...Sevilla...

Thursday June 19, 2008
-Today was nearly a disaster. I had set up a wake up call for 5:45 since the bus to the airport was leaving at 7 am. I was scared to death I would miss it since I didn’t have an alarm clock, and I really need an alarm clock. I woke up to see Brittany and Kokila off, but went to sleep again. The next thing I know, I wake up to find that it is 6:58! PANIC!!! My flight wasn’t until 1, so I could just take a taxi to the airport, but I didn’t want to pay another 30 Euros after I had already paid 10 for the bus. I hauled butt and threw everything I left for the morning into my suitcase, changed, and ran with all 4 bags to the lobby. Thankfully I made it just in time, 7:01. Tat was record time for me leaving to go anywhere! They were loading the bus outside. Relief swept over me. I now felt stupid since I hadn’t even brushed my teeth, but o well I made it. The bus didn’t actually leave until 7:20 since one girl was late, so I guess they wouldn’t have left without me, but I’m glad I made it.

-There were 2 other girls from the program on my same flight, which didn’t leave until 1:30. My flight was amazing, the personal TV’s had been upgraded! They were touch screen with a wide selection of movies! I did not sleep the whole flight and filled my time by watching 4 movies and some short shows! Oh how I missed American movies in English! :)

-I got into Newark around 3 pm, and customs was the shortest customs I had ever been through. They did not ask any questions, they only made sure I filled out my declaration form.

-I turned my phone back on for the first time in over a month, and used it until the battery was low! I was soo happy to be back in America.

-My flight in Newark was delayed a bit and left at 8:45 pm. My cousin Danny picked me up at Bush Intercontinental and I was home by 1 am. Again, I hadn’t slept much in the past 25 hours, but I was not tired at all. I missed my family so much. It’s different when you’re away from home with limited communication. It had only been 5 weeks, but I felt like it had been a year.

-Spain was a wonderful and cultural experience I will never forget. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to experience all that I did, but there truly is no place like home :).

Wednesday June 18. 2008
-Today was filled with activities.

-In the morning, we visited the famous museum Prado, and the art was absolutely amazing. I saw a lot of work by Goya, and other Spanish artists. I really enjoyed it. The most random thing happened at Prado, I ran into some distant family members that live in Chicago whom I hadn’t seen in about ten year. It was so funny and strange that we met in Madrid.

-After the museum, Brittany and Kokila went to figure out their trip details for traveling afterwards, and I went to lunch with some other people at a Thai restaurant. I was excited that they had a lunch deal again, and the food was delicious, I hadn’t had Thai food in months.

-Courtney and I walked back to the hotel after lunch, and it was a 45 minute walk, but I surprisingly wasn’t tired. Walking for long periods of time no longer bothers me.

-When we got back, Brittany decided she wanted a haircut in Spain, so we went hunting for a hair salon. We found one, and she got a very nice haircut. Interacting with the stylist was fun. I have learned enough Spanish to get by.

-We got back and got ready to go to the musical!! We took the metro there, which is extremely cheap-just 1 Euro for a trip! We had no problems getting there, but we were running tight on time so we speed walked to the theater once we got off the metro. Our seats were very far back, but it didn’t matter because we could see fine. The only thing I wish I could see more clearly was the details of the expressions on the actors’ faces. The musical itself was incredible. It is by far the best show I have ever seen in my life, even better than Cirque de Solei! Since it was a Disney production, the language was rather simple and I actually understood the Spanish dialogue even though I already knew the plot. Everything was exactly like the movie except for a few scenes like the snowball fight, and the dog. I fell in love with it. It was the first “broadway” show I have ever seen, and I will now probably see many more. It was a great end to my trip, and made up for everything that ever went wrong.

-We went to sleep around 1 since Brittany and Kokila had to leave at 4 am for their flight to Rome.

Tuesday June 17, 2008
-The first place we visited was “La Granja” which is a famous castle in Madrid, the royal family’s castle. It was about an hour and a half from the hotel. It was a beautiful castle, picturesque of what I imagine castles to be. All the ceilings were painted, and there was either a French or Spanish chandelier in each room. The gardens outside the castle were also beautiful. There were many fountains, but they are only turned on at night. It was still a sight worth seeing.

-Our next stop was the city of Segovia. There is a famous Roman aqueduct there that was constructed since the first century. We took a groups photo and then had free time for 4 hours. Segovia is famous for their dish of suckling pigs, but that is muy caro, so we had our most likely last bocadillo of our trip.

-After eating we went to find the famous “Disney castle.” The rumor goes that someone who saw this castle had a similar one built in Germany, and Walt Disney used the castle in Germany as a basis to construct the castle in Magic Kingdom of Disney World.

-The castle was not as well kept as the other castles we had seen, but they allowed photography so we took as many pictures as we could. It was pretty. The inside was similar to that of Alcazar in Sevilla, with decorated Visigoth style ceilings.

-When we got home, we packed up our luggage and made sure they met weight limits. We were then so worn out from all the walking that we turned in early.

Monday June 16, 2008
-Sleeping in was wonderful, even though it was only until 9. We got breakfast, and stayed there for about an hour. I was shocked that there were about 100 Indians in the lobby, I hadn’t seen that many since America. Some kind of convention must have been going on.

-We then went to return our cell phones which was on the street Gran Via. We took the bus to the street and walked for a bit until we found it. The city of Madrid is amazing, everything is so clean and classy. All the men walk around in suits, and the women are dressed nice everywhere in Europe so there wasn’t much of a difference. The people are also nice here, as in they actually willingly smile at you.

-We had no problems returning our phones, connection with the world was now lost!...especially since we had to pay for internet connection at the hotel.

-As we left the phone place, we saw a theater across the street. The musical “Beauty and the Beast” was now playing in Spanish. We went to see how expensive tickets were, and the cheapest ones were only about 22 Euros. We figured seeing a fun musical would be a great way to end our trip in Spain, so we bought tickets. We were extremely lucky in that there were exactly 3 tickets left at the lowest price! They weren’t all together, but the price was worth it so we got them. The show is on Wednesday at 8:30.

-We walked around for a bit and saw some more of the city. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant called “El Capricho.” They had an awesome lunch special where you could have an appetizer, main course, drink, and desert for just 10 Euros! I hadn’t planned on eating out, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that! I had pastel de patatas for an appetizer, and it was basically potato salad in cake for, very interesting. I had chicken and ice cream also which was amazing.

-After lunch we headed over to the art museum of Reina Sofia. It was quite a walk from where we were, but we made it and the art was thrilling. The most famous piece we saw was Picasso’s Guernica. It is a very interesting piece. The museum itself was enormous. There were exhibits on the second and fourth floor, but we only made it all the way through the second floor.

-After the museum, we headed over to Plaza Mayor because it was supposed to be a neat place, but it started raining. We stopped at a café for a bit, and then took the bus back to the hotel once the rain died down.

-It was about 7 pm when we got back, and we watched some TV. We watched a German film called “Florien’s…” It was very touching. The protagonist was a child with down- syndrome named Florien. Brittany and Kokila were particularly moved by the movie.

-After the movie, I flipped to the only English channel, and unfortunately fight club was playing-that is and actual fight club tournament, not the movie “Fight Club.” I was surprised that fight club was actually allowed in Europe as I was under the impression that it was illegal, but apparently not!

-We had to be up early the next day, so we went to bed.

Sunday June 15, 2008
-We had breakfast at 7:30 this morning since the bus was leaving at 8. Breakfast was crowded, and it seemed impossible to get food, but I got some! I tried to eat as much as I could so I wouldn’t be hungry during the day.

-The first place we went to was the city of Toledo. This city is very ancient, and famous for being the hometown of the artist El Greco. We saw his famous painting called “El Entierro del Sr. Orgaz” It was very interesting, with a separation between earth and heaven. The only two people looking at viewers in the painting were El Greco and his son. I thought this was a bit creepy.

-We did some shopping after this. Toledo is famous for swords, they had them everywhere. I would have liked to buy one, but I would have no way of transporting it since they were too big, and they were also expensive. Toledo is also famous for hand crafted gold. They had intricate jewelry, wall hangings, and decorations. I bought a pendant for my mother.

-We left Toledo at 1:30 and went to the monasteries of all the Spanish kings. This was a very historical place. The tour with the guide took 2 hours. We saw the church, catacombs, paintings, and library. The only problem with the place was that it was extremely cold. Other than that, everything was beautiful. Royalty truly lead an extravagant life of luxury.

-After the tours, we finally got back to the hotel around 6. We were starving by now so we went in search of a restaurant that was open on Sunday afternoon. We finally settled on telepizza which is like a version of pizza hut. I had a chicken pizza and was good, not as good as Papa John’s though. We stopped by a convenience store on the way back and I bought “hello panda” which is a mini chocolate filled cookie which I had not eaten since the fifth grade. I loved them!

-We got back to the hotel, sat around, and went to sleep with no worries since tomorrow is a free day! We can sleep in :).

Saturday June 14, 2008
-We had to be at the bus by 6:30 in the morning. Brittany’s mom ad called taxi’s for us since it would be to hard to find one that early.

-We had some exciting news on the bus, all of our budget was not used so each student got an instant refund of 70 Euros. The was the best news I’d heard in a while, because I was prepared to buy sandwich meat and bread everyday because Madrid is supposed to be an expensive city.

-We had a few stops on the way to Madrid, including the Calatrava which is a castle from the 1200s. It was pretty, but was a lot of climbing. I wore sandals so the climb was a bit rough. There were also many bugs, so I was glad we were not there for a prolonged period of time.

-We finally pulled into Madrid around 4, and our hotel room was wonderful. We decided to take a walk around our area to see what it was like. We walked for about half an hour and went back to the hotel.

-I was about to take a shower when I realized I had forgot all my undergarments at my host house, so I would have to go buy some now….of course I had to forget something!

-The showers were amazing, like hot power-washing yourself.

-We were very tired so we decided to stay in the night, played cards for a while, watched the Spain V. Switzerland game (Spain won 2-1!), and attempted to watch the bootleg “27 dresses” in Spanish, but it kept freezing so went to sleep.

Friday June 13, 2008
-Presentation day! My group presented second and it went well. We also went to the churros bar as a class again. I split with Amy since we had eaten breakfast at home. We received our finals back, and I made an A! I was officially done with class! This was a huge relief!

-We went to buy our host mother a present after class, which was a frame with a picture of us in it.

-Lunch was our last meal at home….and it was amazing! Instead of salad, we had cauliflower mixed with corn and vinegar, but it was alright. We also had the fried ham/cheese thing, which my mom showed me how to make so I will be making it back at home! Then we had delicious rice with chicken-my favorite dish! We complimented our mother on how well she cooks, I’m really going to miss her food.

-We took a long siesta after lunch, because it was just too hot outside to do anything! I packed for a while later, and then went to dinner with my intercambio.

-Dinner was very good food. We went to an Indian restaurant, which I didn’t even know existed in Sevilla.

-When I got home I packed some more, and slept in my room for the last time.

Thursday June 12, 2008
-The long awaited final was here, and it was surprisingly not bad at all. I feel fairly confident with my performance on it.

-There was only an hour of class left after the final, and we talked about our trip to Madrid this weekend. Inaki then played the guitar for us again, and he plays extremely well.

-Right after class, we went to calle Ferria since the flea market was there every Thursday until 2. I bought some more fans as souvenirs, and they were very pretty.

-We had lunch and a siesta when we got home, and then went shopping to all the stores in Nervion we had not yet been to. These included Oysho, Pull and Bear, and traditions. Also bought some perfume from the vendors on the street, I think I got fake/real Armani. On our way back, something funny happened.

-While we were walking to the bus stop, there was a HUGE grasshopper on Vi’s bag, and Brittany saw it and screamed. Vi dropped her bag on the sidewalk and screamed. Then construction workers right next to us started laughing at us. I went to pick the bag up, and the grasshopper flew! All four of us jumped and screamed for about a minute! Then we couldn’t start laughing, and neither could the construction workers! It was hilarious! We laughed all the way to the bus stop, and even on the bus. My stomach hurt after that lol

-We got home for dinner, which was unfortunately hotdogs again, but we only had 3 each so it wasn’t too bad.

-I was so worn out from the day, I went to sleep early for once.

Wednesday June 11, 2008
-We watched a Spanish movie in class today, but it had English subtitles so it wasn’t bad to understand. It was completely hilarious, but the Spanish film industry is a lot more open with issues such as sexuality, so it was different.

-We had our oral exams today. We had to pick 5 photos of since we were in Spain and talk about them in Spanish to our TA’s for 5 minutes. We then had to perform a role play for another 5 minutes. My TA was Ilene, and I believe it went well.

-It was our teacher’s birthday today so we bought him a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to him in Spanish. I think he was surprised. We reviewed for our test, then back home for lunch.

-I did not feel well today. I had lost my voice the night before, and luckily it was back today, especially since the oral exam was today. I took a nap, had lunch, then took another nap before going back to school to work on our project.

We worked on our presentation for about an hour and a half, then I studied for the final tom.

-I went home studied some more, then went to sleep.

Tuesday June 10, 2008
-We had a quiz over mandates in class today, and it was relatively easy.

-I decided today would be a shopping day so I had my mom make me a bocadillo for lunch so I would not have to go back home.

-Immediately after class, Brittany and I went to Plaza de Espana to buy souvenirs. After this, we went to calle Sierpes since we had never actually walked the whole thing. We made it to both places with no difficulties. We now know our way around the town! This was very exciting.

-At Sierpes, we met up with one of our friends from class, Vi. We shopped for a while, and bought some stuff. We then went to mass at the chapel of the Cathedral at 5. The mass lasted about 20 minutes, and was all in rapid Spanish. I barely understood anything. I knew what was going on since masses have the same structure, but I did not understand the readings, and there were no miselettes so it was impossible for me to follow them. The mass was quite empty, and this is expected for a weekday mass. Everyone there was elderly, meaning at least 50 years of age. Donna had told us earlier that the Spain is predominantly Catholic, many people do not attend mass. Rather, only elderly people attend mass. This was true today, but weekend masses are always different, I hope I can go to one this weekend.

-After mass we went to Rayas for ice cream, and as usual it was amazing. American really needs to get some ice cream like Rayas.

-We went to Nervion Plaza for a bit to go to the store Corte Ingles, and then came back to Sierpes.

-We went to school at 8 because I had to meet my intercambio. An intercambio is like a tutor, you have sessions where you speak in Spanish and English so I can learn Spanish, and the intercambio can learn English.

-His name was Rafael, and he actually knew a lot of English! We did not have problems communicating at all, and the session helped me realize how much Spanish I know, but just don’t use.

-I saw Amy on the bus the way home, and the same drunk who is always on the bus. He got in a fight with some man today.

-I had dinner when I got home, and it was the strangest one yet. It was yellow rice, with a bunch of baby clams mixed in-shells included. I nearly choked when I saw this. I tried 2 and they were…different. I couldn’t stand the sound of my fork clinking against the shells, so I picked all of them out and didn’t eat them. I just couldn’t. I ate the rest, studied a bit, and went to sleep.

Monday June 9, 2008
-We got to school early today and I mailed the last set of postcards. I also went to get some breakfast at the bars close to school, but unfortunately they were all closed.

-We reviewed more over the subjunctive in class and had a listening quiz. This week is going to be very busy since we have a grammar quiz tomorrow, an oral exam Wednesday, final exam Thursday and final project presentation Friday.

-After class, there was a Sevillanas class available for anyone who was interested. Sevillanas is a cultural dance form, similar to Flamenco. It is native to Sevilla and uses more upper body and arm movements than flamenco. It is supposed to be harder than flamenco. I think it is a very beautiful art form. The teacher was very talented. I was one of the only students who were able to pick up the dance, so she made me demonstrate how to do it with her in front of the whole class! This was a bit embarrassing for me since she did it about 7 times! Just me and her, and I barely knew what I was doing. It was fun though. She told me to teach some of the other students how to do it and I realized how much I miss dance classes.

-After the class I went home for lunch. On the bus back, I saw some people speaking in English, sounding confused. I asked them if the needed help, and they were going to the train station. I was able to properly direct them there. This was the moment that I realized that I finally knew how to get around in Sevilla. It’s a shame I only have less than a week left here, but I’m glad I learned something! How to get around in a new place!

-After lunch I went back to school to work on my project. I finished my PowerPoint and wrote some emails.

-By the time I went back home it was time for dinner which was very interesting today-some cauliflower dish, croquetas, and egg pudding. The egg pudding was not so good so I didn’t eat it.

-I watched TV with Mama and Julio for a bit, and then retired for the night.

Sunday June 8, 2008
-It was our last day in Lagos! I was going to miss this city, but ready to get back home to Sevilla. Everyone in Lagos is so relaxed and carefree. The lifestyle is so different, it just seemed so surreal. This was an excellent vacation spot, but I don’t think I could ever live in such a place.

-We had breakfast at a little diner, and I had an amazing ice cream bar that came in a box!

-Next we went to the beach to take pictures, since I had not taken my camera yesterday for fear of it falling in water. We went shopping a little more after that, then checked put to head to our bus at 1:30 pm.

-I slept on the bus, and we reached Sevilla by 6:30 pm (time difference makes it an hour ahead)

-I unpacked, did some school work, and rested for school tomorrow.

Saturday June 7, 2008
-We woke up early today to make sure we could do a lot of activities. The employee Jimmy arranged for us to go on a Kayak tour which also had snorkeling in it. I was so excited! I had never experienced true snorkeling!...little did I know that I wouldn’t do that today either ahahaha

-The weather was absolutely wonderful. It was soo sunny, and really hot. We were apparently lucky because the weather had been terrible until a day before we arrived. It was typical beach weather.

-Two other people from our program were on the same tour on us. It was supposed to last 3 hours, but once we got in the kayaks, we realized this was a bad idea. We were basically at the skill level of 5 year olds if they could kayak. The instructor was getting very frustrated that we couldn’t row correctly. The front person was to be the “propeller” and the back person was to be the “director” making sure the boat didn’t turn. You had to perform a complicated “side sweep” to do this. I was the back and Brittany was the front, but I sucked so bad that I switched with Brittany, and I unfortunately had to jump in the water to do this. Brittany was better than me at “directing” but we still swerved 8-% of the time. This was very frustrating, and exactly what I hate about kayaks. After we got out to the grottos, I realized we were basically having the same tour we had on the boat yesterday, except we were rowing kayaks!-which by the way I despise. We stopped on a beach to climb up a cliff-which is also not my cup of tea since I’m terrible at rock climbing. It was hard because we had to drag ourselves up with a rope, and we didn’t have shoes one, and the sanding ground was fragile and breaking apart as we stepped on it, there were bugs and stickers on the floor, and I swear I heard a rattle snake up there. We finally got to the top, and the view was amazing. The climb down was also difficult, but I felt relief when I finally got to the ground. We got back into the kayaks and decided there was not enough time for snorkeling, we were just too slow. We saw one more grotto and headed back. I think the progress of skill Brittany and I made regressed somehow on the way back, because our boat jus would not stay straight. Maybe it was the wind, or the waves, or both. We were both excruciatingly frustrated by this, especially me. We finally got back to our beach, and this was an hour later than we should have. The tour took us 4 hours, leaving a fourth of it out. It was a good experience, but I will never go on a kayak again.

-After this, we went to the beach. I laid in the shade for a while since I don’t like to tan, and then we went to look for the snorkeling place. We found it, but they were done for the day since Portugal was playing Turkey that night for the Europe cup. We went to a different beach were there were a lot of sea shells. There were also fish in the waves! We tried to run into them, but the water was too cold that we could not go too far. It was still cool to watch. We ran into some of our friends the way there and made dinner plans.

-We ate dinner at a really cute restaurant in the middle of the center where live music was playing. The whole setting was adorable. The tables were outside, enclosed by a tent. The live music was a man singing while playing the guitar and the food was good. I had Portuguese steak. One of the girls ordered trout, and they gave her the whole trout! We ate the true European-really slow, and stay for 2 more hours after you eat. In Europe, the waiters do not receive tips, so you can stay at restaurants however long you wish. We walked around a bit after this and got some ice cream.

-That night was fine, except I wished our hostel had air conditioning. It reminded me of India since it was so hot at night.

Friday June 6, 2008
-Today was the long awaited Lagos trip! We left Sevilla at 8 am for La Rabida, which is the place where Christopher Columbus sought money from monks. First we stopped by the site where Columbus actually sailed from, and there was a well there which had been there when he sailed. We then went to the monastery. The city is supposedly where many of his sailors came from. His ships were also built there, and they had replicas of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. We were able to climb all over the replicas and I took many photos.

-After this short excursion we were off on the way to Lagos!

-We got to Lagos around 2 pm (Portugal is an hour behind of Spain) and check-in to our hostel wasn’t until 3, but we decided to get there early. As usual, my duffel bag was too heavy and I was having problems with it-I really need to get a rolling bag. We had no idea how to get to our hostel, especially since none of our other classmates were in the same one. We were looking at a map in the middle of an open area when a nice British person asked if we needed help. He was nice enough to take us and our other friends to our Hostels. I’m glad he did because it would have taken us hours to find it on our own, the roads are even smaller than Seville! Right from then I knew this town was friendly.

-We got to our hostel and everyone was overwhelmingly hospitable. After checking in, one of the employees was informing us of everything we could do in Lagos. He even took us to the boat tour area, where we took an hour long boat tour for only 10 Euros!

-The tour of the grottos was amazing! They were so beautiful, and we went in and out of caves with openings so small that we had to duck in the boat. Our tour guide only spoke Portuguese, which is similar to Spanish, but not really, so it was funny when he was trying to explain what the rocks looked like. We had a lot of hand motions which were hilarious.

-After the boat tour we walked around for a bit and shopped. We figured there wasn’t enough time to go to the beach. We had a good dinner, we hadn’t eaten out in so long, and then Brittany and I went to basically every single store in the center area, and surprisingly I didn’t buy anything! The side of town we were on was very small, but very friendly. It was very tourist oriented, and almost everyone spoke English so we didn’t have any communication problems. There were a lot of American kids in Lagos that weekend, our hostel was completely booked by a group from Georgia, but studying in Cadiz

-After a long time of shopping and the stores began closing, we went back.

Thursday June 5, 2008
-School dragged today, we learned about the subjunctive tense which is difficult to grasp for those who speak English because there is no equivalent tense in English.

-I went back to school right after lunch to work on my project. I wanted to get most of it done before the Lagos trip this weekend, and I was successful! I wrote out and translated my whole part of the presentation, so all I would have to do later is type it and add pictures.

-Brittany and I went home for dinner and then we all stopped at a café for ice cream. We watched preliminary Olympics gymnastics competitions there, and I was very surprised that floor routines now incorporated more dance elements than gymnastics.

-We decided to turn in early since we had to pack and be up early for our trip.

...Sevilla...

Wednesday June 4, 2008
-We received our graded tests, and I made 100!
I did not go home for lunch today since we had to meet at the cathedral at 4:30, and I usually did not have lunch until 3. I stayed at the center and worked on my presentation for a while.
-We walked with some people to the Cathedral and did not get lost for once! On the way, we stopped by the famous ice cream shop Rayas, and they truly live up to their legacy of having amazing ice cream! I am truly going to miss the ice cream of Spain.
-The Cathedral is the largest one we’ve visited. As I mentioned before, it is the largest gothic cathedral in the world. The paintings and decorations inside were stunning.
-We also went up the famous Giralda. An interesting fact about this is that Dan Brown writes about it in his novel Digital Fortress, and describes the protagonist running up the Giralda 2 steps at a time. This is funny because there are actually no steps in the Giralda! Its all ramps, and there are 34 floors to climb to the top….but the view is worth it!
-We walked around Sierpes for a while, and then I went home to work on some homework.

Tuesday June 3, 2008
-Our test today actually was not bad at all. I feel very good about it.
-We made the train to Cadiz finally!
-The beach there is one of the prettiest ones I’ve ever seen. The water was so blue, and actually clear! It was not too cold either, we swam for a while since it was bearable to be in. There were some jellyfish in the sea, which I did not see, but someone caught some and brought them to shore….I know, they didn’t get stung! It was cool looking, like clear jelly.
-We took the 8 pm train home, and I reached my house by 10:30. I was exhausted, so I ate, showered, and went to sleep.

Monday June 2, 2008
-All of class today was spent reviewing for our test tomorrow. After class Brittany, Christina and I went to buy our train tickets for Cadiz tomorrow early so we would have less of a reason to miss the train. I missed it so many times already, I couldn’t miss it again!
-I went back to school with Brittany after lunch to study. I was very sleepy, and made the mistake of getting on a computer. It actually wasn’t too much of a mistake because I actually got to talk to people on aim for once which was nice. I was happy about that.
-class reviewed for test tom
-I went home when the center closed around 8:30, studied some more, and went to sleep.

Sunday June 1, 2008
-I went to the flea market again today, but was disappointed that a man selling fans would not bargain, so I didn’t buy anything. I did not have enough time to look around because I was to go to Cadiz!
-Brittany and I missed the 11:00 train because a bus did not come in time, so we planned to just take the 12:10 train, but of course we don’t have good luck. When we got to the train station we found that the 12:10 tickets had sold out and we wouldn’t be able to go until 2. This would be a waste of time since we would only have 3 hours on the beach, and the tickets were somewhat expensive. There were 6 other people that missed the train and we decided to go to the bus station and go to the other beach, Mata Las Canas, instead. We would only have 3 hours there too, but it was cheaper.
-The bus did not leave until 3 pm, so Brittany and I decided to paddle boat for an hour since the bus station was next to the river. We had a lot of fun and saw some ducks,and a beautiful side of time we had not yet seen. It was actually sunny today, and it hadn’t been for a while.
-The beach was very fun. There was nothing too special about it, just a normal beach. The water was a little cold, but the waves were pretty big, so we had a good time.
-We reached Sevilla around 9, but only reached our house at 10 because the city buses apparently run very slowly on weekends.

Saturday May 31, 2008
-Today I woke up early to go on an optional tour with Dr, Ingles. I saw Jeromiane monasteries and their church. This church was particularly interesting because its construction was completed by the wife of the late Gran Capitan. She was very wealthy, and wanted her husband buried in the church. This was unusual since at the time, only clergy members were buried in churches; however, this woman had money to donate to the church so it was permitted. She hired an architect and gave him the liberty to design however he pleased. This was also unusual since an architects dream is always to have endless funding, and liberty of design. The wall behind the altar had the most gold in architecture I have ever seen in my life. The word “extravagant” is not even enough to describe it.
-After this, Brittany, Kokila and I went to find the Parque de las Ciensias. We assumed this would be a nice place to take pictures, and on the map it was green like a park. We walked for 40 minutes to get to it, only to find that it was not a park, but a scoence museum, with an entry fee! We didn’t bother going in because it did not seem to special, and the amount of time left was not worth the price. We took a taxi backto the hotel so we wouldn’t miss the bus for the next excursion.
-We visited the palaces and gardens of the al Ahambra, as well as the Alhambra itself. Everything was huge and beautiful. There were some very pretty views of the city, and I took some neat pictures. Our guide spoke in Spanish during the tour, and I actually understood most of what she was saying. It was a Muslim palace for the Sultan, a very interesting place.
-After this, we stopped by a fast food place for quick dinner, and headed home to Sevilla!

Friday May 30, 2008
-This morning we woke up early to catch the bus to the city Granada. Granada was the last Muslim influenced city in Spain before the Muslims were overtaken, Therefore much of the architecture has Muslim influence. I was disappointed to find 5 mosquito bites on my face and more on my arm when I woke up, the window had been open all night.
-Our hotel room was exceptionally nice. I took a nice nap before our excursions that day because I was not able to sleep on the bus ride
-We visited the Cathedral of Granada which is very beautiful. We also visited the tombs of Ferdinand III and Isabel. The tombs were enormous…and knowing I was in front of their bodies was bone chilling.
-After the touring, we had free time for the rest of the day. I shopped for a while in the Arab streets, which strongly reminded me of India, especially since some of the shops played Indian music.
-I also went to the spice market where they sell spices such as saffron and vanilla for cheap prices, but I did not buy any
-On the way back to the hotel, I ran into what is called “aire libre tiendas” which are basically a bunch of little tents set up for shopping. I bought some funky capris I had been wanting for myself. There was a stage set up in the middle of all the tents, I was lucky to be right on time for a flamenco show. A flamenco school’s students performed about 7 dances. They ranged in ages from 4 yrs to 19 yrs. This show was ten times better than the one from the night before. I’m glad I saw it.

Thursday May 29, 2008
-Today was the long awaited beach day of the week, but unfortunately things were not in our favor. We had planned on going to the beach today and worn our swimsuits to class; however, the weather turned out to be terrible. There was an 80% chance of rain, so everyone ditched their beach plans, including me.
-We now had a free day, with nothing planned to do. A few of us decided to go watch a movie, and Indiana Jones had recently come out in theaters. We wanted to watch it in English so we could understand it, and luckily there was one English movie theater in town!
-Before the movie, Brittany, Kokila and I stopped by Nervion plaza to do a little shopping. To our surprise, the flea market, or ferria, was set up there, so we went to look at all the stuff. There were really good imitation, or perhaps authentic, name brand items there such as lacoste polos and dolce and gabana shirts. I did not buy anything but Brittany and Kokila bought some DVDs in Spanish.
-The movie was very entertaining, and the tickets were surprisingly cheap. It was only 4.50 for a student, which is basically 8 US dollars, which is equivalent to the regular price of a movie ticket in Lubbock.
-After the movie we went home to change, and then attended a flamenco show! I was very excited because I love to watch dances, and this one was free. It was at a bar close to the hotel Fernando III. We arrived at 10:30, and the show only starts at 11, but we still had seats in the back. We met some other study abroad students from A&M there. The show itself was alright, not what I expected. The dancer was a bit manly, and did not seem very interested in her performance. The length of the show (1 hour) also seemed too long.

Wednesday May 28, 2008
-School was regular today, except there were problems booking hostels for Lagos next weekend, but it all ended up working out.
-I slept for waaay to long today, but I didn’t have anything else to do, and it was cold outside so why not?
-Dinner was the scariest one I’ve had since I got here. Even worse than the squid soup! So I walk in the living room and see what looks like a giant red flan, or jello sitting on the table. I’m thinking, man I don’t know how I’m going to finish that, but as I get closer I realize its not flan at all. It’s actually a lump o rice covered in what looks like…..ketchup!! O no! I hope my mom didn’t misunderstand me and think I like ketchup with rice now! Also, there are 4 hotdogs next to it. Kokila takes the first bite, and thankfully it’s a little better than ketchup, it’s spaghetti sauce. We earnestly try to finish as much as we can, but it’s just too hard. My mom tells me it’s Cuban rice, and I tell her it’s good so she doesn’t feel bad. I’ve eaten 2 hotdogs, and am full. I don’t even like hotdogs, and now I have to eat 4! I make a deal with Kokila to finish the rest of her rice if she can eat one of my hotdogs. Our plan works and we finish the food! I hope we don’t have to eat this again later on. Also, I hope our mom doesn’t keep increasing our food portions, last time we had hotdogs we got 3 each.
-I go lye on my bed for a while, hoping the food will digest an I won’t throw up hahahah. I then go to sleep since school starts early tomorrow because I’m actually going to go to the beach!! :)

Tuesday May 27, 2008
-Today, class would have regularly begun at 8 so we could go to the beach at 12, but weather forecasts had reported rain so the beach day was moved to Thursday.
-The first thing we did in class was go eat breakfast. Inaki knew this very cheap, but good bar right around the corner that ad excellent “chocolate y churros.” We all went, and it was very crowded. There weren’t enough tables to sit at, so I sat on a bench and ate with some other people in my class. The churros are similar to funnel cake, its like long pieces of fried cake, or a really light donut. They’re good! And you dip them in the chocolate that’s basically thick hot chocolate…also good! And it only cost 2.50 Euros. That bat also has tapas for 2 Euros so I may come back some other day.
-After class, I had lunch and a short siesta, because we were going back to the parquet de Maria Louisa today to do the cyclotour!
-The cyclotour thing is actually called a cyclobus. Its like a golf cart that up to four people can sit in (there’s one’s for 2 people too), and everyone pedals to make it move! The front 2 seats have steering wheels and rearview mirrors. It’s pretty awesome, en mi opinion lol. Amy, Brittany, Kokila and I went together. It cost 14 Euros for one hour. We were supposed to stay on the paved roads in the park, but we didn’t realize that until after we had been riding through the trail areas for about 20 minutes. That was the best part! The trails were barely narrow enough for the bus thing to fit, so it was like we were going through a jungle. There were so many times we almost crashed into trees, and one time even people! We switched driving after half an hour so everyone could have a chance to steer. Its funny because we realized that though there were 2 steering wheels, the left one was just a dummy because it didn’t actually do anything! Luckily, I was on the right side so I got to drive!
-After our fun hour, we took some random pictures in the park, and proceeded back to our bus stop where we got lost again. We eventually found our stop and went home for dinner.
-We had some interesting hamburger for dinner. The meat was pink, and was not would you see in a typical burger but it was alright. I studied a little and went to sleep.

Monday May 26, 2008
-It’s Monday again, and that means school. Class was pretty regular, nothing new or exciting. I was really tired for some reason, I guess just worn out from the weekend. After class I spent some time at the center uploading pictures and stuff.
-I got home for lunch which thankfully wasn’t overwhelming. We had been reviewing the imperfect tense in class so I decided to talk to my mom about things I did while I was younger. I mentioned I used to eat rice with ketchup, and I would regret this later.
-I took my usual siesta after lunch, and was supposed to go back to the center with Brittany and Kokila at 5, but was too tired so just slept instead. When I woke up, I actually worked on my personal statement. I got the introduction done, it needs much more work, but it’s a start.
-Dinner was, too much food as usual, but o well.