Feria de Sevilla & a Bullfight

Notes from my journal:

This experience has been nothing short of amazing and Tuesday, May 3rd was nothing short of that and by far one of my favorite days in Sevilla.

Right before lunch, I met one of my friends, Anna, to go buy accessories for Feria (Sevilla's week long festival).  I purchased a shawl, necklace, earrings and a flower to put in my hair.  It was a perfect last minute scramble and each piece ended up working perfectly.  I didn't have a Spanish Flamenco dress, which is tradition for Sevillanas to wear during the week, but I had a dress that was sort of similar.  The accessories helped me to fake it haha.

After shopping I returned to the house to eat lunch.  I was expecting to eat by myself because my housemate was traveling.  However, to my pleasant surprise, my padre's sister was over for lunch and we all ate together.  It was so nice to eat with them and practice speaking Spanish.  For lunch we had this yummy potato salad, a soup with garbanzo beans, chicken and carrots and then strawberries and orange slices with ice cream.  So very good.  After lunch I showered and got myself ready for Feria.

Anna and I headed into the city to meet up with our friends.  We had all decided to go to a bullfight.  I was very uneasy about going because I had seen videos of a bullfight on YouTube and it made me feel very uneasy.  But I decided when else will I be in Spain and in the region where bullfighting began? Anyways, we made it to the bull ring and it was amazing to see how dressed up everyone was.  Because it was Feria, many women were wearing Flamenco dresses with accessories and lots of gentleman were wearing suits and ties.  The bullring itself is huge and it eventually filled up so that there was not one free seat.  And the experience turned out to be incredible.  I mean sure, at the end it was hard to watch the bull die and then watch him get pulled away by horses.  But to see the styles of the bull fighters, and how seriously they took their roles it was beautiful.  Near the end, it was an incredible dance between the bull and the bullfighter, it was so interesting.  And then after we had seen more and more bullfights (6 bulls in all) we noticed that the audience would judge each bullfighter and would whistle (which means boo-ing) or say "Ole" or "Bien" or applaud when they did well.  One bullfighter did especially well and when he finished there was roaring applause and people waved white tissues and he paraded around the arena.  Other bullfighters did not do so well and had a hard time "commanding the bull" or at the end his final stab to the bull didn't end the fight, this was considered bad and the crowd demonstrated their disappointment by not applauding at the end. In all, I loved the bullfight and it was great because there were so many Spaniards, it felt more like I was a part of the Sevillana culture.

After the bullfight we grabbed dinner and then we we met up with our friend Miriam who knew of a caseta we could get into.  There are over 1,000 casetas in Sevilla.  They look like little circus tents lined up next to each other.  You usually have to know someone to get into the private parties.  Otherwise you go to the public parties which can be a little sketchy at times.  So you need some type of connection to get into the tents, and thankfully we did.  In the casetas you drink rebojitos which are drinks with manzanilla mixed with 7-UP.  You can also purchase tapas in the casetas.  And this best and most important part is dancing Sevillana.  In each caseta there is a space to dance Sevillana.  In the caseta we went into, there were 3 singers and a piano player and a dance floor and it was simply the best of times.  I had learned 2 Sevillanas dances when there are really 5 dances in all.  Even if you don't know exactly what you are doing you go with it and enjoy yourself.  Yet, there was a little bit of American culture thrown in there because at one point the band sang songs from the musical "Grease" and I could not have been more excited because that is my absolute favorite musical. It was a funny cultural moment because I was in Spain with Spaniards and Americans and we were in Flamenco dresses just belting out songs from Grease. So great and so much fun.  I was home around 4 AM and then Wednesday I was off to Palma de Mallorca and Berlin, Germany.  That post is to come.

Besos,

Erica

PS Headed home in 12 days. Unreal.

Holy Week Vacation in French Riviera and Florence: Family email turned blog

The past week has been quite a good time.  I started off my trip for Holy Week by going to the French Riviera and then a few days in Florence, Italy.  I left for my trip on Thursday, April 14th and my goodness it was quite the journey to get there. I had to take the metro into Sevilla, catch a bus to the airport, fly to Bergamo (Italy), take a bus to Milan, take a train to Ventimiglia (Italy), transfer trains and take another train to Nice, France.  And then find my hotel, which thankfully was not a problem because it was so close to the train station.  So I left my house in Sevilla at about 6:45 in the morning and then finally arrived to Nice at about 9:15 in the evening.  It was such a long day! But it was all worth it.  I met two of my sorority sisters from St. Norbert in Nice.  One is studying in France and the other is studying in Florence (I followed her home after the weekend in the French Riviera). The first day we took a short train ride to Monte Carlo and saw the beautiful coast there.  I have never seen so many fancy cars and yachts in my life! But the hills right next to the Mediterranean Sea were absolutely gorgeous. I also went to the Monte Carlo Casino there.  I had to pay 10 Euro to enter and they also scanned my US passport, they were not "messing around" there.  The Casino itself is gorgeous and its crazy to think how much money has been won and lost there.  Later that evening, while I was napping, my 2 sorority sisters ran into a friend of ours, Billy (a fellow Norbertine).  We had no idea Billy was staying at our hotel or that he was in Nice, so it was crazy and really fun to see him.  Also the hotel offered us free champagne hour, and we definitely enjoyed that. 

The next day (Saturday) we took the train to Cannes, where they hold the international film festival.  There, we decided to lay in the sun on the beach and relax.  I had forgotten to buy sunscreen before the trip so I went to a local vendor on the beach to buy some.  I went to pay for it and for this small bottle, the guy told me it was going to cost 29 Euro and I said no way and walked out.  So instead I wore a long sleeve tshirt all day long. Which turned out fine because that way I did not get burnt.  Later we went back to Nice and went out to dinner.  Oh and you would have thought since I was in France I would have gotten delicious French cuisine dinners? Nope, my friends and I got Chinese and then Thai food both nights, haha oh well. 

Our last day we walked around downtown Nice for a little bit.  Around 3:30 we left and took the bus back to Florence. It took us around 6.5 hours to get back.  Thankfully, like any good vans, we got to watch movies on the ride home. 

So I stayed with my sorority sister, Rachael at her apartment in Florence.  The apartment was pretty basic and I had a couch to sleep on, but it was free so I will not complain. Florence has many gorgeous things to see and I saw the Duomo, the beautiful church there, Ponte Vecchio, and I finally saw THE David by Michelangelo.  And I was very excited to see this because of Aunt Vicki's magnet of David on her fridge.  And when I was little I would always dress him up with clothes, so it was really great to see the real thing in person, and my was it a master piece. 

And by surprise, while I was in the Central Market I ran into Rick Steves, the travel guru who has books and websites and tv shows all about traveling. I was so excited to see him and I had my picture taken with him! So at that moment I knew I was visiting the right city.  Also, one day I went on a horseback riding tour through Tuscany! We rode horses for about 1.5 hours, had a delicious Italian lunch, and had a wine tasting.  It was absolutely one of my favorite days while traveling abroad. And I cannot tell you how delicious their pasta is there and I about died and went to heaven by eating all of the gelato haha.  Florence was great and I loved seeing where my friend was studying abroad, and finally have some time with some Norbertines. 

Yet, the best story part is for last.  Wednesday night I was supposed to catch the last train at 9:45 to Milan and then take an early bus to the Bergamo airport.  However, my friend Rachael called for a taxi, but the taxi couldn't reach us because there was a concert going on in a plaza near Rachael's apartment.  So we walked quickly until we found another taxi, but even then it was too late.  I had missed the last train and the next train left too late the next day for me to arrive in Milan in time for my flight. So I went back to my friend's apartment and we started looking into how I could get back to Sevilla. I ended up taking a train the next morning to Venice and then flying from Venice to Madrid and then Madrid to Sevilla. Everything worked out okay and I made it back to Sevilla, but it was still a stressful and frustrating time. 

So I came back last Thursday and then spent the weekend with Nick and Nate.  We had a great time touring Sevilla and celebrating his birthday Saturday. I was very happy to have at least 1 member of the family to celebrate Easter with.  Nick and I had a delicious Easter dinner at San Marco. It was hard to see Nick go, and strange because I know my time here is ending quick.  I have 3.5 more weeks here and then I'm back in the US! So crazy how time quickly goes. 

For my last trip I am headed to a Spanish island in the Mediterranean called Palma de Mallorca and then flying up to Berlin, Deutschland! Grandpa, I'm headed to the homeland! I'll have to pick up plenty of toothpicks!! or "Zahn picks", haha :)  I leave in a week from tomorrow and it is my last adventure here in Spain.  Hard to believe, but almost a relief considering my difficulty to get home last time. So if you have any suggestions on what to do in Berlin, I'd love to hear them. 

I miss and love you all very much and I can't wait to see you all!

Love,

Erica 

Ronda's A Babe

            Last Friday me and 9 other people traveled to Ronda, Spain.  It is located southeast of Sevilla.  5 of us traveled by bus and 5 traveled by car.  I must recommend to you that if you purchase a bus ticket, get a direct line.  Ha, we did not and so we stopped about 6 times at various stops.  As a consequence, it should have taken us 2 hours and 15 minutes, but in reality it took us 3 hours… oh well we got there nonetheless.

            Thanks to awesome signage in Ronda, Spain we found our hotel so easy.  It was literally a 2 minute walk – which was really comforting considering this was our first big adventure away from Sevilla.  So we got settled in our room (which had a heater!!), met up with the people that traveled by car and we went to grocery store to pick up some food and drinks.  We went to the room to hang out and then we went to Traga Tapas for some tapas.  I had this delicious salad with goat cheese and honey salad – ah heaven.  We tried to find a place to “go out” to but in reality the nightlife was tame in Ronda.  Apparently one of my travel friends talked to someone and people don’t go out until 3:30… but I think that Ronda has a lame night life haha.  Anyways, we headed back to the hotel and hung out in a room and danced and listened to music– it was a fun night.

            Saturday morning was quite the day.  We got up and had the most delicious yet simple breakfast.  We got these huge pieces of toast and then on one half I put strawberry jam and then on the other half, I put on Nutella --- ahhh heavenly.  We also got some delicious coffee, cereal and milk, orange juice and then a little sweet for later.  Needless to say, I tried to have a large breakfast to try to tide me over for most of the day.  Anyways, we set out exploring Ronda and the city is so charming.  The streets are tiny and the architecture is just gorgeous.  However, seeing el Puente Nuevo – the new bridge was incredible.  The town is literally built on one side of a cliff and it is just a straight down drop. The bridge was completed right around the time that the United States was becoming its own nation – which is crazy to think about.  And because Ronda is so high up in the mountains, it was one of the last cities in Spain to fall to the Christians during the Reconquista. 

            Because the bridge is one of the main symbols of the city, we went on this incredible hike to see bridge from the ground up.  On our way, the views of the Spanish countryside surrounding Ronda were incredible – I mean absolutely beautiful.  When the new bridge was finally in sight, we were just all in awe of this bridge and how it connects these two cliffs / mountains together.  We hiked around the bridge for at least an hour and half taking in the scenery and snapping pictures – it was great.  Afterwards, we did this other ridiculous hike up the mountain to get back to the city.  We were extremely tired after the hiking in general, so we decided to grab lunch at a low-key café. At lunch, I decided to be a little more adventurous and had a toasted bagel with cheese and salmon – it was so good.  After resting and enjoying the central heating at the cafe, we trekked back to the hotel to siesta.

            After siesta we headed out to walk around some more and explore the town.  We went to a park named Alameda del Tajo that was on the edge of the cliff, and again the views were incredible.  One the guys I was with, David, had a dream of throwing paper planes off a cliff.  And that is exactly what we did.  It was pretty fun to watch the planes just nose dive and be blown into the wind off of this cliff.  It was any child’s dream.  We then met our other friends who stayed at the hotel, to get dinner.  We ended up going to this restaurant where we were the only ones there – but we had awesome dinners nonetheless.  I had Mexican food because I miss it so dearly and it was delicious.  They were little fajitas wrapped up and then I had some delicious guacamole with it.  And as a part of the dinner we got ice cream with the meal – it was great.  We didn’t go out, but we went back to the room to relax after a long day.

            The next day, Sunday was our day to leave.   So I tried as best as I could to see the other sights.  Therefore, I went with Will, Patrick and Kristen to Plaza de Toros, another symbol of Ronda.  The bullring is by far one of the oldest in Spain and it is incredibly large.  For such a small town, it was interesting to see such a large bullring. It is also one of the oldest in Spain.  Also, Ronda is also considered to be one of the birthplaces of this “art form.” It was very cool to see and I’m glad I got to see such a monument to Ronda.  Afterwards we then walked around to see the last few sites, such as the Arab Baths, Palace of Mondragon and Church of Santa Maria la Mayor. At this point, it was time to head back and catch the bus home. 

            Okay funny bus story time.  On our way to Ronda, my friend Kristen needed to use the facilities.  At one stop the driver decided to have a smoke so Kristen then had time at the bus station to use the bathroom.  On our way back to Sevilla, Kristen and our friend David both needed the bathrooms – we had a different bus driver, but we all thought that the drivers took more time at this bus station.  False. 30 seconds after Kristen and David got off, the driver pulled away.  I, seated in the last seat of the bus, had to yell at the bus driver to stop because my friends were in the bus station.  I ran off the bus and ran back to the station where I yelled for Kristen and David to hurry up, that the bus had proceeded to leave without them.  We caused quite the scene in the bus station haha. So lesson learned – let the bus driver know that you need a little break. 

            All in all Ronda was beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it if you ever have the chance.

Things to Note:

-You watch the news here in a different perspective. The United States is incredibly isolated.  You hear news about Egypt or Tunsia in the United States and you think, no big deal. You don’t necessarily pay close attention to what’s happening there because we are so far away from the conflict. However, now that I’m in Spain and not very far from these dangerous rebellions, my anxiety and my nerves have increased.  Everyday we watch the news and see these angry and frustrated people and I can only hope that the conflict don’t enter Spain – however I wouldn’t be surprised if something like an up-rise or rebellion happened in Spain.  Reason being:

-The unemployment rate for 25 year olds is 48%.... yes that’s correct almost half of 25 year olds do not have a job. And 24% of the population who wants a job can’t find one. Those are scary statistics because that is 1 out of 4 people who are extremely frustrated. Or 1 out of 2 – twenty-five year olds are frustrated that they can’t find work. 45 million people live in Spain and 4.7 million do not have jobs. Crazy.

-The Spanish government also thought it would be a good idea to increase the age to retire from 65 to 67 – another great way to please the people. 

-Therefore as a trend with the other regions of the world such as Northern Africa that is up and arms against their government it will be interesting to see if that sort of rebellion against the government could happen here.  Granted, Prime Minister Zapatero has not been in power for 30 years like some of the North African leaders, but he has been in power since 2004 and will remain in power until 2012.  All in all its been interesting to see how my perspective has changed since I am now closer to the conflict.  Also the fact that I am so interested and studying the conflict is something I would not have otherwise done had I been in the United States.

-If you must go to the bathroom, have a quick chat with the bus driver

-You can see Ronda in one day because it is so tiny

-Ronda is a babe

-Okay, so I live with a host family and they feed me – so I pretty much don’t have control over my meals – except for the quantity of food I’m given. But here are my feelings after a few weeks:

            -I love breakfast.  I have this cereal with dried fruit and its delicious – because its cold in the morning I put it in the microwave and it becomes sort of an oatmeal and its delicious

            -I love lunch – in Spain it’s the most important meal of the day, and let me tell you I haven’t been disappointed much

But here are my downfalls:

            -I’m tired of eating meat at every meal (minus breakfast)

             -I’m tired of lame soups for dinner. AKA carrot or pea soup.  Let me tell you, if you are having soup freaking put some veggies or chicken in it – give it some life please. 

            -I’m tired of eating something fried for dinner. Please stop frying the potatos, or giving me fried fish sticks or french fries. How about some strawberries? Or Pineapple? Please?

I know I’m lucky to have someone cook for me, but there are sometimes I miss having control over what I’m eating. And not to mention Laura Zahn Pohl. Master of all cooking. Ma, I miss your cooking dearly. Send Mexican food for help. Hahaha.

That’s all for now but stayed tuned for updates on school J I finally have my first full week of normal classes.  Woot woot.

Miss and love you all.

Besos y salude,

Erica 

The Long Awaited Discoteca Entry (*Bonus = soccer game)

Hola mis amigos y familia.  So here I am back at it. 

Well as most of you know, I am 20 years old and therefore it is illegal for me to enter bars and drink (unless you are in Wisconsin – amongst the best states ever – you may drink and enter bars if you are with your parents).  As a result, I’ve had few experiences with bars.  Consequently, this was my first chance to truly enjoy myself at the bars. 

Friday night a bunch of my American friends and I were meeting up for tapas and beers.  We had a difficult time finding a cheap place but then we eventually settled on a place called Café Tomate, which I have now visited twice.  This time I got the house sangria – love the magical fruit in your glass you can eat after you finish your wine – and it was delish.  I also got this amazing tapa (appetizer / dinner) with potatoes, chicken and then this delicious green sauce called Ali- oli – muy delicioso.  After our dinner we decided to try and find some bars or discotecas.  We were walking everywhere for a couple of hours trying to decide and settle on a place.  At this point, a few people had left to go back home while a few of us were still trying to experience the nightlife.  We had finally decided on a club and when we tried to enter, my friend was turned down at the door because she was wearing tennis shoes (these cute little grey Keds).  Defeated, we caught the second to last train back to our neighborhood. 

So we decided to try the nightlife again on Saturday.  And may I say that we had great success.  I met my girlfriends downtown at 11PM and we made our way to this plaza where literally people pre-game.  For those of who you don’t know what pre-gaming its when people drink before they head to bars so this way they are already “loosened up.” After hanging at the pre-gaming plaza we made our way to some bars after receiving some advice from an English speaking Spaniard on where to head to for the bars.  On our way there, there were these Spanish men literally singing a chant.  I thought to myself, “Hm, they look like fun.”  Next thing you know, one of the girls I’m with knows these fun, singing, dancing and drinking Spaniards.  We all decide to head to the bar together. 

Okay here’s the play-by-play on the peronas of these Spanish men. There are 6 of them:

1.    Fat, short drunk one.  He’s telling all of the girls that they are beautiful and then starts dancing with them.  Made all of us feel uncomfortable.

2.    Mr. Suave. Thinks he’s God’s gift to earth.  Knows he’s attractive and tries to take full advantage of this. 

3.    Mr. Skinny. Didn’t talk to him much, but he was skinny. Ha

4.    Johnny Cash.  This guy would come up to me and every 2 minutes (in a Spanish accent of course) and say, “Hello I’m Johnny Cash” and then proceed to break into Cash songs. What a character.  He also sort of looked like a Spanish Jesus with curly hair.

5.    American looking one.  He had light hair, but was Spanish.  He was wearing really tight pants.

6.    The leader.  Really nice and spoke broken English.  I liked him because he wasn’t aggressive as some of the other guys.

Some of your bar activities included hanging out, drinking CruzCampo and talking with some other Spaniards at the bar.  Eventually we left, but then one of the girls I was with decided that if we were to get into any clubs we needed to head out on our own (aka girls only).  Therefore we took a taxi to the other side of the river to a club called “Boss.”  Because only 3 of us girls entered at a time, we got in easy.  However, one of girlfriends tried to enter with the boys (who had followed us in a taxi) but had no luck because she was with boys.

So we got into the club! VICTORY! And we checked our coats for 2 Euro and then we headed to the dance floor.  It was a great time.  Music was going, lights flashing and the energy was so much fun. Literally the girls and I stayed until the club closed…which was early morning.  It was a great time and I loved dancing.  I cannot wait to go to the discotecas and have another night there because they are so fun.

The next day I pretty much spent in a sleepy state and being lazy.  However, I did meet up with some of my friends at a Starbucks in the city so that we could talk about our nights.  We did this because we all had such different experiences and it was so fun to recall the memories and the laughs of the night.  We probably sat at Starbucks for 2 hours and the most wonderful thing about this culture is that it doesn’t matter how long we were sitting there.  Time irrelevant and people just sit and enjoy themselves without having to put a time limit on something.  I really appreciate this because back in the states I always structure my time, and it can drive me nuts.  So having a “laxed” schedule is the best. 

All in all the discotecas were the time of my life and I can’t wait for the next weekend!!

Now, for last night (Tuesday) I went to a futbol (soccer game) where Sevilla played Villareal.  From the outside the stadium is pretty cool, its fairly large and there is this beautiful mural on the front of it where you enter.  It is truly a prized possession to the Spaniards.  We had nose bleed seats which we paid 25 Euro for, but it didn’t matter you could feel the energy of the stadium nonetheless.  Where the loyal Sevilla fans sat, was truly insane.  They sang, cheered, clapped, whistled, stood, danced, wove flags and chanted the entire time.  They are so loyal – it is incredible.  And anytime that a Sevilla player fell because of a Villareal player, people would rise out of their seats, whistle and curse.  It was also interesting too because everytime the possession of the ball changed from Villareal to Sevilla the stadium erupted into thunderous applause. And when Sevilla scored, each time the stadium just exploded, it was crazy.  I got to hear them cheer three times (3 goals) and the level of noise was incredible.  Also there is just a surplus of men.  Very few women were at the game. Even after being at a game and experiencing that kind of enthusiasm for soccer, I don’t feel like I can begin to understand their passion and love for the sport.  Unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  Viva Sevilla!

Anyways more students who are not in the 2 week Spanish intensive course are starting to arrive so there will be a new dynamic amongst who hang outs with who.  My housemate will be arriving on Friday and I am very excited to meet her.  Her name is Caitlin, she is from North Carolina and she is also studying international business.  It will be great to meet another person who I can go places with.

And on another exciting note, I am traveling to Ronda, Spain this weekend with 10 other people.  It’s a small town a little southeast of here – about a 2.25 bus ride away.  It’s a tiny place, but I’m excited to start exploring this beautiful country.  We are leaving Friday afternoon and then coming back Sunday night.  A short visit, but there isn’t a ton of city to see.

Things to note:

-If you don’t want to be disappointed by Spanish discotecas…don’t wear Keds this way you can actually get into the club.

-If you are a girl, go to the club with a group of girls.  If you come with boys chances are that you are going to have a hard time entering.  Sorry boys.  

-I never want to wear sandals to discotecas because I looked at the floor and scattered everywhere was glass. 

-Toliet paper in discotecas doesn’t exist. So don’t poop. (Not speaking from experience)

-Spanish men and other European men are aggressive. Holy smokes. No timid American gentlemen here.

-After class one day at la Universidad, I noticed these really interesting posters.  I looked more intently and noticed that the poster, among other things, was displaying women’s breasts…exposed.  No big deal. And if you were to ask me what the poster was advertising … guess what? I HAVE NO CLUE. I was too distracted. HA. However the next day all of them were taken down.

-Learning a language takes practice, patience and passion.

Miss and love you all. 

Besos y Salude

Erica 

Settling In

Hola Familia y amigos!

Alright, so I’m getting into the swing of things.  I get up each morning around 8:15 so that way I can leave the house at 9:05 and arrive to school by 9:30 so I can take my Spanish intensive course.  It is freezing when I first get up! Oye, it is so hard to get out of my warm bed, but thankfully I can take a nice hot, but short, shower.  I eat breakfast by myself, which is no big deal. And I’m pretty sure that I’m using whole milk with my cereal….oh well at least I’m walking a lot haha.  So then I’m in school from 9:30 until 12:45.   And I have a mid-term exam about the Spanish vocabulary and grammar that we learned/reviewed this week.  I know its to my advantage that I learn it, but I’m not too worried about my exam tomorrow.

         After that I come home and then eventually eat lunch between 2:30 and 3:30.  And my goodness I have not been disappointed by any of the lunches I’ve had! The other day I had paella and it was awesome!  Pepe (my Padre) had his sister over for lunch this week.  She is a nurse and my goodness she is a Sevillian.  The reason I say this is because she drops her words! They don’t finish their sentences…so I already fight to understand what their saying in Spanish and then on top of that they don’t finsh their words….oh lucky me.  To understand what I mean, I’ll give an example.  It would be like an english speaker saying, “Oh yeah the party wa gre….” So yeah, that is something I need to get used to…really fast. 

         Last night I met up with some friends in my program and we did the touristy thing and walked around Barrio Santa Cruz.  It is freaking awesome, it is so Spanish and beautiful.  And my goodness the Cathedral in Sevilla, it is simply impossible to capture in one photo. It just simply cannot be done.  Anyways, We had a great time walking around, taking pictures and acting like tourists. 

         Tonight I went with Kristen, the girl who lives on my street, to Montequinto, the neighboring little town to find a place to study.  We ended up going to this little strip mall that has a cell phone shop, movie theater, and a little café – it was cute.  I had a delicious cappucino and we were able to pirate internet off of the movie theater! I had to write a paper  and it was by far the most fluid I’ve ever written in Spanish.  I was hardly looking up words or second guessing myself on phrases – its been incredible to see how my thinking has changed and how effecient I have already become – I can’t wait to see how I’ll be in 4 months! 

         After I finished my paper, Kristen and I started to plan a trip.  We were looking at cities and we might go to Ronda, Spain which is not too far away.  We are hoping to go not this weekend, but the next because we have an extra day off.  We are really excited and we are going to try our best to make it happen. Kristen has been great, we walk to school together and travel downtown together.  She is a sweetheart and we have similar interests / personalities, shes been great to “pal  around with.”

         And I cannot tell you how freaking excited I am to experience las discotecas and the nightlife!!! I haven’t been able to do any of that staff in the States because I’ve not of age, but now that I’m legal here…. I’m going to have myself a little bit off fun. But only a little bit.

Things to note:

-Whoever told me that Spain does not have as many handsome men --- is an idiot.  I mean okay they are not all pretty, but when you see a handsome one --- dayum.

-Spainards are dramatic. They love talking with words such as, “what horror”  haha its funny.  Its like life is constantly on stage here

-I’m becoming more touchy feely – its the culture! Its something I’ve noticed right away. Matilde and Pepe simply touch my arm to get my attention  and I’ve been doing this with my new friends here.  Its funny to me because typically I like my space, but now it doesn’t bother me.

-Have I told you yet how much I love siesta? Yes? Okay let me remind you again. Everything shuts down from 3-5 so people can be sleepy! It’s great, they actually listen to their bodies, unlike the American culture where we try to work through it, the Spaniards acknowledge it and take care of it.  I heart taking naps at 4PM and laying in bed. SO GREAT

-Friday = DISCOTECA. I can’t wait! Ba! It will be so fun J and now handsome Spaniards are in reach. Woot woot.

-It is so humid here that my bathroom towel doesn’t dry. Yum.

-Every house on my block has 2 patios, one in front and one in back. And you can park your compact car on your front patio if you want. Que loco.

Okay that’s all for now! Stay tuned for my next entry about los discotecas!! Haha J I’m not excited or anything.  Love and miss you all.

Besos y Salude,

Erica 

First Day of Spanish Intensive Course

 Anxious little me had a hard time falling asleep last night before my first day of classes because of a few things.  I was worried about getting to class on time, and making friends.  But to my great relief the kids in the 2 week intensive Spanish program were really open and friendly, which was great.  I met a lot of kids from Appalachian State as well as Presbyterian.  They are all southern kids and are just sweethearts.  I also have some people in my program from France, Germany and England.  I have got to tell ya, it is bizarre to hear them speak Spanish with French / German accents. 

            So to start the day, I took  a class to see what level of Spanish I am at in order to placed into a class for my 2 week intensive Spanish program.  I was placed into the intermediate level, which I feel is just perfect for me – this way I can get a review of my verbs.  Another interesting thing we did in class today was that there are 2 French students 2 German, 2 British and 5 American and we had discussions on stereotypes.  It was interesting to hear about what we thought were stereotypes of one culture and what other cultures thought were our stereotypes.  It was a great discussion.   I also love my intermediate level Spanish teacher, she is hilarious and warm.  She is easy to understand and has this fun energy that we all feed off of in class.  I’m looking forward to more classes.

            We also had a tour of the campus.  It was a little overwhelming because 9,000 students attend the university whereas St. Norbert College is only 2300 or so.  But it has palm trees and there are many places to eat and grab a coffee! Its insane.  I think there are 4 places or so on campus to grab a bite to eat. There is one particular place where you can order pizzas to go and eat and enjoy them in the sun.  Also, the university also offers dancing lessons, which I think would be a great time…and embarrassing ha. And apparently there is a place to play ping-pong, and this building was built for a world champion ping pong player.  Even the air conditioning system is special because it doesn’t interfere with play.  How random to have this on their campus.  Oh and our campus is infested with cats.  Seriously, I wonder if they have their own classes, haha.  I was leaving my intermediate class and all of the sudden I look over and there is a cat just hanging out on the moped. Simply hilarious.  

            Okay but by the end of classes today, I was STARVING. I ate breakfast at 8:30 or so in the morning and then we get out of class at 2:30 or so and then you finally have lunch at 3.  Thankfully I had a snack, but I will need to force my body to adjust to the Spanish lunch schedule.  I mean at least (in my opinion) that the Spanish have it correct, I like the fact that lunch is the most important meal of the day and then afterwards you can take a nap.  Now this is perfection.

            After class I made plans with new friends from Appalachian State, Maddy and Kristine, to go into the center of Sevilla. We went around 5 pm or so and Kristine and I took a 15-20 minute metro ride into the center of Sevilla.  The metro is very clean, efficient, yet there are not a lot of passenger cars per train, so they can get crowded.  Yet, they kick butt. So Kristine and I planned to meet Maddy praying that we would find her by this metro and bus stop.  After 2 minutes or so we found her and we were really relieved that it worked – because at this point we did not have cell phones and if all else failed we would have had some issues……but thankfully it didn’t J We started walking through a park when we saw about 8 other kids from our program.  It was really crazy to see them as well because we did not plan to meet up with them.  However, after a few minutes we all decided that it would be a good idea to have cell phones.  And that is what we did, we went on a cell phone hunt, and ding ding ding ding we were winners. We are all now proud customers of Movistar.  And let me tell you, that is no translation, that is the company’s name.  Needless to say I now feel like a “Movistar,” and life is perfect, haha. That pretty much took most of our time while in downtown, but it was definitely worth it.  WE did see parts of the city and it is beautiful and I cannot wait to explore more of it. It is truly a European jem.

A few interesting notes:

            My padres sleep in different rooms, I’m not sure if this is custom or normal, but I think its interesting nonetheless. 

            Their son, Guillermo is still here…and this is the second time I’ve seen him and I’ve been here for about 3 days…. Eh whatever? Oh and I found out that Guilllermo is a helicopter pilot for the army, which is really cool.  AND from the few glimpses of him I got this evening he has beautiful arms hahaha. But seriously.

            The population of Sevilla is about 1 million, I did not realize how big it was.

            Southern kids have pretty accents and they are nice.  Thankgoodness. Oh and I had a conversation with them explaining how Wisconsin feels like it’s a southern state with the similar hunting and fishing lifestyle. AND I also impressed them with my Wisconsin accent --- hahahahaha.

           

            If I want to talk to any French kids, I must communicate with them in Spanish because they do not know English.

            Did I mention its 60 degrees here?  Hasta Luego Winter! Woot.

Okay that’s all for now.  Love and miss everyone.

Besos y Salude

Erica 

First Day of Spanish Intensive Course

 Anxious little me had a hard time falling asleep last night before my first day of classes because of a few things.  I was worried about getting to class on time, and making friends.  But to my great relief the kids in the 2 week intensive Spanish program were really open and friendly, which was great.  I met a lot of kids from Appalachian State as well as Presbyterian.  They are all southern kids and are just sweethearts.  I also have some people in my program from France, Germany and England.  I have got to tell ya, it is bizarre to hear them speak Spanish with French / German accents. 

            So to start the day, I took  a class to see what level of Spanish I am at in order to placed into a class for my 2 week intensive Spanish program.  I was placed into the intermediate level, which I feel is just perfect for me – this way I can get a review of my verbs.  Another interesting thing we did in class today was that there are 2 French students 2 German, 2 British and 5 American and we had discussions on stereotypes.  It was interesting to hear about what we thought were stereotypes of one culture and what other cultures thought were our stereotypes.  It was a great discussion.   I also love my intermediate level Spanish teacher, she is hilarious and warm.  She is easy to understand and has this fun energy that we all feed off of in class.  I’m looking forward to more classes.

            We also had a tour of the campus.  It was a little overwhelming because 9,000 students attend the university whereas St. Norbert College is only 2300 or so.  But it has palm trees and there are many places to eat and grab a coffee! Its insane.  I think there are 4 places or so on campus to grab a bite to eat. There is one particular place where you can order pizzas to go and eat and enjoy them in the sun.  Also, the university also offers dancing lessons, which I think would be a great time…and embarrassing ha. And apparently there is a place to play ping-pong, and this building was built for a world champion ping pong player.  Even the air conditioning system is special because it doesn’t interfere with play.  How random to have this on their campus.  Oh and our campus is infested with cats.  Seriously, I wonder if they have their own classes, haha.  I was leaving my intermediate class and all of the sudden I look over and there is a cat just hanging out on the moped. Simply hilarious.  

            Okay but by the end of classes today, I was STARVING. I ate breakfast at 8:30 or so in the morning and then we get out of class at 2:30 or so and then you finally have lunch at 3.  Thankfully I had a snack, but I will need to force my body to adjust to the Spanish lunch schedule.  I mean at least (in my opinion) that the Spanish have it correct, I like the fact that lunch is the most important meal of the day and then afterwards you can take a nap.  Now this is perfection.

            After class I made plans with new friends from Appalachian State, Maddy and Kristine, to go into the center of Sevilla. We went around 5 pm or so and Kristine and I took a 15-20 minute metro ride into the center of Sevilla.  The metro is very clean, efficient, yet there are not a lot of passenger cars per train, so they can get crowded.  Yet, they kick butt. So Kristine and I planned to meet Maddy praying that we would find her by this metro and bus stop.  After 2 minutes or so we found her and we were really relieved that it worked – because at this point we did not have cell phones and if all else failed we would have had some issues……but thankfully it didn’t J We started walking through a park when we saw about 8 other kids from our program.  It was really crazy to see them as well because we did not plan to meet up with them.  However, after a few minutes we all decided that it would be a good idea to have cell phones.  And that is what we did, we went on a cell phone hunt, and ding ding ding ding we were winners. We are all now proud customers of Movistar.  And let me tell you, that is no translation, that is the company’s name.  Needless to say I now feel like a “Movistar,” and life is perfect, haha. That pretty much took most of our time while in downtown, but it was definitely worth it.  WE did see parts of the city and it is beautiful and I cannot wait to explore more of it. It is truly a European jem.

A few interesting notes:

            My padres sleep in different rooms, I’m not sure if this is custom or normal, but I think its interesting nonetheless. 

            Their son, Guillermo is still here…and this is the second time I’ve seen him and I’ve been here for about 3 days…. Eh whatever? Oh and I found out that Guilllermo is a helicopter pilot for the army, which is really cool.  AND from the few glimpses of him I got this evening he has beautiful arms hahaha. But seriously.

            The population of Sevilla is about 1 million, I did not realize how big it was.

            Southern kids have pretty accents and they are nice.  Thankgoodness. Oh and I had a conversation with them explaining how Wisconsin feels like it’s a southern state with the similar hunting and fishing lifestyle. AND I also impressed them with my Wisconsin accent --- hahahahaha.

           

            If I want to talk to any French kids, I must communicate with them in Spanish because they do not know English.

            Did I mention its 60 degrees here?  Hasta Luego Winter! Woot.

Okay that’s all for now.  Love and miss everyone.

Besos y Salude

Erica