Friday night= Movie night
One of my friends has her own apartment here, so for the past two Friday nights, she’s invited some of us over to have a relaxing movie night.
This week we stepped it up a notch when my other friend decided to cook us some fried chicken and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Talk about comfort food! (And not to mention this girl is from the South and REALLY knows how to cook!)
On my way to movie night I got a call to pick up some vanilla extract and baking soda for the cookies because they couldn’t find it at the supermarket.
I stopped in one grocery store where the man told me they had the vanilla I was looking for but not the “bicarbonato.” I followed his directions to find the vanilla, but instead I found a box clearly labeled (in English, nonetheless) BAKING POWDER. I thought this man did not know what he was talking about because there was the bicarbonato, but not the vanilla. The next store I went to did not have the vanilla either, and the following store was closed.
I went to my friends apartment feeling good that I found at least the one ingredient we needed!

Then it was cookie making time and we decided to try making them without vanilla (how much of a difference can 1/4 teaspoon make!?) Except then my friend realized I picked up baking POWDER instead of baking SODA…classic mistake. And I had felt so proud I found it so easily….
We couldn’t use the baking powder so we decided to walk back to my friend’s homestay where she had made cookies once before and found the ingredients. We picked up both the vanilla and the baking soda and headed back to make the cookies.
In Spain they don’t seem to do much baking because there was no equipment to bake with. They also use the metric system. So we were using regular drinking glasses as “cups” to measure with and a cheese grater as a sifter….

Needless to say, the cookie dough did not turn out. It was pretty much a liquid, but we put in the first batch anyway. The first batch spread out so thin they became pancakes. We added a ton of flour to the cookie dough and tried a second batch. These turned into muffin tops!
We decided to just enjoy the cookie dough instead of failing at another attempt to make cookies. Mmmmm, comfort food felt like home!

C�rdoba: (“It was the best  of times, it was worst of times”)

The next morning, I woke up the earliest I’ve woken up since I’ve been here. It was 6:30am when I got out of bed, got ready and headed to the metro station. I was feeling a little sick for some reason, but I shook it off thinking it was because it was such an ungodly hour.
We took the metro and walked about 15 minutes before we got to the train station. We bought our tickets to C�rdoba (only 20 euro round trip!) and boarded our train. It was only an hour and 20 minute trip before we arrived in C�rdoba.
We (eventually) made our way into the city center once we figured out where we were in relation to the map. In the city center we got to see a lot of what this beautiful town had to offer. We saw the “mezquita” (their Cathedral), their Royal gardens and this ancient Roman bridge. In the gardens we relaxed for a while taking in all of the beauty around is. It really seems like back then the people really knew how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. There were shady spots and sunny spots throughout the garden. There were beautiful plants and pools and trees. It was wonderful.

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Unfortunately, it was after this last stop in the Alcazares when I started to feel really sick. I was nauseous and I had a headache and I was not sure why. I thought I might be dehydrated so I grabbed a bottle of water. Drinking that did not make me feel better.
I will spare you all of the details of what happened in a trash can in the middle of the street in C�rdoba, but as it turns out I have food poisoning. (At least getting it out of my system helped me feel better!) Somehow, I made it back on the train, from there walked to the metro station and took that back to my homestay. I slept for 15 hours last night and sipped water as much as I could. I woke up feeling better today, but I just stayed in and was productive: completing homework and applications and now this blog!
So it was the best of times getting to see another beautiful city, but being sick I could have done without. At least I’m feeling better now!

This Week
I cannot believe that on Friday I will board my flight and meet my best friend in BARCELONA! I am so incredibly excited to see her and explore this new city together! We are going to have a blast. After our long weekend in Barcelona, we will head back to Seville and enjoy the rest of the week here. I am excited to show her around this beautiful city!
Can’t believe you’re almost here, Emily! I cannot wait!
This also means, however, that March is quickly approaching. Just another reminder that time is flying and that I need to enjoy each moment here in Spain.

Besos, xxoo