I couldn’t believe it when I saw my sister walk through the doors of the Sevilla airport after claiming her baggage. I teared up because I was so happy she made it without a problem. We got on the bus to head into the city and we were laughing and joking all the way about the most random stuff. I missed my sister so much.
We got off the bus and we were in Spain! Together! I loved witnessing her see everything for the first time. The orange trees that I walk by everyday- I was once amazed by them, too. It helped me take a step back and realize this wasn’t always so comfortable to me. It took me back to before I knew my way around- before I could really call Seville my home.
We walked through the city, dragging her suitcases all the way to our hostel. She chose our hostel and she did a great job of it. We stayed in Triana, one of the oldest and prettiest parts of Sevilla. It’s also a very convienent location because it was close enough to my homestay, the university and all of the tourist attractions we were going to see.
After we checked in we went out in search of food. Jess was starving after all of her traveling so she knew she wanted something she was sure she would like. So….we went to McDonald’s. It was delicious (of course) but afterward we pledged not to eat at McDonald’s again for the rest of her trip.
Jess took a nap because she had some jet lag. I couldn’t sleep because I was too excited that she was finally in Seville with me. I couldn’t wait for her to wake up.
Eventually, she did wake up and we went to the river to sit at an outside bar and enjoy some sangria- Jess’s favorite.
The rest of the days in Seville we spent touring. We saw the Cathedral, Alcazar, and Bull fighting arena and museum. We even took a little row through the river in Plaza de Espa�a. Who knew we were so great with oars!?! (haha!)
During her time here, she was able to meet my host family. My host mom and sister took us out to coffee to get to know Jess. It was really nice and kind of crazy to have my two worlds meet.
Jess also came to a bunch of my classes with me during the week which was really nice.
Our time in Seville ended, however, on the same day as the General Strike throughout Spain. We were worried about getting the bus to the airport and then catching our plane. We were really lucky to catch an early bus to the airport and we didn’t have any problems getting to our next destination. It was a huge relief!

Location: Triana, Sevilla

I was SO excited when my se�ora invited me to spend the day with her ENTIRE family. (She has 8 siblings…)
They were all getting together to celebrate their parents FIFTIETH wedding anniversary! I was shocked and amazed at this!
In the morning, one of my se�ora’s sisters came to pick us up. We drove to one of my se�ora’s brother’s houses in a nearby pueblo called Aznalcazar. He and his wife were so nice and I also met their 20 year old daughter. (And their dalmation!)
It was raining, so we could not go celebrate in “el campo” (the countryside) and have a picnic of sorts. Instead, one of the siblings had a friend who had an indoor space we could use in a close by pueblo called Pilas.

When we arrived, there was a fire going and some of the siblings had already gotten started cooking and laying out the food.
So far, 7 of the 8 siblings were all their with their spouses and families. The 8th sibling (the oldest brother) was not coming because he lives in Granada which is a 3+ hour drive.
About a half an hour into the party, this final sibling came and joined the party! It was such a great surprise for the family (and witnessing it almost brought me to tears!)
There was so much food…and so much Spanish. I spoke Spanish all day to the parents and all of the siblings and kids and spouses. Also, they all wanted me to try every kind of food that was on the table! It felt really good to be welcomed into the family. They all made me feel apart of the party.
I was so excited when my se�ora’s sister-in-law invited me to spend the weekend at their house. Their daughter is my age and she wants me to stay over so she can take me out at night and then to the beach the next day! I am so excited to do this!!!
12 hours later, I finally returned back to Seville. I was really worn out from such a long day. It was a really special day, though. I really enjoyed it.

This is the parents recieving their anniversary gift! How sweet!

Location: Pilas, Spain

There is an American naval base only 2 hours driving distance away from Seville. I was so happy to get the chance to visit!
I was especially interested in this visit because my boyfriend, David, starts basic training for the US Navy in a little over a month. I am so proud and excited for him! I was glad to see what Navy life is like when stationed on a base.

We learned about Rota and the strategic value of this base. We also were told that this particular base was going to double in size (of population) in the next few years!

Overall, we had a really cool day. We got to tour a huge Air Force plane and then we got to tour Rota (the city (beach town!) in Spain where the naval base is located).

Location: Rota, Spain

Castillos 

Last Friday, I visited two “pueblos” (small towns) outside of Sevilla with my program. We went to see two different medieval castles. The castles were pretty interesting- they are ruins open to the public. We learned a lot of history while we were touring the different castles (Alcala and Utrera were the two pueblos we visited.) I really love these small towns. They are so charming and they are exactly what I pictured Spain would be like before I arrived here two months ago….(yes! I’ve already been here for two months!?!?)

There was this awesome bridge in Alcala:
Here is what inside of a part of one of the castles looked like:

Location: utrera, sevilla

We really wanted to take a trip to Morocco while Emily was here, but there was not a way to take a day trip and we didn’t have enough time to take a weekend trip.

On Wednesday, a friend mentioned something about a program doing a day trip to Gibraltar. I wasn’t exactly sure what Gibraltar was but I was sure I had heard of it before. Later that day I mentioned it to Emily and even though neither of us was sure what or even where Gibraltar was, we signed up for the trip on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning approached quickly and we woke up early and walked to the bus stop. We planned to sleep on the bus (until they started blasting music!) So during the bus ride we wrote in our little journal that we decided to keep in order to write down our adventures in and around Spain.

At this point, we knew that Gibraltar was a territory of England that is attached at the bottom of Spain. We knew from the program description of the day that we would be able to see Africa from a lookout point, climb the famous rock of Gibraltar, go in a cave and get to see the famous Gibraltar monkeys.

Arriving in Gibraltar, we had to go through customs to get our passports checked. After, we got on mini buses that would give us our tour. Our tour guide was so funny and interesting. He told us just how small Gibraltar is. As we were waiting in traffic, he said that we were waiting for a plane to either take off or land. (Gibraltar is the only place in the world where car traffic has to stop for air traffic). A few minutes later, don’t you know that a plane drove right on by right into the airport? It was very interesting.   

Next we went to Europa Point- a lookout point. This is where we were able to see Africa! We had views all around. Behind us was the huge rock of Gibraltar, to our right was a piece of Spain and straight ahead was the strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. Looking out further, we were able to see Morocco! (Even though we weren’t able to visit, it was pretty cool that we SAW it!!)

Then began our climb of the rock of Gibraltar in this tiny tour bus… It was actually pretty scary and we were convinced we were going to fall off the edge. We went inside St. Michael’s cave, but upon exiting was when we were able to hang out with the famous Gibraltar monkeys. I loved the little baby monkeys and I was crawling all over the ground trying to get one to like me. Some of the monkeys were huge and scary, but the babies were really cute. A lot of people had the monkeys climb on their backs and shoulders and I tried really hard to get one to climb on me. Unfortunately the monkeys did not like me very much! We did have one monkey eat sunflower seeds out of our heads!

Location: Gibraltar

Emily and I flew into SVQ on Monday night. Being back in Seville felt great. I was only away for four days but I really missed it. I realized that I feel comfortable in Seville now, as if it is a second home (I guess a third home, following PSU). I was so excited to have this opportunity to be back and to spend the week in Seville with my best friend.

We walked to our hostel but being Emily and I, of course we went to the wrong one first, haha. We eventually found the one that we would be staying at for the week. The facilities were new and nice. There was a bar and a roof top terrace with a pool. The only issue was we did not have any privacy (like we did in Barcelona with the curtains). I took the top bunk (which I would fall out of multiple times- including once bumping all the way down and landing in Emily’s suitcase…) Now I know why my sister always had the top bunk when we were younger- I’m way too clumsy to be trusted up there, haha!

We met a lot of interesting people in the hostel, including a woman who was originally from Sweden but who has lived all over the world (but mostly in the United States). She was a teacher in the past and one night she, Emily and I had a great conversation about the direction of education in the United States. She was very excited to hear about what we were learning about in our university classes and it was really uplifting and motivating to hear this woman’s perspective on the importance of our future careers. She believed, as we do, that we can and will make a difference in our future classrooms.

It was pretty difficult living in a hostel for over a week straight, especially when we stayed in a 12-person room with one bathroom. One morning, I just got out of the shower and Emily was about to get in. She put her things in the bathroom and then remembered she had to grab her towel. As she came out of the bathroom to get her towel, one girl from Italy who was staying in the room with us asked if she could use the “toilet.” Of course we said yes, thinking she would just use the bathroom quickly before Emily got in the shower. Unfortunately, she took this as an invitation to shower herself leaving Emily and I confused and wondering where the miscommunication came in…

Of course there were a lot of other interesting people in and out during the week. We met people from all over the world and it was really cool.

Emily and I had an amazing week in Seville. We went to all of the beautiful sights in Seville like the Plaza de Espa�a, the Catedral and Los Reales Alcazares. I loved seeing Emily being just as amazed as I was (and as amazed as I still am). It was really nice to be reminded how much beauty there is here, and Emily helped me realize that I should not take a single moment for granted while I am in Seville.

We also saw a flamenco show with dinner one night. It was actually pretty funny because in the middle of the performance, a man went up on the stage (which was right next to our table) and started singing. It was very strange and we were unsure what was going on. Was he a part of the show or was he just trying to upstage the singer? Either way, it was a good flamenco show and I was glad that Emily got to see this traditional piece of Spanish culture while she was here.

Even though I’ve been in Seville for two months now, Emily and I still got lost multiple times. It is very hard to navigate this labyrinth of a city! Regardless, we always laughed everything off and had an amazing time exploring Spain together. I feel so blessed that we had the opportunity to experience this together! I am beyond happy that she was able to visit for spring break it was just a shame how fast the time flew by! It was very hard to say goodbye to her last Sunday, but I just realized that instead of being sad that she left, I should be happy that we had the experience.

Location: calle almirante ulloa, Sevilla

The whole cell phones not working over here in Europe created quite the problem for Emily and I as we both arrived at Barcelona El Prat last Friday. We had no way of contacting each other and we did not know where to meet each other. Luckily, I connected to Wi-Fi for 15 minutes during which I used a texting application to get a hold of her. She miraculously received the text and we were able to find each other!

After some struggle we took a bus to the city center. From there we walked to our hostel. We arrived (but only after walking past it a few times in search).

I can’t describe how amazing it was to have my best friend here. It was so amazing and so comforting to have this little piece of home. Besides, when Emily and I together a minute does not go by without us laughing.

So at first, we just walked around the city catching up and admiring what Barcelona had to offer. We got some tapas that night (traditional Spanish cuisine that Emily had to try!) with some sangria. Of course Emily was exhausted from her travelling mishaps and what have you so we stayed in our hostel and played some cards with people from all over the world until we were ready to pass out in our beds.

The next morning we woke up with big plans to explore Barcelona. We wanted to see the most famous Gaudi sites. Everyone told us to take the metro to get to these sites from the hostel. We didn’t listen because (1) we don’t mind walking and (2) we don’t want to miss out on an adventure through the city by simply taking the underground metro.

Quite flawlessly (I’m very proud to say) we made our way to “La Sagrada Familia” Gaudi’s work in progress cathedral. This building is a masterpiece. It is absolutely incredible and it is not even completed! It is so detailed and interesting.

Then we grabbed some lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby before making our way to Gaudi’s Parc G�ell. In the distance we saw what looked like a mountain. We figured Parc G�ell would be up there because I had heard from some people that it was on top of a hill somewhere. We proceeded to climb this mountain only to find at the top that we were not where we thought we were. Regardless, we enjoyed the beautiful 360� views of the city. This accidental mountain climb actually turned out to be one of our favorite parts about our weekend in Barcelona.

 Next, we wanted to go to the actual Parc G�ell. On top of the mountain we started asking people for directions. Once we climbed back down the mountain we continued asking for directions until eventually we entered Gaudi’s famous park. Upon entering, we were not impressed. After the views we had just seen on the mountaintop, the dirt and construction in the park were not pleasant. We then, however, saw Gaudi’s house. From then on in the park we saw all of the beauty. The incredible ceramics on the ceiling and lining the benches; the sculptures; the houses; the runway from season 1 finale of America’s Next Top Model….it was all there! And it was all incredible. We took so many photos and had an awesome time taking in the amazing works of art that Gaudi left behind.

Stubbornly, we began the trek back to our hostel. I say stubbornly because we still refused to take a bus or metro. Instead, we found our way and we did a terrific job of it. (Here, I will not hesitate to give all the credit to my lovely friend, Emily, because without her sense of direction I probably would have landed us back on top of the mountain we had accidentally climbed earlier that day).

The next day we planned to spend at the beach. We suited up (in our bathing suits, yes), and headed to the beach. We sat for a few minutes until we could not handle it anymore. Unfortunately, it was way too cold for a beach day. We then ate at a restaurant right by the ocean. We were told that in Barcelona we HAVE to try the seafood, so that is what we intended to do. We ordered a “fish and seafood platter” that the waiter so helpfully told us contained “fish and seafood” when I asked for more clarification. When it arrived we were not too content with what we saw. This seafood was awful, even for two girls who actually enjoy seafood in the US. I will share some details: it was mushy and undercooked and unseasoned. Yeah, we did not enjoy it.

On our last day in Barcelona we did some shopping on the famous street Las Ramblas.

Leaving Barcelona that afternoon, we felt that we had done everything we came to do. We liked our hostel, met new people, found our way around the city and saw the best sights that Barcelona had to offer. I missed Seville so much and I was so ready to return to city that I feel comfortable in. I was so excited for Emily to see her second city in Spain (and the best city if I may add my bias ;).)

Location: Barcelona, España

The weather is absolutely beautiful here, now! During the day it has been getting to 25 degrees Celsius (which I think translates to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit). When I told my se�ora I was heading out one day to enjoy the sun, she told me that from now on it should stay this beautiful and only get hotter as the months go on. This was amazing news!

Ruinas It�licas

Here are some photos from the beautiful ruins that I went to see on Tuesday. As always, the history was beautiful. Especially the ceramic tile mosaics that still exist from so long ago.

Location: Córdoba, España

Carmona

I love not having class on Fridays! (Especially because there are trips through my program where we get to see different sites in and around the Seville area each Friday.) This week we went to Carmona. It was a beautiful little town. It was very similar to the city of Seville, but it was very quaint. There were some Roman ruins there and we even got to go into a grave. (Creepy, I know!) But it was very interesting to see the history of this town.

There is also a tower in Carmona that is very similar to the Giralda in Sevilla. In fact, they call it the “Giraldilla.”

As we were walking through Carmona sight-seeing, we had this amazing view. I know I say this about everything I see here but it was one of the most favorite views I’ve seen so far. 
CARNAVAL

Then on Saturday I rested all day…because Saturday night was going to be the longest night of my life. We left on a bus to C�diz at 8:30pm on Saturday night and were not to get back on the bus back to Seville until 5:30am Sunday morning.
We were going for Carnaval (I’m not spelling it wrong, I swear! That’s how they spell “Carnival”). I think that it is the same idea as Mardi Gras. Before Ash Wednesday everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) goes to C�diz to get crazy.

It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I’m happy it was just that-ONCE!
I did have a lot of fun! Especially at first it was funny to see the millions of people all over C�diz in crazy costumes. It was fun and entertaining to push through the crowds and try to meet up with other friends.
But there were millions of people there- and I don’t think I’m exaggerating. And the tour guide on the bus said that we were going to the “biggest botell�n of our lives” but I thought it would be more than just drinking in the streets. I thought there would be a parade. Or amusement park rides. Haha, nope!
But there was trash…EVERYWHERE! And bathrooms….well there weren’t any- so the streets turned into the bathroom. You can imagine why at 3:00am I was tired, and cold and so ready to leave. But we still had a few hours left before the bus home. Then the buses were  MIA so we actually did not end up leaving C�diz until 7:00am to return to Sevilla at a record breaking 9:00am.

Very. Long. Night. I did have a lot of fun in the first five hours in C�diz. But like I said- experiencing it once was more than enough!

Location: Carmona, Sevilla

Ansiosa
I couldn’t sleep Sunday night. I was so nervous for the next day. (…it didn’t help that I accidentally took a long siesta while I was trying to warm up in my bed).
But Monday was the start of classes. I was afraid of navigating the university. I was afraid of the professors. I was afraid of how hard the classes would be and that I wouldn’t understand anything.

Lunes
Monday morning finally came and I headed over to my program center for my first class of the day. It was a grammar class and all went well. My professor is animated and very easy to understand. I can tell this class will be a lot of fun.
Then the real test came at noon. My first university class-Syntactical Analysis (of Spanish, of course). My friend and I were able to find our classroom fairly easily which was a huge weight off of my shoulders. I met a few Italian study abroad students in that class. We talked together for a while before the professor came in. He was really nice and I could understand him well when he spoke to us. He previewed the course for us, told us the books we needed and sent us on our way. I went up to him after class to introduce myself and he was very receptive. I was very glad that this first university class went well!
Later, I went back to the program center for a Literature class. I ended up not liking that class at all so I decided I would try other classes to see what I liked more.
I was very glad we had the opportunity to attend as many classes as we wanted before making a final schedule. In fact, next week I am going to try a few more to see if I want to switch or stay.

Mi primera amiga espa�ola
In my Classical Mythology class, I sat next to a girl on the first day and introduced myself. Not until I said my name was “Jennifer” did she ask if I was foreign and where I was from. She is from Seville and she is so sweet (and stylish like all of the girls here). We sat together everyday this week. She always offers me her notes and tells me that she will help me if I don’t understand anything. She has an exam this Saturday so she’s been busy studying, but I hope that next week we will be able to hang out or get a caf� con leche after class.
If there is one reason I am staying in my Classical Mythology class, it is because I made a friend!!! 🙂
I was so happy yesterday in class because another American girl turned around and asked my friend a question. My friend did not understand this girl’s Spanish no matter how much she repeated herself. I translated for them to help out a little. Finally, the other girl turned around. My friend turns to me and tells me that she could not understand that other girl but she understands me perfectly well. She asked me how much practice I’ve had and how long I’ve studied Spanish because she thought that I spoke really well. I was so excited because this was such a great compliment! (from a native speaker!!!!!) YAY!!!

�Mi espa�ol est� mejorando!
Monday was such a long day. I spent hours in classes listening to and speaking only in Spanish. I was very exhausted by the end of the day and I accidentally took the long way from the program center back to my house because I was just walking and I forgot to turn. I didn’t mind, though, because a few minutes into my walk I realized I was thinking in Spanish! I was so proud of myself. Then I made myself continue thinking in Spanish for the rest of the walk. I was thinking about the classes I was taking, how I was planning to change my schedule, what would transfer back to Penn State…and more! I feel like my Spanish has improved tremendously already and I’m so excited to see how much better I get by the end of this experience.

Cat�dral
I toured the Cat�dral on Tuesday. It was incredible. It is almost unbelievable how beautiful it is.
I walk by the outside of the Cat�dral at least twice a day and I am always amazed at how awesome it is. The inside, however, is even more breathtaking.

We climbed up the Torre (tower) and could see over the entire city. (What a workout that was….33 ramps or something to get to the top) It was so amazing, however, and totally worth it.

So luckily I have no classes on Friday this semester! My weekend starts at 6:00pm every Thursday! YAY!

Write more soon.

Location: Universidad de Sevilla