September 26, 2005
After recuperating all day yesterday from Oktoberfest, my first day back to school was a welcomed return to daily activities. I came home for lunch and slept a little too long for siesta. Then wrote about Oktoberfest in my journal, which, if you read it, you’d know it took a while to write. Then went back to school to put it online and study. This morning I got an email from a friend from Chapman (Tommy) who said he was traveling around Spain for a month and coming to Sevilla tonight. I wrote him back and gave him my phone number. Then, as I was checking my email, he walked up the stairs of my school! As you can imagine, I was quite surprised to see him considering I didn’t tell him where I lived or where my school was. He got my address off of my travel journal and followed the map because he didn’t have a phone. Then, while leaving me a note in the lobby (he didn’t know I was there), Noelle (another Chapman student on my program) saw him and recognized him. Miraculously, they went to high school together! Anyway, he came up and we talked for a while. He got a hostel and I will be meeting up with him again tomorrow to show him a little bit of Sevilla. It’s crazy what can happen in Europe! I came home for dinner and did my homework. I have two tests on Wednesday, yuck. So instead of writing a lot, I will go study. Hasta manana amigos.
September 27, 2005
Today I got back my first assignment: a paper about Spanish food. I got a 93! That’s exciting. After class I met up with Tommy to get a snack/lunch (for him). Afterwards we walked around Plaza Nueva and Calle Sierpes to try and find a cheap hostel for him to stay in. Luckily, we did, surprisingly on one of the busiest streets downtown, we find the cheapest hostel. We walked around some more until I had to get back to class. Later on, I met up with Vanessa. She is on a different program and it just so happens that her school is across the street from my house. We bought our tickets to Barcelona (for my birthday) and then I left for my next class (flamenco). After class, we studied for a bit and then I met back up with Tommy. He walked me home and got dinner at a really good place on the way. Then it was studying for the rest of the night for 2 tests tomorrow!
An update on my Spanish…I know I’m getting better. My senora told me last night that she could see a big difference from when I arrived. She has confidence that by the time I leave, I’ll be a lot better. I can’t wait to go to Mexico now to see how different the language is there compared to Spain. Just so you know, learning another language is ridiculously hard, and I have a newfound respect for anyone that speaks more than one!
September 28, 2005
My first test was in my Spanish Grammer/Conversation class. I thought I did pretty well. I’m guessing low A’s. Then in Civilization, another test, but this one was essay form. This is my hardest class for many reasons: I don’t like history classes very much, my teacher is really into the subject so he talks really fast and we can’t understand him, and he is also a hard teacher. I knew almost all the answers to the questions, it was just hard to actually put them in essay form in Spanish.
Later on I met up with Tommy again. We went over to Discover Sevilla, and I paid for my trip to Morocco which I’m really excited about!!!! Then, he wanted to see the bull ring, so we walked over to it and then alongside the River where we had a couple of drinks at a floating restaurant. I walked home, ate, took a long siesta to prepare for the night. Since Tommy was in town, I wanted to take him out for the night…even though it was Wednesday. We met up with my friend Brooke and Jose at T de Triana on Calle Betis (our favorite spot). Jose and Tommy really got along well and were talking really fast in spanish almost the whole night. Then Jose told Tommy if he ever came back to town that he could stay at his house, so Tommy might be coming back to visit…we’ll see.
September 29, 2005
Today after school we had a field trip to a flamenco dance. Since I wasn’t going home for dinner, Brooke and I decided to go eat at the Tex Mex place. I had a huge combo plate with a ton of great food! Yum! On our way back we saw a big parade of people chanting in the streets. We think it has something to do with the immigrants trying to come from Morocco, but not sure.
The Flamenco was pretty cool. I liked it better than the last one because it had a girl singer and both a woman and man dancing together. It’s weird, but flamenco seems to be some form of tap dancing/interpretive dance. I always thought it was something like the Tango or Waltz where you follow the steps. Anyway, wasn’t feeling so hot afterwards so I went home and read-finishing Angels & Demons (great book for anyone thinking about reading it!).
September 30, 2005
Today I got up early to get to school and send out a few birthday emails (mom and Cathy) and then met up at the Toro del Oro for our school trip to Merida, Caceres and Trujillo. Our first stop was the Roman ruins in Merida which are the best preserved in all of Europe-even better than Rome. There was a huge theatre that had a two story stage that was almost all still in tact (see pic). The rest was pretty boring, except that we found a Subway!!! When we got back on the bus, the A/C wasn’t working (it was about 95-100 degrees out). We all literally passed out on the ride to Caceres because we couldn’t stand the heat. In Caceres, we checked into our hotel (verrrry nice) and rested a bit. Then our teachers took us to some castles and churches in the city. Afterwards, we had a four course meal at the hotel. The rest of the night, we hung out in the hotel, watching CNN in English and enjoying the A/C.
October 1, 2005
This morning we had a buffet breakfast!! The best breakfast I’ve had since being here, although I stuffed myself. Then we packed up and headed for Trujillo. The city was really small and centered around the old Moorish castles. I was starting to get bored of castles cause I’ve seen about 10 already, but I managed to follow along. Then we had another four course lunch at a restaurant, and I stuffed myself, yet again. Getting back on the bus was painful because the A/C still wasn’t working very well and we all knew we had a 4 hour drive back to Sevilla. The drive was horrible; I passed out for an hour and then suffered the rest of the way back listening to my iPod. Today was my friend Joanna’s 21st birthday and I felt bad for her having to sit on a non-AC bus for 4 hours!
We got back, changed, ate dinner, slept etc. and then went out to Calle Betis to celebrate her birthday. I was still worn out from the day, so I definitely wasn’t the life of the party.
October 2, 2005
I woke up this morning (just like all Sundays) with soccer boys screaming “arriba, aqui, etc” and whistles blowing. I sat around for a while reading/writing/studying, etc. Then I met up with Vanessa at Starbucks. We talked for a bit, walked to the University and an internet cafe and then to the Cathedral. I wanted to go in but it was mass and Vanessa wasn't dressed properly so we couldn't go in. So instead, we sat outside and talked for a couple of hours. Sundays are boring.
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