Friday, March 11, 2011

Under 3 months..WHAT?

Okay, definitely realized today that I go home in less than 3 months. June 10th. HOLY CRAP! I can't even fathom that. SO WEIRD!! On one hand it feels like I just got here, but on the other hand it feels like I've lived here forever. So like GAH I don't know. Whatever, 3 months. Just thought I'd first share that thought.

I'd say it was a pretty busy couple of weeks after coming back from Madrid! I only had three days of class which was really nice, because we had that Monday off and then Friday I don't have classes :) So the week went by pretty fast! The weekend...a little bit insane. Well actually, only friday night, but still. So here goes, it was the holiday Carnaval. Aka, Spain's rager before lent starts. So people pretty much dress up in costumes and party the weekend away. The big event is in Cádiz, so friday night, Ky, Adrienne and I took the night train..left at 9:45PM to Cádiz in our costumes to celebrate Carnaval! We had gone out earlier that day to buy costumes! Adrienne was a cowgirl, Ky was a pirate, and I was who I thought was Robin Hood but I had MANY SPANISH PEOPLE calling me Peter Pan all night, so take your pick I guess!

On the train in costume!


Getting more in character..


PERFECT.

So, we got there probably around 11:30 I wanna say. We had made some Spanish friends on the train on the way there so they kind of showed us where to go, thank GOD, because we all agreed we would have had no idea what to do by ourselves. So we got to kind of the place where everyone was, and basically what it was was a huge cluster of Spanish people in costumes drinking. Can't say I was a huge fan of it, but we did stay for a while and had some fun talking to people and such! There wasn't as many people when we went, because most people go Saturday night. But we all said we were glad we went friday because THAT alone was enough people for us! Our only problem was that we were kind of over the whole party thing by like 4am, but our train back to Sevilla didn't leave until 6:55! So we ended up sitting outside the train station a good hour, which it was freezing. But we did end up making some Spanish friends who were also waiting. I'm sure it looked pretty ridiculous, a bunch of people sitting outside a train station in costumes. But it's fine. Gotta love Spain. The train station finally opened up at 5:30, so I was thrilled thinking that it would be warmer in there. Nope. Fail. So pretty much we all froze until we finally got on the train around 6:30! Once I hit the train, I was so exhausted, slept the entire way home. We got back to Sevilla around 8:30AM, so I finally was home and in bed by 9! Ahh, what a night. We all were saying we probably wouldn't go back, but we were glad we experienced it!


So you can imagine Saturday wasn't a very successful day for me. I slept until about 12:30, which still wasn't much sleep, but whatevs. So I hung out for a bit, made myself some much needed coffee, and was lazy for a while! After lunch, I went out for a run which was good, just to get outside, and then came home, and really didn't do a whole lot! I got some work done which was good, but then I kind of laid low for the night because A) I was tired and B) I was getting up early the next morning to HIKE!

Sunday I went hiking in Grazalema! It was the same deal as the last hike I went on with Ky and Adrienne, only this time I was flying solo. Neither of them could come which was a bummer but some other people from my program that I know went so it was really fun! The bus left around 9, we stopped for a café, and so we probably got there around 11 and started hiking. It was FREEZING when we started, but as we started walking it got a lot nicer! I liked this hike a LOT better than the first one, because the view was amazing anywhere we were! There were also a ton of animals on this hike, which I can say I'm not really an animal person, but seeing cows just hanging out was pretty cool!



So we hiked until we got to the top, and by that time it was about two, so we stopped and had lunch where we had a really great view! It was so nice there, I seriously could have stayed there forever. I felt like Maria from the Sound of Music! Climb every mountain, and the HILLS WERE SO ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC! Gah, it was just great! The pictures don't even do it justice.

ARE YOU NOT IN THE SOUND OF MUSIC?!! Gahh.

I love this picture because one of the guys that leads the hike took it for me and thought if he took it slanted it would look like I'm falling. Not so much, but gotta love it! Haha!

Obsessed.

So after lunch we walked for a little longer, and ended the hike at the little pueblo Benecaoz. It was a cute little down, so once we got there we stopped at a café place and rested, and then the bus picked us up to head home! The other part though that I have to say I really loved about the hike was that we all talked in Spanish a ton! It was really good. It's so easy here to just talk in english all the time, but we talked a ton in Spanish on the hike and it was great because I.NEEED.PRACTICE! Our group leader for the hike, who is also my program director, even told me I've improved since I got here! HOW AWESOME IS THAT! I mean I totally don't think I have, but I'll take her word.


So Sunday was obviously a great day! Then of course, a week full of classes. Nothing too exciting happened in classes, except one of my professors, for Crítica Literaria, didn't show ALL week. We found out it was because he was sick, but still, it's SO weird how different it is here! No e-mails from professors, none of that professional stuff to say no class..just no shows. But whatevs, it worked for me! I felt like I had a lot of work this week, though. I had to finish reading/sparknoting the Odyssey, which I did try to read the Spanish version or at least skim it so that did take me a while, and this week (yesterday) I started visiting bars for my journalism project! So it was a pretty busy week, and it's nice to have the weekend. We're going to Granada tomorrow which I'm SO excited about! I don't really know a ton about Granada, but like I said, I just love visiting new places and seeing all the new stuff there! So, since I've got to wake up at 7AM to be ready to catch the bus at 8:30, I should probably get some shut eye!

PS - Just before I go, gotta say one thing you'll love. The other day, my host mom, Maribel and I, TOTALLY BONDED OVER SWEATPANTS! She is JUST like me. Sweats all the time! We were talking about it because she was telling me that day she never changed out of her pajamas! And I said I LOVE that and that's the perfect day! She agreed and we bonded about it forever. SWEATS FOR LIFE! Gah, I just loved it so much. I really love my host mom, and my dad too! I think I got a great family! Maribel is so great, cooks WONDERFUL FOOD, always asking if I ever need anything, always helps me out, and my dad is always asking me about how my day is and how things are going! He also loves telling me about what's on TV! So great. They're a great family and I'm so blessed!

You can tell I'm tired because I'm just rambling. Woops. Alright, well, time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow, GRANADA! I'll be sure to blog soon after! Thanks for reading.
Buenas noches,
Katie




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