Dani brought me to the airport nice and early and I was glad because it took a while to get things sorted out with my bags.
I made it to Madrid and then got on the long flight to Dallas. I ended up watching Book of Eli, When in Rome, Extraordinary Measures, and The Lovely Bones on my personal airplane TV screen and quite a few episodes of The Office on my own laptop. The man I was sitting next to was coming back from visiting his sister and her husband. He lives and works in Sacramento, California, but was originally from Venezuela.
I made it home and was so happy to see my family and be home. My parents made me pizza for dinner! :)
Saturday, May 22, 2010
5/12
Today I got up and took my two tests and then went to my last class with Professor Manuel. We talked for a while in his office before we convinced him to end our last day right with some coffee sitting at a table outside a cafe near the school.
After this I frantically ran errands trying to get the rest of the souvenirs that I wanted to bring home for people. I got the jewelry guy to make me 40 euros more of jewelry! I met with my intercambio Dani and we went to the Cafe de Indias.
At 9 I had my last dinner with everyone (tortilla espanola) and after that I met with my other intercambio Ricardo along Calle Betiz. I went home and spent the rest of the night with the Spaniards packing for the morning.
After this I frantically ran errands trying to get the rest of the souvenirs that I wanted to bring home for people. I got the jewelry guy to make me 40 euros more of jewelry! I met with my intercambio Dani and we went to the Cafe de Indias.
At 9 I had my last dinner with everyone (tortilla espanola) and after that I met with my other intercambio Ricardo along Calle Betiz. I went home and spent the rest of the night with the Spaniards packing for the morning.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
5/11
My last free day...after my first final. I took the entire final for my phonetics class although the rest of the class was just doing to oral part. It was pretty easy and I was glad to finish pretty quickly. I decided that today I would do the things that I wanted to do all along and just never put aside the time to do.
First I went to the Torre de Oro and climbed to the top. Normally it costs one euro for students to enter but they just let me go up. Everyone had told me that it was overrated and not really that great, but I thought it was worth the time and had a pretty decent view from all sides :)
My favorite part was being right up next to the spires. They look so cool to me from down below but I always wished that i could get a better view of them. Well, now I have gotten a better view.
After the Torre I headed over to the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts) which was a visit that I had missed with API because I had been in Barcelona.
Above you can see one of the many kiosks that line the sidewalk close to the river. When it gets a little later it opens up and becomes a bar.
Above is a sculpture of John the Baptist's head.
The fine arts museum was free too :) and I walked around and looked at every exhibit. I even listened to headphones for the specialty exhibit of "El Joven Murillo" with paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and his teacher.
By the time I was done with the Museum and had walked home it was pretty much lunch time.
After lunch, I laid out for a long time on a bench on the bridge attempting to study for my 2 tests tomorrow and sleeping. Overall it was a good day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN! :) LOVE YOU SISTA SISTA!
First I went to the Torre de Oro and climbed to the top. Normally it costs one euro for students to enter but they just let me go up. Everyone had told me that it was overrated and not really that great, but I thought it was worth the time and had a pretty decent view from all sides :)
My favorite part was being right up next to the spires. They look so cool to me from down below but I always wished that i could get a better view of them. Well, now I have gotten a better view.
After the Torre I headed over to the Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts) which was a visit that I had missed with API because I had been in Barcelona.
Above you can see one of the many kiosks that line the sidewalk close to the river. When it gets a little later it opens up and becomes a bar.
Above is a sculpture of John the Baptist's head.
The fine arts museum was free too :) and I walked around and looked at every exhibit. I even listened to headphones for the specialty exhibit of "El Joven Murillo" with paintings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and his teacher.
By the time I was done with the Museum and had walked home it was pretty much lunch time.
After lunch, I laid out for a long time on a bench on the bridge attempting to study for my 2 tests tomorrow and sleeping. Overall it was a good day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN! :) LOVE YOU SISTA SISTA!
5/10
This is a panoramic view of my walk to school on the bridge. The first pictures are of the bridge walking over to my school and the latter are the view looking back at where I live, Los Remedios (the rich area!)
I headed over to my 11 am class and just as I was walking down the hall to my class I saw my friend Rachel. She is in the same class except that it is at a different time, it gets out right before mine starts. She told me we just watched a movie that wasn't going to be on the test and that it wasn't that good so I went with her to the API office instead since I needed to go to print out my essay for my 5 pm class anyway. I went back to school for my 1 pm class where we had a review for the final on Wednesday. In my 5 pm class we read our essays aloud and then turned them in. We tried to go to the Palacio San Telmo but the line was too long.
I ran home before heading out. I got some errands done and bought some stuff I can't say (souvenirs)! For dinner we had the ham squares, and after dinner I hung out in my room with Fatima and Alfonso until I went to bed.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
5/9
Got up this morning and got ready and walked over to Sarah and Carrie's homestay on Pelav Correa a little before 10:30. (Below: Sarah's street, church steeple seen from Sarah's house, Sarah and Carrie coming out of their apartment to meet me)
We all walked to Prosperidad for church for the last time here! It was very sad, and I knew it would probably be the last time I see Sarah before mid-June since we both have so much homework and studying to do for exams this week.
After church I walked home. The flowers have bloomed everywhere and it's gorgeous. I'm going to be so sad to leave this beautiful city.
Our Señor is a very OCD and here is just one example of the funny and unnecessary things he does. Everyday instead of putting an extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom for us to change ourselves he rolls other rolls on top of rolls so that they are like the double rolls we have at home in the U.S. So funny!
Tonight at 9 we all met to take Ana and Enrique out to dinner as a thank you and to have one big dinner out all together before some of us leave. We made a reservation for 15 at Mamma Mia, an Italian Restaurant on Calle Betis in Triana.
Ana and Enrique brought some old photographs of what they looked like when they were younger!!!
Above: Our whole group excluding Fatima, Alfonso, Marisa, Jeremy.
Ana and Enrique with me!
We all walked to Prosperidad for church for the last time here! It was very sad, and I knew it would probably be the last time I see Sarah before mid-June since we both have so much homework and studying to do for exams this week.
After church I walked home. The flowers have bloomed everywhere and it's gorgeous. I'm going to be so sad to leave this beautiful city.
Our Señor is a very OCD and here is just one example of the funny and unnecessary things he does. Everyday instead of putting an extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom for us to change ourselves he rolls other rolls on top of rolls so that they are like the double rolls we have at home in the U.S. So funny!
Tonight at 9 we all met to take Ana and Enrique out to dinner as a thank you and to have one big dinner out all together before some of us leave. We made a reservation for 15 at Mamma Mia, an Italian Restaurant on Calle Betis in Triana.
Ana and Enrique brought some old photographs of what they looked like when they were younger!!!
Above: Our whole group excluding Fatima, Alfonso, Marisa, Jeremy.
Ana and Enrique with me!
5/8
I spent the entire day today catching up my blog (there was a lot of work to do!) and writing my essays due on Monday so that I can have Fatima check them and make any adjustments needed. I got pretty close to catching it up all the way! Finally around 7 pm I got out of the house. I went shopping originally intending to look for souvenirs, but all the shops I wanted to get stuff from were closed. I ended up clothes shopping instead :) so bad.
On my way back there was a crowd of people and a mini paso going through. I don't know if it was for Ascension Day or something? It just had a simple cross with a white cloth. It was very informal even though there was a band because when they stopped for a break all the guys carrying the paso came out from under!
I took a picture so you could see what they do and wear. They wear those head wraps so that there is some padding on their necks since they carry the paso on their lower necks. The fabric on the sides of the paso conceals them underneath.
That night I went for one last Saturday night hoorah with the people from my residencia to a discoteca in Nervion (we had to take the metro there). It was called Abril and was a lot of fun, you can see the crazy purple lights below.
We had to take a taxi home since it was so far from where we lived and the metro had stopped running. The taxi had a clear wall in between the driver and back seat like a police car! :)
On my way back there was a crowd of people and a mini paso going through. I don't know if it was for Ascension Day or something? It just had a simple cross with a white cloth. It was very informal even though there was a band because when they stopped for a break all the guys carrying the paso came out from under!
I took a picture so you could see what they do and wear. They wear those head wraps so that there is some padding on their necks since they carry the paso on their lower necks. The fabric on the sides of the paso conceals them underneath.
That night I went for one last Saturday night hoorah with the people from my residencia to a discoteca in Nervion (we had to take the metro there). It was called Abril and was a lot of fun, you can see the crazy purple lights below.
We had to take a taxi home since it was so far from where we lived and the metro had stopped running. The taxi had a clear wall in between the driver and back seat like a police car! :)
5/7
A ton of people in my residencia are in API (the study abroad program that I am in) however most go to the other university (not Universidad de Sevilla) so that they could take English classes as well. Today all the API's went together for our last excursion instead of separate. We headed over to the buses at 9 am for our trip together to Doñana National Park.
First the API coordinators brought us to the city of Rocio which had a pretty church. We spent about 30 minutes in the city and looking at the church as well as the pond.
Then we headed to the National Park where we found a winding trail made of a wooden deck path. We took the curvy path all the way to a large building that was called "El Palacio de Acebron." The Palace's construction began under the supervision of Don Luis Espinosa Fontdevilla in 1960 and it took 3 years to build. It has a neoclassical style which distinguishes it from other Andalusian palaces in the countryside.
The palace was built for recreation and hunting, but now is open for visitation as a museum.
Above is the view of Donana National Park from the roof of the Palacio.
We continued our excursion by heading to the beach in Huelva for a few hours which was nice. I was very tired so I got to lay out and get some sun while resting.
At about 4:30 pm we hopped back on the buses and headed back to Sevilla. That night I went with Fatima to the Torre de Oro to celebrate one of her friend's birthdays.
First the API coordinators brought us to the city of Rocio which had a pretty church. We spent about 30 minutes in the city and looking at the church as well as the pond.
Then we headed to the National Park where we found a winding trail made of a wooden deck path. We took the curvy path all the way to a large building that was called "El Palacio de Acebron." The Palace's construction began under the supervision of Don Luis Espinosa Fontdevilla in 1960 and it took 3 years to build. It has a neoclassical style which distinguishes it from other Andalusian palaces in the countryside.
The palace was built for recreation and hunting, but now is open for visitation as a museum.
Above is the view of Donana National Park from the roof of the Palacio.
We continued our excursion by heading to the beach in Huelva for a few hours which was nice. I was very tired so I got to lay out and get some sun while resting.
At about 4:30 pm we hopped back on the buses and headed back to Sevilla. That night I went with Fatima to the Torre de Oro to celebrate one of her friend's birthdays.
5/6
Thurssssday! One of my favorite days of the week here...the start of the weekend! :)
Went to class as usual today and then came home for lunch which was my special request--paella! We had paella de marisco (which is seafood and yellow rice sometimes with vegetables). You either love it or hate it, so about half of the people at the table didn't eat and the other half (including me) ate more than my share.
I came up a little later to lunch today so it was just Fatima and me eating together for some of the time. (She didn't want me to take a picture!). Also below, you can see Enrique cleaning up the table.
After lunch I had time to take a shower and get ready before meeting my cousin Sarah at McDonald's at 5. I took her out for a cono kitkat for her 21st birthday (which is tomorrow, Fri. May 7)! Then we walked around and shopped for a while because Sarah wanted to find this anchor t-shirt and we also wanted to look for souvenirs for family together. We stopped at a caricature artist's stand and got one done together which turned out really funny! He drew us in Flamenco dresses and put spider earrings on Sarah!
We met up near there with two of Sarah's friends from school and stopped by their school and they gave me a tour of it. The inside is deceivingly bigger than it looks like it would be from the outside! Afterwards, Sarah, her friend Jessica, and I all went to the ceramic stores in Triana. We found some things we liked and but didn't know that there was a store near the Cathedral with cheaper ceramics that we wanted so Sarah and I walked back over to the Cathedral. Unfortunately the store closed at 8 and it was just after so we will have to go back to get them.
The outward appearance of the Cathedral never ceases to amaze me.
On Calle Asuncion in Los Remedios where I live there was some sort of orchestra concert going on amid the shops. Below you can see a picture of SuperSol, the grocery store that I always go to!
After dinner I went out to Calle Alfalfa with some people in my program. We went to Robotica. These are pictures of Alfonso, his friend Jesus, and me at the residencia, and then a picture of Calle Alfalfa. It is PACKED on Thursdays, just imagine Saturdays...
Went to class as usual today and then came home for lunch which was my special request--paella! We had paella de marisco (which is seafood and yellow rice sometimes with vegetables). You either love it or hate it, so about half of the people at the table didn't eat and the other half (including me) ate more than my share.
I came up a little later to lunch today so it was just Fatima and me eating together for some of the time. (She didn't want me to take a picture!). Also below, you can see Enrique cleaning up the table.
After lunch I had time to take a shower and get ready before meeting my cousin Sarah at McDonald's at 5. I took her out for a cono kitkat for her 21st birthday (which is tomorrow, Fri. May 7)! Then we walked around and shopped for a while because Sarah wanted to find this anchor t-shirt and we also wanted to look for souvenirs for family together. We stopped at a caricature artist's stand and got one done together which turned out really funny! He drew us in Flamenco dresses and put spider earrings on Sarah!
We met up near there with two of Sarah's friends from school and stopped by their school and they gave me a tour of it. The inside is deceivingly bigger than it looks like it would be from the outside! Afterwards, Sarah, her friend Jessica, and I all went to the ceramic stores in Triana. We found some things we liked and but didn't know that there was a store near the Cathedral with cheaper ceramics that we wanted so Sarah and I walked back over to the Cathedral. Unfortunately the store closed at 8 and it was just after so we will have to go back to get them.
The outward appearance of the Cathedral never ceases to amaze me.
On Calle Asuncion in Los Remedios where I live there was some sort of orchestra concert going on amid the shops. Below you can see a picture of SuperSol, the grocery store that I always go to!
After dinner I went out to Calle Alfalfa with some people in my program. We went to Robotica. These are pictures of Alfonso, his friend Jesus, and me at the residencia, and then a picture of Calle Alfalfa. It is PACKED on Thursdays, just imagine Saturdays...
5/5
Class, and then I walked around and bought some regalos! (gifts) from a temporary market with objectos hecho en Sevilla (things made in Sevilla). The market was right by the Cathedral (you can see what it looks like above). Later that night I went to the Torre de Oro with some people who live in the residencia with me to hang out.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
5/4
9 am class class class as usual! And then, shopping! I wanted to try to find a cute and cheap dress to buy for my graduation next week. I walked along my usual shopping route that leads up to El Corte Ingles but found nothing...unsuccessful. I went into El Corte Ingles and tried on a couple dresses. I found one that I liked that was almost 50 euros, but I don't think I like it enough to pay 50 euros...what do you think?
I came home for lunch before a shower and then continuing on my day. At night I met up with Brittany to go to Alambique, then we went to Fundicion to meet up with other girls, and lastly Big Ben!
I came home for lunch before a shower and then continuing on my day. At night I met up with Brittany to go to Alambique, then we went to Fundicion to meet up with other girls, and lastly Big Ben!
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