Study and the beach.

For the first real time outside of the classroom I actually studied. I have been so caught up in learning and experiencing the culture of Spain that I have forgot to learn the language. I've been busy exploring, meeting new people from all of the world, and having fun with my new Tech friends the Sevillan way while our first test has snuck up on me. Our test is this Thursday. I started making notecards last night at a cafe near my house. It is crazy how much more I understood and could communicate just after one hardcore study session.

Professor Stratton (aka Strat-Daddy) gave us a brief overview in class today on what we could expect to be included in the test. Now, I feel much better on what I need to study between now and thursday. He is seriously one of the best professors I've ever had. He is one funny man. He always has a little "pep" in his step and you can help but to smile. Before class every day he tells us a "cow joke." For example:

"Where do cows go when they want a night out?

To the moo-vies!"

Okay, that was a bad example, his are actually good- but you get the idea.

Today in class we watched an older movie in english with subtitles in spanish. The section of the movie we watched was located in Spain during the time the Christians over threw the Moros to gain dominants in Spain.. It showed nobles and horses and old palaces and soldiers. It was very interesting and really got me thinking about just how lucky I am to be here. Everything that I get it see and experience is so amazing. The history and beauty and culture. Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself "Hey, we're in Spain right now." and just take a good look around. Because who knows when the next time I'll have the opportunity to do something as amazing as this.

After class we had the choice to either go to the beach or to go study for the test. Being the intelligent students that we are, we brought our study material to the beach with us. We went to Cadiz to Playa de Victoria. Unlike our first adventure to the beach, this trip we just relaxed, and tried to study some. I took a nice nap listening to the Avett Brothers on my ipod and then woke up and did a little studying on the beach. I wish it was easy back in Lubbock to just go study on a beach somewhere.

I was courageous today in thinking that if I didn't wear sun screen this time at the beach then I would get a better tan. Now I am very sunburned.

Tomorrow we just have class, studying, and tutors. Thursday we have our test and will probably go to Cien since we wont be making it Wednesday. And Friday we are traveling to Granada for 2 days. It should be a moderately relaxing week minus the test. I will keep you updated!

The weekend: Cordaba. The fair. Renaissance festival. Out. Alcazar. Bullfight.

On Saturday, our trip to Cordaba was fun! It was about an hour and thirty min bus ride from the train station. On the way down there we have time to look at our bucket list as see how much we still need to cross off before we leave and we only have 2 more weeks in the city of Sevilla. It is absolutely insane how fast time is flying by.

When we got to Cordaba we had to walk across the beautiful roman bridge to enter the actual city. We walked by this creep thing that looked like a very festive deer with a colorful blanket on. It was kind of creepy. It was just a man under there making the deer move like a puppet and trying to get money- interesting. I don’t know how he wasn’t dying of a heat stroke. We also saw a few guys playing the classical guitar and singing, a woman playing the accordion, people making jewelry.

We first went to the Cathedral and Synagogue with our class. They were both beautiful. Inside the Cathedral were tons of beautiful red and white striped aches. The architecture was really stunning. We also had the chance to creep on a wedding at the Cathedral! It was beautiful. I took some really great- creepy, but great- pictures of the wedding. The set up was beautiful.

On our way to the Synagogue we past through a street that is known for all of its beautiful flowers. It was such a beautiful sight. At the end of the street you could see the bell tower of the Cathedral with all of the pretty flowers hanging from the balcony’s of the street.

After we were done touring around those attractions we were free to do whatever we please. Most of our host mom’s packed us sandwiches to go on the trip so we all sat outside the cathedral and had a little picnic! I wasn’t very hungry (probably because of the extremely high carb diet they have in Spain), so I saved half of my sandwich. There was a woman and her baby who were obviously starving and in need of food sitting outside of the Synagogue earlier so Maggie and I decided to walk back and giver them the rest of my food.

We then shopped around a little bit at the cute shops in Corbada. We didn’t buy anything but it was still really fun just to walk around. We hear there was a fair in town so of course we had to go check out a Spanish fair! We walked a few blocks until we reached the fair. It looked a lot like a state fair in Texas, just less rides and more places to eat and drink. Everyone was dressed in there best. Instead of like texas, where we wear our cowboy boots and shorts, here they wore their best Flamenco dresses and looked their very best. We obviously didn’t fit in. Guy and girls rode around on horse back and on carnages.

We decided it was so hot out that we need to sit and have a drink at the fair. We for this little place that played awesome Spanish music and stayed there for a while. While we were there a Batchelor party came! It was so fun! I know it is kind of weird to think of a bachelor party at the fair, but I think the fair is a really “hoppin’” place in Cordaba. The bachelor was dresses in a woman’s Flamenco dress and all the other guys had on the same t-shirt with the guy and his fiancée’s name on it. They were having a blast just dancing around and being silly! We took a few pictures of them and with them. The Bachelor party’s in Spain and In America are very different.

After the Bachelor party moved on we sat for a while longer and watch these beautiful women practice their Flamenco dancing. It was beautiful. I was very tempted to ask them if they could teach me! Maybe next time.

After a while we decided we better head back so we could catch the bus back to Sevilla. I kind of wish we could have stayed the night and went to the fair because I think it would have been 1) really pretty at night and 2) extremely fun!

When we got home our mommy had ice cream waiting for us! She said it was so hot out that she though we would enjoy it! It was so sweet of her! She sat and had ice cream with us and told us about her life. She told us that she has 6 daughters. We have met two of the daughters. She also told us that she was divorced and that after she got divorced she opened up her own restaurant at the center of town. It was a very popular restaurant. When she got older she started to by apartments close to the universities and schools around town and rents them out for a living now. Basically her job is to talk care of Angie and I and she does a great job at it! We couldn’t have luck out on getting a better host mom.

Dinner was an amazing pasta dish, my favorite dish she has made yet. She also remembered that Angie loved this one desert that she made and that I didn’t so she made us two different desserts! She is just so sweet!

Side Note: Our mama when to a disco tech. And got home at the same time as us last night! (Incase you forgot she is like 70)

Last night we were going to Lonestar Bar to watch the Soccer Championship (Manchester vs. Barcelona) but the place was SO crowed. So instead of going to watch the soccer game we stumbled upon this Sevilla renaissance festival. If we were to go to a renaissance festival in Lubbock it would have been super lame, but in Spain it was totally cool. All seriousness though it was a blast! We hung out there for a while and shopped around and watched some sword fighting.

After hanging out there we went and met up with the rest of the group at Big Ben. On our way to Big Ben my friends Maggie, Chelsea and I decided it was a great idea to hope across a busy crosswalk just like Will Ferral on elf. The looks we got were priceless. Big Ben was so much fun when we got there! We celebrated Laura’s birthday and defiantly started another dance party. We met some guys from England who taught me how to play darts. I was a natural.. but I lost. I did hit the bulls-eye one time though! After Big Ben we all walked over to Fundicion and started another awesome dance party. I will never forget how low our friend Drew got on the dance floor or how amazing David’s moves where. It was a great night! Side note: On our way home I took and awesome picture on a Vespa. It was a successful night.

Today we actually got to sleep in! It was amazing! We woke up at 11:30am eat a muffin and when down to this market that is right behind our house. This market is every Sunday morning and most defiantly walks me up every Sunday morning. Angie and I decide to go check it out. When you look out our window the maket looks extremely small, but when you actually start walking through the market, it never ends. We walked around the market for a good hour just browsing.  We decided it would be a good idea to buy fans for the Toro that was tonight, so we did.

We finally came to the end of the market and had no idea how to get back to our house. I have to admit, I am extremely proud of Angie for not freaking out that we were kind of lost. We walked around for a good 20 mins until we finally found Alcampo (the grocery store by our house). We made it back just in time for lunch.

After lunch it was time to go meet our class at Alcazar. Alcazar is a royal palace in Sevilla. It was originally a Moorish fort. We took a tour of all of Alcazar and its beautiful gardens. I was quite the photographer today and took roughly 300 photos. I also chased a peacock around the garden in attempt to get a great photo.

After Alcazar some of us girls stopped by Starbucks! I actually had real coffee instead of plain espresso with was very nice! We took a load off our feet for a little bit and then headed over to the Toro (bullfight).

The bullfight was an experience that I can’t really put into words. I don’t really know how I felt about it. It was interesting and a great cultural experience though. It was extremely gruesome and bloody. We watching 6 bulls be killed- not my thought of entertainment. I will be honest- I did tear up quite a bit when the bulls were killed. It was just so violent. It was very interesting though.

To the Spanish bullfighting is an art. It is almost like theater to them, just a lot more dangerous. We actually watched the best of the toreadors be thrown and attacked by a bull. It was extremely scary. They carried him off and we had no idea if he was okay or not. Luckily he was and actually come back to finish the last fight. Te first bull this toreador fought he actually won both of the bull’s ears (if they cut the ears off and give it to the toreador it means they had a great fight- it is like their trophy). I also took about 300 picture of the bullfight.

I left feeling extremely tend and stressed out. Since we were so stressed out we decided to do something to make us happy. We got some Tex-Mex food! We went to Phoenix with just a few people and had some amazing nachos! Oh how I miss you Mexican food. It was just what we needed! After that we just came home and here I am. I need to get a little studying in and then get a good night sleep! We have our first test this week and I really need to actually look at what we have been doing in class for a change. It is just so hard to study when you want to be out experiencing the culture! 

The river.

Last night we met up with a bunch of the Tech crew and a few of the tutors at the Oro de Torro (at the river) around 10:30 pm! It was really chill and extremely pretty. I loved the atmosphere. The veiw of part of the city, the lights, the water, the boats was amazing. I wish we had places to hang out like that in Lubbock. We literally just hung out right next to the river with a box of cheap wine and took so many great pictures that you will have to check out!

side note: I’m freakishly obsessed with vespas now and I REALLY want to drive one around town. Don’t be surprised if i come back to Lubbock, sell my car, and get a vespa!

We left the Rio and head over the bridge to back to Long Island. I feel like the entire Tech program was there so it was really fun! We walked over to a disco-tech called Buddha, but when we got there and heard it was 8 euro to get in we decided we would rather come back another night. We defiantly want to go to a raging disco-tech before we leave so we will for sure go back!

We walked back over to the area by Long Island and found this bar called Fundicion. It was awesome. Is it weird that I’m starting to really like Spanish music? The bar alternated between Spanish music and American music and we literally just danced the night away and were so silly. (yes, we even started a train around the bar) There was also this giant metal bull in the corner of the bar that we decided was a great place to climb on top of and sit. Our engaged friend Drew met us at Fundicion and was tearing up the dance floor (there actually wasn’t a dance floor- we just created one). It was SO much fun.

While we were at Fundicion we met some guys from New Jersey. They literally looked like they just got done taping for Jersey Shore- no kidding. But don’t worry, not only did they look like people off Jersey Shore they totally acted like it too. They were trying to convince us that they “invented the fist pump” and yes, they dominated multiple times. They were extremely annoying but very amusing to sit back and watch.

Angie was extremely tired the entire time we were out so she convinced us that it was time to go home. I kept telling her to perk up cause we are only in Sevilla for another month! When we got home she realize that before she went out she actually took 2 Advil PMs instead of 2 aspirins…oops! Lesson learned: never take sleeping pills before you go out and try to stay up all night.

We are pretty exhausted after class today cause we didn’t get much sleep. It is about to be time for a siesta. But later tonight a few of us girls are going to go take a walk around the city and get some ice cream! We aren’t going to do too much tonight, but we are visiting Cordoba tomorrow and on Sunday we are going to the Alcazar gardens and to a Toros (bull fight)- so I will have plenty to blog about the next few days!

Tutors, Cien, and the market.

Yesterday we met with tutors one-on-one. I was a little nervous at first because I didn’t think I would be about to understand or communicate just by myself. The guy that I was pair with was great though! He spoke some English, which help a lot. If I wasn’t making sense or didn’t know what something was called in Spanish he could help me very easily. It is so hard because they speak SO FAST (not to meant he did also have braces!) Braces+Sevilla accent= very hard hard to understand. But everyday I get a little more confident.

Angie was paired with a girl who spoken NO English at all- so that was a struggle for her. We actually just went to a little café right down the street from the school with most of the other girls and their tutors. It was a great learning experience. We will do the same thing every Wednesday night.

After tutoring all my friends and some of our tutors decided to go to Cien together (Cien= our regular Wednesday night spot). We met up with my German friend (who speaks English, German, and Spanish- impressive) and met some of his friends too. Our group was very diverse to say the least- German, American, Spanish, Greek..) It was quite an experience. We all had dinner and drinks together and literally just sat around and spoke “Span-glish” for hours! (Span-glish= a mixture of Spanish and English) So much fun!

For class this morning we went to the market. Our assignment for the day was to find something that we like and bargin the price down to at most 5 euros. The market was really cool. They had all sorts of things that you could by from these awesome painted over-alls to soccer jerseys to Eric Clapton records to handmade jewelry- they literally had everything. I bought a beautiful red ring for 4 euros (originally 6). Aren't you proud dad?

As I walked around the market wearing my jean shorts, chacos, and my Canon Rebel (obviously a tourist) this older man who was selling little trinkets at booth called me over. He asked if I was an American (which obviously I was) and told me he had an important question for me. He pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked this important looking display case on his table. He then pulled out this stack of tickets. In very broken English the man asked what they were. I told him that they were tickets and he asked for what. Try explain what and American circus tickets is to a man who hardly understands any English. I did my very best to explain it while he looked very engaged and excited about these amazing American circus tickets. He then asked if the tickets were interesting or valuable. When I asked no, I think I ruined his day. I think he found these tickets and thought they were some amazing American treasure he had found and was going to sell him for “mucho dinero.”

After the market we went back to our school and talked about what we bought. Our professor (Dr. Stratton) had bought this cheap “necklace.” The necklace was more like a long string with this giant crystal hanging off it. Not the most stylish piece of jewelry at the market. In class he gave the necklace to Angie. Dr. Stratton advised Angie to wear this beauuuutiful crystal necklace out to the “disco-tech.” Angie is extreme excited about this necklace and will most likely be wearing it every night we go out.

After class Angie and I just came home for lunch and now I am about to knock out a little homework so we can hang out with our friends tonight. I think we are all going to go to the Rio (river) tonight which should be so much fun! Now it is time for a siesta! 

Cadiz and skinny dipping.

Sorry I haven’t had a blog up in a couple of days! Sunday and Monday we basically slept and then did homework in a café!

Today we woke up early because on Tuesdays we have class at 8 am. We started the day early so that we can get out early. We go to class from 8 am to 11 am on Tuesday’s so that we have time to catch the train to Cadiz at noon! Try paying attention in class when you know you are about to be chilling on a beach in 3 hours.. impossible. Everyone wore their beach gear to class so that we could go straight to the train station after school. We just packed our lunches so we could just have them at the beach. The train ride was only 2 hours long.

Cadiz was so amazingly beautiful and so much fun! I’d say second most beautiful beach I’ve seen (second to the one in Hawaii) If you have ever seen James Bond 007- the part were Hallie Berry looks all sexy coming out of the water.. That part was taped where we were. It is on the Atlantic side of Spain.

When we got to the beach we stopped by a market and picked up a few cruzcampos and Tinto de Verano. We basically lounged on the beach ALL day long. It was amazing and much needed. We also took a few swims in the ocean…

And you know what they say… when in Spain: Apparently in Spain there are no dress codes at the beach. Clothing is optional. Don’t worry dad, your little princesses were not parading around the beach top-less.. Though many people were. Instead us girls (like 10 of us) decided it would be a brilliant idea to go skinny-dipping. Seriously one of the funniest memories we have yet. These girls are so much fun to be here with.

So cross one more off the bucket list! We stayed at the beach til 8 pm and arrived back in Sevilla around 10. This will probably become a regular Tuesday activity for us.. (the beach that is, not skinny dipping- but who knows ;) )..

Well, the sun drained all my energy so now I’m off to get some sleep! Adios!

Longest day of awesomeness: Italica, Betis, and fun.

Yesterday we spent the morning in a city called Italica with the rest of our class. It was extremely cool actually see old Roman ruins. We just walked around and the city and saw all sorts of interesting things. For sure check out the pictures on facebook because words can't really describe the city.

After Italica Angie and I grabbed a quick lunch and then head to the soccer game! Talk about awesome- a soccer game in Spain, now that is awesome. We got to the game around 4 (2 hours early) and introduce Sevilla to tailgating. You have to look at the pictures. We looked awesomely ridiculous sitting on the sidewalk outside the stadium under a tree tailgating with just our group. We all met up at this really pretty fountain (same fountain as the Kansas City fountain). We all drank a little vino before the game and then went and bought Betis scarfs. (Betis is the name of the soccer team we went and watch, not Sevilla) Everyone was wearing these scarfs that we bought. You wear them around your neck or head or waist. We fit in great decked out in our green and white. We looked like die-heart fans! It was pretty much the coolest experience so far.

The place was packed- and everyone was pumped cause it was the last soccer game in Sevilla of the year. If you have ever watch Harry Potter, the soccer game seriously reminded me a lot of a Hogwarts Quidditch game.

After the game we all went and walked around the Cathedral area to find some dinner. We had a really casual dinner at Levies. While we were at dinner a huge parade came right by us! They have parades here in Spain to honor famous Saints and Virgins where people from the church carry this HUGE thing that weighs tons through the streets and are followed by a loud band. It was a really interesting event that we had the opportunity to witness.

After dinner we went to this Tex-Mex bar called "Lonestar Bar." Being the proud Texans that we are we had to stop and stay a while. They were actually playing a MLB baseball game on the TV instead of soccer so I was awkwardly VERY excited about that. It was a really cool bar- Lots of American and Texas stuff all over the walls.

At Lonestar us girls made this epic bucket list for while we are in Spain! We crossed off about three things just last night! It is going to be an extremely/ridiculously fun month if we accomplish the rest of the list. I am not going to tell y'all what all is on the list (its top secret) but i'll keep y'all updated on most everything we cross off as it happens!

After Lonestar we went to two more places. First we went to the Irish Pub right next to the Cathedral and then walked across the river to Calle Beitz/ Long Island. It was pretty quite at the Irish Pub, but when a big group of American girls (or just us) go anywhere it is going to get pretty loud. They were playing lots of popular american music, so of course we had to dance and sing. The guy who works there actually told me he is from Texas too! Small world! We meet some people from the Tech Engineering program and hung out with them and then walked across the river.

Across the river we went to Long Island and ran into basically the ENTIRE Texas Tech group which was awesome! As a group we all decided to take the Texas shot- bad idea. We had so much fun though and defiantly crossed off some essentials from our bucket list. We headed to catch a cab around 3:30am (like I said long day). Its so weird cause staying out til 4 or 5am is completely normal for the people in Spain. I don't know how they do it. When we were walked to the cab we ran in to these crazy guy wearing crazy robes and weird things on their head. They guys stopped us and asked us if we wanted to go to another bar with them to celebrate their initiation- of course we said no, but I had to ask what the outfit was for. We figured out they were being initiated in to like a "frat" that night so they had to wear those crazy outfits.. we left that awkward situation pretty quick and caught a cab home.

All of us girls slept until like 2 pm this morning. It was wonderful to finally get to sleep in. We woke up, had some lunch and then went and sat at a cafe and did homework today- nothing to exciting but it was nice. We aren't going to do anything tonight, just rest up for school tomorrow!

PS: Pictures are up from out first we! be sure to check out my pictures and Angie's!

Ice Cream and shopping.

Hola! Tonight we went with a bunch of girls to go get ice cream. We found this cute little ice cream shop about fifteen mins away from our house- walking distance! It was so good. The lady told us that her husband made all of the ice cream and gave us lots of samples. It is to die for- absolutely amazing.

Another obsession- shopping. The shopping here is amazing. a little further down the street from the ice cream shop we found an outdoor shopping center. I don't know what else to say, but it is amazing. Everything is exactly my taste. I think I tried on about 20 things. Sadly I could only buy 2, but it was fun.

That is pretty much all we did this afternoon, but I would say we made two pretty great discoveries. We are calling it an early night because we leave for Italica in the morning. It is going to be a very busy exciting day so I'll be sure to fill y'all in. Hasta luego.

The end of week one.

We have been really busy adjusting to our new schedule here is Sevilla, so I’m sorry that I haven’t kept you more up to date the past two days. I know my mom and grandma have been waiting anxiously by their computer for an updated, so here y’all go..

Wednesday night we went out to Cine, where everything is only a Euro on Wednesday nights. This will be a regular spot on Wednesday nights. We drank “Tinto de Verano” on the patio all night and met so many amazing people. That place is absolutely packed on Wednesday night with locals and many Americans that are around our age. We started school on Thursday so we were not planning on staying out late- think again. Apparently it is not acceptable to go home early in Spain.

When people go out here, they go out. It is normal not to go to a bar until around 11pm and to stay out at the disco tech until 4am. I think this is why the Spanish created daily siestas (naps).

At Cine we met so many people from South Caroline, Tennessee, New York, and a few Germans... They were so fun and nice but they are all leaving tomorrow. They told us all the places we need to go and need to see before we leave though!

We also met a flutist. Yes I said flutist- a man who plans the flute (it was actually a recorder). He fell madly in love with Angie as they chatted away about Celine Deon and Titanic. He even played her the Titanic song and then GAVE her his recorder.. true love- sorry Tan-man. Angie then attempted to play the happy birthday song for the rest of the tapas on the flute. Very entertaining.

Thursday we started class. Thank goodness for siestas here. Being social al night and waking up at 7am is going to take a lot of getting used to for me.

First hard lesson learned in Spain- do your homework for the next day before you go out with friends at night. We woke up extra early to do our homework and headed off to class. It is crazy how dumb I feel here. When someone speaks to me in Spanish here I listen to the first few words and attempt to decode what they are saying but then miss the rest of the sentence.

Key things to know: Favor de repetir (please repeat), Mas despacio (slower), Hablo ingles? (do you speak English?)

Class is a little frustrating, but I’m trying to be very patient! I need to brush up on a little more vocabulary this weekend.

Thursday after class we decided it would be brilliant idea to go purchases tickets to the last soccer game is Sevilla. The stadium is pretty far from were we go to class so we decided to take the bus. This was only our second time to ride the bus so we made sure we asked for directions on how to get there so that we didn’t take the wrong bus and get lost in a foreign country that we can’t understand anyone.

Bus 4. Check. So we get on bus four and we are looking for the soccer stadium. We are told it shouldn’t be longer than 20 min. Wrong. We got on the right bus, but the bus was heading the wrong direction. It is safe to say we waited on the but a good 2 hours trying to figure out where we where going. Oh and then, right when we get off, down pour of rain. Optimistic view of Thursday: We got to see the nearly the entire city in one day- yay. The only thing i hate about Sevilla- buses.

We got great tickets to the game and luckily the rain let up on our way home. I am so excited! You can come to Spain and not go watch a soccer game! The game is this Saturday and is going to be so much fun!

We ate dinner with our mama. She made pizza and it was muy buena. After dinner we did all of our homework (we learned our lesson from the night before) and then met up with all the girls.

Like I said earlier, in Spain people do go out with friends until around 11pm. So at 11 pm we when and met up with all of our new friends at the Rio (river). I am so glad we were told about the river! It is a great place to hang out outside, talk, and meet people. It is very popular on Thursday nights! After we left the river we went to a place called “Long Island.” Our group of girls is so awesome. We are all so extremely different but all so extremely fun! We keep things interesting to say the least. I have no idea what we are going to do today, but I will be sure to tell you all about it soon.

It is so had to believe our first week here is almost over. Good thing we still don’t have a plane ticket home yet ;). It is already going by way too fast. It needs to SLOW DOWN already. It makes me sad, but it is just more of a reason for us not to slow down and live every second to the fullest. My South Carolina friend who left today told me “Seize every moment. Do anything and everything you can. When you have to choose between sleep, study, or being social/experiencing the culture, always be social. This is a once and a lifetime thing and you don’t want to leave here wishing you did something that you didn’t- do it all. Go jump in the river. Make it a fairytale cause that’s what this is- this is not real life.”

If you don’t here from me tomorrow, don’t freak out. We will be going to Italica in the morning and the soccer game in the evening so we will be very busy! But I will update you on everything soon! Plus, this blog is long enough to last you a few days anyway ;) ) If you want to see pictures I will add the first week's picture in the next 24 hours so check them out!

The family.

We met our host family today! Very scary experience but they seen extremely nice! I am really hoping to pick up more Spanish so that I can communicate with them better. Our mommy is a 60 year old woman how speaks slowly and is extremely sweet. She also wears bright purple lipstick- just a side note. She also has a daughter who is about 30 that lives here. Her daughter doesn’t speak much yet but seems nice. There are also two other girls who will be staying here for about another week. One is from New Mexico and the other Canada. They are going to be a big help on figuring out a lot of things before they leave!

Once they leave I Angie and I will both have our own room with plenty of space. They house is really nice but it is pretty darn far from the tech building and from the cathedral (the area I actually know). It’s okay though because 6 of the other girls that we have become good friends with live over here next to us. This way we can all figure out the buses and whatever else together.

All honesty, we are having a really hard time understand and communicating with our host mom. Angie is super frustrated, but I’m trying to help her understand that that is just par t of the experience and how we will learn. It is just going to take a couple of weeks to get used to it and get a little more confident in our Spanish. Right now we just have to take a deep breath and go with it.

Our mom cooked us the most amazing lunch! We sat and talked with the other two girls for a while over lunch about our host family and things that we need to know. They are awesome girls and have already helped us out so much! Tonight we are going to dinner and drink we they two other girls that are staying here and their friends. I think we are also meeting up with our Florida and Georgia friends, and of course the Tech crew!

We start class tomorrow and we have some homework that is due. I’m going to head over to the café and get my homework done… Adios!

Flamenco dance.

Last night we all went to a flamenco dance! It was very chill and but really cool. It was just one guy playing a classical guitar, one guy singing, and one girl dancing. Less extravagant than i expected but I really liked it. It was really beautiful and I great cultural experience. 

We met one friend from Chicago (originally from Turkey) last night.. We met him because he shushed me- guess I was being too loud talking about how I though it was the "flamingo" dance and expected pink exotic dancers or something. But he turned out to be a pretty cool guy. He has been traveling around Spain for a while now and left this morning to head back to Chicago. But he left us with some good advice.

The one thing he told me you have to have here is patience. Americans tend to rush and rush everywhere and keep themselves busy constantly- sounds exactly like me. He said you have to slow down, enjoy every moment. Learn and experience everything. Be open minded because they the culture is so different here. 

So thats something I am going to work on. Slowing down, taking a deep breath and just enjoying it- all of it. I have been extremely frustrated with how little of this language i actually know. I guess i just thought it would magically come to me when I surrounded myself in it- but I was wrong. So i'm working on the patience part of what the man said to me as i meet my host family today! This should be very interesting...

Meeting the crew.

We met up with the rest of the Tech group last night! Everyone is amazing- we are all already friends. The girls are so great and I can tell you we are going to have a fun time.. maybe too fun. We all got together after orientation and went to a café across the street from the University of Sevilla and had a few drinks outside. I seriously don't think we could have asked for a better group of people to be in Spain with! 

(American friends- go buy a bottle of sweet red wine and mix it with either club soda, sprite, or orange fanta then top it off with some fresh oranges. It’s amazing.)

The weather at night is perfect. Our crew met some awesome guys and girls from University of Georgia and Florida and hung out with them most of the night. And then went to our first bar in Spain (the Blues Bar). We had an absolute blast last night, but we are very tired today. It is going to take a while to get adjusted to the time difference.

You walk everywhere here. Good thing we brought comfortable shoes. Our feet are still killing us though. Siestas are the greatest life style change for me. I could really get used to having a power nap every day.

Today we went to the Cathedral and took a tour with the rest of the Tech group. I’ll post pictures soon. It was absolutely beautiful. We are about to go to the second part of orientation at the TTU center. More to come!

Night number one.

Last night- We ate at an amazing little Italian restaurant and had a glass of vino. We then took a beautiful night-walk up and down the streets of Sevilla. It is unbelievable. I can’t help but think of you dad- I don’t think you would like it here. The streets are EXTREMELY narrow and I think you might get a little claustrophobic! It’s pretty amazing to watch cars zip through the streets so confidently.

The culture here is so different, but I love it. We walked through the most beautiful park and by the most beautiful cathedrals. The architecture is unreal. The colors here are so vibrant. It is a very romantic city. There is live music everywhere. Everyone eats outside in cafes. It is a very slow and relaxing life style- big change for me, but a good one.

It is a pretty easy city to find your way around. We had no obligations last night so it was extremely fun to just explore the city- roam and take it all in. We have already taken lots of picture and I will upload them on here very soon.

Angie thinks I should quit smiling at people. It’s not exactly West Texas here, but we have met a few friendly people. Most of the time if you smile at someone here it makes them obviously uncomfortable- it’s kind of funny in my opinion. I guess I was always taught that a smile could make someone’s day. I’m really excited to meet up with the rest of our Tech group. It will be nice being around more people than just Angie and I that know more than 10 words of English.

Today we realize how bad we actually were at speaking Spanish. Hopeful this will change soon. We have been brushing up on it all day, but when you are actually thrown into the culture- it’s difficult to keep up with all the native speakers. I am a very social person so it particularly frustrates me to not be able to communicate with the people around me.

The rest of the Texas Tech group arrives tonight and we will have a class orientation. Wednesday we move in with our host family and then Thursday we start class.

This first day in Spain confirmed that this is going to be an amazing adventure. We are extreme excited for the next 6 weeks. I just finished my cup of coffee at this corner cafe and now it is time to start our day! More to come soon!

Planes, trains, taxies, and cafes.

Well we made! The flight was a little bumpy and extremely long, but we made it. I'm not afraid of flying, but then you are flying over an ocean and experiencing extreme turbulence, I was slightly fearful for my life.. lets be honest, I was freaking out. But since I couldn't sleep, I had the chance to watch Grande Torino, Crazy Heart, 2 episodes of Dexter, read 4 chapters of my book, listen to my awesome summer playlist about 5 times, and take a 4-hour nap… long flight. 

Thank you to everyone who has sent texts or called to tell us bye! Don’t forget about us while we are gone and be sure to keep in contact with us! Its weird to think I haven't been outside of Lubbock for longer than a month (Angie a week) and now i'll be living in a foreign country!... Exciting!  

I'd say the hardest part so far is not being able to use my phone. It is extremely weird not being able to text or make a phone call to the people we care about to let them know we are safe or having fun or just thinking about them- this is going to take a lot of getting use to. I’m already having major cell phone withdrawals. But know we are thinking about y’all! The second hardest thing- trying to communicate in Spanish. 

We are now in Spain. We just got off the train to Sevilla from Madrid. The beauty of this country is absolutely breath taking. We have only been here 5 hours and I can already tell you this is going to be an amazing adventure.

We are now sitting at a cafe- I am enjoying a nice cup of coffee and Angie a nice cup of beer. It is beautiful out! Angie is skyping Tanner and is crying.. again. She misssssses her boyfriend... 

Don’t worry mom, I am being patience with little sis. But I am going to slowly break her out of her little shell so we can conquer this country together.  Watch out Spain!

Sorry this wasn't more exciting. I’ll have more to come soon- Just wanted y’all to know we are safe! Adios amigos!

Contact us.

If you want to contact us while we are in Spain, the easiest way is probably to just send us a facebook message or and email! We would love to here from you! We wont be able to talk on our phones- which is going to be a weird changes :(. If you want to send mail or a package the address is:

Amy Ashby
The Texas Tech University Center in Sevilla
Recaredo, 44
41003 Sevilla
SPAIN

Regular mail works quickly and is reliable! P.S. I love getting letters in the mail. And if you decide to to send a package make sure you don't send it the last few week that we are there (don't send past June 15 to be safe).

Things you can't mail (so you can try to UPS if you wish): 1. Medicines 2. Cosmetics 3. Food

The beginning.

So I created this blog to keep everyone updated with my summer and my life since my communication will be very limited! Not that anyone cares- but if you do here you go! I am about to take off on the adventure of a life time. My sister, Angie and I will be traveling to Seville, Spain in 5 days to study abroad. Once we are done with our summer session of Spanish we are planning on traveling around Europe! One I get home i'll be taking off to Colorado for a while to work at the most amazing place in the world, Frontier Ranch. I can hardly wait to begin this new chapter in my life. I'll keep you updated on all of our awesomeness!