Voy a Milan!!

For all you non-Spanish speakers: I´M GOING TO MILAN!!!
My roommate and I decided that we wanted to go somewhere this weekend but we didn´t want to pay 500 dollars to go to Morocco. Just for fun, we started looking at flights and found a flight to Milan for 100 € round trip!! Soooo good! Plus, we planned it so that we can still go on our excursions on Friday anddd Monday. We´re gonna be exhausted but I don´t care.

Also, we are booking our trip to Pamplona for Running of the Bulls right now. I´m so glad that we´re taking initiative to be active and do things while we´re here.

Today roommate Holly and I went to the beach. We walked and it took about 25 minutes or so. I went in the Mediterranean and it was perfect! I am lovvinnngg this trip thus far.

Oh yeah, and I also had class today (That is why I´m here, right?) and I think I´m really going to learn a lot. My teacher speaks veryyy quickly but I can pick up on it, which is good for training my ear to understand native Spanish speakers. Overall, I think I will enjoy the class.

My apartment still doesn´t have internet, so my updates will be sporatic. I will write more as soon as I can!

Hasta luego!

Barcelona!!!

I am finally in Barcelona. My new apartment doesn´t have internet yet, so I haven´t really been able to update. Thus, I have lotttsss to tell you.


I flew into the airport Friday morning and went to our hotel. I had to get linens, so I went with a few girls from my CEA group. It took us sooo long to find the place! I was used to walking everywhere in Sevilla and I didn´t realize that we´d have to take the metro. An hour later, we finally found the linen store. I knew I was just going to leave them here when I was done, so I aimed to find the cheapest ones. The result? Scratchy sheets and a zebra blanket. No, not zebra print - a blanket with an actual zebra on it. Can you believe it was only 5 euros?





So yesterday we finally got into our apartment. SO cute! We are located not even a block from this baby...

It´s the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that´s been under construction for the past 100 years. Absolutely amazing!

Last night my roommates and I went to the grocery store. When we got in the checkout line, we realized that we had to carry everything that we bought back home. You should have seen us trying to maneuver the metro with tons of shopping bags! Never again...

After shopping, we went to a restaurant where we were overcharged with Sangria then decided to go meet up with some CEA people at the clubs by the beach. On our way there, there were these sketchy guys that kept touching one of my roommates. Since I was the only one that could really speak Spanish, I kept telling him not to touch her but he wouldn´t listen. Then him and his friends started smoking a joint and shoving it in our faces. As I kept telling him not to touch her, he grew more and more angry with me and started yelling at me and telling me he ¨didn´t like my face¨. I think I had really just gotten fed up with being yelled at by men for the last month, so I slapped him across the face.
He stood there for a second, then slapped me as hard as he could across the face. Then his friend spit in my face as they got off the metro. I just stood there absolutely shocked. I was pretty upset and a man on the train followed me out to let me know that all men from barcelona are not like that, and even if you slap a man here he should never ever slap you back. I´m really glad he said something or else that would have tainted my entire view of barcelonian men.

After the slapping incident, I was determined to have a fun night. The first 2 clubs we tried had a 20 euro cover charge (approximately 30 dollars) so we went to some other club on the beach that was free. We danced for a while then headed back home to get sleep for the next day.

Today we took a tour of the city and stopped at this place called the Spanish Quarter. It was built for an exhibition and each area represents a different area of Spain. It has a bunch of shops and restaurants, and most of the stuff there is completely handmade. I wish we could have had more time there.

A few hours ago, we decided to check out the gay pride parade. Sooo much fun! It was HUGE! I had never seen so many feathers and glitter in my life. I´m really glad we decided to take that opportunity and check out what Barcelona has to offer.

Overall, I am loving Barcelona. It has sooo much stuff to do all the time. Oh, and the Tour de France anddd Running of the Bulls is when I´m here! Opportunity of a lifetime!!

I´m going to stop now considering that I´ve written enough for a small novel. Expect much more from me soon!!

Hasta luego!

Mi dia final en sevilla

Today is my last day in Sevilla. As I was biking around the city today, I got so sad because this truly is a beautiful place. I´m going to miss it here.

Yesterday somebody stopped me to ask me for directions in Spanish. I was super stoked because

1. They thought I looked like I knew where I was going (aka I look Spanish) and
2. They assumed I spoke Spanish well.

I told them where the bus station was in Spanish, but I told her that she should ask somebody else down the street because my Spanish isn´t very good. She promptly corrected me and told me I speak Spanish very well! So that was flattering, and even if she didn´t mean it, it´s still very nice of her to say. I really appreciate comments like that because it gives me a little more confidence to speak Spanish to the locals.

Last night we went to a club called Aqua. I had my final today, but we heard this club was really cool so we decided to check it out for a little bit. Although it was small, it was awesome! It had 2 pool connected by a waterfall, various lounge areas, and a tank of water where a mermaid dancer was supposed to swim (she wasn´t on by the time we left). It was awesome to see it before we left.

My final went well today. I´m really going to miss interesting classes and professors that know your name.

Today my roommates and I are going shopping and I´m hoping to go check out Plaza de Espana very briefly. It´s hard to cram everything in in one day!!
Tonight is our farewell dinner at a nice restaurant. Then everybody from my group is going to Buddha, our favorite club. Should be a fun night, even though we have to wake up at 6 AM.

Una experiencia cultural

I just ate Spanish Oreos. According to my roommate Ian, it should be considered a cultural experience. Apparently, Oreos taste differently depending on your location. Each country uses their own ingredients, which gives it a unique taste. I can't decided whether I like American or Spanish better. Spanish has less cream but tastes less fake, if that makes sense. I have gone on far too long about Oreos.
I'm leaving Sevilla on Friday morning. Thus, I only have 2 more days to squeeze in as much as possible. Some things on my to-do list:

• Go to Plaza de Espana and Parque de Maria Luisa (they're supposed to be beautiful!)
• Ride my bike around the city
• Get a picture of me on said bike (for proof, of course)
• Go to my favorite club, Buddha
• Drink 5 euro mojitos at Plaza de Alfalfa
• Go get tapas with friends and actually order something

That's all I can think of so far. I know that there are sooo many other things I want to do but they're slipping my mind at the moment.

And one more lesson learned:

• Never listen to an old man yelling at you from a car...the outcome can never be good.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Museum of Fine Arts with my architecture class. I'm excited!

Hasta manana...

Bici + falta pequena = mal idea

I have entered my final week in Sevilla. Now that the end is getting close, I am frantically trying to do everything I've wanted to do and to revisit everywhere I want to revisit. We'll see if I can fit it all in...

Today I had my presentation in Architecture in Painting. I had to go first, and I think it went pretty well. Sorolla (the artist I chose for my presentation) is my teacher's favorite artist, so I'm hoping that gives me an edge. I can't wait to go see Sorolla's special exhibition in Madrid in July.

My roommates and I went out for tinto de veranos and we started talking about things we've learned in Sevilla. Most of them are silly, but it's still a good way to remember the trip. I'm going to have to write my own list of lessons. One big one I learned today:

Don't ride a bike in a tight skirt. I seriously think I flashed about half of Sevilla. Whoopsies.

Some other notable lessons:

• Don't expect to do anything on Sundays (everything is closed)
• Don't walk on wet spots (chances are you will be dripped on)
• Never wear heels out! - You will regret it
• Never trust a man doing magic tricks (don't ask)
• Walking barefoot on the streets of Sevilla is cleaner than walking around your house barefoot
• If you can't walk without running into people, don't ride a bike and expect a different outcome.

That's it for now. For the rest of this week, I will keep updating the list.

Hasta luego!!

Te amo, Portugal

I had the most amazing time in Portugal!! I seriously wish I could have stayed there so much longer. It was a little weird not being able to communicate with anybody (except those that spoke english) since Portuguese is a little different from Spanish.
We left Sevilla on Friday morning and arrived in Lagos around 12 or so. Lagos was absolutely breathtaking. Even though it was foggy, you could see how beautiful the scenery was. The water was a beautiful greenish-blue, but extremely clear. The colors of the ocean were then contrasted by the neutral browns and tans of the huge rocks and caves protruding out of the water.
We then went to a beach in Lagos for a couple of hours. Once again, I spent most of my time swimming in the ocean. My friends (after many attempts) finally convinced me to jump off a huge rock in the middle of the ocean. It took me about 20 minutes to get up the rock (with the help of my friend John) and about another 5 or so to finally jump off of the edge. And guess what? It was so much fun! I hit the bottom of the ocean with my butt, but it was just sand so it was alright. I'm just glad that nobody decided to experiment and dive into the water.
After a few hours at the beach, we drove to our main destination, Portimao. We stayed in a really nice hotel right on the beach. The first night we were there, Sydney, Tara, and I walked around and looked at the shops until we were suckered into a nice dinner by a cute Portuguese man. We sat there for almost 3 hours just enjoying the food (sooo good!) weather (just perfect) and scenery. By midnight we decided to go home and hit the hay so we could get up early in the morning.
The next day we walked around the cute shops for a little bit and then spent the rest of the day beside the hugeee pool at our hotel. My roommates were tanning, but since my skin is super pale and got burnt the day before, I just sat under an umbrella and read a book. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see more of the town, but I was very appreciative of the relaxation time. After tanning, we went to lunch and looked around the shops a little bit more until we had to return home.
I think I would have to say that Portugal is the second favorite place I've ever been to (it probably would have been first if we had more time to look around). My favorite place is still Capri from my trip to Europe when I was 14. But really, I think everybody should go to Portugal once in their life.
Last night we went out to a club, as it was our last Saturday in Sevilla :-(. Today I've been working on a powerpoint project on Joaquin Sorolla, but I just finished so now I have the rest of the day to relax.
I hope everybody is doing well and I look forward to seeing you all in July!

Hasta luego!

Me molestan las bicis

So here goes the funny story:
On Tuesday I decided to rent a bike for a week to save myself some time and just to spare my feet from all of the walking. Sevilla has a really good system where you can pick up a bike at 1 of 300 locations and drop it off anywhere you want.
So Tuesday morning before class I decided to pick up a bike. I was a little wobbly at first, but it was okay. It wasn't until I got onto the bridge that I realized my bicycle inexperience may be a problem. For some reason I didn't realize that I could stop pedaling and even press the brake without falling off. Thus, I ran into the railing of the bridge to avoid hitting someone. The second time I just decided to plow on by the person. The third time I almost ran over a little kid, and by the time I crashed into a baby stroller, I decided to walk the bike the rest of the way there. (Don't worry, the angry young couple was carrying their baby at the time).
So once I got to the station, there weren't any spots to put my bike. So I waited. And waited. And waited for somebody to come take a bike. 10 minutes later, nobody came. So I decided to walk my bike to another station. I ended up getting lost on the way there, and on the way back, making me 30 minutes late to class. From then on out, I vowed to never ride a bike again.
Untill....3 hours later. My roommates had bought a week long pass the same day, so we decided that if we all rode in a line, with me at the back, that people would move out of the way with enough time to spare. And guess what?? I'm cured! I finally figured out how to ride a bike! I've been riding it everywhere ever since. So I guess all's well that ends well...
Not much is new other than that. I went on a paddle boating excursion with my program on the river, but once again my roommates and I were late due to the bikes, so we had to ride with our angry program coordinator. Whooppsiesss. It still was a lot of fun though.
And tomorrow I go to PORTUGAL!! I am so excited!! I will definitely write about it once I get back.

Muchos besos!

P.S. I found an Internet cafe where I can upload pictures, so there will be some soon to come!

Finalmente - una foto!!

Here is a picture of me and my CEA group on the train at the winery in Jerez. This is the only one I can put up right now, but I´ll keep trying!!

P.S. I have a hilarious story, but it´ll have to wait until I get out of class...

Soy extrana

Nothing that new to report, except I got 100% on my midterm! Chicka chicka yeahhh.
It's hottt and it's supposed to get up to 105 degrees this weekend. I'm hoping it will be much cooler in Portugal.
Yesterday I went to the Cathedral with my roommates and our new Australian friends (they were in Sevilla for the weekend). It was beautiful, but we could only really see half of it because it was roped off for mass. I'm going to go see it again tomorrow with my class since we're studying Gothic architecture, so I'm really hoping I get to see the rest of it.
Later that night we got ice cream (my new obsession) with the Australian girls and then had to say goodbye :-(. They were so sweet and funny and I wish they were in our program. They seriously made me want to visit Australia just to meet more friendly people like them.
Not much else to report, although we did almost burn the house down (a gross exaggeration) trying to figure out how to manually light a gas oven. If anybody has any tips, pleaseee let me know as I feel rather pathetic that I don't know how to do this.
Tomorrow we are going paddle boating on the river...should be interesting.

Hasta luego!

Una cosa mas

It is currently 93 degrees outside. I only have one outlet, so I have to choose between plugging in my laptop and plugging in my fan. I'm sure you can guess which one is the current victor...

P.S. You're welcome.

Me broncee a la playa?

I have had a veryyyy long weekend. I had a midterm in class on Wednesday, and we went to the Alcazar on Tuesday, so I haven't had real class for almost a week!! Amazinnggg.
The midterm went well. I only had to study for a couple hours, and even that was too much. Our instructions for the test were to "write as much as you know" on two buildings in Sevilla. It took me 2 pages front and back to write all that I know, so I'm thinking I'm in the clear.
This weekend has been prettyyy lazy. The temperature's been in the 90s and 100s, so there is literally nothing you can do all day but lay around and sleep. My friends and I went out at night, but we're still trying to figure out the bar scene in Sevilla. For some reason, we have an uncanny ability of going to clubs on their off nights and not going to them when they're happenin'. Don't worry, it's a work in progress.
Last night, however, me and my two roommates Sydney and Tara got into an invite-only club - without an invitation. Sorry for the shameless bragging, but I was prettyyy proud of myself.
Yesterday Ian, Sydney, Tara, and I went to the beach in Matalascana. The beach was beautiful, but getting there was an absolute nightmare. I checked online for the bus times but each website I went to gave me different times, so I just went with the most common. We slept through our alarms so we didn't make it to the 9 AM bus, but we aimed for the 10 o'clock. Welllll turns out the next bus didn't leave until 11. Hanging out in a bus station is reallll fun.
Then, when it came time to line up for the bus, we were the first in line since we'd been there since forever. The only problem was that the screen at the bus station had the wrong bus number written down. So we had been standing in line for the wrong bus. When we went to the right bus, people were pushing and shoving trying to get on. Ian got on that bus, but the 3 of us girls got the bus doors pretty much closed in our face. Luckily I speak enough Spanish to ask the people around me what was going on, and they told me that another bus was coming.
Sooo we got on the bus!! Yay! Only an hour until the beach!
Until we got stuck in standstill traffic. All in all, it took twice as long to get there.
But once we got there it was completely worth it. The beach was warm, the environment was friendly, and water was warm enough to swim in! My roommates were all about tanning, but, due to my pasty-ness, I spent a lot of time in the water. I seriously wanted to spend as much time in that water as I could, since I couldn't even remember the last time I was able to swim in the ocean without freezing to death.
What's more, is that I didn't get burned!! 3 hours in the sun and I got tan, but I didn't get burned! (If you have ever seen my skin, you will recognize that as a true miracle). Okay, so I cheated by reapplying sunscreen every 5 seconds, but I am still proud of my derma-responsibility.
The beach trip was just what I needed. And I'm sooo excited to go to a beach next weekend... In PORTUGAL!!

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted - probably more often than you actually would like.

Hasta luego!

Que ridiculoso!

Sooo for those of you who don't know, I am a complete idiot. I booked my ticket home for August 4th thinking it was 2 days after my program ended. Yeahhh my program definitely ends on JULY 25th!! So I called the airline and booked the last ticket available on the 28th. What does this mean?
1) I shelled out 170 unnecessary dollars.
2) I will have 3 whole days to explore Madrid before coming home! and..
3) I'm coming home a week earlier!!!

That's right, mark your calendars ladies and gents, I will be returning to our glorious state on July 28th at 7:45 PM. Chicka chicka yeahhhh.


Besides being an idiot, my life has been pretty slow for the past few days. Today I went to the Alcazar in Sevilla, which is the oldest palace still in use in Europe. It was beautiful, except it was wayyyy too crowded. Sadly, I have grown to despise tourists (and try to convince myself that I am not a tourist anymore) so it made it a little frustrating. The palace is still beautiful, and it's cool because it's a mixture of all sorts of eras and architectural styles.
Tomorrow I have my first and only midterm. Of course I am procrastinating. I'm even contemplating going downtown and getting some ice cream instead of studying...
I decided finally, that in lieu of my little flight mixup, that I will not be going anywhere over the long weekend. I was thinking about going to Morocco, but it's just too expensive to go anywhere worth going to. This weekend is Corpus Cristi which is a huge religious celebration, so I thought I'd stay here and check that out. Also, I'll probably find my way to the beach one of these days...

That's all for now. Hasta luego!

Granada, la Alhambra, y el Corre de Toros

Saturday morning 5 of my friends and I left here for Granada, which is about a 3 hour bus ride away. At first I didn't like it and was creeped out by our hippie hangout of a hostel. After a while though, I began to appreciate the city for what it was and I finally grew to like it. It is just extremely different from Sevilla in that it has a hugeee Arab influence which really shows everywhere in the city. The streets above the downtown are windy and narrow and are lined with little shops selling products from the Middle East.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Alhambra. If you don't know what it is, I suggest you wikipedia it. We were really surprised we even got tickets, because they usually sell out by 1 PM or so. There are many different palaces on the grounds, and all of them are absolutely beautiful. The main one is just astounding - the walls and ceilings are covered with intricate designs carved into marble and wood. The views are also amazinggg. You can pretty much see the entire city from the top of the palace.
After the Alhambra, we went to get some dinner and then went shopping around the town. The tiny streets are all lined with the tiny shops, and we had some fun looking around and picking up some souveniers :-) We then went to go get ice cream (even though it was raining!) because ice cream in Spain is just wayyy too good to pass up.
Finally, we made our way back to the hostel. We ended up meeting 2 girls from Australia who had been traveling for 3 months and still have 3 more months to go. We also met a girl from Montreal and another from Puerto Rico. All 9 of us went out to what is known as a Teteria, which is an Arabic restaurant that serves tea, pastries, and hookah if you so desire. We all had a great time trying all of the different teas and desserts and ended up talking until 12 or so.
After a long and hard attempt to get into my tiny bunk bed (it was a triple decker and I was in the middle - just try to imagine how I may have looked attempting that one in the dark) and a good sleep, we headed back to Sevilla.

Last night we went to a bullfight, but I left after 2 bulls (there's a total of 6 per bullfight). I would call it less of a fight and more of a public slaughtering. There are about 6 matadors against 1 bull - really the bull doesn't have a fighting chance. I tried to view it in a cultural way, but I really had seen all I really wanted to see after the 2nd bull. Turns out, a lot of people in Sevilla don't like the bullfights for the same reason.

And here I am. In my architecture class we are going to the Alcazar, which is the oldest royal palace still in use, so that should be interesting. Wednesday I have my first midterm (soo soon I know!), so it may take me a while to post again.

And now for unas fotografias:

Okay nevermind on the photos, my internet is too slow. I will try to upload some within the next few days.

Muchos besos!

La semana pasada

So I know I've been pretty M.I.A. on the blog thing, so I'll try to update as much as possible.

On Tuesday night we went to a Flamenco show. It was pretty cool to see, although flamenco music isn't really my thing. All of the dancers were extremely talented and wore bright, fun outfits to go along with it. There was this one dancer who was absolutely amazinggg, but her facial expressions were wayyy too distracting to even enjoy. It seriously looked like she smelled something absolutely horrendous throughout the entire performance.

The next day I went to Italica with my Architecture and Painting class. Italica is an old Roman city about a 15 minute bus ride away, so it was awesome to actually go see what we have been learning about. It was built in 200 A.D., so everything is pretty ruined except for the mosiac floors and some of the larger structures. My favorite part, though, was the amphitheater. It's not as large as the Colleseum, but I like it more because it has a lot less tourists. When we went, we were the only group in there, which allowed me to really get a sense of what it would have been like to actually fight in the arena.

That night, Laura and some of our friends went to a discoteca which was sooo much fun. I really enjoy dancing here more than in the U.S. because the guys are a lot less creepy and dancing is done with more space between the people. The whole vibe is just a lot more fun-oriented, which I like. The only downside is that keeping up with Spanish hours can be a little difficult when you have class 3 hours after you go to bed. I've definitely learned my lesson and I will not be going out on school nights for a looong time.

On Friday we went to Jerez and Conil. Jerez is pretty much the sherry capital of the world, so we took a tour of a vineyard of the brand Tio Pepe. Aside from the repetitive information and the constant Tio Pepe propaganda, it was cool to see how it was all done. The best part though, as all of my friends can attest to, was the unnecessary Disneyland-like train that chauffered us to every area of the vineyard. Honestly, we probably could have walked it quicker, but it was fun nonetheless.
Conil was up next. Conil is a little beach town along the Atlantic Ocean. It was cute, but it was pretty windy and cold when we got there. (Of course, being the most pale person alive, I still somehow managed to get burned). The highlight was my first half swim-half walk in the Atlantic Ocean, which was pretty amazing the people in my program as I am one of 2 people from the west coast. Don't worry, there are pictures to commemorate the occasion.

This weekend we went to Granada, but I will put that in the next post to break it up a little bit.

Un dia peresozo en Sevilla

I've realized that Monday through Thursday I am going to have a lot of alone time between 12 and 3. All of my roommates have class until 2:30, so I'm trying to find creative ways to entertain myself during that time (besides sleeping and going on the computer - that's for after lunch).
Today it was a little colder (about 77 degrees) so I decided to go for a run. I decided that once again, I would try to get a little lost and then find my way back. Well, I think I picked the wrong route because I had to spend about 1/3 of my run actually walking on the heels of old ladies and married couples. I went up to Sierpes, which is the shopping district of Sevilla. Not only are there a lottt of people there, but the sidewalk is also approximately this big. So it's a little hard to get around people, especially when you don' t know the exact Spanish equivilant for "excuse me". But, all in all, it was a good run.
I also met some...interesting gentlemen that live down the street. They are car mechanics, and were outside working on a car when I walked by. They said "Buenos Dias." I said "uhhhhhhhhhhh...hola?" When I walked by the next time, they said "Good Morning." I wonder how they ever figured out that I'm not a native Spanish speaker...?
Tonight I'm going to the Flamenco show. It's the first night that me and my roommates are going to a discoteca, so it should be pretty fun. I'll have more updates tomorrow.

Adios!

El dia primero de clases

Today I had my first day of class. I am taking an Art History class called Architecture and Painting in Seville. It is going to be amazing! We are going to take a lottt of field trips so we can see everything first hand. I think we have about 2 field trips a week. This Wednesday we're going to Italica, which is an example of the Roman roots of Sevilla. I'm so excited! The only thing is that this class is going to move verryyy fast - I have my first midterm a week from wednesday!
After class I went shopping and had a great time. Afterwards, I decided I wouldn't look at a map and try to get home. And apparently it worked because here I am writing instead of wandering around the city like a lost puppy.
In not-so-good news, it seems that I'm getting a tad sick. Honestly, I think it's just because I'm constantly breathing in cigarette smoke. There are very minimal smoking laws here, so I always come home smelling like cigarettes whenever I go out. It also may just be the difference in climate from what I'm used to. I'm sure I'll be fine in a couple of days.
Tomorrow we have our first excursion to a Flamenco show. I'll write about it soon!

Hasta luego!