How do you feel about murses?

Ayy, I keep letting the days go by without updating but I'm going to try and be more diligent about it.. anyyywhoo- here goes the last week in a blog post. 

Besides being sick one day (my stomach has not been too thrilled about the decrease in veggies and the increase in meat/sweets/olive oil) and having to miss an excursion, it has been a pretty awesome week. 

Excursions in the mornings, classes in the afternoons, and trying to get everything ready for when classes start next week is leaving me a pretty busy person, but hey, I'm not complaining. Thursday night we got to go to the symphony here in Seville, and it was amazing! There was a viola-cello player who could play the shit out of that ancient instrument... he had some pretty great hair too. Friday we woke up bright and early for an excursion to a nearby town(1.5 hour bus ride) called Cadiz. Cadiz is basically a cute little beach town with a lot of history. We visited a cathedral and also a cámara oscura at the top of a tower overlooking the city. It was awesome! During our free time we ate lunch for Samantha's birthday (really good sangria and paella con mariscos!) and then had some photo shoots down by the seaside. I definitely plan on returning to Cadiz once it gets warmer because it is absolutely beautiful! 

the cathedral in Cadiz

View of the city

Lovin the sun and sea :)

We returned to Seville at around 730 Friday evening and Kendra and I took a much-needed siesta to prepare ourselves for the night out for Samantha's birthday. We decided it was about time to have a night out in our barrio (neighborhood) of Viapol/Nervion, so we planned our night around that idea. We started the night at a couple bars in a shopping center above the supermarket just down the street from our apartments. The crowd was a little older so at around 1am we were ready to leave for another bar just down the street, O'Neill's (yeah, I know--it sounds super Spanish). We thought O'Neill's would have a younger crowd because it is right across the street from the law school of the University of Seville, but we were wrong on that assumption-- though I did meet a couple of students and they were super nice and curious about the program and what we're planning to do during our time in Spain. After O'Neill's we headed to the "chill bar/lounge/club," Siddharta, which was fun while it lasted, but we decided we needed louder music and a crazier club feel, so we headed for our final destination: Abril, one of the main discotecas here in Seville, and probably the biggest one in our neighborhood. 

Abril was perfect: house music (with a little musica americana mixed in) and lots and lots of europeans who know how to dance. I found one who I could've sworn resembled David Beckham in the craziest way but apparently I was a little optimistic on that one. Regardless, in my mind I was giving Posh Spice a run for her money. Later we found our friends from Discover Seville, a company for study abroad students that hooks them up with trips and stuff like that. Remember Luis? Well he's one of those guys, as well as Benny and some other really fun and good looking Spaniards and great dancers. Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise anymore that we didn't leave the club until 6:30 am. Dios mio, I might be getting used to this lifestyle a little too quickly-- I didn't realize how natural it would be for me to dance until the wee hours of the am... but we'll see how easily things come to me when I start taking classes at the Uni next week. 

Saturday was a day of rest for Kendra and I (we didn't wake up until 3pm) and then an evening of shopping for Catherine, Leann, Natalie, and I. We made our first trip to the centro comercial in Nervion to experience the rebajas (the huge sales that take place during the month of January here in Spain). My one regret I have so far is that I did NOT pack enough clothes. I thought I was being a minimalist for the first time in my life-- but let me tell you, there comes a point when you run out and being a minimalist SUCKS.... but I guess this has given me the justification to buy some things for myself, which I have definitely taken the liberty of doing. 

Shopping was fun, and then after dinner we were ready for another night out in Seville. The majority of us were not up to another night of dancing (good guess, I was not one of them), so we hit the bars. First we headed to this hipster-ish area called Alameda, where we found a bar called 84 that was HOPPIN. Leann and I were lovin the music and just people watching. One guy that I was liking the looks of was having a good time watching us watch him and I was getting a kick out of it. He was definitely very european-looking... he was even wearing a man-purse. Later on Leann asked me how I felt about "murses" and I wasn't sure how to respond. After some conversations with other people in the program we came to the consensus that murses are very metro/European and therefore it is just fine to be into a guy wearing a murse. Even before we came to that consensus it didn't stop me from responding to Murse-Man's "ciao" with a look over the shoulder and a wink as Leann and I walked out of the bar. Leann is definitely becoming my tutor as far as learning to be more forward here in España, and I'm taking mental notes as she tells us girls to "mira y aprenda" (watch and learn). We ended Saturday night at Calle Alfalfa, but were quite disappointed to learn that the bars actually close here! We were definitely expecting them to stay open later than 3am but on our ride home our cab driver informed us that if we want to stay out later than 330, we need to be at a disco (fine by me). 

Today was a little more productive for us-- We woke up before 1 and got to Starbucks to put in some hours on our essays for the end of our Culture Pre-Seminar. And now I really need to get to work on finishing my selection of classes for when the University term starts... 

hasta luego, mis amores! 

Rrulll Sweet Figs

Whoa. So much has happened in the past week-- I don't know where to start... I hope this doesn't confuse anyone but I think I'll start from today and work backwards.

So Kendra and I just had dinner and, as usual, it was DELISH. Fish and vegetables and some soup and some cake for dessert. yum. And for dinner's entertainment we had one of Señora Ana's grandsons here, he probably is less than a year old and is just learning how to walk. Oh gosh I love little kids. And when they speak Spanish (even if it's a couple of words at most) I think it makes them all the more cute.

Today has been a long day to say the least... we started out with a tour of the Cathedral here in Spain-- it was muy guay (so cool!) 

Guay huh?

And the view from the top of the tower (which was 32 stories of pure climbing-- and worth the burning ass/calves) is apparently the best view of Seville you can get!

My new home! 

If you noticed the somewhat dark circles under my eyes... there's a reason for that. This weekend was our trip to Madrid, and la vida Madrileña doesn't really allow much beauty sleep. I got a total of 5 hours of shut-eye all weekend... but you know what? It was worth it. We left Seville at 9:45 Friday morning and traveled via the Ave (super fast train) to Madrid, so we got there at 12:15 and had the entire day to explore. And by explore I mean shop. Some of the girls and I didn't know what Madrid had in store for us. Natalie and I spent two hours alone in H&M, not to mention the handful of other stores we visited. Oh, and we definitely walked right into a prostitution ring within our first few hours of being in Spain's biggest city. Yep, Kendra, Natalie, and I were innocently searching for shoes when we turned down a side street off the Gran Via (sort of like Madrid's MagMile or 5th Ave.) and walked into a circle of prostitutes. Complete Immersion. After some intense shopping the three of us girls met up with Griffin (one of the really cool 5 guys in our program) and went for tapas. Griffin led us to a really nice restaurant that was probably a little too nice for us students, but what the hell-- "We're only in Spain for 6 months." And of course we ordered the most expensive things on the menu (it's a learning experience, I know), but it was definitely worth it. Octopus, mussels, calamari, and jamón ibérica and manchego cheese. SO GOOD. Oh, and the wine. The three of us girls split a bottle of scrumptious Rioja vino tinto... and because we hadn't eaten all day it only took us each a glass and a half to really feel it... And once we got back to the hotel we only had a little while to rest our feet before we had to start getting ready to go out.

view from the train!

Friday night. SO... FUN. We found this really cool bar on a side street off one of the big plazas and had a great time meeting friends from all over the world. Leann and I met and spoke a TON of Spanish with 2 guys named Antonio from Venezuela.. we ended up going to a discoteca with them at 3am and danced until 6 am... We would've stayed longer but I got a piece of glass stuck in my foot (don't ask how-- I did NOT take my shoes off once and thought I was moving my feet fast enough to avoid any potential flying glass). I also met this other guy who was super cute/nice.. his name was Christophán (sp?) and he was from St. Tropez and was great to talk to because he had such great accents when he spoke English or Spanish... he was also great to dance with because DAMN he could dance.

Natalie (my roomie for the weekend) and I at one of the bars

Needless to say, Saturday morning was a little rough. After getting back to the hotel around 615 am and waking up at 930 am, it was an interesting morning/afternoon spent at some of the world's best museums. Sure, I could've felt better while looking at the masterpieces of Goya, Velazquez, Dalí, and Picasso, but I had a great night and I was still very captivated by the art... Lunch was AMAZING (typical of me to be that excited about the food). Justin (another one of the guys from the program) and I shared calamari and garlic grilled shrimp that we had to decapitate and peel ourselves. After the museums some of us attempted to do a little more shopping but that was not happening, so Natalie and I returned to the hotel for a short, well-deserved siesta.

Justin, Michael, Griffin, and I in front of El Museo Prado

My annihilated shrimp

Saturday night started out with an amaaazing (yet again, I'm gushing about the food) dinner. We had a great group of us with all 5 of the guys from the program (Michael, Justin, Griffin, Jeff, and Josh) and then Catherine (the only one of us from Columbia, she's a super chill girl from NYC), Natalie (my hotel roomie and future backpacking/travel companion), and I. Like I said, a great group. Well, we found this tapas place that turned out to be a great pick. We had vino tinto, tomatos with goat cheese and fresh basil, fried mushrooms, sausages and potatoes with really good sauces, eggplant, and other really delicious food I can't remember right now. After stuffing ourselves silly and some great conversations, we headed out to a bar for some 5-euro mojitos the size of your face. And apparently with every drink you get a free tapas dish but we were too full to eat any more food so we ended up sharing a ton of food with people around us. After the first bar we headed toward the club, Pacha, but some of us decided that we needed a couple more chupitos (shots) before we could start our discoteca-ing, so we stopped by a nearby bar for chupitos of tequila (apparently many of our's chupito of choice). Then... it was time for Pacha. Oh my gosh. I really don't think it's normal to like dancing as much as I do. We danced to some amazing music until 6 am when an (almost) collective decision was made to head back to the hotel. Call me crazy (I know I can be when it comes to Spanish discotecas), but I could've stayed till the club closed, again (which would've been for at least another hour). But it was probably a good thing we headed back by 6 because we had an early morning planned.... and Saturday did feel early. 

Michael, Jeff, Justin, Catherine, Josh, Natalie, Griffin, and I at dinner

Griffin, Natalie, Justin, and I at one of the bars

Griffin and I getting our dance on at Pacha

Less than 3 hours after we crashed into our beds, we were up and at it again to go see the Royal Palace. Well... some of us made it out of bed... I can't say the same for a couple of the guys (cough cough Miguel cough cough Justo cough). Rough morning, but such a cool sightseeing experience. The palace was huuuuuge, with amazingly ornate rooms and painted ceilings and ridiculous chandeliers and just over-the-top everything. The room with all of the armor was super cool as well. After the palace we were very ready for some lunch, so we found a really cheap yet good place and then we made a collective decision to "go back to the hotel and stare at a wall for 2 hours" until we had to leave for the train station to head back to Seville. All in all, a great weekend.

what was left from 60 euro for going out at night in Madrid. and what was left of me after a total of 5 hours of sleep all weekend and staying at the discotecas until 6 am... 

Me in front of the Royal Palace

Oh wait.. I'm not done. Before we left for our Madrid weekend we had a full schedule worth writing about. Wednesday night was one I had been waiting for: the FC Barcelona game versus a local Seville team, Real Betis Balompie. Amazingly, Betis won 3-1. Even though I was looking for a Barcelona win (not because it was almost guaranteed), it was very cool to be surrounded by Betis fans during such a time of celebration. The morning after the game was absolutely perfect, besides having to wake up early. We were treated to a trip to Los Baños Arabes (some of you might know these as a Turkish Bath, or simply a spa). Oh boy were we pampered. There was a salt water pool, a warm pool, a steaming hot pool, a freezing cold pool, a jacuzzi with massaging water chairs, and a steam room filled with the aroma of eucalyptus that worked wonders on my cold. After receiving that royal treatment we had class and then had to rush home to eat dinner so we could make it to our Flamenco show on time. The Flamenco show was great! There was a singer, two dancers, and a guitar player, and they sang, danced, and played with their hearts. You could feel every emotion they wanted you to feel just by watching their faces. After the Flamenco show some of us went to a bar to just hang out before heading home to pack for Madrid. At the bar I fell in love with this really guapo, Brit-punk looking guy named Stephen. He was from Liverpool, he had a great sense of fashion and wore some SICK shoes that anyone could appreciate. It's too bad he has a Sevillana girlfriend... 

Cheering on Barcelona in my Messi jersey!

I didn't get very good pictures of the Flamenco show, but they were amazing!

Well, it's really time for bed after this ridiculously long blog-post. Until next time-- Ciao!

I think I fell in love last night...

...No... I don't just think I fell in love last night, I know for sure that I fell in love last night. Now, don't get all excited, it wasn't with un hombre español or some other sexy European man (although there were plenty to admire all over the place, and I did dance and have broken Spanish-English conversations with many of them). Nope, last night I fell in love with Spain. Head over heels. The Spanish lifestyle is definitely one I was born to experience at least once in my life ;) ... Everything is later and lasts longer, and that's totally fine by me. We eat dinner later and take our time, we get ready later, we arrive later, we start the parties later and stay there longer, and we get home A LOT later... and therefore wake up later.
Last night was a birthday celebration for one of the girls on the program here, and we definitely had a memorable night for her 21st birthday.
First, we "pre-gamed" with juice boxes of wine. Yep, I drank wine out of a personal, little cardboard box last night, reminiscent of my elementary school days when I had Welch's juice-boxes in my lunchpail. It was cheap, to say the least, and perfect for students on a budget and a mission. A 30-minute walk sufficed to choke down the wine-boxes, and we arrived at our first destination: Cervecería, where you can get a bocadillo (little sandwich) and a large large mug of beer or sangria for 3 euro. Half of the kids in the program were already there, so we met up with them and had some great conversations and snacked and drank for about an hour before we left for our next destination: Calle Alfalfa. Yes, the name is a little funny but this place is probably my favorite hangout spot in Sevilla so far. It is basically a huge block party at night, with bars lining either side of the street and lots of attractive and fashionable people (mostly natives, yay!) milling about. Oh gosh I just love people watching here more than anywhere else--everyone looks so good all the time... it's pretty refreshing actually.
After meeting some españoles in one of the bars (as well as many Southern USA students with pretty comical Spanish accents), we headed to our final destination (the one I was most excited about): Kudéta, a three-story helluva discoteca, styled around a Buddha theme. On the way there my roomie Kendra and I each took one arm of one of the sexiest men I have ever met. His name was Luis and I couldn't help myself but stare. Like, SHIT. Even though Kendra and I were a few chupitos (shots) and mugs of sangria in, we did a pretty good job of conversing with Luis about sports (He and I bonded over our love of FC Barcelona) and just the beauty of this city and country. And let me tell you, even though I was doing a good job of speaking in Spanish, he would sometimes have to repeat something in English and holy moly his accent was the cutest thing I've ever heard. (Okay, so I might have temporarily fallen in love with Luis.)
Anyways, one 25-minute beautiful walk later and we arrived at Buddha at around 2:45 am. It had already been a great night and it only got better when I could feel the bass of the house music pounding through me. We checked out the first floor of Kudéta and it was pretty cool, with lots of natives and more Spanish kinda salsa-y music. The second floor was pretty empty, and then we got to the third floor. Oh wow. That was my shit. We danced and danced and danced. I literally love nothing more than music and dancing. Everyone let loose and had a great time. Lucky Leann got Luis as her dancing partner (bi-atch;)... but there were plenty of Sexy Spaniards to go around. Plus, I was super impressed with the guys in our program-- damn they can dance! I think they were meant to live the spanish life, too. Anyways, unfortunately around 5:45 am most of the group was tired and wanted to go back to their respective homestays. As for me, I could've gone on for probably 6 more hours of that... or at least until the club closed at 7-8 am.
Oh, what a night.

Una Casa Nueva

Hola Todos!
Today was the day! We found out our roomies and moved in with our families! My roommate is Kendra, and we will be living in la casa de Señora Ana. We already love her! She is so nice, funny, and so far a great cook! Our first meal with her was a lunch of salad with tuna on top, and homemade paella! mmmmm. We talked about our families and just got to know each other a little. Señora Ana is a hardcore traveler and she comes from a pretty big family so we already have some things in common. Actually, she really reminds me of my Turkish grandmother, Babanne, so immediately upon meeting her I knew this is going to be an amazing experience.
Pues, it's almost dinner time and then we're going out for our first Friday night in Sevilla!
ciao!

"NECESSITAMOS MAS BEBIDAS!"

So really quick I just wanted to say something about last night before I actually start my homework, just because last night was super fun and I don't want whatever I absorb about the Franco period in Spain to replace my memories from last night.

Well, we didn't leave the hotel until about 1am-ish, and we wandered the streets of Sevilla for quite a while before we found the bar we had been looking for: Elephunk. The highlights:

• Being able to legally order drinks at a bar, in Spanish, and having the bartenders understand me
• Standing on the footrest so I could be taller than everyone else and yelling to my friends in the program, "NECESSITAMOS MAS BEBIDAS!" ("WE NEED MORE DRINKS!") 
• Salsa-dancing with the girls, and getting taught how to Dougie by Miguel
• Trying to determine which bathroom was men's or women's... and then finally realizing there was no distinction and anyone could go in whatever bathroom they pleased (in which there was no toilet paper)
• Staring at the lights in the bar, which were made of fishbowls and each had a couple fish chillin in 'em
• 2 for 1 cervezas
• Los chupitos de tequila... which only cost 1 euro
• Learning how to shimmy while saying the word "barrio"
• Getting serenaded by Kendra... "Despiertaaaaaaas"

Definitely an éxito (success) of a night! :) 

it's time for me to read... buenas noches, mis amores! 

"Yo soy una ciudad de lucha"

For those of you who don't habla español, the title of this post basically means "I'm a struggle city," which has kind of been the theme of the past 2 days. Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING the experience so far, but there have definitely been a couple moments that have merited "struggle city." For instance, just trying to speak spanish ALL THE TIME is really HARD! There's always a word that escapes you, or you conjugate the word incorrectly, or you start a sentence that you have no idea how to finish... it all adds up to get a tad frustrating once in a while. Nevertheless, I already feel like I'm learning. The accent is the hardest, though. The average Sevillano basically speaks Spanish in the way French is spoken: only using half the letters, and to add on top of that, they speak with a strong lisp, too. I know I'll probably end up coming back and speaking Spanish like a Sevillana, but right now it really is a struggle city for me, as far as trying to determine what the hell the natives are trying to say.

Another struggle city moment for me was when Natalie and I were almost pick-pocketed/robbed! We were being all studious and reading for our culture/history of Spain class while sitting outside at a cafe, and all of a sudden two middle-aged women came up to us, upon which they immediately began insisting we sign the petition they were holding. Natalie and I refused (in Spanish, of course), and they persisted, we refused some more, told them we were not citizens of Spain, and they told us it didn't matter and kept insisting we sign the petition. After a few minutes of this struggle, a waitress who worked at the cafe came out and immediately the two women walked away. The waitress asked us if we signed the petition and we said no, she replied with something along the lines of, "good... well you should check your pockets." Luckily, Natalie had her purse on her lap and they didn't have access to it, while mine was on the seat next to me, so close I had a hand on it. But thank goodness we were smart and didn't sign the paper because I know that as soon as we had our hands occupied our stuff would've been GONE with those women. Well, I guess this is what they call COMPLETE IMMERSION (that was for you, Miguel :) ...

Well, it's about time to get some reading done... ciao!

 

The Spanish Einstein.

Hola! It's been a long, fun day. But first I'll tell you about last night. We started out the night in a huge group, exploring the city for bars and fun... half the group ended up at a little bar and we toasted with sangria (which was super sweet and tasty) and chatted about our home universidades. It's everyone's goal to speak español todo el tiempo but it's pretty difícil to start. The group met back up (the other half ended up at a tex-mex saloon, complete with beer pong--which is where we decided we will watch the Super Bowl) and then we explored the streets of Sevilla some more. Later on, some of the group ended up at this bar that we all thought was a church at first. Once we walked in we realized it was a super auténtico bar Sevillano. It was a hotspot for Spanish flamenco singers and dancers and after getting some Agua de Sevilla (a really strong drink of mixed liquor, whipped cream, and nutmeg which I thought was super tasty) we danced and clapped along with the natives. One of the men who sang literally had the voice of an ángel, at least that's what Leann told him ;)... another guy was an 88 yr old man who looked like a Spanish Einstein and was super cómico when he sang... I knew we had a good group of students when I looked over and two of our girls were Flamenco dancing like it was their job and we were all clapping along like we were natives too. Ahhhh this country/city is too great.
Today we had a meeting about all our program stuff and then we went on a bus tour, which was fun, but after getting back to the hotel at 3 am we were all ready for siestas by noon. Instead of just crashing at the hotel, we went for lunch where I got my first plate of paella in Spain. It was deliciosa! Then we spent probably 12 hours (okay, that's exaggerating, but not by much) in the cell phone store and we all got some real old-school phones for our stay here. THEN we got to have our long-anticipated siestas. Natalie (my hotel roomie) and I slept from about 4 until 8. Dinner was salad, salmon, and ice cream for dessert... more deliciousness! We didn't head out for the night until about midnight, where we stumbled (not literally, don't worry) upon a P. Flarrity's Bar, crawling with Americanos and other Europeans. We made some French and Dutch friends who were pretty guapo and borracho (goodlooking and drunk), but we didn't get too loco because Jesús was there, watching over all of us (literally, a statue of Jesus stood in a window of this bar).
It's really time for bed now, even though that siesta could probably last Natalie and I another 3 hours...
Until next time... ciao bellas!

Complete Immersion.

1 unregistered plane ticket, 1 lost bag, 1-ish hour of sleep, 1 sprint through the Madrid airport, and 1 3-hour jetlagged nap. Complete Immersion. The journey was muy interesante to say the least, and actually shorter than expected, even with all the anticipación. One friend in the group of 6 had to book a completely new ticket because our lovely travel agent Heather didn't fully book her tickets, and another friend did not have her luggage once we arrived in Sevilla. Nevertheless, we all arrived in Sevilla safe and sound (even though we had to sprint through the Madrid airport in order to get to our last flight on time, which was at last call and we made it with mayyybe 5 minutes to spare, spurring all sorts of dirty looks from the flight attendants). Once we got to the hotel we cleaned up and went out on the town to explore! The city is gorgeous, absolutamente bellísima, complete with cobblestone streets, little alleyways of shops, and many cute little tapas cafes. So we found ourselves a cafe and had some lunch and vino tinto (red wine, yum!), and after a little more walking it was time for siesta! I really think I could get used to being guaranteed a nap every day ;) ... well I have to get ready because we have a bus tour in 45 minutes but I will update later about last night and today (one of the best nights of my life, already!)... Ciao!

Hasta La Vista, Amurica!

Oh wow. Seven hours until my journey begins and it has finally hit me: I'M GOING TO BE LIVING IN SPAIN FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS! Wait, what?! I've attempted to pack and unpack about 8 times (someone who loves clothes as much as I do should never attempt to fit 6 months of clothes in one large and one small suitcase), I've said many goodbyes, and I've finally taught my mom how to use Skype... oh yeah, and I've been studying Spanish since about 7th grade sooo... I think I'm ready :)

Adios, Amurica! Hasta muy pronto, Sevilla!