Today started out great, we went to Aracena saw a semi-cool mine and then an AMAZING cave. Then I found out Popsie passed away this morning; I wish I could have been there. I'm headed home tomorrow for the week, thus I won't be blogging. I guess life is a series of ups and downs.

Miss you Popsie, love you forever.

another day goes by...

So I figure I better write today's post now, because I intend on going out tonight, leaving me minimal time to blog. Also, I forgot to mention that my host family's son, his wife, and their daughter are in town from Malaga. They arrived last night and will be here until Sunday. They seem really nice, but they smoke :/ oh well, part of being in Spain. So last night upon their arrival, their daughter-in-law came over, two kids in tow, followed by her parents. Oh, and did I mention their nephew was over earlier? I was a bit overwhelmed, and I imagine this is how someone would feel coming to a May family party, especially if they hardly understand the language being spoken haha. Anyways, it is kind of comforting having all these people in and out and it does remind me of how Nonie and Popsie's house is. I swear I meet someone new and see another child, niece, nephew, grandchild, etc. everyday! So, that's kind of fun!

Today I had my first exam, I think it went well and after class I went with my friend Katie to sign up for a trip to Cadiz on February 20th. We are going for Carnavale (carnival) and everyone gets dressed up in costume; I highly recommend you check out some details about this event, I am beyond excited! Then I shopped around on my walk home, because conveniently all the best shopping is along the street I take back to my side of town. Luckily, I ran in to two other girls I know so I went around with them for awhile and bought a new pair of cute ankle boots! I headed back to my house for lunch and here I am blogging away now. Tonight, Kaye is in town so I look forward to meeting up with her! Then, it is off to Aracena bright and early tomorrow morning! I'll be sure to let you know how that is! I think we are going into a mine!!! That would be suuuper neat!

Adios!

Random Ramblings

So like my routine the past few days, I woke up had cafe con leche and headed to class. I struggled through the three hours today, and was excited to head home at 12. I have been wanting to go shopping so much lately, but after class I just want to get back...maybe tomorrow! I had some lunch and took advantage of siesta time. I woke up and studied for my exam tomorrow, had dinner, then met my friends to walk to the bar we were meeting at to meet our intercambios and get to know some spanish people. Too bad it wasn't what we had in mind. There was a live band, so you couldn't hear anything other than the spanish girl singing Bobby McGee (could that be any weirder!?!?), the lights were off so you couldn't see anything and they wanted us to play a 'get to know each other game' similar to what you would play on the first day of class. The game entailed finding people who had milked a cow, gone to a madonna concert, etc. and mark their name in the box. Needless to say we headed home kind of early. Plus, we all have tests tomorrow and I have the worst back pain ever, but that's an entire different subject.

On another note, I am feeling discouraged being in Spain right now, because I found out Popsie has pneumonia again and everyone was at the hospital together except for the girl who chose to flee the country for 4 months. Something like that would happen while I'm away. I miss home, but it's only been a week and I got some advice from a friend today who reminded me that this is what I chose for myself, so I should try to like it. However, she also said it took her close to a month to get comfortable which I find both good and bad. Good: I'm not the only one feeling like this. Bad: that leaves me with 3 more weeks to feel like this. Anyways, this too shall pass, and I am excited because Kaye is visiting this weekend and I get to go to Aracena on Saturday!

On a completely different topic now, I did call this RANDOM ramblings for a reason, but the food here. I have stopped informing you on everything I have been eating lately, but I feel like I need to keep you posted on this primarily because my meals have been sooo American-y lately. I had mashed potatoes and pork, equivalent to a pork chop one night, pasta with marinara/meat sauce, and what I feel was the Spanish equivalent to Ramen noodles. IT IS SO WEIRD! Anyways, that's all for now because I am going to do something sooo American: go watch episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that I downloaded from iTunes. haha

HASTA LUEGO!

Thursday Thirteen

I have been waiting so long to finally partake in Thursday 13 ever since I read my aunt's first one! Now that I read her TT for this week, I am not as excited...it was touching and mine is, well, read on:

13 Moments of 'Culture Shock': things I find odd and/or could do without

1. People can and do smoke everywhere here, my poor lungs :(

2. There are pig legs hanging in every restaurant, bar, butcher, house, etc. (HOOF AND ALL! EWWW!)

3. The fact that the houses are colder inside than it is outside. brrr

4. The dog poop in the middle of the sidewalks and streets that people don't feel the need to pick up

5. The lisp here EX: gracias pronounced grathia

6. Not being able to flush toilet paper . . . and sometimes not being able to even find toilet paper in the bathroom!

7. The fact that it's 'in-style' for girls to sag their pants . . . I don't even like when boys sag their pants!

8. Gypsies on the street scamming you for money

9. Not being able to express myself clearly and with meaning

10. NO diet coke! (they have coca-cola 'light' . . . it tastes different, not in a good way. haha)

11. The strange daily schedules, dinner at 10:30? That's even later than at home!!! ;)

12. Everyone dresses nice ALL THE TIME, except for me. Somedays yoga pants and a hoodie are all I can handle.

13. The fact that my loved ones are sooo far away . . . I knew this, but I obviously couldn't experience it before I left. Who would've thought an ocean could be so big??

But I suppose it is ALL part of the experience!!!

Busy Busy!

Today was crazzzy! I went to class at 9 sat there bored, but also learned a little, and then headed quickly home. I ate lunch and headed back out for a tour of the cathedral! IT WAS AMAZING! It is humongous, and I literally lost my breath when I walked in. The cathedral is full of history and beauty. Initially I thought I might not like these historical things, because I don't like history too much, but when I am there in person I am completely enthralled! I saw the tomb of Christopher Colombus, and his son . . . SO NEAT! And learned that someone stole part of a painting, but it's been replaced; you can see the seam where they tried to put it back together. Then we walked up 35 flights to the top of Giralda Tower: WHAT A VIEW! I took tons of pictures of the city from there, and obviously tons of the cathedral, I will try to upload some on here, but otherwise keep your eyes peeled for them on facebook!

After the tour I headed home, AGAIN! No one was home so I took a shower and started getting ready for the night and was just about to start my paper when I found out the tour of my area of town started at 7, not 9! I booked it out the door at 5 to 7 to find it was pouring rain, how nice. I grabbed my umbrella and took off for Plaza Nueva. After a miserable walk there we split into groups to tour the city...which was equally as miserable. The rain just wouldn't stop, but after our tour Delaine, Mary, and I headed into a cute little restaurant for tapas. We ate and talked for awhile until we finally decided to head home. The rain wasn't as bad at this point, thank goodness! I wrote my paper for class (tomorrow, oops!) and here I am blogging away, when in reality I should be sleeping. Oh well, that's what siestas are for! :)

More Routine to my Days

Today wasn't all that exciting, but maybe that is for the better. I went to class this morning and found out about a project due Thursday. This project entails me (with a partner, thank goodness) to approach strangers in Plaza Alfalfa and ask them what they think about the mayor and the changes in Sevilla. Can you saw AWKWARD?! Luckily I am finished with that now, but it took awhile for my partner, Matt and I to approach people. We felt like the biggest losers ever, especially with our American accents and reading directly out of our notebooks. That is where I spent my time after class, making a fool of myself. Then I headed home for lunch annnnd . . . I DIDN'T GET LOST ONE SINGLE TIME!!!!!!!!! And I was walking solo. I felt pretty good about myself as I strolled down Calle Alcantara!

Then I had some lunch, a stew basically and an orange for dessert. I can't tell you how much I love the fruit here! haha I did some homework and watched some Spanish TV then opted for a nap. Oops, I overslept! Good thing Francisco was at work and Maria went out for awhile. Then we had some dinner, I met another person, it is actually their son's mother-in-law, she lives directly above Maria and Francisco, good thing they get along!! That could be awkward for many people in the US. I caught up on my journal, blog, uploaded pictures, and took it easy. Now it's time to go to bed! Hopefully I will have some more entertaining stories for you readers soon! Hasta Luego.

No Comprendo!

On Monday I woke up for my first class, I walked with Delaine and Mary and we luckily didn’t get lost! :) Class was pretty good, but I feel like I am just relearning easy information and I just need to practice understanding and talking. I have a hard time putting my English thoughts into Spanish thoughts and don’t even get me started on my loser American accent. I have been quite discouraged lately about my Spanish I feel like I am never going to learn it and I HATE not being able to fully express myself, especially to my host family.

Anyways, after class a group of us headed to a little paper store to get some notebooks and then to Corte Ingles, which is like a Macy’s and Wal-Mart combined and on speed. It was crazy in there. I walked home alone that time and got a little lost but quickly found my way and felt pretty proud! At least if my Spanish isn’t improving my sense of direction is! When I got home I had lunch awaiting me; fried potatoes with a marinara-like sauce and pork, and again, bread. I took another siesta and when I awoke I met some of my senora’s friends. They were really nice, but I couldn’t understand them, Spanish women talk faster than you can imagine! Later their son came over with his wife and two kids; a young girl about 7 and a little boy not even 3 months old…SO CUTE! They stayed for dinner and the little girl was being so cute. She tried talking to me a lot but I hardly knew what she was saying, so I just smiled and nodded; she talks faster than Spanish women. Haha. My senora and her daughter-in-law continued to remind her to speak slower to me and she was so cute when she was trying to. Later she was reading a Spanish book to me, and it was obvious she is learning to read. I could read the Spanish with ease, but at least she can speak and understand it! I feel like I am at the level of a 2 year old. They stayed for dinner and I felt like the mute American, but I tried to understand what they were talking about and spoke minimally because I feel like I sound like an idiot when I do speak. Dinner was an egg and potato omelet, chicken, and fruit for dessert. Fruit is always for dessert, and I LOVE it! The fruit here is so delicious, and when that’s your only option for dessert it makes it amazing. Haha That night I chatted with my brother and mama, I was glad I got to but it did make me miss home, a lot! At least Jonathon and I got talk about our travel plans for when he gets here! WOO I CAN’T WAIT! Adios!

Pictures...

I uploaded some pictures to Facebook, for some reason I am having a hard time uploading them to my blog, but check them out on Facebook if you want to!

site Seeing and Being American

So Sunday I woke up and met Delaine, who lives in the same building complex as I do. We walked to the university to meet with our group to go to Italica. Italica is a place of ancient roman ruins, and it was amazing! I took so many pictures, and I will try to get them up soon, but it is hard enough trying to keep up with these day-to-day blogs! Anyways, there was an old amphitheater there that is thousands of years old and we got to go in and walk around. It was so weird to think that we were standing where people were mauled and killed by lions for the entertainment of others! We got to walk around inside the amphitheater where they kept the lions and prisoners as well, and it was after a day of rain, which just added to the effect. We continued walking around, because it used to be a small city, so there was a lot to see. We looked where some houses used to stand, and they were HUGE lots of land! It is unreal. The floors were all mosaic tiles laid by hand, and many of them were still in tact! (again I have to get those pictures up!!!) It is unbelievable that they still have these mosaic tile floors from centuries earlier, and let me tell you they are beautiful! What a tedious job to design and cut out pieces of stone and then put them down as a floor!

After our mini field trip I headed home for lunch; delicious soup with sausage, garbanzo beans, and veggies and of course a hunk of bread to go with it. They eat bread with almost every meal it seems. That night I went out with a couple of girls to a tex mex bar, the most American place ever to watch some playoff football games. Talk about being your typical Americano haha. On the way we ran into Tia and one of her friends and they were headed to the same place so we all walked together. The tex mex bar was too crowded so we went to an Irish pub right by there instead, I know, quite the improvement in experiencing the culture here haha. We enjoyed a delicious glass of sangria, watched some futbol Americano and met some other American students in a different CIEE program. After that, it was home for some rest for the start of my intensive language course!

On Saturday we woke up and checked out of the hotel locking all of our suitcases in one small room and went to breakfast in the hotel. Then it was time for our tour of Sevilla, which was modeled as a scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, as we reached the doors we were met with rain pouring down. Naturally I forgot my umbrella at home, and of course my amazing new rain jacket called H2N0 (creative) was packed at the bottom of my suitcase…locked in a room containing at least 50 more suitcases. I was not a happy camper on our 30 minute walk to the CIEE building. We got our directions and split into groups of three or four. Before we left I stopped in a little store to buy an umbrella, and don’t worry I didn’t use it the entire day; just my luck. The tour/scavenger hunt was going great until my group was approached by 3 women that began reading all our palms without time for us to react we just stood there dumbfounded. Then they tried to scam us out of money and me being the loser American that doesn’t know how to walk away from situations like this gave the lady 5 Euro. HOW EMBARASSING! She tried to scam me for more money, because she saw my 20 Euro in my wallet, but at least I didn’t suck enough to give her anymore. I was beyond mad at myself at this point, but we continued on our way and I enjoyed learning more about Sevilla.

After the tour we went back to the hotel where we awaited our new ‘families’ to come pick us up. I wasn’t nervous about moving in to someone’s home, until I sat there waiting and watching people shuffle in to the lobby. Francisco came to pick me up and I was even more nervous then, because I expected Maria to be there, in which I would have shown a little more ease. I was also concerned at first because every time he would say ‘let’s go’ (vamanos) he sounded hurried and I felt rushed, but it turns out I took it the wrong way. Francisco was really nice and he was patient with my poor Spanish. On the ride home we talked a little about weather and family and then turned into their parking garage. I felt so bad because he was helping me with my luggage and of course took the bigger suitcase, luckily they live on the first floor and there were only a few stairs from the parking garage to the courtyard area.

Maria, my senora, greeted me at the door, she was so nice, but talked too fast for me, I often have to ask her to repeat things. I get really embarrassed and flustered when I speak with them. They always tell me not to worry but it can be really frustrating when you know exactly what you want to say but don’t know how. As I proceeded further into the house I met their granddaughter. She is only 1 ½ and she is adorable. She continued to ask who the new girl was and they tried explaining to her. She was apparently not satisfied with their response and decided I was part of the family and continued to call me tia (aunt). I joked to Francisco and Maria (in broken Spanish, of course) that their granddaughter knew more Spanish than I do. They thought it was funny, but they probably agree. We got to know each other more over a lunch of meatballs with fried potatoes and a salad. It was muy delicioso! I was fairly comfortable here for it being only the first day, and Francisco helps because he will randomly sing songs and it reminds me of Popsie :) haha. Then we watched some TV and I took a much needed siesta . . . that is one Spanish custom I will be bringing home with me!

That night we went out as a group for tapas and then to a bar that offered 100s of different kinds of beers. A popular beer amongst some people in my group had a scratch and sniff label of weed; it was so weird, but highly (no pun intended) entertaining. It was great because the bar was crowded so we just moved it to the street, and that was okay, and legal! QUE BUENO! Later we went to a club, or discoteca but it was full of Americans. It was an interesting place but I left early because I couldn’t handle all the cigarette smoke it makes me super nauseous and I hate smelling like it after each day and night out. That’s an example of a Spanish custom that I will not mind leaving. EVERYONE smokes here, and they are allowed to smoke wherever they want. It stinks, literally!

I got home late that night because I got lost, but luckily I was with a girl from my group, Delaine, and even luckier she lives in the same building as me! However, neither of us could open the gate to get inside to the buildings for quite some time. We finally made it in and as I was attempting to unlock the front door to my house I accidentally rang the doorbell at approximately 2 in the morning. HOW EMBARASSING! But at least I found my house, one boy in my group couldn’t find where he lived so he just walked around literally ALL NIGHT! I would have been a mess and undoubtedly at the police station haha.

Sorry this post was so lengthy but a lot is going on! PS: I HAVE WIFI IN MY HOMESTAY!!!! That made me beyond happy! WOOHOO!

More Blabbing!

So of course I have a lot to say again! I’m a day behind on my blog so it is hard to write everything because I get excited about the new stuff of the day, but hopefully I catch up soon! Yesterday I woke up, took the fastest shower ever, and headed to breakfast in the hotel. I was beyond tired throughout the day which was filled with little seminars about all sorts of new things we will be experiencing. We had a break and went to get café con leche, it was the best one I have had yet! YUM! We continued with the meetings until lunch, on the way our guide got us lost, and it’s not like any of us could help. We had a delicious potato thing (haha sorry I don’t know the name) first followed by paella. For those of you familiar with the commercial about ‘pa-ella’, well I wish I never tried it. It was full of seafood: EW! There was a whole miniature octopus in it, which made me want to throw up the potato thing. The good news is I was able to get a diet coke :) We then had fried potato slices with pork: potatoes were delicious, pork just okay. Dessert followed and we all tried flan and a couple other dishes, nothing too spectacular. Then we headed back to the CIEE building for more meetings. However, something good came of our return, THEY FOUND MY SUITCASE!!! I was so relieved, but then I realized I had to wheel my suitcase from the CIEE building (why it was delivered there I will never know) all the way to the hotel on narrow, cobblestone sidewalks. I felt like the biggest nerd, but at least I had my things! After the meetings we had a little interview with our soon-to-be professors of the intensive language course. Luckily I went second, so I was able to return to the hotel for some much needed free time!

When I got to the hotel, my WiFi in my room was working and I got to chat with my parentals for awhile!!!! FINALLY! I then got dressed and met everyone in the hotel for dinner. After dinner we walked to a Flamenco show, which was really neat. I kind of felt like it was a mix between interpretive dance and tap dance. It was awesome watching them dance, and they were so fuerte (strong) in their movements! After the show we went back to the hotel and many people chose to go out, but I needed to stay in and get some sleep. Also, I talked to my mama and my aunt on Skype for quite sometime which made me very happy, but miss everyone at the same time. I finally went to bed and slept like a baby, until my alarm so rudely went off this morning. We are always so busy and it is hard to catch up on sleep. I feel like I have been here for at least a week, and it is only day 3! Crazy! Hasta Luego!

SO MUCH NEWS! LO SIENTO!

Hola Todos! Sorry I haven't blogged yet, but honestly it is better that I waited out my first emotions so I can put how I really feel. I have so much to write, so please bear with me, for this post could be long!

So let's begin with the airport: things were going well until we were on the plane and we sat on the runway for 50 MINUTES! Not a good thing when you have a connecting flight an hour later and one of the biggest, and most confusing airports ever, Madrid! For those of you who don't know, I was traveling with my friend and Tia and thank goodness she was with me, or I may have freaked out. We legitimately sprinted through the Madrid airport dodging people and the odd looks they gave us just to reach the terminal and watch our plane scoot down the runway without us. We headed to the help desk and luckily got on a flight only 2 hours later. Again, good thing Tia was there, because her Spanish es muy bien! We finally arrived in Sevilla and headed to baggage claim....guess who only got one suitcase? Oh, me. Tia had left at this point and I struggled when explaining my situation to the man at the Iberia help desk. I slumped away looking for the CIEE sign promised to be at the exit and couldn't find it. Near tears, I finally found the girl from the program and she sent me to the hotel in a cab reminding me not to tip (how weird).

I went to my hotel room to find the Wi-Fi not working which was the last straw in my long, miserable day. I began wondering why I thought it was a good idea to come to Sevilla for an entire semester. Feeling tired, sad, and discouraged because of my poor Spanish I finally laid down for one of the best naps of my life. Afterwards, we went to a short meeting and out for Tapas y Cervezas...something that definitely helped me cheer up haha. Afterwards a few of us continued to the hotel bar for a drink, the bar across the street, and then finally one more bar blasting loud music that we thought must be fun. As we walk in we find it was a gay bar, and choose to stay when we heard there was a show later . . . it was beyond hilarious, one of our friends was pulled on stage, and don't worry, pictures to come. The only downside of the night was only getting 4 hours of sleep after only a few hours the day before. It turned out to be great and I enjoyed Sevilla so much more when rested and calmed down. I have sooo much more to share, especially about today, but we have dinner in 10 minutes, and I need to get ready! Thanks for reading :)