American night and the whistler.

Last night we tried out something a little different. We had been to Fundacion before but never on Tuesday. Tuesday is "american night" so we decided to try it out! It was a blast- a little wild for a tuesday- but fun. It was defiantly "american". There was games of pong, pool, american music (crazy girls dancing on tables- don't worry not us!). But it was fun. Our ENTIRE tech group was there! It was great to see the guys and girls from the other programs! Angie and I entered in the Pong tournament of course- but lost to the 3 week reining champions (close match though). We made lots of new friends- mostly people from Tech!

Today was the last day of class for this week! So it was extremely hard to pay any attention! Nothing interesting really happened in class today. On the bus heading home though I stood by this older man who could whistle like none other. It was seriously the most beautiful sound I've ever hear and put me in the best mood ever. He sounded like a bird. I have been trying to improve my whistle-skills ever since. (this may have been slightly random, but I didn't want to forget about it!)

We decided that tonight with our tutors we were going to take them to Cien with us so that we can possibly get a table before it gets crowded! Tonight we are going to for sure go to Cien (since we missed out last week) and have dinner with everyone! We may go meet up with the German and his friends at the River after Cien! No clue! We are not going to stay out too late though- we are leaving early in the morning for Rabida and then Lagos!! I am so excited! I'm sure there is going to be a long blog when we get back to Sevilla, but I'll keep this one short and sweet!

We only have one more week in Sevilla and only one more week of classes! Then we are heading to Madrid for a week and it should be a pretty amazing trip! It is so crazy how fast these 6 weeks are flying by! I'm not ready at all for it to be over! I feel like I am finally getting the hang of spanish and figuring things out! I have so many thing that I still want to do here and so little time! I have learned SO much the past month, not only about spanish and Spain, but about myself and life in general.. Words can't even describe this adventure!

High heels, tostada, and tiles.

Last night- after our mama made us an amazing mac-n-cheese dinner- Angie and I were bored. We had already done our homework and were very well rested from the past two days, so we decided to go explore. We normally go explore and hang out in the center of town by the cathedral or around the river, but this time we decided to explore around closer to our house!

We got ready in our finest European outfits as an attempt to possibly fit in a little better (which is not possible when you have blonde hair and blue eyes). Angie wore a fancy Spanish top and some white jeans and I wore this ridiculously european/ awesome pants romper. I got it for 5 euros at the market by our house- great purchase. I also decided that I would test our my heels. All the woman in Sevilla were their heels here 24/7. It is very impressive so I though since it was a Monday that I should give it a try. I have missed wearing my heels so much. I normally wear them everyday to work back home so it has been weird wearing flats everyday. To any guys reading this blog: I know it sounds silly.. but there is just something that makes a girl feel a little prettier when you are wearing a pair of heels. I walked roughly 3 miles in my heels with out a stubble- impressive I know. The whole "trying to look european" thing i don't think worked though. When every one you talk to ask where are you from and says any random english words they know to you, I think it is a clue that you don't fit in.

Angie and I walked over to the Viapol center about 10 mins from our house and sat and had a drink and just people watched. We had a blast just the two of us talking about the funny things that have happen so far this trip, what we miss about home, what we don't miss about home, what we now like, what we now hate... We decided to keep exploring and headed over to Nervion Plaza (about a 15 min walk from where we were).

We found this chill little place called Europa. Angie and I just sat outside for a while and made friends with the owner of the place. It was very interesting. We called all the other girls and told them to meet us there because it was a very central meeting place for everyone. It was extremely chill but great. We had a few people try to come up and talk to us. Its funny when people who don;t know english try to have a conversation with us. There were six of us girls trying to piece together these Span-glish broken sentences and we were still pretty unsuccessful if what anyone was trying to say to us. It probably would be easier if they tried speaking straight Spanish instead (the mixture wasn't working).

It was such a nice night! You know when it is thundering and lightening but there is no rain! That was how it was last night! Kind of cold but very nice.

After a little we decided to all leave Europa and go walk around the area a little more! We found a few new discoveries. First we found this classy, upscale place called Bravo. It was extremely nice and modern- I don't think we were dressed up enough to be there, and the service was very slow so we didn't stay long. When we left we noticed this place called Abrila next door. Abrila was closed, but it is this really cool discotech that we decided we have to go back to before we leave! I have no clue how much we could do around our area!

We kept walking and headed toward Maggie and Chelsea's house! They live it a cute area of town, surprisingly not too far from us! (I am still rocking the heels by the way) We found this place right nice to their place. I don't remember the name but we called it the "purple bar." It was really nice! The lights inside slowly changed from color to color. It was a cool atmosphere (but made me a little sleepy) so we stay a while. Everything was pretty dead on a monday night, but we were having fun just talking about funny story and things we HAVE to accomplish before we leave in 2 weeks!

We found a little table and started to make a day-by-day agenda of what we where going to do each day before we leave! It is crazy that we only have two weeks left in Sevilla- I'm not ready to leave! We were getting pretty tired and needed to get some rest for class so we headed home pretty quickly. It was a very fun night of walking around and exploring a new area.

In the morning we headed to class, but not before I hide my "toastada" again. I am SO SICK of having toast every morning that I have begun to hide all of my toast in a corner of my closet. This has been going on for about 2 weeks now. I don't want to hurt my mama's feelings but I think I may turn into a piece of toast if I eat any more. I miss cereal and eggs and fruit for breakfast.

In class today we had a little field trip! It was seriously the best day of class yet! We went to this little place in the middle of nowhere in the city and painted tiles! This lady gave us a brief history of the tile in Spain and taught us how to make them! Everyone in our class made one! They taught us how to make your own stencil for you title or you could use one of the ones they had made. Angie used a stencil and did a very pretty flower. It was kind of funny though- she mixed up the blue and the green (you can't realllllly tell what the colors are while you are painting them). So her flower is going to have blue leaves instead of green! I decided I was just going to freehand mine thought! It was more fun that way! The only downfall is that it took me a little longer than everyone else because I over analyze things like this! I don't think anyone was complaining though- it gave us less time in the actual classroom! It was an extremely relaxing day. We basically just sat and painted to 2 hours and then had tutors for 1 hours.

We got our test back today and Angie and I both passed! Yayyyy! Go us! After class we came home had lunch took a siesta and now we are about to do some homework! Tonight I think we are going to go walk around Plaza de Espana! It should be really pretty! This week is going to be a great one! We only have one more day of class (tomorrow) and then Thursday we go to Rabida with our class in the morning and then to Lagos Portugal for our free-weekend for 4 days and 3 nights! I can't wait!!!

Rest and Planning.

The last couple of days have been great rest days for Angie and I. We went to bed early and caught up on some much needed sleep.  Since our test last week Angie and I have been craving to watch an American TV show- no certain show, just something in english to give our mind a rest! So yesterday we search the internet looking for something/anything to watch. Apparently though if you are in another country you can't watch american TV shows. But we did not let that stop us. We kept searching and amazingly Angie found a website that you can watch basically any TV show and any episode of that show in just the click of a button. We spent a good three hour in between lunch and dinner watching one of the best TV shows ever- Dexter. Angie was slightly disturbed by the show, but I love it! Its just so well written! Angie may or may not have had a few nightmares last night so for her sake next time I think we might stick to Glee!

Another huge accomplishment of ours the past couple of days: we have successfully planned our 12 day adventure for after Spain! We have our transportation (flights, trains) and all of our lodging covered! After a good 3 weeks talking to professors, friends, locals, tutors, and whoever else, we have made our final decision on where we will be going. It was so hard to decide! I want so badly to go everywhere and see everything- but time just wont allow it! (AKA Angie need to get back to Lubbock to see the boyfriend)

Our final plan: Madrid- Paris- Rome- Florence- village in Cinque Terre called Riomaggior- Pisa


As you can see we will be spending the majority of our time in Italy! I was a little sad that we would not be seeing more countries, but this is just a good excuse to come back to Europe! I still need to explore Ireland- Scotland- UK and then Germany- The Netherlands- Switzerland- Austria and then Greece. But for now I am extremely excited about what we have planned out!


We are leaving Madrid after a good 6 day stay and heading to Paris. We will be leaving our big bag in storage at the Madrid airport and only be taking our backpacks on this little adventure! This could be interesting! Our hostel in Paris is right next to the Eiffel Tower! After exploring the city and possibly the country-side for 3 days and 2 night, we are flying to Rome. In Rome we found a cheap Bed and Breakfast right next to the Colosseum that we will be staying at for 3 days and 2 nights! In Italy we will have a Eurorail (train) pass that we will use to travel from place to place! This will be great because we will be able to see the country-side and it will take us to basically anywhere and everywhere! From Rome we will head to Florence where we found a hostel right in the center of the city and very close to the river. We will stay there for 3 days and 2 nights and then we will head over to Riomaggior. You may not have heard about Riomaggior. My friend Courtney suggested it to me and after researching and reading about it, this is the place I am most excited to go to! The hotel we are staying at is right on the Mediterranean Sea. We have the hotel for 3 days and 2 night and then lastly we will head to Pisa and stay one day and one night in a hostel walking distance to the airport and also to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the morning we will catch our flight back to Madrid and get our big bag our of storage and Flight our early the next morning! We will be in Lubbock at approximately 11:50pm on July 6th.


If you have any suggestions on what we should do in each place I'd love to hear! i haven't quite planned out a daily itinerary or anything.. but it is going to be an amazing adventure!

Weekend in Granada.

Since we missed out on Cien this Wednesday due to our test, we decided to make up for it this this Thursday. Thursday nice we all met up at Cien earlier in the evening. We sat around and talked and had a drink and turned in a little early since we had to catch the bus to Granada at 7am the next morning.

Friday morning we woke up extreme early and made it on time to the bus. It was so hard waking up and making our way to the train station, but well worth it! This trip was defiantly one of my favorites so far. The drive was about 3 hour long and we had one stop on our way. We stopped at this Spanish "bus stop" which had a little gift shop, a bar with coffee, and tons of snacks. Everyone loaded up with some snacks for the rest of the drive and I had a much needed coffee to wake me up for the rest of the trip.

When we got to Granada we went straight to the Granada Cathedral. It was a pretty long walk to get to the Cathedral but A good one. The street we walked down had tons of cafes and shopping that we knew we would have to make a trip back too! I did a little window shopping on our walk and spotted an awesome owl backpack that I just had to have! I didn't have time to get it right then but I most defiantly snuck away from the group on our way back to the bus to make the purchase!

Also along our walk we saw amazing statutes of Columbus, King Ferdinand, and Queen Isabella. The history of Granada is pretty fascinating if you have the time to read a little about it. Granada was the last of the Muslim cities in Spain to be conquered by the Catholics in 1492, so there is tons of history in Granada between the Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It is very interesting. My favorite part about the Cathedral had to be the decorations on the alter. There were no picture allowed here, or else i would have show y'all. The alter was decorated with the many different staged of the life of Jesus. I could have sat and looked at it for hours. It was absolutely breath-taking. Historically, the cathedral was especially interesting because it was King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle's church. The designed part of the church but did not live to see it finished. One of the most interesting parts is that their tombs where actually located in the Cathedral and we actually got to see their tombs. This is a separate room in the cathedral where they are buried and have all sorts of artifacts and paintings.

You walk into this room where there is a massive gate with tons of detail on it. Inside the gate you see these huge marble statues of people as if they are laying down in their bed. There is a bed with Ferdenand and Isabella on it and then their children on the other side. Ferdenand is from the rein of Castilla-Leon and Isabella is from Aragon. Those are two very powerful reins that joined, but Isabella’s had a little bit more power so when they carved these marble statues, Isabella’s head makes the pillow dent down lower to represent a  heavier crown than Ferdenand. These were huge statues with decorative objects all around them. To the left of these marble statues, there is one of the most famous paintings in Spain of Jesus being carried down from the cross. I can’t remember what the painting was called, but there are a couple different replicas throughout Spain. It is seriously breathtaking. I was captivated by this painting for probably about 20 mins. It was just one of those piece of art that just really hits the heart hard. It's crazy how a work of art can really strike up such emotion.

The other most captivating piece in the Cathedral was this beautiful, giant work of art on the wall. It was a huge statue/mural that displayed many different parts of the life of Jesus. It showed scene such as the Nativity scene, to John the Baptist having his head cut off, to Jesus carrying the cross. I could have sat and looked at the mural all day. As much as I enjoyed the painting, this was by far the single most amazing/intriguing thing I have had the chance to see on this trip so far. It captivated the life of Jesus in the most honest, beautiful way. There was a huge statues of Jesus hanging on the cross at the top. Dr. Stratton explained that the way it was designed was to make multiple triangles connecting different scenes that represent the trinity. I understand why they wont allow pictures in that place- it is amazing.

Next, we went down into the crypt and saw the king and queen’s tombs along with their children’s coffins. You walk down these steps and there is a glass window into the crypt. You can see their coffins and it’s actually kinda creepy. There were flowers in there and their crowns are also placed inside of the tomb to where you can see them. It was pretty cool to see that, but a little disturbing because you were literally 2 feet away from the coffins.

After you leave that room, you go into this other room with artifacts from their rein. They have the original flags on display that they used when they marched in Granada in 1492 to take over the last Muslim city. That was pretty awesome to see something in it’s originial state. There were also little artifacts like their jewelry box or their royal cloaks they wore. There was also a collection of art on the wall that is flown in from cities all across the world of religious pictures. They were pretty awesome paintings from all over the world.

After we left the Cathedral we walked over a couple of blocks to a market area! There were tents sat up were you could buy all sorts of different thing. I bought a beautiful- but cheap- bracelet! There were also little cafes, tapas, shops, and the most amazing ice cream shop in all of Spain. I had strawberry ice cream and it was to die for! But I also tried a little bit of everyone else and discovered that you can;t go wrong with any of the flavors! They were literally all amazing! Maggie made one of the best purchases at the market- olives. They were amazing! great little mid-day snack for all of us.

After shopping around for a while we walked back to the bus and headed to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a big palace that was created by the Muslims when they ruled in Spain. When we visited the Alhambra it was a little different than the other tours we have done. We had this tour guide and head to wear head sets to hear here talking to us. Our tour guide was awesome and had the best Australian accent ever. We was extremely knowledgeable and I learned so much!

The Alhambra was huge! We saw two different palaces. One representing the new world and the other representing the old world. One of the most interesting things about the palace was there ideology about the number 7. In every room and ever garden the number 7 was significant. There were 7 pillars over here, or 142 piece of wood to make up the ceiling (1+4+2=7). All sorts of interesting references to the number seven. The number 7 7 represents "7th heaven" the highest heaven the Muslim faith believes in reaching. 8th heaven is only for the "perfect" and the only one who is perfect is God. Therefore, the number 8 is representative of God (also if you turn the number 8 sideways it is an Omega sign).

We also visited the room where Isabella and Ferdenand gave Christopher Colombus (Colon) his money to take his voyage to the Americas.

The most beautiful part of the Palace was its gardens! We spend a good 2 hours exploring the gardens! It was so green and all of the flowers smelt amazing. My favorite part of the gardens was the Tree. If you touched this old tree then apparently you will find your one true love within the next calendar year from the date that you touched it. So being the only single girl on the trip I felt obligated that it was my duty to test out this superstition. (or i might have been super excited like a like kid). Only problem was- the tree was blocked off and off limits. But did that stop me? Of course not! We took a group photo not far from where the tree was, and then my friend Caroline Courtney and I lingered behind to take some awkward solo shots in order to sneak away from the rest of the group. I had to hop over a iron fence quickly without being seen, but did it gracefully and quickly! Mission accomplish (don't worry Brennan- caroline didn't touch the tree, she already has you). So if my June 3 2012 I haven't found him yet then we know the tree is a phony.

After that exciting adventure, I had an extreme adrenaline rush and was in an extremely obnoxiously/great mood for the rest of our time at the palace. Dr. Stratton took a group of us to the top of the palaces tower/ fort. This was the most amazing view of the city of Granada! You could see the entire city!- the mountains, the trees, the city, the countryside. It was so beautiful! We ran down from the tower because we got caught in the rain! Getting caught in the rain with a fun group of people is extreme fun! We didn't really care if our hair got messed up! It was a blast! After the rain, we caught the bus and head to our hotel!

Katie, Shaina, Angie and I all stayed in a room together not far from Caroline, Maggie, and Chelsea! Our professor told us about an awesome Flamenco show the the "Gypsy Cave" that we needed to go to, so we signed up to go! It started at 9, so we decided to all go grab food before we got ready for the night. We all dropped our stuff off in our room and went to find somewhere to eat. Granada is supposed to be known for its great tapas, but almost every single tapas place in the city was closed! It was bizarre! It was only 6:30pm! But we finally found a place that had burgers! All of us order a burger and a drink. The burgers turned out to be so small though so we all had to order one more round! After food we went and bought some Champagne and headed back to the hotel to get all fancy.

We all got ready and then met in the other room to have a classy glass of champagne and jam out to some Dixie Chicks and what not! We were having way to much fun singing and being goofy that we almost missed the bus! Once we looked at the clock and realized we had one minuet to make it to the bus, we cut our karaoke session a little short and ran down the street as fast as we could to meet to rest of the class!

We all took the bus to the "Gypsy Cave." When we got there we sat toward the back with the teachers. It was the smallest room ever, but it actually looked a lot like a cave. This flamenco show blew the other one we saw in Sevilla out of the water! There were two sets of flamenco dancers. The first group was three girls and they were awesome! Their feet moved so fast and it was a lot more entertaining than the other show in Sevilla! Then there was a group that had both guys and girls. The guys were even better than all of the girls! Apparently one of the guys that went has won a bunch of award in flamenco all throughout Spain.

After the Flamenco we went on a night tour of Granada! Our tour guide was extremely weird and I couldn’t understand anything she was saying so I just walked in the back with our group of friends and just talked amongst ourselves. It was too hard to hear her and know what she was talking about. At one of our pit stops where she was explaining something, there were these teenagers and a little like ten year old boy that were being hilarious. They were talking really loud over the lady giving the tour and it was a lot more entertaining than the actual tour itself! Then the tour ended when we went up this hill and could see the entire city of Granada lit up. It was awesome!! There was a band playing up there and it was apparently make-out hill haha but it was so pretty! I was really upset I didn't bring my camera!

After the tour, we all went back to the hotel and got dropped off and tried to come up with a game plan for the rest of the  night. A huge group of us decided to just start walking around near our hotel and find somewhere to go. Our group was wayyyy too big for anyone to make a decision so we all just split up. Us girls started wandering around and heard some music. We found where it was and it was this awesome festival/band thing! We went up to the bar to try and get some drinks and hang out and listen to music, but apparently you had to have a ticket to order anything, so we had to leave. It was cool to see for a little bit though. Then we found this bar nearby the music, so we just decided to stay there and get some drinks.

The cool thing about Granada is that when you order drinks, they bring you free tapas. So we got three free plates of tapas, it was awesome!! There was a group that was sitting behind us that were a band. They started playing music! These two guys from the band then came up to us and started playing their guitars! It was awesome!!! The night looked like a dud at the beginning, but turned into an awesome night! The band actually sat with us all night long and we got to request songs and they played us all sorts of stuff!!! We all danced the macarena and were really loud and obnoxious! I even played the guitar for quite a while and tried to teach the guys how to play some "Texas" songs! I tried to teach them how to play Wagon Wheel!

This was seriously one of the funniest nights!! One of the guys from the  band also came over and started doing magic?? It was hilarious!! There were just so many funny things going on, I loved it! We were sitting outside and then all of a sudden the inside of the bar turned off it’s lights and turned into a discoteca! SO FUNNY! Shaina even went and stole some potatoe chips from this sketchy box while in line for the bathroom! It was an awesome night all around! We had so much fun and we all sang Blink 182 on our way back to the hotel! One of the best nights in Spain for sure!!

Saturday we had the entire day free in Granada! So what did us girls decide to go do? Shopping of course. After breakfast with the class we headed back the the shopping area by the Cathedral. The shopping in Granada is fantastic! I only bought one shirt though- I am very proud of myself. I have been really good with my money so far this trip. We basically walked around the city all day! We sat down for tapas once and for coffee another time. After a long day of exploring and shopping, we headed back to the hotel. One our way back there was this amazing park! This park is named after Frederico Lorca who is a famous Spanish poet! His summer home is in the park and it is beautiful! There are where beautiful flowers, an awesome play ground and a zipline that we all played on! It was really fun! And to top it off they had ice cream at the park! We ended the day with a little ice cream before we got back to the hotel and caught the bus back home.

I slept the entire way back to Sevilla! We stayed in last night and caught up on some sleep! Today, Sunday, has been a great day of rest for Angie and I! We slept in and went on a little walk around our neighborhood and the market, and then we started to book our flights, trains, and places to stay for our trip after Spain! It is going to be a great time! I think this blog is long enough, so I will tell you all about it soon!

Midterm.

I now know, the fact that tests stink is an international. It doesn't matter how beautiful the city you are studying in is, all test all the same- no fun. But our midterm is finally over! That was a very long two days of studying, but now we can relax!

Last night we had our one-on-one tutoring session for class. It was a nice break from memorizing notecard. Angie, Sowmya, Drew, and I went with two local Spanish girls to a tapas around the corner from the school. At the tapas we had the more amazing ice-tea! Not long after our drinks come out, we found out that our tutors had ordered us SNAILS to eat. I was a little scared but ended up trying one! It really was not bad at all. I wasn't a big fan of the texture so I had a hard time making myself have another one (not to mention the thought of a slimy slug in my belly). Drew ate a good 15 snail- very impressive- while the tutors ate them like they were candy. Surprisingly Angie also tried one! I am so proud how much she is branching out here and trying new things here.

During tutors I attempt to use my new formed Spanish vocabulary. It really helps to communicate with the locals to improve your vocab. It is crazy how much more I know from studying the past few day. That in no way implies that I did well on the test- but I do feel much more confident communicating with people, and that is more important than a letter grade anyway. I felt pretty prepared for the test, but I don't think it matters how prepared you feel- when you are handed a 4 page paper written in another language it is very intimidating. I think I did fine though, but we will see!

After our tutor session Angie, Drew and I decided instead of locking ourselves in our rooms to study, that we would all go to dinner at a cafe and study together. We found this amazing little Italian food restaurant very close to the center of the city. We sat outside and started going over some of the vocabulary and most commonly used phrases. About 20 mins into our study session we decided to take a break from our notes. We talked about all sorts of things! My favorite topic had to have been Drew's upcoming wedding in December (which I am most defiantly crashing!). We didn't end up studying much more after that.

The service was very slow! It took us a good 30 mins to even order and another 40 mins after that to get our food. For as little as I had studying that day I was surprisingly not freaking out that I was sitting at a cafe with friends instead of studying. We didn't end up getting home from dinner until about midnight. By this time I was exhausted and decided to go to bed and review this morning for the test. I surprisingly felt pretty good about test. But we will see how it all turns out. The good news is that we only have one more test and I can continue enjoying the city of Sevilla instead of studying my life away.

After the test we hung out with Shaina and Katie. We treated ourselves to some tapas for completing the long test and then headed home. This afternoon Angie and I have been trying to plan our 12 days of travel after Spain! We are thinking Paris-Vienna- Rome- Florence. Not set in stone! Let me know what you think or if you have input!

We have to catch a train at 7:00 am tomorrow so we are going to meet up with friends and take it easy tonight! We are going to Granada for 2 days/ 1 night! It should be a fun trip! I'll update y'all as soon as I can!

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!