"The Cheetah Girls Take Barcelona! "

This weekend, my three friends and I went to Barcelona! Barca is somewhere that I have always wanted to go my whole life, and I can’t believe that I actually got to go! This whole trip has been so surreal feeling. Every time I go somewhere, I get the feeling that I am just so overwhelmingly small in this giant, amazing world that it out there.

Our adventure began on Thursday evening. We flew from Sevilla to Barcelona, a flight of roughly about two hours. When we got to the airport, I was of course thrilled to walk out to find our bus and be able to see the Joan Miró mural on the wall of terminal 2! This mural has earned the El Prat airport the title of being in the top ten most beautiful airports in the world! We quickly realized upon arrival that although Barca is a part of Spain, that Spanish is not the most spoken language. Barca is in the region of Cataluña, and Catalan is the most spoken language there. It is a mix of Spanish, French, and some other ridiculous thing that makes it very difficult to understand, even for me, and I speak Spanish AND French! However, we were able to make our way onto the bus that would take us to the city center so that we could find our bed and breakfast. After getting a bit lost (of course) we found our new home for the weekend. If we wouldn’t have had the address, we never would have found it, it was a little hole in the wall that looked like someone’s house, which it was, since it was a b&b. Although, small, our private room was nice, with two sets of bunkbeds, a bathroom with the tiniest shower and the coldest water, and a pretty nice patio where we sat and ate dinner. Our host, Tina, was very kind and helpful about the city, and she spoke English, Spanish, and Catalan very well. She told us all about where to catch the metro and get to certain places that we wanted to go see. After getting settled down, we walked to Dominos (I know, so Americana) and attempted to order a pizza, even though the menu was in Catalan and the employees were not easy to understand. It’s amazing how hard ordering a pizza can be! After about twenty minutes, we got our pizza and walked back to the b&b, and passed out from our long day of travel.

On Friday, we woke up early and had a yummy breakfast at our b&b. We then walked about five minutes till we got our first look at La Sagrada Familia (the sacred family), the most amazing church ever built, by Antoni Gaudi. Sadly, it was not finished in his lifetime, since he was hit by a tram in the street and killed. However, the work is still carrying on in his absence. It is being funded entirely by donations now, which I think is amazing. How cool would it be to say that you helped donate to building La Sagrada Familia?! Maybe one day in my lifetime, I hope to be able to go back to Barcelona and see the finished work, without all of the scaffolding on it. After waiting in line, we went inside, and words and pictures will do the interior no justice. You look up and see the most amazing and intricate ceiling, beautiful stained glass windows all around you, and twisting salamonica columns and winding balconies. Gaudi just has a way of making everything twisty, whimsical, and other worldly. His style is unlike anything else, and so modern for his time. We went through the entire basilica and then outside, around the back as well. The detail is so intricate and amazing. Every facet of the church is just mind blowingly beautiful. We also climbed up the towers, which made me very uncomfortable. I am usually not afraid of heights at all, but I think it was the combination of going up and up and up a tiny twisting staircase in a circle, surrounded by people. It was hot and claustrophobic. However, the view from the towers was amazing, and you could see all of Barcelona, and the Mediterranean Sea! After spending the entire morning at La Sagrada Familia, we headed home, ate lunch, and then set off on a bus to Parc Montjuic! It wound its way up a mountain until we made it to the top, where we began the long, slow, and beautiful descent down. We started out by seeing the 1992 Olympic Stadium, and then we walked over to the MNAC, in English, The Museum of National Catalunan Art. From here, there was a beautiful view of Plaza Espana (not the real one like we have in Sevilla!) and the fountains. We walked down and went into Pueblo Espanola, a walled village that is supposed to represent all of the major cities and autonomous provinces in Spain. We walked our way through it tasting wine, sangria, chocolates, cheeses, breads, and olive oil. There was a movie being shot in the Pueblo, so some streets were closed off. Too bad they didn’t tell us what movie it was! There were also lots of feral cats roaming around. So cute and scruffy! After we were done, we caught a bus back to the b&b, ate dinner, and rested for awhile. Since the water in our shower was so cold, Keslie and I helped each other wash each other’s hair over the edge of the tub so we didn’t have to get in and freeze. If that’s not friendship then I don’t know what is! Once we got ready, we headed out to the beach, where we went to “Ice Barcelona”, a bar made entirely of ice! Once inside, they gave us jackets and gloves so we wouldn’t freeze. Even our glasses were made out of ice, and the longer you held them, the meltier they got from your body heat. After spending a while there, we wandered back through the city and eventually made it back home and went to sleep.

On Saturday, we woke up and had breakfast, then walked to Parque Guell, another famous Gaudi masterpiece. It was a beautiful and sunny day, and we spent all morning walking through the park and admiring the architecture and the greenery. We had a picnic lunch in the park, and then headed towards Plaza Cataluña and La Rambla, a famous street in the heart of Barca. We walked past all of the flower shops and went into a huge market where we got some delicious fresh squeezed fruit juices. We also saw some disgusting animal parts, like brains and tongues! After the market, we did some shopping and then took the metro home to get ready for our night out. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café, and we met some crazy Sicilian people who were professing their undying love for Spain. That night, we lost an hour with the time change, so we only got five hours of sleep before having to get up and check out of our b&b on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, as we were leaving, we realized that it was the day the Barcelona Marathon! We saw them running and zigzagging all over the city and we stopped frequently to cheer them on. I have always wanted to run a marathon, and seeing this one inspired me to do so even more! One day soon, I promise myself that I am going to do it! We walked to see the three Gaudi houses in the center of the city, and then we walked back down La Rambla and sat in the sun in Plaza Cataluña. On our walk to the bus, I somehow cut my toe open and we had to stop at a hotel to get some bandages. Once we got on the bus to the airport, we headed home to Sevilla, tired and happy, and I am getting more freckles from the sun.

This week, I have midterms. Ugh! It is weird to think that I am already over halfway through with my time here studying abroad! It is coming to a close too fast! I don’t want to think about it! Next week, we have our “spring break”, which is really Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday. In Spain, it is a huge deal, especially in Sevilla. People from all over the world will be flooding here to see the festivities. I am excited! However, the first half of the break, I will be going to MOROCCO for five days! Hooray! Tonight I have to tutor and then study study study for exams. Wish me luck!

"English Breakfast"

Cheerio! Well, after five long days of travelling out of Spain for the first time, I am back in sweet home Sevilla! It was a lot of travelling, but my journey went a little something like this:

On Wednesday, I got done with class, came back to my house and grabbed my backpack which I had packed the night before. I walked a half hour to the train station here in Sevilla to catch my AVE high speed train to Madrid. The journey was smooth, and once I got there, I used the metro pass that my friend Michele had given me and took the metro from the train station to the stop closest to my hostel. I found it easily and checked in. However, this is where the easiness of things ended. I soon found out that I would not be able to take the metro to the airport the next morning, as originally planned. My flight to London was scheduled to leave from Madrid at 7:30am on Thursday morning. The metro didn’t start running till 6am, thus not leaving me with enough time to make it to the airport. The man at the desk told me that I could take a “night bus” but that I would have to walk quite a ways to catch it. In the end, I ended up leaving my hostel at 4am on Thursday morning, and taking a 30 EURO TAXI RIDE to the airport! Expensive, but it was the only way to make it that on time and guaranteed in the right terminal of the massive airport. I ended up making it onto my flight to London Gatwick Airport just fine, and I slept the entire two hours. Once I landed, I went to the terminal where Brent would be landing an hour later to wait for him to get in. It was great to see him again for the second weekend in a row!

Once he arrived, we got on the London Gatwick Express, which is a train that takes you to the Victoria Station, in the heart of London. Once we got to Victoria, we found our hostel, but they told us we couldn’t check in until after 2pm. Deciding that we wanted to get underway, we took the metro (which was super complicated but also kind of fun) to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge! We spent a while walking around the bridge and admiring the River Thames and then exploring the Tower of London, which is not just ONE tower, don’t be fooled! It is like a huge complex of MANY towers and rooms and buildings! The crown jewels were on display there and I wished that I was allowed to take pictures! They were so beautiful and shiny and amazing! After leaving the Tower of London, we took the metro into the famous Trafalgar Square. It was such a beautiful day out, and the next day in the paper we read it turned out to say that it was the warmest day of the year so far in England: 65 and sunny! We spent a little more than an hour in the National Gallery art museum simply because we had so much to do in just a day. I loved every second of it though; I was art geeking looking at all of the paintings from some of the most famous artists in the world.

By this time, we were ready to ditch our heavy backpacks, so we went back to the hostel to get rid of them and regroup for a few minutes. We set out again and went down Birdcage Walk to get to Buckingham Palace. It was so pretty at night with all the lights and the fountain. The pictures do it no justice, as they never do, I am finding out! After that, we walked farther still to get to Big Ben and Parliament. I was literally getting teary eyed when we rounded the corner and saw the illuminated clock tower rising into the dark night sky. We spent quite some time there on the Westminster Bridge just admiring the buildings, the river, and the London Eye, which is a huge ferris wheel that you can see the whole city from. Then we went in search of something we were both dying to have: fish and chips! We ended up at the Victoria Pub, and it was one of the best meals I have yet to have! After eating, we walked back to the Tower Bridge because we wanted to see it lit up by night. We ended up running into a group of French people, and I got to practice my rusty French skills with them. They understood me though, and they seemed impressed when I told them that I learned French in the States and not in England. Eventually, we made our way back to the hostel, slept for six hours, and then got up bright and early again to hit the city before our train to Bath!

On Friday morning, we went back to Parliament and Big Ben to see it in the daylight (just as amazing) and we also went to see Westminster Abbey, where Will and Kate got married! Then we walked to Kings Cross Station (Harry Potter, anyone?!) and saw Platform 9 ¾! Too bad I couldn’t get across to the other side though! Then we walked through Kensington Gardens, which were beautiful, and watched all the kids and dogs playing. We finally ended up at Paddington Train Station, where we got on the train for an hour and half going east to Bath, England, where our friends Brittany and Wesley live!

They met us at the train station and I was so happy to see them, since the last time was during Christmas. I hadn’t even seen Wesley since the summer! We walked from the station to a sandwich shop where Brent and I could feed our starving stomachs and then we walked to their house, which was just great! For students, actually living in a house is quite nice, and their housemates and their girlfriends were all just fabulous, funny, and kind! After relaxing at their house for a while and talking and catching up, we went to Tesco and got some food for dinner, and then Brittany had to go to work at the Pub for a few hours. We all stayed at home and got ready to go out and meet her later, and then we walked down to the King’s Arms, which is the pub where she bartends. After listening to some karaoke and having a few drinks, we went to a club called Blue Rooms after she got off of work. It was a very fun night! We got home and went to bed, and then we had another early morning.

Saturday, we got up and went and had a traditional English breakfast at the Busy Bee. It was amazing! In Spain, they don’t really eat big breakfasts, so to have a “real” breakfast after almost two months was so amazing! Other than the mushrooms, I liked everything: toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, and coffee and oj. After breakfast, Brittany took us to her Uni, Bath Spa. She basically goes to school in a castle on an amazing green hillside. We spent about an hour walking around the campus and then took the bus back down into town, where we met Wesley, and we went to lunch at Spoons. Unfortunately, they forgot to bring out Brent and I’s food till after Britt and Wes had already finished, but oh well, such is life, we got it in the end. Then we went to the Roman Baths, which were really fun and pretty, and gratefully most of which are covered/indoor because it had started to rain (the authentic English experience)! After exploring the Baths, we went to the Bath Abbey and the Weir, which is this cool waterfall/damn thing in the river. We went back home to dry off and change, and Wesley made some amazing fajita carbonarra pasta. Brittany went into work for a few hours, and we watched a dating show called “Take Me Out” which Brent and I thought was hilarious. Then we walked down to meet Britt, and instead of going out after, we all just ended up going back to the house and hanging out. It was a fun night, and I got to meet Britt’s friend Steph, even though I fell asleep shortly afterwards.

Sunday was not a fun day. We had to get up at 9 to walk to the train station and saying goodbye to Britt and Wes wasn’t very fun. And once we got to the station, we had seen that our train back to London had been CANCELLED! Luckily, there was one that came 45 minutes later that we were able to take and it still gave us enough time. Once we got back to London, we walked to the Victoria Train Station, where we took the Gatwick Express back to the London Gatwick Airport. Once at the airport, I had to say goodbye the Brent again, which I never like doing. Then I had to run to my gate to make it back to Madrid on time. The flight was rough, since I was getting tired and hungry. Once I landed in Madrid, I had to take the metro for about forty minutes to get to the Atocha Train Station that would take me back to Sevilla. After I finally got to the station, I went to the bathroom, and when I came out, my wallet was GONE. Of course, after a long day of nothing but goodbyes and travelling alone, I was panicked and tired and crying, but luckily the cleaning lady had found it and brought it to the security desk. I had never been more scared in my life, I was convinced that I had been pickpocketed on the metro and everything in my wallet was done for. At 9:30 pm, I finally boarded the last leg of my trip and went to Sevilla by train and collapsed into my bed at home in Sevilla at 12:30.

This morning, I went to class, came home and ate lunch, and then took a much needed siesta. I have to go tutor my two little girls now, which I am excited about!

Write more soon, promise!

Xoxoxo miss you all!

“Tutoring!”

Okay, so a quick post to update you all on my amazing tutoring experience that I just started tonight:

I applied through my school here to be a tutor to Spanish children whose parents want them to have more experience learning/speaking English. Luckily, I was able to get the position! Tonight, I went over to their house to have my first session with them.

Their house is beautiful, for starters. Just amazing. They have an entire play/study room where I was able to work with them! Their names are Reyes and Angela, and they are 11 and 8 (almost 9! As she kept reminding me) respectively. They are just the cutest things ever. When I got there, they were kind of shy in their matching school uniforms with plaid skirts and navy sweaters over polos. However, within ten minutes of getting into our “classroom” session, they were all smiles and excited and wanting me to look at all of their school books and their drawings and teach them new words!

In their play room, they basically have an entire half wall that is a white board, so I had them draw me pictures of their vocabulary words like tree, river, lake, leaves, etc. I had Reyes, the older one, write sentences in English since she is learning verbs. She hates the verb “to run” because she think it is the hardest and it all sounds the same.

Angela has a Hannah Montana pen that sings different songs when you push the buttons and she loves to sing along to it! Sooooo cute!

Quickly, our hour together passed, and before I knew it, it was time to go. However, their mom told me that I could come back whenever I wanted, and she also asked me if I would be willing to babysit them sometimes during the weekends when her and husband wanted to go out on dates. So of course I said yes! More time with the cutest Spanish girls AND getting paid 10 Euro per hour per child?! I can SO get used to this!

More details to come soon!

“Brent’s Weekend!”

Well this past week and weekend were just amazing! To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember a whole lot of my school week other than sitting behind my desk and anxiously tapping my pen and jiggling my leg in anticipation because I knew that my boyfriend, Brent, would be arriving to visit me for the weekend on Thursday evening! So during the week, I made sure to keep up on all of my homework and assignment that way I was stress free while Brent was here.

On Thursday, Ebony and I mapped out the route from our house to the train station where we would go pick up Brent. It was a little less than a half an hour walk, and it was a nice afternoon so it was a good walk. We found the station with ease (which is good, since I will need to go there myself this coming week) and figured out what terminal Brent’s train was arriving at and waited for it to arrive. I couldn’t help but run down the stairs and hug him when I saw him get off the train! It was such a good feeling to see him after almost two months apart!! The tree of us walked back to our house from the station and Tony made us all dinner (crema verde and alfredo with ham and bacon). It was slightly difficult for Brent because he doesn’t speak any Spanish, and Tony and Manuel don’t speak any English, so I had to translate for all three of them in order for them to communicate. After dinner, we walked to our hostel, which was about ten minutes away from my house. It was clean and organized, and I was impressed since it was my first hostel experience since being in Europe. After we got settled in and put our bags away, I took Brent out for his first night out in Sevilla! It wasn’t anything fancy or involved, since he was tired from a full day of travelling and we knew we both wanted to get up early to have a full day of sightseeing on Friday. We went to one of my favorite places in Sevilla, Cervezeria Cien Montaditos, and got some beers and just talked and caught up. Brent is one of my favorite people to talk to, so it was great to just have a good long conversation after being apart for so long with only limited communication through internet. Since we were so close to it, I took Brent to see the Seta, which means mushroom. It is a big modern structure that you can climb and see all of Sevilla from at night, when it is all lit up. After that, we returned to the hostel and went to bed, because we were up and out early on Friday morning!

We started Friday at the Alcazar, which is the royal fortress in Sevilla (see previous blog posts for more info on this). We explored our way through the interior and then went through the amazing gardens, hedge mazes, and palm trees. After, I took Brent through Barrio Santa Cruz, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sevilla. We stopped at a café and got some genuine Spanish style breakfast: café con leche and thick toasted bread with jamón Serrano, aceita de oliva, and queso blanco! Brent loved it! Once our bellies were full and happy, we walked to the Cathedral. We toured the inside, I showed Brent where I go to mass, and then we climbed the 34 flights of ramps up to the top of the Giralda and he got to see the view of Sevilla from the top. We came down and walked around the city some more so he could see the daily Spanish life. I took Brent on a walk along the river and we got smoothies because it was so hot and sunny out. We crossed the bridge and went to Triana, where Brent bought a nice spring jacket for the weather in Prague. Then we went back to my house for lunch. Tony made some garbanzo bean soup and fried calamari and fish, which Brent loved. We lounged around and did some travel planning for our London trip, and then we returned to the hostel to change and get ready to go out for the evening. We went to the bus station to inquire about tickets for Italica on Saturday. We walked around the city and went from bar to bar to stop for a drink and chat at each one. We went to get tapas at an outdoor restaurant and we shared meatballs and rice, Spanish ribs (which I was not too keen on), croquettes de queso, and tortilla de patata. I had to have Brent try some typical Spanish dishes! We walked back to the plaza near the hostel and sat outside in the outdoor restaurant and had some drinks and talked for a long time. Finally, we went to bed for another long day ahead!

Saturday, we got up and showered and had breakfast at Café de Indias, and ordered Brent’s new favorite thing: jamón Serrano! After breakfast, we walked to the bus station and hopped on a bus to Italia, the first Roman Capital! We spent the morning walking around the ruins and the third largest coliseum in Europe! Even though I had been there before, I still enjoyed it very much and it was a beautiful sunny day. When we were done exploring, we waited for the bus to come back, since it runs every half an hour. However, we accidentally missed the first one, so we went and picked oranges off of a tree and ate them, which has been one of my Spanish Bucket List goals! It tasted like a regular orange, but the juice was just bitterer. You can eat the oranges off the trees, but you have to let them sit a few days before you eat them. Then after waiting for a few minutes, we got on the next bus back to Sevilla. Once we got back into the city, we went to Montaditos and got a platter of them to try. We sat in the sun with our cervezas in the crowded plaza and watched the people go by. After we finished eating, we walked to the best ice cream place in the world and walked with our cold treats to Plaza de Espana! We walked around the Plaza and sat there and rested for a while since it was hot and we were tired from a long morning and afternoon. Then we walked through the entire Parque de Maria Luisa, and sat and watched the ducks in the ponds for awhile. We walked through the winding garden paths across fountains and flowers and running children. Eventually, we walked farther into the park than I have ever been before, and we discovered two free public museums! An archaeology museum and a museum of people, art and culture! We decided to go check out the archaeology museum, and it was very interesting, and there were a lot of the original artifacts from Italica in there! But by the time we left, we were both so tired from walking all day, and starting to get hungry again. We made the long walk back to my house, and we wearily flopped down on the couch and continued planning our England trip. Then later Tony made dinner (tuna pasta) and we all talked about her world travels and she showed us all the things that she has brought back from around the world. It was very interesting! And we also talked about Reindeer Racing in Finlandia (claroooooo)! Finally, Brent and I headed back to the hostel so that he could get his glasses, and we went out to grab a few drinks and talk some more. When we returned to the hostel, we went up on the rooftop terrace for awhile and just watched the city and the night sky. Then we looked through all of our pictures from the weekend and fell asleep.

This morning, we checked out of the hostel, and went to get Brent’s last Spanish coffee and breakfast. Then we walked to the train station, where I sadly had to say farewell. Although I was sad to see him go, we had a great weekend together, and we will see each other again in just four days when we meet up for a weekend in England together! We are going to London for a night, and then spending two nights in Bath with our friends Brittany and Wesley for St. Patty’s weekend. I am looking forward to it, and I know that school this week is going to go by super slow waiting for another weekend to come! I can’t thank Brent enough for coming to visit me and spending a great weekend together in Sevilla. I hope in the future both of us get a chance to come back here together again :) I love you, Brent! <3

“Gibraltar & Grazalema”

I am going to warn you straight off that this is going to be a long post. Hang in there, folks!

So, this weekend was one of the best that I have had in Spain, thus far! I am literally convinced that I live in the most beautiful country in the entire world.

We had school on Friday to make up for the day that we had off on Tuesday, which made this weekend feel so much shorter than it normally is. On Friday after class, I just relaxed and hung out at home with Ebony. We didn’t want to go out and do too much because we knew we would have to be up very early on Saturday morning to head to Gibraltar! Gibraltar is the southernmost tip of Spain, and the southernmost point of all of Europe. It has been an English territory since 1704, which is when it was taken from the Spanish, I believe?

So we got up and left the house and made it to our 9am bus. It took 2 and a half hours to get there, but it was the most scenic and gorgeous drive ever! We drove through a nature preserve most of the way that had every type of ancient tree that you can imagine: rolling hills and mountains, lakes and rivers, the most beautiful trees and flowers. I didn’t take my eyes off the window the whole time. When we finally arrived at Gibraltar, the view only got better! It is literally the meeting point of two continents and two large bodies of water: Spain, the southern tip of Europe, and Morocco, the northern tip of Africa; as well as the Atlantic Ocean on the west side, and the Mediterranean Sea on the east side. It is literally an indescribably beautiful site.

Getting into Gibraltar is exactly like having to travel to a different country, and we needed our passports to cross the border. The customs agents also came and searched our bus. It was kind of annoying to have to wait so long when all I wanted to do was get off the bus and explore, but it was super cool to hear the British accents from the customs agents! English is the official language of Gibraltar, but since it is so close to Spain, everyone speaks at least some Spanish as well. Unfortunately, one of the guys that was on the bus with us wasn’t let in, and had to wait all day on the other side of the border, because he forgot his passport. Bummer! Once we got across the border and the bus parked, we got out and had time to explore the city. It is small, and easy to walk in its entirety within two hours. The town itself is very touristy, and they even have fake royal processions that go through the streets. This kind of rubbed me the wrong way, since I wanted something rich and authentic, but I guess it is supposedly a “mini London” (telephone boxes and all). However, the town was not the part of Gibraltar that was the not interesting/exciting. Gibraltar is famous for “The Rock of Gibraltar”, which is a massive mountain that juts out into the strait, and is home to steeps cliffs, deep caves, and wild monkeys!

We boarded a tiny white bus/van thing that was supposed to take us to the top of this peak. I had my doubts that it would make it up the essentially vertical climb up the cliff, but that actually made the ride that much more fun. Our driver/guide, Charlie, was talking to himself into the microphone in his adorable old man English accent as he drove and made the tight turns twisting up the mountain. “That’s it; c’mon!; bit further!” We stopped at several points on the way up to see the different views from the rock, and each one was more amazing than the next. About half way up, we stopped to venture into St. Michaels Cave. There is a huge network of caves that run through the mountain, and St. Michaels is supposedly “bottomless” and keeps going down down down into the earth for eternity. It was such an eerie experience. We were all talking and laughing but the second we entered the cave and started the descent into the chilly gray rocks, we fell silent one by one. It was almost as if they cave was telling us to hush, and the ground we walked on felt so sacred and ancient that it almost deserved the respect of silence upon entry. We weaved up and down through the network of carved out rock paths through the cave. The stalagmites and stalactites jutted up and down from the ceiling and the floor, creating shapes that looked like jaws and claws in the shadowy half light. I literally felt like I was in a different world. I loved every second of it.

When we returned back to the light of day, the excited chatter began again and we boarded our little rickety white van, and continued higher still. Our last stop was near the top where we found our monkey friends! The monkeys are wild, but they are monitored and controlled by the government of Gibraltar (which is technically ruled by the Parliament and Queen of England, since it is an English Colony). The monkeys are also used to people climbing/hiking/driving up the rock, so they won’t do you any harm (unless you have a super shiny object or food which they want to steal and eat). We were able to get close to them and if they permitted it, touch them. Most of them were either quite mischievous or quite lazy. One little baby had hopped onto a car and was chewing the antennae! What a rascal! And others were simply in family groups, grooming each other or sleeping. I loved seeing them and interacting with them and it was by far the best part of the trip!

We went back down the rock, and then eventually made our way home to Sevilla. I fell into bed and slept long and hard. On Sunday morning, it was another early day and up and at ‘em to catch a bus to Grazalema! Grazalema is a city in the south of Spain, roughly 2 hours from Sevilla that is nestled into the mountains. It is literally the only sign of life for miles and miles around. It looks as if the village was just placed down by the hands of God into the mountainside. I have never been to California, but I have heard stories of the wild coastal highways there. However, I can say with near certainty that those highways have NOTHING on the ridiculousness of the “highway” that we had to take on to get up the mountain! The sharpest, narrowest hairpins turns were around every bend, winding higher and higher still into the mountain. And there were NO GUARDRAILS of any kind! Can you say dangerous?! But I guess that the road is not often used, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be the “safest”. I’m sure it was difficult enough to carve the road out of the mountainside without also having the burden of building guardrails.

After an hour of seeing nothing but green and mountains and clouds, and wild sheep and mountain goats frolicking in the hills, we finally rounded a corner and saw the beautifully quaint village that is Grazalema! It is a “pueblo blanco” which means white town/village. It means that all of the buildings all look the same and are all painted white, which is typical in smaller villages in southern Spain.

Once we got off the bus, we began our amazing hike through the mountain. Words can’t do it justice. I have a handful of amazingly descriptive adjectives, but words and pictures do not even do this area justice! It was such a gorgeous day, warm and sunny. After about two hours of hiking, we wound our way back down to the little village and had lunch and explored the little twisting streets. The bus ride home was quite ridiculous, and I felt at times we were literally going to fall off the edge of the cliffs, but it was so worth it. The whole trip was amazing!

But today, I am SO SORE! My whole body is in pain. Clearly I am out of shape, because hiking really kicked my butt! My hips, knees and legs are feeling like they belong to an 80 rather than a 20 year old woman!

In other news aside from the weekend trips, life here is getting better and better. I am in my second week of Continuation Period classes, and I like how laid back and discussion based my classes are. The relationship between student and professor here is much more causal and relaxed, and we call them by their first names. My classes are small, all less than 20 students. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about that, however, I am liking it more and more as the time passes.

This weekend, my boyfriend Brent is coming to visit me! He is also studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic, this semester, and so it isn’t that far/expensive for him to come visit. I am very excited to show him around me new beloved hometown of Sevilla! I hope that this week passes by quickly, I am ready for some fun in the sun!

Missing everyone at home, and you’re all in my thoughts and prayers!

xoxo

“One Month In!”

So my dear friends and family, it has been one month today since I have been in Sevilla, Spain! Can you believe it?! I feel like it has flown by! If this is how fast the first month went, the next two and a half are going to come and go before I know it, and then I’ll be back on American soil before I even know what hit me.

In other news, this week has been just dandy. On Monday, we began our “Continuation Period” classes, which are the ones that we will have the rest of the semester. I have three classes: Spanish Civilization, Great Works of Spanish Literature, and Spanish for Business. So far, I love them all! Originally, I had an Anthropology class, but it was kind of at odd times/days, so I emailed my advisor at CMU, and now I am enrolled in Spanish for Business, which I like a lot, and I know that it will be very useful for me in any future career path that I choose.

I have class Monday through Thursday from 10:20am until 1:45pm. Not too shabby! I can definitely handle that schedule! I usually sleep till 9, and then I get up and shower, eat breakfast, and then leave my house to walk to school at 10. It has been working out quite well, and I like it a lot.

Tuesday, we had school of for Dia de Andalucia, which is sort of like a Spanish version of Labor Day. No one has to go to school or work. I spent the day relaxing with Ebony and Mikaela. We took a walk and we watched Water for Elephants. It was a nice relaxing day. Wednesday, I went to class, then spent most of the afternoon on the roof.

Today, I went to class, came home and had lunch, then met up with two people from my class for a group project for Business. We were assigned a specific district of the city, and we had to observe the businesses there, and see what they were lacking, and what we would add/change/get rid of. We have to give a presentation on it in class. I am confident that we will do well. I like all the people in my classes, and I am making new friends fast, which I also like. None of my classes have more than twenty people in them, and it is very nice because the professors know us all on a personal level.

I have noticed that the classes here are much more casual, and laid back. Although we are working hard and learning, we can call the professors by the first name, and use the “tu” form of “you”, which is informal, as if you were speaking to a friend rather than a teacher. They are all open and accepting of any questions that we have, and all of the classes are largely based on discussion. I am enjoying it a lot!

This weekend, I am going on two day trips within Spain: Saturday, I am going to Gibraltar, which is the southernmost tip of Spain, and it is technically a territory of England, and it is supposedly just like a “mini London”….except with MONKEYS! Pretty excited about it! Then on Sunday I am going to Grazalema, which is on the coast and I am going to go hiking! Woohoo!

Have a great weekend everyone, and be sure to check back in on Sunday for a weekend update!

xoxo