It felt like we were free-falling for a few seconds when he did the stall before climbing back up in the air. We landed on our stomachs (we are horizontal as we are flying) and it was surprisingly really smooth to land.

Once on the ground, we got food, did a little shopping and then got back on the train to head back to Milan to begin our tour of Italy for the next couple of days.

Once in Italy we met up with a friend of mine (Nikki) from IU. We went to Cinque Terre which is a five city hiking tour along the Mediterranean Coast. This was probably one of my favorite things in Italy to do. It was a great day and the five cities are some of the cutest little Italian towns that you could imagine. After our hike, we made a one hour stop to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The next 24 hours we were in Florence, and also got to see our friend Terri from school too! She let us stay in her apartment as she is studying in Florence, and told us some of the good things to see (the statue of David by Michaelangelo, the Leather market, the duomo, and then we walked in the downtown area by the river, got gelato and enjoyed the weather!) Florence reminded me a lot of Sevilla. It was a cute smaller city with a lot of shops and a pretty river area. I wished we had more time there, but Nikki and I bought tickets to Rome that night so we could try and see as much of Rome as we could in 24 hours...let me tell you it is impossible to do, but we did our best to see the biggest sights!

The next morning we woke up around 6:30 am to get the day started early. Our first stop was the Vatican and we got there around 8:30 and there was already a line wrapped around the wall. We waited for two hours before we finally got in. We saw the palace, the Sistene chapel, the catacombs (where the most recent Pope John Paul was buried), St. Peters Basilica (largest church in the world), and then finally the Piazza San Pietro which was right outside of St. Peter's Church. Please note, we did all of this the Saturday before Easter Sunday. We got to see them setting up all of the chairs, the flowers, everything for the ceremonies the next morning.

Our next visit was to the Colosseum, and then we took the on/off bus around parts of Rome to see as much as we could. The other main things we saw were: Trevi Fountain, Piazza Venezia, and a few more smaller churches that we passed on the bus. We just didnt have time to see anything else, but we got to see our fair share of the city for the time we had there. Rome could easily take up to 5 days to see if you wanted to, and I just didnt quite understand why people thought we were crazy doing it 24 hours until I tried to do it! I really liked the city and would love to go back and see more if I can someday. Also note: it has the best pizza everrr. And, it is the cheap pizza in the small cafe places that have the best stuff, at least from my experience there. I was glad to see that the pizza really was good in Italy...its not just an expectation but a reality. We also tried a cannoli in rome as a treat for surviving the busiest day running around the city.

I took the AVI (high velocity train back to Milan) to meet the rest of the girls, get dinner with them and then wake up before dawn to catch our 7am flight back to Sevilla. I was lucky enough to have three adorable little chicas waiting for me as I got off the train to go get dinner with and help me after a long long day. WHAT a week...

As sad as I was to see Semana Santa end, I was glad to return to Sevilla and be back in a normal schedule where I know I understand the language being spoken. I think we were all ready to get home. However, one last side story: we had our first true problems with Ryanair. This is the discount airline a lot of students fly and they were actually checking the size/weight restrictions. Naturally we were all over, so we all started putting 5 layers of clothes on. I looked over at my roommate Christine and see her literally putting on 3 layers of pants and 4layers of shirts (including a white tank top that weights .02 lbs.) I coudln't help but laugh out loud at seeing our ridiculous selves being shoved to the side to put half of our luggage on our bodies. Great ending to our week.

The Brits are HERE!

Another week has gone by in Sevilla. Last weekend was the 46th anniversary of our spanish family. Christine went to portugal with her parents, so I was alone. They had people over, and I got to hang out with some of the aunts and uncles and the little grandkids. It was a little hard at first being an outsider, but by the end of the night we were watching the Sevilla -Real Madrid soccer match on TV and joking together. I actually ended up enjoying myself! They were a fun bunch and I'm glad I got to join in with the family.

Also last week, Christine's parents took us to this really cool Italian restaurant called San Marco in Santa Cruz barrio/neighborhood. It was really pretty because it used to be arab baths that they converted, so the arches were pretty and it was a nice atmosphere overall. Another night we went to flamenco at the Carboneria which was fun to see for my third time!! Never gets old...

Last week was a blur overall. There was a night out sponsored by one of the companies here in Sevilla with free specials and the theme was country music! I LOVEDD it and felt like i was back at IU or at least in the states. Another night, a friend of ours was a DJ at one of the discotecas so we made it out to see/hear him play.

Finally, to the good stuff. This weekend we did day trips with our program. The first one was Gibraltar. This is British Territory on the southern edge of Spain, and everything is in english and they use pounds there! (or euros for a higher price). Gibraltar is a very skinny strip of land that is famous for its monkeys. The main street is all shops, but you can either take a cable car or a tour to the top of the "roca" or mountain in town. Once you are at the top, it is gorgeousss. You can see Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Straight of Gibraltar, the Atlatic Ocean, and then Spain and all of Gibraltar. You can pack a lot into one little visit. Not to mention the monkeys. Once at the top of the rock there are little monkeys roaming around freely. If you get a guided tour to help you, you can hold one. Otherwise- they say to be careful or else they can bite or scratch you which results in a hospital visit. EEEeek! However, the monkeys were very calm and let you get pretty close to take pictures. It was a gorgeous day and everyone got a little sun in too. I'm hoping to take my parents back there when they come (in one week!). Hence, this is the reason for my post title...the Brits are kinda here ; )

The next day was another trip sponsored by our program. We went to Aracena which is a town in Huelva, Spain. It is west of Sevilla and we got to see some other national parks along the way. The first one we saw was the mines in Riotinta. It was a small mine, but at the end you see the river, and all of the water is RED! Our guide told us the minerals in the rock make the water red, and not even the animals will drink from it. Next we made it to Aracena, grabbed some food and then made it to the caves there. They are famous for being millions of years old. The humidity in the caves can reach 98%, and we could definitely feel a little bit of the humidity that weekend. The caves were special though because the minerals made the rocks look like ice at certain spots. We weren't allowed to touch or take pictures, but it was still cool to see. My favorite parts were the pools of water in the caves. Apparently, the water levels never rise, but are constant year round. The water was so blue and clear. I just wanted to jump in and swim! It looked like something out of the movies.

This week we have midterms, and Katelyn and Olivia get here tonight (Amanda gets here Wednesday and is staying with me! It's Katelyn's 21st on Wed, aka St. Patty's day so I'm excited to see them. Also, my parents come on Friday!! It's gonna be a great week and I can't wait to see everyone. Sooo exciting!!

Work and Play

I finally began my internship! I just finished my first two weeks. Through our program and IU, we are required to work 100 hours (appx 10 hours each week). I have classes monday and wednesday, so I work about 5 hours each day Tues and Thurs. It's not a bad schedule, but I feel like I am constantly moving. A lot of other kids don't have to do an internship, and I think I would have a lot more free time if this was true. However, I am working in the tourism office through the city of Sevilla, so I get to spend a lot of time using Spanish. Mostly I am in the front office helping people with their questions of Sevilla and guiding them via map of where to go. Although I am using a lot of spanish and talking with my coworkers in Spanish, I still speak english when the Brits come in! Or occasionally I'll get an American. Or a french/german etc that only knows english. Overall, its not hard and I enjoy the people I work with. It's a good 35-40 minute walk to work each day and I'm starving by the time I get home (close to 4 for my lunch) but I think it has already started to improve my Spanish.

This past weekend was Día de Andalucia. Andalucia is the province that Sevilla is located in (much like our states in the United States) and this day is meant to be enjoyed and relaxed. Therefore, with a four day weekend, I went to Madrid and Toledo with a few girls. We had heard mixed results about Madrid so I will a little unsure of what to expect, but we ended up loving it. We took the 6 hours bus ride to and from madrid and left Friday morning around 10am. When we arrived, we checked into our hostal, and went to the Prado which is the most famous art museum in Spain. It was a little rushed because it was closing, but we got to say a lot of famous Spanish works. Then that night we met up with one of my friends from school, Beka! It was a quick reunion, but we got to see her apartment and talk to her about madrid. ; )

The next day we got up early to go visit Toledo, a small city about an hour away. El Greco was a famous painter who had lived in Toledo and spent a majority of his life there. After visiting we now know why! It was very tiny old town, but gorgeous. The center was more up in the hills, but it was hilly everywhere. The lookout points were amazing and we got some great photos. It had much more of a community feel to it, and overall it was adorable. We could see the majority of the town in just a few hours and went home a little after lunchtime. When we got back to madrid we did some more exploring. Our hostal was in the downtown area, so we walked around the Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and found some cute little ships to wander into. We tried some sweets from the best bakery place in town (Mallorquina) and did a little window shopping before heading back to our hostal to get ready for the night.

For dinner, we went to El Tigre which was recommended by my friend elena who had studied abroad in Madrid. Tapas were in different in Madrid because if you ordered a drink you got a huge plate of food for free! We had a lot of fun in the bar. We ordered a couple of rounds of food for dinner before leaving stuffed from the best fried food I may have ever had. The main portion of our meal was fried breaded balls of jam (croquetas which were sooo good), fried potatoes, and then ham on top of a slice of bread. It was packed in El Tigre so we decided to head out once we had felt we had experienced enough. After el Tigre, we eventually made our way over to Joy (Eslava) which was a highly recommended discoteca in one of our guide books. Apparently there were free flamenco shows every half hour so we decided to check it out. It used to be an old theater converted into a discoteca so you could sit up on top and watch people dancing down below or you could go dance! The music was really fun, American and Spanish songs (or combined giving you Christina Aguilera's Come on Over song in Spanish...Ven Conmigo!).

Also, the metro is intense in Madrid, but once you figure it out, it is the easiest thing in the world and gets you all over the city.

The next morning when we got up, we went to the flea market (El rastro) which happened every sunday in madrid near plaza mayor. Some of the stuff was really cute and the scarves were anywhere from 2 euro to 5 euro depending on which stand you went to. I bought a couple of scarves- one which was way more expensive than the rest but it was so darn cute! It was hard to pass up ; )

After el Rastro, we went over to Retiro park which is what I could compare to Central Park in New York on a MUCH smaller scale. It's a little outside downtown Madrid and its all green! It has a little lake/pond thing to rent paddle boats. We got lunch in one of the stands in the middle of the park and used this as a place more to relax. There was a cool Crystal Palace that we explored there too.

Next our original plan was to see the Reino Sofia (another art museum) but it closed before we got there, so we decided to wander around a little more and made our way to the Royal Palace in Madrid. It was really pretty from the outside, but we just didn't have a chance to make it inside either. Overall, this was probably my favorite day during the week because we got to see a lot of madrid and it was more tailored to what I would want to do (being the park and just walking around). That night we just went out and got food and called it a day.

Finally, it was Monday. We had a bus at 2 to get home to Sevilla around 8. Both me and another girl on our trip had spanish friends in Madrid and we really wanted to see them before we left. We still had to see the Reino Sofia, so we got up early- made our way to see some of Picasso (Guernica) and Dali's works and then I finally got to see Marta for lunch at the bus station before we went home! ; ) It was quick, but I was happy!

Overall, we had good weather, saw a lot and LOVED our time in Madrid. The city was much faster paced than Sevilla, and much more like the United States in some ways, but we had a great time. The people were also a lot more used to using English in Madrid...which was both good and bad. This was our weekend! Now back to the real world .... almost hahaha.

Soo here are a few random thoughts and other things to talk about: My roommate and I went and saw the Museo de Bellas Artes which has a Murillo exposition going on. It has continued to rain 70% of the time here. New food: breaded fried egg? Christine's parents came into town and we went to a really cool Italian restaurant that was once Arab bathrooms converted into a cute food place! We also went to the Carboneria for a flamenco show. We are in first place with Gymkhana and got to explore more of the Santa Cruz neighborhood this round. We also found out that there is an exact replica of the ship Christopher Columbus sailed on to get to the new world on the river in Sevilla.

Cádiz, Córdoba, y el Cerdo

So last weekend there was "Carnival en Cádiz" which is a city about two hours away by bus. They have their carnival which is a week long, and we choose to go the first weekend. Everyone dresses up in costumes and goes all out. It's different than costumes in the United States because these are not necessarily your typical cat or indian outfits that you can easily put together. All bets are off.. my personal favorite costume was a group of cooked turkeys. They looked like they could have been set on a silver platter and eaten on thanksgiving! ; )
However, there were a lot of chickens, pirates (myself included) and even some policemen which wasn't that unusual. I had been hoping to see more of the city, but everyone seemed to meet up at the one main plaza and then travel down the little back winding streets. There were venders in the main sections selling sweets, churros, fries, hamburgers, nuts and other little foods to snack on. CAUTION: most of the stores were closed so people resorted to peeing in the streets...and it happened everywhere so you had to be careful where you walked. When in Rome..

To sum it up, there were loads of people just partying in the streets. It was fun, but I'm hoping I get to see more of Cádiz again on a regular day. This wasn't exactly a trip for tours!

This was our second week of classes, and I don't have too much to add except that I finally met with my business to start my internship. The building is near the downtown area which I LOVE and is gorgeous (river area) so I am excited to be there, but it is a good 35 minute walk to work. I had my orientation meeting with my "boss" on friday, and everyone there was so nice. It is a tourism company so my job is going to be directing people when they come in asking for directions or any other questions they have. I think this will be VERY helpful to practice my spanish each week, and I'll hopefully get to learn a little more insight about Sevilla. I start Tuesday...

Then after my meeting with work, there is a scavenger hunt type game called "Gymkhana" through our program. They give us clues to certain hot spots around the city and we have to find the location and take a picture in our group. Pam, Christine and I are a team and we spent the rest of Friday wandering around the streets of Sevilla trying to finish our tasks. On our way, we found the BEST ice cream shop called Rayas, which just opened up from the winter. We also found what we believe to be the spanish version of Dunkin Donuts (Duffin Dagle).

Then yesterday we went to Córdoba with our CIEE program. The city is an hour and a half away by bus, and is situated on the same river that is in Sevilla (Guadalquivir). It had some roman ruins, but it is most famous for La Mezquita which was once an Arab mosque. However, after the Spanirds reconquered their lands, they kept part of the building but made it into a church with a cathedral inserted into the middle. So there are two very distinct styles in this monument. the middle is very tall and brightly lit (the catholic part) surrounded by the arab pilars and arches which is much darker and more open in general. Today, the whole thing is considered the church/cathedral, despite the two distinct styles. It was pretty cool to finally see this place that I had been studying and learning about since high school.

Next on our tour we got to see a Jewish synagogue which was kinda cool because spain is SOO catholic. So that was interesting to see. And lastly, before our break we got to see the Alcazar de los Reyes Catolicos which had some pretty gardens and some arab bathrooms and a tower that you could see the river from! It was pretty, and I love being able to look out and see all the buildings.

As a side note, the spaniards here are SO nice. This is mostly my experience dealing with kids my age, but they are always more than willing to speak in spanish with you and talk to you. My favorite example of this was one time we were in McDonald's (free wifi dont judge) and I was asking a group about the Sevilla soccer team since there was a game that day. Anyways, I went up to a table and asked him if it was a league game and the girl farthest from me responded, "un momento" (wait), got up from her chair, walked around the table, stood next to me and then asked me to repeat my question. I could never imagine anyone going through that much trouble in the United States to answer a question. Another time, a group of kids our age were outside hanging out before the night began aka botellon and two of them awkwardly approached our group trying to catch someones eye to say hello! I was the first one to see them so we opened up our circle to include them, and they were so nice. I think part of the reason I am so surprised about this because some of the customer service here is HORRIBLE. Like the one time we were kicked out of the cafe before I had even gotten my coffee. So this is a much better impression!

Finalment, el cerdo is the word for pig which I didn't know/forgot so I decided it made a nice alliteration (besides the fact that it is pronounced as an S in that word).

Relax, we're in Sevilla

This past week was pretty crazy here for me in Sevilla. It was our second and last week of our intensive session which meant a presentation, a final exam and papers/homework to complete. Somehow a three hour class each day seemed to be taking all of my time, and I know I haven't been the only one overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we have to do.

Wednesday we finally made the boxed brownies that I brought as a gift from home. We were encouraged to bring things from the United States to show our families here some of our customs or traditions, and I heard that they don't have boxed cakes/brownies etc here so I thought it would be fun to make with the family. Our mom had been saving them for when their grandkids were over (julia-9 and cecilia-6). The girls were adorable and loved them. They also somehow managed to steal my camera and ceci had her own photoshoot.

Friday night we stayed here for an event with our program, but Saturday a group of 15 of us went to Ronda and Marbella for the day. They are both south of sevilla. Ronda was a two hour bus ride and then Marbella was an additional hour after that. Ronda was gorgeous. It had some of the prettiest landscape I've seen. It was more rolling hills of green than anything else, but the views were awesome. There were a lot of lookouts to take pictures at and I took way too many, but I figured it was worth it. Also, we got to see some of the Arabe baños which is where the Arabs had their baths. Quite interesting.

We left Ronda around 6pm and then made it to Marbella. Marbella is on the Coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We checked into our hostel which was owned by a Scottish man! He spoke english and gave us a complimentary welcome drink and was very accommodating. The next day we walked along the beach and then along the port side of the city. There were a lot of shops on the boardwalk and they were all expensive brand name labels. I guess the reason it wasn't cute little boutiques is that one of the guides told us they were going to make this port a more touristy/upscale harbor which didn't happen when the spaniards decided they didn't want to have to give up their siesta in the middle of the day! Later we walked out onto the breakwall area and took a lot of photos of the city with the mountains in the background. It was a great weekend!

Anddd to top it off it was Superbowl sunday when we got back. The game went on around 12:30 am here since we are 6-7 hours ahead. We went to the Irish pub for the game ; )

Also on Tuesday, since Christine and I hadn't started on our internship, we made it to the cathedral and La Giralda which are both very famous in Sevilla and Spain in general. La catedral is the oldest gothic church in all of europe I believe, which is pretty cool. At the top of La Girlada, (it is a tower from) there is lookout points and you can see all of Sevilla. It is pretty cool to see and climb. There was a lot of touristy looking people when we went- some from France and a lot from China too. Fun Day!

Feb. 11

This has been our first week of real classes! I am taking three classes and doing an internship which counts for three credits. I already took my two week intensive session class which was three credits so at the end of the semester all 15 credits will transfer. I am actually waiting to start my internship because my company was late in sending in some government documents. This is good/bad at the same time because I have this week easy, but we still have to complete 100 hours of time in order to receive credit. THEREFORE, i have to work more hours later which they said will just get harder to do.

However, my other two classes now are business classes and one class that I took as an elective. It is mass communication in Spain and our teacher works at the radio station in Sevilla. We actually took a field trip to the studio on our second day of class and the stations that go through her company are CanalSur, Canal Fiesta, Canal Andalucia and Canal Flamenco. She showed us where they film and two kids even got to do a pretend radio interview. Kinda cool! However it was wayyyy across town for me, and took a good 30 minutes by bus to get to. I got see more of Sevilla though ; )

If anyone was interested in the food here, we had a new fun dish last night that I've never seen before and really liked. It was like an egg pizza. YUmm. It had the dough of a crescent roll and then basically egg maybe potatoe? and onion and maybeeee cheese. I said it was a mix of pizza and tortilla de patata for those of you what the tortilla de patata is like.