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!