last entry :(

so i'm finally back home in the u.s. of a after a week of traveling with my parents. all went pretty well, they didn't seem too enjoy my walking tour of spain i put them through, my mom wasn't a fan of such foods as calamari and lasagna of mushroom, and my mom had difficult remembering with buildings were 'important,' but we all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. 

if you all want to know anything else about our trip, give one of us an email and we'll fill you in. but i suppose this will be all of this blog now that i'm home!!

as the spanish say tho, this isn't adios, but instead hasta luego!

family matters

so yesterday my dad, mom, and brother finally arrived in sevilla after an interesting trip ... apparently their flight was a bit cramped and rocky, so they were a bit tired and queezy when i saw them. but i think they were exaggerating. lol. but anyway, i picked them up at the airport and we took a bus into the city. after we got off, i gave them their choices of walking to the hotel or taking a cab, and they insisted they were fine walking, altho they proceeded to get mad at me when it took us more than 45 minutes to get there. geez louise ... can´t say i didn´t warn them ...

i took them out for desserts at a pastelería, but then i had to leave them for a bit to study for a final and then take it. but after that we met up again and got ice cream at the best heladería in sevilla and then tapas (appetizers) at 100 Montaditos for dinner. the tapas were these little sandwiches called montaditos (hence the name of the restaurant: there are a 100 choices for montaditos) and i introduced them to the drinks of sevilla: cruzcampo (the local beer) and tinto de verano (my favorite drink that is red wine and fanta soda).

they were a bit tired, so we called it a night after that. today they´ll get to see more of sevilla while i take my last final ... not fair!! but then i´m done for the semester!!!

hasta luego.

Last Weekend in Sevilla :(

So this weekend was my last weekend here in the awesomeness of Sevilla, so me and my friends completely filled everyday with everything we’ve wanted to do but never got around to.

Thursday we went out for the night and enjoyed the nightlife of Sevilla. We eventually made it to a pretty cool dance club called Buddha that was pretty fun.  After we left and got a taxi, it was pretty ironic because Laura saw someone getting in another taxi that she went to high school with, which is sooo random.

Friday we got up and tried to catch a bus to the outlets outside of the city, but the bus never came so we just went downtown instead. We went shopping at a cool store called Lefties, had some shwarmas, then went to the center of the city and shopping for a while. I headed back early to go running and shower before meeting with my intercambio (a student at the University that I meet with to practice Spanish).

We talked for a while and it was really funny because she has such a distorted view of the U.S. She was asking why I decided to study in Sevilla, and I told her how my school was associated with programs in Barcelona, Sevilla, and Granada, but Granada was too small and Barcelona was too dangerous, and she’s like, “But you live in the U.S.!!! That is WAY more dangerous!!” So I tried to explain to her that not everywhere is like New York City, but she still seems to think the U.S. is one big city.  

After dinner, we headed out to a tetería (tea house), which was sooo cool. It was decorated all Moroccan with tapestries and cool beanbag things we sat on, and we hung out there until 1 or 2 or so. Our one friend’s host brother also came, so we got to use our Spanish with him for a while.

Saturday I got up, went running, then headed to the mall for a bit before going downtown for ice cream and then the Archeological Museum. Then we went to dinner at a Cuban restaurant and headed to a flamenco show. It was really hot and crowded, so we left a little early and headed home since we were tired anyway.

Sunday was kind of a catch-up day to do work, so I just stayed in and tried to study for a bit. Except it is extremely hard to concentrate because on one hand, I keep thinking about seeing my family in a couple days. And on the other, I keep thinking about how I’m going to have to leave here really soon, which I am not looking forward to. It does not feel like it has been an entire semester!!!! ¡Ay dios míos!

But anyway, this is all for now.

Paz fuera. (Peace out)

they say it´s your birthday ....

so things have been CRAZY busy around here and probably will be for the rest of my time here, sicne it´s down to 9 days until my program is over. But i´m still gonna try to keep this updated but we´ll see how it goes ....

but anyway, so last week obviously was my birthday on wednesday, which was really fun. 15 of my friends here and i went out to san marcos, an italian restaurant out in barrio santa cruz, the old jewish district. the food was AMAZING and i had this really really good tortelini. then afterward we went out to a flamenco bar to try to watch the dancing, but unfortunately they didn´t have any for some reason and just had this guy singing and playing the guitar, but it was still good anyway.

then thursday we had off cuz it was labor day, so i kinda did a little work and waiting around until seth and amy came to visit. then seth, amy, me, eric, and melanie took the midnight bus to faro, portugal, hung around there for 5 hours until 7 am, then took the train to lagos for the beach!! it was actually really fun hanging around faro at 4 am, because you meet some quite interesting characters at that time. and everything becomes funny after a certain amount of sleep deprivation.

after we got to lagos, we checked into our hostel (which was called the rising cock, take it as you will. and imagine the jokes that ensued the rest of the weekend). then we went to the beach, where we all proceeded to get burnt to a crisp from falling asleep in the soon. i was saved a little from getting up with eric to go look for laura and janette, who were taking a later bus since they wanted to sleep for some weekend and wait til friday morning to come.

saturday we went exploring through the rocks and beaches and took an interesting, to say the least, boat ride. there were just a FEW waves, aka a ton, so all of us were feeling pretty seasick, and the family on with us were all throwing up the back. but it was really really trip so it made up for it.

the hostel was really cute too because it was a family business, so mamá made everyone crepes every morning that were DELICIOUS!!! and the people were really nice and accomodating, so it was fun.

now i´m just keeping myself busy in sevilla showing amy and seth around, since they´re here til tomorrow. and i´m also keeping myself busy with essays and work that comes along with the end of the semester.

but anyway, i suppose this is all for now!!

hasta luego!

Pueblos Blancos

All day Sunday I went on a tour with Laura and her parents to some pueblos blancos (white towns) outside of Sevilla. These are towns where all the houses and buildings are white-washed and it is literally against the law to paint your house a different color. (If you do, you have to pay a fine.) We went around to 4 or 5 or so towns, and they were really pretty. We had to drive a bit to get to some of them, so we got to enjoy the beautiful Spanish countryside along the way.

The tour was only Laura, her parents, me, a couple from Pennsylvania, and two women from California. It was pretty cool because the one woman from California said her one daughter is studying in Guinea right now, and the other is in the Peace Corp in Senegal. So I guess after she isdone in Spain, she is going to visit them.

Our tour guide was an Australian who has been living in Sevilla for 10 years. He was pretty cool and really knew his way around, the towns all had the NARROWEST streets, and he drove through all these country roads that I would NEVER want to drive through.

Not much else is going on besides that. I have a paper I should be writing that is kind of due on Wednesday (my teacher now has given us an extension, although I´m going away all weekend anyway so I pretty much need to finish it anyway for Wednesday), but have I started it??? NOPE. But oh well, I´m just doing like my fellow Sevillanos and relaxing and taking a siesta.

p.s.

here's a link to more pics.

check 'em out!!!

Feria y Primavera

Tests and Motos

So this week was pretty busy because I had tests Wednesday and Thursday in my grammar and Spanish-American Civilization classes. It was so busy, in fact, that Laura and I skipped our volunteering on Thursday for the first time since we got here so we could study. I felt a little guilty because the kids at the guardería are starting to recognize me and run up to me and give me hugs when I come, but school comes first, and it was the only time we’ve skipped so far. I think it was justified from the time we walked to the guardería in the POURING rain during Feria and were absolutely soaked the whole day, or the time we got pooped on by birds while walking over.

But anyway, the test on Wednesday was really easy, so I was happy about that. But Thursday’s was pretty hard and I’m thinking I didn’t do so well, but whatever. Such is life.

Today I didn’t have classes so I got up bright and early to go for a morning jog for the first time in a while, and it was pretty good. It’s getting really really hot here, as in this weekend it’s gonna be in the 30’s, aka mid-90’s. (A quick side note: to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, double the temperature and add 32. And another random side note kind of related, to convert kilometers to miles, take ten percent of the distance and multiply it by 6. I can thank running for knowing that, I figured it out from knowing a 10K equals roughly 6 miles.)

But anyway, back to my story. So, I was out running this morning, and on my way back I stopped to stretch at my usual place in the park. After I was done, I started running out the park when all of a sudden a moto riding on the sidewalk rounded the corner and crashed into me. I was like, whoaaaaa lady!! (I didn’t literally say it cuz I was caught off guard, but I was thinking it.) And then SHE starts yelling at ME in Spanish, and is like, “what are you, eight???” And I’m just like, “Lo siento (Sorry)” and kept running.

I think she was still yelling at me while I was leaving, but it was obviously her fault because 1. she was driving her stupid moto on the sidewalk, and 2. She didn’t stop and/or slow down around the corner. But yea, so I’m probably gonna have a pretty sweet black and blue mark on my leg since I bruise like a peach.

So today and tomorrow I’m basically just going to be working on my research paper for Spanish-American Civilization. We got to pick our topics and I’m writing about pirates!!! It’s pretty interesting, so I’m not minding the research too much.

Well, I suppose that is all for now.

Hasta luego. 

Ce-ing Ce in Granada!!

This weekend we had a ‘free’ school trip to Granada (free meaning most likely, judging by the 4-star hotel we stayed in and awesome meals, it was merely factored into our original cost to study here), and it was pretty fun. The best part was definitely ce-ing Ce!!!! (for anyone who may not know, Ce (pronounced ‘see’) goes to Ithaca with me and is studying in Granada this semester. And, for anyone who also may be wondering, he does not go by his nickname Ce here anymore because it is too confusing with Sí, so he goes by his real name, Kwesi.

But anyway, Friday morning we got on the buses and headed out to Granada. It wasn’t too far, about 3 hours or so by bus, and after we got there we had lunch on our own and free time for the afternoon. Ce met us at the hotel and then we walked around for a while and he showed us around some parks and the ‘river,’ aka stream.

After our break, we went to the Catedral and Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). It was really cool because I had studied parts of the cathedral and chapel in art class, so it was really cool to actually see them and remember the characteristics.

We had a little more free time after we were done there, so we walked around the Arab quarter a bit, which was sooooo much like Morocco. We got some ice cream at the most AMAZING place ever, that had all the flavors decorated with oranges or grapes or whatever the flavor was, and the we hung out for a while at a café until we had to go to dinner.

After dinner, we met up with Ce again and he took us to his tetería (tea shop) he goes to all the time. Since he’s such a regular, he’s friends with the owners and we got to talk to them for a while. The tea shop was really cool because it was decorated with lanterns and cool Moroccan rugs, and the tea was sooo good. We stayed there for a pretty long time, and then we headed to another one of Ce’s regular hangouts, a chawarma restaurant, where we got some chawarmas, or pitas with all these delicious ingredients baked inside. 

Saturday we hung out with Ce again in the morning and tried to go to a marketplace, but most of the vendors weren’t there because they were scared away by the stormy clouds. So instead we went and met Ce’s Señora, who is the cutest lady ever, and then eventually headed back to the hotel for lunch.

After lunch, we went to the Alhambra and Generalife (not pronounced General Life but actually Hen-are-a-leaf-a), which is this old Moorish castle/palace with gardens and the palace of Carlos V, who conquered the Moors. We were pretty lucky because we missed the rain that came as we were driving home. Although we weren’t quite so lucky when it was pouring back in Sevilla when we got home.

Well that is all for now. ¡Hasta luego!

La vida de mi casa

So I haven’t said much about my home life for a while, but things have been pretty good. My Señor is so cute and funny, a couple days ago he remembered that this one food we were eating, tortilla de camarones (shrimp), was my favorite, so he barely ate any and said the rest was for me because I liked them so much. It actually ended up being entirely too much food and I could barely finish it because it was so much, but it was really thoughtful that he remembered it was my favorite.

My roommate and I never asked my Señor what his job is, and now since it’s so far into the semester, it would be extremely weird and awkward to ask, so Rosie and I keep snooping around trying to find clues to figure out what he does for a living. For a while, I seriously thought he didn’t have a job because he spends so much time at the house helping out with his autistic son and housework. But we decided that the money they get for hosting Rosie and me isn’t enough to sustain the family, so we began developing theories as to what he does.

Our first was that he is some type of manager of a store or something because he receives a lot of phone calls, and that job may not require leaving the house a lot. But I didn’t think that was it because he would have to spend a decent amount of time away from the house anyway, plus I noticed that his college diploma is on the wall of the son’s bedroom, so I thought that might mean he has some type of more advanced or specialized job.

My next guess was he is a professor at the University of Sevilla, because then he would only have to leave the house for the classes, which could be pretty short and scattered at weird hours. But I have never seen him grade any papers, and he would probably have to have office hours, so I ended that theory.

My current guess is he is a stockbroker. I’ve seen him on the computer, and he could easily do this job from home, so I think it’s a good guess. Plus, he read the newspaper extremely faithfully, so maybe he’s checking up on the economy??

So other random things about my house that are interesting:

1. My Señor’s ringtone on his cell phone is the theme song to Pirates of the Caribbean

2. My Señor and Señora rode on the horses together at Feria when they were younger and dating

3. My Señora told us how when she was younger, one time when she went out for Feria, she left on a Friday night and stayed out partying and dancing until Monday morning.

4. My Señor is a hardcore Sevilla fútbol team fan, and when he watches the games, he yells and screams at the TV as if the people on the screen can actually hear him.

5. I think my Señor knows more English than he lets on, because he keeps saying random stuff in English, like sugar, coffee, Sunday, and a lot more.

So I guess that is all for now.

Hasta luego.

Feria de Abril

This week was the second biggest holiday in Sevilla after Semana Santa: Feria. I’m not quite sure how it came about, but it basically is just one huge party in Los Remedios, a district in the city. A billion casetas, or tents, are set up, some being ‘private’ that people pay dues for all year to be a part of, and others are ‘public’ that people like me could go into.

Inside these tents, tables, chairs, bars, live music, and a stage are set up so people just hang out and drink and dance flamenco, or the sevillano dance, all night. Literally. People stay out until insane hours of the night every night this week. And the kids don’t have school most of the week either, and many stores have special ‘Feria’ week hours. It’s nuts.

And a majority of the women walk around in their flamenco dresses, which are absolutely GORGEOUS. They’re in the craziest colors and patterns, most of them polka dot but others paisley or solid. It’s funny because everyone walks through the city as if it’s perfectly normally to be wearing these huge dresses with insane colors and flowers pinned to their hair, when for anyone else visiting it looks more like Halloween night or a costume party.

And it’s also perfectly normal for women to spend 300 or more euros on one of these flamenco dresses. And my Señora informed me that women usually own at least 4 of them to alternate during the week, because of course you can’t be seen wearing the same dress everyday. AND, trends of the dresses change every year, so then you have to buy a new one every year or so.

Because of the rain, I didn’t go out to the Feria festivities until Wednesday, when the rain let up a little. A huge entrance gate was set up on the Feria grounds, and there were thousands and thousands of people walking around in their dresses and dancing in the casetas. We found our way to the public tent, where we bought some of the traditional Feria drink, white wine mixed with 7-up.

After watching the dancing for a bit, we headed to the amusement park right next to the Feria grounds, and walked around there and ate gofres, or waffles with chocolate and whipped cream. It was pretty funny watching all the teenage girls in their dresses go on the rides.

On Thursday, we didn’t feel like going to Feria again since we’d gotten a good taste of it before, so we went to the Contemporary Art Museum instead. It was pretty interesting because it’s inside an old monastery, so it was cool seeing both the art and the old monastery. It was horrible getting back, though, because there was so much traffic from Feria that it took a good hour and a half to get back by bus. That night Laura and I went to see The Game Plan, or Papá por Sorpresa, in the movie theater. It was dubbed in Spanish, and after you get over how it looks a bit weird, it’s not that bad. I understood almost all the movie, and I thought it was really cute.

Friday we headed to the nearby town Jerez for the day. They’re known for their wine and sherry, so we went on a tour of a bodega and tasted a few of the drinks. Saturday we went to Ronda, a town almost as ‘gorges’ as Ithaca. It’s built around these huge gorges, so we hiked for a while and wandered through the town. Sunday we went back to Feria to check out the horses, because my Señor kept raving about how amazing they were. And it was pretty cool, there were a billion and a half horses and carriages carrying around people in Flamenco dresses. And that was all of Feria.

Now I shall go attempt to do work. Hasta luego!

p.s.

Here's the link to some more pictures.

Semana Santa and London

Flamenco and Madrid

On Thursday my school threw this AWESOME party so we headed out to that. There was a live band playing Flamenco music and everyone was dancing, so it was a great atmosphere. 

Friday we had off classes, so Laura and I headed to the Museum of Art and Customs, which was pretty interesting. There was a temporary exhibit on foreign correspondents in Spain, which was really interesting. Then Friday night Laura, Alicia, and I went to the amusement park in Sevilla and hung out there, which was soooooo fun. We rode the ferris wheel and two other rides, one of which was the scariest i have ever been on in my LIFE. It's pretty impossible to explain, except if you've ever been to Knoebel's it's the same as the Fandango except faster and higher. 

Then Saturday and Sunday I had a school 'field trip' to Madrid for my art class. We took the train on Saturday morning, which was really short so it only took 2.5 hours. After we got there and checked in, we headed out to the Prado National Museum, where we saw a bunch of El Greco, Goya, and Velacquez works. These were really cool because we had just learned about the works, so it was cool to actually see them instead of just slides. Then we went to this other museum that had a huge exhibit about Picasso, so we spent a pretty long time there before we had the rest of the night to ourselves. A bunch of us had a HUGE craving for American food, so went broke  down and went to Hard Rock Cafe, where I finally got to have mac and cheese with ketchup for the first time in MONTHS!!!!! 

Sunday we did a walking tour and saw the Plaza Mayor and some other buildings since had just studied Baroque period. Then we went to our last museum, which had a bunch of foreign works and we just walked around by ourselves. 

This week is Feria in Sevilla, although I have yet to go to anything for it. It's been freaking POURING all week, so I refuse to walk the whole way to the district where all the Feria partying is going on. Apparently there's a lot of Flamenco dancing and horses going around and stuff, so hopefully it stops raining later this week so I can go. 

So I suppose this is all for now.

Hasta Luego!

'Ello!!!

This weekend Laura and I were off to London to visit a bunch of cool people from Ithaca. Our flight was in the afternoon on Friday, and after landing in Gatwick and getting to the apartment, Laura, Seth, Luke, Laura, Mary, and I chilled for a bit before we finally went out for Indian food. 

On Saturday we had the grand tour of London, and hit up just about every site there is to see. We went through Hyde Park and saw a cool Peter Pan statue, then we were off to Buckingham Palace and Westminister Abbey and Parliament and lots and lots more. Eventually we headed over to the Borough Market and got a LOT of free food from stands and bought some good brownies and toasted cheese sandwiches. Then we headed over to the London and Tower Bridges and the Tate Museum. 

After that, Seth and I went to the London Eye and then Spamalot. The show was really really funny, it was basically a huge spoof on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. After the show we tried to find someplace to eat, but no one wanted to serve us so we eventually just went back to the flat.

Sunday we got up bright and early and headed to Platform 9 3/4 and then some more markets. Our flight was in the early afternoon, so we had to get to the airport relatively early to check in. The line took FOREVER to get through, so we barely got through in enough time to get our flight. But we did, and then we got back to Sevilla by 7:30. It was pretty nice because it was still daylight because this weekend was daylight savings time, and it was even nicer because it was actually warm. 

Semana Santa in La Ciudad

So after my trip from Morocco, I was back in just enough time to catch the end of Semana Santa, or Holy Week. The week is a pretty big deal in Sevilla, and they have a LOT of processions and parades and it’s pretty much one big week of solemn reflection on the death of Jesus. (They actually don’t really do much with the Resurrection, mainly just the death.)

Thursday it rained for most of the morning and afternoon, so a lot of the processions were cancelled. But then before dinner I headed out to a church downtown and caught the procession called La Pasión, which started out with a bunch of people in outfits that look almost identical to the outfits the Ku Klux Klan wears (I’m being serious, I’ll have pictures up eventually so you can see) and then was followed with people carrying these huge float/image things of Jesus and Mary. The whole thing takes FOREVER to go through, literally hours and hours. Some of them last all night and they walk for 12 hours straight. It’s pretty crazy. 

But anyway, after that procession I went and got some dinner before heading to some more professions that started after midnight. EVERYBODY (including my 15-year-old host brother) was out watching them, and we watched two or three before heading back home at 4 am.

On Good Friday, Laura and I walked out to Triana (a district kinda far from where I live) and caught another procession called La Esperanza de Triana (The hope of Triana, who is one of the patron saints of Sevilla). Then we went to this amazing organic restaurant and had tofu. In the afternoon we bought fútbol tickets and headed out to yet some more processions before hanging out downtown for the night.

On Saturday, we had all had enough of processions, plus there weren’t that many more anyway, so Laura, Janette, and I headed out for a VERY long walk to a park out in Triana called el Parque de los Príncipes. We hung out there for a while, then after dinner we went out to the fútbol game against a Madrid team. The Sevillanos are CRAZY about their soccer, it was pretty nuts. People were yelling soooooo loud obscenities and then singing all these different fight songs. It was a good time. But unfortunately, we lost 2-1. But the other team was ranked higher anyway, so I guess they were better.

Easter Sunday my roommate and I headed down to the big cathedral for mass, which was the weirdest mass either of us had ever been too. It just had music and chanting for the first 45 minutes, and then when it finally started it was still kinda different. I was pretty happy because I could understand the lessons and sermon, although I guess it is kinda expected that I’d understand most of it since I already knew ahead of time what to expect out of the readings. But anyway, we left after the sermon because we had been there for an hour and a half already and didn’t know where the service was going.

Then for lunch I finally had dessert!!!!! We have only had dessert one other time at my house, so it was pretty amazing. It was this delicious thing that was like cheesecake, but better.

And unfortunately, that was the end of Semana Santa. The most unfortunate part was probably that I had to head to class after what seemed like the longest break of my life. But I guess I am here to study …

Also, here are some pics from Morocco

Morocco

btw

here's links to more pics:

Portugal

Paris

Salam, labas? (Hello, how are you?)

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated my blog, and for good reason. I was kinda in Africa for a week, so I think that’s as good an excuse as any. But anyway, the trip was pretty much INCREDIBLE.

It started out not last Friday but the one before, when we met for the bus insanely early to head to the Strait of Gibralter, where we took a ferry across the water to Morocco. After we got to shore, we exchanged money and then headed to the capital city, Rabat. We had lunch and a short tour of the city, where we saw the sister of the Tower of Giralda (which is in Sevilla), a mosque, and some other sites that I zoned out for since I was really tired from getting up early.

After the tour, we kept driving to the city of Fez, where we spent the night before heading on to the Sahara Desert the next day. Along the way to the Sahara, we made a quick stop at a forest where we got to see wild monkeys!! They were soooooo cute. Some people were able to get close enough to feed them. I didn’t try, though.

We kept driving until we got to a hotel where we picked up a bunch of jeeps to drive farther into the desert, since the busses couldn’t go any farther. My jeep was pretty fun because our driver decided not to follow the road like the other jeeps, and instead took all these back roads (except ‘roads’ is a bit of a stretch for the word) through the desert.

After nearly an hour of driving, we finally got to our hotel, which was basically paradise. Literally. It was the most amazing hotel I have ever stayed at, and actually, Angelina Jolie stayed there before. I like to think she stayed in my room.

Dinner was pretty amazing too, they had this huge party for Laura and this other girl since it was their birthdays, so they played the drums and had cake and sang and everything.

The next day we got up and took a walk to a nearby town, and then in the afternoon we took camels into the desert where we stayed the night. That was pretty fun, except the camels are a bit painful to ride. Before dinner we climbed this HUGE dune, that took us nearly an hour to ascend, but it was soooo worth it because we had an amazing view of the sunset.

After riding back in the morning, we took the bus back to Fez, and the next day we went into the old section of the city, called the Medina. This is the part that is surrounded by the old walls to protect it, and there are more than 9,400 little streets, so it is very confusing. We walked around for a while, went shopping (where you have to barter for everything), and saw some sites.

The next day we finally headed back to good old Sevilla. It was SUCH a long drive, we broke it up by stopping in a small town called Assilah along the way, but it still seemed like forever and I didn’t get back to my room til past 1 am. And that was Morocco. In a few days, I’ll post some more info about Semana Santa and the awesomeness that is Sevilla. But meanwhile, M’a ssalama! (Goodbye!)

More about Sevilla

so i realized i haven't said anything about sevilla for a while.

so yea, things are pretty good around here. i started working at a guarderia, aka daycare, twice a week, which is pretty fun. the kids are all around 3 or 4 years old and younger, and i basically just play with them, help feed them, make sure they don't kill each other, and teach english lessons. it's pretty crazy because they already have at least two english lessons a day, what i teach them and what this other lady comes in and teaches them. and they're pretty good.

i also started taking salsa dancing lessons this week with my intercambio, a college student i'm paired with that wants to learn english. we normally just meet and talk, so i can learn spanish from her and she can learn english from me, and this week she invited me to the lessons with her, so i went. it was pretty fun. i was a bit confused because all the moves were spanish names that i didn't know, and the instructions were obviously in spanish, and they were all terms i wasn't sure about, but it was still really fun. after semana santa, i'm gonna go back and hopefully get a little better.

so i haven't told you all about the craziness of futbol, aka soccer, here. basically, everyone's obsessed with it. the other week, there was a home game in the stadium near my apartment, and when i was walking back to my apartment before the game, i saw the thousands of people walking to the stadium. it was nuts. then during the game, my senor and his son were yelling and screaming in the house every time there was a goal or anything, so that was pretty amusing. my roommate and i were so intrigued we finally had to go watch for a while with them.

hmmm, what else ... today i went to an exhibit at the art museum about el greco, a famous painter i'm learning about in my art class. so that was pretty interesting since i knew all about his style and stuff. oh, and this week laura and i have been using the city bicicyle system instead of the buses since our bus passes needed renewed and we didn't feel like doing that before we left for morocco, so that has been fun. we just had to pay 5 euros and we get to use the bikes whenever we want, as long as we return them to a station within 30 minutes. it's been soooooooo hot though this week, so it's been quite a workout.

allright, so i guess this is all for now. i'm off to africa for the weekend and the early part of next week, so i hope you all have a good easter and enjoy semana santa!!!

hasta luego.

Paris, la ciudad de amor

so this weekend in paris was basically AWESOME. 

our trip started pretty early on friday (5:45 am) when we took the bus to the airport, and then we got in to the orly airport outside of paris around 10-ish or so and then into paris itself by 11. laura and i waited at the bus stop for a bit until josh, her friend studying in paris, and two other friends came to pick us up. we were immediately greeted with chocolate-filled croissants from josh, which were AMAZING!!!

we walked around for a bit, dropped our stuff off at the hotel room, got some crepes, then headed to the pantheon, where we saw a bunch of tombs in the crypt and saw this huge contraption that proves the world rotates on an axis. seth called us and said he had arrived to the city, so we went and met him (along the way picking up some more authentic parisian pastries) and headed to the eiffel tower, which was even more AMAZING than i thought. i think i literally took like, a million pictures of it. 

since josh knows everything there is to know about paris (because he actually wants to be a tour guide) he took us to a bunch of cool sites. for dinner we went to a restaurant called hippopotamus, or something similar, and afterward we walked around and saw the arc de triumph and some other sites before heading back to the hotel.

on saturday morning, we headed to the louvre and conquered it in three hours. it was so huge it was overwhelming at first to decide where to begin, but after we got started things went relatively smoothly. we saw napoleon's apartment (since he lived in the louvre before it was made into a museum), the mona lisa of course, venus de milo, winged victory, and a lotta lotta more. we encountered our first rude french person in the cafe inside the louvre, who told us we had to ask before we took sugar and spoons that were clearly on the counter for people to take.

after the louvre, we met up with callie, who came in from the u.s. to see us!!!, and josh showed us around some more. we headed up to the artist's quarter and the basilica before we had dinner at the cool little fondu place near moulin rouge. the atmosphere was literally amazing because the place was just this little hole in the wall, and the waiters just brought out food and you didn't get to order. it was literally hilarious because this guy brought out appetizers and then cheese and potatoes that we dipped in this cheese fondu. and then he brought out this bowl of meat that looked really really rare, and we asked josh if we were supposed to eat this, and he's like, i guess. so then we did, and after a couple pieces the waiter came back with a bowl of oil or water or something and a lighter to light this burner on the table, and when josh asked the waiter if that was to cook the meat, the guy was like, in french, 'duh stupid, would you eat it otherwise???'

so after dinner we saw moulin rouge and then headed back to our hotel. sunday morning we headed to the orsy museum that had more impressionistic artwork, and then by early afternoon it was time to head back to sevilla. 

más fotos

to see the next round of photos, go to

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071972&l=3c198&id=13810163

i will be writing more later about my trip to paris this weekend. but this is it for now.

and also a reminder: anyone can make comments on this blog, so feel free to do so. i'd love to hear what people want to say, or to know that people are even reading this!

hasta luego.

Portugal!!!!!!!!!

So this weekend I was off to Portugal on a trip with my school. We left Thursday morning and took a bus to Portugal, which was about a 4-hour or so drive away. The country is actually an hour behind us, though, which was a pain when  we were all starving and had to wait a while to get food. 

After we arrived in Lisboa, the capital, we dropped our stuff off at our hostel and then took a tour of the city. It was interesting because our tour guide, who was Portuguese, had only studied Spanish for two years but was still basically fluent (all trips with the school are done in Spanish, hence why she didn't speak English, although she knew that as well). 

After we got out to walk for a bit, our driver was supposed to meet us at a point later on, but he got really really lost so we ended up having to wait a while for him to find us. But after he took us back to the hostel, we split up and a bunch of us went out for a traditional Portuguese dinner of codfish. 

On Friday we went to a nearby town, Sintra, and explored this humongous castle, and then we went to the farthest west point of Europe and then a beach. I put my feet in the water and walked through the sand barefoot, but it was still a bit cold. Although not too much. We had a lot of free time during the night, so we wondered around a lot through Lisboa and walked through some of the shopping districts and stuff like that. 

Saturday we went to another castle and then had the entire day free, so Laura, me, and some other people went to the aquarium, which was AWESOME!!! It was funny because I felt like such a child there, 1. because I was at an aquarium, and 2. I got lost within 10 minutes of starting the tour and had to go through the entire aquarium to find my group. But anyway, the otters and penguins were ADORABLE, and I was so happy because I found Nemo!!!

For dinner we were mainly concerned with saving money, so we went to an Italian restaurant and I got really good veggie lasagna. It was funny because I'm pretty sure the waiter there gave me his number, but I'm not quite sure because it was very confusing. He was talking to us about his sister that lived in the United States, and then after we paid he gave me two business cards with a number scribbled on both. He rattled off something in some language that I'm not quite sure about, so I don't know what exactly the number was for he gave me. Because it'd be pretty weird to give two business cards with your number to someone. So I'm not quite sure ...

But anyway, then we left on Sunday and went to a Spanish town on the way back that had a cool cave. And I guess that was it for the weekend.

Oh yea, and whoever said Portuguese sounds like Spanish lies. I couldn't understand almost all of what Portuguese people said. I could read it pretty decently, but it definitely sounds more French than anything. 

más mal suerte y un viaje a córdoba

so I’ve decided I have basically the worst almost-bad luck of anyone I know. literally. because it seems like every time I have bad luck, it’s solamente ‘almost-bad luck’ because nothing seriously bad comes out of it.

take, for example, my post from a couple days ago. I lost my passport, but then found it. I got stuck in an elevator, and then got rescued. and I couldn’t find the flamenco dancing place, but I’m going there again soon so it really didn’t matter.

and then there was this week, when someone followed me home and tried to mug me in an elevator, but I managed to get away without losing any money or anything.

geez louise.

so wednesday night after going out with some friends, I was walking home alone (only for maybe two blocks) pretty late after walking another friend back to her place, when I noticed I was being followed. I started walking a little faster because I was only 100 feet or so from my apartment, but then I noticed he was still behind me. so I tried to slip into my apartment building before he could, but the doors are really heavy and close slowly, so he got in.

I tried to get in the elevator before he could, but again he slipped in since the door wouldn’t shut, after which he demanded my money and cell phone. I said I didn’t have any and that he needed to ‘vaya,’ aka go. but he refused and kept demanding money and tried to get it out of my pockets. I continued to yell no and vaya and tried to wrestle away from him, because European elevators are EXTREMELY cramped and there was basically no room, and after struggling for a bit I succeeded and was out.

but then he kept demanding money while trying to hit me and yelling that he was gonna kill me and whatnot. and finally after saying for the millionth time that I didn’t have any money or a phone and that he needed to go somewhere else, he finally gave up or was scared of me (I prefer the latter) and said he was sorry and left.

great story.

but on a happier note

seth came to visit this weekend and on saturday we went to córdoba, a city muy cerca (close) de sevilla. it was really really fun. there was this HUGE mosque (which is mesquita in Spanish, which is really close to sounding like mosquito, which I’ll admit I said more than once) which was taken over by the catholics in the 1200’s or something like that and turned into a cathedral. we also went to this huge palace, aka alcazar, which had beautiful gardens in the back. then we also went to a synagogue, two house tour things, and a bunch of plazas and stuff. along with just walking through the city.

so that was pretty much awesome.

let’s see, what else has happened lately …

ummmm, I visited the alcazar in sevilla on thursday, which was way better than córdoba’s cuz it’s gardens were wayyyyyyy bigger. I went to mass yesterday in the huge cathedral in sevilla, which was interesting. I could follow most of the service and I understood that the gospel was on the woman at the well story, but that was about all. I definitely didn’t know any of the responses or stuff like that. and today I started my new classes since my other one was just for the first three weeks, and so far my classes seem pretty cool. I’m taking Spanish-American civilization, a grammar course, and art history of spain.

and I suppose that is it for now. cuz I can’t think of much else to say and this is getting pretty long.

I hope anyone reading this checked out the link to my photo album online. cuz it took me forever to put those photos up and they’re pretty cool.

and that is all.

hasta luego. (until next time)

!!!!!fotos!!!!!

here´s a link to some pictures since i still haven´t been able to get them to load on the blog.

enjoy.

:)

http://ithaca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070278&l=732ec&id=13810163

a stroke of mal suerte (bad luck)

my bad luck streak started friday morning, when i had to go to class at 8. which is bad luck in itself because that is TOO early. 

then after class, i went shopping with some friends since we were done with class before 11, and when i was at the checkout and needed to show identification to use my credit card, i noticed my passport was missing. after completely searching through my purse, where i normally carried it since i hadn't gotten around to making a copy to carry instead, i headed back to my school because i thought maybe i had left my passport in the computer room after i used it to buy plane tickets to paris.

well, my passport was nowhere to be found, so i went to the restaurant i had gone to the night before for tapas (little appetizers) to see if i dropped it there. and i hadn't. then i went to the ice cream place i had also gone, but it wasn't there either. so i went back to the school and asked the front desks if someone had turned it in, but no one had. so since i was in a bit of a panic, a lady at the front desk tried to contact the embassy and see about getting me a new one, since it was obviously missing. BUT, the embassy was closed by then since it was almost 2 in the afternoon, so instead i just headed back to my apartment since there was nothing else i could do.

so i was already upset and everything, but i was figuring my day would get a little better at least since laura, her roommate, and i were heading out for a picnic after i picked up some things in my room. but after i got in the elevator with three other people, the elevator got freakin stuck between the zero and first floor. the other people took care of pressing the emergency button and calling people to get us out, so we were rescued within ten minutes or so. 

so then i got my food, went with laura and theresa to the parque de maría luisa, and ate and hung out for a bit. then laura and i decided to go to the museo del artes bellas, so we headed over there and walked around there for a bit.

then i came back to my apartment and after eating, headed out with laura to find a flamenco dancing show to watch. BUT, although i thought my bad luck streak had to be over, unfortunately it wasn't and after wandering for a bit, we couldn't find the place and headed back to a tapas bar some other friends were at.

but there is a silver lining to this tragic tale of my horrible luck ...

i found my passport on saturday!!!! it was in my room between a bunch of papers on my desk. not quite sure how it ended up there, probably when i took some photos and papers out of my purse it got caught between them, but either way, it is found and all is good with the world!!!

longest post to date

well, this weekend proved to be quite interesting.

my class on friday was moved to noon, so laura, my friend janette, and i went downtown early to book our trip to morocco with a travel agency, find a costume for carnival, and browse through some stores. i found an angel costume consisting of wings and a halo, laura got fairy wings and a mask, and janette got black wings and a mask as well. 

i was EXTREMELY excited when we were going through stores, because in VIPS, this convenient store that has everything, including 'when harry met sally' in spanish, i found runner's world in spanish!!!!!!!!! i bought a copy because i figured it could be good practice for reading. so far i've read an article about the achilles' tendon, the sevilla fútbol coach who is a runner, and a little bit about a person who had heart problems or something and then started to run. i didn't understand that article quite so much ...

after dinner, i went out with my roommate rosie and a bunch of other friends to a plaza, where we bought a bottle of wine and drank it with the hundreds of other spanish people gathered there. it's called 'botellon'-ing (bo-tie-yone-ing), and apparently it's a big thing with spanish people since in the culture houses are really private and no one visits or hangs out there. we also bought some fanta to mix with the wine, which tastes REALLY good. 

on saturday we slept in a bit and then laura, some friends, and i went shopping downtown. i finally got to take advantage of the major rebajas, aka sales, and i got two pairs of zapatos (shoes) for the price of one.

after napping for a bit and running, we were off to carnival in the city of cádiz. we left at 8 and were there by 9:30, and at first we just walked around and marveled at the crazy outfits. EVERYONE was dressed in the craziest costumes you can imagine: i saw a pope, pack of nuns, chickens, futurama characters, and even a rubik's cube. a lot of people had themes with their friends and coordinated, so it was pretty cool seeing the crazy ideas people came up with. there were thousands and thousands of people walking up and down the streets partying the night away, i doubt there was anyone asleep in the whole city. 

after wandering around for a bit, we found a concert with some famous spanish singer. everyone knew all the lyrics to her songs and was singing and dancing, so we think she was pretty famous or something. 

we walked around for a while longer, got lost trying to find a bathroom, and then got lost yet again trying to get back to our bus. the bus left around 3 am, so we were back in sevilla by 4:30 and i was asleep in my bed by 5, where i stayed until 1 in the afternoon. although, after i got up to go to the bathroom, i crawled back in until after 2, when we were called for lunch.

after we ate these 'langostinos,' aka little jumbo shrimp things with the eyes still on that my señor had to teach me to peel, i went for a paseo (walk) with laura and two other friends. we were touristy for a while and took pictures of la plaza de españa and el parque del maría luisa.

and that pretty much sums up my weekend.

oh, and i ate squid today at dinner. it was actually pretty decent.

running around la ciudad

the past week has been EXTREMELY busy, with running around city (literally) with laura and some other friends, exploring when we have time, and now going to class. classes aren´t too difficult so far, because the professors understand that spanish is our second language and don´t speak too quickly. my first class, cultural realities of spain, is on mondays at 1, while my second class is every day from 5:15 to 9:15 at night. at first the time was a little difficult to get used to, but now i´m ok with it, although it is EXTREMELY long.

today i´m going to visit italica, a bunch of roman ruins. this should be pretty awesome. then on saturday is carnival!! apparently everyone gets dressed up in costumes and parties the night away. i´m still looking for what i shall wear ...

some random cool things about sevilla you all should know:
1. the door knobs are in the center of the door
2. no one except americans sleeps during siesta
3. their coffee ROCKS and is way better than that wimpy american stuff
4. the city smells delicious from the orange trees lining all the streets
5. the weather is beautiful and it hardly ever rains
6. it´s apparantly really insulting to walk around without shoes on or even just socks (just found this out yesterday after a week of doing this)

¡hola otra vez!

hello again! i´m back at the internet cafe and thought i´d update you all again, more elaboratively this time.

my apartment is in the nervion district, and my family consists of my señora, señor, their 15-year old son who is obsessed with soccer, and their 13-year old autistic son who is obsessed with disney movies. i eat every meal with the señor since the señora eats with the 13-year old, who is afraid to eat with us, and the 15-year old is never around. thus, my roommate and i are learning a lot of spanish from him. now and then we can´t think of words (such as ´fan´when i was trying to say i used this to drown out the snoring of rebecca in ithaca), but we just use funny hand motions to get him to guess what we mean, and then he´ll tell us the word we want.

i´m starting to get the hang of the city from walking so much, especially since laura and i have gone running twice. we have seen la plaza de españa, which is a beautiful building/monument with beautiful tile bridges and walkways, el parque (park) de maría luis, and the mercadillo in el parque alcosa (marketplace). we have also seen the stadium where the bullfighting occurs, the huge shopping mall in the district i live in, and plenty of statues of bullfighters and saints. i have gone past the famous cathedral, although i have yet to see the inside.

well, classes start tomorrow so wish me luck!!!! hasta luego!

internet finalmente!!!

well, i finally have internet long enough to update this, but i don´t have nearly enough time to write everything i want to. altho i can sum everything up very easily ... SEVILLA IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the city is absolutely beautiful, with palm trees and statues and parks and historic buildings everywhere. we do A LOT of walking, so i have seen a lot of the city. plus, my apartment is not particularly close to the center, and we´re too cheap to get a bus pass when the weather is so beautiful, so we prefer to walk.

well, i will update more later when i have mas tiempo. adios!

today's the day!!!! it seemed like it would NEVER get here, and i'm not nervous quite yet, but it is only 7:45 a.m. so it has a while to kick in. i happened to develop a cold in the past few days, just my luck, so i have a feeling everyone on the plane is going to hate me with my sneezing and coughing and sniffling. and they're probably going to hate me even more when they're all sick in a week.

well, i should probably go finish getting everything together because soon we will be going to laura's house in awesome new city, new york, from which we are leaving for jfk. but i will update you all very soon once i get to espana!!!

ahhhhhhh

11 days!!!

yo yo yo

22 days and counting til Sevilla!!!