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