So tomorrow, I will have officially been in Seville for 8 weeks out of my 16 week semester. I don't really have a lot of write about in this post the time since I wrote last has been pretty uneventful. We didn't travel anywhere this weekend and we didn't even really go out to bars or clubs either because we were still recuperating from our sleepless, crazy Lagos weekend. When we got
off the bus from Lagos last Monday, I went directly to class so I never really had a day to get back on track. So as you can see after Lagos, a weekend of sleep and sightseeing sounded amazing to me. On Friday, I woke up and met Kelsey to do our weekly bible study. After the bible study, Kelsey took me for a walk around Triana, her "barrio". Seville is broken up much like New York City is broken up into boroughs. Triana is the "Brooklyn" of Seville. It's on the opposite side of the river from downtown and it really is charming. We walked down all the small, old streets. We walked by cathedrals, took pictures on the bridge and even went to a market which was really similar to farmers' markets in the states. Also, that day (along with almost every single day for the last week) was about 75 degrees and sunny. That afternoon, I spent a lot of time in my bedroom and around town just relaxing. I just started "Twilight" (yes, I gave into the fad), took a nap and worked out, 3 things I never get to do in the States. That night, Steph, Kels and I met up to go to a bar that has a terrace that overlooks the river and the city. We had a drink, talked and walked back home to our host families. Even though the 3 of us just went to sit and have a drink, because it's Sevilla and it's not normal to go to a bar before 11am, I still wasn't in bed until 2am. 2am is an "early night" here; isn't that crazy?
off the bus from Lagos last Monday, I went directly to class so I never really had a day to get back on track. So as you can see after Lagos, a weekend of sleep and sightseeing sounded amazing to me. On Friday, I woke up and met Kelsey to do our weekly bible study. After the bible study, Kelsey took me for a walk around Triana, her "barrio". Seville is broken up much like New York City is broken up into boroughs. Triana is the "Brooklyn" of Seville. It's on the opposite side of the river from downtown and it really is charming. We walked down all the small, old streets. We walked by cathedrals, took pictures on the bridge and even went to a market which was really similar to farmers' markets in the states. Also, that day (along with almost every single day for the last week) was about 75 degrees and sunny. That afternoon, I spent a lot of time in my bedroom and around town just relaxing. I just started "Twilight" (yes, I gave into the fad), took a nap and worked out, 3 things I never get to do in the States. That night, Steph, Kels and I met up to go to a bar that has a terrace that overlooks the river and the city. We had a drink, talked and walked back home to our host families. Even though the 3 of us just went to sit and have a drink, because it's Sevilla and it's not normal to go to a bar before 11am, I still wasn't in bed until 2am. 2am is an "early night" here; isn't that crazy?The next day (Saturday) we decide to go to the beach. The nearest beach from Seville is about an hour away by bus. The only departing times for the bus were 8am or 1
1am. Because we wanted to get the most out of the day, we took the 8am bus, meaning we had to be at the bus station at 7:30am. The bus was absolutely packed with people wanting to get to the beach and the drive through Spain's Southern countryside was beautiful. We got to the beach, which was named Matalascañas, went to a café for some breakfast and headed to the beach. This beach was the biggest beach I had ever been to. Every single beach I've been to in my whole life has had some sort of curved land or marina that cut off some of view of the ocean, but this beach was like a straight line and there were no marinas in sight so when you stood at the shore line, the ONLY thing you could see was blue water. Obviously, we did all the cliche beach things; we played in the waves, took in the sun, etc. We also had a really nice lunch at a restaurant on the beach. We took the bus home at about 6 pm and got back to Sevilla with enough time to catch a movie. We saw Gran Torino with Spanish subtitles (good flick, love the symbolism). We were all exhausted from the sun and the night before, so we all went home around 10pm. I got to bed and slept for 13 hours. Finally, today is the first day I've felt well rested since Lagos.
1am. Because we wanted to get the most out of the day, we took the 8am bus, meaning we had to be at the bus station at 7:30am. The bus was absolutely packed with people wanting to get to the beach and the drive through Spain's Southern countryside was beautiful. We got to the beach, which was named Matalascañas, went to a café for some breakfast and headed to the beach. This beach was the biggest beach I had ever been to. Every single beach I've been to in my whole life has had some sort of curved land or marina that cut off some of view of the ocean, but this beach was like a straight line and there were no marinas in sight so when you stood at the shore line, the ONLY thing you could see was blue water. Obviously, we did all the cliche beach things; we played in the waves, took in the sun, etc. We also had a really nice lunch at a restaurant on the beach. We took the bus home at about 6 pm and got back to Sevilla with enough time to catch a movie. We saw Gran Torino with Spanish subtitles (good flick, love the symbolism). We were all exhausted from the sun and the night before, so we all went home around 10pm. I got to bed and slept for 13 hours. Finally, today is the first day I've felt well rested since Lagos. This week, I have midterms so if you send me emails, please forgive me if I don't return any of them this week, because I will be studying. I know this post was pretty uneventful, but get ready for some big news and stories coming up in the next ones. Here's my schedule for the rest of my semester here:
March 19th-22nd (Next Weekend): PARIS!
March 26th-29th: Barcelona
April 1st-9th: Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)
April 9th-12th: Semana Santa Events in Sevilla (these are a HUGE deal here)
April 17th-19th: Madrid
April 23rd-28th: Palma de Mallorca
April 29th-May 3rd: Sevilla's "Feria" (This is Sevilla's annual fair, people flock from all over the world to visit)
As you can see, I am incredibly blessed/spoiled and I will have a LOT to write about over the next month and a half. This also means that I will be busy busy busy, so again, please forgive me if I don't respond to emails as quickly or as frequently as I have been. Next weekend, I am going to see the Eiffel Tower, which is one of my life goals (1. Be happy, 2. Have kids. 3. See the Eiffel Tower...). I can't wait to tell you all about it!
more photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2372487&id=10235591&l=14f87d3022
i'm sooooooo jealous of your life. it is not fair. :)
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