Super Carnival!!

It's been a pretty fun week this week and past weekend. We went to Granada with the program this past weekend which was a ton of fun!! It was beautiful and I definitely wanna go back because it was a ton of fun. There is a ton of culture in Granada and there is a huge Arabic influence in the Architecture and in the culture itself which is really interesting from a historic standpoint and also it creates an interesting dynamic in the city. Parts of the city make you feel like you are in an arabic country with all the outdoor markets and medinas. You can haggle with the people in order to get better prices and such, which is always fun. This week has been a lot of fun also. We had a huge Mardi Gras party on Tuesday with the majority of our program and a lot of people from a different program which was a ton of fun. It was great to get to hang out with the people from the program outside of class and also to get to know some new friends. Then finally last night was insane!! We went to Cadiz for Carnival which is their version of Feria and it is basically like halloween on franklin times like 1,000 haha and there are huge floats with tons of people and they all have their own songs that they sing as they go by! Its crazy, they are all in different costumes and singing songs that they made up, I wish we had that kind of culture in America!! It was a ton of fun, but it was a really long night!!!! Carnival pretty much goes on all night long and its huge so there were no hostels or hotels that we could rent a room in and so we decided that we would just stay out all night and take the 7am bus back haha. So we left sevilla at 5PM on friday and came back at 7AM on saturday!! It was a crazy night!! We were sitting in a plaza watching a show wen a couple of rather intoxicated spaniards came up to our group and wanted to make friends haha because they wanted to speak english haha We were talking to them for a while and one of them bought a fake flower for laura haha it was hilarious!! The Miguel walked over to me and was talkin to me for like 2 minutes tops wen he decided that we were blood brothers haha which was hilarous lol!! He insisted that I was from Miami and that he was going there this summer haha it was the funniest thing ever!! And then he said, we are blood brothers and "anyone touched you?" and paige had her hand on my leg cuz we were all sitting in the plaza together and everyone else was cold haha. And I was like paige touched me haha and he was like, "We are brothers, and if anyone touched u, i hit them in the face, because we are brothers" haha it was hilarious anyways, the night was winding down for carnival, so they were like we know a discoteca where we can go and dance, so we all went with them because we still had like 4 hours til the bus came and the discoteca was close to the bus station. Anyways we danced and hung out until around six when I decided it was time to head to the bus station cuz I was tired and my head was pounding from listening to the bass for the last like 4 hours haha. But all throughout the night he would walk up to me and be like "We are brothers!!" haha it was hilarious! Anyways we walked back to the bus station and hung out for the last like 45 minutes before the bus arrived and we were all so tired!! haha As soon as the bus arrived we all hopped on and passed out haha. We were back in Sevilla in like ten seconds haha or so it seemed! Its only like an hour and a half bus ride but I think I was awake for a grand total of like 10 minutes!! Anyways, It was one of the most fun and also the most tiring nights of my life, but it was one of the best nights I have had in spain!! Anyways I hope all is well at home and I miss you all!!!

Trabajo, Por que? Pensaba que esto era un vacación!!

Well classes are officially in full swing now which means tons of work for me but luckily most of it will be done by next week and I can return to my tranquil spanish live which I have grown to love! Anyways, I will begin on a more exciting note! This past Wednesday we attempted to get tickets to the Spain England Friendly (thats a soccer match) and failed, which I am sure you are wondering how this is an exciting note. It is exciting because even though I didn't get to go in the stadium the atmosphere around the stadium before the game was INCREDIBLE. It was like Franklin street after a Duke win and the game hadn't even begun! People were standing on top of things, they were wearing spanish flags as capes, faces were painted, and I think everyone had an air horn, which was rather obnoxious. Hours before the game there were people riding around in cars with bullhorns showing their support for their team. It was rediculous!! And I loved every minute of it. We attempted to buy some scalped tickets but we couldn't find any in our price range. Anyways about ten minutes into the game two girls we met, Mirais and Amanda, bought two tickets for 40 euro each but it turns out they had been used and passed back through the line so they were worthless. After this Esteban and I decided it was time to just find a bar to watch the game in and not risk losin money. So we walked with Mirais (from New Orleans) and Amanda (from Virginia) to a bar to watch the game. I left with Mirais and Amanda to get some pizza and then we headed back to Los Remedios. Thursday wasn't too bad because I get done with class at 2 and I am done for the week which is great! Laura and I went out with some other people from the program but I had a headache so i went home early and by early I mean like 230 AM haha early is relative here. I did a good bit of sleeping on friday but i was awoken to the sound of the door buzzer as the maid arrives promptly at 12. which meant I struggled to find some shorts to put on haha because the blackout shutters were closed so the room was pitch black haha and of course the maid didn't just hit the button once, she wanted to make sure i was up and about haha! So I did some homework on Friday afternoon and went for a run before lunch and then after lunch I went to the centro with Rebecca and got a new shirt to wear with my sweater haha. Then we went out Friday night. Friday was a great day it was beautiful!! Saturday was the same so we went down by the river and walked and sat it was soo nice and so quiet haha it was amazing!! I dont think it is ever that quite in a city in America. Anyways it was a pretty good week/weekend and it was a ton of fun just to hang around Sevilla!! I hope all is well at home and I miss you all. PS if u read my blog click the follow this blog link beside it so I know who is followin my progress in Spain haha!!

¡¡Se Empiecen Las Clases, Solamente en Español!!

So today was our second day of classes in the University of Sevilla, which means that now four of my five classes are completely in Spanish with professors who do not speak english and are not really used to American students. It has been an interesting first couple days in the university. Yesterday we all got there early in order to find our classrooms and make sure we could see our advisor. The crazy thing about the University of Sevilla is that it is a converted tobacco factory, which if you had ever been into an industrial factory you would know that they structural organization of such buildings does not lend well to creating an organized numbering system of rooms. In addition there is an added floor which is stuffed between the first and second floor, honestly it sounds like and looks like something out of a harry potter book. The ceiling might be seven feet high and the doors are even smaller. Also its interesting that this floor isnt the second floor, its the middle floor between the first and second floors, which to me makes absolutely no logical sense. Until today, I didn't even know that this floor existed or how to access it. Anyways, along with having an extra floor which is not numbered between floors one and two, classes in different sections of the university are numbered differently. In other words there is really no cohesion within this building. The History classes are numbered with roman numberals while all the other departments are numbered in arabic numerals. Which means that there are multiple classroom 6´s and so on and so forth, so you have to be in the right section of the university to ensure that you can find the correct classroom for your class. Needless to say it is a bit confusing as you walk around the university but I think I have it figured out now...We shall see! Classes have gone well so far and I can understand the majority of what is being said in them. There are a ton of people from my program in a couple of my classes, but in one of them I don´t have anyone that I know!! I think that learning in a different system will be really interesting and a ton of fun!! Anyways, enough about school!! This past weekend we took a trip to Ronda which consisted of a two hour bus ride through the mountains. We left Sevilla on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday night. Ronda was FREEZING on Saturday!! We hit up all the tourist sites and the museums. There was a really neat museum callend Museo Lara which was simply a collection of collections which has a private owner but it was really neat. There were collections of watches, cameras, photographs, diving equipment, compasses, weapons, torture devices, witchcraft stuff and a ton more. It was just interesting to see the different collections and realize how much history this one man had collected. Yesterday was Christine's birthday so this weekend was kind of our celebration for her birthday since turning 21 on a monday night just isnt too exciting. We went out for tapas and such and ended up meeting and making friends with the owner of the bar and we got to watch the Sevilla FC vs Real Bettis game (the two fútbol teams from Sevilla). Bettis won at Sevilla FC's field which is the first time in like 15 years or something like that and it was an incredible game. We had a ton of fun just hangin around in Ronda!! Sunday we met up with Paige, Hannah, Maria, and Zhenya and toured some more of the city with them. Ronda is a mountain town which is divided in two parts by a huge gorge which is incredily beautiful!! We toured the bridge and then hiked down and around into the gorge!! It was amazing and it was beautiful!! I got to do a little impromptu rock climing also which was a lot of fun!! I climbed up on this huge archway which was down at the edge of the gorge and it was so much fun!! I also got to climb a tree and get up on top of the ruins of an arabic style house which was a lot of fun also. We had a great time just hangin around Ronda and actually hiking down into the gorge was probably one of the most fun things that I havae done in Spain!! It was beautiful and I actually got to be outside and be active and such which was great. I am hoping that now that have a more normal schedule with classes starting in the mornings that I can get some good runs in here in Sevilla. Anyways, this was our first trip that we planned and executed by ourselves which was a cool feeling and it was a ton of fun to do!! Anyways I miss everyone and I hope all is well!! Hasta Luego!!

Un Poquito Tarde! Lo Siento!!

So I guess I have kind of fallen down on my job as a blogger haha It's been kinda crazy around here with class stuff and just life in general!! We have been having a great time around here even though the weather has not been incredible haha. The weather has been actually quite horrendous over the last few weeks, and for everyone who has ever told me that it never rains in Sevilla, thats a lie, haha. Its funny because all the sevillans tell us the same thing that this is really strange for sevilla haha but whatever, you play with the cards you are dealt. Since my last post a lot has happened haha. Part of the reason for my lack of posts has been that internet has sketched out on us a good bit over the last two weeks. We were more or less without internet and sometimesTV for around an entire week. Needless to say Juanky was not happy when he was missing his TV!! (Abbey you'll appreciate this) Ironically he reminds me of Dudley from the Harry Potter novels haha because he is short and round and he gets away with murder around the house. It doesnt matter what he says or does, it seems that he jus gets a little slap and and short yell and then its over haha. The two of them are hilarious when they disagree on something or when Juanky is being rediculous. We took a trip to Córdoba the other weekend which was a lot of fun and I got some great pictures there. There is an old mosque which was converted into a catholic cathedral, so the outside looks just like any mosque but the interior has been changed. A lot of the interior is very typical mosque with arches and columns but they took out a huge chunk and more or less added a cathedral in the center which is a pretty crazy concept if you think about it. We got to explore the city for a while so we had some fun just hangin out and testing the cuisine!! The rest of our time has been spent in Sevilla which has been a lot of fun. Given that right now we only have one class which doesnt start until 530PM we can go out a good bit and meet new people and find cool new discotecas and such. We also went to the Cathedral in Sevilla which was pretty cool and we were able to ascend the tower which was cool to see the whole city in a panoramic view. Today the rain was rediculous they closed all the parks in the city because of the wind and the rain. We were actually in a museum today which is inside a park when they locked the park so we followed our teachers out of the musuem only to find that we (Our group of like 40) were locked in the park which is surrounded by a huge fence haha. It was quite comical to me that we had to be let back out of the park. But it definitely stormed pretty bad it was intense. We planned one of our trips today which took FOREVER!! Planning things with girls is so time consuming haha but we are going to Dublin in April and I think I am gunna get to go see Niema in Florence in April also!! I think I am gunna fly in through VENICE!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! I have wanted to go to Venice for like forever!! Anyways hopefully I'll do a better job of updating!!! Hasta Luego!!