M³=Madrid, Morocco, Mexican Food.

So much to write about.

I finally have a chance to sit down and write a blog entry without any other worries. I don't have to pack for some weekend trip nor worry about doing some Cervantes homework...well I do, but I'll put that off until Sunday :). I am going to enjoy this beautiful weekend in Sevilla and not worry about a thing. This week was midterms (or examenes parcial as they call them here) and it was hellish. Not because they were particularly hard, but because I came off of such a high in Morocco back to the "real world." Well, I really can't complain because my "real world" is not a "real world." I'm living and studying in Europe...how lucky can you get? :) I mean as I write this blog entry it is currently November 5th and it is 75 degrees outside and the weather current be more beautiful. This is my life....holy shit!

But lets travel back 2 weeks! I think when I did my last entry I had just settled down after my trip to Barcelona and I was getting ready to see my Mom, Grandma and Sister in Madrid! My class that Thursday was cancelled so I had all day to get ready for my flight to Madrid and meet up with them in the hotel. As I walked into the hotel my family was waiting for me in the lobby and Julie ran up to me and gave me a giant hug. I still will argue with anyone that she's the best little girl in the world. Hands down. I think Michael would too. That being said, it was great to see Mimi and Mom and they filled me on their day (they arrived in Spain earlier that morning and so to catch up with jet lag had attempted to be productive.) It turns out that my 11-year-old sister HATED the Prado, which is the most famous art museum in Spain because of the graphic bloody baroque paintings and made my Grandma and Mom leave. Also one of the customs, or rather common findings, of Spain are the pig legs hanging from bars or restaurants around the city. The Spaniards, unlike me, love their ham, especially jamon (ham) serrano. Julie, an animal lover and someone who gets grossed out really easily, refused to walk by these restaurants. Too bad that's about 75% of the restaurants in the country hahah.

Anyway, I forget a little our exact journey through Madrid but I'll give you the basics. My mom found this company called Madrid Vision; you know those touristy double decker busses that take you throughout the city. That was my first thought, however, it turned out to be perfect for what we needed. There are so many stops throughout the city and you get on and off the bus at the main attractions, or really whenever you want, and another bus comes every 10 minutes. We decided to do one line one day and another line the next. The first day we stopped by a couple of Plaza's and walked around Plaza de Espana where Julie, Mimi, and Mom had lots of fun walking around and buying little gifts at the outdoor market.

I think one of my favorite things we did in Madrid was seeing El Palacio Real, the official residence of the King of Spain, now used for state ceremonies. It reminded me a lot of Versailles with all of the ornate decorations, paintings, and the fact that it is a frickin Palace! We all got audio guides so we could hear about each room without having to do a guided tour. Each room has a number and you punch the number into your audio guide and hear about the room. Well Mimi, Mom, Julie and I had fun trying to make sure that we were all hearing the same thing at the same time. We would say, 1, 2, 3, go! and press the number. Julie had a lot of fun but made us go into each room to make sure that there were no creepy paintings. Mimi, got frustrated with Julie but mom and I shook it off, looked at each other and laughed. Certainly was a generation gap, but to be with them was amazing.

In Madrid I introduced Mom and Mimi to tinto de verano which is like a wine spritzer but they have it on tap at a lot of places. It's so good and refreshing and at 100 Montaditos, a chain where you order mini sandwiches where we could eat because there was no meat hanging in the windows :), they serve them in these big mugs or "jaras". At 100 Montaditos we must have looked like a bunch of fat asses because of how big our sandwich tray was, but we enjoyed every bit of it. Speaking of amazing food, I had perhaps the most amazing Italian food while I was in Madrid. It was the perfect last meal in Madrid, a bowl of freshly made angel hair in a truffle oil sauce. I could not have been happier. I was with my Mom, Grandma, and Sister--3 generations, eating the most amazing Italian food in Spain. Perfect. Oh yeah, and it was pretty frickin cool to see the Renoir exhibit and Guernica, the Picasso painting that I had studied in my Spanish classes in high school.

We got back to Sevilla and it was so nice to be back in "my city." Madrid was great, but it’s so big and it feels like a huge city. To me Sevilla has so much character and feels more European. It was also nice to know where everything was and to be able to be their tour guide of the city showing them my favorite places. We went to the Cathedral, which is the 3rd largest in Europe, the Royal Alcazar Gardens, Plaza de Espana, walked along the river and the Festival de Naciones. Luckily I was able to stay with them in the hotel, which I conveniently suggested because it was on my street, and that way I could spend even more time with them. At first I was a little nervous that while I was in class they would have nothing to do. Then I remembered whom I was talking about and knew that Mom and especially Julie would be kept occupied by the shopping. I was right.

They left Wednesday to go to Madrid for the night so they could stay near the airport to fly home. I left Wednesday night for the airport too, but stupidly didn't book my flight back with them. We decided to take the bus to Madrid in order to fly to Tangier, Morocco because the ferry from Gibraltar wasn't running that weekend. I theory this was a great plan. However, the bus ride there was hell. We left Sevilla at 1:00 AM to get to Madrid at 7:00 AM. We figured we would sleep on the bus and be fine. Well Christine and I were in the last row of the bus and our seats did not recline. Whoops. Lets just say by the time we got to Morocco we were exhausted but we kept on trucking because we were in MOROCCO!

We left Madrid at around 11:30 AM and landed in Morocco and 12:30 PM because there was a 2-hour time difference. We arrived at the Tangier airport and our driver/guide Mohamed, his nickname was "Simu" picked us up and drove us to our apartment in Tamuda Bay. It is mainly a vacation/residential area about an hour and a half away from Tangier and 30 minutes outside of Tetouan. It was a perfect setup. We had a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a huge couch, access to the pool and a 3-minute walk to the Mediterranean. The first day we walked to a local store, got some cheese and snacks and hung out on the beach. We were literally the only one's there and it could not have been a better afternoon. I was hanging out in Africa by the Med eating food and with great company! That night we went out to dinner at a local restaurant overlooking the sea and had our first Moroccan dinner. I had Chicken Tagine. I don't really know how to explain it except for the fact that it tasted good haha. It was served in this cool clay pot with almost an apricot, curry, almond taste. Whatever...it was amazing and that's all that matters.

Later that night we went to the supermarket so we could buy food for breakfast and for snacks during the day. We ended up making breakfast every day and dinner once. Nothing to elaborate...pretty much eggs, toast and fruit for breakfast, and pasta one night for dinner. The next day we went to Chefchaouen, an older Moroccan city that is essentially all blue. We made up reasons why it was all blue because Simu didn't know the answer. I explained the origins of the great Moroccan war and how they wanted to camouflage the city with the sky. Naturally my Moroccan history bullshit was top notch. Anyway, everything there was incredibly inexpensive and the girls went nuts bartering. Actually the people who own the stores straight up tell you that you don't accept the first price and you barter like crazy. I bought a couple of presents for friends and felt like I was in china town with Dad saying "fi-dollah!" (Everything in China town is five dollars hahah). The architecture and the city was beautiful and we had a great 3 course lunch all for 60 dirham (which is a little less than 6 Euro which is about 8 USD...just to put it in perspective :) )

That night we had some wine that we got the night before at the supermarket and hung out in the apartment. We watched a movie, made some popcorn and just had a relaxing night. I think we were all pretty exhausted from our journey to Morocco and we happy to have a night in...Which we actually did every night. Gladly! The next morning we slept in, attempted to be productive and get some studying done for midterms, but failed miserably and just relaxed...Tough life we live ;) Later that day Simu picked us up and drove us to downtown Tetouan where we saw one of the Kings Palaces and the old quarter of Tetouan. It was a little strange at night and at times felt a little sketchy but it truly felt like another country and very foreign. I actually felt like I was walking through Agrabah...you know where Aladdin is running around in the beginning of the movie?? Except for I didn't have Apu at my side! As we were leaving the old streets of Tetouan this man took us into this huge rug store and showed us the roof where we could see a view of the entire city from the night. It was surreal. The fact that I had an aerial view of the intricate windy streets and shops at night was so amazing.

He then took us inside the rug shop, sat the seven of us down, served us mint tea and explained the process of making the rugs. Some were made out of camel hair, some cactus silk, he was explaining them laying them out for us to see and trying to show off his products. He laid out all the rugs and said Ok; if you like the rug say "wa-ha" if not "la". So we went one by one and he through he rug and we yelled out "wa ha" and "la" and "zmah" which means take it away while his minion was busy folding and putting the rugs away or handing us the ones that we were going to barter for in a minute. He then had us go up one by one with our rugs that we liked and we bartered for the ones we wanted. He started by writing his price on a pad, then we wrote ours and this went back and forth until we agreed on a price. He was a very funny guy, cracking jokes... he said "if you do not have money to feel honey, you need to have plastic to feel fantastic." He did well with 5 out of the 7 of us buying a rug or tapestry, hell I even bought a small cool looking cactus silk rug for a really good price...Who the hell knows what I'm gonna do with it but I really like it and I bought a frickin rug in Morocco!

The next day we took a long scenic drive along the Med and Atlantic Ocean in order to get to Asilah which is known as the "Artistic City of Morocco." I unfortunately was feeling pretty crappy and had the worst stomachache in the world. We were told to be really careful of the water and I was, but I guess I ate something or drank something that I shouldn't have and my stomach was tossing and turning for the majority of the day. 5 hours and 5 Tums later I was fine. But, my favorite part of Asilah and maybe the whole trip was getting to watch the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean. It was so incredibly beautiful and just a perfect way to end our last full day in Morocco. When I was in Portugal the weather wasn't clear enough to see the sunset, but this was perfect. It was a little windy but the sky was clear and I once again was reminded how invaluable this experience is. I'm getting to see some of the most amazing sights, monuments, and having the most wonderful experience with great friends. Truly grateful.

We flew back to Madrid the next morning and spent most of the bus ride back studying but Christine and I kept ourselves occupied by playing games reminiscent of 4th grade like the dots/box game and MASH (a game where you figure out your "future"...its very telling.) When I got back to Sevilla at 12:00 AM I was exhausted and it felt good to be back in my apartment but at the same time I was back in the non-real "real world." I decided any studying that I would do at that time would be pointless and so I passed out really easily and went to bed "early" for a long day of studying/classes the next day.This past week seemed to go by pretty quickly and my exams really weren't all that bad. Cervantes was the hardest, a lot of essays and I'm a good bullshitter when it comes to essays, but its a little more time consuming and difficult when you have to bullshit in another language!!

I had my last exam Friday because our teacher did a review session on Thursday and moved the test back a day, but Thursday night I had the perfect study break. I'm gonna go out and say it...I don't like Spanish food. It's a lot of meat, especially HAM, and just very unhealthy. I'm not a health freak, but it’s a lot of bread and carbs and just not my favorite at all. So needless to say, when I found out that we were having a Mexican cooking class with our interest group, I was thrilled. We met up at the CIEE center and walked together to Maria's (our interest group leader) friend's house. She's actually Peruvian and owns a tapas restaurant, but her friend's husband is Mexican. We learned how to make beef tacos, with fresh tortillas, refried beans, and guacamole. My stomach could not have been happier. The seasoning on the beef was like nothing that I had tasted before and I had just spoken to Maria about how I didn't like the residencia food so she kept telling them to give me more tacos because I don't eat at the residencia! Hahah I was not complaining!! I walked out so full, but so happy.

It's really amazing how quickly these past 2 months have flown by. I'm in Sevilla this weekend and the next weekend but after that and the last weekend I'm here I'm traveling. I have a trip to Valencia, then Poland, then Italy and France or Amsterdam and then finals, and then I'm home home! Holy crap! Ferris Bueller was right with his overly used quote "life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

P.S! Click here for more pictures of Madrid!
PPS! Click here for more pictures from Morocco!

I'm the worst. Barcelona's the best.

I say this every blog post, but I'm the worst! I literally have not updated my blog in ten days! BUT I have an excuse...I'm in Spain, enjoying myself, so who cares?! I've so so ridiculously busy over the past week and a half that I have literally not had time to sit down and write a blog post. But, the nice thing is that over the past week and a half I've been having so much fun and just enjoying life, traveling, Spain and friends. That being said...let's get to the blog!

When we left off last post I just got back from Lagos, Portugal and I think I posted that on a Monday night...OK so last week was filled with a lot of catch-up work and trying my best to get ahead on some homework so that when I left Thursday afternoon for Barcelona with Paige and Quinn I wouldn't have to do homework all weekend. It turns out that my Cervantes class is a lot of work. I remembered reading excerpts from Don Quijote in Middle or High School and thinking, this is pretty funny. I mean Don Quijote and his crazy antics, getting into trouble, Sancho trailing behind...what's not to like? Plus, two summer's ago I was in "Man of La Mancha" (A musical based on Don Quijote) at Flat Rock Playhouse...Well it turns out there's a lot more to it. While I Dale Wasserman would have included more of the content from Don Quijote into "Man of La Mancha" so I could understand the book more easily, I don't blame him. It is after all a about 1200 pages....

Anyway, that week seemed to fly by as I was so eager to get to Barcelona. Next thing I knew it was Thursday afternoon and we were in the airport frantically re-arranging our backpacks so that it fit Ryanair's crazy baggage requirement. For those of you who don't know Ryanair, it is an incredibly inexpensive airline that flies throughout Europe. The catch is that their baggage requirements are crazy (only one carry on per person, for the girls their purse has to fit within their carry on), no assigned seats, and they try to sell you stuff on the plane (Scratch cards, perfume, etc...) It was quite the experience but hey...they get you from one place to another and that is all I need!

We arrived in Barcelona and headed to our Hostel. We stayed at Urbany Hostel for two nights. I was actually kind of worried about staying in a hostel after seeing the movie "Hostel" and hearing Mary talk about some of her hostel experiences when backpacking through Europe after high school! BUT, it was surprisingly really nice. Paige, Quinn and I shared the room with two other girls from Long Island who planned to stay in London all semester. Their internship in London fell through, so they basically said "fuck it, let's travel" and are backpacking around for the semester! There was also a French-Canadian in the room with us too. Really nice, but a snorer...Good thing I got my tonsils out! I don't think anyone would want to share a room with me if I still snored! Sorry Katie....

We went out the first night and met up with Paige and Quinn's friend Gregg from Elon. I knew Gregg from my freshman year, we lived on the same floor in Smith and he was in my Elon 101 class. We had a great dinner...a little Americanized but I can't complain...good food is good food! From there we went to a club which seems like it's the typical thing to do in Barcelona. There I saw Hannah Berg and some other people from Westport and also ran into a friend of mine who I literally had not seen in maybe 6 years. CRAZY. It's amazing how small of a world we live in. The club thing wasn't really my scene but we had a lot of fun anyway and decided that the rest of the nights we kinda wanted to do something a little more relaxed.

The next day we walked around Las Ramblas which is a long street in Barcelona and huge tourist attraction. It has lots of cool little shops, street performers (the pic to the right is me helping a  "genie" after she dropped her fan), people selling weird animals, AND the coolest food market. There are rows and rows of fresh food stands, from mushrooms to fish, the most amazing looking fruit to a literal pig head (not really fond of that, but you get the point.) AND LOTS OF OLIVES. We regretted our decision to eat before walking into the market because it would have been great place to try a bunch of different things. We literally could have spent hours in there but we swore to come back later in the weekend because it was time to head to the Picasso Museum! On the way, led by Paige and Quinn, we saw Gaudi's first Cathedral. Pretty damn cool.

I never fully understood Picasso until I went to the Picasso museum last Friday. The museum takes you from the start of Picasso's education as an artist to his death and you really see his progression and how he gets more and more experimental. But, you see this paintings in the first couple of rooms and you see the date they were painted and you think, no that can't be right...because some of these unbelievably complex and gorgeous pieces were painted when he was like twelve! It's mind boggling. As you move on from room to room you see his collection of blue paintings, his collection of pink paintings, and then my favorite part was this video screen that was at the end of the exhibit. It showed how Picasso took famous paintings and then interpreted them in so many different ways. The video monitor put one painting on top of another and showed how Picasso could interpret even one little section of a great, large painting, and make 4 new pieces out of it. His paintings are definitely an acquired taste... but the museum was so worth it.

The next morning we met up with Paige's parents who were staying in Barcelona! They were nice enough to let us stay in the hotel with them so we didn't have to stay in a hostel....Let's just say it was a pretty nice upgrade. The concierge made a joke to Paige and I saying "Going from a hostel to an ocean view apartment at the Ritz...not bad." NOT BAD AT ALL! I've been very lucky to have stayed in some wonderfully beautiful resorts and hotels, but this was easily the nicest. We didn't want to leave the hotel room! We just wanted to hang there all day...and we did for a couple of hours until we finally went to lunch/Las Ramblas again with Paige's family. After a great meal and catching up/meeting her parents, Paige, Quinn and I went to Park Guell garden complex  designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí and built from 1900 to 1914. I find all of Gaudi's work to be so interesting. His building's are incredibly ornate and detailed. Parts of Park Guell made me feel like I was in a Dr. Seuss book!

The next day we took the Gondola up to Montjuïc where we saw beautiful views of the city and of the Mediterranean. It was very serene and you could see the entire city! Riding up on the Gondola though made me think of skiing and got me very excited...even though I don't have any ski trips planned! I think part of the reason I was so happy in Barcelona, besides the great company, sights, city, etc... was that I ate like a king for the entire weekend. Everyone knows that I love food. But let me say it again... I love food and good thing Paige's dad went to culinary school because he knew what to order! We kept getting plate after plate, trying things I'd never tried before and I loved every second of it. Great champagne, great cheese, wine...everything. But even before we met up with Paige's parents Paige and I shared a bunch of dishes at this one restaurant and I could not have been happier... mushroom risotto, fresh pasta, artichokes, desserts...No complaints. Period.

We actually decided to stay in Barcelona an extra day... Partly because of the hotel, how amazing the shower was haha, how much fun we were having and partly because I screwed up my booking with my flight back to Seville...long story...don't want to get into it because I'm an idiot... anyway... We were so glad that we did because right before we left for the airport we went to La Sagrada Familia. It is Gaudi's master work of architecture and is a large, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. How crazy is that!? Well when you see it you understand why. It is the most ornate, elaborate piece of architecture that I have ever seen and think I will ever see. The inside just opened for public tours a couple of months ago and while you are there it is under construction. Everything he designed he designed for a reason. The beams holding up the inside, for example, look like trees and the ceiling like a sky. But some of the construction and architectural methods that he used are among the most complex of his and our time. It's not at all complete and they still have a lot of work to do, but you can just imagine what it would be like to attend a service there. Not even for the religious sense but for its sheer beauty.

After La Sagrada Familia we went back to the hotel, got our stuff, and went to the club lounge where we had champagne and ate lunch overlooking the Mediterranean. A perfect way to end our trip. I was so incredibly grateful for the generosity of Paige and her family, not to mention the wonderful company that I have found in Seville! Such fun people. Here's a link for more pics from the weekend!

This afternoon I head to Madrid to meet Mom, Julie and Mimi who have already arrived and are ready to conquer Spain! I'm bummed that my Dad can't come, but I'm doing him proud with my adventuring, shmoozing, and loving every second of this opportunity I've been given!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Lagos/Feels like home...

Monday, Monday! How I hate you... Last night I got back to Seville from a wonderful weekend in Lagos Portugal! But that wonderful weekend came to a screeching halt when I stepped back into my apartment and realized that I had a shitload of hw still left to do...WHOOPS! Luckily I was able to finish it before my classes today and no classes tomorrow! A lot of the people here talk about their majors and studies, etc...and they always ask me what do you do for homework?! I explained to them that we're always busy working on something and practicing for something, ridiculously long days, with the occasional reading or paper. But last night as I was doing my homework, which really to be honest wasn't even that bad, I missed my Elon homework! I missed actually LIKING my homework! How weird is that?

Anyway, on to Lagos! Or as mom said before that some people pronounce it Lagoosh. But Mom- I did not hear that said once! :) We left Friday morning from Sevilla with a group called Discover Sevilla. It's one of the student travel agencies in town and we had heard fun things about their trips and it was a good price. We took a 3.5 hour bus to Lagos and made a stop once we crossed the border in Portugal to grab a coffee/pee. It was so weird being in a country where they don't speak Spanish! In fact it seemed like the majority of the people spoke English over Spanish even though they are so close to Spain! I'm sure it will be weird once I go to Italy and France and Morocco too! We got to our hotel in Lagos, checked in and walked around. Now this whole trip was advertised as a beach getaway so needless to say we were all pretty disappointed that the weather report called for rain almost the entire weekend :( Here's a pic of what it looks like in nice weather!

Regardless, the beach was beautiful and the first day we hung out by the beach right near our hotel. No swimming, the waves were HUGE and the water was kinda murky because of all the rain runoff from the cliffs! I was really bummed about that because the pictures of the crystal water in Lagos seemed amazing!! That evening we went to a store down the street and bought some drinks and some cheese and crackers and had a mini feast in Christine and Sahar's room which was a perfect way to start of the evening festivities! There were two huge buses of kids that all came through Sevilla to take this trip from other cities in Spain, but all American students. We met everyone down in the lobby where the guides took us to some restaurants and then later to a bar where it was just kids with this travel agency. Lots of dancing, lots of fun!

The next day Scott and I slept in a bit and grabbed breakfast downstairs in the hotel. Now I'm not a big breakfast person, but when i do eat breakfast I like a big omelet and home fries...not just a piece of toast! That's what they do here in Spain and Portugal...not one of my favorite customs! But I do enjoy the other big meals! :) Anyway, we met everyone in the lobby and headed to a couple of locations around Lagos. We went to this one set of cliffs that was incredibly beautiful and saw where we were supposed to go on our Sangria Sailboat cruise! (It was canceled because the waves were so high and we were supposed to go through the grottoes. They showed us where we were would have gone and I was a little more at ease that it was canceled because we legitimately would have died!) We also went to another beach closer to the downtown harbor area. The beach there was much calmer and during a moment of sunshine I decided that I had to go swimming. The water was freezing, but swimming in the waves reminded me of swimming at Silverpoint beach and it made me very happy! HUGE WAVES, like shit you see in the movies! But so much fun. After that we went to a cafe along the beach and I had the must unbelievable bruschetta in the world. Made up for the lack of a spinach/feta/mushroom omelet at breakfast ;)

That night we went to Cabo San Vicente to watch the sunset. This cape is the south westernmost point in Portugal and was what the explorers thought was the end of the world because when you look around all you see is ocean. That plus the giant waves crashing up against the cliff! I could see why it would be "the end of the world." It was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It truly showed the beauty and the power of nature. I was also really excited to see the sun set over the ocean! Since I live on the east coast I've never seen the sun set over a body of water and was looking forward to it. Well screw you weather for ruining my excitement! While we didn't get to see a huge sunset it was beautiful nonetheless and I was so glad that I went on that mini excursion. I certainly slept well that night after great Thai food (yes, in Portugal I ate Thai haha) and lots of fun that night!

The next day we had breakfast and headed to the beach closest to the hotel again to try to test out the weather. After about an hour of sun it started to rain so we decided we would walk around downtown instead and grab lunch there. We were all exhausted from the past couple of days so we had a pretty relaxing last day in Lagos before heading on the bus back to Seville. We got back at around 10:15 and as I crossed the bridge walking home from the bus station I realized how frickin beautiful Seville really is. All of the places I have traveled to so far have been magnificent and unique. But to me, there is nothing like Seville. It felt good to be "home."

Oh, click HERE for some pics!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary! Today, October 6th, I have officially been in Spain for one month! Holy shit! In the first couple of weeks it seemed like the semester was gonna go by really slowly... lots of orientations, grammar lectures, etc... but now I think that we're starting trips my time here is gonna fly by! This means that I gotta remember to take in each experience, enjoy myself, and BLOG MORE! The past couple of nights I said to myself, oh I'll blog in an hour, or I'll do this first... but NO MORE. It's time to write. Actually, once I finish writing each post its like a relief...and hey! I get to write in English so I'm not complaining!

When I last posted I talked about going to the cooking school with my interest group which, while it didn't turn out to be what I expected, was a lot of fun. We met up at the CIEE study center and walked to one of the bus stations in the city. It's 1.20 Euro for the bus fare and I sat down in one of the seats. As the bus got more crowded we got up and gave up our seats for older passengers so they could sit. This one woman was very grateful and started speaking to me in Spanish at 50875267101 words per minute and mumbling most of them. I just nodded smiled, said "vale, vale, vale" and hoped that I wasn't saying anything I shouldn't have or saying vale to some sad story she was telling me. I think she was just happy to have someone listen to her talk. I was happy to oblige... so long as she didn't care that I had no idea what she was saying! BUT, despite this encounter, my Spanish has gotten much much better. I've managed to fool a couple of people into thinking that I'm actually a Sevillano which is very exciting! I mean, cmon how could they think I'm a Spaniard :)

That night Carolina, one of the guides, came over for a late dinner adventure. I told her how much I detested the Residencia food and so she and I made a date for her to come over and we could cook dinner together. Turns out I had none of the things that we needed... I shattered one of the only plates we had, we asked my neighbor downstairs for a pan, and Carolina and I crammed into my tiny kitchen and we cooked some amazing linguine with this fresh tomato, pepper, onion, pica (spicy), cream sauce. Que delicioso. It was so much better than the residencia food and I really enjoyed her company. As we ate, and after dinner, she spoke in English and I spoke in Spanish and we shared some of our favorite songs, and talked about life in the US versus life here. She's incredibly down to earth and is always willing to lend a hand to any of our friends. Despite how long it took us to make the dinner it turned out out be a great night and I went to bed early in order to get up at the butt crack of dawn to go to Granada the next morning.

Since college, I've gotten so much better at sleeping while traveling. When I was younger, meaning middle and high school, I would never sleep in the car or on the plane...maybe I did a couple of times, but for the most part I had a hard time falling asleep. Thank god for reclining bus seats or I would have been miserably tired the entire weekend in Granada. I think that it was one of the coolest places, if not the coolest, place I've ever been. It's about a 3 hour bus ride from Seville and it is the capital of Andalusia. The city has a huge Moorish influence and was under Muslim rule up until the reconquest of Spain in the 16th century. You can see this with the architecture and many of the shops. At one point I felt like I was in the movie Casbah (a 1948 film I had to watch for a class at Elon) walking through all of these little streets and shops. Oh! One of my favorite fruits is Pomegranate. Guess how you say pomegranate in Granada! Granada! All over Granada there are Granada trees! I wanted to pick one every time I saw one but used my better judgement and decided not to...

By far the coolest part of the weekend was our visit to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is is a palace/fortress complex that was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of Granada. The building is unbelievable and the gardens are gorgeous and incredibly extensive. To me it was like an Arab version of Versailles. The ceilings, walls, floors, reflecting pools are so incredibly ornate and beautiful. Not to mention the view from the Alhambra looking over the city of Granada is breathtaking and was so peaceful and serene. I think I had about 50 "holy shit, I'm in Europe" moments on this trip. Here's a link to the pictures from Granada. There are a ton from the inside of the building and then a lot of the gardens. The next day we walked around the older residential area where we got a great view of the Alhambra and the mountains in the background. Sierra Nevada, which is a ski resort, is right there! I wanna go back at the end of November because I've heard that if it's a nice day you can ski overlooking the Mediterranean. How frickin cool would that be?!

Yesterday after classes I went back to the hotel BecquerResidencia dining hall I met a girl who lived next door to Allison and Sarah. She's about our age, maybe a little younger. When I told her I was a music theatre major she told me she loved to play guitar and asked if I would come over and sing a bit with her. So last night I went over to her room with Allison and Sarah and we had a "jam session" for about an hour. She spat out her favorite American songs and I did my best to sing along. Despite the fact that I probably woke up all of her neighbors I had so much fun singing along and just getting my fill of performing for the day. She skyped in one of her friends during the middle and made me sing backstreet boys... Something I never thought I would be asked to sing. But hey! Why not?!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Spain on Strike!

Welcome to Calle Bailen #62! I decided instead of adorning the blog with pictures I'd add shaky videos taken from my bicycle so you can see a little bit of Sevilla! This first one ends at the door of my apartment! Yesterday (9/29/10) Spain was on strike! Basically the people here are very upset with the government and the pay cuts that the government implemented. Spain has a 20% unemployment rate...so people are PISSED. While everyone in Spain was mad about the strike, I was actually thrilled. Not about the unemployment, pay cuts, etc.... but yesterday all classes at the University were CANCELLED!! So after my 9:00 AM Flamenco class I was free for the day! Although there wasn't too much to do seeing as most things were closed. Last night we tried to go back to the Carboneria... but it was closed because of the strike. Que lastimita. But it was a nice day full of relaxing and I got the chance to get some stuff done.

Yesterday, I switched around my classes a bit because I wasn't too thrilled about two of them. I dropped Inter-American relations and added a class that my friend Kesley told me about called "The Image of the United States in Spain: 100 Years of Myths and Stereotypes." Seems like it's gonna be so interesting. We look at Spain's image of the US and vice-versa...myths...stereotypes...just like the class sounds. I had my first day of that class today and I'm very excited about it. PLUS, unlike my other class, I can understand the teacher! I think I'm gonna love the Flamenco class. Despite the teacher coming dressed as "Aladdin" as Allison so lovingly put it, it seems like the class is right up my ally. Its a lot about studying the history of the art form but it looks at it through melodic themes, rhythms, and dance movements. I get the chance to be artistic and relate things that I'm learning at Elon to my experience in the Flamenco class. Speaking of being artistic... it's been hard to be away from performing especially knowing that everyone at Elon is dancing, singing, and acting their hearts out. I keep reminding myself what Brenna and Richard have told me...and that anything that you do for yourself as a person will be wonderful for you as an artist. Even so, I get my fill with this class, ballet, and Chema (my Cello playing suite mate) talking to me about Bernstein and showing me his cool videos. Check this one out.... it's long but watch it the whole way through if you have time. It's really interesting and has a beautiful message.

But then there are times, when I think, THIS IS MY LIFE. Like today, for example, I only had one class which started at 11:00 AM and ended at 12:40 PM. Since we don't have classes on Fridays I was done with class for the week! So naturally Quin and I took advantage of this glorious opportunity and beautiful day. We went back to the hotel that we had our program orientation at, walked in like we were guests, took the elevator up to the roof, and suntanned on the roof and hung out by the hotel pool for a couple of hourse. (Video below) It was a perfect way to start the weekend after our first week of real classes. Right before we went to the pool Paige, Quin and I booked our trip to Barcelona for the weekend of the 14th-17th. I was gonna try to visit Charlie in Scotland that weekend but it didn't work out time-wise and prices shot up. Sorry Sir Charles...But I'm really excited to visit Barcelona! I hear its amazing.

On Saturday morning we leave for a weekend trip to Granada...I'll blog about more about that Sunday when I get back. I'm very excited for the coming weeks! Trips to Granada, Barcelona, Madrid with Mom, Julie and Mimi, Morocco, Italy, Paris and I'm attempting to add a ski trip in between!

Tomorrow we have our first interest group excursion! I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but a couple of weeks ago we all picked interest groups through CIEE. Each interest group has a different theme such as sports of Spain, the countries that border Spain, art and culture of Sevilla...etc. Given my love for food and given my detest for the food at the Resedencia I chose the "Grupo de Interés de Gastronomía." Tomorrow we go to a cooking school, the following mini-trip is to the mountains to pick and cook mushrooms, then a cooking class, a beer factory (one of the largest in Europe), then to Valencia! I hope to become a top Sevillan chef and make Paella and food back at school that Leela wont complain about and to extend my repertoire beyond Chicken Parmesan! Here's to hoping!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Pasta Realization. AKA Spagettization

When people used to ask me if I've lived in CT all your life, I always used to love saying... Well I've lived in PA for almost over a year now. I would count the weeks I used to go to camp and add them up. Dorky little Adam. But I did the same thing with school. It was always weird to me thinking that I was living somewhere else besides home. Besides Westport. Now Leela makes fun of me for how much I love Westport but that's besides the point. I guess what I'm trying to say is that last night I had a "holy shit, I'm living in Spain!" kind of moment... Every Sunday night we don't have food in the Resedencia so we are responsible for getting our own dinner. The past couple of weeks we have been going out and enjoying the fact that we don't have to eat the resedencia food (tonight wasn't bad though...) Last week we went to Don Kebab which has become my staple safe haven should the residencia food suck eggs. Anyway, this week Sarah had the idea to come here with Allison and the three of us plus David would make pasta. So we they went to the store and bought pasta, sauce, and cheese and the four of us crammed into our kitchen and cooked pasta which ended up being really good. I was making dinner for myself in another country. I felt grown up. Making tortellini. And warming up pasta sauce. Don't judge me.

Anyway... Saturday morning I had my final exam for the intensive language session. Thought it went pretty well! I did well on the midterm and papers, so I'm not too worried. But it really was a huge help. I wish that I had been able to take a Spanish class at Elon before coming to Spain, I had all these "ohh yeah..." moments where I would remember some grammar thing or vocab word. I had forgotten a lot of what I learned in high school. But I guess that's what happens when you don't practice for two years! I love the ability to talk and converse in another language and it's getting so much easier.

After the exam and on Sunday too I went to the big park in the city for the Festival de las Naciones. I believe it starts in the Spring and ends the 1st of November but it is like a street fair in the park and they have all these booths were you can buy things from different countries. Really cool to walk around and see all of the different stands and shops. BUT my favorite part was that there's a food section to the Festival. There are different mini restaurant stands set up where you can try things from all around the world. I had a hot dog from Germany with the most amazing kraut ever and then tried a bite of Scott's Kangaroo sandwich from the Australia stand then got tried a bite of Paige's crepe from the French stand, had a chip with salsa from the Mexico stand ;), decided to pass on the Frog's Legs from the Japan stand, and was in heaven. They also have these mini shows where there's dancing and presentations of the different countries. On Saturday it was Brazilian dancing... lots of bumping and grinding and shaking hahaha. But all in all, such a fun place to walk around!

Today we started our regular session classes! I started the day off at 9:00 AM (little early if you ask me...but 11:00 AM is early too so don't bother asking me..) with Flamenco! Seems like its gonna be a great class and right up my ally. It's a lot about musical interpretation and styles and I think I'm gonna really enjoy it. After Flamenco I had Inter-American Relations...should be interesting, but the professor was a little all over the place. It's hard enough to understand a teacher who's jumping around from date to date, century to century when speaking in English! Imagine that feeling but in Spanish! Ay ay ay.... Later that afternoon I had Contemporary Spanish Theatre. Today was just really an introduction to the history of Spanish theatre in the last century so I can't really get a gauge on the class but I'm excited to read the plays and get started! I only have once class tomorrow at 1:00 PM which is a perfect time for me :)

After class we all met up at the Plaza de Espana and we walked around and I saw, once again, how beautiful it is. Last time I went I didn't really get to observe it and take it all in but it was built for the world expo and the building itself is supposed to be a representation, well more like an effort, to bring together the provinces and areas of Spain. Click here for some more pics! I was a little overwhelmed after my last class today... It was just a long day and Spanish being thrown at me from all angles, so it was nice to take a break a walk around.

 OH! Guess what?? I met Chema! Who's Chema you ask?...The cello playing mystery apartment-mate! He is such a cool guy. He practically doesn't speak any English but today we had a long discussion about music. I asked him what was his favorite type of to play on the Cello and he said romantic and symphonic works. I asked what's his favorite/what is he working on now.... WEST SIDE STORY! He loves the works of Leonard Bernstein and he said that he'd play Maria on the Cello for me with one of his buddies and I'll sing along. He attends a music conservatory in SevillaOh, check out this video Chema showed me! Que guay!

We've become pretty good friends with our guides from orientation. They're about our age and from Sevilla and whenever we're with them we speak spanish spanish spanish so we love hanging out with them. Not to mention they're such fun people. I was talking to Carolina, one of the guides, online today about feeling a little overwhelmed. While you're here you have to think in a completely different way and I'm far away from everything I knew/established before, starting over completely, in a different language! But you know what? I'm loving it. And Carolina reminded me to "seize the day" and take advantage of this incredible opportunity. She also said she'd come over to cook me a Spanish meal so I don't have to eat the residencia food!! Carpe diem, baby!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Flamenco Fiend

This has been a very busy week. So PLEASE forgive me for not posting sooner. This week has been full of grammar grammar grammar and so today I have the day off to do what? ...Study Grammar! AHHH!! Anyway... this morning I had to wake up early in order to go to the University of Seville (picture on left) for an orientation. At CIEE we have the option to take "Cursos Para Extranjeros" which are courses for foreigners at the University of Seville. They are in Spanish and similar to CIEE courses but they are taught at the University by their faculty and it is a mix of students from many different programs. Starting Monday I'm taking two "Cursos Para Extranjeros" and two CIEE courses. At the University I'm taking "Inter-American Relations" which looks at United States politics from a Spaniard point of view and "Contemporary Spanish Theatre." I've heard the theatre here is a little odd, but I'm looking forward to having some performing arts classes while I'm here... PLUS it fulfills my Elon literature requirement!

At CIEE I'm taking "Creation of the European Union" and "Flamenco: The Art, Music and Dance of Andalucia." Speaking of flamenco... Last night was so much fun. Paige, Scott, Quin and I went to "La Carboneria." Emily had told me about this place and so had a friend of Paige. We wanted to do something different. Let me tell you, if you were not looking for this place you would never find it (picture on right). It's a little hole in the wall type place but once you walk inside there is a man sitting at a piano, a man singing and someone else playing the guitar and people just hanging out listening to free music. There were maybe ten people there. (I got there first to try to get a table because I heard that it usually gets packed.) I thought, "crowded my ass!" Well, some people walked past me and went into the next room and I saw what they meant! It opens up into a big bar with people hanging out, sitting, talking, and rows and rows of tables. It was packed!! Ok, so the deal with this place is that everyone comes here to see free flamenco. There is a little stage with four chairs and at 11:00 the flamenco starts.

Well, my friends got lost on the way and they didn't live close to the "bar" so I went and got a table. At the table next to me were 3 girls and 1 guy. They looked to be around my age and so I started talking to them about where they were from...what they were doing here...etc, etc. Well they were from Holland! Three just graduated high school and one just graduated college and were here through a language immersion program. They didn't speak a word of Spanish before they came here... I thought I had it rough. But their English was perfect and they said everyone in Holland speaks English. They were so friendly and must have thought for 45 minutes that I was some poor sap whose friend's had ditched him! But eventually they showed up and my new friends from Holland yelled at them for making me wait! The flamenco was so cool. It was a much different atmosphere than the previous show I had seen. It was much more laid back. Also, the performers at La Carboneria don't get paid! They come here to just do their thing and show off their talents. Flamenco certainly is an acquired taste, but I think I'm starting to get the passion and feel of it. Here's a video that I took with my phone so you can get the idea...

On a different note... I booked my trip to Morocco!! I can't wait to go and our trip sounds like its gonna be unreal, so I'll blog about that in a couple of weeks! Next weekend I'm off to Granada! OH! Our apartment is now full! Manuel moved in a couple of days ago. He's from Cádiz....you know, the beach where I went last weekend and seems like a really cool guy. Its very funny though. David and I will be doing our homework and Manuel will just come in the room and sit on one of our beds and just talk. The Spaniards are so eager to meet people. Manuel speaks Spanish...duh... but he prefers to speak English so he can practice, but we're attempting to talk to him in Spanish as much as we can. He helped me with my paper today so I'm glad he's around :) Our other apartment mate is a mystery. David met him once when he first moved in but I was in class. Since then he has not seen him once... I have yet to meet this mysterious, cello playing, Spaniard but David said he seemed really nice and ONLY spoke Spanish! We might need Manuel to translate if we ever can't figure out what he's saying or what we're trying to say...that is if I ever meet him!

I'm trying to think if there's anything else I should blog about... this is why I need to blog more often! Well I guess if there's anything else I can think of I'll post about it next time. I'm very excited for the regular University session to start! I have my grammar final tomorrow...I was studying yesterday in one of the many courtyards of the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is now my favorite place to do work. It is so quiet, beautiful and it has WIFI! In Sevilla they pronounce it "Wee-fee." It took me a while to figure out what the hell they were saying. We might go back to Cádiz or a different beach on Sunday...or maybe a vineyard. Sometimes I'll be walking down the street looking around or trying to make plans for some trip and think: Literally, my life is not real. I'm so f'n lucky!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Torro Torro!

Lets just say that Julie Kaplan would be very disappointed in my adventure to The Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza yesterday. After a peaceful and beautiful day in Cádiz, I decided that I would partake in one of Sevilla's most historic and culturally famous events...attending a bullfight. I was a little wary about going after hearing that a bull nearly ran into the crowd at the last fight. So I made sure, as Britney Caughell warned, not to sit in the first five rows. I had heard mixed reviews about attending a bullfight as some people in Spain think that it should actually be abolished. But I figured, hey, I'm here for three months I should try to experience as much of the culture as I should. Right?

WRONG. Well...to be fair, the opening ceremonies or what have you were very beautiful and elegant. With horses adorned in costumes and various mini parades, the matadors processed around the ring. The arena itself is very cool too. It is quintessential Spain and you really do get a full cultural experience from buying the ticket to the vendors before you enter the arena. You almost feel like you're in a movie sitting there because who in their right mind actually attends a bullfight!? As the bullfight begins, the main matador gets on his knees and prepares to face the bull as it comes charging at him... crazy. The first part is kind of cool where he's doing what you see in movies and videos where he "dodges" the bull which is called torero using the purple and yellow cape. I can see that it requires skill and such to be able to do that, so then just leave it at that! Or train the bull to do tricks! Don't do the other two sections... I'm not going to explain them because I simply don't want to recap them.. but if you're interested in learning about the rest you can click here to read up a bit. Kelsey said a Spaniard explained to her "bulls are one of the only animals that are given the opportunity to challenge his killer." True, BUT to me it was very gruesome and sad.

While I can't say that I enjoyed myself at the bullfight, I'm glad I went because even if people told me about it I wouldn't have gotten then full effect. It truly was a cultural experience and if I were back at Elon I'm sure I could have used that as a Cultural Event for a general ed class :). On a lighter and brighter note... I am now the proud owner...well renter... of a Sevici bicycle! Sevici is a bike rental system in Seville that follows the same model as many others around Europe. But basically there are many Sevici stations around the city and for a certain fee per week (or you can buy a yearly pass) you can rent a bike. You insert your card at the paystation and you select which bike you want and you go from station to station renting bikes. You can return/take a bike at any station around the city and you pay 1 euro per/hour (plus the weekly fee) in order to ride the bike. BUT if you use the bike for under 30 minutes you don't have to pay the 1 euro! So basically if you're gonna be riding for more than 30 minutes, change your bike at a different station before 30 minutes and you ride for free. Just keep switching out your bike! There's a Sevici station right by my street, by the CIEE study center and at the University! They're all over! So I'm all set!

L'chaim to not being the bull in the ring, to riding bikes for 29 minutes and to cultural experiences in Spain!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

If you want to see some more pics from the bullfight as well as other "shots of Sevilla" click HERE!

Cádiz

Hola from Cádiz!! Well actually I'm back in Sevilla....but pretend that we're in Cádiz! With CIEE (the program I'm in) we have some planned trips that are inculded in our tuition. They're not required but why not go? They're free! ....in a way! Actually it was a bit of a struggle getting up this morning to walk to the University to catch the bus. I think for the first time David, my roommate, learned what my parents have known all my life...that I am NOT a morning person. I need my sleep. I like my sleep. So when I don't get enough sleep, Adam is cranky. Cause I'm never cranky at any other time of day, right? ...right!

Anyway, Cádiz is located on the South Eastern coast of Spain. It is a peninsula and it is one of Spain's major ports. A lot of Cruises come through Cádiz and its incredibly beautiful. It is one of Spain's oldest cities and is the only Spanish city or area to never have been under French rule. San Juan, Puerto Rico, is modeled after the city and the beach that I went to today is the beach where "Die Another Day" was filmed! You know...when Halle Berry comes out of the water? It's supposed to be in Cuba... but it's actually in Cadiz! Here's a clip for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

What was so cool to me about Cádiz, besides the architecture, the weather and the beach was that I was on the other side of the Atlantic swimming in the ocean! Also I was so close to Africa! Geeky? Yes. Exciting? YES. So before we went to the beach and had some free time we took a mini tour of the city with CIEE. The actual architecture at first reminded me a lot of Sevilla but it much more colorful. My favorite part of the tour was climing to the top of the cathedral where you had a 360 degree view of the city. You could see all around the peninsula and the view was perfect. The top was a bit crowded so it was kinda hard to take pictures at times, but it was definitely worth the hike to the top.

After the tour we had about four hours of free time to walk around the city or go to the beach. Like most of the other students, we went to the beach. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. After our midterm yesterday and weeks of adjusting to anything and everything Spanish, floating in the ocean, swimming, and lying on the beach was perfect. After swimming for a bit a couple of us decided that we wanted to walk along the wall and path to the Castillo de San Sebastian which is a fortress protruding from the beach. The walk to the castle looks like a mini mini mini Great Wall of China. Not really. But kinda. Anyway, along the wall there are these steps down into the water where it's really shallow and there are these mini coves where you can stand in and swim. It felt very like Pirates of the Caribbean. Except it looks like the Great Wall of China. In Spain. In the Atlantic. Got it?

Jumping off the "Great Wall"

On the walk back to the beach we saw these two Spanish guys jumping off the "Great Wall of China" into the water from pretty high up. It looked really cool! But really scary too. Long story short...after much contemplating, myself and a couple of others decided to try it. It was so much fun. When you're looking down and about to jump you're scared shitless, but I just jumped and besides a litte water up my nose I was fine! After that we hung out a the beach a little more...I fell asleep... got a little sunburn...and then got back on the bus to Sevilla. We were all exhausted but decided that when we have a free day we want to come back. It's only an hour-ish away and its so beautiful. Made me excited to go to Lagos but as I was walking back to my apartment from the University today I realized how incredibly fortunate I am to be having these experiences and to be living in such a beautiful city.

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

P.s. if you wanna see pics of Cádiz click HERE!