Winding Down

Everything is pretty much winding down over here. One more week of class and then finals and a lot of things are swirling around my head right now. I'm really excited to be home and see my family and friends but whats more is to just see how I have changed. I'm really curious to see how I will adapt to life back at home as API does a lot to warn us about the transition. Apparently this reverse culture shock stuff is the real deal and they have given us a lot of reading on what to expect and how to deal with it. There are a bunch of statements from past API students on the API website about their experiences with returning to school and home and they aren't pretty. A lot of frustrations with returning to a more fast paced society and feeling as though they have had this experience that no one else can understand. I feel so lucky that I have so much to go home to and so much to look forward to and keep me busy this summer(job, sister getting married, amazing family and friends, etc) and feel that I will be more than fine on returning home. I don't feel as though I need to worry, I feel really ready to go home, a lot more so than a lot of the people here, the biggest thing I feel that I have learned while being here is how great my life at home really is. I love where i'm from, where I go to school, my friends, and my family. I have so much more pride for being an American now and having what I have. A lot of the people here have become "Anti-American" but I feel the exact opposite. I love America! I think it's pretty sad actually. I just don't understand how you can have so much disdain for where you are from. Who knows, this could all change the second I step off the plane but I feel like I have become so much more patriotic since being here and I am really proud of that change! I don't know, i'm just really curious to see myself adapt and see what I miss about my time abroad and what I don't. It will definitely be very interesting, I just hope I don't become one of those people who can't ever stop talking about or comparing their time abroad to real life. Please tell me to shut up if I do.

Spring "can't catch a" Break

Don't make plans in life because when you get so excited about visiting so many different amazing places a volcano in Iceland can go off and ruin it all. A little bit of turmoil this week with everything that could go wrong going wrong(cancelled flights were the least of our worries, I could write a whole blog on everything else that went wrong but that probably wouldn't be the most fun read) but although Prague and Dublin will have to wait I did get to see a lot of Italy and it was an experience nonetheless.

We sat in the Pisa airport, outside of Florence which we did get to see and was amazing, for pretty much a whole day just staring at eachother after realizing we weren't making it to Prague or Dublin wondering what the heck we were going to do for a week while stranded in Italy. We eventually went to the train station and hopped on the first train to Rome. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, there could be worse things than being stranded in Italy, but when you have plans to do something really amazing and all of a sudden they fall through, it kinda sucks. Not knowing where you are going to stay that night or what the heck we should do in Rome for four days is pretty exhilirating at first but then reality sets in and you realize you have no idea where you are going to stay that night or what the heck we should do in Rome for four days! Rome was beautiful nonetheless with so many things to see, we were defnitely not pressed for things to do, and I also got to go to Cinque Terre(the most beautiful region on the coast north west of Florence), and Pisa for a night. I will always be able to tell the story about how I got stranded in Italy for a week because a Volcano(since when are there even volcanos in Iceland) went off in Iceland(Iceland? Really?) and now have an even bigger desire to return to Europe in the future. Everything happens for a reason?

Anyways, here are some highlights from the most stressful trip in the history of trips...

Amazing views

Think I ate pizza for pretty much every meal

Hadn't had a whisky sour(my favorite drink) in three months(there are 6000 american students in Florence)

Beautiful Cinque Terre

You can kinda make out the Pope coincidentily holding mass while we were touring the Vatican

At the Colosseum where of course we got stood up by our tour guide

Happened to be Rome's 2763rd birthday while were there

A motorized Cart, probably the most amusing part of the trip

Toros

Just got back from a bullfight and have to say it is one of my favorite things I have done in Sevilla. I feel like a boy, but I actually thought it was really cool, and am surprised at how much it didn't bother me.

It's huge to these people, like a Spanish Kentucky Derby except they kill the animal instead of race it. They all dress up really nice and go out and drink before and during the event. Tickets are pretty expensive(ours were 86 euro although API paid for them)and the people are very well to do. Great cultural experience though, got to see five fights and one bull snap its horn out of its socket from running into a wall too hard. Pretty graphic and it was obviously in a lot of pain, but the other bulls were stabbed about seven times before they were actually killed so at least it didn't have to go through that! Probably not the most humane thing, but who doesn't like a man in tight pants!

Una broma, here are some pics. I wanted to add a video but blogger is being lame and is taking thirty minutes to upload it.

Maroc

I don't even know where to begin. Four days in a different country you see a lot of things especially when that country is in Africa and is extremely different culturally, economically, and politically! The food was amazing, the people a little strange and creepy, the shopping cheap, and the countryside beautiful. I had amazing couscous, was followed by strange men asking "how many camels for you?"(among other things), had a great time perusing the millions of shops, and saw some amazing views. All in all we went to three Moroccan cities, Fez, Chef Chaouen, and Tetuan. Fez is the largest Moroccan city but my favorite by far was Chef Chaouen. It is a really beautiful town that looks like it came straight out of the Greek Isles. Everything is painted blue and white and the city is surrounded by some amazing mountains. It is beautiful! I also had a great time getting to know all of our different tour guides. Our main guide, Mohammad, was a very interesting man who liked to tell us all about the Moroccan culture. For example, one of the first things he told us on one of our many bus rides(about 17 hours in total) was how Moroccan men like their women strong and fat. This way their bones don't poke them when they are laying on the ground, they provide good warmth in the winter and good shade in the summer, and they don't have to buy a washing machine because the strong ones are good with a washing board! It's funny how open and straightfoward they are with women considering they don't let them out of the house with being completely covered and having asked permission first. One of our other tour guides was introduced to us by Mohammad as having two wives and always looking for a third and that "maybe after today he will have four." Ya, he had one arm and was missing a few teeth so I don't think any of us were going after that. Such characters those Moroccans! Very nice people though, I really enjoyed their humor although I'm pretty sure they were not joking most of the time. Here are some pics from my cultural experience.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa is over! I just got back from Barcelona with Mom and Molly and had a great week! Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong(They arrived about 10 hours later than they were supposed to, didn't have their luggage until monday...) but with all of that we still had a great time in Sevilla and Barcelona. I had the whole week off because of Semana Santa which is the holy week that they celebrate in Spain the week before easter. It is particularly a big deal in the south and especially Sevilla so the city was very crowded this past weekend and there were many processions that we unknowingly and unwillingly got trapped inside of(a little frustrating). It's pretty freaky too because of the resemblance to the KKK. Google it and you will see what I mean. I'm glad I got to see some of that tradition though.

After Sevilla we spent 3 full days in Barcelona and saw all kinds of things like Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, Gaudi's Casas, La Rambla, the Picasso Museum, the beach, and much more of Barcelona's charm. I absolutely loved it! My favorite place I have been so far. It really is a city that has everything. It is a big city, which I love, with tons of things to do, amazing architecture, the beach, and the mountains. If only they spoke Spanish there and not Catalan! We also got warned a lot by random people to be careful because we are three blondes and stand out quite a bit.(Lots of pickpocketing there) For the most part though I felt really safe and had an amazing time. It was really great to see my family too although I think it has had a reverse effect on me because I have all of a sudden been hit with a strong spell of home sickness! It was absolutely beautiful in Sevilla this weekend though and that has helped my spirits quite a bit. I got to wear shorts today! Anyways, I would definitely recommend Barcelona to anyone coming to Europe and definitely plan on going back someday, something I have not really said about any other place I have been so far. It definitely is a must see.

I am really excited for my last 7 weeks here though because the weather is absolutely beautiful now and I have lots of amazing trips planned! Still is really hard being away from home though, I miss all my friends like crazy it's almost best not to talk to them as much because it makes me miss them even more!!! I know seven weeks is going to fly by though and I will be wishing I had more time! Sorry kinda short this time, I'm exhausted and want to go to bed. I will try and post again in the next couple days! Hope you are enjoying!

Here are some pictures of Barcelona and the fam...

Life lately

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted on my oh so amazing blog. I have just been so busy with midterms and traveling and planning for more traveling. I have also been spending a lot more time outside because alas it has stopped raining!!! Knock on wood but we have had lots of 70 plus days where I have just gone down to the river with some friends and hung out and got some sun! Speaking of sun, I just got back from the island of Tenerife which is part of the Canary Islands. We were really only there for two days and I wish we could have stayed there longer so I could have gotten even more sun but I actually wasn't too impressed with the island. Granted all we did was lay by the pool(which I really can't complain about) and really didn't do any exploring at all but I think we were all expecting some tropical paradise. Maybe I am just feeling that way because we were at a resort in which we were the youngest people there by about 50 years and I have now seen enough men in speedos and 60 year old women without swimsuit tops to last me a lifetime! Oh, Europe. I also ate more food than I thought was humanly possible because we upgraded to all inclusive and since we were 10 girls with no one to impress pool side we definitely took advantage of the situation. To have 80 degree weather though and come back with a tan line is pretty exciting even if the beaches weren't the nicest!!! The island was also pretty impoverished which is not what I was expecting. It just makes me realize how lucky I am to live where I live and have what I have!

The weekend before this we went to three cities in the autonomous region of Spain of Extremadura and saw a lot of cultural things like old roman ruins, churches, we stayed in a monastery which is pretty cool, and also went on a 10 mile hike up a mountain. It was pretty rough but a lot of fun with some pretty spectacular views. Unfortunately though I do not have any pictures of it because my camera died half way through. Won't be making that mistake again.

I am now more half way done which I can not believe and am wishing I had more time here. Don't get me wrong, I get extremely home sick sometimes but 4 months is simply not enough time to do all the things I want to do! I guess I will just have to make use of the time I have and start living it up! Have a good rest of your week everyone!

Pasapalabra

Since our dining room table is in the family room it pretty much goes without saying that I know a thing or two about spanish television. For the most part it is a lot different. I absolutely can not watch the news. I thought the news at home were bad, but here there is absolutely no censorship which means the news are more often than not very disturbing and violent. Tons of nudity, violent protestors, war violence, i've seen it all. That being said we have fallen in love with one spanish program called "Pasapalabra" (pass the word) which is a very popular game show or "concurso" here. There are a sequence of alphabet games which earn time for two contestants who then square off in a final test in which they are given a clue to a word that starts with each letter in the alphabet(25 clues in total). If they don't know they word they say "pasapalabra" and it becomes the other contestant's turn. The person with the most correct words wins! Anyways you probably don't really care about this gameshow but it has become one of our little luxuries here and something we look forward to watching at dinner every night. It took us awhile to figure out how exactly the game works but now that we have gotten it we love it and it is even more exciting when we can understand what clues the host is giving(he talks extremely fast). I've added a picture of him, another reason to watch the show. A better looking Ryan Seacrest in my opinion.

Will it ever stop?!

It hasn't stopped raining for a month here and my 2,50 euro umbrella ain't cuttin it. I seriously think it has rained almost every day since I have been here and I heard someone today say that it is going to keep going for another month. It's not normal rain either. It's accompanied by lots of wind so consequently the rain falls sideways and there is really nothing you can do to keep from getting wet. We were supposed to go hiking on saturday with my program but it has been cancelled because should I dare say it, too much rain! Can you say weather prone depression?! Costa Rica is looking real nice right about now, why did I have to choose to go to a place that has had more rain than it has had in over 50 years! So frustrating, all I do is watch my tv shows. So lame! Please someone comfort me and tell me that I made the right decision in coming here, I'm going crazy over here!

P.S. If you would like to send me a feel better card or something you can send it to:

Academic Programs International
c/o Amy McCue
Calle Capitan Vigueras
n'9 plata 1 baja
Sevilla, Spain 41004

That's all for now.

Malaga

Spent a long weekend in Malaga. We had thursday and monday off of school so Jaclyn, Seana, and myself decided we wanted to go to the beach! We successfully took a train from Sevilla to Malaga and stayed in my first ever hostel. It was called the Melting Pot and very rightly so. I met people from England, Germany, Norway, Finland, Italy(story about him later), France, Turkey, Australia, California(I realize this isn't another country), and Columbia! Crazy! It was a pretty nice hostel though. I stayed in an 8 bed female dorm with a shared bathroom. It was a little cold at night but for 13 euro a night that's really all I can complain about. Every night we would hang out with our fellow hostelmates at the bar until 12 and then go out on the town! The city center is a good 30 minute walk but the Malaga nightlife is a lot better than I expected. Lots of Spanish bars all in walking distance of one another. We also went to the Pablo Picasso Museum, the Castillo de Gibralforo which is the old fortress type monument that overlooks all of Malaga, and spent a lot of time walking and taking naps on the beach! The water was freezing and the sun had to be out for it to be warm but we all got some color and had a very relaxing weekend! I can not wait for the Canary Islands in three weeks. The main beach in Malaga is kinda dirty and not very nice but the Canary Islands should be a lot warmer and absolutely beautiful. The weather in general is getting a lot better here. Still rains almost every day but is warming up quite a bit. I'm pretty sure i'm the palest person in Spain, I can't wait to go down to the river in Sevilla and get some sun! Don't worry Mom and Dad, I bought some sunscreen.

Oh, crazy story about the Italian guy. He was wearing a sweatshirt that said Cansas and underneath said Cansas City. It was the weirest thing ever. I asked him about it and he had no idea what it was but said he got it somewhere in Italy. I don't know why it was spelled with a C but seriously, what are the chances?

I'm glad to be back home in Sevilla though, it's my new home!

Hostel beds
View from the hostel
View from the Gibralfaro
Seana, Jaclyn, and me
The beach
Such tourists
Really, Really good mexican food. I'm not going to tell you how many times we ate here.

Granada y más

So apparently I have been neglecting my blog so get ready cause this is going to be a long one.

Just got back from Granada with API and it was absolutely amazing! My favorite place I have been so far, I did not want to leave! I took about 200 pics while I was there but it was just so easy, everything was sooo beautiful. The Sierra Nevadas as a back drop just make the smaller more charming town of Granada that much more magnificent! First off, it was just nice to get out of the house for a couple days and stay in a hotel where we didn't have to worry about making our Senora mad.(She kinda scares us) There was a buffet for dinner and breakfast and we got to watch some of the olympics! It's amazing how much I enjoyed being able to do that although the channel was in German and we only got to watch the biathalon, skeleton, and the long jump. It was a lot colder in Granada than it is in Sevilla but we finally got lucky and did not get rained on at all! I have never enjoyed clear skies more! Friday night we went to this private flamenco show in this small cave type room. Really fun and cool. And I have videos!




Went out on the town after that and today we went to la Alhambra which is the royal palace in Granada. Granada was the last arab city in Spain back in the day and la Alhambra is the most visited monument in Spain. 2.5 Million people visit it every year! It was really amazing, our italian tour guide who was fluent in Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, and English was extremely passionate about it and kept asking us to wait to take pictures because we needed to first really see it. Had the best tuna sandwich ever after the tour(the seafood is amazing here) and then hopped on a bus home.(Sitting in the back of the bus = not fun) I couldn't get over how beautiful Granada was though. I knew the second we drove in that I was going to love it and I really wish I was living there but alas I am in Sevilla and I should not complain. Segway to Sevilla, more rain than they have had in like 60 years and I've been a little peeved. I have been pretty sick lately too which sucks. All I want to do is get out of the house and wander around but I can't so I am forced to stay inside and do homework. I'm trying to get as much presentation type stuff done now before it turns nice. UPO(Universidad Pablo de Olavide) is a smaller school just outside of the city. There are about 500 american students who attend and I really like it! Classes in general are way easier here but it is more work than I expected. I don't know what I was thinking but when I came into this I was expecting to just go to class, pay attention, and that would be enough but this is not true. I do have homework, although it is minimal, and I took a European Union test last week that was actually very challenging. I think we all failed it. C average is all I need though! JK, I actually find myself wanting to do well and really grasp what I am learning in these classes. I think it partly has to do with the fact that since my classes are all pass/fail there is less pressure to do well and therefore I can relax more and really enjoy what I am learning. Maybe more classes should be pass/fail! Only having four classes doesn't hurt either. We are all starting to speak a lot more spanish now too which has been fun. A few people in my program have given up speaking english for lent(ya, crazy) but it has all kinda striked a chord in us to practice more. I think we are all realizing too that we only have 3 months left here and we better make the most of it while we are here! I can not believe I only have 13 weeks left here! It's going to be over before we know it! Especially with all the traveling I am going to be doing, time is going to fly!

Absolutely love it here though and can't wait for more adventures! Miss everyone at home, Hasta Pronto!

The Hood Cont.

Finally some nice weather today so Elisia and I went on a walk to try and find this golf course I have been wanting to find. Needless to say we did not make it there because I was more concerned about getting us out of the most impoverished part of Seville. Probably should have realized it was time to turn around when google maps could no longer find me on my itouch(yes my itouch has GPS, don't ask me why I am just now finding this out today but I am very excited about this finding and will definitely be using it a lot in the near future) but we continued for awhile and now feel very fortunate that we live where we live in Seville. We ran into the same homeless guy a couple times and got quite a few stares but I don't blame them. Two blonde american girls with big sunglasses walking around a trash filled neighborhood. Sore thumbs sticking out. Looks like I won't be working on my golf game while I am here.

The Hood

Did some exploring around where I live yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Before when I went out walking I would just go to the city center because it's the old area that's near the river and the cathedral and is really pretty. I live in the newer part of Sevilla which is deceiving because it's a lot of construction and nothing that special at all but yesterday I decided to walk past my building(walking further away from the city center) and discovered it's not all that bad. There were some really cute homes that were really close together but all very differnt(kinda reminded me of southern California) and a lot of cafes and tapas bars that I want to go to! It made me realize I have a lot more to see.

Speaking of a lot more to see, from here on out I have a trip planned and am leaving Sevilla for atleast one day of every weekend. Ahh! It's crazy! I can not wait to start traveling. This weekend API is taking us to Cadiz which is on the beach about two hours away and the week after that I get to go to Granada. I also have plans to go to the Canary Islands, Lagos, Florence, Prague, Morrocco, and Dublin! I'm going to be a busy girl. It's a good thing I'm only taking four classes! I'm really starting to enjoy my classes a lot more now, especially my spanish classes. I'm learning a ton! I kinda feel like I don't have very much contact with the people here though. The only time I really get to practice my spanish is when we go out on the weekends so I guess here's to going out more! Haha, anyways here are some pictures as promised of my residencia and the view from it!

Adios!

1 de Febrero

You know that kid in every spanish class who is like buddy buddy with the teacher, answers all her questions, has inside jokes with her, and seems to just be well above everyone else's level in the class. Ya, he sits next to me in my advanced spanish class but in my conversation class I am that kid! Ok, I definitely don't have any inside jokes with my teacher but I can't tell you how nice it is to actually understand everything the teacher says and be the one to answer the hard questions. Granted I have taken a few classes above this level at K-State but I actually feel like I am learning more in this class than in my advanced class because although it's mostly review I can understand everything she says and therefore really remember how to say something correctly! In my advanced class I walk away not having any idea whats going on, it definitely challenges my ability to focus more. No ADD allowed in that class.

So that was class today. I then came home to an email from Pilar, one of my resident directors, that said my sevici pass had arrived in the mail! It's supposed to take 4-6 weeks to arrive but ended up only taking one week! For those of you who don't know, Sevici is the city run bike system in Seville. There are bike stations almost every 100 yards where you rent a bike from. You then have 30 minutes to get to your destination before they start charging you. So me and Emily decided it would be a good idea to take a little leasurely bike ride home from the API office...uh no, these are the heaviest bikes ever so every pedal takes you like one foot and I was definitely feeling the burn the whole way home. I realize now that they probably do this so that people can't speed down the streets like maniacs but darn it I want to speed down the street like a maniac! Haha, I guess this will be my new way of exericising!

I do have some homework already, but I really have nothing else on my plate right now. It makes me excited that I will be traveling almost every weekend I am here. I'll be able to hang out and explore Sevilla during the week and on the weekends see other things!

Have a good week everyone! Sorry I don't have any pictures to post on here. I promise I am working on it!

I miss Americans

I'm really feeling the cultural divide and missing my fellow americans. I don't know if it's the language barrier or not but I really feel as though their is so much hostility towards americans here and it's getting to the point where I dread having to come into contact with spaniards. For example when I go shopping I am used to someone greeting me with a smile and a hello but this never occurs in Spain. Service in general is so much different here, basically it doesn't exist. I have been told that europeans are a more efficient people and therefore they think self service is more ideal. I don't know, I guess it is just something that will take some getting used to! I just feel like I am very unwanted here. I am stimulating their economy! Shouldn't they be happy?!

It's really warm today though so that's a positive!

First day of class!

Had my first day of class today. Advanced spanish and spanish conversation and I have to say my brain is a little fried. Neither of my teachers speak any english so paying constant attention is key! I can already tell that I am going to learn so much in these two classes though. My advanced spanish class is the harder of the two, my spanish conversation class is at a more intermediate level so I think it will be really good to have a class that acts as more of a review and then another class that will really challenge me. My spanish teachers are both surprisingly easy to understand though. It's my host parents that I have the most trouble with. I have two more classes tomorrow, both in english, so that will be a good break from all the spanish! I'm in class with students from all over, Minnesota, South Carolina, Oregan, even Canada so that has been fun getting to know everyone as well. I'm looking forward to my classes in english tomorrow and hoping that I will be able to switch one of them to an earlier time, wish me luck!

Estoy llena.

I kinda feel like i'm going to pass out from fullness right now. Soup, eggs, bread, ham, this other weird stuff, and pudding. They just keep putting more food in front of you and you feel rude if you don't eat it! Oh boy, good thing i'm walking so much.

I can not wait till it gets warmer though! Its pretty cold here right now and has rained really hard the past couple days. Its kinda annoying when its raining and you have to walk everywhere. It could be worse I guess. I'm about a 20 minute walk from the center of the city so today I ordered a Sevici pass which is a city run bike system. There are bike stations all around the city so you can rent a bike for thirty minutes at a time from any station and leave it at any other station. It's only 13 euro for the whole semester! It will be really nice once it gets warmer out since I will be able to get to the city center in about 5 minutes and hang out by the river or in a corner cafe!

I got my class schedule today and it looks like my earliest class all semester will be 10:30. I always get so lucky. It's only a ten minute metro ride to the school too so i'm pretty excited about that as well. I also got into the class I was worried they weren't going to have so it looks like next semester i'll only have to take 11 hours! Yay! I placed into an advanced spanish class so i'm a little worried about that but hopefully I will just learn that much more! I already feel like i'm learning a ton.

Anyways I'm trying to take a ton of pictures so more will come soon to facebook. I miss everyone. Sorry if this is a really boring blog, comment if you are reading though!

-Amy

No es tan Facil

My roommates and i rolled out of bed around 2:00 just in time for lunch today. That's what happens when you stay out till 3:30 in the morning.

Last night we went out at 10:30 which is really early, most people don't go out till midnight or one, because we got invited to go out with the Discover Sevilla people which is a kind of travel guide place that has there own excursions to different places nearby. 6 of us are planning to go to Lagos with them at the end of March! After lunch we tried to go to the mall that is really close to us but everything is closed on sundays so we ended up going to a movie instead. We thought it was going to be in english with spanish subtitles but it was definitely all in spanish. Oh well, it's an experience and it's a good way to learn spanish! We also discovered that they have assigned seats for movies here. We are just learning so much!

Anyways, I'm really anxious and excited to start school and get into more of a routine. Still haven't seen a lot of the city but hopefully as the weather gets better in the next couple days I will be able to do that!

Adios!

Tour de Sevilla '10

I'm not going to be able to sit for a week! I went on the most amazing bike tour of Sevilla yesterday. For most of the ride I was focusing on the path right in front of me and trying not to fall over but I did get a lot better idea of how the city is mapped out and how to get places. To give you an idea of what the weather is like here... I definitely got sun burnt yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful, so excited! You're aren't going to recognize me when I get home! Not only will I be all tan...I'll be fit and trim. We do so much walking, I love it! The food has been pretty good but there again i'm only eating three meals a day and never snacking. I think i'm going to like Sevilla! The one thing I'm trying to get used to is all the staring. I swear its like they have never seen an american before. Haha, some of it is probably my blonde hair but it makes you a little more self concious when you know that they know you are a foreigner. I don't think this is going to change anytime soon so I am going to do my best to try and blend in!

View of the Guadalquivir.

En Sevilla

Oh where to begin. Saw Toledo today which was amazing. I've never seen anything like it, it was so beautiful! We then hopped on a bus to Seville and we got here about two hours ago. I haven't really gotten to see much of the city since it was dark when we arrived but tomorrow we are going on a bike tour which should be pretty cool!

On to the residencia... definitely not what any of us expected. There are five of us living in a small apartment with an older couple and we are hard pressed to find the difference between this and living with a host family. There are 7 of us sharing one bathroom, living room, and kitchen but the good news is we have internet!

Oh did I mention also that me and my roommates room is decorated with about 5 paintings of naked women. Yep, a little disturbing.

Anyways, so excited to finally be here and all moved in. I plan on spending this weekend exploring, shopping, and hanging out with all my new friends!

Adios!

Madrid

I'm here! I finally arrived in Madrid after some eventful travel experience. My flight to Philadelphia got cancelled so I was rerouted to Atlanta then to Paris and then finally to Madrid. I arrived after the API airport pick up so I had to take a taxi to the hotel we are staying at for a few days which was actually kinda fun because my taxi driver spoke no english and I was forced to use some of that Spanish i've been learning!

I have definitely been feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering what the heck I'm doing in a foreign country by myself but I am blaming that on jet lag and not having slept for over 24 hours!I really am so excited to be here in Madrid though and to get to Seville so I can start exploring the city!

Last night API took us(75 of us) out to dinner and I had duck. I have to say it was actually really good. I've met a lot of really cool people so far, a ton of people from the east coast. Me and the other three K-Staters are pretty much representing the midwest. None of them knew that it snows in Kansas and they think we should have accents. Weird.

Here are some pictures of el Palacio Real and el Museo del Prado that we visited today.

Hasta Luego!