Everything Italian...

Between pizza and pasta, coffee, gelato, and ancient ruins, the Italians really know what they are doing. Thursday the 15th, I took the early morning bus from Seville to Madrid, where I then flew to Italy for a week. I started my adventures in Rome. Arriving late on Thursday night, I didn’t have time to start wandering through the city until Friday morning. Friday, I awoke early, anxious to see all that I could see in a day’s time. I started by taking the city bus to Vatican City. I’m definitely improving on how to use public transportation, but I don’t like buses so much because you never know where you should stop until you’ve already passed it…and such was the case then. It’s okay though, because me and a couple of other tourists were all going there, so we just hopped back on the bus. I finally got to Vatican City, but I didn’t really know where everything was and the signage wasn’t clear, so I just sort of followed the crowd. I eventually wound up in the line to tour the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica, which turned out to be a beautiful view of the city (from the outside) and of the church (from the inside). But the worthwhile view was only the reward from climbing up 500 stairs; some of which were quite narrow, windy, and steep. Upon finding myself on solid ground again, I spent some time gazing in awe and wonder at the inside of the Basilica. From there, I was on a mission to find the Sistine Chapel. Well, let’s just say that I had NO clue where it was, and my maps weren’t very helpful, so I wandered around for about an hour and a half before I FINALLY saw signs for it. What I soon found out, was that you have to tour (aka, pay for) entrance to the Vatican Museum in order to see it. So I pay, expecting to cut right to the chapel…WRONG! They make you go through pretty much the whole museum (which is rather large), before you can see the Sistine Chapel. Once I saw it, I would say that it was worth the wait. The very large and detailed painting is incredible. It is really hard to believe that someone actually hand-painted the whole masterpiece. After, I just took out my map and started walking to some of the many random plazas and churches on it. I like not having a strict agenda, because it allows me to see more of the actual city, not just the tourist attractions :-) Sometime during the tour, I was getting a little tired, so I FORCED myself to eat some gelato for an energy boost...jk! Hahaha! I’m pretty sure that gelato could be my new favorite food. I must admit that I think I ate gelato every day that I was in Italy :-) When I was finally exhausted from walking, I retired to the hostel for dinner (it offered a free pasta dinner) and called it a night.

Saturday, day #2 in Rome. What should I do today? Well, I was showered, ready, packed, and out the door by 10. I was meeting Aunt Kimmy, Uncle Curtis, Grandma, and Grandpa, who were in town to embark on a European cruise) at our hotel at 11. When I got there, I waited for about an hour, but there was no sign of them. I was getting a little nervous because I didn’t know if their flights had been affected by the volcano erupting and I don’t really have a solid way of communicating with them. After an hour, I decided that I didn’t want to sit around, so I headed to the Colliseum. Wow. That’s basically all I have to say about it, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. Looking at it from the outside, it is just so impressive to look at; standing there all massive and ancient-looking. The inside is equally amazing. It just blows my mind that something so ancient is still standing and in relatively decent shape. After a lot of gazing in awe at the structure, I left to venture to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, other ancient Roman ruins nearby. But on the way, I got a call from Aunt Kimmy saying they were here in Rome and were waiting for me at the hotel!!!! Clearly, I was excited to see them, I mean, it has been over 3 months since I’ve seen anyone from home (minus through Skype). So I returned to the hotel, and after hugging all of them, we went out for a nice lunch. That was a treat for me, because I always try to eat whatever I can, for as cheap as I can. Which means that I eat sandwiches from the grocery store, or whatever else I can find for cheap. We wandered around and saw the Trevi Fountain, ate more gelato (big surprise, I know :-) ), and saw some other major plazas. I just think the city is just so cool because it’s so old. We don’t have anything that old in the States. Okay, this is getting long already, so I’m going to have to condense this a bit, so as to not bore you with details. The next morning, we went to the Vatican just so the fam could look at the outside of the Basilica. Then we ate lunch and headed for the Coliseum. We thoroughly toured it (It was my second time, but I didn’t care…it’s just so awesome!). After, just Uncle Curtis, their friend Roy, and I ventured through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I don’t really have the space to write everything the sites were used for, but I’m sure you can find a sufficient description on Google or Wikipedia if you really want to know :-) It was a lot of walking, but it was well worth it because it was so cool! I know that I have learned all about that stuff in history classes my whole life, but it was always so BORING before!! Actually seeing it is way, way, WAY better. Short break at the hotel, late dinner, and then we saw the Trevi fountain all lit up at night. Very pretty.

On Monday, I had to say goodbye to the fam, which was incredibly sad for me. I was doing so well until I started hugging them all and yes…I started to cry. I just couldn’t help myself! I didn’t think I was homesick until I saw them, and then I didn’t want them to leave. Anyway, they had to leave to catch their train, and I was waiting to take the train to Siena for a day. Once I figured out how all of the trains operated (it is actually kind of confusing...to the point where I had to ask 2 very nice security people at the station AND the train conductor to make sure I was on the right train). Whatever, I got there, and that’s all that matters. Once I got to Siena, I had to find my hostel. Well, let’s just say that I was a little deceived when I was booking because it made it sound like I was close to the city. It turned out to be a solid 45-minute walk from the city center. Luckily, it was pretty nice, so it sort of redeemed itself. The next morning, I checked out of the hostel and wandered through the city for a while. The city is absolutely precious. And I mean adorable; it kind of looks like something out of a fairy tale because everything is old and worn-looking, but not in a gross sort of way, more like it gives the city a certain charm. I used the map as a guide, but otherwise I just wandered around, following the city-posted signs for monuments and churches and stuff. Then back to the train station to go to Venice!!

Another train ride down and I arrived in Venice. It was basically as perfect and beautiful as I imagined it to be. You walk out of the train station and are immediately looking at the winding canal and city charm. Love it! Dumped my stuff at the hostel and was in search of a restaurant that the guidebook recommended. The city streets are so windy, they are a little difficult to navigate, but I found it fine. Ate a delicious pizza for dinner. The next morning I hit the ground running for a long day of sightseeing. The dude working at the hostel gave me a map with a suggested route to hit most of the historic sites, so I followed that. Basically, all my pictures are of beautiful buildings and landscapes, because I just couldn’t get enough of it! I was like, “That’s so pretty!” “And that!” And that too!” Hahaha! I saw the Ponte Rialto, which is a famous bridge, St. Mark’s Basilica, toured the Dodge’s Palace, avoided getting lost, and of course, ate gelato :-) Overall, it was a great day. I’m just enamored by the city of Venice. I’m thinking that I’m definitely going back some day. Back to the train station, but this time for an overnight train from Venice back to Rome. That was a long night. The whole set-up is kind of weird because you are in this small car thing with 5 other people, and you all are crammed in there trying to sleep (I didn’t buy a ticket for a bed because that was more expensive). I’m not sure if I will be doing that again. There was some confusion with the seating, and of course, I had NO clue what was going on because I don’t speak any Italian whatsoever. It was fine though and we got it all worked out :-) Then, my flight from Rome to Madrid was over 2 hours late leaving, which made me miss my 1 am bus from Madrid to Sevilla. Therefore, I had to sleep in the airport :-( I had to buy another bus ticket to Sevilla, but I finally got back home, exhausted and in desperate need of a shower, around 5 pm on Friday.

What a long trip! Italy is seriously gorgeous, but I was happy to be back at home. Traveling is kind of exhausting because you are constantly on the go, figuring out where you are and where you want to go, walking all over the place, etc. But I think that Venice has been my favorite place to visit so far :-)

Lesson: Most of Europe's public restrooms are hard to find, sketch, and expensive! While I was in Venice, I could NOT find a bathroom. And then when I did, it cost me .80!

Lesson: That traffic circles are used EXTENSIVELY in most of the European countries that I've visited. We have some at home, but they are pretty small, and usually used to slow people down in subdivisions. Here, the traffic circles are everywhere! And they are absolutely massive. I don't know if they help circulate traffic better, but they always make me nervous because there are all of these cars who are supposed to yield to others, but everyone kind of just goes. I'm not sure how these don't cause more accidents.

Lesson: I was shocked to find out that English is more widely understood in Italty than Spanish. I was feeling a little nervous to go to Italy because I don't speak any Italian, but my Senora was like, "It's fine! People can understand Spanish." So I was thinking that I could speak Spanish to communicate with the people there. But I found that when I spoke Spanish, people were like, "Huh?" and didn't understand me, but if I spoke English, they could. Weird, right? Spanish and Italian are a LOT more similar than English and Italian. Also, when I went to the Dodge's Palace, most of the signs were in Italian and English. Some were in 4 languages (Italian, English, German, and French), but Spanish wasn't one of them. So I guess if you speak Spanish you are out of luck!!! ( or maybe they just couldn't understand my Spanish with an American accent :-) )

Por Fin...English!

What this means is, finally everything was clear to me because I went to London during the weekend of April 8 - 11. Therefore, EVERYTHING WAS IN ENGLISH!!!! (Can you tell that I was pretty excited?!?) Well, this was my first trip where I traveled alone. And no Drew, I have friends, but some of my friends went to Denmark for the weekend to stay with friends there, and I didn't want to go because it's really expensive and I wanted to go to London more. Therefore, I was like, "I'm going! Even if I have to go alone!"...so I went alone :-) I wasn't too concerned though, because, like I've already established, everyone speaks English. Well, I FINALLY got to the city center of London, after waiting forever to clear border control at the airport (because England is not part of the European Union, you have to go through border control), and figuring out which bus to take, around 2 a.m. Because it was so late, the bus I planned on taking was not running. Fabulous. And I seriously could NOT figure out what bus I needed to take to get to my hostel because I didn't have a map of the city. Therefore, I had to resort to taking a taxi...unfortunately. It was a little bit expensive, but I just wanted to get to the hostel. Got there, checked in, and slept :-)

The next morning, after VERY little sleep, I got ready and was out the door and ready to explore London. I didn't really have a great ciy map and we all know my directional skills, so I was basically flying by the seat of my pants. Also, one of the great things about traveling alone is that I can do/see whatever I want, whenever I want. What freedom! Hahaha! Anyway, I walked around a LOT and so I was able to so a lot of things, including random things along the way. In this one day, I was able to see Big Ben, the Parliment building, Westminster Abbey (but I didn't tour it because it was really expensive), a well-known fountain (I forget the name, but I definitely remember that it was at the fountain where the most picky couple that I have ever met asked me to take their picture. I was like, "Sure!" Then they started being UBER picky about the shot, and the angle, and the background, and on and on..... I was like, "I'm pretty sure I know how to take a picture!!!! And if you are going to be so picky, don't ask me!). After that, I walked down by the river and saw the London Eye, but again, didn't go up in it because it was really expensive....and I'm on a budget. After, I have to admit that I ate McDonald's for lunch. Yes, McDonald's. I was so excited for American-like fast food you have no idea. I mean, I took full advantage of all of the food that I can't get in Spain. Other examples: Quiznos, bagels, and cookies (like home-made type cookies. In fact, I think I had a cookie every day). It's so weird how we forget everyone in the world doesn't eat the same things that we eat on a regular basis. After that wonderful fast-food lunch, I was on a hunt to find Buckingham Palace, which turned out to be kind of disappointing, in my opinion. Maybe I missed something, but I thought that it would be cooler to see in person, but it was kind of just there. From there, I wanted to find the infamous, one and only Harrod's. Yeah. I found it, went inside to look around, but left quickly because I'm pretty sure that I can't even afford to buy a pair of socks from there :-) Then, I went to the King's Crossing station. All you Harry Potter fans know why....because Harry gets to the Hogwart's Express by platform 9 & 3/4 at the King's Crossing station! Hahahaha! They have a platform 9 & 3/4 for people to take pictures. So of course I had to go! From there, I found Shakespeare's Globe Theater and saw THEE London Bridge. Basically, after all of that, I was exhausted, so it was back to the hostel for the night.

Next day, my first tourist attraction was the Tower of London. My friend told me that it was really cool, so I spent the money to tour it. That tourned out to be great advice, because I spent about 3 hours touring the museum. It's just so interesting to learn all of the history that took place there and there is so much to see due to the fact that you can tour practically all of the castle-like buildings. At a restaurant there, I figured that I should have an afternoon tea while I was there, because it seemed like an English thing to do. I mean, I don't even like tea, but it's what they do there, right? After I was done, I was going to go to Hyde Park, but I was looking at the map of the tube, and I saw a stop called Wimbledon. I was thinking, "Do you think that's where they host the Wimbledon tennis open?" So, I asked someone on the train, and he was like, "Of course!" So that's how I randomly got to go to visit the tennis stadium where they host the Wimbledon Open :-) It was so exciting to be where all of the tennis greats come to play!!! And I don't know how I never thought to go there in the first place, but I'm glad that I happened upon it :-) Went off to find dinner after that, and then back to the hostel for bed.

For my last day in London, I didn't have much time, but I got to go to Abby Road!!! You know, the famous Beatle's place. I have to admit that I don't really know why it's famous (I think the Beatle's have an album with this name, but I'm not sure). I was able to get a photo of me crossing the road too, just like them :-) After that, I returned to the center to take a stroll through Hyde Park. Then I went to the airport. Well, getting there was quite difficult, but that's a LONG story. I finally got there and was in a hurry, and of course, I got stopped by security and they ended up throwing away my shampoo, hair gel, and toothpaste. It was obviously my fault, but I was still a little frustrated, becuase clearly, my shampoo isn't dangerous. Whatever! I made my flight (though just barely) and was able to get back to Sevilla without any more problems :-) First trip alone = success!


Lesson: London has ice cream cones with two openings on top for two scoops of ice cream to sit next to each other instead of on top of each other! Hahaha! I was like, "Woah! I have to get one of those!" Hahahaha!

Lesson: Knowing another language is extremely handy if you want people to leave you alone. Just start speaking to them in another language and they will be so shocked they will walk away!

Lesson: Grocery stores are seriously the way to go for cheap food. I just discovered that you can buy a pre-made sandwhich and things to go with it for super cheap. I was able to buy a sandwhich, chips, a drink, and a cookie for around 3 pounds.

Lesson: I think that London (and the UK in general) just wants to be different. I mean, they drive on the wrong side of the road, they want to have their own currency (whose exchange rate with the dollar is horrible), and they use a completely different outlet/plug thing too.

Semana Santa

In Sevilla, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a really big deal. Every day, starting on Palm Sunday, there are numerous "pasos," or passes, through different parts of the city. It's a little difficult to explain, but I will try. Basically, it's like a parade, but with religious monuments/art/sculpture/etc. instead of floats. Each "paso" consists of 2 parts: "El Senor" (Jesus), and "La Virgen" (Mary). The paso leaves from its respective church, goes through the city streets (but ALL pass through the Cathedral), and then re-enters its church. All of the pasos leave at varying times of the day; some during the day, and some really late at night. What I didn't realize too, was that each paso is REALLY long. Sometimes, it can last 12 or more hours. That is a LONG time for all of the people to be walking through the city. First, many, many, many (sometimes almost 2,000) "Nazarenos" pass by. These "Nazarenos" are dressed in long robes of their own distinctive color to each "paso." They also wear a long, pointy hat and mask. They are dressed very similar to the KKK. It's a little scary at first, but I was just trying to remember that it is something religious, not racist. After los Nazarenos pass, then a large sculpture of Jesus passes by. Each paso has "El Senor" in a different pose (carrying the cross, on the cross, and more). These extremely heavy sculptures are carried by more than 30 men, so they pass by slowly and have to be put down often. Then, come more Nazarenos, some carrying crosses, others just walking with large candles. When the Nazarenos stop, you can ask, and sometimes they will give you "stampitas," or small pictures of the Virgen or El Senor. And finally, "La Virgen" passes. In my opinion, all of the Virgens look the same, but the Sevillanos definitely know the differences. All of the pasos are VERY pretty, impressive, and intricate. I was gone during the first weekend, but I was excited to see the pasos during the week. We didn't have class all week, so we were able to see as many pasos as we wanted. On Monday, it was raining, so most of the pasos were cancelled for the day. The pasos can't leave if it's raining because the old, valuable sculptures will be ruined. On Tuesday though, the weather was gorgeous, so I was able to see some pasos. My family took me to see La Candelaria and El Dulce Nombre at night. The city was absolutely FILLED with people. Also, because they blocked off many of the roads in the center, it is dfficult to get anywhere. And if you find that you can get there, you may have to go WAY out of the way or it takes you forever to get there. It's kind of annyoing actually. Anyway, we stayed out pretty late to see the pasos (like 3:30 or something). Wednesday, after sleeping in a bit, I hung around the house until nighttime, when my host sister and her boyfriend took me to see more pasos. We manuevered our way through the crowd and hopped a fence in order to get a good view. It was worth it though, because we were literally "in" the paso. So much so that they kept telling me, "Erin, you should just start walking with the Nazarenos!" It was a perfect place to take great photos :-) Thursday, which is the day with the most pasos, was CRAZY!!!!! I was definitely not prepared for what was to come. We didn't even leave the house until around 10:30 pm. When we did, we walked to the city center to try to see the first paso. Yeah, that was a fail. I have seriously never been so squished in my life (meaning that there was a large crowd of people). Everyone was packed together so closely, I could barely move. I mean, I kept lifting my head to try to get some fresh air :-) We finally got out of the crowd and moved to another spot, where we stayed for the rest of the night. We saw 3 or 4 pasos during our time there. When we decided to leave, at about 6 am, we tried to get back to the house, but we found ourselves basically trapped by the various pasos on all sides. So, my Senora is like, "Let's go to a cafe." Goodness gracious!! I passed on ordering coffee (though I could have used the caffeine boost), in the hopes that I would EVENTUALLY be able to sleep. After some time there, we started to make our way home, but again, were stopped by a paso. Yeah. Needless to say, I didn't get back to my house until about 9:15...in the morning!!! I was completely exhausted. Basically, the rest of the weekend passed the same: went to see more pasos on Friday night with my friends, saw 1 or 2 on Saturday night, and went to church on Easter. Easter was a little weird here. People don't celebrate the holiday like I am used to celebrating it. I like my church here, but we didn't even really talk about it being Easter. I mean, Easter is a really important day and they didn't even mention that Jesus rose from the grave that day. Weird. Also, my family here isn't that religious, so we didn't have an Easter dinner or anything. It kind of made me miss home because things were so different. I guess it's just what they are accustomed to, though. I'm sorry if this is confusing, becuase it is really hard to fully understand Semana Santa without seeing it. Oh, and this is completely random, but I was finally brave enough to get my hair cut here. My bangs were so long and were driving me absolutely crazy, so I was like, "I'm going!" So I asked my family, and they recommended a place for me to go that was good and cheap. I was really nervous, becuase I am REALLY picky about my hair and with the whole language thing, I wasn't sure how it would go. I only got my bangs cut, so it went fine. Hahahaha! I'm so dramatic :-) Lesson: Most of the people here walk SOOOOOO slow!!! Like no joke! When walking with my family, I swear it took us twice as long as it normally takes me to get anywhere! Lesson: Basically everyone eats sunflower seeds. I know that people eat them in the States, but during Semana Santa, if you looked around, you would see most of the people around you sitting there eating sunflower seeds. I don't know. For some reason I find that really interesting. I was eating some with my sister and her boyfriend, and they were so appalled that I eat the whole seed, shell and all. My sister was like, "Erin! Don't eat the shell!" I was like, "Don't worry! I always eat the shell" :-) Lesson: They definitely don't check id's for people buying cigarettes here. It's just not possible when people buy them from a vending machine. Yes, I'm serious. There are literally vending machine type things in bars and other public places so that people can buy cigarettes. Lesson: Because I had to wait about an hour at the salon before they cut my hair, I had lots of time to observe the stylists there. I learned that they curl hair completely different than I have ever seen before. In the states, if people want a perm or something similar, the stylists use rollers and then they sit under the big dryer thing for a while. Here, the stylist only uses different sized round brushes and a regular blow dryer. I watched as they used the round brush while drying the hair to curl it, but then they would let the brush hang in the hair for a while to set the curl more. How weird! I mean, people were sitting there with 2 or 3 brushes hanging in their hair. Hahahaha!

Here is a video of El Paso de La O (one of the processions):

Bem-Vindo...

That means "welcome" in Portugese. That's because I spent this past weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. The city is absolutely so cute. It has such an old, worn-in feeling to it, but it makes the city seem like something out of a dream. Most of the buildings look a little run-down/unkept on the outside, but it gives the buildings a certain character. Anyway, my friend and I took the afternoon bus from Sevilla on Friday. It's over a 6 hour bus ride, but we chatted, listened to music, and slept a little to pass the time. We get to Lisbon around 9:30 pm. After a quick metro ride, we met up with 2 other friends who went the day before. After dropping our stuff at the hostel, we went to find a place to eat dinner. Well, let me tell you, Lisbon has an large number of Indian restaurants, at least they did in the neighorhood we were staying in. So, on night number 1 in Lisbon, we ate Indian food :-) It was good, but I was like, "What's with all this Indian food?" Hahahaha! The next day, we awoke bright and early to see the city. We had a full day of sightseeing. Stop number 1 was the Monastery de Sao Vicente de Foro. I GOT TO TAKE A CABLE CAR THERE!!!!! I was seriously so excited, you have no idea (it's really the small things that make me happy :-))
We were able to see some really cool things in the Monastery. Especially when we ventured up to roof of the Monastery, there was a gorgeous view of the city of Lisbon. After the Monastery, stop number 2 was the market. Every Saturday there is a MASSIVE market in the streets of Lisbon. We wandered around for a while buying souveniers. It was funny because some of the things people were selling were absolute junk, like things they dug out of the trash (ex: old shoes, an ancient barbie car, etc.), but some stands were selling cool jewelry, clothes, and artwork. After about an hour there, we were like, "We better get out of here before we spend all our money!" Hahahaha! So, from there we walked to the Pantheon. We didn't want to pay to tour the inside, but we rested on the steps while snacking on some bread. From there, we saw some more beautiful buildings, the Se, and then, to the Castle there. Wow, is all I have to say. The views from the castle were just breathtaking. After a full day of touring the city of Lisbon, we found a cute little restaurant for dinner. And lucky for us, we were able to listen to some Fado there too. Fado is a traditional type of entertainment in Portugal, consisting of a guitarist and just a singer (I think?). It was great, but we were all super tired, so we retired to the hostel, for an early night to bed.


Day 2: Sunday. The group split up and a friend and I went to Belem, which is a neighborhood close to Lisbon. After waiting for at least a day and a half for the bus (hahahaha! jk! it was more like an hour :-)), we boarded the city bus for a 30 minute ride to Belem. There, our first destination was the MASSIVE church/monastery there. We weren't able to tour the inside of the church because there was a huge line due to it being Palm Sunday, but we stepped right into the tour of the monastery. It was beautiful there too. After some time there, and lots of photo ops, we left to find the Tower there (sorry that I failed with the names, but I've seen a lot of towers! hahahaha!). It's right on the water, so with the beautiful, sunny day that we had, we got to enjoy the view of the Tower and the water (again, not quite sure what body of water it was...figures...we know what a geography genius I am!). After a quick lunch, we ventured to the local pastry shop where we tried the local pastry that Belem is famous for. It was quite delicious!! From there, we were on a mission to see the Royal Palace there.
And we were warned ahead of time, but we didn't quite believe our friends when they told us about the steep hill you have to climb to get to the Palace. Like, I'm not kidding, REALLY big. Oh well! We eventually made it up the hill, a little sweaty and out of breath, but we got there. We bought our tickets from a lady who spoke absolutely ZERO english OR spanish, but we got it covered. I think I'm getting good at just gesturing to things with my hands or making motions so people can understand what I'm saying without using words. Sometimes it's easier that way :-) After the tour of the Palace, we enjoyed some time outside in the local botanical gardens, which, to our surprise, we had to pay for (but it was only .75 centimos). From there, back to the bus to take us back to Lisbon. We ate a quick dinner, then left for the bus station, where we took our first overnight bus back to Sevilla. Yeah...overnight. It's not very comfortable to sleep on a bus for that long. But when we got back to Sevilla at around 5 am on Monday morning, I went right back to bed and slept, and I mean really slept for about 5 hours :-) Hahahaha!

Lesson #34: There are scouts in Spain too! I forgot to post this earlier, but when we went to Cadiz, our guide told us that they have scouts in Europe, but they aren't divided into boys and girls like in the U.S. Also, they don't sell cookies, which is really unfortunate for them. And, another difference is that they don't earn patches like our Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. I'm not sure what they do, but they were playing games when we saw them! It's quite funny because they are called scouts here too, but it sounds different with a Spanish accent :-)

Lesson #35: People in Sevilla are crazy good on bikes! You see people riding with one hand, and holding an umbrella in the other; or riding while digging around in their pocket; or riding while talking on the cell phone. Seriously! With the amount of people/cars/buildings/metros here, I would run into someone/something or get hit by something if I tried that!

Lesson #36: On long bus-rides, wait a little while longer before using the dark bathroom on the bus (the light didn't work), because you never know when you are going to stop at a rest area :-) [just my luck that I finally break down and use the bathroom on the bus and seriously, not even 10 minutes later we stopped at a rest station...story of my life! hahaha!]

Two Cities in Two Days

Bueno, now that I have finally caught myself up from the last couple of weeks, I want to stay caught up :-) Wednesday of this past week was the first day of my finals. All of my classes here are so different from my others at Hope, that it makes it a little hard to study...plus I get easily distracted :-) The weather was nice, so it was relaxing to sit outside in a park and read for my class. I hope the exam went well. It was for my Academic Writing class, which is actually fun...the only interesting class I have here. Plus, at Hope I have so many accounting classes and here, none! I feel like such a nerd, but I kind of miss my calculator! Hahahaha! Anyway, my history class was fun on Wednesday because we got to go on a field trip! Yay! It was pretty interesting, AND we didn't have to sit through 2 hours of class :-) Thursday, some friends and I got bocadillos (sandwiches) for lunch, and sat in a plaza after class and ate lunch outside because the weather was gorgeous. After that, we toured the Alcazar, which is basically the gardens/palace for the royals. It is so pretty inside there. Also, it's really cool because the King and Queen of Spain actually stay in the Alcazar when they come and visit Sevilla. It was so awesome to spend so much time outside, enjoying the beautiful things that Sevilla has to offer. That night, some friends and I went to the Carboneria, which is this hole-in-the-wall bar/flamenco show thing. We were a little late, so we didn't see much of the flamenco show, but it was so cool! We were just sitting around, chatting, and watching live flamenco dancing at this bar. The atmosphere felt very Spanish.

Saturday, I went to Cadiz with my program for a day trip. The weather wasn't the greatest, but at least it didn't rain! We took a tour around the historical parts of the city, and then we had 3 hours of free time (which was awesome). Cadiz has a beautiful beach, so we ate lunch on the beach, walked in the water (though it was freezing), and generally enjoyed being at the beach. After that, we walked out on this pier thing and snapped some gorgeous photos of the coast. Then we wandered around the city, where we shopped a little and stopped at this medieval market. When I got home, it was pretty much straight to bed for me because we had an early morning on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, some friends and I took the 7am bus to Malaga. Yes, 7...in the morning. It was actually quite funny because as we were leaving, we saw people that were just going back home or were still out in the streets after a night out. And we had a little fiasco with the bus. We had a general idea of where the bus station was, but we didn't know exactly. So when we got close, we split up (there were 3 of us) to look for the bus. We started to get a little desperate because the time is approaching for the bus to leave and I, at least, didn't find the bus. So I find my other friend and we call Catherine and she's like, "Run! Run! The bus is leaving!" We, of course, start to freak out because we don't want to miss the bus. And we look over and we see our friend standing on the bus as it's leaving. Long story short, my friend was able to stop the bus driver so we could get on. We were, literally, running (for only a short while...but still) to the bus. The bus driver was a little angry with us, but at least we made the bus :-) Hahaha! What a story! Anyway, after a 3 and a half hour bus ride (at least, since we stopped in like EVERY little pueblo along the way :-)), we arrived in Malaga, Spain for a day trip. Unfortunately, it started raining while we were there, but not much. We went to this really sweet Castle there and the Alcazaba (garden thing) there. Overall, the day went well. Malaga isn't my favorite city that I've seen, but I'm glad that I was able to see it. Luckily, on the way back we had a direct route, so we arrived back in record time. And, if I do say myself, I'm getting a lot of practice sleeping on buses :-)

Lesson #31: Walking with I-pods is the BEST way to walk long distances. I saw lots of people walking around the city with I-pods, so I decided to try it, and I have to say...it's great! It totally makes the time pass quicker on the long treks to class.

Lesson #32: Pretty much nobody here walks alone. What I mean is, many times people walk with their arms linked. I have seen all times of people arm-in-arm on the sidewalks of Sevilla: couples, girlfriends, older couples (so cute!), elderly lady friends, and mother/daughter pairs (including me and my host sister and host mom). How cute!

Lesson #33: I have seen more people peeing on the street in these past 2 months than I have in my WHOLE 20 years of life! I'm serious...and I wish I wasn't. But it doesn't matter, during the day, at night, in public places, on the stairs, in a random street, whenever, wherever, there is someone peeing on the street. Que asco!

Lessons Learned

This is just a list of lessons.

Lesson #20: I don't care what anyone else says, Camelback waterbottles leak. I put my faith in the brand when my instincts told me to stick with Nalgene brand, and it let me down. Now I know! Nothing beats Nalgenes.

Lesson #21: I really missed peanut butter. Last week I received a package from my Uncle Keith with a huge jar of Jif peanut butter (my favorite brand) and 2 boxes of peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. Pretty much made my life. Thanks Uncle Keith!

Lesson #22: The power of coincidence is really amazing. For example, when I was in Granada, my friend and I were walking around the city during our free time, and who did I run into? A friend of mine who goes to Hope too, but who is studying abroad in Granada (which I didn't know until I saw her)! What a coincidence that I would happen to see her in Granada, Spain!

Lesson #23: Young Spaniards don't really listen to Spanish music (at least the ones I've talked to). Last weekend some girl was talking to one of our Spanish guides who is 22 and a student at the university here about music and he told her that he didn't think that he had any Spanish songs on his I-pod. That is so interesting to me! I mean, can they understand the lyrics, or do they just like the song?

Lesson #24: Laughing is an international language. Last week there was a slight accident with falling, sliding, glass shower doors. It's kind of a long story, but in the end, my Senora and I were laughing so hard about it! Even if I can't always understand all Spanish, I understand laughter.

Lesson #25: That I practically live on buses. So far, I have already taken about 10 buses to and from different places. By the time this semester is over, I am going to have spent seriously so much time on a bus it's not even funny. I'm definitely improving my ability to sleep on buses though, which is a blessing. The smooth rhythm of the bus just lulls me to sleep :-)

Lesson #26: Touring cities and sites with a group is kind of like being in Kindergarten again. No joke. We walk around in a clump, usually led my a tour guide (who=teacher), we bring sack lunches with us when we go (=lunch boxes), and we have to wait to go to the bathroom until we are told we can go.

Lesson #27: If you want to learn lots of languages, you should have been born in Europe. On the Morocco trip, we met a French student who is in Spain too studying Spanish. And let me tell you that this boy not only speaks French and Spanish, but English, German, and some Czech too! How crazy to know 5 languages!

Lesson #28: Bring small bills when you know you will be bartering. It's a really big hassle to try to get change. And you can't lie and say you only have 5 euro to pay for something and then whip out a 10 and ask for change. Eso no vale (that's not okay).

Lesson #29: How I take for granted the ability to drink water out of the tap. All the time at home and here in Spain and in Europe in general it is safe to drink out of the tap. But when we were in Morocco, it's not safe to do so, so we had to buy these obscenely large water bottles to drink from and use to brush our teeth. I would go broke there buying so much water!

Lesson #30: The price of make-up here is outrageous! I went to the store today to look at mascara. I don't need anything fancy, so I was looking for something cheap. The cheapest I found was 9.80 euros! That is about 11 or 12 US dollars...for a tube of mascara! I was like, forget it, I don't need it that bad! I'll just use what I have!

The Art of Bargaining...

Well, I officially failed at updating this weekly, like I had intended. So now I have a lot to catch you up on! School is school is school, so the week flies by with classes and such. Friday, the 5th, I decided to be ambitious and try to run. It felt so good to go running again in the sense of being able to run, but MAN am I out of shape! How quickly you lose all athletic ability :-) And I was definitely feeling it the next day! Hahaha! The next day, Saturday the 6th, I traveled with my program to Granada, Spain. We left super early on Saturday so we could have a lot of time to sight see in Granada. When we arrived at the hotel, we gorged ourselves on all of the delicious food at the buffet there! It's really amazing how great plain salad seems when you are used to it being drenched in oil and vinegar here to the point of ridiculousness. Needless to say, it was delicious! The rest of the day, we spent touring the Alhambra, which, according to Wikipedia, is a Christian palace and fortress complex used for a residence for the royals. It is pretty massive, so it took us the good part of the afternoon to tour it. It's really awesome because our program provides guides for our tours that are specifically for us, so they speak slowly and clearly so we can understand. I am really amazed to see how much more Spanish I can comprehend then before. After that, we went to a Teteria for tea and cookies, which were delicious!!! And after we had some free time to wander the city and buy souvenirs.


Sunday we had to wake up early to start the day off with more sightseeing in the neighborhood of Albaicin. Unfortunately, it rained on us during most of the day, but at least not hard and it wasn't cold. It was really cool because we were able to see the tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand, Los Reyes Catolicos, who were VERY important rulers in Spain. I am learning about them in like 3 of my classes, so to actually see what you are learning about makes it WAY cooler. Normally, I find history pretty boring, but I was so intrigued by what I was seeing and hearing from our guide. After a little more free time, we had to board the bus again to head back to Sevilla. It was an awesome weekend!


Last week, during the week, I had more class. My weeks here usually consist of class, lots of walking, getting cafe (coffee) with my friends, reading for class, and going to bible study on Tuesdays. Pretty much the same each week. One thing I realized that week was how frustrated I was at myself for my lack of confidence in my Spanish. I have this fear of speaking Spanish with native speakers because I don't want to look stupid in front of them. It's like this wall that I just can't seem to get over and it's so frustrating!!! Especially because all of the Spaniards I have ever talked to are so nice and patient when you are trying to talk to them and they know that you are learning. So, really, I have nothing to worry about...but I still do. Ughh!!!!! So, from now on, I am really trying to get over that hurdle because it's the only way that I'm going to learn.


Moving on, this past weekend (12th-14th) I went to Morocco with a student travel agency. We even got to take a ferry to get there!! That was really sweet. It was really cool, also,to travel with this group because we had the opportunity to meet and talk with other international students who are studying Spanish too. And what makes it even more unique is that we communicated in Spanish, which was the only common language of all 15 nationalities represented on the trip. It was kind of a long ride to get there, but it was worth it. This was the first trip that I had to cross a country border (because we entered Africa through Ceuta, which is on the continent of Africa, but is part of Spain), so that was pretty exciting to see how that system works. We immediately started sightseeing, but mainly on the bus. That would be one of my complaints about the trip was that we spent a LOT of time on the coach buses, but I guess that's to be expected because we visited 3 cities (Chefchaouen, Tetuan, and Tangier) in Morocco in about 3 days. It was really interesting though to see a lot of the Moroccan countryside in between the cities. Morocco is an absolutely beautiful country, that's for sure, but I couldn't live there. The style of life there is completely different from what I am accustomed to, so it would take a long time for me to adjust. And I kept forgetting that we were in Africa, so of course things are going to be different! We were able to wander around in the cities to shop and let me tell you, how different of a shopping atmosphere it is there! This is where the name of the blog post comes in. All prices of souvenirs are negotiated. This means that the seller tells you some ridiculous starting price (What?! I'm not paying 20 euro for that scarf!), you tell him no thanks, he lowers the price, again you try to walk away, he asks you how much you have, you lie and tell him something low like 5 or 10, he thinks it over...and accepts! Pretty much this is how it's done. It's a little annoying though because you can't even look without them hounding you to buy something. So then, before you have even decided you really want the item, the seller bargains with you and before you know it, you have bought something you didn't even really want in the first place! Also, if you end up declining an offer, the salesman WILL FOLLOW YOU!!! Out of the store, down the street, at another store, wherever. It's a little annoying. Anyway, I did purchase some cool gifts while in Morocco and I got a Henna tattoo while I was there too! It's pretty cool, but it's fading fast due to the INSANE amount of times that I wash my hands during the day. Another cool thing we had the chance to do was...pause...ride CAMELS!!! I was so excited! Even though we basically rode them in a circle for like 5 minutes in a parking lot, it was sweet. I felt kind of bad for the poor camels though because they have to spend all day getting up and down and walking in a circle. They were pretty cute though :-)


On Sunday we headed back to Sevilla. When I got back home, my Senora's oldest daughter, her 2 granddaughters (ages 3 and 7), and her son's girlfriend were all over at my house. It was a little overwhelming to come home to a full house after a weekend away, but whatever. Right when I get inside my Senora introduces her granddaughters to me. At first they were shy, but soon they wanted to be with me 24/7. They were awfully cute! They showed me their sticker collection (which included Hannah Montana, Winnie the Pooh, High School Musical, and others), I let them listen to Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers on my I-pod, they put stickers on the back of my phone to decorate it (I let them...my phone is ugly anyway), and the oldest gave me her autograph to keep (it's precious...especially since she spelled my name Eren :-)). I'm definitely not used to being around kids so young for such a long time, because I was going a little crazy with everyone in our apartment. I still don't know where everyone slept on Monday night! On another topic, the weather this week has been absolutely FANTASTIC! It's been sunny and warm. Today it even reached about 72 F, but you would never guess because the Sevillan people still are wearing sweaters and warm jackets. I, however, was rocking a short-sleeved shirt :-) Unfortunately though, today was day 1 of my mid-term exams. Booooooo. So not fun, but I guess it's a fact of life. More exams to come next week too. Well, I think that's all for now (which is quite a lot of information to read). Because this is already so long, I am going to post another entry with the lessons :-)