Fotos, fotos, fotos

Yeah so when I said "tomorrow" I meant almost 2 weeks later. Oops. Here are some photos in a crazy, nonsensical order because I'm lazy.

The view from Prague Castle:

The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona:

Me, Christine, Jackie and a Mushroom man outside Parc Guell in Barcelona:

My parents, the Olympians (Olympic Stadium, Barcelona):
Weiss family at Parc Guell:

Longest park bench in the world!:
Prague castle:
Danny and me on Jews' street in Cordoba:

Laura and me by a pretty fountain in Prague:
The Lennon wall in Prague...coolest graffiti in Europe:
Outside the old Roman town in Morocco:

My homestay house in the Medina in Rabat:


The roof of Casa Mila in Barcelona (broken wine bottles, if you can't tell...I love Gaudi):
Danny at the Real Alcazar in Sevilla:

Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin:
Dublin Castle...obviously:
Emily, Marissa and me with the Alhambra in the background:

So there are some highlights of the last 6 weeks or so. 2 weeks from yesterday I leave Sevilla and get back to Chicago 2 weeks from today. It's kind of freaking me out. I'm so excited to go home and see friends and family but I don't feel completely ready to leave Sevilla...I'm going to miss it a lot. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I won't have much time to process it all. I have plenty of work to keep me busy through Wednesday. I leave for Greece on Thursday, get back late Monday night and then have finals the following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then I have pretty much a day to pack and say my goodbyes. Crazy!

Morocco, Padres, Barcelona, Prague--¡La vida buena!

Oh gosh, where to even begin?

I know I’m a terrible blogger but I’ve been busy/exhausted. Traveling is tiresome (not that you should feel bad for me!) I’ll try to keep this pretty brief and I’m finally including pictures!

So first I went to Morocco with this program called Morocco Exchange, designed for study abroad students to give them a more cultural/less touristy trip. It was an incredible, eye-opening experience and I’m not even sure I’ll be able to explain it in a way that would do it justice but here are some of the highlights:

-After getting off to a little bit of a late start due to ferry complications, we finally arrived and made our way to Rabat. We were driving when all of a sudden our van pulls over on the side of the road and we walk down to the beach where there are camels waiting for us to ride!

-Upon arriving in Rabat we went to the medina to meet our home stay families. We were taken to this beautiful home with at least 10 people living in it, only one of whom spoke English (and he wasn’t even home til later.) Although it was slightly awkward at first, through little bits of English, Arabic, French and Spanish, we managed to have a really nice meal together.

-The next day we saw some of the major sites in Rabat including the Roman ruins and the mausoleum where Mohammed V is buried. Afterwards, some students with a concentration in English in Rabat University showed us around the city and took us to a hookah bar. It was really fun to talk to kids our age and see how our lives can be so similar and so different at the same time.

-Later that night, we spoke with some Peace Corps volunteers, a Fulbright scholar and a Rotary scholar. It made me realize just how many options there are after college and while I don’t know if I’m capable of the amazing things these people are doing with their lives it certainly gave me a lot to think about. (Like I need more post-college confusion!)

-The next day we drove into the Rif mountains and had lunch in a home in a small village. We ate delicious couscous and ended up having a very intense political discussion with our translator regarding U.S. foreign policy. He had a lot of anger and frustration and A LOT of opinions—some of which I share and some I found unfair. Still, it was really amazing to me that we can come from such different ideologies and come together and talk it out with a sense of mutual respect and not a trace of hostility. Also, everywhere I go—it’s astounding how well-educated people are about the U.S. and our internal and external politics, whereas I knew virtually nothing about Morocco. I guess it’s to be expected considering the role of the U.S. in the world, but I can’t help feeling arrogant and self-important and naïve and I hope I can make a conscious effort to be less like that. (Okay, now I’m off my high horse.)
-That night we made it to Chefchaouen, a beautiful, albeit touristy, town in the mountains. We did some souvenir shopping and were taken from a store to some guy’s house so his sister could give us henna tattoos!

We left early the next morning for Ceuta, which is technically Spanish soil although it’s on the African side of the Med, and then headed back to mainland Spain on another ferry. The trip was really unlike any I’ve taken and I’m still processing all the things I learned. I’m really, really glad I went.

The day after I got back, my parents came after spending a weekend in Madrid and Toledo. It was AMAZING to see them and I’m glad they got to actually see Sevilla after hearing me talk about it for over 2 months! Gloria made us a beautiful dinner one night and it was really fun having them meet-although a little bit intense for me—I felt like a UN translator! We saw the sites, ate some great food and did plenty of shopping. Then we went together to Barcelona and met up with Christine and Jackie.

Barcelona was such a cool city—it was a mix of a classic old European city and a totally modern one with some totally unique elements (lots of that thanks to Gaudi!) We saw the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and 2 of the Gaudi houses and it was crazy to see such surreal works of art in the middle of a normal city street. We also walked around the Gothic Quarter, La Rambla (the main thoroughfare—complete with birds, flowers and the biggest produce market imaginable) and saw the Olympic Stadium and the sea. Jackie, Christine and I saw a flamenco show one night where the dancer was actually a man. It was a little less traditional than we were expecting, but he was actually the best flamenco dancer I’ve seen in Spain!

We came back Sunday afternoon and planned to go to Córdoba on Monday…However, I got really sick Sunday night (food poisoning?) and my parents decided to stay back in Sevilla and take care of me (they’re the best, aren’t they?) They continued on to Granada Tuesday and as sad as it was to see them go, I’m glad they had such a good time and knowing I’ll see them in a month made it easier.

Luckily, I was all better by Thursday to go to Prague and visit Laura with Jackie. Prague was absolutely gorgeous even though it was freezing. My body was kind of in shock after having grown accustomed to the Andalusian climate, but once I stole warm things from Laura and broke out the long underwear it was excellent. I really liked just walking around and taking it all in—it’s totally different than I thought it would be. I expected it to be very pretty but kind of gloomy and dark but it’s actually very charming and fairy tale-esque. The people are noticeably reserved though and Laura says it’s easy to see the generational difference between those who grew up under the Soviet regime and those who didn’t so I guess that makes sense. It was also really cool to see what another study abroad program was like—I love mine, but I’m kind of jealous at how they all get to live together and hang out whenever they want. Homestays here are so valuable, but proximity to friends is definitely something that suffers.

As for now, I’m trying to get my life a bit organized and start facing the realization that I do in fact have a paper to write here. Danny comes tomorrow and I’m very excited to see another familiar face (I’ve been so lucky with that, I’m having a great run) and also do some of the touristy stuff again!

Happy Thanksgiving—eat lots of turkey and sweet potatoes for me!

P.S. I wrote this all out and got photos all ready and now Blogger doesn't want to upload them right now. I'll try again tomorrow. Get excited.

Pero, estamos en Granada...

Last week/weekend was kind of crazy. I don't know if I ever talked about it before but we moved. As in, Gloria moved (long story, kind of impromptu) and I moved with her. She's totally the best señora in the world so it's worth it to live with her but it ended up being more of a hassle than I expected even though it's just down the block. The new place is very nice but the old place really felt like my home and it was a little sad to leave. I even set up my new room exactly like the old one. We finally have hot water but the internet is still in and out and a box of my stuff hasn't turned up yet...I'm trying not to let it get to me.

Luckily I got out of the crazy mountains of boxes for the weekend because we had our program trip to Granada. I probably say this about everywhere but Granada really was one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I didn't realize it would be as cold as it was (although it's in the mountains so I should have figured)but it's known as one of the prettiest places in the world to view the sunset (Bill Clinton even said so!) We saw the chapel where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried and it was really interesting. Unfortunately you can't take pictures--not like my camera worked anyway. After that we did some souvenir shopping and I actually found some of the coolest, least tacky stuff yet. Saturday night we just chilled in the hotel which was perfect for me since the movers/cleaning people had woken me up at 8am pretty much every day this past week and I was dead tired.

Sunday was our day to go to the Alhambra and this is where things got a little frustrating. The Alhambra, the 12th century Muslim fortress/palace, is the most visited site in all of Spain and you need to reserve tickets in advance. When we got there, after standing in line for quite a while, we found out our reservations had been for Saturday which was not what they told us. Our directors spoke with as many employees as they could and ultimately we were allowed to see the gardens and some of the palaces but not allowed to enter the most famous part which SUCKS. The parts we did see were very pretty and our tour guide told us some great history/stories. We might get to go back but who knows where I'll be when they reschedule. Might try and go with my parents too but that could get complicated. I SUPPOSE if I just have to come back to Spain another time to see it, I´ll live but seriously...it's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

I better stop complaining though because this weekend I go to Morocco! (Actually leave for the Spanish port city tomorrow after class and we spend tomorrow night there and leave for Morocco Thursday morning.) I'm really really excited and a little bit nervous (our packing list tells us to bring toilet paper with us...) I don't really know what to expect but hopefully it will be as incredible as I've heard it is.

I get back Sunday night and then--parents come Monday!

refrescos sin limites!

So I spent this weekend in Sevilla and had a lot of fun!

The highlights:

Wednesday: We went out at ended up at a nice club that was packed with Americans and played half top 40 hits and half strange Spanish techno.

Thursday: We went to see El Orfanato, the movie Spain is submitting for Oscar consideration. It was very well done but I don't know why I always end up getting talked into seeing scary movies! I really don't enjoy them and I end up paying to sit for two hours with my hands over my eyes. I'm also a little confused about its selection; it was a good movie but horror films rarely win Academy Awards and this story isn't particularly original. Whatever.

Friday: We went out to eat at a yummy Spanish restaurant, hung out by the river for a while (so pretty!) and then made our way to a club. We got there at about 2:45am and it was almost completely empty. I was sleepy and ready to leave by about 3:15 and then all of a sudden it filled up, I got a second wind and the rest of the night (morning) ended up being a lot of fun. I still think Spanish people are crazy with their schedules.

Saturday: This is kind of sad, but I had not had a real cheeseburger since before I left for Spain and it was really getting to me. Luckily, a group of kids planned a trip to a hilariously tacky "American" restaurant in the bus station mall. It's called Foster's Hollywood and honestly if I had eaten there in the United States it would have been mediocre or worse and overpriced. But since it's the first American food I've had in over 6 weeks it was incredible. AND THEY HAD FREE REFILLS. Besides all of you, soda fountains are one of the things I miss most about the US. Here you pay 2 euro for a 8oz bottle of diet coke because nobody has it on tap! I think I drank more diet coke than I even wanted to at dinner just because I could. Kinda sad, I know...but seriously, 6 weeks without unlimited diet cokes and a cheeseburger? That's pretty good for me! After that we went to the movies and split off into a few different groups. I saw Flawless, or "Un Plan Brillante" as it's called here, with Demi Moore and Michael Caine. It's about a heist from the London Diamond Corporation in the 1960s. It was cute, nothing incredibly special, but entertaining. Should be out in the states in a few weeks. (Weird that it came out here first, we usually get movies in English way late.)

Sunday: No highlights. I did absolutely nothing.

It was nice to have a completely stress-free week/weekend and not worry about packing or making a flight or bus, but now my batteries are recharged and I'm excited to start traveling again.

That's all for now, I'll find some fun pictures later.

Hasta luego!

...y despues, Dublin!

So Dublin was a blast, BUT my camera died and for some reason didn’t like the Irish batteries so I have about 7 pictures total and they're not even very interesting. I will steal Jackie and Christine’s but for now, a recap of the weekend:

I arrived Thursday early afternoon, but Jackie, Christine and Christine’s friend Ricky weren’t due in until late Thursday night. I felt pretty proud of myself for finding the hostel on my own and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening roaming around the city. I ate dinner at a cute university pub in Trinity College park and met some Irish students. Made it back to the hostel around 9 or 10 and watched a little TV and met some other travelers. I thought I’d be bored and lonely all day but it actually was kind of relaxing and fun—although I was relieved and excited when my friends walked in!

We spent Friday morning doing the main sightseeing things in Dublin: St. Patrick’s Cathedral (which charged an entry fee so we didn’t go in—how lame for a church to make you pay just to walk inside!), Christ Church Cathedral and we took a tour of Dublin Castle which was helpful because it gave us quite a bit of Irish history as well. We went to the Guinness Storehouse for a self-guided tour. Really cool place, but I absolutely hate beer so after our little sample I used my voucher for a Diet Coke instead of a free pint.

Then we had lunch and did a lot of walking around. Maybe I just didn’t do enough research before the trip but it kind of felt like there wasn’t a whole lot in terms of must-do sightseeing (especially compared to Paris!) Still, it was a great city to walk in—very compact—and I really liked the atmosphere. Also, this is really cool: my Let’s Go tour book said the Irish government recently spent 40 million Euro on a big arts endowment so there were really talented street musicians and performers and painters scattered around the city. We ate dinner in the Temple Bar neighborhood—the trendy, artsy (and kinda touristy) area of Dublin and went to a pub afterwards. I had kind of hoped to hear some live Irish music as advertised…but I think we walked into what seemed to be some kind of American disco hits night. Still fun.

Saturday we hit up Grafton Street—Dublin’s prime shopping area—went back to Trinity for a bit and ended up having a picnic lunch in St. Stephen’s Green. We did a lot of wandering and souvenir shopping (I got the Irish good luck ring I’d wanted for a while) and made it into the National Museum of History for about an hour before it closed. After a delicious Japanese meal it was too early to go back to the hostel but we didn’t want to go out (I had to wake up at 4:30am to leave for the airport!) so we decided to see The Heartbreak Kid. It was…definitely no There’s Something About Mary but it had a few laughs and I miss going to the movies all the time. Dublin was actually a nice break in general—it was great to be able to order food and ask for directions in English. The Irish people in general were also very nice and friendly. When I go back to Ireland someday I’d really like to see more of the country. I’m told there are some great day trips from Dublin in both directions to smaller towns with a lot of character, I’d also love to see where my relatives live!

During my trip I definitely felt like I was still in Europe but Dublin felt more like Chicago than Spain. That being said, walking into my building here in Sevilla after the trip really felt like coming home. Traveling has been great, but I’m excited to stay here this weekend. I’ll definitely have a more productive week when I’m not cramming everything in Monday-Wednesday! Other than my camera and iPod difficulties, life is great. The weather here is still amazing, classes are interesting (but don’t require much work outside the classroom…), the kids I work with on Mondays are crazy but fun, cooking classes start Wednesday and Gloria is probably the best señora ever.

I’ll update sooner next time so it’s not a crazy long post like these two. Congrats if you made it through.

Primero, Paris...

Ok, so I realize it's been a little while since I've updated...I've been busy traveling! I've written recaps of my first two weekend trips so I'll post the Paris one first from 2 weekends ago and then Dublin from this last weekend.

Well my first non-program trip was a success! Five of us Sevilla kids went to Paris for the weekend and had an absolutely amazing time. We saw a ton considering we only had about 48 hrs to see the city. Here’s our group (outside Notre Dame Cathedral!): from the left it’s Jon, Andrew, me, Marissa and Emily.

It’s hard for me to describe the city and our experiences without it sounding completely cliché, but I’m going to do it anyway. To be honest, I sort of expected Paris to be somewhat cliché. It’s constantly touted as one of, if not, the most beautiful city in the world, so I went thinking it had to be at least a little overrated—I was totally wrong. I’m hesitant to even post pictures because they don’t do it justice. I’d seen so many photos and movies of Paris that it had become so two-dimensional in my mind and actually walking through the streets, I was astonished by how pretty everything was. I felt like I was in the movie—it was totally surreal!

Late Thursday night (technically Friday morning) we arrived at our hostel which was…probably pretty typical of a European hostel. Definitely not the cleanest place I’ve been but I’m sure there are worse and we had our own room and a pretty good breakfast every day. We started out Friday morning at the Basilica Sacre Cour, which was right in Montmarte, the neighborhood we were staying in. We went inside and then climbed a whole lot of stairs (the French are BIG on long spiral staircases, FYI) up to the top of the dome. The view was incredible but unfortunately it was pretty foggy so the pictures aren’t as amazing. Still pretty cool, though.

We walked around a bit before meeting up with Alysa and later Danny and Julia, who all came in from Nantes for the weekend! It was really helpful to have them around, as the five of us collectively speak about 10 words of French. We went to Notre Dame Cathedral, which was of course, stunning.

After a quick stop at a bakery for some pastries, we went to the Louvre. We didn’t even attempt to do it all—you’d need days. But we saw the highlights—the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the old Egyptian artifacts and Hammurabi’s Code. I'm not going to bother with my pictures of the famous works of art because they're unfocused and poorly lit. But this picture of the pyramid and the fountain OUTSIDE the Louvre is probably my favorite.

After that we stopped for dinner at a very fancy and delicious restaurant, somewhat accidentally. We had unknowingly been looking at the lunch menu prices when we selected the restaurant and after we sat down and were handed the dinner menu we realized it was a slightly different range. We decided to splurge, and the food was really good so it was okay. After dinner we strolled around and made our way to the Eiffel Tower.

On Saturday, we did the Catacombs in the morning. (Check this out for back story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris) It was probably the most morbid but one of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen.

The bones literally went on for miles and the walls were lined with plaques featuring all sorts of quotes about death that I only half understood as they were all in French, Latin or Italian. (Julia, Danny and Alysa certainly helped.) It was a strange experience walking up and down the rows and looking at a skull and realizing that these were actual human bones inches away from me. I actually tried to imagine the people they belonged to a few times and what they’d be thinking if they knew people were looking at them hundreds of years later. It was an eerie kind of interconnectedness. Overall, I’m really glad I saw them.

We had delicious crepes and cider for lunch and then spent some time in the Tuileries where I decided French kids are pretty much the cutest kids in the world. They had little sailboats that they pushed around the fountain in the garden. It looked like a painting. After that we walked around some more and then did a Seine River sightseeing cruise which was of course when my camera decided to stop working. It was absolutely stunning—some of the best views of the famous landmarks are from the river and we went at dusk so the sun was setting and everything lit up while we were on the boat.

After a delicious dinner at a Moroccan restaurant (that was impossible to order but ultimately worth the hassle) we went to go to the Musee d’Orsay. It was the “Nuit Blanche” in Paris which is like what we had in Sevilla a few weekends ago—all the museums stay open late and there are tons of performances and people out all night. However, we didn’t really investigate very well and the Orsay actually closed at midnight, not 7am like we thought. But at least this way I have a reason I absolutely have to go back! Also, France won their rugby game in the Rugby World Cup which was in Paris so people were going CRAZY all over the city. We walked up the Champs Elysses, amongst happy, drunk rugby fans and got as close as we could to the Arc d’ Triomphe before heading back to the hostel to sleep for just a few hours to give us plenty of time to get to the airport.

Overall, an INCREDIBLE weekend. I still feel like there’s a lot a didn’t see though—it’s impossible to do all of Paris in 2 days—so I will absolutely have to go back someday. Anyone interested in planning a trip?

Estoy enferma en España

So, I'm a little bit sick. Nothing awful--sore throat, stuffy nose, chills--the usual. Seems like it's been going around our program and it could even be changes in weather, etc. I'm doubling up on vitamins, drinking lots of water and trying to get lots of sleep so I should be fiiiiiiine.

Our overnight trip to Chiclana ended up being a lot of fun because we just got to hang out all together. The weather didn't cooperate, so we only made it to the beach briefly, but we had an awesome hotel room and honestly I was happy to just play games and visit. Coulda used some sun though--I still look shockingly white in photos.

Classes are going well so far and I think I've finally figured out what I'm taking! I think my schedule will work out well--keeps me busy but not too busy. Here's my typical week:

Monday:
10-12--Helping with English classes at a High School
1-2:30--El Mundo Actual: A history course about the world after WWII (I'm taking this now instead of the other regular University class I was going to take.)

Tuesday:
11-1--Cine: This class has been great so far--the professor is really cool and I think we'll be watching some great stuff.
1-2:30--Mundo
3:30-6:30--Español para Negocios: Still don't know how useful this class will be to me since I'm not a business major or anything even close, but it's fun.

Wednesday:
1-2--Mundo
3-6--Democracia and Dictadura: Love this one so far! I've already learned a lot about the Spanish political system (you know I'm a nerd and love that stuff!)
6:30-8:30--Cooking classes!

Thursday:
11-1--Cine

Then nothing the rest of the day because most weekends I'm traveling and if I'm not...well, I guess I just get long, relaxing weekends.

In less than 24hrs, I'll be in Paris! I'm willing myself to get better faster so I don't sneeze on the Mona Lisa...

Pictures and stories when I get back!

p.s. The times on these entries are totally wrong. I tried to fix it but it doesn't work. Just so you know.