Portugal -- Disfrutando de la Vida

Oh my gosh. Alright, so this is going to be 83948092384 years long I can already tell you that right now. So I'll just get right into things. As you all know, last Thursday, I left the country for the first time in 3 1/2 months! Didn't go far, stayed on the Iberian Peninsula, but I WENT TO PORTUGAL!!!!! YESSSSS! It was awesome. Now, there are some kids here I will admit who are just like FULL of cash and travel almost every weekend to different countries and cities, etc. Me, yeah not so much. I'm just happy to be here! But ANYWAY, PORTUGAL WAS GREAT.

So we took an overnight bus last Thursday night from Sevilla to Lisbon. Don't even begin to wonder who "we" is. If you have to wonder, you are not a faithful follower. ANYWAY, glad we cleared that up! :) So we considered ourselves BRILLIANT at first because taking the bus at midnight meant:

A. We didn't have to pay for a hostel overnight and

B. We could sleep the whole way there.

Well, we quickly realized we weren't so brilliant when:

A. The hostel check in time wasn't until 3pm and we arrived at 8:30am. HM. and

B. The bus was so uncomfortable none of us got much sleep.

BUT, we made it to Lisbon. So, we got there around 8am Sevilla time, but 7am Lisbon time, because they are an hour behind us! Other problem we faced: Katie forgot to print directions from the bus station to the hostel! Oooooopsie! Rookie traveller, right? Gah. But it provided for an interesting way of getting there. Luckily, Ky had her iPod, so we stood on a random street corner, found wireless to buy for the day, and used google maps to get directions. Of course, we thought we'd be all set to get there with the directions, but after a good 45 minutes of walking with all our bags and still not finding what said would be a 23 minute walk, we decided to just taxi it out. So we EVENTUALLY got to Unreal Hostel by around 8:30, and like I said, we couldn't check in until 3. So, we at least dropped all of our stuff off, and then set out to waste time for the day. So, first we found a place to get some breakfast, and then set out to get the good stuff: Starbucks clearly. (Dunks I love you, if you were in Portugal you know I'd say that about you :) But we will reunite in 36 days, don't worry. ) Anyway, so we parked it in Starbucks for a good 3-4 hours. Coffee, laptops, friends, all you really need anyway. So that was our morning. Best part also was that Starbucks was WAY cheaper in Portugal. Way to be, Spain. Pretty much got a size larger for what I'd normally pay for a small here. MEHH!! Also, realized pretty quickly how bad I am at understanding Portuguese! I thought maybe the fact that it was SIMILAR in ways to Spanish would help me out and I'd be fine...yeah nope. I could READ it fine and usually get what it was trying to say, but when it is spoken, NO way.

Anyway, so after Starbucks when we could FINALLY check into our hostel, we went back and moved all our stuff in and everything and finally relaxed! Our next problem became the rain. We couldn't really go anywhere or see anything because all of a sudden around 5 I want to say it just started DOWNPOURING! Yeah, Portugal wasn't about to give us a dream vacation that was for sure! So Adrienne and I sat inside and played cards for a while, which was TOTALLY fine by me and super fun, and Ky took a nap! When the rain eventually stopped, we set out to a mall area, walked around, checked some stores out, and eventually got dinner at a DELICIOUSLY AMAZING salad place called "VITAMINAS". Believe me, SO good.

A few important things to note from our shopping/dining excursion! First of all, we went into the Nike store, because Ky works for Nike so she's ALL about it, but we went in, and were in love with everything OBVIOUSLY, but I found this T-shirt and couldn't be more obsessed. I know you can find it in the US, but like still, it just is SO true and I loved it so much.

It's just like, everyone knows its true but no one admits it. I just die laughing thinking of seeing someone running down the street with this on. BAHA!

And other thing. This is the view from the BATHROOM window of the mall. HOW SICK IS THAT? Who needs a nice view from the bathroom? Doesn't matter, Lisbon will give it to you!

So anyway, after we got back, we ended up hanging out with our roommates from our hostel. There were 10 of us all in one room. We were just happy it was all girls. But anyway, they actually were all studying abroad in Spain too! In Granada. Yeah, been there done that! It was cool, though. So we all ended up hanging out in the room talking for a while, and eventually we all went out and got dessert together! It was a pretty fun night. Of course, the Portuguese-English thing got a little in the way when I tried to order milk to go with my cookie. First I get a cup of coffee. Nope. When I try to ask for MILK without coffee, he comes back with a hot cup of milk. Gah. Thanks Portugal. Milk is milk I guess, and I mean it did taste good with the cookie, BUT ALL I WANTED WAS A COLD GLASS OF MILK!!

Anyway, the next day, we woke up and headed to Sintra! Okay, I basically can't explain Sintra too well. Umm, pretty much cutest town ever about a half hour outside of Lisbon? Sounds good. So we took a train there. Don't think we didn't stop at Starbucks on the way, because the hostel coffee they had was basically melted cardboard. YUCK!

ANYWAY, so we got to Sintra, and saw tons of cool things around the village. Our two spots we loved were Palacio de Pena, an old palace, and Castillo de los Moros, aka Moorish Castle. Not entirely sure why Moorish ruins and I have become best friends in Europe, but we'll go with it. TAKE A LOOK AT THESE GREAT PICS! They can do more speaking than I can, clearly.

So pretty much we spent the entire day there, going from castle to castle, taking pictures and having a complete blast!

Palacio de Pena

GREAT hair.

Guard?

Ky and Katie.. HEY ADRIENNE!

SUCH A PALACE

Walking up the old castle and loving life clearly!

YEAH THATS RIGHT!

Clearly, our famous "We are the WORLD" picture, HAD to happen.

Just awesome.

So, after that, we took the train back to Lisbon and hit up our favorite mall/salad place again for dinner. It was so great, the lady even remembered us and knew our orders! Extra veggies for me please! :) It was great. Totally long day out, but it was SO much fun! But, the best part was, the FUN DIDN'T STOP IN LISBON.

PORTUGAL PART TWO: NEXT STOP: LAGOS!!!!!

Alright, so Lagos. Aka, the best part of Portugal EVER. So, we took the bus out around 10:30, so we ended up getting to Lagos by like 2pm! Rather than having the hassle like we had the first time, we decided to just quit while we were ahead and get a taxi to take us to our hostel, Casa Amarela. When we got there, we got the SURPRISE OF OUR LIVES! Basically here's what happened. When you book the hostel, you can request to get an apartment if one is available at the time, and you won't pay any more. So, we requested one OBVIOUSLY. But we had never heard back from them, so we figured whatevs, a hostel is a hostel, right? Wrong. The lady, Helena, was THRILLED to see us when we got there, and said "I have a surprise for you!" What was her surprise? AN APARTMENT TO OURSELVES!!!!!!! Complete with a swimming pool, kitchen, dining room-ish, bedroom, bathroom, ALL THE WORKS!

So, needless to say, we were pretty THRILLED!!!! So after a good 10 minutes of dancing around and taking pictures of our home for the next two nights, we set out to grab some lunch and explore a little bit of Lagos! We found a cute spot to eat at right in the city center, and ate outside.

Lunch was great, we all had fun and were all I think in good moods because we were just so excited about our apartment. After lunch, we bought a BUNCH of groceries because we were so thrilled to be able to cook for ourselves! The problem came, however, when we got home. This exactly what happened. So, we get home, throw down all the groceries on the kitchen table and organize it all because we wanted to take photos of it, but naturally, we needed some light for our photos. Go to turn the light on, doesn't come on. Adrienne reassured us that when Helena showed us the apartment, the lights took a little while to turn on. Oh, okay, great. Perfect. We'll just wait. After a solid ten minutes go by, and we realize nothing will turn on, we realize we have NO POWER. SWEEET. We frantically opened up some fuse boxes and tried to hit a couple buttons, but nothing worked. We found a fuse box in the hallway that we switched on, which turned the hall lights on, but things only got worse from there. All I remember was standing in the hall and the hall lights went off, and I see Ky standing by the fuse box. Adrienne yells over, "Hey Ky, can you turn the hall lights back on for a sec?" I look over to Ky, who looks at me, and starts laughing. "Uhhhh, funny story...." What did Ky do? Found a big red button on the fuse box and PRESSED IT. YOU NEVER PRESS THE BIG RED BUTTON! Gah, has she not seen EVERY MOVIE EVER? THE BIG RED BUTTON IS NEVER GOOD! So needless to say, we had zero lights. So we set out to Helena's house, which was close to our apartment, to figure out the situation.

Funny story about THAT, was that Helena wasn't home. Alright. Great. Let's call. Adrienne's phone wasn't working. As soon as I went to call her on mine, my battery died. Ky's phone is just messed. So, we had to find a bar that had WiFi to be able to call her using SKYPE from Adrienne's iPod. Seriously, it was intense.

When we finally did get ahold of her, she was on her way to Lisbon. GREAT. Perfect. So her daughter eventually called us and we figured out how to get power back, and eventually got the lights back on. But I'd say we were home for a good hour without power. But seriously, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while. We had been SO thrilled, thought we were on top of the world with this grand apartment....and then we get coned. Sweet, thanks Lagos.

So when we finally did get power back, we made ourselves coffee and just hung out in our apartment and played cards! It was raining out, so we didn't really get to do a lot outside but that was FINE by us! So after a great afternoon of laughing, playing cards, and just enjoying each other's company, we made ourselves a nice family dinner! Nothing too exciting, just pasta, but it was great and so much fun to be able to cook our own food and have a cute dinner together! And we even set the table. Gah, it was love.

So that was pretty much our night. We just spent it laughing and hanging out after that, it was GREAT! A good old fashioned sleepover at it's best!

So the next morning we woke up and made ourselves the most WONDERFUL omelets! (Not THE most wonderful, don't worry Dad, yours are still the BEST!) But ours were pretty GREAT!

After breakfast and coffee, we set out and walked around the town! It wasn't huge at all, so cute and small, but still definitely enough to walk around in and have a good time. We ended up going into a bunch of the little shops.

Bought a few souvenirs for a few special people, and you all know my obsession with headbands right? Obviously. So, I was PUMPED to find similar ones in Portugal, and we all bought some, and were definitely in LOVE! 3 euro, can't go wrong. And we can all match, SO CUTE RIGHT!

Anyway, so then we did some good old fashioned GROCERY SHOPPING, and bought the rest of the stuff we needed for the night and next day at our humble home! Gah, it was great and so much fun. So we went home, made lunch, had a little picnic outside on our patio, and then did some more coffee and cards! Gah, so fun. This seriously felt like a real vacation. So great.

Sadly, Adrienne started feeling a little sick after that. So, she stayed in bed for a bit, had to rest up, while Ky and I went and basically had our own beach photo shoot, which was great. We took tons of pictures and just hung out near the water as the sun set. It was seriously gorgeous and so much fun. Some hilarious moments too, like when the boats would go by and people would yell for us to "Swim!" to come to them, or when we tried about 2934 times to get someone to get a picture of us hugging a palm tree and every time the person somehow failed. Gah, gotta love life. But, we did manage to at least get a FEW good photos in! :)

Our favorite part of this excursion though, was one of the women who took our picture. Apparently, she's from Italy but lived in Barcelona for a long time. Basically she's living the Eat, Pray, Love life right now. She left everything in Barcelona -- ex-boyfriend, all her stuff, her life, etc. And is now exploring the world, I guess starting with Lagos? Interesting. Anyway, here was the advice she gave us:

"Disfruta de la vida; Life is one day." Apparently it's a pretty popular Spanish saying or something? But she was pretty serious about it and really wanted to make sure we got it. It was so funny and great at the same time. Here's this random woman in Lagos who left her life behind and is giving two 20-year-olds advice on life. I felt like I was in a movie. It was great. Kind of miss her now - hope her life's going great! But I mean, it's a great life lesson. Tomorrow never comes, and yesterday's over, so we gotta enjoy today!

I had to snap a picture of her as she walked away against the sunset. It was just too perfect to pass up.

So after that lovely time, Ky and I headed back to the apartment and cooked THE BEST DINNER IN THE WORLD!!!!!! It was great. Now, her and I are both obsessed with veggies, so we made pasta (that we totally didn't care about) AND THE BEST COOKED VEGGIES EVER! We were LOVING our lives. Everything you can imagine; broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, peppers, you name it! SO good.

BAH LOVELOVELOVELOVE

PRO CHEFS!

So we made a delicious dinner, pasta, bread, veggies, and enjoyed it together. It was so much fun. Adrienne couldn't really taste much of it, cause she was unfortunately sick, but she loved it I'm sure! :) So that was kind of our night, and we of course followed dinner up with some ice cream we bought at the store that day too! So great. It was seriously just all so perfect. So we went to bed, and got up the next day, did some things around the house, and then headed off for our 6 hour bus ride back to Sevilla! Again, bus ride, not fun. Obviously. But I was glad to be back in Sevilla eventually! But seriously, I had SO much fun on this trip. It was a nice break from other trips we went on because it was more calm and relaxed. We weren't rushing around trying to see 29348209348 sights in 2 days, we just relaxed, went at our own pace, and most of all enjoyed each other's company! BEST EVER.

Gotta tell this one story before I close this -- alright, so I get back and I unpack, right? (Also funny story -- left a towel at the hostel. Oops!) Anyway, so I unpacked everything, and didn't realize but didn't shut my top droor. Anyway, later on in the night, my host sister's two year old, Pablo, is in my room playing with me. He sees my top droor, looks at me, points to it, "TU LO HAS HECHO MAL!" Aka, he told me I did a bad job shutting my droor. Great. I just love that a two year old is telling me how messy I am. My host mom died laughing, and so did I. Gah, love my life. Even gotta say, right now I'm looking at it, it's not shut. Shoot. When will I learnnnn?!

So, now I'm back in Sevilla and just doing a ton of homework and also enjoying La Feria, which I will get into in my next blog! Right now, a little too tired, and I'm pretty sure you have enough to read. :) So I'll leave it at that. Basically, LOVED Portugal trip (mostly Lagos), blessed to have GREAT friends, now ready to enjoy the rest of my time in SEVILLA!

35 more days. Excited but also wondering where the HECK time went. Seriously. Don't get it. Alright, too late at night to ponder the mysteries of life. I'll write more when I can! Hope you had as much fun reading this as I did when I was there! (Doubtful, though. ;) )

Hasta luego!

One vacation, down, on to the next!

Alright, well, Semana Santa was GREAT! So much to say about it, which I will, obviously! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am now on my SECOND spring break, haha. La Feria! This year was weird I guess because usually Semana Santa and Feria have two weeks of school in between them, but this year because of when Easter was it was different! So we literally had Semana Santa, four days of school, and now we're already on break for la Feria! Don't understand it at all, but I'll take it!

So, Semana Santa. AKA SEMANA JAM PACKED WITH PEOPLE IN EL CENTRO CAN'T MOVE ANYWHERE PEOPLE SHOVING PUSHING ALL TO SEE THE PASOS! Okay seriously there were SO many people it was insane! Okay, so here's how it went. Adrienne and I went out Sunday afternoon to watch some pasos, right? So, I was ready to leave my house around 3ish after lunch. It was a pretty hot day so, like normal, I put on my T-shirt and athletic shorts, slip on my adidas sandals and we're good to go, right? Yeah, wrong. I go to open my door to leave the house, and my señora stops me. "Oh, but your going in those clothes? To see a paso? You don't have better clothes?" Yeahhh, that was pretty rough. Don't get the wrong idea, Maribel is the most wonderful woman in the world and I'm obsessed with her, so she wasn't at all being mean, more just looking out for my own good. Pretty much she just told me that people here dress up a lot for these kind of things, so I better dress up. It's funny too because after I agreed to change we bonded over the fact that we both love sweats and would rather be comfortable than anything else. Loved it. So glad CIEE placed me with my soulmate. (Right now I'm actually listening to her yell at the television during her favorite game show, Pasapalabra. Another reason we're soulmates - can't count how many times I scream out the answers to Wheel of Fortune during dinner. Gah, gotta love.) Anyway, so needless to say, I changed and then met Adrienne to head out for El Centro! Like I said, madness. Tons of people. All the time. We didn't really have to go out looking for the processions, we kind of just ended up running into them, which was fine by us! So pretty much they were all very similar -- "Nazarenos", pasos of Jesus and Mary, and a band! But they were really cool!

So side note, if you are unaware, the pasos are carried by PEOPLE. 50-70 people are underneath those things carrying them, for the entire day/night. Insane. My host dad told me there is like a waiting list and people like, sign up and like TRAIN for it! I mean, I guess you have to. But they like crouch down and carry it using their like hands and backs -- I mean I don't even know, but its crazy. I saw the neck of one person who carries, and there was a HUGE lump! It's so insane, but so cool. I like how dedicated they are to their traditions and their faith and stuff here -- it's pretty inspiring!

So, anyway, that was Sunday. And afterward, Adrienne and I decided some river time was needed just to escape the crowds a bit. The river was much less crowded, but look, this is even the bridge I take to walk home and this was EXTREMELY packed! Basically when I got home, all I said to my host family when they asked what I thought was "MUCHA GENTE." They were in agreement.

As if Sunday didn't Semana Santa me out, I saw more pasos on Monday! Why? Good 'ol host bro Jorge was in one! Yeah so the fam was pretty much all over it all day. Maribel was up early freaking out, fixing Jorge's .. costume? clothes? Not sure what you'd call it, but she was doing it. Nuria came over with her baby early to eat! Host dad was getting all excited. Everyone freaking out, even me, making sure I WEAR THE RIGHT CLOTHES THIS TIME. Everyone that is, except for Jorge. His procession leaves at 3 from his church. Jorge rolls downstairs around 2 to eat lunch, and is slow-paced, not really worried about it. When I asked him if he was ready, his words were, "No estoy preparado" as he smiled back at me. I mean, the guy has to walk from 3pm until PAST midnight! How would you be ready? But he didn't seem too concerned, and eventually left the house in costume, without too much time to spare.

So around 3, the rest of the fam and I walked up the street to watch the paso, which was really great! Nuria's baby, Pablo, who actually really isn't a baby, he's two. But saying Nuria's toddler sounds weird. Come on. Okay, so he was dressed as a Nazareno too, so cute! And he had a bunch of candy to give out! It was so fun, and we eventually saw Jorge pass by!

So that was great. And while we watched the rest of the procession, my host dad was teaching me all about it! Pretty much all that I already wrote to you, but here are some more pictures!

And then I even got to meet my host mom's sister and her daughter-in-law Kristi, and her baby! It was great. Love the good 'ol family times! And Maribel was pretty excited to tell me that her name was Kristi because she knows of my wonderful sistahhh! :) Gotta LOVE. (Kristi and Maribel met on Skype one night during Semana Santa too -- gotta add that. Hilarious. Kristi understood nothing of what Maribel said, but Maribel did blow her a kiss, so cute!) Okay, so anyway, we just watched the pasos and then headed home, and Maribel made me some delicious coffee. Okay but here's the best part -- I DIDN'T EVEN ASK HER - she just WALKED into my room with it prepared. Gah, she knows me TOO well. How am I going to leave her!

Alright, so I spent the next couple days doing some homework and just relaxing by myself because Wednesday was going to be a BIG BIG DAY! Why, you ask? DMMMAAAAAAA!!!!! My grandma came to visit me and finally arrived on Wednesday afternoon! So, Dma had wrote me saying she was going to get here Wednesday, but wanted to meet up Thursday. Yeah, not so much. I couldn't let her arrive in Sevilla without a WONDERFUL GREETING! So I surprised her at her hotel!!! Things didn't go EXACTLY as I planned, because their bus got there early, and I had to talk to her tour guide to find out about where she was and stuff, who might I add thought at first that I was a pick-pocketer and was reluctant to talk to me until I told her who my grandma was! Thought that was pretty funny! Anyway, EVENTUALLY I found Dims and we were reunited at last!

So, we hung out Wednesday and caught up! I didn't stay for too long because her, her friend Joan who was along with her, and their tour group went to a Flamenco show! Pretty sure Dma's exact words were, "Yeah we gotta go see the flamingos or whatevah.." I died! So anyway, I went back Thursday afternoon and hung out for a while at her hotel, and then she took me downstairs to the farewell dinner they were having for their tour group! It was great, very good food and I liked meeting a lot of the people from her trip! From all around! Tons from Australia which was cool! So, then I stayed the night in the hotel which was great. Slept on the floor, but I totally didn't care. I just loved being with Dma :)

So friday we got up, had breakfast in the hotel, but we couldn't do too much or see too much because it was RAINING! Seriously, Sevilla. Don't understand it. We have had the NICEST weather for like weeks now, and now when it's Semana Santa it starts raining? Cool. They actually said it was the worst Semana Santa in over 80 years - because when it rains, none of the processions leave, so nothing happened thursday through saturday! And the people here get WICKED upset, there were tons of people crying on TV and stuff. I mean I guess if I couldn't do an easter egg hunt every year I'd cry, so I see their pain.

Anyway, so Dims and I didn't do much for the morning, but in the afternoon we went over and she met my host family! It was SO great and SO much fun! Literally I played translator for a good two hours, but it was so fun and really great practice for me I suppose!! But it was great, we had coffee, talked, it was awesome! Dma was fascinated with everything about Semana Santa so she kept talking to them (through me) about that! Maribel even gave her some pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus and a charm for her bracelet of Jorge's brotherhood! SO cute. Gah, but it was a great time! They all got along well, and on the way home, Dims couldn't stop saying how happy she is that I got such a great family, and I am completely in agreement. :) That night, Dma, Joan and I went out to a restaurant close to the hotel, called San Marco. Huge restaurant, and DELICIOUS! I got salmon and spinach in a mushroom sauce, side of vegetables! SO good. Dims and Joan loved too. This was Dma's quote as we left -- "Yeah I liked that place better than all those TAPO places or whatevah!" Guess she's not a fan of the tapAS. Haha, LOVE HER!

Saturday, Dma took me to Córdoba for the day! It's about an hour and a half from Sevilla, and we went by bus around 9am, and we had a tour of the Alcazares, the Jewish Quarter, and the Mosque-turned-Cathedral! It was all really cool and really interesting! Not going to explain -- pictures can do it better than my words.

The rain came towards the VERY end of our visit, but we were prepared!

We left around 4 for Sevilla, and then when we got back, Dims and I hit up the same delicious restaurant again. And I had the same meal. No big deal. Those who know me know that this is how I am. Find something good, ya STICK TO IT! Anyway, so that was great! Easter Sunday was AWESOME! We got up, had a nice breakfast in the hotel, and then went to mass at the cathedral. 3rd largest in the world -- it was PRETTY COOL! Dma was raving about hearing the organ with 7,000 pipes, and she was thrilled to be able to hear it sometimes during mass! Oh, but we TOTALLY didn't go to mass alone! We met up with KY and her dad who was ALSO visiting and all went to mass together! Of course we had a little photo shoot afterwards!

Outside!

Open those eyes Dims!

And then we all went out to lunch at a place pretty close to the cathedral! It was really fun and everyone got along SO well and it was wonderful!

So after that, we walked around a bit. If anyone knows my grandmother, she's a shopper. So she didn't waste any time after lunch - hit almost every tourist shop she could find! I think she got some good stuff to bring back home, and Joan did too, so that's good! They can always remember where I live! This beautiful city. :) So after that, we went back to the hotel and I just kind of hung out with them for the night. She was leaving early Monday morning, so I had to say goodbye to her that night. I won't lie, I cried. It was just SO great having her here and I'm going to miss her a ton! But seriously, I just need to say she is an AMAZING grandma for coming here. 80 years old and she's visiting me in Spain. THAT.IS.AWESOME! Thanks Dims, you're the best.

So Monday began another week! Nothing really out of the ordinary - just an extremely quick week at school, and now I'm already on another break. Yesterday, though, was great! My communications class got to go to Canal Sur Radio, the radio station in Sevilla! Of course, I freaked out and was loving life the ENTIRE time! It was SICK! Got to meet some radio personalities, see people in action, and just tour the studio! AWESOME.

Our guide, Dani, even said that if we want to, we might even be able to tour the TV station! I JUMPED UP AND TOLD HIM I TOTALLY WANT TO! So I'm hoping that will happen! But anyway, like I said, pretty normal week. Oh, but wait, gotta say. Tuesday was one of the greatest mornings of my life. Why? Well, after coming home from my morning walk, I get back to Maribel saying "You have a surprise!" Now, I won't lie. I pictured Kristi standing in my room, but obviously I knew that wasn't real. BUT, I did get a package of BAKED GOODS FROM HOME THAT I WAS SO HAPPY ABOUT AND WILL ADMIT THAT I HAVE BEEN ENJOYING EVER SINCE! THANKS MOM, LOVE YOU MORE THAN LIFE!!!!!!!!

I also have to say this because I about died in my class today. I have NO idea how this was related at all, but basically my professor was mad because people skip class too much (this is the one who didn't show for a week -- weird?) anyway, and these are today's life lessons he told us, all in the midst of a 25 minute lecture on coming to class.

1. You have to lie in life.

2. Imagination is important.

3. You have to be a hypocrite to survive.

4. You have to attend class 80% of the semester.

Hahahahahah! DO NOT ask me how it relates, DO NOT ask me his reasoning. This was really said. Ah, gotta love these classes at the Spanish university. I'm going to come home with SOME INTERESTING KNOWLEDGE!

Anyway, so Feria vacation began today! Feria is like a big fair and festival week, so that should be fun! But for now, I'm on my way to PORTUGAL! We're taking the midnight bus to Lisbon, staying there two nights, and then from there going to Lagos until Tuesday! I'm SO excited. Gah, just two hours away! And then we'll come back here and enjoy the rest of Feria! But for now, I'm Portugal-bound and I absolutely can't wait! Can't speak Portuguese, going to die in confusion, but it's fine. Just get me to the city and then the beach -- works for me!

But before I go, one last thing. NEED TO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND MATT SLIPP! He's 21. Wish I was with him, but I'm there in spirit! Love you and miss you Matt, Will and Grace always!

Okay, really going now. TIME IS TICKING, GOTTA GET SET FOR PORTUGALLLLLL!!!

HASTA LUEGO!

3 Months Later..

Alright, so I know it's been a little bit, but I finally have time to write because I'm finally on my first of two spring breaks -- Semana Santa of course! (Aka, Holy Week). I'm excited to have the week off and I'm excited about seeing all of the processions and the stuff that goes on here during Holy week -- only thing I'm not so excited about is the MADNESS that I hear comes with it. I mean, legit, they have been setting up railings and chairs all over El Centro for like a week or so now. I just can't imagine the amount of people that are going to be in the streets watching processions. Going to be insane. Whenever I ask someone from here, or my host mom or something about it, they warn me that it's going to be pretty rough, but worth seeing. I mean, obviously they are used to it so they're pretty much OVER IT, so hopefully to me because it's something new it will be EXCITING and GREAT! :) That's the attitude I'm going to take to it anyway.

PS - It's been exactly three months today since I left the good 'ol US of A! Less than two to go, can't believe it. Weirdest feeling. Feel like I just left but also feel like it's been forever. GAH TIME IS SO CONFUSING NEVER WILL UNDERSTANNDD!

So there really hasn't been too much going on here other than that. Last weekend was pretty mellow, let me remember what happened. On Friday, Adrienne and I decided that we wanted to check out a park! There are like 5 parks in Sevilla, so we decided before we leave we're going to make it our goal to visit all five. Well, last weekend we made it to two, so that was solid. On friday we took the bus to Parque Alamillo, which is PRETTY far from where we live, but it was really beautiful! Walking through the park we came across a random Flea Market, with food, clothes, ALL KINDS of stuff being sold! So random but so cool at the same time. So anyway, we found a nice spot by the water and hung out there for the afternoon. After that, we got on the bus and headed to a bar, Flaherty's, because they were playing the opening game of the Red Sox and the Yankees! Adrienne is a HUGE Yanks fan, so she was pretty pumped to do that! I mean, I love my Sox but not like I would die if I didn't see the game! But it was fun, we didn't see it all, but we were there for a bit and it felt good to be watching some good old American baseball!








The next day, we decided it was time to hit up park number two! So we went to Parque María Luisa, which is near Plaza de España, which I posted pictures of WAAAAAAY in the past! But you better remember because it's probably the most gorgeous thing ever. But anyway, the park was pretty nice too! A lot more touristy than the first one, obviously because it's by all the tourist spots! But it was still nice to sit there, relax, and chat it up for the afternoon. After that, it was still nice out, so we hit up Starbucks and sat outside for a bit! It's so weird the weather here, if it's sunny, it will stay pretty legitimately sunny and hot until like 8pm! It's AWESOME but SO WEIRD AT THE SAME TIME! I swear, 4 o'clock here feels like when it's noon at home! Can't get over it.


Sunday was a GREAT DAY! Why? Well, remember my last post about our last hike through the treacherous rain? Yeah, well, Sunday we went hiking again and it TOTALLY MADE UP FOR IT! It was sunny and beautiful, and we went hiking with CIEE again! I'm so bad at remembering what the names of all of these places are, but we ended up in a town called Aracena? It was about a four-five hour long hike I want to say. Of course, stopped for lunch halfway! This hike was pretty intense though, lots of uphill climbing, and definitely some rough terrain we had to cross! But it was really a great day, MUCH better than my last hiking experience! Haha, but I guess the fact that they are all different makes it that much more fun! We probably got home around 5ish, so I came home and made myself a nice cup of coffee :) Delicious, but I can't wait until I'm home and can look forward to actual coffee, instead of pretending that I love instant coffee. DUNKS I NEED YOU.


SO HOT.



So this week went by pretty fast. Not too many exciting things went down -- just a pretty normal week at school. Nothing too much to say about it, classes normal, everything the same. I'm happy its over though because now it's time FOR SEMANA SANTA, like I said before!

This week is going to be pretty crazy. Not only because it's Semana Santa, but also because DMA IS COMINGGGGGGG! Well, correction. She's actually already in Spain. Her and her friend Joan are taking a trip around Spain currently, and they end in Seville on the 20th and will be here for 5 days! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! We'll see Seville, hit up great places, ah, just too excited. I think I might cry at seeing a familiar face. Everyone here that I tell about her coming is so impressed. "Katie, is your family visiting?" "No, BUT MY GRANDMA IS!" Haha, it's awesome! You're the best Dma!

Anyway, so until then I'm just going to keep myself busy. Today is the official start of Semana Santa, so this afternoon Adrienne and I are going to watch some processions! I'm excited. We saw what they carry yesterday in a church. CHECK IT!

Jesucrísto


La Virgen

Then I think Monday my host brother Jorge will be in a procession, so I want to see that! And I'm also going to try to BUST OUT some homework so that when Dma is here I will be FREEE TO JUST HANG OUT ALL THE TIME! Ah, just so excited.

Well, I know this one hasn't been too thrilling, but don't worry. MANY THINGS HAVE YET TO HAPPEN IN SEVILLA! Starting today. I will update soon!
Hasta luego,
Katie


PS - just have to say it. 54 days until home. Love you Sevilla, but home, I miss you too.

The SUN HAS HIT SEVILLA .. and unfortunately, me.

Ah, alright, so I completely fail. I realize it's been like, over two weeks since I've written on this thing, and I know I need to step up my game! I mean, I know you all aren't hanging on to every word I say, but still, I like to keep you informed of COURSE!

Alright, so let me think, last time I've posted was Barcelona. So I'll start with last weekend! Well, as you know, thursday was when I got my camera so that was a BEAUTIFUL day of course! But speaking of beautiful days, I need to say that the weather here is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Sun has been out almost every single day, and it's hit the 80s some days!

So last weekend, we did all we could to stay in the sun all the time! Friday, I had to run earlier of course because I DEFINITELY didn't want to run when it was scorchingly hot! So I ran in the morning, had lunch with the family of course, and then Adrienne and I went and "did homework" by the river. Pretty sure I didn't open a book, but that's fine. So we talked and hung out in the sun, and then after that went and walked around El Centro and did some shopping. The only thing I bought was candy from CANDYWORLD! Haha, never did I think I would like licorice, but they have this kind with like sugar in the middle that I'm somewhat obsessed with. We were both just loving being in Candy World. Hahah, and Adrienne also bought a BEACH BAG BECAUSE SATURDAY WE HIT THE BEACHHHH!

Alright, back story. So for those of you who don't know, I have a second cousin studying here too! Kelly is my age, and she's my dad's cousin, Lisa's daughter. I've met Lisa and some of that side of the family before, and I'm obsessed with them, but I'd never actually met Kelly before! So, kind of weird that it took us both going halfway across the world to meet, but it's fine. So anyway, we'd been wanting to get together, and Saturday looked like a nice day, so we decided to go to the beach! She brought her friend and I brought Adrienne, and it was a pretty fun day!

We left on the 9:30AM bus to go to Isla Canela, which is in Ayamonte. We got there around 12:30, and the beach was pretty dead! But that was fine, more room for us! So we layed out our towels and just hung out on the beach for a while! It was great to be on the beach in MARCH, the only thing was that the sand and wind combination wasn't so much fun for us, as sand was continually blowing all over us, but it was fine! It was a really pretty beach too.

After our time on the beach, we got up, and walked around the town a little. It wasn't much of a town, because we had taken a bus from Ayamonte to the island, so there was more in Ayamonte, which we walked around after! But Isla Canela had amazing beachside apartment buildings that we were all dying to live in. So after we got back to Ayamonte, it was around 6, and the bus home didn't leave until 7:30, so we walked around, they got some ice cream, I got coffee (we all know me, the addict) and then just hung out until the bus left! It was a really fun day and I'm so happy I got to spend time with Kelly and I'm hoping before she leaves we'll hang out more! She leaves mid-may. I'll be stickin' around til JUNE!

So Sunday was again another nice day, and I can't remember too much of what I did. I think I went to some bars an interviewed some bar owners for my project for journalism, which I'm starting to write now. We'll see how that one goes. Anyway, and after that Adrienne and I went and checked out a different church, Comunidad Cristiana. Every last Sunday of the month, they have an English speaking service. It was pretty interesting, the people there were all really nice. We sang songs that I knew and was happy about, and then the pastor gave his sermon. I mean, I wasn't obsessed, and I can't say how much I'll go back, but it was good to experience and nice to have something be in English for a change!

So that was Sunday, and then last week went by really fast! Not sure if anything extremely exciting happened during the week. I did have my first experience watching theater here, because my class had to go watch a play in the Lope de Vega theater called "Amor en Tiempos Revueltos". It was interesting, but definitely hard to pay attention and follow when it was all in Spanish! I thought the theater was gorgeous though and I was glad to have the opportunity to go see a play! I miss my acting days ;)

Anyway, that was on Wednesday night after class! And then I had one class thursday, and the weekend began! This weekend was AWESOME - but definitely had its ups and downs. Haha, you'll see what I mean. So we had heard that friday was going to be in the 80s here, so naturally, Adrienne and I hit up the BEACH! We went to a different beach this time, though. This one is a lot closer, Matalascañas. It was only an hour away! So we took the bus, and got there around 11AM! The SUN WAS BRIGHT AND SHINING. One problem, Katie didn't have sunblock. Now, it's not that I DELIBERATELY left sunscreen out of my bag, I didn't have any to begin with and figured there would be a store on the beach with some. Wrong-o.

But we got to the beach and it was gorgeous! There was a cool upside down tower type of thing in the water which was pretty awesome! Not something you see every day.

And by 1ish, the beach was FILLED with people, and it was really really hot! The water was of course cold, so I only got about up to my chest, and it was that feeling like when every time a wave hits you you lose your breath because it's so cold. But it was still nice to get in and feel refreshed! So we just hung out on the beach all day; had lunch, laid out, and I even read my book "In My Sister's Shoes". It's a book about one sister who gets cancer and her other sister has to come and help raise her kids while she does chemo. Very Raising Helen-like. I read 100 pages in total that day, so I was pretty proud! And anyone who knows me knows I am SO not a reader so this is a pretty SICK accomplishment.

So it was a great day, but of course, I was definitely coned by the sun. I probably have the worst sunburn I've ever had in my life. I know I should have brought sunscreen, but I guess Spain is just trying to teach me EVERY SINGLE LIFE LESSON I CAN EVER LEARN IN ONE SEMESTER! Jeesh. So needless to say I've had some rough sleeping nights, some bad headaches, and I have to refrain myself hardcore from itching. And Aloe Vera is my new best friend. But it will fade to a tan, right?

OOPS.

Anyway, so we got back from the beach around 7ish, and then met Ky in Starbucks to do some catching up. (Before I say anything more, I need to discuss my new obsession at Starbucks. So remember my first blog, when I criticized Starbucks for failing at iced coffee? I realized they actually can do it here. My new obsession is an iced café latte with an extra shot of espresso and soymilk! Ah, its perfection. Especially when it's so HOT!) So, I got that. But, Ky had been in Amsterdam all last weekend and I hadn't seen much of her last week, so it was so good for the three of us to hang out together again and just catch up! We walked around for a bit after, but I didn't make it too long because I was exhausted and my body ached. Needless to say, I got quite the lecture about using sunscreen from my host mom, she felt so bad that I got burned! And now every day she makes sure I'm putting aloe on. Gotta love ya Maribel!

Saturday, we decided to make "SEVILLA" day. We'd all been talking and we feel like we need to explore more of this lovely place we live, so we're starting to try to do weekly excursions just to places in Sevilla, because it's easy to forget that there are still things HERE to do!

So we went to the Real Alcazares, which is Moorish ruins. It was REALLY COOL! The palace and stuff was cool, but we had the most fun taking pictures in the gardens and going crazy. The great thing about the three of us is, we can go to a place that sounds like it will be deathly - like how many of you really got excited when I said Moorish ruins? That's what I thought - but the three of us still manage to have a great time!

LOVE THESE GIRLS!

We love DUCKS.

I have no idea what inspired this but it is greatness.

Walking with my people - DUCKSSS!

So that was that, we spent a while there, and then, went to Starbucks, yes, again, and did some homework and just talked for a while until it got dark. I then went home for dinner, and just hung out for the night, because the next morning Ky and I were getting up early to go...HIKING!!!!

So, yes, I've been on two hikes, and I loved them, and we were both so excited to go on this one! We left at 9AM to hit the trails!

Spain of course decided nothing can be easy for us. It rained.

So we were pretty much soaked from the time we stepped off the bus, until the time we got back to Sevilla. But it was still a fun hike! It was near Grazalema, the area I went to last time, but I think this trail was called el Pinsapar!

We did a lot of climbing, it was definitely more intense/more steep than the other ones I'd been on before, but we were up for the challenge and it was really fun, despite being soaking wet. There were a lot of pretty views, but I didn't want to take my NEW camera out too much, because I'm too attached to it to see it get wet or anything happen! But we did get a lot of good pictures between the two of us, and of course, more than anything, we had a ton of good laughs!

So we got back to Sevilla around 6, and I went straight to the shower and warmed up! (The bus ride back in soaking wet clothes really wasn't my favorite.) But once I showered, put on the UNH sweats from Kristi (LOVE YOU HUGAH) and Maribel brought me in a nice cup of hot coffee, I was all set! :)

So it was a pretty packed weekend, and I'm now exhausted but ready to start another week! I'm currently in between classes at the University, waiting on my Critica Literaria class to start. We only have two weeks left until Semana Santa, WHICH MEANS ONLY 16 DAYS UNTIL DMA COMES! So excited, can't even handle it!

So that's kind of where I'm at for right now. Just starting another week here, sunburned, and excited about the upcoming events! I'm pretty sure I'm over half way now, I counted and I think I have 66 days left here? WEIRDEST THING EVER. It feels like its been so long but so short at the same time! I can't get over it. Ah, alright, I'll stop thinking about the future. But I will say, once I see my FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND DUNKS AND EVERYONE IN TWO MONTHS, I AM GOING TO BE THE HAPPIEST PERSON ALIVE!

Until then though, gotta live it up here! Class in about twenty minutes, blah!

Un abrazo!

Katie