Jungle Fevah in España

Hola Todos!
Look at this! I'm getting better-- only 2 days since my last post! Well it's sunday morning (okay, afternoon) and I just woke up because last night Leann, Natalie, and I stayed out dancing until 6 am. We went to one of the discos in our 'hood, Abril. Abril is super fun, with really good music (Snoop mash-ups, and random Eminem thrown in between great house music-- love it!). Last night was just a night of pure fun dancing. There is nothing I love more than dancing the night away in a disco. And last night just turned out to be that. One other thing I love: tall-ass basketball players dancing and towering over all the other little european men in the club. Yup. Last night there was an international basketball team at Abril and everyone in the club knew about it-- because everyone in the club, regardless of where you were, could see these guys just breakin it down. Too funny. I asked one of the guys where they were from and I thought it sounded like he said Warsaw but Griffin said he said Paris. So we're not entirely sure, but either way, it was fun watching them (and later dancing with them) all night. One of them really caught me eye (i had a bout of jungle fever last night) and we ended up dancing together and he definitely had some moves in that  7ft body of his. But to be honest, bball player was fun and all, but mostly it was such a damn good time dancing with my girls + Griffin. I love those guys!

Before the club was a good time, too! Carole and I met up for some tapas and then I took her to La Carbonería for some flamencooo. There was a show with a guitar player, a singer, and a dancer-- and wow, were they good. The house was packed, too, from people all over the world. Man, do I love that place because it will always be my first memory from Sevilla.

Well I'm going to try and be a productive member of society now. For my creative writing class I have to go on a walk and take notes about what I see so we can write about it later... so hasta luego, amigos!

"Did You See That Giddy?"

Wow... so much for keeping up with the blog. But it's been a busy week, what can I say? Last week we finished our orientation at the center and took our grammar exam AND we've been procrastinating/working on our final essays about Spanish culture. AND we started classes at the University of Sevilla this week! I will *hopefully* be taking 5 of these classes: History of Film, History of International Relations, the Anthropology of Social Marginalization, and the Anthropology of Environment and Territory... and my potential class at the law school, the International Protection of Human Rights starts monday so we'll see about that one. We also have to take a class at the center and I chose creative writing and I think I'm really going to like it! If all goes as planned, I'll be done with classes by 4 everyday and not have class on Fridays. That way I can hopefully get a job teaching kids english and travel without feeling guilty about missing Friday classes.

But anyways the classes seem like they're going to be más o menos hard and fun. Hard because everything's in Spanish and fun because I'll have a chance to meet some more Sevillanos.... even though it will pose more of a challenge than I expected because there are so many foreigners in my classes! I mean I was expecting a handful of study abroad kids in every class but, damn, not half the class! My history of film class seems to be the best with probably 6 or 7 study abroad-ers and then 20-ish native Sevillanos. I am looking forward to my law class because I think there's supposed to be fewer foreigners in the law school.

Speaking of foreigners we met some Sevillanos last weekend! (I realize that that doesn't make much sense.) They were super nice and they taught us some spanish slang. For instance, the title of this post was inspired by what they taught us. A giddy is a foreigner, usually an american, and right after we were taught the word we ended up being called giddies on our way to the club. so i wonder how often we were being called that before and just never noticed because we thought people were talking about how happy we were. The other word they taught us was "lote," which directly translates to rum and coke, but more generally means getting drunk with liquor and then going to party (at least that's what I got from it). The guys we met invited us to lote and then go to Buddha (a disco here) with them this weekend.

One more thing about last weekend: We watched the Super Bowl in Spain! We found a bar called Flarrehty's that was having a super bowl fiesta where you could pay a $12 cover and watch the game while having a full buffet of chips & guacamole, wings, hot dogs, and french fries, and then 2 drink tickets (I drank lots of heineken). AMURICA. So basically the whole game my friends and I sat on the bar (all the other seats in the house were taken, but we ended up getting the best seats in the house) and explained the game of American football to our cute Irish bartender, Peter. He cheered on the Packers with Kendra and I, mainly because he decided Aaron Rodgers looked like more of a legit quarterback than Ben Roethlisberger, which is totally true. Kendra, Leann, and I ended up staying until the end of the game, which was about 430 our time, when we had to get up at 830 for class the next day. But it was all worth it when towards the end of the game some crazy beautiful dutchmen came up to us and needed some explanations of this weird american game. oh yeah, and the Packers won. great night.

hmmm what else. well as I'm writing this I am about to go to bed but i had to update my blog first because I think bailey and some other people are about to kill me. So here I am. but anyways. I just got back from a salsa club. Oh boy. I was a fan... Salsa dancing is soooo sexyyyy! and So fun! Natalie and I really had no idea what we were doing so we just twirled each other around and shook our hips a lot and once in a while we would shimmy at each other. I'm sure I looked like a fool but it felt super fun so I was all for it! And we (Catherine, Natalie, Leann, and I) definitely had a "Sex in the City moment" when Catherine told us about her "I wonder if people have sex they way that they dance" theory. It was quite a conversation. Before that we were in the 'hood Alameda at our favorite bar there called 84. Cool people, reasonably priced drinks, feel-good music... overall great time! And I had my friend Carole with me who is visiting for the weekend! (For those of you who haven't met Carole, she is a super cool Parisian girl who stayed at my house a lot last summer while she was doing an internship at Gill Industries.) Anyways, Carole got here earlier today and I showed her around Sevilla a little bit but tomorrow we'll do some more tourist-y stuff so I better get to bed so I can be on top of my game.
Buenas noches, mis amores!

Amurrica=McDonald's

Don't worry, I don't actually think that all the US has to offer is a BigMac and some delicious fried potatoes and maybe a vanilla shake or oreo mcflurry... but if one is abroad, attempting to live like a native, at times it can get a little exhausting pretending to not miss good ol American food. So that is why some of my friends in the Michigan-Cornell-Penn program and I made the pact that if we could last through the month of January without eating American food (which apparently doesn't include Starbucks), then we would have a lunchdate at McDonald's on February 1st. Well February 1st turned out to be a delicious day, mis amigos. One McPollo, some french fries, and an oreo mcflurry later, and I am now ready to face another month of purely spanish food (though I would kill for some hummus and raw veggies right about now... and one of my mom's amazing salads... and maybe some sushi, too). Don't get me wrong-- Señora Ana is a great cook and I like Spanish food-- but sometimes when you're used to having certain yummy things every day (fresh, raw veggies/hummus) it can hurt a little bit to go a long time without it. And it's not like I was used to MickeyD's, either. In fact, before today it had probably been over 6 months since my last trip to the place. But, American food is American food, and when you're in the mood for American food, it turns out that McDonald's will get the job done.

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!