My first and probably only Bull fight.

Before the Bull Fight

Today I went to Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Sevilla, which is the oldest bull ring in Spain. I knew that while I was in Spain I wanted to see a bull fight. I  know this is going to sound bad but I will say it anyway...Before I got to Spain I didn't  know that they killed the bull at the end. Yes, I know thats pathetic because it is kinda the whole point. Who is the bravest, the best, the more dominant, the matador or the bull? Thats the whole point as well as its long standing tradition in Spain. I am glad I went but also have mixed feelings about it all. I just feel so bad for the bull. He is ganged up on, so technically it is not a fair fight, which they say it is. They try to kill as quick as possible in the end but the matadors today were not that good, I guess, because they totally missed the target a few times before the sword hit just right to kill the bull. I was just on my toes the whole time. Nervous and scared for the matador because he was an inch from the bull's horns, just standing there, and sad for the bull because I didn't know how much pain he was in. It was crazy to see though, especially when the bull prepared to charged and readied his front leg by digging it repeatedly into the ground. One bull even charged so hard that when he went through the pink cape he went head first and did a complete roll over! It was crazy! Another bull, when charging the Picador, which is a man on a horse with a lance who stabs a large back muscle drawing first blood, the bull tipped over the horse and the rider fell off! I thought the horse was stabbed by the horns, but they have protection on, and the horse quickly got back up. I also learned a lot about the whole process too. For instance, the bull is color blind the colors are only used based on tradition. Also, the matador only can do 3 to 4 passes with his cape, or else the bull begins to figure it out. The matador is judged on his foot placement during passes (staying in the same position), give passes without the bull touching the cape, and is able to give 4 passes in a row. One matador was pretty good at the passing, he actually did good the whole time, but then at the end kept missing, so he was just stabbing the bull until he finally sunk the sword and killed the bull instantly. It was graphic. That part just made me sad. Like I said, I have mixed feelings about it, but it was something I wanted to see and know I have.

My how the weeks do fly!

OMG! So much has happened since Barcelona! Lets see: Semana Santa, Ibiza, Isla Christina, Futbol games, Cordoba, Granada and so much more! I don't even know where to start. So I will just pick a spot and go...

Ok, well all my weeks are starting to merge together and I hate that I have not blogged when it is fresh on my mind. Welp, I have had some great weeks here in Sevilla. Going out with my espanola amigas is definitely one of the highlights. I have already mentioned how much I love my intercambio, Almudena, and all of her friends. Just last Monday Rachel and I went to her apartment for dinner. It was so fun. Me, Rachel, Almudena, Rebeka, Lurdes, Rosa, Nasa, and few other friends who came in and out. We all hung out in there cute little apartment while Almudena cooked Paella with shrimp, Mmmmmm, so good! We sat around the smallest little table and ate, drank wine, laughed, and had a grand ole spanish time :) I love having local friends here. I mean don't get me wrong I love my American passe too, but it is just nice to have spanish friends, especially when we all get along so well. In fact, tonight I ran to Plaza Espana to meet up with everyone mentioned above, minus Lurdes and Rachel, for ejercicio! It was really fun actually. First of all Plaza Espana is just gorgeous to begin with, and secondly we had our own little pilates style class in one of the gardens. They kept calling me there trainer, which I am in no shape right now to be called that (ahhhhh, Mamma Rita's comida!) but I sure did kick there little spanish butt, I tell you what. They'll be sore tomorrow, y yo tambien.

Rachel and I also went out with Lurdes two weeks ago to "Bottellon". Basically all the spaniards drink by the river before dinner on the weekends, it's like a big get together. You pretty much need to have spanish friends to really get the experience, and we did! Had a few beers, met about 10 new people, went home for dinner, then went out again later. Chilling with mi espanolas, speaking spanish and feeling all cool, haha, it was fun! We went dancing till late in the night and then got up the next day and got ready for Ibiza!

Ibiza this time of year, off season, is pretty low key but we still had fun and mainly because of Julia and Taylor. We met them on the bus to our hostel. Turns out they both study in Sevilla and we were inseparable the whole trip. They are awesome, funny, fun, and absolutely gorgeous girls! We all clicked right away. Had some drinks for a low key first night and chatted it up getting to know each other, real nice time. Next day, hit up a little beach to soak up the sun. The weather the first two days were really nice for laying out, the last two where raining, but we didn't let that get us down! Actually, the second day as we were walking to the beach, Taylor some some guys unloading two jet skies, so she decided we should make our way over. I agreed and followed. So, as we are awkwardly standing pretty close and watching them, I hate awkward, So I say "Hola!". They of course reply, and long story short we all got to get a little spin around the ocean. I know, I know, not the safest thing to do, but it was fun and we all knew how to swim ;) We also found, and pretty much became regulars, at a Cafe called Ritas, it was sooooooooo delicious! Guess Rita's food is good everywhere (Mamma Rita) Anyway we went everyday and sometimes twice a day. We sat for hours just talking and loving the beautiful view of the ocean. As for our nights in Ibiza, we made our way to a little local bar and made plenty of friends! In fact, one of our friends, turns out likes some besitos from a man 30 to 35 years older! Haha, it was the funniest thing! We quickly stopped them from kissing, as she was way to good looking for him and it was just weird, but a good story. Ahhhh beer goggles, no bueno. Taylor also scored a free "Ibiza Space Club" shirt from the bartender, the shirt he was wearing actually, way to go Tay Tay! Overall, it was a really good time and I am so glad I know Taylor and Julia now. Since we all live in Sevilla we knew we had to meet up, and we did.

Last Thursday we went to the Sevilla Futbol game. It was so fun and must do while in Spain. Futbol is huge, huge, huge here! We had a blast and Sevilla won! The sisters, Laura and Becca came too. Afterwards, Rachel, Julia and I went out to meet Taylor and her boyfriend Barry for drinks. We ended up having a late night, but it was real fun. We met some cool people and enjoyed the night life here in this amazing city that I have fallen in love with. The next morning sure came early, as Rachel and I had not packed for our Cordoba and Granada trip that we had to get up at 7:30 to be ready in time to catch our bus. A bit brutal but esta bien. The bus trip wasn't too bad and our first destination was Beautiful! We stopped in Cordoba, which reminded me a lot of Toledo. We visited the Mosque Cathedral that used to be Islamic and is famous for it's Moorish architecture. (totally had to look that up, my bad) But, it really was cool to see and very beautiful. After we had lunch and then headed to Granada. Granada is seriously so pretty, anywhere you look, it is beautiful. The first night we walked up to see the few over the city, amazing. Afterwards we saw a flamenco show, up close and personal. I loved every second of it. I didn't realize how similar flamenco is to tap dancing. I recognized the steps and being so close, it literally is tap dancing in the feet, the body is completely different. Much more serious, straight, and sexy. Man, the guy was so intense, his face never lost its focus. Me gusta mucho! Later, we went out for a Kebob, which was soooo freaking good, but then made me sick later. It sucked, pretty sure I got food poisoning. No more kebobs para mi. The great thing about Granada is how they do Tapas. Soooooo cheap! We found one in particular that we ate at 4 times. A chinese one, that served a good plate of your choice of Tapa and any drink for 2 euro! And OMGosh, the noodles were bomb! So healthy, I know, but so cheap and good! Saturday we went to  The Alhambra. A huge palace with many gardens, a view overlooking Granada and so much architecture. I am not big on museums and much prefer a visit to a place like this. You can walk around outside, imagine what it would be like to live way back when, its just so cool! The only bad part was the weather. It was raining the whole time! So me and my passe bought umbrella hats and they came in to be quite handy and made for good pictures :)

We shopped around a little after, got our chinese Tapa, took a nap, and got ready for the night. It turned out to be a really fun night. Had some drinks in the room and went out for dancing, and yes, had chinese again! So good!

Ahhh, before I go I forgot to mention Isla Christina . A family vacation at the end of Semana Santa was so nice and made Rachel and I feel special to be invited. After Ibiza we stayed in Sevilla for a few nights so we could experience Semana Santa. We saw three processions. The city is very packed you can barely move, but the processions are beautiful. Everyone goes silent as the huge statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary pass through, surrounded by the members of that church, dressed in what looks like a KKK costume, but totally has no relation, of course, carrying candles. It was definitely something to see and I am glad we got to experience how huge Holy Week is in Spain. We left to Isla Christina with Marcos on Friday. We finally got to meet Marta! She is awesome, funny, and beautiful, I mean she is a model, so that one was a given. The best part of the weekend was going to the a little beach bar to listen to a friend of Marcos's band. It was Reggae and I really liked it. It was just nice to hang out, relax in the sun, and have some beers with them. Rita and Juan didn't go, but all us youngn's did. :) There was a little family drama at lunch, haha, whats a family vaca without a little drama? It wasn't even bad, little Juanito stepped in the hot stew and the whole table went a little nuts. Only because we were all around a small table in a small room, so when Juanito jumped, everyone went to help him and got tangled up in each other. A little yelling, scrambling around, all while Rachel and I sat awkwardly watching. We thought Mamma Rita was going to have a heart attack! Ahhhh, well we all laughed about it later, but it was an ordeal at the time. It actually made me miss my family, I love family vacations or reunions, and even though I was so happy to be with my spanish fam, I still miss my family back home. :)

I love Barcelona!

Barcelona was a real good time! I love the city, it is very big but still gave off a smaller feel in certain parts of the city. We definitely had an experience staying at Equity Point Centric Hostel. Sharing a room of bunk beds with 12 strangers, yup it was different, but worth it. First night we got in really late and had to make our bunk pretty much in the dark because everyone was sleeping. Definitely smelt like 12 random people were sharing a room, a little stuffy, but not too bad. We chose Barcelona this weekend because Madi Taylor, a mutual friend of Rachel and I and my friend Chelsea Myer were visiting with OSU for a business credit. It was so great to see them! We didn't think we would find them at Shoko, a club on the port, because our plane was delayed and we weren't able to meet before the went out. Right when we walked in I saw them, what were the chances in a huge night club. We of course were the typical girls and started screaming and jumping with excitement to see them. Pretty funny actually. We stayed and danced all night running solely on excitement. The drinks were about 15 euro and we were not about to start drinking, we on a budget maaaaan! It was fun without bebidas anyway. We spent the next day walking around Barcelona, went on a walking tour the Gothic tour of the city. It was really interesting there is a lot of history in Barcelona. We had a long lunch with Madi and Chels and then walked to the port and around Los Rambles. The girls were staying in a nice hotel on the same street as our hostel so we definitely took advantage of that. Grabbed all our things from the hostel and utilized a nice, hot, long shower in their hotel. Hostel showers are not preferable.

Anywho, we had dinner with them that night and then drinks later with some of their friends from OSU. After a while we all ended up going to a little bar called Chupitos (Shots!) A bar only of shots and about 500 different types! It was extremely crowded but very fun. We all tried a few random shots. Some were lit on fire with all kinds a special effects added to it. My favorite was probably the "Harry Potter" they made it snap, crackle, and pop with sparkling effects after the set a match to it. It was pretty cool. Later, we bid our farewells and made our way back to our hostel.


I seem to always make friends with the hostel workers everywhere I travel. This trip especially. I stayed up late all three nights chatting with them and until 7 in the morning the last night! Loca, I know. However, I am very glad I did. I got to know Andrei, from Transylvania,  and now have a friend forever in Barcelona. Making friends all over the world! Rachel and I also met some people from Chili and Argentina during breakfast in the hostel, Beatriz and Esteban. We all had drinks outside our hostel Saturday night and talked well into the night. In fact Esteban and I had some pretty deep conversation about God and religion. That and polotics are the two things you don't talk about when drinking but for the record he brought it up and insisted on talking about it. However, it was a very civil conversation of which I don't think either of us budged on our opinions. We also met a guy who moved to Spain just live here a year, no work, just live and travel, his name was Josh. We spent Sunday with him. He was returning to New York for the first time in a year, awesome! Welp, basically what I loved so much about Barcelona was all the people I met and all the good conversation I had. It was a great trip and I will be back again this July, so I will be stopping in on my friend Andrei and hopefully make many new friends as well!

Lisboa Portugal!

Oh Emily, once again you have fallen behind. Ooops. Well the past few weeks have been jam packed and awesome. Spent a weekend in Portugal and of course had an awesome time with "The Sisters" as always and of course all the other chicas! Ah so much time has past but it was definitely beautiful but the company we were with made it memorable and so much fun. I never use "I" anymore, now it is "we" because Rachel and I are always together haha. Just for future reference when "we" is thrown out there. One night out in Lisbon was pretty loco. We went out to Barrio Alto, which is a neighborhood of pure night life. We randomly picked the bar that happend to be occupied by everyone in our program! So, a long night of dancing and laughs, top night for sure. I would have to say the best part of the night was sipping on some vino in our hotel room with the girls. Especially when Brittini Enget ( need to drop that name fo sho!) was sitting next to me on the bed. You know when you can feel someone starring at you but not say well she was, so I turn to look at her and she looks at me so sweetly and sincere and says, " Emily, we have to stay friends." Haha it  was so funny because we definitely had a moment and she was so serious. We had a good laugh over it. Of course Brit! Friends forever! We visited historical Castles and Cathedrals as well as this really cool tower in the water overlooking the ocean and city. Lisbon looks very similar to San Francisco. There is a bridge like the Golden Gate and the streets are very steep as well as the city architecture looking much like the San Francisco style. We enjoyed a famous cafe called The Brazilian Girl as well as some shopping in a few local trendy clothing stores. Overall it was a really good trip with lots of laughs and lots of fun!

My Intercambio is awesome!

Today I met with my intercambio. Intercambio is a program to help students studying abroad with their spanish and the local you are paired with, with their English. I had been praying to get someone that I really clicked with and wanted to hang out as much as we could, well my prayers worked! I was so nervous before meeting with her today and for a few minutes I thought she was not going to show. I had that nervous feeling of every girl walking my way was going to be her, so my I would get nervous energy and then the person would keep walking on. haha. Take a deep breath and then anticipate the next being my intercambio and being shot down again. Oh well, finally I saw her walking up and for sure knew it was her! Almudena is her name and she is awesome! Right away, we got along. Beso on each cheek and straight to talking. It was easy and comfortable. I just can not even express how happy I am that we got along so well! I so badly wanted a perfect fit to actually make a local spanish amiga and improve my Espanol at the same time. We went for a cafe con leche, that she paid for, I insisted but settled with "I got the next one". We sat and talked for about two hours at the cafe. Our families, friends, school, and so many other random topics. We even got on the topic that breast feeding burns 500 calories a day alone. HAHa, I don't know how I explained that in spanish but I did, must be getting better ;) She has a serious boyfriend of 6 years, Loca!

She seems very confidant and is so easy to talk to, and we can't even speak the same language, that's saying something! After a lot of good convo at the cafe we made our way down to the Rio and sat and talked for another hour. It was so funny because we tried to play a joke on a group on Americana's next to us at the river (not a mean way at all, just silly) I think me and Almudena we not exactly on the same page but it turned out really funny anyway and both couldn't stop laughing. Ahhhhhh, what a great day! She told me her friends wanted to meet me, which is awesome because I would love to meet them! They were laughing when they read my e-mails to Almudena about when and where we were going to meet and such. I attempted to write in spanish and I knew it wasn't correct but also my point was definitely getting through. She was teasing me a bit but it became more funny because Rachel and I had laughs when we read her e-mails. It is so funny the way we each put our words together in each others languages. You can understand what they are trying to say but it is written correctly. Here is an excerpt from our e-mails:


Almudena:

I live in Seville every days but weekend I go to Marchena. Marchena is my town.

On morning tuesdays I go to english class and on afternoon I go to university class from 15:00 to 19:00

wendesdays I has got free day. Cuando tu quieras quedamos. ¿Donde podríamos quedar? donde tu quieras.

debemos concretar la cita ok??

Besosss 

 
My reply:       

Estoy libre de 2:30 - 5:30 en miercoles. Quieres conocer en Cafe India cerca de Cathedral a las 2:30? Mi espanol es no muy bien, espero que podamos ayudarte cada otro. I am very excited to meet you! Hope Wednesday works :) 

Ah, this will be funny to look back on. Well it was a wonderful day and we are meeting for lunch tomorrow! Yay! so I know she liked me too! ;)

And to top off a great day Rachel and I went out for a tapa and cerveza and sat by the Rio an took in the beautiful view overlooking all the street lights reflecting off the water, ahhhh, I just love it here!
To make things even better we had our cena con la familia and it was full of laughs. We talked about going out in the states and old men always buying me and my friends drinks at the bars. HAHA, it led to some fun conversation and more laughing of course. Obviously discussing this with my guapo host hermano, Marcos, made it so much better. Yup, I have a crush on my host brother...so easy on the eyes. To bad he is 36, but hey age is just a number right? hehe. Apparently in Spain being called "Gordita" is a good thing, well at least when it is referred to your piernas (legs). We also talked about this tonight because Rita grabbed my legs this morning, "Ahh, que guapa, gordita!" I said, "gordita! Rita! Por que? Gorda es malo!" She insisted it was good, but still the thought of being told any part of your body is something close to gorda (fat) even with the "ita" (tiny) at the end, doesn't sound good. Anyway, we had laughs all around about this tonight as well, as I made many jokes about it with Rita tonight. Such a great day and night for me! Gracias Dios para mi vida!


Met with Almudena again today. Once again it was great! It is like we have been friends forever. We had great conversation today it even got to a deeper and more personal level. It is interesting because when we are talking about more serious things the language barrier makes it more difficult to really express ourselves but still we both understand the significance of what we are saying. We have the same humor and are both very patient with each other. We are meeting again on Tuesday to go to Plaza de Espana. I can't wait! I feel extremely better about my spanish this week compared to the past month of frustration I was feeling. There was a definite learning curve. Now, everything should start getting easier little by little, I hope. :)

4 cities and 4 weekends later...

Danget! I have fallen behind on my blogging time. Typical me. Ugh, ok here goes trying to re-cap.

After Morocco, we went to Jerez for a day trip. It is a little town about an hour train ride from Seville. A group of about 10 chicas went and it was one of the most fun days I have had in Spain! Feel like I bonded and got to know a few of the girls much better that day! It was great girl time. We made no plans ahead of time and were spontaneous the whole day. Jerez is known for its wineries. They make a sherry wine, so we knew wine tasting was on our list. First stop however, was a horse show. Dancing horses. It was interesting to see but kind of made me sad. I don’t know if it is normal for horses to foam from the mouth but all of them were, and it made me sad. The girls said it is from the metal piece in their mouth. Honestly, could of done with out the horse show, but we already paid so we made the best of it. The rest of the day was spent tasting sherry wine at Sandeman Winery, hopping from restaurant to restaurant for drinks and running around the town being silly. 

The Sandeman Winery was really neat. We got a tour and a little history, which was short and sweet, so we didn’t get bored before our sherry tasting begun. Then the tasting followed the tour and woooo weeee, that sherry is stiff. We had a jolly ole time drinking 3 different types from old to very young, bitter to very sweet. I think we all left feeling a little tipsy. We found a nice patio 

afterwards and enjoyed a glass of non-sherry wine, easier to take down. It was so nice to sit and relax and chat with the girls. Brittani and I had a good talk about our future plans and possibly working together someday, ahh the possibilities. Ha ha, can’t wait to see what really happens. Anyways, we then moved on for comida! As we had all worked up an appetite from all that wine. Enjoyed some delicious tapas, more laughs, and more wine. We explored the town a little me, more like running around and taking random pictures, that we all just thought was so fun to do at the time, then returned to the train station. When we arrived, we learned our train was sold out and had to wait 2 hours for the next, so off to the next restaurant for drinks. After two hours we were tired and ready to go. Returned home and sure did sleep well that night!

What next, What next? Oh yeah! I went to Bilbao and San Sebastian with Becca, Leah, and Daryne! Honestly, Bilbao is nothing special, very modern and industrial looking with not anything too exciting to do. The hillsides surrounding the city are beautiful and the people are very nice, especially our hostel desk worker Edarto! He was so nice and loved me! He is an older guy, well like 40, and thought I was a loca chica, in a good way of course J He was sad to see me go, I told him I would come back to visit. So we stayed in Bilbao Thursday night and Saturday, but Friday we were in San Sebastian.  Oh San Sebastian, how I love you! It is so beautiful, right on the coast, beautiful views, lots to do, and fun nightlife. We went to their aquarium, the beach, had an awesome lunch, and found the cutest little jewelry shop the first day we were there. Packed day and so much fun. We made friends with the desk workers at our hostel and had drinks with them before we all went out. Had a blast on the town, feeling good and dancing all night! Pigged out on some fruit when we got back to our hostel, ha-ha, it was all we had. Wish that was always all I had after a night out, much healthier decision. Woke up the next day hurting a bit, but pushed through and we all hiked up to the huge statue of Jesus overlooking the town and the ocean. Oh my gosh! So incredibly beautiful, all the way up the hike you could stop for a whole new view and it was perfect. The weather was amazing, I could have sat there all day looking at the town and ocean below. I would love to go visit again when the weather is always perfect and learn how to surf! Someday. We returned to Bilbao later Saturday because we wanted to be sure to see the Guggenheim Museum.  There are only 5 in the world, I think, so we thought we should take advantage of being so close to one. Welp, nothing special if you ask me. I am sorry, but it is very hard for me to appreciate modern art. I feel like I could do half of what was in that Museum. There we some cool aspects of it, but overall not mu cup of tea. I like intricate art, something you look at and just now how difficult it would be to do it. The rest of the night was really low key. Tried the pinxos, which are northern Spain’s tapas. They have all kinds of little sandwiches or little fancy snacks sitting at the bar and choose one and pay right there. Then go to the next bar and do the same. It is pretty cool and they were pretty good too. Went out that night for a bit with some Barcelona boys we met but came back early for bed. Next day traveled back to Seville! Home sweet home! I really do miss it even when I am gone for 3 days.

The next weekend we stayed in Seville, which was much needed. I love being here! Friday we went on a hike about an hour and a half outside of Seville. It was such a great day. I had great conversation with one of our ISA directors, Elisa, but everyone calls her Elli. She is so sweet and was very helpful and patient with my Spanish. We spoke in Español the whole time, she made me feel so much better about it! The hike was a great work out and so much fun, goofing around with the girls and just enjoying nature. I had so much energy when we returned to Seville I went and worked out more. I don’t know why, that is not too normal for me, unfortunately I wish it were, I would be in a lot better shape.  Afterwards I showered and went back to the river and ordered a café con leche and wrote in my journal for almost two hours. It was much needed and so nice to just sit and write. The waiter, Daniel, was very nice and talked with me for a bit. I have been back since then and turns out he is from Venezuela, which makes sense because he is easier to understand than Sevillanos are. In Seville they speak very fast and cut off the end of all their words. For example, ‘mas o menos” is ‘ma o meno’ plus the fast pace makes it very difficult to understand. Which is probably another reason my Spanish is not where I want it to be right now. L Sad day.

Any way back to my weekend, I stayed by the river a little longer and just prayed. It is such an amazing view along the river you cannot help but thank God for all your blessings if you are looking over it. Much needed “me & God” time. J

Went out that Friday night with the sisters, Becca, and Tess. Had so much fun at a little bar close to our casas. Made friends with the waiters and got some free drinks and snacks, they were really nice and not creepy like a lot of men are here. Later we went out to Club Abril. Danced all night long, it got so hot that I went in with curled hair and came out with straight! Proof of a night well done! Love dancing the night away. The rest of the weekend was laid back. A lot of time at the rio. Love the rio! We rented a pedal boat for an hour and soaked up the sun and relaxed after with some delicious lemon-aid. 

We also had such a great lunch with our padres on Saturday. Saw a whole other side of Juan. Him and Rita were being silly with each other, it was really cute, had a lot of laughs. Discussed our favorite chocolates and Juan would not share his hot chocolate, it was so funny, Rita would try and steal some but he was very protective. Ha ha, so cute! Rita wanted to me to show Juan pictures of my family so we did that for a while. She loves seeing Sammi and Josie, as do I so that was nice to share my beautiful little nieces with them. It was just great bonding time, loved it!

On Sunday, Rachel and I had an adventure trying to find this little school I am volunteering at every Monday morning. It is in a poorer part of town in Macarena District. It is seriously a whole other world compared to the area we live in. Most the people are from Chile or Guatemala so they are much darker, where Spaniards are fairer skinned. Well we finally found the school, which put me at ease because I am horribly directionally challenged. We realized we weren’t going to make it back in time for mass close to our casa so we found one on the way back. Which wasn’t hard, there is a Catholic church on every corner. It was a much smaller church than we had been too before, but we liked the cozier feel. Since we obviously cannot follow mass very well since it is in Spanish and fast paced, Rachel and I look up the readings ahead of time so hopefully we catch a few words here and there.

The practice trip to my volunteer school proved successful Monday morning, I even got there 15 minutes early! It went really well too. The other lady who I am doing it with doesn’t speak English but is very nice and speaks slowly so I can understand. What we are doing is taking  kids who do not get showers at home. We pull them from class and give them showers and new clothes for the week. They get this every Monday and Wednesday for the most part but sometimes only once a week. It was hard to see them so dirty, I am not use to seeing children like this. It was a very humbling experience. They were all sweet and seemed happy but they are just kids and don’t really know any better because this is all they know. Some were older 10 and 12 years old. They were sisters and both beautiful. I had to comb their hair with a special comb to get out lice, very sad, they can’t even help that they have it. They knew more about the realization of their life because they were a little older. It was hard to see that they knew the situation they were in and can't really do much about it. I told them how pretty they were and tried my best to be silly and make them smile but it is hard with the language barrier. I am excited to go every week, I hope I can build a little relationship with them all, make them feel special and beautiful. Very grateful for everything I have. This just opened my eyes even more to all the blessings in my life.

Lets go to Africa!

Just got back from Africa yesterday! You don't see that sentence very often do you? Nope. Well, I am very happy that I am able to use it. Our trip started early Friday morning and ended Sunday night. Our schedule was very tight, full of bus rides, monkeys, ferry's, caves, markets, haggling, food, exotic entertainment, and more!

Gibraltar was so cool! First off, I love monkeys so I was already really pumped to get there. So, we arrive and literally monkeys were everywhere. Hanging on the busses, trees, people, everything! They are really comfortable around people, basically they just want your food. I of course wanted some interaction with them, so I luckily had a little pack of pumpkin seeds in my purse. As I reach to go get them a Mamma monkey see's and immediately comes at me and pulls and tugs my purse. Smart little things, they know what you're looking for. After she was shooed away by the bus driver. I poured some in my hand and hid the rest in the other behind my back. As I was feeding the Mamma monkey a little one was sneaking behind me. All the sudden the little monkey jumps on my head in attempt to get to the hidden seeds in my other hand! It scared me but I was laughing/screaming  a little at the same time. I just gave up the whole pack and threw it to the ground. Mamma monkey was happy about that and the little guy just chilled on my head for a bit, I was laughing the whole time. The highlight of my trip! I was so happy to have an encounter with them. I know that sounds silly, but I love monkeys!

We finally arrived in Morocco Friday night. Exhausted from the day of travel and monkeys we had a  great dinner at the hotel and went to bed. Bright and early Saturday morning we started our African adventures. We had a tour of Chefchaouen first by the cutest little tour guide ever! The old part of the city was where our tour was and it was very picturesque. All the town walls were painted a light blue, our guide said this kept the mosquitoes away. The homes had the smallest doors, very odd, but they are small because before you enter the home you are to bow. So the small doors make sense :) Also, you enter everything with the right foot first and exit with the left foot first, supposed to bring good luck. Habibi! Our little tour guide kept saying. It means my love, or my darling. He also said he has been on the show Lonely Planet. That was pretty cool.

         
















Haggle, haggle, haggle. Oh did I mention haggle. So much of it in the market place. You say one price they say higher, back and forth over and over. Then you walk away, walk by a little later, they stop you and give you a lower price. Worked for me at least :) Although I probably could have tried even harder with a few pieces of jewelry but all in all I am happy with my purchases. So interesting that they all can speak at least 3 to 4 languages and some more. They have to. There  business is to sell and if they can't speak to tourists, then they won't do very well. I really enjoyed the market place, but the haggling can be a little overwhelming at times. I did buy a pair of pants/skirt piece I wanted from before I even got to the market. Found them, got them! Really funky, but I like them :)

My new funky African pants/skirt!

More to come....

Just throwing my every day thoughts your way :)

Ok! So, I realized that I have not said enough about how blessed I feel about my situation here in Espana! I have not wrote enough about my amazing host family, roommate, classes, walks, runs, people, just everything basically. I am going to take some time to do that now.

First off, my roommate. Miss Rachel Kelch. She is awesome! We get along so well. I can be my weird, dorky, crazy self with her and she loves it. Well as far as I know :) I am so fortunate to have met her and spend these months here with her. Plus, her spanish is sooooo much better than mine, she helps me mucho mucho! Thanks Rachel! I love you my little rubio! Also, I have made many new friends here and have had so much fun getting to know them, making travel plans with them, going out and being loca with them, and just being "spanish" with them!

Now, my new familia. I love them all. Mamma Rita is so nice, funny, helpful, and so easy to be around. She feeds us so much, which is actually could become a problema for Rachel and I. In fact, starting tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) we are cutting back our sweets and portion size and increasing our ejercicio. Mamma Rita has agreed to stop placing Mister Choco and picos in front of us after dinner as well as muy grande serving sizes. Dieta, Dieta! We tell her, " Tu comida va hacerme gorda Rita" (Your food is going to make me fat)! Then we joke about if we are gorda chica's we will never have novio's(boyfriends). Basically, we just love her! So happy we got placed with this family. Juan is very nice and muy intelligente. He can speak english fairly well but speaks in spanish for our benefit. Marcos and Juanjo are both very, very  nice and helpful, especially Marcos since we see him much more. We tell him he is our personal tutor and in all actuality he really is. He is muy guapo (handsome), so that helps too of course ;).

Told ya he is guapo! Happy Birthday Marcos! He basically had to make his cake, we couldn't read the instructions, haha!  But we had a great time in la cocina together!

I love when we all just sit around after meals and just talk. It helps me so much and we have good conversation about interesting, comical, serious, all kinds of things, its great! Lastly, Juanito, who is Juanjo's 5 year old son. I miss my nieces, Josie Bear and Sammi So-So, way too much and having a little nephew here sure helps me adjust to not being around them all the time. All in all, I love, love, love my new home!

Okie dokie, just a few more tid bits about all the little thoughts I am having. School is great! Love all my teachers and actually have enjoyed every one of my classes. Sadly I have not had a semester where every one of my classes is stimulating my brain. Things are not to heavy with school right now, but it is picking up. Practice my Espanol in only my spanish class, but it is very helpful. The first week I was here my spanish improved so much! I was so happy that in one week I felt so much more confident about it. But now..., sadly I feel that it has plateaued :( I need to make much more of an effort to meet locals. I have made a few local friends and have made plans to go for a drink this week and just talk. Every time I go out I make a point to find spaniards in spanish, it helps a lot. So, hopefully I will report back feeling better about it :)

Ummm....??? Oh ya! Rachel and I have been going on evening runs around the river and the view is so gorgeous it makes running enjoyable, and I am not a runner. The city is so beautiful! We walk about 2 hours a day. Plenty of time to admire the river, the many styles of buildings, the cathedral, everything! We have already been here 3 weeks, and it is going to fast! I do not want it to end, it needs to slow down! There is no time to waste so we must soak up every minute we have and experience all we can! Every time I stop to think, all I can think is "I'm so happy! I'm so Blessed!" I am so grateful for this time in my life and so grateful for my parents and all they do for me and God, he has blessed me more than I deserve!

Man, did I just ramble on forever...yup sure did. And those are not even half my thoughts! E! Well until next time.

Hasta luego!

Second Weekend = Success

A long and eventful weekend has come to an end. After a good week of classes we went on an excursion to Ronda. Ronda is a beautiful city about an hour and a half from Seville. We got to see amazing views overlooking the rolling hills, and an incredible view from the bridge connecting the old part of town to the new. It was breathtaking! A river ran below the bridge, very beautiful. We also visited one of the oldest and biggest bull rings, it was really interesting to hear about the different parts of a bull fight. Rachel and I definitely want to go to a bull fight while we are in Spain, it is a must do for us.The rest of the day was spent in little bar and chocolate cafe, the weather was not the best so we tried to stay inside.

Me and Laura's bullfight!

Pictures do not do it justice 

I guess I forgot to mention Rachel in my first post. She is my roommate and we get along like we have known each other for ever. It is such a relief we get along so well!

Rachel y Yo!

Saturday we went on a bike tour around Seville. The weather was so perfect and we got to see parts of the city we had not explored yet. Plaza de Espana, for example, is a cite we had been needing to go visit. It is huge! We loved it, so pretty and is surrounded by a huge park. We plan on going back many more times. We had a great lunch and after we finally made the cheese cake we bought for Marcos for his birthday. Since the directions were in spanish we needed some help. Basically, Marcos made his own birthday cake but it was like a learning session. He helped us translate the directions and it turned out to be a really fun afternoon in the kitchen. We love our new family! We can both be ourselves with them and they are all so patient and helpful with us when our spanish is not the best. Well my spanish, Rachel is much better than me.

Short siesta after our cheese cake, than got ready for Carnival in Cadiz! Carnival in Cadiz is a huge fiesta in the streets. Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes and the fiesta goes late into the night an early morning. It was definitely a loco time! Made some new friends on the bus ride up, saw a lot of crazy people and costumes, had a blast with my friends, and went to bed at 8am. Success?...Yup! Lets just say this Sunday was literally a day of complete rest.

Crazy hair for Crazy Cadiz!

Four days of class then we are off to Africa! We are going to Morocco! I am very excited to see another culture so very different from American and Spanish culture. I will be sure to report back with all the details.

Better late than Never.

Hola!
Ok, so blogs, journaling, writing anything in general, I have never been exceptional at. However, I want to write this blog for me to look back on and reflect on the time of my life! Also for anyone else who may be interested. :)

Well I am off to a late start with my blog, but better late than never! Spain. Where to begin? How about...It is amazing and I love it! Everything so far has been perfect! I have been in Sevilla for two weeks now and adjusting well. I absolutely could not be happier with my host family, Rita and Juan, my new padres, Juanjo and Marcos, my new brothers, and Juanito, my new nephew, love them all already!

We have been on the go with school, excursions, and the whole spaniard way of life. Very different from what we do in America. For instance, we have lunch about 3 and dinner around 10, that took some adjustment. When we go out for the night we don't return until about 5:30am, and that is completely normal. I am embracing the culture and can not wait to experience all I can here. It is a beautiful city with so much culture and history. I have explored much of it in just the first two weeks but it is my goal to see and learn as much as I can about Sevilla while I am here.

So much has already happend, but it would take a novel to catch you up. So, starting now I will do my best to write about my time in Espana as much as possible!

Here are a view pics of my time so far :)

Hasta Luego!