Travel Plans and Final

Alright, who would like to come to Europe and travel to Paris with me? We began to try to make travel plans to day but it is so Stressful! Everyone has different priorities of places to go so you have to pick and choose and really budget. My top three destinations are Paris, England and Barcelona. I'm really cliche because I have never been to Europe unlike some of my classmates. The budget airfares can give you really cheap tickets yes, but at really obscure times. We are trying to fit our trips into three day weekends, so a flight that leaves at 6am Sunday morning is not good. So far, nothing has really been accomplished but I'll get it done.
We had our final exam for the intensive language class today and I actually had to wake up early and go to school in the morning. It was good practice for next week. This afternoon I went to a Mexican restaurant in Spain, but I didn't get any food. The waiters took our picture in large sombreros... it was really an experience.
I went to a movie at the center called El Orfanato. It was a scary Spanish movie and extremely creepy.
Here is a photo of Polo.

I'm still looking for cheap plane tickets to Barcelona....and don't tell me to use Ryan air because it's ridiculous.
Tomorrow I leave for Morocco. Today was a good day.

Roman Ruins

Today's visit was to the Roman Ruins. We saw the ancient arena and learned about all of the Gladiator stuff. There is a system of tunnels underneath the arena and also a sewage and water system. We learned that the houses had running water! Although the architecture of this visit was not as complex and beautiful, it was still interesting. The downside is that it began to rain again today and our venture was full of puddles and wet gusts of wind. We cut our visit a little short, but it's a fun story. The Pictures include the sewage system and myself in a 1080 year old door way.
The rivers are flooded; we saw that the sidewalk along the river by our neighborhood is under many inches of water.
We had a fun conversation at dinner tonight with Isabel and her brother. He was asking us what we do for exercise. We said that here in Spain we walk everywhere and at home we do not play sports. I said that sometimes I go jogging for 20 or 30 minutes. Rafael says that you should run for at least an hour. I don't understand this high standard of personal fitness in light of the fact that nearly everyone in Spain smokes.
We're still really enjoying Polo the dog. We went for a walk again today.
Today was a good day.

The Bikes

I got my bike pass this week and I rode the public bikes for the first time yesterday.
The public bike system consists of multiple stations around the city. With the pass, you can take a bike, ride it for thirty minutes, and return it somewhere else. I find the bikes to be nice. They have comfortable seats, baskets, lights, and fenders.
It is tricky to ride on the sidewalks though. There are always people walking. Some of them move, but others are oblivious and walk down the middle of the sidewalk so that I can't pass them. In my neighborhood, a lot of the sidewalks are too skinny and crowded to ride efficiently, but I did discover an alternate route and bike path today. Riding the bikes is fun, but it has only cut about five minutes off of my thirty minute walk, by the time I dodge all of the pedestrians, ride the bike to the station and walk back to the school.
Dinner tonight got really crazy, with Isabel's brother and two teenage nephews visiting. We had what I consider to be raw meat, but Rafael fixed me up and put my dinner back on the oven for a few minutes. It turned out to be very tasty after a little more cooking.

Isabel's birthday

Is it supposed to rain still? Well, According to the news, there is flooding in Spain right now. They keep telling us that it usually doesn't rain here, so I guess we're just in an off month.
Anyways, today was Isabel's birthday. She told us that she would't do anything to celebrate, but we wanted to get her something. Apparently they do not have birthday cards in Spain. I looked around and didn't see a single one. Katherine thought of getting her a bouquet of flowers and she was very pleased with them. Several of the nephews came for lunch, as well as her brother, so we had a big group fancy lunch. Juan had to give us a lesson in eating whole shrimp. They brought a chocolate cake for Isabel, and I was SO excited. I have never had cake in Spain. It was a little different from birthday cake here, but chocolate none the less. Isabel had also made flan,so we had two desserts.
Today I had my second test of the intensive grammar class. It was tricky.
Today was a good day.
These are some more pictures from the Cathedral.

The Dog

Today Isabel's brother came to stay with us for a few days and he brought a beautiful dog called Polo. I think he's a yellow lab.
There are a lot of dogs in Spain, but everyone lives in apartments so none of the dogs have yards. One can see them out taking walks a lot.
Isabel said I could take Polo out so we went on a short walk after lunch. The weather was beautiful and I know Polo was happy to be out.
Having a Spanish dog has made me contemplate what we're actually thinking when we talk to dogs. I feel like I should talk to him in Spanish, but then I feel silly because I doubt he's understanding me either way. On the other hand, this morning Isabel told him in Spanish to leave the kitchen if he wasn't going to eat his food and he did it. Pretty impressive.
I went to the park today to "do homework" but it more involved a mad search for the sun, which was often obscured by trees or clouds. Isabel's brother was very friendly and spoke some English with me. He also helped me answer questions for my culture class.
Today was a good day.

Pancakes and Sunday

The story of the Pancakes:
So I brought a box of pancake mix and syrup as a gift to Isabel. They have something like pancakes here, but not in mix form. She was so confused. We made them last Saturday. I woke up to help and got really scared because she had accidently made the waffle recipe. I believe this is because she has a subconscious wish to put oil in everything. Also, she had blended the mix so it was thinner than normal. We cooked a pancake in a frying pan with ...oil. Much to my surprise the pancakes turned out to be tasty. Isabel liked the syrup; she said it was like honey. She also brought out wipped cream, as is the norm in Spain, she says. Success.

Today was really chill. I went to the church in Triana and there was a group of guests who led the program. At one point, someone asked everyone to stand who was not born in Spain, and over half of us stood up. I didn't realize, but there are a good number of people from South America, as well as several Americans and a couple from England.
Katherine and I took a walk to the Plaza Nueva and hung out in the open air market for a few minutes. It's thundering and raining now, but at least we had a nice weekend of sun.
Today was a good day.

Museum of Artes Bellas

Today was Successful, I would say. I went shopping in the morning to take advantage of the sales some more. Katherine went on a day trip, so it was just me and Isabel for lunch. She is so sweet, she made the dish Katherine doesn't like on the day she was gone. She also remembered that I don't like runny eggs and made me a hard boiled egg.
This afternoon I went to the Museum of Fine Art with Ricardo, my intercambio. He is very helpful with speaking Spanish because he knows a lot of English, and is able to explain words I don't know. The museum had an exhibition of Murillo, a painter from Sevilla. Most of the paintings were religious, and a lot of the virgin [which is a popular theme here in Espana]. The museum itself is a former convent and everything was really grand and beautiful. Some of the paintings were enormous. The museum is supposedly 1.5 Euros for non-citizens, but no one was checking so I went in for free. That's a big check mark on the "See Sevilla" list.
Tonight we went out with some friends and sat by the river until some rain came. The city is extremely lively at night, with people walking all over. The river side is quite bright at nighttime.
Today was a good day.

The Library

I was so happy to see the Sun! I took a walk to the public library, just to prove I live in a city where I can walk to the library. I found a Spanish/English dictionary there and worked on some homework. I also looked at a few tourist books. I found a little playground and sat on a bench in the sun for a few minutes too.
Tonight I went with a few Americans to a small bar in our neighborhood. We encountered a friendly old man who knew some Beatles songs and talked to us for a while.
Today's photos include one from the top of the tower that I took yesterday.

The Cathedral and Intercambio

Today we went on a visit to the Cathedral. Here is a bit of information:
I was correct in being taken aback by the size of the Cathedral. It is the third largest church in the World! The Cathedral was built on the site of a former mosque, because Muslims occupied Spain for a long time until the reconquest. The Cathedral still contains the tower from the mosque. We climbed up it via 30 ramps that circle around the inside. We saw the bells at the top and the whole city of Sevilla! It looks enormous, but they tell me it's a small city. The rain put a bit of a damper on it, but we were still really excited to see the city from above. The cathedral is big and cold and highly decorated. I have some photos to add tomorrow, but cameras don't zoom out far enough!

Today I also met my Intercambio. Intercambios are Spanish buddies that speak English. The idea is for each of you to practice speaking. Mine is named Ricardo. He is 25 and he is a student. He was very friendly, but it's still quite awkward for me to think of what to talk to him about. We had a party at the center to find our intercambios. Afterward, I went with Katherine and her intercambio and a few others, to a restaurant that has 100 types of mini sandwiches. It was very fun, and then we walked home in the rain.
Today was a good day.

Today I present....A day in the life of Food

Breakfast: [Well, I wake up at nine or ten] Is a small ordeal. I don't like coffee, so I have hot chocolate everyday, made with milk and powder mix. I had two pieces of toast, made with large slices of french bread with strawberry jelly. Sometimes we have cookies and jelly for breakfast.

Lunch: [2:30] Tap water. Soup made with potatoes, carrots, zucchini. There were no vegetable chunks, it was all a think liquid. We put pieces of fried bread in the soup, kind of like croutons. We also have white french bread at every meal. The second course was very tender and delicious pork. It tasted marinated, but it was also in something oil, some sort of oil marinade. Also, french fries. Dessert was oranges and kiwi, the sweetest oranges ever. All of this was super delicious.

Dinner: [9:30] Water. Grilled Ham and cheese sandwiches. The second course was a noodle casserole with vegetables and egg sunny side up. I really don't prefer the runny egg with my noodles though. It was not one of the best dishes ever. There was a cream cheese and garlic spread for the bread. Dessert was raspberry yogurt.

Today was a good day.

What? Tiempo Loco.

The weather in Spain today is just really... doesn't know what it wants. (Steffy Boyd) Since it was forecast to rain all week, I was really excited when I woke up and saw sun in the window. I left the apartment at about eleven and when I got about three minutes away, the skies opened up and it started to pour. I ran back home and put on my rain boots, but then it was not raining again. When I was walking across the bridge the sky was black on one side and sunny on the other. I had to wear my sunglasses and put up my umbrella!
Today I ate, for the first time, fried anchovies. They weren't bad, just salty. It was just another mind over matter situation.
I think that I walk at least six miles every day. That would be me going to the center twice, which I usually do. The bridge part of the walk is really spectacular. There are several pad locks on the bridge. Someone said that couples buy locks and lock them to the bridge. They throw the key into the river to symbolize never ending love. Aside from the littering, how cool is that?

Orange Trees

It was very wet again today. I left this morning without my rain boots and my shoes and pants were very soaked. I went to the University of Seville to listen in on a class. I'm pretty sure I won't take it. It was an art history class but I don't have enough background and I didn't understand everything. I was so glad to get home and have warm soup and take off my wet shoes!

So along the streets of Seville there are orange trees. They told me not to eat the oranges, because they our sour. Apparently the city owns the orange trees and uses the oranges for marmalade. A few days ago I saw workers picking them during my walk to school. I think this is so clever of the City of Sevilla!

It is supposed to rain all week, much to our dismay.

Iglesia [the church]

Today I found a protestant church in the neighborhood next to mine, about a 20 minute walk. It was a very small room, but packed with people. Seriously, every seat was full and people sat on the stairs in the back. I really enjoyed the music. Some of the songs were recognizable from home, like 'Come, now is the time to Worship'. The music was contemporary, with a keyboard and guitar and a few people singing. The service lasted for two hours because there was quite a bit of music but I think no Sunday school. I followed along with the Bible reading in my Spanish English Bible, thanks to Jacob, who gave it to me for Christmas. I understood the theme of the message, but didn't fully understand everything the preacher said. I met a few American girls who are studying at the University.
After lunch, I took a very long siesta. I had had a very short night due to the Carnaval. We had a tomato and avocado salad, with salt and oil. It is very fortunate that Katherine and I both like tomatoes.
It looks like rain all week. How sad.
Today was a good day.

Carnaval de Cadiz

Friday was a slow day in Spain. It was raining and cold and windy so we didn't want to go out much. I got to talk to Val at home and hear about all of the snow!

Saturday was the Carnival de Cadiz. I went with a tourist agency on a bus with hundreds of other Americans. One thing to understand is that in addition to the 100 students studying with CC-CS, there are several other study abroad groups and also Americans at the University of Seville.
Cadiz is a small city about an hour away from Seville. The carnival is something like a mix of Halloween and Mardi Gras. The city is small, and in almost all the streets and plazas there were people dressed in costumes. There were also bands playing and a few people dancing. Isabel packed us bocadillas (sandwiches) because we missed dinner. One was salami and the other was potato and egg tortilla. We stayed very late into the night and I got a little tired by the end! I walked around with three other Americans and we were able to meet a few different groups of Spanish people, my favorite being a group dressed up as foosball players!

Visit to Alcazar

Well on Thursdays we end class early and go on a visit. Today we went to Alcazar, or the palace. It was so extensive and so intricate. There are several courtyards and many rooms. The architecture has both Arab and Gothic influences, since Muslims occupied Spain for hundreds of years. All of the rooms have intricate walls of either tiles or molded plaster. The palace also contains very extensive gardens.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture a day. I have zero pictures all week and about thirty from today. I want to try to spread them out though.
We are going to a carnival this Saturday and you need a costume. I went looking for a costume with a friend after class tonight.



Katherine and I are doing pretty well with our Spanish. We're talking to each other in pretty nice Spanglish. Each day I feel like I'm doing so well with speaking, but many other times I think that I have so much more to learn! It's a big language.
Today was a good day.

Cars

Today i had my first Spanish car ride. It was raining this morning and Isabel offered to give me a ride because she was driving into the city. All of the cars are manual here and she was asking me about my car and saying how it must be so easy to drive. The most shocking thing is that they double park. So there was a car parked behind hers and we had to push it out of the way with our bodies! I was so shocked when she asked me to help. She dropped me off very close to the center which was lucky because I could have been lost again.

Yesterday I had a very proud moment when a Spanish woman asked me where a street was in my neighborhood. I knew the street and knew where it was! Today, three British girls asked me where in mcdonalds was in British sounding Spanish. They were very excited to find that I could speak English, but unfortunately I couldn't answer the question.

The Media

I haven´t yet experienced much media, but I´ll tell you a few interesting things.
I walked in a store and heard the balck eyed peas playing in English. That´s about the only group from America I´ve heard so far.
We watched a Spain soap opera with Isabel. It was hard to undersand what was happening but we caught the general idea. Maybe we´ll get to watch it with her again and understand more. Last night, I saw House in Spainish. In this case, the change in language definitly takes away from the overall quality. House doesn´t seem the same in unsarcastic Spanish.
Yesterday I had my first culture class, which meets once a week. For this class we have to keep a journal, and bring in newspaper articles. We had lentil soup for lunch and I was surprised at how much I liked it. For dinner we had hamburgurs and french fries. Who knew? Dessert was an egg pudding type of thing. It was yummy, but the egg aspect gets to me and I coudn´t finish it all.
We met another nephew of Isabel. He is sixteen and was wearing a VANS hoodie. He told me that his clothes are all skater style. He goes to school in our neighborhood and sometimes drives a Moped to school. He spends the night sometimes with Isabel. I think he likes to because his house is crowded. He told me that he likes to watch House, but prefers it in English. He speaks English, but was also helpful with Spanish by making sure we understood and explaining things more slowly.

First Day of Classes

We got our class schedule today. This month is "intensive language" and I have language every day from 5 to 8:45. I also have a flamenco dance class twice a week which is very complex, and a culture class once a week. The most challenging thing has been finding the center. It is hidden. The street branches off from a five way intersection, and the map just has a big blob of nameless road around that area. I wandered around aimlessly for a while this morning trying to learn my way around that downtown area. I was lucky to walk with Katherine this afternoon, because I still don't have it straight. I'm not sure what to do in the mornings. I need to find a buddy without classes to go exploring with. Tomorrow will be busy though, because I have my culture class at one and I have to find a book store to buy my language text book.
I tried out the balcony today because I thought it might be warmer in the afternoon then inside our house. All of our clothes were hanging on lines across the balcony and that really set the scene.
What did I learn today?
Bonbon is a chocolate candy or a way to call an attractive person.
Mono means cute. There is a clothing store called mono.

The Cathedral

Today I went to my first Mass ever. The Cathedral in Sevilla is so very large, and this venture also represents the biggest room I have ever been in. I don't think photos could ever be enough to represent the grandness of the Cathedral. The mass was forty-five minutes in Spaish, and we understood some of it. The people really have respect for God, but I felt like the joy was missing. This is because there was no Singing!
The cathedral was cold; I'm sure there's no way to heat it, it's so big. Outside is warmer than inside. We think it's in the 60's but we are unsure due to the Celsius system having no easy conversion method.
We walked into the plaza and saw several talented street performers and musicians. The best was a man with a puppet show type thing. The most interesting were Indians playing pipe instruments. We walked into a flea-market type of thing and saw people selling collectible money and jewelry.
Today we ate calamari which you could dip in homemade mayonnaise. Then we had two desserts: oranges with sugar and an ice cream bar. Isabel said that we have two desserts on Sunday. She said if we're good and practice our Spanish that she will give us two desserts on Sundays.
Katherine and I walked to a park very close to our house. [Speaking of parks, I just learned that the park of Maria Luisa, to was built for the 1929 worlds fair]. It was really nice and we did a little see-sawing. After that, we got a little lost exploring, but finally made it home.
We met Isabel's nephew tonight, who came over for dinner. He is twenty-five and helped us fix the internet on Katherine's computer. We asked about the Olympics and we can watch them here, but it seems that the skating will be broadcast live at two in the morning or something ridiculous.
Here is a picture of the park:

Have a good Super Bowl!

Day Three

Today we went on a bus tour around the city, after a breakfast of toast, cookies, and rich hot chocolate. After the bus tour we went to the most amazing plaza, called the Plaza de Espana. It is an old Muslim defensive fort, with intricate mosaic tiles. We walked around a park for a while and saw a lot of people and tourists biking, riding in carriages, rollerblading, and walking.
We had spaghetti for lunch, but very late, at about three fifteen. The food is nothing like Mexican food and is not spicy. We walked to the center for a movie and then I walked around with my friend through our neighborhood. I get so tired from all of the walking! We walk from our apartment to downtown about three times a day. Our neighborhood and the one next to us are separated from the city by a big river. We use the three bridges as reference points. The streets have a lot of cars and a lot of pedestrians. It's weird to see traffic lights whose only purpose is to stop traffic and let people cross the street. The street names are on the sides of buildings, which was hard to get used to and are sometimes hard to find.
Today was a good day.


Pictures of the Plaza de Espana and a street sign

Today we met our host family!!!
Our host mother is a woman who lives in the apartment of her parents, which she lived in as a child. She lives alone and the apartment is large, with four bedrooms. It has all of this old fancy furniture, and we eat at a table with huge arm chairs.
The food is her main hobby! There is always so much food and she likes us to finish it all. I guess she doesn't believe in leftovers. For dessert we had fruit and yogurt.
Today we went on a walking tour of the city, took a Spanish placement test, and had a session about extracurricular activities. I was surprised at how awesome the CC-CS center is. It's like a huge ancient Spanish mansion, with three floors, a fountain, and a patio. There are a lot of decorative tiles and it's colorful. The buildings are one of the most amazing thing about the city. They are so beautiful! The streets are really tricky because they are NOT in block formation. Downtown, they tend to curve and veer. Some are super skinny but cars still manage to drive down them at alarming speeds.
THE BEST NEWS EVER:
Our house has wireless internet, which is highly uncommon.
Today was a good day.

I am finally in Spain!! Most of my flights here were sweet as pie. I started Wednesday afternoon and flew to Newark, New Jersey. I was very surprised to find that I could see New York city from the plane. My flight from New York to Barcelona was about seven hours, and I watched a movie and slept across two seats. The first plane was tiny, only three seats to a row, but this one had seven seats to a row. It turns out that there were three other people from my program on this flight, so I stayed with them for the Barcelona airport. We accidentally went out of security and had to go through it all over again, but we had plenty of time and it turned out okay.
When we arrived in Seville it was 1:00 in Spain and 7Am in the ATL. The CC-CS bus waited for us, so we didn't have to pay for a taxi. That was SO fortunate! We had lunch at the hotel with other American students and then I was able to take a walk around the city with the girls I met on the plane. There is a huge river and tons of bridges. A lot of the buildings look old and grand, so it's a lot of fun. We had orientation in the evening and then I had to hunt all around for internet. Everyone finally realized that you can tap into a wireless network in the hallway beside the elevators of our hotel so there is a group of us sitting here now.