"firsts"

Since being in Sevilla, me and my lovely roommate Kayla have decided that we want to do something new every day... something that we´ve never done before. It has been really cool and now that I´ve been here almost a month, I´ve done lots of new things! Every day, I write down what "firsts" I had that day. Lots of them have now become normal, everyday activities, but there was a point in time when they were all new things! I won´t go into ALL of them, but here are a few:

1. I have gotten used to having a PAUSE in the middle of my day for approximately 2 or 3 hours. Everyone is at home, stores are closed, and it is a wonderful time to take a break or a nap.
2. I drink whole milk daily - warm! (not something I do at home). Along with that, I have had exactly the same thing for breakfast for about 26 days in a row, not counting when I was traveling to places besides Sevilla.
3. This morning I had to hold the hairdryer plug-in into the wall outlet while Kayla was drying her hair and she had to do the same for me. I can´t say I´ve ever done that before!
4. I now have, for the first time ever, a staightener with a name. Me and Kayla´s shared straightener is fondly known as Hannah Montana.
5. I walk about a mile to get to school. (or pretty much anywhere else I need to go, for that matter)
6. I am in a class with a total of 10 students. That is about half as many students as any other class I´ve taken, and it´s great!
7. My professor and the woman I live with both don´t know English. I´ve never experienced anything like that before. It makes for some interesting conversations...
8. I have now learned how to dodge people really well while I´m running. The big streets are pretty crowded, and the narrow streets are, well... narrow. Unless I run at 7 am, running pretty much always involves a lot of dodging.
9. I have never had a specified "laundry day" before coming here. Now Mondays are for clothes, and Wednesdays are for sheets! Also, my clothes dry on a clothesline on the roof. That´s new.
10. I took my nose ring out and let it close. No more nose ring!
11. For the first time in my life, I am living in a carpet-less and heat-less house. Needless to say, slippers are a necessity!
12. I have booked airplane tickets, hotels, and hostels on my own. Previously in my life, I relied on my parents for all that kind of stuff. Now I know how to do it myself!
13. Along with number 12, I have now stayed in a hostel for the first time ever and it was quite the experience...
14. On the way to school the other day, I got hit by a car for the first time in my life. Ok, so it was probably more like a nudge and hit my bag more so than me but it definitely counts.
15. I missed my family´s annual ski and snowboard trip. :(
16. I wrote a Valentine´s day card in Spanish.
17. This past Sunday I played two on two soccer in the park in shorts and a t-shirt. I have never done that before in the middle of February!
18. I went to a Catholic mass completely in Spanish.
19. I´ve seen SO many things for the first time since I´ve been here. Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, ruins in Cordoba, etc...
20. I have a BLOG!

Granada: all three parts!

Just so you know... I wrote about Granada in three separate posts. Make sure you read all of them if you want the full story! That's all. :)

Granada: Alhambra and the sun!

The Alhambra is the big attraction in Granada. We went on Saturday morning and walked around it for a few hours. I had been there once before (with my family) so I kind of knew what it was like.

            My favorite part of being at the Alhambra was simply the view of the city. Even though we had seen an amazing view the night before, I couldn’t get enough of just looking at it! It looked so surreal. I couldn’t get my mind around the fact that people actually live in those quaint little white houses.

            The weather on Saturday was just as perfect as on Friday, so once again we spent lots of time outside… getting some coffee in an outdoor café, exploring, shopping, having a picnic, and taking a siesta in the park. It was so nice to be in the sun and I’m pretty sure I got a tan!

Granada: flamenco

While in Granada, we got to see our first flamenco show. It was so interesting! Flamenco is a completely different style of music and dance from anything we’re used to in America. It is extremely passionate and you can see how emotionally involved the musicians and dancers are by simply watching their faces. I enjoyed watching and listening for the duration of the show, but I don’t think I could handle listening the flamenco all the time… it’s not exactly my style of music. 

Granada: mountains and sunset

            Granada is a city that I definitely want to visit again. I had an amazing time there last weekend! We took a bus from Sevilla on Friday morning and arrived in Granada on Friday afternoon. The bus ride itself was gorgeous… we went through cities of cute white houses and fields with rows and rows of olive trees. Three hours of looking out a bus window and listening to music were definitely more enjoyable than I had expected.

            We stayed in a hostel right in the middle of the city. It was my first experience staying in a hostel and I think it was pretty good as far as hostels go. There were a few issues: the lock on the door to our floor was broken so thieves could have easily broken in, it was freezing cold and our space heater only heated the six inches right around it, the cleanliness of the beds was questionable, the walls seemed about three inches thick so we could hear everything from the street and the adjacent room, and lastly the shower in the community bathroom flooded the floor so there was a permanent 2 inch deep puddle in there. Besides that, all was good.

            The weather in Granada was PERFECT. It was sunny all the time and perfect for exploring! We spent a lot of Friday just walking around the city. Later on, we started to make our way up a hill/mountain to watch the sunset. After a good 45 minute hike through a really cute residential area, we reached what is supposedly Bill Clinton’s favorite spot in the world. He’s a pretty smart guy; the place was amazing.

            We got there just in time to watch the sunset over the city. Pictures don’t give justice to the beauty that we saw. There were so many aspects to the view: the city, the mountains, the Alhambra, the sun, the sky… and when they were all combined it was breathtaking.  As we were sitting there, I felt SO content. I couldn’t think of anywhere else in the world that I would have rather been.

london at its best

            SUNDAY. I loved Sunday in London. First I will rewind quick back to Saturday night, though… One of Esther’s friends from church (who is also from India) came over with her husband and son (SO cute!) to show her pictures from her sister’s wedding. The wedding was a traditional Christian Indian wedding, and it was gorgeous. There were tons of flowers and they made it so pretty! It was really interesting to listen to Esther’s friend explain all the traditions that are a part wedding in India. Who knew I would learn about Indian culture while I was in London?

            Ok, now Sunday. We got to go to church with Esther on Sunday to one of the cutest little churches I’ve ever seen. Cranford Baptist Church had a congregation of about 20 people that day, but I think that was a pretty large number. (Esther said sometimes there are only 5 or 6 people there) Because of the very small size, it feels like a family. The people there were extremely warm and welcoming to us. I loved how well they all fit together despite the fact that they were all very different. There were several people (like Esther) from India, a woman and her daughter from Zimbabwe, and then a few caucasian English people. The oddness of their “family” reminded me of the “herd” in Ice Age of a mammoth, sloth, and tiger. Nerdy, I know… but I loved how they didn’t let any of their differences hinder them from really becoming close to one another.

            Another thing I loved about church was that it was in English! It was so nice to sit in a service and understand everything the pastor was saying. After church, we had to hurry off to our bus to head back to Sevilla. I realized once I was back that London seemed almost like a dream… I was back in reality when I was standing at a crowded, extremely smoky bus stop at the Sevilla airport for forty five minutes. (public transportation in Sevilla is not quite as efficient as it is in London!) It is good to be back though, now that I am actually “home” in my apartment again. 

            Today and yesterday have both been sunny, which has been so great! Everything is better here when the sun is shining. This weekend we are making plans to go to Granada, so now you can look forward to hearing about that! 

lovely london :)

            London was absolutely amazing! It is not really what I expected (although I’m not exactly sure what I did expect), and it was extra-perfect because of the fact that we experienced REAL English culture more so than just doing the “tourist” things.

            We flew in on Thursday evening and were immediately immersed in British accents. I loved it! We decided that the English language sounds so much more intelligent, proper, and polite when it is spoken with a British accent. We stayed in a hotel close to the airport we flew in to (which was northeast of downtown London) and then Friday morning we took a 2 hour bus ride to get to where we were staying for the next two nights (which was southwest of downtown London).

            The woman who we stayed with is a friend of Kayla’s family, and is one of the most hospitable women I’ve ever met. She is an 81 year old woman from India who comes up to about my shoulder. We weren’t expecting anything more than simply a place to stay from her, but she insisted on feeding us (tons of food! huge breakfasts in the morning and then for dinner PILES of pasta, etc…) whenever we were home. It was very convenient to get into town from her house, which was really nice.

 

            London’s public transportation is the best that I’ve seen anywhere. I know I’m not exactly an expert on this subject, but it’s cheaper, faster, and easier than any other transportation system I’ve used. I’m quite proud of how quickly we mastered using the buses and the “Tube”. Another reason I loved the public transportation was because it was such an interesting place to watch people. All sorts of people ride on those metros! A few times, I started talking to whoever was sitting or standing next to me. I had a couple of the best conversations I’ve ever had… and they were with complete strangers! I know I’ll probably never see those people again, but talking with them helped me to see how every individual has a story to tell… And each person’s story is no more or less important than anyone else’s.

 

            On Friday night, we went downtown to the Museum of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Picadilly Circus. The cathedral is MASSIVE. I felt so small standing next to it! There was a clock tower on one side, and being the dumb tourists that we were, we thought it was Big Ben at first. We were really excited for a minute until we realized it was most definitely NOT Big Ben. Picadilly Circus was really cool to see at night. It was all lit up and there were tons of people. I felt like I was in New York City! We strolled through Chinatown as well, which was really fun. There were all sorts of fun decorations hanging above the streets and it smelled like delicious Chinese food everywhere.

 

            Saturday was our huge sightseeing day. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace, where we (kind of) watched the changing of the guards. There were TONS of people there, so it was hard to see. But honestly, we didn’t really know the significance of changing the guards anyways so we just enjoyed the sun and taking pictures of fences and the back of people’s heads. J

 

            Next we walked over to Big Ben (the real one), the House of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. They were all so beautiful! We didn’t stay long because it was pretty chilly outside, but it was an amazing feeling to just be standing in the midst of all those famous landmarks. The British Museum was our next stop, and that was really cool. It is the biggest museum in the world! We found out how big it was very quickly since it took me and Kayla at least forty minutes just to find the section we wanted to look through. 

After the musuem, we went to the Millenium bridge. (there is a picture of me and Kayla in front of it) It crosses the Thames River between St. Pual's Cathedral and the Tate Museum of Modern Art. The view was so, so beautiful. We came to it at the perfect time because we got to see it in the daylight, and then after we walked through the Tate we got to see it again at night. From the bridge we could see the London bridge and the London eye in the distance. The Tate Modern was very cool as well. Art museums are not necessarily up my alley, but I really enjoyed it!

Overall, I would say that going to London was definitely worth the trip. I do have more to say about it but right now I'm getting a call on Skype from a very special friend. The rest will come later! (soon!)

cumpleanos feliz!

I just want to say "Happy Birthday" to my most faithful blog reader!! Dad, I hope you had a really wonderful birthday and I'm sorry I wasn't there to celebrate with you. I was thinking of you all the way from London. :) Make sure you get your present that I left with mom. Everyone else, you make sure to treat dad extra special ALL WEEK.

emergency!!

Me and Kayla are on our last bag of Reeses! That could be a problem since they don't sell them here and we just love those things. Therefore, feel free to send anything that contains peanut butter (ex: reeses pieces, peanut butter M&M's, nutter butters, reeses cups, or even a JAR of peanut butter!) becuase we would greatly appreciate it! If you don't feel like sending packages, I would appreciate a simple letter as well. :) You can send things to:

Acento de Trinity

c/o Kristin Mork
Paseo de Cristina 1-3
Entreplanta A-B
Sevilla, Spain 41001

They bring the mail to our classroom, so we always see when other students get mail... So far it probably looks like I have no one who misses me because I've gotten nothing haha. It's ok, though. I still love you all anyways. 

This week has been really rainy, which is a bummer since we walk everywhere. I have realized how much I take cars for granted at home. (side note: I haven't ridden in a car since I've been here!) We are finalizing our London plans and getting really excited to go! The other exciting thing that happened this week was that Ana did our laundry and gave us clean sheets. It was wonderful. :)

Cordoba and more!

Well! The last few days have been very busy and full of exciting new things! Every day I see, hear, taste, smell, or do something I’ve never done before. I am learning so much about the culture here and in turn I am learning about my own culture as well. It’s hard to explain my thoughts exactly… but you can just know that I’m growing in many ways and that this is definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Anyways, we finished our first full week of school on Thursday. It felt great! Me, Kayla, and a few other girls from school went out to eat to celebrate. The restaurant we ended up going to was not exactly what we had hoped for, but it was still very fun. It was a rather upscale place with a menu full of who knows what? We ordered to the best of our ability, and then ended up with some strange Spanish dishes. The waiter kept bringing us free things and we didn’t exactly know what was going on… One thing he brought was fried shrimp in some sort of sauce, stuck in a glass of something that was creating a cloud of white smoke all around it. You can’t see the smoke in the picture, but it was so cool!

On Friday, we had an excursion with our program over to the city of Cordoba. We stopped to see ruins from an ancient Muslim city on the way, and then in the actual city we toured a mosque that had been turned into a Catholic cathedral. The architecture of the buildings was so intricate and beautiful! It is so amazing to think of how they managed to build those sorts of things before modern tools were available. In the pictures, you can see the Arabic architecture mixed in with the Catholic architecture. The Arabic part includes the horseshoe shaped arches that are red and white striped. The Catholic parts are mostly white and are on the right side in the picture. The weather in Cordoba was the best that it has been so far, so we enjoyed just sitting and soaking in the sun. 

On Saturday, it was great weather again so me and Kayla went for a run through a beautiful park. It felt like spring at home and made me miss running track. However, I got over it pretty quick because at home I can’t go running through orange trees and palm trees like I can here. In the afternoon, we went for our first “real” shopping trip. This meant that we went to the big department store called “El Corte Ingles” instead of just going to the little shops in our neighborhood. It was crazy busy! There were people everywhere and I felt like I was in the bustle of a big city… It was really fun, but definitely something I don’t want to do everyday.

Saturday night was fun because we went to our first salsa bar! Since I don’t exactly know how to salsa and since we didn’t have any chicos to dance with, we mostly just watched. It was a really cool atmosphere and some of the dancers were really good!

I am feeling more comfortable here all the time. My Spanish is improving very slowly, but the fact that I am starting to really know my way around the city makes it feel more “normal”. It feels good! I am starting to miss some things from home… some of which include coffee (they have it here but I have to buy it because my senora never makes it), the hot tub, Bernie, fleece blankets, unlimited peanut butter, and of course all of you people. J Please email me or comment to let me know how everything is going back in America!

One more thing… we are going to LONDON on Thursday! You can look forward to hearing about that trip and seeing pictures in a few days. For now, hasta luego!