Things I'm going to miss list and other thoughts

I decided to make a list of things I'm going to miss. I complain about Spain a lot, but its really not a bad place and there are things about it that I really wish I could take back to America with me. So here it goes.

-Diego's crazy plans. Loco.

-My intercambio, Javier

-Mercedes slipping seafood into my rice

-Two huge chocolate bars for 2 bucks

-Cruzcampo

-The view out my window

-Torre del Oro

-Getting beer in a cafe

-Spanish coffee

-Spanish hot chocolate

-La Giralda

-Fountains

-the arquitecture

-speaking Spanish

-Andalucian accents

-Scarves

-Soccer on tv

- Ruby

-Paella

-The little pizza place

-Kebabs

-Spanish on tv

-Drinkin by the river

-Never being ID'd

-Being able to walk everywhere

I'll probably think of more. That's really not that long.

I didn't make a lot of ties here. That makes me sad. But in a way, I think it's for the better. I don't think I'll be able to come back. I don't think my life is gonna take me back in this direction, though I could be wrong. If it does, well that will be fine, as long as life isn't expecting me to live here forever (I might die in that case). If it doesn't, that will be fine, too. It's a lot easier this way.

In five days, I will be back in the United States. This trip will be done. The people I have met here will be mostly gone. My footsteps will be overwritten, as if laid in fine sand, and I will be less than a memory. But where I'm going, I can't vanish from. Where I'm going is where I fit in this world, back into the holes of hearts that I left behind. And Spain won't vanish from me, dream though it may have been.

my posting times have become irregular

This is a direct result of the fact that my life has become irregular.



It is Feria week in Sevilla, which means there are a lot of people here. From everywhere. So of course I got sick. But no worries, I am on the mend! I almost have my appetite back again, and on the positive side I lost weight! Since I was kinda starting to gain some, that's okay.

Back to Feria. It's awesome. It's amazing. It's cultural.

I want to kill people.

I love Feria. It's like the Spanish version of a Renaissance festival mixed with a county fair, mixed with a block party. With a circus. Obviously it's sweet. I discovered possibly my favorite alcoholic beverage at Feria. It's called rebujito, it's Manzanilla (a white wine) and soda water. It's great for a hot day, so perfect for the stuffy tents where you dance Sevillanas.

The people are obnoxious.

During Semana Santa, the streets became safer. This was good. It enabled me to wander around late at night getting pictures without fear.

Feria is dangerous. In groups I get accosted. Therefore, my experiences with Feria have been somewhat mixed. I feel that it would be a good thing to do with a male counterpart. But I'm not really excited about it anymore, despite everything good about it.

In other news, it is finally crunch time. I lost a couple of days to sickness, and so I'm a little behind, but hopefully I'll have one project finished tonight and have the research mostly finished for my paper that's due Thursday. That's the goal anyways. Otherwise I may be in trouble.

When I check back in it may all be done.

Layin in bed all day

Sometimes, you need a day to not talk to anyone, not see anything, not do anything besides lay in bed. Today was that day. I took a shower because I was gross from my trip, but other than that I laid in bed.

Yesterday was amazing. Barcelona is gorgeous, and I took so many pictures that I don't know what to do. I saw Casa Batllo, the outside of la Pedrera, Plaza Catalanya, Plaza de Espanya, some random giant castles, the huge Barcelona port system, their World Trade Center, rode one of those cable car things that go through the air and tried sake. I guess I did a lot of things, but it doesn't really feel like it. There was so much left to see. I barely scraped the surface.

Oh well. That just means I have an excuse to take someone with me next time.

Barcelona Dream

Thatś the name of my hostel.

Barcelona is like a dream though, the architecture is out of this world, there are trees everywhere, itś right on the beach. All in all, a lovely sort of place. They all speak Catalan though, which makes it a little hard to practice Spanish. Ive pretty much just been speaking English, since everyone here speaks that. Barcelona is a definite difference from Sevilla.

I have had the most ridiculous two days of my life so far. I`m posting on here before trying to go find some food. My plan is to wake up tomorrow and start this over. Hopefully I'll get to the beach, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. Those are the only three things I actually want to see here.

Yesterday, I got accosted by an old pervert who attempted to expose himself to me in Sevilla. Then I went to one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen, a two piano piece by Mozart which was executed with amazing animation by the del Valle brothers from Malaga, who are now officially one of my must see things in life. They are absolutely phenomenal. Then I went directly to a fiesta at the school, where I discovered that I in fact like white wine and that flamenco dancing is highly amusing. Went to bed at about 130 or 2, got up this morning at 515 because I couldn't sleep anymore and took a shower, whereupon I got yelled at by my señora because I was taking a shower at 5 am. Then I got ripped off by a cab driver, and then I got on the plane. Ryanair, by the way, is a highly sketch flying company, but cheap when you don't pack anything really. You just pick a rather uncomfortable seat and you're off. Unfortunately, the airport I was going to was not the airport I actually thought I was going to, which led to me having to spend about two extra hours commuting. Then I went to the Sagrada Familia and Parque Güell, which are examples of Gaudí's work, and very impressive. Then I rode around on a tour bus for a while, and saw the FC Barcelona stadium and Barcelona.

At some point on this trip I realized that the world is very, very large.

A little bit after I realized that the world was sort of small, too.

And I also figured out that a couple of extra Euros will fix everything but awkward perverts asking for directions.

Go figure.

Three weeks

It's not a lot of time.

I am going to Barcelona this weekend. I've spent most of the day planning out the trip, and now am working on homework. I wrote a sweet poem yesterday, but the book is currently stagnated because I have been so busy every single day that I haven't had a chance to internalize my experiences and so I can't keep writing stuff that needs that sort of internal sense of composure like a novel does. Everything is poetry. Sporadic, random, knee-jerk poetry.

I am actually more or less going to Barcelona alone, though I know people who will be in the city when I am there. I will definitely coordinate with them, and I am staying in the same hostel with one of them, so if I don't come home it shouldn't be the end of the world. Meaning someone will notice. But I'm honestly not too worried about that, since I don't plan on being out after dark. I'm going to be tired.

I get to Barcelona by plane, and then I have to trade in my bus tour voucher immediately, then take a bullet train to the metro stop, where I have to take the metro to the last stop on the line, which is where my hostel is. I will check in, and hopefully get an idea of the area, then hop on a bus and ride around the city. The bus, once I get on it, goes to all the major tourist attractions, so my transportation will be therefore taken care of. At some point I'll get lunch. The bus will likely stop running around 6 pm or so, at which point I will have time to do some more scouting, rest and find dinner before bed. Past that point I'm not 100% sure what will happen. You'll know Sunday I guess. Since it's my first time planning a trip, I am not sure to what extent I want to plan and to what extent I want to leave myself room to improvise. It's actually been a somewhat eye-opening and exciting experience. Hopefully the trip itself will be too.

Back to translating Neruda.

Madrid and the Arab Baths

This weekend was a full one. Friday night I went to the Arab Baths, which was phenomenal. I highly suggest going if you ever get the chance. Public baths are now one of my favorite things. Officially.

Then, Saturday morning, I took the AVE to Madrid. Which was also amazing. The city is green, it's like going home. And the artwork we saw was amazing. I saw one of my prefered pieces by Dali, and Guernica, and some by Georgia O' Keeffe. It was awesome.

Classes are registered for. Next semester I will be taking Senior Sem, Japanese (which is going to be hard after all this time off), Span Lit, and Plants and People, probs to be my easiest class. I'm also hopefully going to test out of my computer science requirement so I don't have to take that.

Anyways, almost time for class.

23 days.

An interesting realization

There are officially more posts on this blog than there are days left until I leave Spain.

I am sickly, and it is highly lame. Especially since we have class tomorrow (blasphemous) and I am going to be in Madrid all day Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say it is unfortunate. I am hoping that it clears up in the next two days or so to something tolerable, because the whole coughing every five minutes thing has shredded my throat and it hurts. But enough of the complaining.

This week has been more or less uneventful. I had a very successful class with the children that I tutor Tuesday, which was exciting, because there happened to be a chalkboard and I decided we would illustrate English words. They enjoyed that, and didn't attack one another but once or twice. So that was exciting. Though I'm not sure how much English they are learning, since they don't seem to care much or understand anything I say when I talk to them in English. Except apple. And colors. So I'm not sure how that works really. It would help if there was any way for me to communicate with them about how much they think they're learning, but I don't know if they can get their minds around that, as they're very small. It would help if I had some idea of what their normal curriculum was in Spanish. Then I would know how much of what I was explaining they understood, in either language.

Still, its a job, and not the worst one I've had, though tiring. And they really aren't bad children, just hyperactive. So that's good. Makes me think twice about ever wanting to be a parent though lol. If all children are that rambunctious, I don't know if my poor antisocial self can deal.

With that said, it is time for dinner, so I had best be on my way. I have an exam to study for and a nap to take, probably not in that order.

Back to the daily grind

I am sickly. It is Semana Santa's fault.

Over break, I went out every day to see Cofradias. Cofradias are religious parades made up of several things. The cofradia begins with a band, which plays a set song for the cofradia, and is followed by nazarenos, the guys in the KKK hats, of colors specific to the church they are from. Behind the nazarenos come a second band and the first paso, which is usually a depiction of Jesus Christ from some point in the Passion. When I say depiction, I mean a life-sized and incredibly detailed, lacquered and painted wooden carving, which is set up upon a giant pallet of gorgeously carved wood, often coated in gold leaf, and decorated with flowers and ornate candles. These huge things are carried by people, who are covered by a thick cloth that goes around the paso. See following video, should it work.

After that come some penitentes, people in kkk hats without the cones underneath carrying giant wooden crosses on their backs. Usually they are barefoot. Then comes a paso of the Virgen Mary, also a life sized carving, but clothed in priceless fabrics and jewels, beneath a great canopy that supposedly represents her sorrow held up by silver or gold poles, followed by another band. They take around an hour on average to pass a given point. I saw at least one every day, most days two, from sunday, when they started marching, until la Madrugada, which is the night of Thursday/morning of Friday and has something to do with when Jesus was crucified, and is when all of the major cofradias march. I got in Friday morning after having been out all night in the sudden cold snap at 7:30 am, promptly passed out to the birdsong and woke up with a cold which I still have. But, while I would never do the Madrugada again unless someone I was with really wanted to see it or something, and certainly never do it in less than a full on winter coat, accompanied by a great quantity of rum, Semana Santa over all was perhaps the most profound example of cultural individuality I have come across in my short life. It was an illuminating and profound experience, and I don't think I would mind doing it again - during the daylight and/or evening (up til 1 am) hours.

Last blog was kinda horrendous

...so I'll do my best to make this one decent.

In McDonald's again, which definitely saps my concentration. I broke my headphones and there is so much ambient noise that it is hard to remember what I'm doing from one second to the next.

I realized that at some point I actually started to like it here. There are things I would change. I hate having a roommate, but I knew that. Not that my roommate is bad, we live together decently, but I am not a roommate person. Housemate yes.. Roommate no. And also my roommate really seems to dislike most aspects of Spanish life and that gets real depressing real fast. I also would, I think, have liked to try a different program, one that was more involved with actual Spanish people as opposed to mostly with Americans. I don't feel like this has been immersion at all. More like sticking my feet in the water. And that makes me inclined to see what I can get if I were to actually go all the way and throw myself into something. Maybe it was just being here without any of the ties to my old life for almost a week that made me more able to adapt. It's always harder to be two people, after all. I can't be the American and the person living in Spain if I've never had a chance to be a person living in Spain. And for a short time I had that chance, and honestly it was not the most horrible thing I've done by any means.

Being here has raised a lot of questions in my life, things that I think will firm up more as I make the transition back to the States. But the seeds are certainly planted, and I'm excited to see what grows now. Though I can't express anything that I'm feeling at this point completely, because I don't want to shatter it. Once I start analyzing it too much, I'm afraid that it will leave me.

Well, I'll report back on Monday.

Love

Sitting in McDonald's....again

McDonald's is the only place with internet. Grrr....

Semana Santa is amazing. I love Sevilla like this, all decked out with random religious fervor and celebration. Its creepy but that's also interesting. There is so much that I could say about it, but I don't have any sort of way to communicate what it is. There isn't a way, no one could understand without seeing it, but that's how all of life is I guess. So I think I'll try anyways.

First thing to understand is that it is a Catholic festival, but at the same time Spain has it's own version of Catholicism. So basically that means that everything is very different. I'll explain it better on Monday when I am ready to sit down a process all of it and have access to free internet.

Right now I am being questioned by a group of high school girls about why I'm here and if I like Sevilla in broken English. It's kinda adorable. They're all much better dressed than I am, which is depressing, but adorable.

Well, sorry this has been so broken and ridiculous. I hope that everyone is well. I am doing great, and very sad that classes will be starting again soon and this will be over, though I don't think my body can take much more of it.

Off I go to see more of this randomness!!

It's April : )

First, to answer the questions to the last post, the book is going fine except that I keep thinking of stuff to add to it. But my personal goal is to have a draft to let people read/edit by August. So I have some time.

Now....

It's April. And I am really happy about that.

I am going to miss parts of Sevilla. I'm going to miss how even though I've been walking back and forth to school every day I still manage to find new things to see or new paths to take. That's just cool. I like to be able to wander in a random direction and find pretty things.

And I am going to miss the bars too, and how you can just walk in off the street and start up a conversation and no one is too put out by it. And how they write their tabs with chalk on the bar. How they don't need music because everyone talks so much that there's no way you'd hear it anyways. How they always have Cruzcampo on tap at coffee shops, and pig legs hanging off the walls and smoke everywhere.

And to some extent, I'll even miss this merciless blue sky without clouds, and how when I walk down the street everyone stares at me and how I can't walk through the center without someone stopping me to ask me to go for a drink or for directions (awkward yes, but that's life for someone who doesn't have black hair, dark eyes, and godlike fashion sense).

And flamenco in the streets of course, and coming home at 6 in the morning when the birds are singing.

Not that these are things that I experience every day, or I might really love it here. Or hate it too. There are some days which are, well, for lack of a better word, normal - though Sevilla's normal is still life in another place, far away from anything I knew before. Not that that's not what I'm kinda expecting for the rest of my life as well.

Sometimes I worry about how it will be to go home. I worry that I'll have forgotten how to act. I'm certainly ruder here than I was at home, and there are a lot of things that I can do here that I can't there, and that I can't do here that I could at home. It is unavoidable that I will be changed. But my roommate seems to think it will be like riding a bike. I think that's probably true too. You can always go home. It's the one place you can never get lost from.

April is going to carry me closer than ever.

Why are there so many Christs?

This is the slightly blasphemous question that I am forced to continually ask myself as I study frantically for my art history exam. Why in the world???? Cristo de la Clemencia, Cristo atado a la columna, Cristo de la buena muerte, Cristo del amor....the list goes on. I mean, Jesus, you only need one right?

Wrong. Apparently.

Went out this weekend with a friend I've made here whose name is Tracy. We were out for a good nine hours, didn't come back in until 6 in the morning. It was awesome, I danced for like ever. I haven't danced for...well for a long time. The rest of the weekend I staid in and worked on my book. I feel like one 9 hour night was a good contribution to my life experience, and therefore chillin in the casa was definitely a needed recovery time.

I've also made an important life discovery. I miss breakfast. Real breakfast, not toast. I never really liked toast in the first place. Why would you intentionally eat toast for breakfast? I mean....breakfast is the best meal of the day, generally. It is cruel and unusual to cut down to two burned pieces of bread and some jam. Not that toast isn't a valid contribution to breakfast (with other things) but I have this vague feeling that by the time I leave here I am going to be rather fed up with toast. In the most unliteral sense of the word.

Meg's mom is here. It actually makes me kinda sad. But that's okay, cuz yesterday I talked to Catherine and Meghan and Cyncyn at the SAME TIME! It was awesome. I miss them. And I also got to talk to Mom and Dad and Jacob, of course. It was a really good day.

wandering around town

Last night my intercambio and I wandered Triana and found this sweet Moroccan hookah bar. I'm really psyched by it. I'm going back tomorrow night hopefully, so that's good. There are teapots here that I want to take home, they're really awesome and I think they'll survive the journey since theyre metal, and I could possibly put the cups in my carryon....

Anyways.

I had a dream last night about going to Japan. I don't know what to do about that. I don't know that I would like living so far away for a year, but facing facts I have to accept that I am going to have to move beyond casual visiting range of the familia sooner than later. I just don't know where that's going to be. In some ways, this semester has been good practice for that. Probably in a lot of ways actually. But it has made me question a lot of things that I was already questioning in the first place, and I don't know what the answers are. I would like to do something really amazing, something that made me happy. But I haven't the faintest of what that would be. I'm fumbling about in the dark.

I think I just need to take it on faith. Some people don't get to fall in love with what they do. It's possible that I'm too rational. So I should just take it on faith that what happens to me is what is supposed to happen. The world isn't about accidents. I don't know what that says about our world, about this world that we've made for ourselves, but I do know that accidents don't happen. I've seen nothing in this life that makes me think that they exist. So obviously, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Because there is something to learn from everything that we experience.

Now I'm going to go listen to 3OH!3 and translate poetry. Because that's kinda how I work.

where have all the arabs gone?

yes, a possibly offensive title.

So this weekend was amazing. We went to Granada, the last stronghold of Moorish Spain before they were forced out by the Reyes Catolicos. It was absolutely phenomenal. There was so much more cultural diversity in Granada, because the Moorish influence is something they treasure, and there were real trees and tons of green things! Of course, I still went to the Catedral at Granada and viewed all of the majorly Catholic art. I'll be honest, it's all very pretty and all, but after you've seen more or less the same depiction of Jesus by three different sculptors you start to get bored. The Alhambra was much more entertaining because of the overall aesthetic, and the gardens rocked my socks. It wasn't my first time in a castle, but it was my first time in a castle this luxurious, although all of the furniture and wall hangings have of course been stripped bare. I am excited to return to this city, as there are a few things that I didn't get to do that I think should probably occur in my life, not least of which is to actually explore the Alhambra on my own, at my own pace.

I also had the best tea of my life in Granada, and I am now on a search to find tea shops of the traditional Arabic variety in Sevilla. My host mother assures me that they exist, and has indicated where three are on the map, but I fear that I will not be able to match the tea that - or the prices - that I found in Granada. Still, I think it's worth a shot, so I will keep you updated on how that epic search goes.

In more news, I think I'm getting sick and I don't know why. I've never felt this way before. It's really an unfortunately, dizzy and not good feeling. Hopefully if I just sleep a lot it will work its way out of my system. I want to be better by this weekend so that I can properly celebrate Carly's birthday and sunbathe.

Wish me luck

Jewel sings a good song about this feeling

Today is kinda a bad day. I am fighting against having bad days, but today is a bad day.

That doesn't mean that anything bad is happening. Far from it. I started my job yesterday, which was sweet, though I'm going to have to be much stricter with the kids or I'm going to get fired lol. My intercambio and I went out to dinner, he took me to this little tiny italian place with amazing pizza. It reminded me of the type of pizza Dad likes. Which is the problem.

I can't stop thinking about going home.

I'm going to Granada this weekend so that should help. A change of scenery certainly can't hurt anyway. But I am homesick beyond belief, and, though I know that I can work through it, it's been a while since I've felt this bad of a desire to just go home. Months. Not here certainly. And it is more than frustrating. I know that it's not that long from now that I'll be leaving here, and it is all I can do not to count down the days. Though honestly that might help.

But yeah, Granada. I'm really excited to see the Alhambra, it is one of the only surviving mosques in Spain and it is - by all accounts except roomie's, who doesn't like anything Moorish really (she really did come to the wrong region to hate Moorish things so much) - amazing. So I am excited. I have to buy batteries for my camera before I go so that I can put up pics on FB. No doubt you have noticed the decided lack of pictures posted recently. That's because I'm cheap lol.

Anyways, I'll let you know how that goes. I'm really excited for this weekend. It should be pretty amazing.

The navy comes to Spain

Yesterday I did something spontaneous.

Mirais (Roomie) has a friend who is in the Naval Academy from home. Said friend hopped a Navy transport jet with some other friends and arrived in Spain a few days ago, and appeared in Sevilla last night with little forewarning. Roomie was going to go out with them alone, but I kinda was intrigued by the fact that they were so randomly spontaneous, which provoked me to get dressed and follow her even though it was almost midnight on a Sunday. To make a long story short they climbed an orange tree which was highly amusing and I didn't get back to my house until 5am. Then I got up again today at 10:30 and went with roomie to show them around Sevilla. I skipped a shower out of sleeplessness and roamed around Sevilla actually experiencing the way a tourist would. It was, needless to say, interesting.

Probably the most markedly touristy thing we did was go on a tour of the Torreo, which is the ring where they have the bull fights. Needless to say it was pretty cool. I'm not into bull fights, but it was def interesting to learn more about that aspect of Spanish culture, and now I can get a bullfighty postcard to send to someone without feeling like a complete poser.

After that we went to Las Columnas, which is one of the better tapas places in the city according to the Biblia (roomie's guidebook). I had a bocadillo (kinda like a sandwhich) of tortilla (kinda like a potato omelette <- don't knock it they know what's up) because its always the safest vegetarian friendly option. Then we had icecream. It was great. I spent money but I'll live. And I had a really good time. They were all really nice guys, more or less amusing and pretty chill all things considered, and it was fun to meet them. And I needed to meet some random people. I think from now on I'm going to try to do it once a week.

Now, as I am tired and have class, I must leave. But that's what was up.

I really do start all my blog entries with "so"

That has got to be annoying for you guys haha. Thanks, Brett, for giving me a head's up.

Today I am exhausted. That's because of two reasons. I didn't take my vitamins yesterday (I know, Mom, I'm fail) and I got up this morning and ran again. At least my legs aren't hurting as bad now. That was all one reason. Reason number two is that Spanish people don't freakin sleep and now it's warm enough that it's becoming a problem. Refer to my earlier entry, entitled "Spanish people DON'T SLEEP" or something to that effect.

I have an exam tomorrow in my Crossroads of Immigration class (the one with the professor who keeps trying to teach me things that I already know) and I'm actually kind of worried about it because I've decided he doesn't like me lol. I could be wrong, so we'll see how it goes. I haven't really studied for it yet, but I don't see that it will be too bad of a problem so I'm going to study this afternoon and tomorrow morning, instead of running maybe idk.

My ability to communicate today is lethal fail.

The weather is ridiculously warm during the day, though kind of cold in the morning and late afternoon. As soon as the sun goes down the walls of the buildings start radiating heat. It reminds me of the beach crossed with Phoenix. I'm excited to go to visit the beach in a week or so more, since I don't want to go just yet (I need to find sunscreen and stuff first lol which is looking like a possible problem of epic proportions and will likely involve a day of investigating). You'd be amazed at how many sunburned German tourists were here this weekend. The sun here is vicious, but I think I'll acclimate to it somewhat as I spend more time outside wandering. The people from here are still wearing heavy sweaters while I'm running around in a tshirt or a tank and a jacket. It's actually kind of amusing.

Well, I'll update on Friday with how the exam went and any other useful information that I may have accumulated. Now I need to do some studying.

P.S. I am officially a tutor of small children, which should pay about 20 euros a week. I'm ppmpp.

weekend adventures and the plot

So the flamenco bar was amazing. There was this amazing flautist who was jazzin it up flamenco style and the place was like an old fashioned tavern. No cover charge to, though it was hard to hear the flamenco music if people talked. But it taught me something interesting about the culture of Spain. You see, there are catcalls built into flamenco songs. Flamenco being one of the central tenets of Spanish life, this means that catcalls are normal. Which means that when I get hit on or yelled at everywhere I go....that's socially acceptable. Though my coloring doesn't help haha.

After Meg and Ariel and I went to this place called Lobo Bar, where we discovered that its also apparently acceptable to watch porn in bars. After seeing the kids/adults/everyone making out in the street (I'm thinking about making a documentary on it, just to explain to you exactly what I mean) I'm not really surprised. Needless to say, we didn't hang out there long.

I also started running this weekend (though I failed this morning, which I'm kinda grateful for since my muscles needed healing time). And it has been really nice. I feel tons better, and I have way more energy, when I go running during the day. I think I'm going to find and exercise mat so that I can start doing real Yoga and situps and pushups too, since doing those on hardwood floors is kinda painful. I need to do real Yoga so that my body doesn't hurt as much, and I need to do situps and pushups so that my body hurts equally haha.

Oh, and I had chocolate and churros, finally! Even though it's pretty much too warm for them now, not that you could tell the Spanish people that, running around in their winter coats when its eighty. I'm terrified of two weeks from now, btw. It feels kinda like the beginnings of high summer here. But chocolate and churros were sweet, they remind me of a good funnel cake covered in chocolate syrup.

And I wrote a poem.

Now the plot. I'm going to MAKE my professor teach us things through sheer force of nerdliness. And I'm going to use aljazeera to do it.

Take that jerk.

reading in spanish and other fun things

So i haven't written in a while because I haven't really done anything this week. I'm saving money for the weekend : ). We're going out to eat and then going to drink and watch free flamenco. I'm excited.

Also haven't been writing because I bought a book last weekend by Haruki Murakami (in Spanish, of course) to read. Its amazing. He's amazing. I love him. We should be friends. Unfortunately I think he lives in New Hampshire or somewhere vaguely cold like that. And he probably gets stalked all the time so he probs wouldn't like me : /

I'm starting to make more friends at CCCS which is kinda nice. There are people I have classes with that are interesting, now that we've started more specialized things. My potentially fav class (the immigration one) is still boring. So far we haven't talked about immigration at all, we're going over all the basics of my major which is good review but I din't exactly take the class for review so I'm a bit frustrated.

I had a job offer from a neighbour of my host mother, but because all of my classes are so late it fell through. It is very sad, since I was hoping to augment my meager travel budget. Meg and I are planning our mad wanderings to Oviedo (its up north on the coast, she wants to rent a car so we're going), though we haven't gotten farther than Oviedo and expensive. And there has been some talk of possibly making it to Paris, but we have to look at prices before I can commit to anything on that front. As with all things, the question of my life is money. I've started keeping a tally book because it makes it easier to keep larger sums of cash money without spending it all if I have to count everything exactly, and if I keep larger sums then I save on withdrawal charges which is roxxors. All in all, this intense money managing thing is at least a good thing to learn. Next I need to learn how to cook. Since if I ever want to live anywhere I think I'm more or less going to have to cook for myself, and that's cheaper anyways lol.

Anyway, that's what's up. Oh, and I need to start applying for summer jobs, but that's not much to do with Spain lol more with the aftermath. But overall life is good.

back to the week

So I went to Carmona this weekend, which was adorable. My new weekend activity is officially going to be to get out of this bloody cityscape and hike around tiny towns with Roman ruins. Which is something interesting to note.

Spain is basically built over the ancient Roman empire, which isn't something i greatly realized up until coming here. Sevilla was said to have been founded by Hercules, and Julius Caesar himself granted the city the rights of citizenship to the Roman empire (as opposed to basically being glorified slaves of the empire with no legal status). Both men are depicted in the artwork of the Ayuntamiento (the building which houses the local government), which is a fun fact I learned in my art history class, and are considered the fathers of the city in a way. Yay places with abjectly staggering amounts of history. I don't know what to do about it really.

Still, I prefer going to the countryside and seeing the ruins. As I was explaining to Meg on Saturday, it's amazing that there's still enough of a shape to these places that you can actually tell what they are, much less rebuild them. 2000 years ago, someone laid all the stones to the Bridge of Five Eyes by hand. There was a river or large creek there, which is gone now, though you can see the tracks it left in the land. Now only the bridge is left, though all those who built it are dead and the world has more or less forgotten their names.

**UPDATE**

The Spanish have a saying that goes "al mal tiempo, buena cara". My response to that is: screw your buena cara my umbrella is broken. Again.

Sevilla strikes again.

Amazing night, funny story

So last night I went to the Orchestra here in Sevilla. It was phenomenal! They played Beethoven's Fifth, and a composition I hadn't heard before called Don Juan, and also a composition by the conductor but I din't really like that one. Don Juan was amazing, if anyone reading this is into orchestral compositions I strongly suggest you listen to this piece if you haven't already. I freakin love classical music.

Then we went to this cute little bar that played sweet ass oldies rock, which I plan on going back to at some point. I didn't get anything because I'm broke for the week (budgeting is def something you have to do here, there are kids here who've already blown close to two thousand and it's been all of a month) but I def want to go back at some point and sing rock songs in the back (yes I sing obnoxiously in bars kiss my foot).

Before we went to the orchestra roomie and I went to this amazing cafe called Mama Terra. Def an American place, but it has all sorts of vegetarian stuff to eat and I'm way excited about it. And sweeeeet milkshakes. It is very amazing.

So on to the funny story.

At the end of the night I wanted a night to sleep. I had had a good time and my greatest desire in the mundo was to sleep for like twelve hours straight and be a bum since I don't have class today. So I went to sleep and Roomie went out to do her thing. I was awakened at four am by drunk roomie. She came in, I think woke up my host mother because the radio she sleeps with was blasting by the time I woke up and contributed to my wakefulness. Since the curtains were open, my roommate shut them violently, and then began munching on cereal loudly below my head (top bunk). I made some noise or something and so she started attempting to munch quietly, which was better but still loud. After a minute or so of this I said something to the effect of "Mirais, I know you're down there eating, I can still hear you, go to the bathroom if you wanna eat cheetohs or whatever it is you have". At which point she froze. I thought of a rabbit. A rabbit eating in the field that thinks you can't see it because it isn't moving. So I said, "Mirais, I'm awake. I'm still gonna be awake. You can't wake me up now." To which there was no reply. Complete rabbit. So I lay there for a while, and she lay there for a while, and eventually I got up to go to the bathroom because I was up anyway and the radio was loud. When I got out of bed, I discovered that my roommate had been so drunk that while she was waiting for me to go back to sleep to continue eating, she had passed out covered in cereal. I left her there. It was amusing. I then covered my head with a pillow and went to sleep.

Of course, in the morning she remembered none of it, and I thought that was even funnier. Oh drunken roomies.

My first REAL night out in Spain

So, I went with roomie to Calle Betis last night, which is the street where all the American students go (unfortunately). It was definitely interesting. While I don't really click with any of the girls in the program who I went out with (they don't talk about anything really interesting. I'm not actually sure what they talk about really. Guys? Drinking? And they drink way more than I do, too, which is awkward when they do stupid things but more on that later).

So the good thing about last night was that, by dent of being an American female, I didn't have to pay for drinks. At all. One bar, we had to pay, and I was no longer interested in drinking by that point so I didn't lol. And I guess it was good to go out and better relations with roomie. But by the end of the night, there was a story. There's always a story. Roomie and roomie's friend Marg. go out to Calle Betis a lot so they know a lot of the bar tenders there and three of those guys we ran into in the last bar we went to. They were uninteresting, mostly because they are around thirty and work in a bar (and not a cool Sevillan bar, a bar that's specifically designed to attract young female Americans). To make a long story short, some girl started dancing on the bar and so some guys got up there with her and started stripping. Needless to say, awkward. One of the guys was one of roomie's friends. Roomie's friend was so drunk (and just kinda lacking all sorts of common sense anyways) that even though this guy was half naked, pants unzipped, on a bar with this girl dancing in very unnecessary ways, she still wanted to say bye to him, and proceeded to do so. And then didn't understand why that was maybe a slightly awkward thing to have done.

Needless to say I'm not a huge fan of this sort of party environment. I'm not a child to think that that's fun. I am becoming increasingly more aware that I may have been born forty years old. And that some fifty year olds with never reach forty years old.

On the other hand, I did get free drinks, which was nice. Free is always nice, especially since you don't feel obligated to finish anything you don't want. As well, I've learned something interesting about people/myself:

People are not interesting because they're interesting.

Here's how that works. People are more or less predictable. They fall into the same basic categories and have many of the same basic motivations. Most of what you need to function around someone is learned merely by observing that person. You don't have to ask them about the depths of their lives to know that a black person has probably at some point experienced an incident of racism, that a woman with pearls and eyeliner on likes to look cute and probably knows how useful that is. You can interact with them accordingly. Most people do. They make assumptions based on appearance, and sometimes they ask about these assumptions to perpetuate conversation if they find it advantageous to get to know someone. The only difference between myself and someone who would choose to chat with you in a bar is that I won't chat with you to try to get free drinks. You will get no false flattery from me. I'm bad at it. If you aren't different, if there isn't some piece of you that is incongruous or outrageous or amusing....I'll walk away. And be completely comfortable doing it.

Everyone is interesting to someone. And everyone is worth observing in passing. But the truly special people, the ones that have some sort of spark or quirk or oddity, those people you keep with you forever. And while you can find that in a bar, it's probably not as likely as finding that person on a street corner in a UNICEF vest, or in a book store reading looking for the same book, or in a class that happens to interest you both. Them's just facts.

homework is boring

So I officially haven't done any of my homework for tomorrow, mostly because I was madly ill for like two days (as I'm sure most of you have heard) and so didn't get any homework done this weekend and have been completely unmotivated to do it today. So far I'm pretty sure I've been sick more than not here, but hopefully this last bout will work through my system and I'll be done for good.

Anyways, I begin my new schedule this week, which unfortunately involves not having class before 1130 any day of the week. I feel that this might be a negatory addition to my life, since my roommate likes to go out at night and then sleep all day (her classes are similar) and I really don't want to deal with that cuz I'd rather be awake in the morning wandering around and then do classes, hw and sleep. I guess we'll see how it works out.

I'll let you know how I like my classes when I get them. Peace

the blog is getting long O.o

so very sorry that I haven't written in a while.

I am currently sitting in the computer lab chillin out writing back to people. I have discovered that upkeeping all of my ties to the US takes a ridiculous amount of time lol. It's not something you really think about when you can just call everyone, but when you can't...it becomes an issue. I still have a few more letters to write, but I may leave them for this afternoon since i have to go to the cafe to upload my pics cuz my comp is dead and i conveniently forgot my charger this morning.

Today I'm going to tell you about the mailing system in Spain.

We have post offices in the US, and they kind of have post offices here, but I've never actually seen one. Instead, they have Tobaccos, which are places where you buy cigarettes, and at the Tobacco you can also buy stamps (and chips and juice and bus passes...i know, weird). But you can't send anything out at a Tabacco. You have to find a place that sends things out. Luckily CCCS does, so it works, but if it werent' for that I'm pretty sure I would be screwed. Not that I've managed to send anything yet :-/ But I shall certainly fix that after I get my act together.

The United States prizes efficiency. You go to one store to do all of your shopping. Post Offices are organized. If you need to figure out how to do something you can go the internet site for any given place. If you need to throw out your trash you put it on the curb. Though admittedly that's in rural US and the organization may be different in cities. If you go to a bar, you can't get sweet ass coffee and a meal of pretty decent taste factor. The street signs are where you can see them. There ARE street signs.

Spain...not so much. So I mean there are good things and bad things. You don't think "oh this other outpost of the Wester World will be different beyond my wildest imaginations". But it is. Go figure. Makes me wonder how different going to Japan, to Iraq, to Nigeria, to Argentina, must be. Makes me a little worried about it.

Anyway, the point of the story is that this is my thirteenth post. Hopefully I'll have some amazing and meaningful cultural experience to share with you shortly.

Peace

After the rain has fallen

So I had this uber migraine and was incapacitated for like two whole days. Woo!! But now I'm back and better than ever! I actually feel like I just had to physically manifest and expell my angry feelings towards Sevilla and all my missing home and everything and now it's hopefully done and I can get on with this whole experiencing the culture thing. Which I am doing now.

This morning, there was a protest outside of the cafe where we go to get tea and coffee and pan con aceite every day. It was crazy! They had propped open the doors to this cafe and were blasting obnoxiously loud music into the cafe. We ate there anyway, because they were protesting the fact that the cafe had laid off a worker, which is against the law in Spain and most other European countries, but with the economy like it is I don't know that they had a choice and I don't know all the facts and it would have been troublesome to go somewhere else. Besides it was an interesting experience. I have the pamphlet and a picture of the protest, though the picture doesnt capture the experience of actually being in the cafe.

In further news, my computer appears to be functioning. It had some nasty malware on it, but I deleted programs and now it is better! So there will be sweet pictures from the Italica up soon on FB, which I would have written about if I had had access to the computer for the last four days. To make a long story short, its the ruins of an old Roman city and pics do NOT do it justice but I think you'll enjoy them.

Hasta luego!

An okay day

Today was an okay day.

We went to the Italica, which is an old Roman city that is being excavated. I have muchas fotos, but as my comp is currently incapacitated (not that I've put any effort into it today) I will not be posting them for a bit. But there were sweet trees, and the day was gorgeous. I was forced to admit that I need to buy sunglasses as well as new shoes.

I then ate lunch and slept for like an hour or so before walking with Meg around the Centro. We found some amazing gardens and went to see the Plaza de España. Which was also sweet, but again no pics because of the whole comp thing.

Yesterday sucked.

It´s a long story and I don´t want to talk about it. I learned that I have to trust my instincts and not let the idiots that I exist with in this place change my mind so easily. I can´t be what I´m not after all, and so I have to be what I am.

But today was a pretty good day.

Fixing my comp/una nueva aventura

My computer is rota, so I'm trying desperately to fix it. Hopefully I'll have reached some form of progress shortly, since i need to leave to get lunch.

So today there is this huge soccer game here, which I didn't know until Monday. Which is unfortunate, cuz its between England and Spain and I kinda wanted to go. So roomie and I decided to take the bus, but we didn't know much about the bus so we missed the first one that came through because we asked the bus driver if the bus went to the stadium, he told us no (liar) so we thought we were at the wrong stop. But after a few moments we realized that he was wrong and got on the right bus. Only to be yelled at by this old woman who spoke very rapidly in Spanish about how we weren't supposed to cut in line to get on the bus. As soon as I figured out what the hell was going on, I found myself forced to ask myself, there was a line for the bus?

Enter the American South's idea of what is rude. Namely, this woman. Waiving and shouting at waiters. Giving people casual commands who you've never met before. Namely, Spanish every day life.

Of course, there are also things we do that I'm sure they think are rude. But it's still a very depressing experience when people look at you funny when you say "could I have" instead of "give me" when you're ordering coffee.

Moving on, after reaching the stadium we discovered three important facts. 1) the tickets were sold out (le tear). 2) the english team was arriving at the stadium in a mercedes-benz bus and 3) there is an outdoor ice rink (in sevilla, where it never gets below zero) in their version of a mall in Nervion, which is next to the stadium.

Now, fun cultural anecdote. In Sevilla, shopping centers are localized around an outdoor courtyard, and escalators are on the outside of buildings.

Have I blown your mind? Join the club.

The computer thing

So so far the most ridiculous aspect of this trip has been the computer thing. Spain is apparently not into computers so much. Which is fine, but it means that it's very difficult for me to access the internets. Which is kinda depressing coming from a place where I accessed it like every day. You also can't find any businesses which really advertise on the internet here, so you just have to guess where you're going by hearsay, which sometimes bombs out as I discovered Saturday night when a group of my friends tried to go out to the rumored discotecas on Calle Betis only to be unable to locate them. They ARE there. We just...didn't see them. Which kinda happens a lot here.

If you ever come to Sevilla, and are looking for a good area for bars that are quaint and friendly and full of people, then you should go to Calle Alfalfa. It's not a long street, but there is a chain of about six to ten bars that spread from one end of it to the other, and people just hang out and talk in the street, go inside and get a drink, then come back out and chill again. There aren't any drinking/drunk in public laws here, so you just kinda do what you want. Not meaning that you should pull an American and get wasted. Drinking is more of a social activity, designed to be enjoyed, and people don't drink to get drunk. They drink to talk.

They don't card you here either, and cigarettes are sold in vending machines. It's a very European thing, since I've experienced it before in Scotland. It's common for someone to go to one bar, drink a beer, and then fly off to another bar to have another, chilling all night and meeting people. You also eat tapas, small sandwiches or chips and nuts and olives, sometimes other things. This is the part of this city that is most interesting to me on the weekends. Not that I don't want to make it to a discoteca at some point.

Unfortunately, I am lacking in the music department and am needing to go find some music in Spanish so that I don't start pulling out my hair. But the musical scene here is not very strongly developed, like it is in the US or Latin America or even Britain. Spanish people import music more than anything, or so I'm told, and I have yet to find something that I really like in their music (though admittedly I haven't looked hard enough) besides their traditional pieces, of course.

I'm rambling. But yeah, that was my weekend.

I've had a request

Meghan requested that I tell you more about my current classes, so here we go.

My first class is Advanced Spanish - Present Day Usage where we discuss slang terms and common terms used in Spain. Which has been helpful in understanding my host mother anyway, and my professor is very nice but it's kinda boring on the whole challenging scale. I have that class every day too, so the boringness is not very much appreciated all the time, but at least we have a break to snack every morning.

Second I have my cultural realities class, which requires that I keep a journal about the themes we discuss (culture shock, culture shock, and culture shock mostly lol - como me choca la cultura de espana, to combine the two classes). Only meets once a week, so it's not too much work and the professor is funny so that's nice. There is a guy in that class. His name is Javier. He is from the same university as my roommate actually. Having a guy in the class = weird, but he's quiet anyways and can speak better Spanish than I can so whatevs I can't complain.

He's also in my clase de baile, the only guy in the dancing class actually. There I learn flamenco dancing. Very hard btw, you dance with your whole body, the hands have specific tiny motions and the posture is just so and your feet move at like 1000 mph. I actually need to practice because I'm going to forget all the steps I learned, not that I had them that well to begin with.

On to more interesting things, today people seemed to think I live here as in speak Spanish in multiple places that I found myself in. Like some highschool girls asked me for a light, and the British group that asked me for directions (I def gave them a map I had no clue what they were trying to say with their accent).

I also got my intercambio today!! His name is Javi, but I haven't met him yet so I don't know anything about him so I will post more on that later. Intercambios can be between 15 and like 40 so it will be interesting to see what happens with that haha. I hope he's close to my age so I can ask him questions about things to do and places to go in the city and make Spanish friends to hang out with.

Anyways, I'll catch ya later!

I need to do crunches

So I eat like a whole baguette a day here. And even though I also walk at least six miles a day, I need to do crunches. That's just fact. On the other hand my shoes are starting to shred so I am probs gonna have to buy new ones soon lol. Shoes I mean. Life in Europe is random. Also, I don't get honked at as much anymore!! I think it's because people are used to seeing me around the barrio so they've stopped shouting at the extranjera. Or maybe it's just cuz it's not the weekend and everyone is going to work/class. Actually it's probs the latter. How depressing.

I am excited for spring. And siesta. Btw they let the dogs roam around here. They don't have rabies in Europe, doncha kno. It is muy interesante. People train their dogs to walk with them and don't have to have leashes. I've seen like two dogs on leashes like the whole time I've been here. Which is really interesting. When their owners stop they sit still like statues and wait for them to finish talking to their friends. Super dogs. Muy inteligente.

Also, Spain is ridiculously economically fail right now. Something like 6,414 more people unemployed every day. That is a fudgeton of people. It's really distressing. The government is trying to feed everyone, but I still see homeless people everywhere and it's very upsetting for me. It's affected every aspect of their lives, from employment to the electric bill (my host mom's has tripled in the past two years). But what's scary is that Spain is one step below the US on an economic scale and that means our shit is just beginning. Still, life goes on, I guess, and while the people here have a name for what's happening and it's definitely a topic of conversation, they keep doing what they do.

Well, I'm going to go food/homework/siesta. I'll update you with more fun cultural anecdotes later.

Humo y cerveza

Okay, so here's the deal.

For the next three weeks I have class from 9-12:45. I get up at around 7, get dressed, eat breakfast and walk thirty minutes to school for class. At around 11 we have descanso, so we go to a cafe and get tea or food or maybe I sit here and check my internets. When we are released we have the option of either chillin in the Centro (a barrio) or returning to the casa which is across the river. At 2:30 my roommate and I eat lunch and have a thirty min siesta, more or less. At around four I usually leave again. At some point I do hw. Dinner is at 9:30, so there's a lot of time to kill. Afterwards, one goes out pasando un rato, or killing time in English. This generally involves cerveza y humo. Or wine or some other alcohol y humo. Humo being smoke. Everyone smokes.

Except for that last part, my life is sweet.

So far, I really like Spain. I mean, there's definitely the issue of my needing to eat more, and that being slightly expensive. And I still don't feel 100% comfortable here by any means. But it's beginning to grow on me, which I think is a good thing. I think I will like it more once I get into a groove. And once I get used to feeling like an idiot all the time lol. I'm just glad it's not raining anymore. It has rained nonstop for almost two whole days, which was very unfortunate.

In any case, I am excited to say that I am now off to find lunch. Buenas tardes!

Spanish people don't sleep

***

6:58 AM

Spanish people DON”T SLEEP.

I am awakened fully by the clapping. At approximately 6:45, my roommate gets up to use the bathroom. She is also having trouble sleeping in this strange place, as am I, but this is normal I think. But not long after being awakened my ears are accosted by the sounds of singing. Loud singing, clapping, excited cries. We are on floor eight, and these people are in the street, so you would think that there would be less noise. However, this is a place where it doesn’t actually get cold. Because of this, there is no insulation on the windows, not even what there would be at home. Therefore, we can hear many sounds from outside filtering into our abode.

It is 7 AM. Please keep in mind that my roommate and I spent the past day walking the streets. I have many blisters, which was slightly expected. We will also spend the whole of today walking, searching through the many specialized stores. There is a long list of different types of stores here, including: carneria, paneria, perfumeria, supermercado, centro commercial, ferreria, farmacia, drogeria. These are just the ones I’ve seen and been able to note. Each one sells a different and possibly somewhat overlapping array of products. Mirais thinks, in her delirium, that the people outside have just gotten up. She wonders why, on a Saturday, someone would subject themselves to such a thing. I correct her.

They didn’t just get up. They haven’t gone to bed yet.

This is Triana (my barrio) and in Triana, the people DON”T SLEEP. They party away the night. I don’t know how they recover from a twenty-four hour dance-and-drink-a-thon, but they apparently do.

On the other hand, my host mother, Mercedes, es genial. She is a tiny woman, married twice, with three grown sons, who apparently visit fairly often. One of them is expecting a baby. Last night, his wife/girlfriend (I’m not entirely sure which, my Spanish is still not 100%) and he came over for tapas at 9. This meant that we didn’t get dinner until around 10:30, but it was an interesting experience. Kind of Twilight Zone-ish for me, because I had to do a double-take when they asked me if I wanted beer and remind myself that I am actually legal here.

Spanish people also talk very fast. I tried to understand my host family when they spoke, but my mind doesn’t work through the language that fast yet. I could only catch a couple things, mostly when they would talk of a subject I already understood. I keep forgetting that no one here can actually speak English, or at least not extensively. It is the first time in my life being somewhere where that is true.

On the other hand, my Spanish is getting a lot better. Starting on Monday, we will no longer be allowed to use English at all, even among one another. Before that, Larielle and I plan to wander the city, so there will be some amazing pictures on FB to augment my somewhat bland assortment from my first few days. Exciting, yes?

***

On the other hand, today has been pretty good. I finally was reunited with Carly, who is the love of my life (I know, I have so many). I also discovered that I need to find a place that sells protein bars or peanut butter or else I'm going to have a migraine/pass out every single day (not so good, but at least worth knowing now), and have decided that Spain might be kinda nice. Growing on me? Maybe a little. Any country that is as screwed as this one is right now (yes the recession's here too, and its kinda horrible) where people still sing at the top of their lungs at midnight (or for that matter seven in the morning) is probably a place that at least gives rise to an enormous force of spirit that is worth imbibing at least once.

On that note, I'm going to go shower. I'll let you know my class schedule as soon as I do.

Reporting in...from McDonald's?

McDonald's is everywhere.

And in Seville, McDonald's has WiFi. Which is very important to me at the moment, since it's almost free.

Well, where to begin. I don't have much time since I only have a thirty minute card and I really don't feel like buying anything else and supporting the McDonaldization of the world, no matter how convenient WiFi is. I am in Spain, which is surreal. I'm jet-lagged a bit, but not as bad as I could be, since I have become a master at randomly catching naps. And I'm debating on the wisdom of travelling across the water with the goal of remaining a vegetarian. My roommate, Mirais, is a pescatarian, so I'm not a hundred percent sure what's going to happen there. I'm a little frustrated with the situation, but I haven't met my host mother yet, so I don't know what might happen. Maybe she's actually a real vegetarian and will make me all sorts of yummy meals. And maybe I am a spoiled child and should at least suck it up for now and grow a taste for fish. Who knows?

So far, Spain is vivacious. The people are loud enough to make Americans look introverted, and they speak so fast that I can't understand them most of the time. It's probably partially a result of the jet-lag, but I am finding it very difficult to communicate.

The cutest little girl just wandered up to me and I am officially making that coo-ey girl noise. Interiorly.

Also, the predominate colors in the Spanish wardrobe seem to be black, red and white or shades thereof. I'm afraid my companions and I stick out in so many ways it is a little ridiculous. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

I'll update you soon. The transition promises to be rough, but at least the flight was lovely. I love seeing clouds from above.

Over and out.

Tomorrow's the day

So my bags are packed. Which doesn't mean that I don't still have like ten things to do but I'm sparing this tiny moment to freak out a little bit. At first, I was just worried about the plane ride, and getting to Spain at all, but now that I've done everything I can do to make sure that happens...I'm more than a little freaked out about the fact that in twenty-four hours I will be on foreign soil. And not just that, but I won't be able to come back. For quite a while.

This is actually the first time I will be away from home for longer than a month. I'm excited for the learning experience. Sevilla is gorgeous, by all accounts, and there are so many exciting and new things that I will get to see! And when I think about those things I don't worry about it so much. But I'm still going to miss my family and friends more than I can imagine right now, and I feel bad for leaving them. Especially Catherine, since it's her last semester, and I won't be here to share it with her.

Still, this is what I wanted to do. I always said that I wanted to see the world. As much of it as I could anyway. This is just the first step.

On a less emo note, my roommate seems really nice. I haven't met her yet, obs, but she is from New Orleans and goes to school in NJ. She's really excited about the immersion process, but that's about all I know about her at the moment. There hasn't been enough time to really trade emails. I hope she's a vegetarian or vegan so that our host mother doesn't flip out about cooking or something. I would think they would put me with another vegetarian, since that was probs the most difficult part of housing me. We'll see!

All in all, it promises to be an adventure. I'll talk to you again from Sevilla!

P.S.

I haven't left yet. But this is the link to the magical map that I created!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117537438120542447146.000461069c1f4593abae2&z=14

So you can follow my travels if you need to ^_^

So I'm almost moved out

Hi all. I started this blog to tell of my adventures in Spain! Which I will be leaving for on Wednesday, Jan 28. Currently I am watching Meghan make my other bed in my halfway-empty-but-not-as-empty-as-it-needs-to-be room, and she is exclaiming over my fuzzy blanket haha.

Obs my life is amazing ^_~

Tonight has been pretty freakin sweet, and even though I'm pretty sad that I'm leaving Meghan and Catherine and the Fam, not to mention all of the other people in my life who I probs won't get to see between now and May (if I'm going to miss you, you know who you are xoxo) I have read the signs of the universe. After being attacked by a crazy person, I have decided that the universe is sending me signals that Spain is where I need to be. And since I'm all about those signals, off I'm going to explore this tiny moment we call Earth.

Okay, well Meghan is currently well tucked in and I'm exhausted from my awesome day so I'm going to hit the sack, as they say. I promise this will get far more interesting, with pics, so stick around, if you're down that is.

Peace.