tomorrow...United States of America

Can you believe that 4 1/2 months have already passed and I sit here now among suitcases packed for America. It has been an amazing semester full of new challenges, growth, learning, and memories that will truly last a lifetime. It's cliche, but it's so true.
I'm not sure how I am feeling about coming back to the US. Of course I am excited to see my family and friends, and of course I am excited to eat a cheeseburger, but at the same time, I'm not sure if I am quite ready to leave Sevilla, my new home away from home.
This semester has been challenging for me. A new place, new people, a new language, new food, and a new culture. All of these things combined to give me the worst nerves ever when I first arrived, and now it's second nature. I walk around feeling like I've lived in Sevilla for years, and I finally speak Spanish with confidence. It's a great feeling to know that I have accomplished something so spectacular in my mind.
I'm going to miss Spain. I am going to miss Mama the most, our Spanish friends, siestas, tinto de verano, the tapas, walking everywhere, the city as a whole- but I know I will be back someday when the time is right. For now, I take with me the lessons I've learned and the memories I've made, and I look forward to starting the next chapter in my book of life.
I want to thank all of you who have read this throughout the semester- I have really enjoyed sharing my stories and pictures with you all, and I can't wait to share things with you in person. Thank you Mom and Dad for EVERYTHING you have done for me this semester. I seriously could not have done this without your love and support, and of course the helpful dinero :)
So tonight is my last night in Spain and you ask- "what will you do?" easy, we will live it the Sevillano way- tapas and drinks tonight with our Spanish friends.
10:30 tomorrow I will board the plane- destination the good ole U. S. of A. I will leave with tears in my eyes, and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart, knowing that I will always have a home in Sevilla, Spain. I truly am happy and grateful that I was able to spend the last semester of my junior year in Spain. Thank you all for your love and support. It means the world to me.

I love you all, and I look forward to seeing you within the next weeks to come.

I leave you with this-

Happiness is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

its been too long

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging lately. To be honest, I've been traveling a lot and I just haven't been able to find the time to sit down to update everyone. As I am writing now, I only have 11 days left in Sevilla- it truly is one of the most bitter sweet moments I have ever felt in my life. I'm excited to go home to see everyone and to sleep in my own bed, and to get a hug from my own mom, and to drink REAL diet coke- non of this coke light crap, but at the same time I am going to miss Sevilla dearly. It truly has become my second home.
I'm taking a break right now from finishing up a 5 page paper and two presentations to give you a quick summary of what has been going on since Feria- then its back to work for me.
Gareth visited for 10 days and we traveled to Toledo, and to Portugal. It was a great time all around. It was so good to spend time with him and to show him around Sevilla, as well as travel to different parts of the country and to Portugal. Portugal was AMAZING and so beautiful. It was so relaxing just sitting on the beach doing nothing. Unfortunately I don't have any funny stories so I'm sure you will find this entry rather boring.
The weekend after Gareth and I were in Portugal, I went back to Portugal with some of friends that are in a different program here in Sevilla. There were 10 of us and we rented two cars and drove to Lagos, Portugal. We stayed in a villa, and cooked our own food and it was SOOOOO FUN!! We did a lot of hiking through the cliffs and had our own little private beach. It was a great weekend, except for the fact that I had a near death experience in the ocean during high tide and high waves. I caught caught on the shore where the waves were breaking and I got sucked in and lost my bathing suit bottoms and couldn't breath or get out of the water. It sucked me back in twice and when I was finally able to get to the surface and get to shore, I was crawling up the beach covered in seaweed and sand clinging onto my bathing suit bottoms with my big toe. It was SOOO SCARY, yet after I finished gagging and vomiting up all the salt water it was pretty funny, and there are some pretty funny pictures of the whole thing that I am waiting to get from my friend's camera.
There are 4 new albums on my picture website for you to check out. I hope you enjoy all of them.
We're getting into crunch time with school. Classes end on Thursday and finals start on Monday. I have 3 finals on Monday-boo!!! but with that being said I will be home 1 week from this Saturday! I can't believe I am saying that. This weekend is our last weekend in Sevilla. We're going to go to the gypsy market on Saturday. We'll see what else we get up too, its been in the high 80s low 90s this week and let me just say it is TOO HOT! its seriously unbearable heat. There is no ocean breeze that I am usually used to, so its definitely hard to handle. We sleep most of the afternoons because thats what you have to do in order to survive. Don't worry though I'm drinking lots of water and doing the best I can.
Oh I'm really tan right now- probably the tannest I have ever been in my life this early on in the summer.
what else...OH!!! bad news- on Saturday night Mama got mugged by two men and she broke her arm and has all these scrapes and bruises all over her body. Thankfully she held on tight to her bag, which is probably why she is so banged up, but they didn't take anything from her. She was pretty shook up, but shes in much better spirits now. I told her that in the US when someone breaks a bone and has a cast people sign their casts, and she was like OOOO OK!!! so we are all going to sign her cast!
So the things I am looking forward to the most when I get home...lets see
1.my family and my friends!
2.cheeseburgers- spaniards don't eat beef. I have gone through such a beef withdrawal here its insane. I neeeeeed a burger!
3. my own bed with soft sheets
4. a pillow- not a clump of rags in a pillow case
5. diet coke- not coke light

Thats all for now, I've got to get back to work and then I need to go to bed! I miss you all so much and I can't believe I will be seeing most of you in such a short amount of time! I hope all everything is well back in the good ole U.S. of A!!!

see you soon!!!

Feria

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update about Feria. I have still be recuperating from the week's festivities.
Feria is a week long "fair" for lack of a better word. All the kids have off from school for the entire week. (yes, a second spring break for me!) At the end of my street there is a giant fairgrounds that holds thousands and thousands of casetas, or these little mini huts. Hut isn't exactly the right word for them because they are more than huts, but I don't really know how to describe them. Hopefully you have already seen the pictures. Well the casetas are owned by families and you have to be invited inside. Inside there is a bar and a kitchen where food and drinks are served and there is lots and lots of dancing. Of course my roommates and I have the hook ups and our Spanish friends have casetas, and have friends that have casetas so we rocked Feria all week long. During the day there are tons and tons of horses that parade around and people show off their money and status. Oh man- it was definitely my worst nightmare. Where there are horses there is horse poop, and where there is horse poop there is definitely a RANK oder. If anyone knows me they know that the one smell I can not stand in this world is the smell of horses. UGH!!! It was so hard not to walk around holding my nose, but I didn't want to be rude. AHHH I hope I never have to smell that again in my life! Jose kept telling me- its ok, once you have a few drinks you won't smell it anymore. haha I love the spanish way of life!
The typical drink of Feria is called a rebujito. Its manzanilla which is this white distilled apple wine that is really really strong and potent, but you mix it with sprite and it is DELICIOUS! probably a little too delicious since my roommates and I spent the entire week drunk. You buy it in jarros (jars) and everyone just takes turns buying one and then you drink it out of these little shot glasses. It is good stuff!
Along with all the casetas at Feria there is also the calle infierno (the street of hell). It is here where you find all the food vender's and the "midway." There are also the "attractions" as Spaniards call them, more commonly known to us Americans as the rides! Let me just say that the rides in Spain would NEVER pass in America. Half the rides you're not even strapped in and they all go WAY faster than they do in the states. Even the ferris wheel goes SOOOO FAST!!! What kind of a ferris wheel goes fast? That is suppose to be the slow romantic, or geezer ride (right dad? remember all our good times on the ferris wheel?) Man oh man I was shocked! But the best ride were the bumper cars, except in Spain they call them the coches locos (crazy cars) which is definitely fitting seeing as how you don't wear a seat belt and they go about 25 miles an hour! They really are crazy cars, but so crazy fun!!! My roommates and I hadn't laughed that hard in such a long time after being on the bumper cars!
Normally we would be out until about 5 or 6 in the morning and then sleep until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, have lunch and then start to get ready for another night at the Feria. Now, you need to know that none of my roommates or I had taken Sevillanos dance lessons before the Feria, but of course that didn't matter because our Spanish friends would NOT take no for an answer when it came to dancing. So how did we cope? Well we bought a few more jarros, drank up, and away we went. All the boys taught us how to dance, and it was so much fun. It's really hard to coordinate your feet with your arms and your hands while not looking at your feet and adding "pasion" or passion as Pablo continually told us. It was a good time. We basically just spent half the time flailing our arms around and moving our feet like idiots! Except for when they pulled us all on the stage to dance in front of everyone that was in the caseta...oh boy....not a good idea! Needless to say we made fools of ourselves, but did it with a smile :) The spaniard women weren't too happy with us since we were "stealing" the spaniard men away from them, but hey- we can't help it if we know how to dance better than them!! We got so many dirty looks from all the girls, but the boys wanted to dance with us, so it's not our fault!
It was a long week, but so worth it! We didn't end up wearing Mama's feria dresses because we were too scared that something would spill on them or something would happen to them, but this weekend we are all going to dress up in them and take pictures so I will be SURE to post them haha!

Side note: 1 month from today I will be stepping off the plane in Boston!!! I can't believe it has gone so fast! It really is bittersweet. I want to come home because I really want to see Mom and Dad, and the rest of the family and my friends, but I really am not ready to leave Spain. It has gone too fast. I can't wait till I graduate so I can move back here! I hope everyone is well, and happy that taxes are over. I know Sean is stoked!!
I miss and love you all so much!!! I can't wait to see you and show you pictures in person and tell all my stories!

Gareth comes on Saturday. We will be spending the weekend in Toledo, a city south of Madrid, and then next week we will be in Portugal for a few days. I'm pretty excited about that!! OH! and... Mama's birthday is on Sunday so we will definitely be celebrating!

BESOS!!!

Guinness- I've acquired the taste!

We spent our last day in Ireland back in Dublin since we had to fly out at the butt crack of dawn on Tuesday morning back to Sevilla. Michelle and I really wanted to go to the Guinness factory, so when we got back into the city, we stored our bags at the hostel and away we went. On our way over to the storehouse we stumbled upon Christchurch Cathedral which was BEAUTIFUL! Just when I thought I had seen all the cathedrals I would ever be able to handle in my life, we came across this one. It's so different from the Cathedrals in Spain. It was a lot simpler and much prettier. I liked it a lot if you can't already tell.
Guinness was SO SO SO fun! we toured the 7 story factory and learned all about the ingredients and the history behind this world famous beer. We did some taste testing and ultimately made it to the 7th floor which is a bar with 360 degree view of the entire city of Dublin. AMAZING! not to mention at the top you get a free pint of Guinness. I mean does it get much better than this? I THINK NOT!
All in all our trip to Ireland was fantastic. I loved every single minute of it, however I know my bank account didn't enjoy it. Ireland is MUCH more expensive than Spain. We were definitely happy to return to 1 euro drinks, and free meals at Mama's house. However, now that we've been back it hasn't stopped raining at all! I don't have school until next Monday because right now its Feria. I will be posting about next week once its all over. All I will say now is that we were out until the wee hours of the morning last night, drunk and dancing Sevillanas. I LOVE SPAIN!

V.I.P. in Castlebar

We took the train from Dublin to Castlebar on Saturday morning. Its about a 4 hour train ride across the country and it is a gorgeous ride! We saw tons of sheep, and cute little country homes, and lots of green grass, and for a little while, blue skies :) My two roommates and I stayed at the same B&B that Dad stayed at when he was in Castlebar, the Carragh House. It was so cute, and so cozy, and definitely worth every single euro! After a nice long nap, and nice long hot showers, Michelle, Raquelita, and I went to explore! Dad has sent me a list of the pubs and the people we needed to see so off we went. We started our night at Byrne's Pub, and met the infamous Mick Byrne. We was so excited to meet me, and instantly started pouring us beers. Before we were even half done with one beer a new one would be poured and brought to us. Needless to say I'm pretty sure I'm still full from all those beers. We watched a rugby match and met lots of Irish men! After Byrne's we went over to Cox's for dinner, where we had chowder and chicken sandwiches. Then we were off to McHale's where Dad said they pour the best pint of Guinness in all of Ireland. There I was suppose to meet Dom Malloy. When we went in it was around 8:30 and I asked the bartender if Dom was there, and she said yes and pointed him out to me, and off I went. I introduced myself and man oh man I have never seen so many Irish men more excited to see me! I met Dom Malloy, and Paul Doyle, and the Headmaster, and The Grimmer.
And then the drinks started coming. Guinness' and cokes for all! The best part is that Dom Malloy, Paul Doyle, and The Grimmer are Dad, Uncle Jim and Peter Ford in Irish form. Its just so fun to watch them all interact! After many drinks, and many comments about how much I look like dad, and many laughs, we decided to call it a night.
The next morning, Dom Malloy picked us up in his Mercedes Benz and chauffeured us to Westport, the next town over from Castlebar. We went to Croagh Patrick, the mountain where St. Patrick first arrived in Ireland and drove out all the snakes. Its really cool because on the top of the mountain there is a small white church and once a year at the end of July about 25,000 people make a pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick for mass given by the Bishop. We didn't climb it- I forgot to pack my hiking shoes and my walking stick, but its definitely on my list of things to do before I die. We climbed up a little of the ways to see the view of Clew Bay, where there is an island for every single day of the year. The view was AMAZING. Ireland is BEAUTIFUL! After we went to The Westport House, which is this estate from the 19th century that is now preserved and still has all its original furniture. It was really cool to see the inside. We even go to go into the dungeons! Weird and definitely creepy, but cool! We had Chinese food for lunch with Dom back in Castlebar, and then went back to the B&B to rest up for another evening at Byrne's. When we went back to Byrne's we hadn't even taken our jackets off and our beers were poured and waiting for us on the counter. Talk about V.I.P! I got to see the dummy page that dad made for Mick pretending that we won the masters. We met these guys in the pub and I told them about the page, and they didn't believe me for one second that it was my dad who had made it. But Mick verified and then my cool points rose through the roof. We took lots of pictures, and Mick even let us come behind the bar! After a few beers, and a few Guinness' we headed over to this Indian restaurant (Mick's favorite). Mick insisted that he take us for dinner. It was my first time having Indian food, and surprisingly, it was rather good! Of course we all ate way to much, and when Mick wanted us to come back to the pub for more drinks I really had to draw the line. Of course he played the "your a Higgins' and your Irish, drink up" Low blow Mick. Low blow!
We finally dragged ourselves home, and packed up our stuff for our early train back to Dublin Monday morning. Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention...while we were in Castlebar...IT SNOWED!!!!! man oh man I thought I had fully escaped the winter, but nope! It found me. It found me in my "homeland"!

the grass really IS greener in Ireland!

The rumors are true, the grass really IS greener in Ireland!!! but thats probably because in most places they don't let you walk on the grass! When we first arrived we checked into our hostel in the city, the 'Bunkhouse.' Then we were on our way. The first day we went to Trinity College, and to the Temple Bar district. The college was BEAUTIFUL! I think I am going to transfer there! The Temple Bar, which is one of Dublin's most famous bars was cool too! Michelle and I had our first pints of Guinness there, but of course we had shots of grenadine in it to make it a little sweeter! It definitely is an acquired taste, but I must say, after my trip to Ireland, I think I have acquired it :) We met these three guys from Switzerland, who ironically were also staying at the same hostel as we were, and so we had a few drinks with them and I learned the swiss german word for poop: goggle! haha I'm sure that will come in handy one day. After drinks at the Temple Bar we went souvenir shopping and of course the very first song I hear in Ireland is Oh Danny Boy! fitting of course :) It was really fun being in a foreign country but seeing "Higgins" on everything. I felt so important! Our first day we lucked out and never got caught in the famous Ireland rain, but day 2 wasn't so lucky. Our second day in Ireland we went to explore Dublin Castle, and spent a lot of time in the castle gardens. Make sure to check out the new pictures!!! After the gardens and some more shopping it began to rain...REALLY HARD...so we made our way back to the hostel and rested up for dinner. We had dinner at Johnny Rockets, except in Ireland its called Eddy Rockets, but is literally the same restaurant, and after we went and saw "The Other Bolyn Girl". It was a good movie, and I definitely recommend it. After two nights in Dublin it was definitely time to make our way to the west coast to a small town called Castlebar...

what can I say- I'm a Higgins

Tomorrow I am off to Ireland!!! I will be spending three nights in Dublin, and two nights in Castlebar (where Dad, Uncle Jim, and Peter Ford go to chase whitey). I'm super excited, and I can't wait to see my "homeland." On that note it's only fitting that I leave you with this:

Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you:
May the wind be always at your back,
The sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Also, I leave you with a short video that Dad sent to me, that I want all of you to watch. He says "it really does look like this" and next Tuesday I will be back to confirm.

http://www.e-water.net/irishblessing_en.html

I'm off to the land of green grass, Guinness, and rain. I'm Irish by blood and Higgins by name and like a good Irish girl and a devout Higgins, on Friday I will raise an Irish glass of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey and make a toast to Gram, to Nan, and for the Bandits; to the Grand Old Girl.

I love and miss you all-

A shitty "shitless" saturday in Spain

It all began at 11:45am on Saturday. My roommate, Raquelita, hadn't been able to go number '2' for a long period of time. She tried everything; laxatives, a bag of prunes,and an enema. Nothing worked. So we gave her an ultimatum. "If by Saturday morning you haven't gone, we're going to the hospital." Saturday morning rolled around- no poop- off we went.
The hospital is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment. It's located in Triana, the next neighborhood over from mine. We're pretty lucky here in Spain because health care is free, and since we're studying here at students we too get free health care.
We waited in the ER for about an hour and a half before seeing the doctor. He said they would perform another enema and was CONVINCED it would work, and we would be on our way within about 2 hours. Long story short, 11 hours and 2 enemas later, it didn't work and Raquelita was staying the night in the hospital. Details you need to know. Never once did we get to eat anything. Needless to say we were STARVING. The nurses, if you could call them that, were NOT friendly, NOT helpful, and NOT nurse-like at all. You would think that after giving someone an enema you would come back and check up on them to see how things were "flowing" but nope- not in Spain. They jam tubes up your butt and leave you there. They told us to press the "red button" if we needed anything. Don't you worry, we pressed it. We needed stuff. We needed to see a doctor. We needed some attention. Needless to say, we didn't make many friends in the hospital.
The best part of the day: At around 8:00pm, after being in a white hospital room with a non functioning TV my blood sugar got low. Well I thought to myself, perfect, we're in a hospital, couldn't be in a better place, there must be juice everywhere! So I march myself down the nurses station and in Spanish I explain that I am diabetic, my blood sugar is low, and is it possible for me to have some juice. Well the nurse looks at me completely dumbfounded and says "I don't speak English." Well you can imagine the look on my face now. I say "ok, but I'm speaking Spanish right now. Do you understand me? I am diabetic. I have diabetes. UNDERSTAND?" Man oh man. I was just flabbergasted and was trying not to laugh, so as not to make my sugars go lower but it was just so damn funny. Finally I started playing a game of sherraids with the man, and showed him my pump and he finally got it. OH MY GOSH I thought I'm in a hospital right now and the word DIABETES doesn't mean anything to you!!!! ay Dios mio!! (of my gosh!) Well rest assured- I am alive and well, and I got some juice. Peach juice actually...interesting...I don't think I've ever had peach juice before. Only in Spanish hospitals I suppose.
Well to sum it all up, we were in the hospital for 11 hours on Saturday. Not my idea of a relaxing Saturday in Sevilla- but hey thats the way the cookie crumbles right? (man I could go for a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie right now. mmmmm)
Raquelita spent a second night in the hospital on Sunday, but they have finally come to the conclusion that nothing is wrong with her and she will be arriving home shortly. Moral of the story: eat a regular diet, and even though you're poops may be small, they are still poops.

And the adventure continues...

The best explanation I can find-

I found this article on Wikipedia (I know...wikipedia isn't reliable, but trust me...this is the best explanation of Semana Santa. I posted twice today, so make sure you read my second post "I bleed Spanish blood"

Seville, Spain

A large paso paraded during Holy Week

Seville arguably holds some of the most elaborate processions for Holy Week. A tradition that dates from Counterreformation times, or even earlier. The "Semana Santa en Sevilla" is notable for featuring the procession of "pasos", lifelike wood sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' entry in Jerusalem and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing restained grief for the torture and killing of her son. Some of the images are of great antiquity and artistic masterworks. These "pasos" (which usually weigh over a metric tonne) are physically carried on the neck of costaleros (literally "sack men", for its distinctive -and functional- headdress). The "costaleros" (from 24 to 48) are hidden inside the platform of the "paso", so it seems to walk alone. Historically dock workers were hired to carry the "pasos". From 1973 onward, that task has been universally taken over by the members of the confraternities who organize each procession.

The "pasos" are set up and maintained by hermandades and cofradías, religious brotherhoods, confraternities or sodalities, which precede the "pasos" (up to 3) dressed in penitential robes. Some of the processions are near 3000 persons each. In Seville, but for some officials, "costaleros", acolytes and a few other exceptions every participant must wear penitential robes and be hooded. A brass band may accompany the group, playing funereal religious hymns or "marchas" written for the occasion. Some processions are silent with no musical accompaniment. As each procession leaves its home church, called a salida, as well at its return (the entrada) and along the march route there are special extemporaneous songs offered by individuals in the crowd or a balcony. This songs are generically called saetas (arrows).

A total of 58 processions (as of 2007) occur during the week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday morning. On Maundy Thursday there are two sets of processions. One group occurs during the afternoon and evening. The second set begins near midnight and continues until early afternoon on Good Friday. The most famous processions occur this night (the madrugá), including Jesus del Gran Poder, Esperanza - Macarena, and Esperanza - Triana.

I bleed Spanish blood

Sobreviví la Madrugá y ahora soy un Sevillana auténtico!!! (I survived the pasos of the dawn and am now an authentic Sevillana) Ok so let me tell you about my night. Last night (holy Thursday) we went out at midnight to meet our Spanish friends to go and see the pasos. The pasos for holy Thursday are really serious and the most famous and the most beautiful of all the pasos of Semana Santa. You do a lot of waiting around because in some of the confraternities there are over 3000 penitents. We were sitting in the street...literally sitting in the street playing cards waiting for the pasos to come. They don't lie though, they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL and definitely worth the wait. Spaniards stay out through the night until the morning to see the pasos go by. Us Americans were determined to make it to sunrise so as not to disappoint out friends and we were committed to bleeding Spanish blood and WE DID IT!! At around 7:00 AM we decided that it was time to go home. Unfortunately our decision was based on the fact that it was about 45 degrees out and we were all freezing. We were all wide awake because we had planned for this and had slept the whole day earlier so we would be ready for the night but we were frozen popsicles and couldn't handle it anymore so we made our way home. But not without stopping at the churro stand first for our breakfast :) and as we walked home along the river we watched the sunrise in Sevilla. I have to say I never thought I would watch the sunrise in Spain, but I am glad I did. It was gorgeous.
We finally went to bed around 8am and just woke up. Its almost 3pm here. HAHA- my roommates and I are so disoriented and we weren't sure what day it was and we woke up to the smells of lunch cooking...weird. It's definitely a wierd feeling but we are super psyched that we did it. It was quite the experience and we're loving that we're true Sevillanas now, as dubbed by our Spanish friends. And guess what....we're right back at it again today!!! We're going out around 6pm to see the 9 pasos that go out today for good Friday. We are committed to Semana Santa. This is dedication. I haven't missed a day yet and I will live to tell about it.
Before we went on break from school my popular culture teacher was telling us that Semana Santa is more of a test of endurance than anything else. I didn't really know what she was saying at the time but man oh man I am going to have that tattooed on my body when I am done with this haha. Don't worry mom...I'm taking care of myself and I'm being smart.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO YAY Semana Santa!!!!

lots of love!!

I feel like a sardine

So... Semana Santa began on Sunday and will last until Easter Sunday. I am going to do the best I can in explaining what is going on here, but I give you my apologies ahead of time because it is really difficult to explain something so different and so extravagant than anything you have ever seen in your life. here goes...
Sunday was Palm Sunday and the start to Holy Week here in Seville. My roommates and I had to face judgment day from mama about our outfits to make sure we looked presentable. I can't even begin to tell you how many different outfits we tried on until we got her seal of approval. She made all of us wear tights, and all of us had to be in dresses, and then she made us all put on as much jewelery as we could handle and she kept saying pone mas pone mas (put on more) FINALLY we were ready (there are pictures up on the website so you can see how we were all dressed)
We went and met out Spanish friends in the center because they were going to take us around to see all the different pasos (floats) In the center, you can see the cathedral and the avenida de constitucion which is the main drag and man oh man I have never seen so many people in my life. So off we went... here's what happens.
Each church has a confraternity which is basically like their congregation. So they all wear the garb that looks like KKK but its NOT and has nothing at all to do with that. Then there are two pasos for each confraternity, but sometimes three. Usually there is a Jesus paso and a virgin paso, but sometimes there are three, like we saw one that had the last supper, a Jesus, and a virgin. So basically you just go on all these random side streets and go and wait for the paso to pass and its really cool! everyone is really really into it. Sometimes people are weeping and others are cheering. There are bands that follow them as well and play music. I seriously can't even put it all into words. It's one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in my entire life. The pasos seriously do look like they are floating down the street because there are about 20-30 men under these GIANT works of art carrying them on their backs. They are called costaleros. You cant seem them because there is a curtain covering them, but sometimes you can see their feet and they just scoot down the road, step by step under the direction of one man in front who guides them through the streets. Now just imagine this through the narrow streets of Sevilla. Crazy huh!? Oh, and I should mention, each confraternity has different colors so some of the penitents wear all white, some black and white, some even blue and purple. It's hard but once you can distance yourself from the idea of the KKK you can appreciate what these people are doing, but its hard because its been engraved in our heads since we were kids, but I think I'm getting there. But its still a little scary. Oh, and also these people are in the streets for over 12 hours and a law was passed that everyone had to wear shoes, but some of the penitents still go barefoot like in the old days to show their commitment to the church.
The first night we started at 5pm and were out until 5am! its absolutely crazy! of course we had to stop and get some churros around 4. haha my night would not have been complete without them.
I've gone out every day so far with our Spanish friends. Yesterday it was only me and the 4 guys and let me tell you that was a real treat especially because the Bulla (crowd) was the biggest and craziest it had been since it started. We were waiting for the paso and I had all 4 of them around me in a circle while i was in the middle so I wouldn't get lost because people just push and pull their way through the crowds and you get jabbed and jammed all over the place. MAN OH MAN! good thing I'm little and I can fit through small spaces! its nice having locals though because they totally watch out for us and make sure we don't get lost and that we can see and they just live for this. every time a paso passes they always turn to us and say "te gusta??" (do you like??) its so great. they seriously wait all year for this. I taught them the word sardine yesterday because you can only imagine how i felt standing in that crowd with all of them around me. good thing they all smelled good because that could have been BAD news!
today is another day...more pasos and more people. its raining right now so I'm interested to see what will happen...if we'll go out or what, but im hard core so BRING ON THE PASOS!
Please take a look at the new photos I uploaded from Semana Santa- hopefully you'll get a small idea of what its like here.
Oh!! I forgot the coolest part...when the confraternity is passing sometimes they have candy and they give it to the little kids in the street if they sing a song for it so of course we sang the song and we got candies too!! this is great! I think the most important thing that I have realized is that this is a celebration. I thought it was really serious and that you shouldn't look them in the eyes and all this other stuff but it's a celebration.
Please email me if you have questions. I really hope that you can get a small feeling of what I'm experiencing. I hope all is well there. I have to go start to get ready to face mama's judgment day again on our outfits for today. OH!! and tomorrow (holy Thursday) everyone wears black and only black. Its the most serious day of Semana Santa and so its a really huge deal. Good thing I brought my black dress! PHEW!!

BESOS!!! (kisses)

PIZZA!!!!!

talk about a good day....last night mama got home from a meeting and she came in and said that she didn't feel like cooking and we were ordering out for pizza!!!! I'm telling you- its definitely the small things in life that keep you going. It was so delicious. Needless to say we had way too much to eat, but it was GOOD! Even this morning I still feel full. hahah- i'm not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing....AND i convinced mama to let me have the left overs for lunch....you know what that means...no sandwich for me today! although, she told me that pizza wasn't enough and that I needed two sandwiches to go with my pizza but I refused and told her that pizza was plenty and a sandwich would not be necessary. man oh man shes tapped when it comes to food. but we love her!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!!

Semana Santa

so I just received this email from our program director with a little background information about Semana Santa and I thought I would share it with you, so you too have a better idea of what I am going to be experiencing next week.

Semana Santa
Holy Week is a religious celebration that takes place during Easter. It starts on Palm
Sunday and ends on the following Sunday, the resurrection day. The last days of Jesus´
life are shown in the streets through parades and colorful floats.
Most days there are seven parades each from a different church that
show different aspects of the savior’s life: for example the last
supper, Jesus´ journey, and his death and resurrection. This is
demonstrated through handmade wooden figures on top of a float.
Underneath there are around forty men carrying the floats. They
are called costaleros and have extreme devotion to the church and
their faith.
The majority of the churches have two floats, one that represents Jesus
and the other one Virgin Mary.
Most likely you will find various parades in the center neighborhoods. If not, all that you
have to do is go to the city center since all the floats pass through the cathedral.
Holy Week is a time to be connected with your beliefs or simply have fun with your
peers. Please dress for the occasion, especially during Palm Sunday, Thursday, and
Friday since these days are the most important. The Sevillanos pay close attention to
what they wear as you should too because inappropriate dress is disrespectful.
Some of the most important churches participate on Friday starting around 2 am
(Thursday night), called the Madrugada. If you decide to go out this evening with your
friends, please keep mind that for many this is the most sacred religious time of the
year. Be respectful with their beliefs and form of devotion.
We hope that you have a wonderful Semana Santa! Enjoy this new experience.

back in action

picture this...I enter the house after sitting outside in a million degree weather baking in the hot hot sun for my immigration class, and mama is standing in the doorway with a HUGE smile...what does she say...CHICAS!!! TENIAMOS WIFI!!! (girls we have wireless)

needless to say...i'm back in action!

this and that

its been too long since I've updated you on the happenings in my life in Spain. mama told us that the Internet is suppose to be fixed tomorrow so we're all really hoping that its true.
We went to Ronda on Friday. Its a smaller town about 2 hours south of here. It is home of the oldest bull ring in the world! (I have uploaded new photos so definitely take a look). It was a wonderful trip because it was nice to get out of the city for a while and see green grass and amazing cliffs! On Saturday my roommates and I went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant called Mama Mia. It was delicious! I had a 4 cheese pizza and man was it good! it was nice to be in a restaurant, as well as have some time with my roommates outside of our house. of course after our meal we had to top it off with some churros con chocolate from the churro stand. I am going to miss those when I get back to the states.
Sunday was a homework day for all of us. We're in the middle of our second week of midterms, so we're all a little stressed out, but trying not to let it get the best of us. I have two more exams left, on tomorrow in art history, and one on Thursday in my immigration case study class. I will be happy when Thursday afternoon rolls around so I can be done. Not to mention then I have a week off from school for holy week!
This Sunday- palm Sunday- starts the beginning of Semana Santa, or Holy Week here in Seville. I'm really looking forward to it because everyone says it's like nothing we have ever seen or experienced in our lives before. I will be sure to take good pictures and lots of notes to fill you in as the week goes on. I'm not traveling over the week, but I am planning on taking a few day trips south to the beach to relax and get some sun :)
I have exciting news, I found out over the weekend that Gareth is coming to visit in April!!! He will be here April 18-30. I am PSYCHED!!!! I told mama that he was coming, and she said that he can stay with her friend in his own little mini home stay. He was a little hesitant about the idea at first, but I think he is warming up to it. I'm excited for him because I think he will be able to get a really cool experience out of it, and see how I've been living for the past two months, not to mention his host mom will be doing his laundry for him and cooking him three meals a day...what more can you ask for?! we're planning on traveling to Portugal as well when he is here. Its about a 4 hour bus ride, to Lagos, and its really cheap to get a hostel so I'm really looking forward to that. The pictures of the beaches are beautiful- I can't wait!
We got another new roommate on Sunday. Her name was Bridget ( yes I used the past tense...just keep reading) and she was probably in her mid 30s or so. Anyways...she was from Germany and was only staying with us for Semana Santa. Mama was doing her friend a favor by taking her in. Well she disrespected mama BIG time, by checking to see if her bed was clean, and mama saw her and found out and was really upset and ended up kicking her out that same day!!! It was sad, but I understand the culture differences ya know? I mean it would be rude to do that in the states, but here, its a huge blow! especially when mama was doing her a favor by letting her stay here for cheap when every other hotel in the city has been book two years in advance for holy week. Who knows where she is now...she was here when I met her Sunday morning, and when i got back from the cafe Sunday afternoon, she was gone. CRAZY!
have I mentioned how addicted to Spanish coffee I am? it is so amazing. its much much stronger than American coffee, so its only drank in a small amount. about half coffee, and half milk (cafe con leche) its kinda like espresso. it is SO good.
Mama has been a little out of it lately...there was a big storm where her beach house is...south of here, and there was apparently a lot of water damage. She went there over the weekend to see how bad it was and to clean up a bit and came back upset because it was a lot worse than she thought it would be. I feel so awful. She lost a lot of pictures and heirlooms from her parents, and shes bummin' really bad. Of course I told her all she needed was chocolate and things would be ok, and she started crying saying how I'm the only one in the house that cares about her and that she is going to miss me so much when I'm gone. oh mama... So on that note of course I ran to the store and bought her a bar of dark chocolate with mint (her favorite and mine too) and we shared the whole bar the rest of the afternoon.
I tried to get Sean to come visit me after tax season...I even tempted him with a bull fight and a futbol game, but he didn't bite. The euro is just so bad now, I don't blame him. Speaking of bull fights, I am going to my very first bull fight on April 1!!! I'm excited, but a little nervous. I'm happy that I get to experience it though since it is such a huge part of their culture. I might have to shut my eyes when they kill him and drag him out, but what are you going to do! we've been learning all the different terms, and stages of the bull fight in my pop. culture class, so it will be good to have an idea of whats happening during the fight. Oh, I've also decided that before I die I want to go to Pomplona on July 7 for the most famous "running of the bulls." Now i know what you're thinking dad..."yeah right brie," but maybe uncle Jim will want to come with me, and he could wear those sweet green shorts that he wore when we ran the Falmouth road race. Ask him, I'm sure he still has them, and is really eager to bust them out again!!
On that note...I'm off to class...only one class today (i love Tuesday/Thursdays) and then I will be studying for art history until my eyes pop out of my head.
I hope everyone is doing well, and can see the warm weather on the horizon. Its almost April...YAY!!!
I miss you all MUCHISIMO!!!!

oh, p.s. the other day I convinced mama to let me have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. She wasn't too keen on the idea, but she gave in and let me have it, but said that I wasn't allowed to only have 1 I had to have 2 sandwiches... so I was like fine...at least I get peanut butter. I open my lunch the next day in school super excited to eat, and what do I find....not 1, not 2, but 3 peanut butter sandwiches and 3 oranges!!!! I'm telling you, I am going to need to book another seat on the way home, or get one of those seat belts that extends because she is going to make me obese!! thank goodness I walk everywhere, or else I would be rolling myself home!
xoxo

new pictures

new photos....ENJOY!!!

they definitely don't lie about the croissants

It’s been too long. We’re still experiencing technical difficulties with our Internet in my house. We have found out that there is one little corner in the living room that we pick up an Internet signal from someone else on the street so you can only imagine all of us huddled together trying to get an Internet signal to check our emails and of course our face books.

So much has gone on in the last week or so I don’t even know where to start. Well…last Tuesday we began our journey to Paris! Tuesday afternoon at 4pm we left Sevilla on a bus destined for Madrid. Its about a 6 hour drive to Madrid from Sevilla. When we finally arrived to the Madrid bus station we were all tired and ready for the next leg of the trip…the metro. We took the metro from the Madrid bus station to the Madrid airport, but unfortunately the metro closes at 2AM and we missed the last train to the airport…I wish I had a video camera to film us HAULING ASS through the train station to catch that last train…that last glimpse of hope to make it to the airport. I’m pretty sure I had a heart attack in the midst of all that running with all our bags. Nonetheless we didn’t make it and we were all pretty bummed. We had to take a taxi the rest of the way…keep in mind I had already been on a bus and a train earlier in the evening and here I am in a taxi on my way to the airport to be on a plane. When it comes down to it, I experienced every single mode of transportation that day (walking, bus, metro, taxi, and then a plane) the only one we missed was a boat, and at the rate we were going I was pretty sure that we would be in a boat at some point during our trip. When we finally made it to the airport I felt like a real traveler. I mean I have traveled a ton in my life, but the sight I saw in the airport at around 2 AM that night was nothing I had ever seen before. There were tons of people, laying on the floor, sleeping in sleeping bags, playing cards, waiting and wondering about the next leg of their travels. I’m not going to lie, I felt pretty cool…the life of a backpacker…it’s a cool feeling.

Long story short, we waited in the airport for a few hours, and then finally boarded the plane for a two hour flight to Paris, where we would then take another bus, to the metro station, and the metro to our hotel.
We saw everything…the Eiffel Tower, the arc de triumph, the Louvre, the Mona Lisa (which I must say is pretty overrated), the opera house, the Bastille, the pantheon…the list goes on. But to top it all off, on Friday, we went to Versailles. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my entire life. (pictures will be uploaded soon) I have never really been very interested in history, but when I stepped into Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, something clicked. It was so cool. She slept there, she birthed children in that room, and here I was standing in it. Its an amazing feeling. I felt pretty dang cool.

Let me tell you, they don’t lie about the croissants. They are AMAZING, so warm, and gooey and ahhh they are so delicious. The crepes are good too, but the croissants…oh I could go on for hours!

On our last day, Saturday, we climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower. And when I say climbed I mean climbed because we most definitely took the stairs and climbed to the top. Now, how many people can say that they have climbed, by foot, not elevator, both the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower? Well ladies and gents, I have!!! Not to mention when we made it to the top, we wrote our names on the ledge of the tower.

The trip to France was amazing. I enjoyed every moment of it, even the fact that Sexton left my umbrella in the Louvre, and the fact that it rained the rest of the afternoon that day and we had no means of protection. Good times I must say. I’m sad the trip is over that’s for sure, but I was happy to come back to warm weather here in Sevilla. It was cold in Paris, I guess they don’t lie about that either, but here in Sevilla its in the mid to upper 70s, and I am happy about that.

I have two mid-terms tomorrow…not too psyched about that, but they will be 10 times easier than any other mid-term I’ve ever taken in my life that’s for sure. And then in a week I have a week off from school for Semana Santa (holy week) haha life is good here in Spain. It’s time for me to go eat lunch by the river and soak up the rays before my class. I will try to upload pictures as soon as I can, and I will write again soon too since there is still so much to say about the last week and a half or so of my life.

I trust everyone is well. Send me some emails or something so I know what’s going on on your continent.

I miss and love you all!

technical difficulties

I'm sure you're all probably thinking that I have officially fallen off the face of the earth....but rest assured...I'm alive and well. I come baring bad news however. Unfortunately our wireless Internet is down in our house, and most likely will not be fixed until next week. There are tons of cafes and what not that have wireless so I am still able to check my email, but I will not be to update my blog most likely until I get back from Paris. I leave tomorrow!!!!! I was in Granada this past weekend and I have tons of stories and lots of really cool pictures to post, so sit tight and I will update as soon as I can.

I miss you all!!!!

Sleep talking in Spanish...YES!!!!!

You know what they say...when you start to dream in Spanish, you're home free. Well...according to my roommates, last night I was talking in my sleep in Spanish!!!!! When they told me this morning I was so excited. Apparently, my roommate Megan sneezed and I said, "salud", and I also said, "no hay bromas en España" (there are not jokes in Spain) It's not much...I know, but I still feel pretty good about it. Of course I don't remember any of it, but it's still a start.

Its been raining for the past day or so, and today doesn't look good either. There is rain in the forecast for the entire week, and today has an 80% chance of thunder and lightning...I'm thrilled as I'm sure you could have guessed. Thank goodness I only have one class, so I can come home and get in my bed and watch a movie or something, with headphones in, turned up as load as it can go!!

Mama and I had a bonding moment last night...she was cooking dinner for us- spaghetti ( it is the best spaghetti I have ever eaten in my entire life...no offense mom- if it makes you feel any better her lasagna SUCKS!!!) but anyways...she's gotten into this new habit of blasting music while she's cooking dinner. Usually its Andrea Bocelli, or Opera but last night it was Simon and Garfunkel. She was playing "The Boxer" I love that song, and when I heard it I ran into the kitchen and was telling Mama how much I loved that song, and so we started talking about Simon and Garfunkel and music and it was pretty cool. I mean half the things she was saying and half the people she was talking about I had no clue, or had never heard of, but not to worry, I put on a big smile, nodded and through in the occasional, 'si', or 'vale' (ok). I felt pretty cool.

So I've officially been here a month. Its weird to think about it, because I still feel like I only got here a few weeks ago. I guess its a good thing and a bad thing that the time is going by quickly. I keep telling my roommates that it's all downhill from here because we have so much planned in the next weekends ahead. Paris, Ireland, Granada, Ronda, England- when does it stop!?!? We're thinking of spending a few days in a small beach town in the south for part of Holy Week. I really want to be on the Mediterranean, I mean I have the Atlantic everyday!

I learned yesterday that in Spain, Palm Sunday is a bigger deal than Easter. My professor was saying how a lot of Americans come here for Holy Week expecting a huge spectacle for Easter and are always disappointed because people here don't care the way they do in the States. I'm psyched to see all the processions for Semana Santa (holy week) Apparently people book hotels 2 years in advanced to be able to be here for Semana Santa. I feel so cool that I actually live here, and get to see it. The spring semester really is the best time to be in Spain with all the stuff that goes on.

Last weekend I bought a children's book in Spanish to try to read to practice my grammar and my vocabulary. Its a little chapter book, most likely at about a second grade readers level, maybe even third grade. Its been so fun reading and translating it. Its called, "En la luna de Valencia" (in the moon of Valencia) Yesterday I learned how to say breadcrumbs, I was pretty psyched about it. "migas de pan" Its really fun. I read it to my roommates at night...story time!!! I finished the book that I brought, and its hard to find English books here...there is a small English section in the book store here, but it doesn't have a big selection, and i figured, when in Spain, do as the Spanish would do. and I'm pretty sure the Spanish would read Spanish books so thats what I'm doing!!

Just in case anyone was wondering my computer is AMAZING, most likely because these two really amazing people I know put a lot of TLC (tender love and care) into finding me the perfect one. Thank you again so much mom and dad. I really do appreciate everything that you do for me and for giving me this amazing opportunity to study here for the semester. I know I say thank you all the time, but I really do mean it. I love you!! (DAP DAP DAP)

its almost 12:30, and I'm not even dressed yet..if mama comes in shes going to call me a disaster HAHA shes always telling us, you're creative, but your a disaster.

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!!

mi vida en Espana sin papel hygenico

my life in Spain has gotten so much more interesting now that mama is starting to ration our toilet paper. I kid you not!!! here is the story of mi vida en Espana sin papel hygenico (my life in Spain without toilet paper)
so let me take a moment to remind you that I live with 6 other girls, and we all share one bathroom. I think it goes without saying that 6 girls using one bathroom equals a lot of toilet paper consumption. Unfortunately girls are not as lucky as boys seeing as how we always have to use toilet paper. secretly I think mama wishes that we were boys so then we would use less toilet paper. Not to mention that our toilet paper consumption has recently gone up due to the fact that we're all sick with colds and constantly having to blow our noses, and for some reason we don’t have any tissues in our house so we're all walking around looking like Rudolph. Oh and another thing you need to know...the toilet paper here...it isn't exactly toilet paper- in fact I would describe it more as paper towel...so instead of calling it TP it is only fitting that we call it PT.
The best feeling is when you use the bathroom and you're the one to finish up the roll of toilet paper because then you know the next girl has to be the one to "drip-dry." its the worst feeling when your the one who has to drip dry. We're all a little scared of asking for more toilet paper because mama always makes this weird face at us and we feel like we're asking to borrow a million dollars or something. I cant describe it bust its not a good feeling...just trust me on that one.

ok enough about bathrooms and toilet paper...

yesterday I received two packages!!! it was a good day! I got a package from Gareth including all my favorite foods, and rest assured he sent me the family size jar of Skippy smooth peanut butter...THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT!!! and..I received my new computer...I’m back in business...all systems are go!! THANKS MOM AND DAD!!

I went to the gypsy market yesterday with Sexton (my friend from Westmont who is also studying here for the semester) It was so overwhelming...there were so many people and so much stuff! it was fun to walk around, but we didn't get anything. Oh, that’s a lie...we did get chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. They were like kabobs. SOOOO DELICIOUS!!!! leave it to the diabetic to make sure she goes to the market and finds the chocolate covered strawberries right? good thing Dr. Ricker isn't reading this blog..I'm pretty sure she'd have some words with me when I go to see her in May when I get home.

It's raining today...I'm pretty happy about that except that we were suppose to have a picnic today with our Spanish. I’m friends. Needless to say, it got rained out. But rain is good for Spain because it never ever rains here, and I think that’s why we are all sick. I'm sick again...for the second time in less than two weeks. I really think its because the germs never get washed away and living in a city its just not exactly clean ya know? I mean I’m not a doctor but I think my hypothesis is a good one. I’ll have to talk to Miguel...he's a doctor ya know! HAHAAH oh man..no more jokes in Spain!!

Homework all day today. I have a test in Spanish tomorrow and I'm going to ace it!

On that note....I’m off to study!

Ciao!

Cranberries to the rescue!!!

Have I ever told any of you that I have the best boyfriend in the world?

This morning around 10:30 I was woken up with quite a surprise...here comes Mama holding this huge bouquet of flowers with my name on them!!! They are absolutely beautiful!!! Irises, my favorite. The card was the best part...it reads..."Did you think I wouldn't send flowers?" haha oh man!!

One class today and its the weekend!!! I don't have any special plans for the weekend, probably a lot of resting, and sunbathing in the park. Its a rough life...I know. I have a huge Spanish test on Monday, so I will be doing a lot of studying for that. Oh, and I will have to start my research of my churros project. I am so lucky!!!
Next weekend we are going to Granada, and the weekend after that I will be in Paris. I'm really excited!

My roommates friends are here for the weekend. They are studying abroad in Florence. I'm interested to see which they like better...Seville, or Florence.

Last night we went out for Arab Tea at a hookah bar near our house. It was actually a CEA sponsored event -the tea that is... It was really good...we had this Moroccan mint tea, with some typical Arab pastries. The setting was really cool too. It was all warm colors with beads and what not on the walls and then there were these little tables and we all sat on little pillows on the floor. It was a cool atmosphere. A lot of people smoked hookah as well, but my roommates and I passed.

Oh! funny story!!! So the other day mama came in and was telling us how she was having trouble peeing...too much information huh? i know! well anyways...I was like Oh mama, you probably have a UTI, you should have some cranberry juice it really helps. Unfortunately she said that they don't really have cranberry juice here and was all bummed out. So i kept thinking of ways we could help her and then it hit me. "MAMA!!! i brought you cranberry jam!!! i will make you some toast with the cranberry jam!!!" she responds with no te preoccupes (don't worry) I will make some. What a good idea." so I'm all happy that I could help and I go on doing what I'm doing...I walk into the kitchen about 10 minutes later and there is mama...sitting at the kitchen table eating the jam out of the jar with a spoon! I almost died I was laughing so hard. Shes all like "oh its delicious..its so rich and good!" I don't think I have ever seen someone eat jam out of the jar ever in my life. And then yesterday she made tea and put the jam in the tea!! she is just a crack up!! Thank goodness I brought a little taste of Cape Cod with me to Spain, who would have thunk that it would have cured mama's UTI. (by the way it did help and she is peeing regularly now. I knew you would be worried so don't fret! she's good!)

Oh mama! what a character!!!

If only I were a Canadian...

so..... I'm going to Paris at the end of February!!! I just booked my flight!! my flight from Madrid to Paris was only a penny!!! let me repeat...1 penny!!!! crazy huh? my pulse was definitely up when I was booking that one! Its really too bad that the French hate Americans. Maybe I should search for a Canadian flag and pin it to my shirt while we're there since they love Canadians haha!

My weekend was pretty lame...I didn't really do much but it was actually just what I needed. It was nice to just lay around all weekend and just do homework and watch movies and what not with my roommates.

The Austrian guy that is living here for 3 weeks while he is taking an intensive Spanish course is the most annoying person I think I have ever met in my entire life. All of us can not stand him! He's such a brat, yet he's 21 years old. He's digging himself a really big hole because he skipped school yesterday and mama found out about it and he lied to her so she was pissed! as she should be. She is allowing him to stay in her house, and she is cooking food for him and taking care of him and then he has no respect for her.
Last night at the dinner table he was text messaging at the table and so we were like Miguel, no cell phones at the table, and then he just mocked us, and mama saw and she got really angry. THEN...he told us how he is skipping school on Wednesday and Thursday to go to Madrid with his friends. We were like, Miguel, don't you have school? and hes all like yes, but I don't like my teachers, and I don't feel like learning verb conjugations for 5 hours. That put us all over the edge because we were like thats how you learn buddy! he is just a brat, that is the only way to describe him. Mama is really angry and she is calling his program. She told us if he doesn't want to go to school, then he can't stay here. I think she's right. He shouldn't have come here to study, if he doesn't want to go to school. oh well....hasta luego Miguel!!

I had a verb conjugation test yesterday in Spanish and you will all be happy to know that I aced it! absolutely no mistakes!!! I was pretty darn proud of myself. When my teacher corrected it he was laughing at me, and then he put A+ on the paper and wrote NERD in big huge red letters across the top. HAHA hes a pretty cool guy though. I like him a lot.

In my Popular Culture class, we're doing this project on tapas, and so we all got assigned a tapa and we have to go to different places to try the tapa and learn how it is prepared and then present a little 5 minute talk about it next week...guess what I got assigned....CHURROS CON CHOCOLATE!!!! haha i was laughing so hard and of course I was peeing my pants on the inside with excitement. I think that is the best homework assignment I have ever had in my life. Go eat churros from different places, and tell us about your experience. NO PROBLEMA!!! i'm on it!! God was definitely on my side with this one!!!

I find out on Friday whether or not we are going to get the apartment we want for next semester back in Ithaca. Keep your fingers crossed...if we don't get it I don't know what I'm going to do. I will probably have to pitch a tent on the quad. AHH!!

Well I'm off to eat lunch down by the river with my roommate before class at 2.

ADIOS!!!

new photos

I just uploaded new photos to

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sabby1028

CHECK THEM OUT!

we got our groove on

Something you should know...people in Spain don't eat peanut butter...its a sad, but true fact. Another sad, but true fact...I hit bottom on my peanut butter jar. I packed a jar of skippy smooth peanut butter you know for those moments I was in dire need of a little taste of something good, well friends...those days have come to an end. The skippy smooth peanut butter jar now resides in la basura (the trash). Lets all take a moment of silence.......................................................

I only have 1 class on Tuesday/Thursday so I normally sleep pretty late, and then go meet my roommate by the river to eat lunch, and then we go to class. Yesterday, it was BEAUTIFUL out and megan and I got sunburns when we were sitting down by the river :) I'm loving it!-sunburns in the beginning of February!! So my immigration class is BORING! it is the definition of boring actually, so instead of falling asleep, i decided I would make a list of the things that are different in Spain that I have noticed so far:

`Spaniards wear their wedding ring on their ring finger, but on their right hand
`standard paper, like computer paper, is longer than ours...i dont know the measurement but its not 8x12
`not peanut butter
`milk is hardly refrigerated, they use it at room temperature for cereal and coffee
`people are OBSESSED with coffee...more so than dad and uncle jim (if you can believe it!!)
`there are no dryers for clothing (told you mom!!)
`when driving, people DO NOT obey traffic symbols regarding pedestrians (can't even being to tell you how many times I've almost been hit)
`no one drives SUVs, and there are scooters, or 'motos' EVERYWHERE!!!
`salad consists of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and onions...thats it
`they don't use salad dressing, just oil and vinegar
`beer/wine is cheaper to buy than soda
`ketchup is not refrigerated
`notebooks, like the kind you would use for school, are not lined paper, they are graph paper
`Spaniards are ALWAYS dressed to the 9s
`everything closes at 10pm
`NOTHING is open on Sunday
`Spaniards take siesta (nap time) so things close in the middle of the day for lunch and a nap and then re-open at 5:30

Yesterday we went to a Flamenco Show. It was the coolest thing EVER!!! the dancers are so incredibly talented. It was at this pavilion called "El Patio de Sevillano." the best part was that we didn't have to pay because it was put on by CEA (my program.) gotta love free flamenco shows in Spain!

Last night all my roommates and I went and bought bottles of tinto (red wine mixed with orange, or lemon fanta) and went down by the river to drink. Drinking in public in used to be completely legal, but now its more frowned upon, but even still, you have to be like wasted in the street or causing a problem to really get in trouble. Despues (after) we went to a discoteca called Buddha. The drinks at the clubs are super expensive, hence the bottles of tinto down by the river :) brilliant no? The disco was SOOOOO much fun!!!! we all had a great time, minus the fact that it was a million degrees and there were tons of creepy Spanish men, but we took care of it. Every time one of them came over and tried dancing with us we just all danced together and shut him out of our space. it was great. At one point I was fanning myself off with my hand because it was so hot and then this gross Spanish man starts blowing on me. I looked over and was like uh..NO GRACIAS!!!! it was so sick. Nonetheless, we danced the night away and definitely got our groove on until about 3:30 AM and then walked home. I love the Spanish life!

Today we're all just taking it easy, probably some homework, and a lot of relaxing because tonight we are meeting up with our Spanish friend Pablo to go out for dinner. He has had exams all week at the University, so tonight should be fun.

unfortunately it looks like it is going to be a no-go for the Seville vs. Barcelona futbol game. Tickets are sold out right now, and we're thinking of going down to the stadium on Saturday to maybe try to scalp tickets or get in after the game has started, but since Barcelona is the second best team in the league its not looking to promising. Plus, I'm not sure how i feel about scalping tickets in a foreign country HAHA we'll see though...but even if it doesn't work out for this game, there are others. I really want a futbol jersey. They are so sweet!!

I hope everyone is doing well, and all you east coasters are staying warm. I have heard reports from the meteorologist in my family (a.k.a. my mom) that its been pretty nasty weather the past few days. My thoughts and condolences are with you! I will try to send the Spanish sunshine your way!!!

CIAO!!!

churros con chocolate

churros are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! today it was so nice out. Megan and I got sunburns but it felt so good! after school my roommates and I went to the park to do our homework, which only turned into us playing frisbee and soccer. No homework was done. After we stopped at the chocolateria (the chocolate shop) and had churros con chocolate (churros with chocolate). It's like a little taste of heaven! MMM MMM good!

Tomorrow we have our first sevillana dance class. It should be pretty entertaining- and on Thursday we are going to a Flamenco Show. I'm sooo excited! I decided that I want to be a pro flamenco dancer. HAHA

I'm not going to Madrid this weekend. Things just didn't really work out, and since I'm still fighting a cold I thought it would be best if I stayed home to rest. Madrid is so easy to get to that I'm not too worried about getting there ASAP. But on Sunday its the Sevilla vs. Barcelona soccer game. Barcelona is the second best team in the league, second to real Madrid so it should be a really good game. We are all trying to get tickets so hopefully it works out. I mean i don't even like soccer, but its the European thing to do right? oh man, if only my brother could see me now!!

So I'm not sure if i have mentioned this before, but I'm going to say it again regardless. But Seville is crawling with old people. THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!! I mean any of you who know me, you know how obsessed I am with old people. I miss Longview (the senior citizen facility I work at in Ithaca) SO MUCH! But there are old people everywhere here and they are so cute. I'm trying to get Mama to hook me up with some place so I can play BINGO with them or something, but the difference in Spain compared the the U.S. is that most elderly people live with family members, they don't usually go to senior homes, or nursing homes. Nonetheless I love going to the park and watching all of them. AHH they're so great!

what else, what else...

Mama is making the best dinner tonight. Its my favorite. I think its lamb...or maybe its pork...no I'm definitely going with lamb. anyways..its cooked in this sherry sauce with onions and apples. OH MY GOSH it is so delicious. And usually she makes french fries or mashed potatos (she calls them patatas puree) with it. its my absolute favorite meal! YUM!!!! thank goodness I'm feeling a little better today and I can taste my food. Last night I couldn't taste anything. I mean for all I know I could have been eating bull testicles (which is a delicacy here...NO THANK YOU) and I wouldn't have known.

Tonight is the beer pong tournament and free sangria for chicas. Its every Tuesday night at this one bar. Unfortunately I have an early class tomorrow morning and I haven't finished my homework yet so I will not be participating esta noche (tonight).

Tomorrow in my history class we are going to the Alcazar which is this palace near the cathedral. I don't know much about it, but soon I will!!!

I hope everyone is well, and enjoying these posts. Please leave me comments or email me about how you're doing! i miss everyone so much and I want to be kept in the loop!!!!

in the words of mi mama "don't worry be happy!" she says that in english all the time and it always makes me smile!!!

adios!!

Ireland in April

My roommate Rachael and I just booked a trip to Ireland for April 3-8. I'm going back to my roots!!!
It was really random actually...she was just searching stuff on her computer and stumbled across a really cheap flight and asked if anyone wanted to go- I said yes...we talked about it for a bit, and BOOM! we booked it!!!
Of course what do you think the first thing I did after I booked it...called the old man of course..."Dad..guess what I just did...I"M GOING TO IRELAND!!!" of course he was excited- i mean how could he not be right?

Tonight is the Super Bowl, and all the bars in the city are charging people to come in and watch the game- there are so many Americans in this city the bars going to make bank off of tonight. As for me...i'm not going for two reasons. 1 I'm still fighting off a cold and since I will be traveling to Madrid next weekend, I want to rest up so I'm not sick anymore, and 2...lets be honest- we all know who is going to win this game. I mean the Red Sox already kicked NY around once this year...why not let NE do it again right?

Today a guy from Austria arrived to stay here with us...he's staying for 3 weeks while he does an intensive Spanish language course. Its so funny because he has to live with 7 girls! He speaks pretty good english, but his Spanish is not so good. All in all we're able to communicate with him. We usually speak in Spanish and then ask if he understands and if he doesn't we translate it to english. Hes super nice, but we can tell hes overwhelmed. I would be too if I was him. He brought this AMAZING pastry from Austria as a gift for mama and we all ate it today at lunch. It was DELICIOUS! it tasted like Christmas!!

It rained a bit today, and its suppose to rain tomorrow as well, but later this week it is suppose to warm up a lot and be beautiful, so I'm really looking forward to that.

well- back to the homework for this chica!!!

hasta luego

good advice

i received some good advice tonight (you know who you are) I thought I would share it because I think its pretty gosh darn good advice.

"Approach each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind."

It was just the advice I needed. I haven't had the best couple of days...it all started with me getting sick. I have been fighting a cold for the past couple of days and when you're in a foreign country and chicken noodle soup doesn't really exist, and you don't have your mom...it can be pretty tough. My mom here is great...I really like her...but no one in the world could ever replace my mom. On top of having a fever Thursday afternoon, my computer crashed. GREAAAAAAAAAAAAT

long story short, I went with my mama to the computer store and the guy said there was nothing that could be done. The hard drive has crashed and thats the end of it. He said my computer is a ticking time bomb...I will be able to get files off of it if i do it fast but within a few days my computer just wont turn on anymore....hasta luego ordenador!!! (see ya later computer)
the good thing is that we have this wonderful thing called air mail, and i have these wonderful parents who are always looking out for me. Need i say more?

on a brighter note- I visited the city of Italica on Friday with my Architecture and Painting class. Italica is about a 20 minute bus ride outside of Seville. It was the first roman town founded outside of Rome in 206 BC. I saw roman ruins from 206 BC!!! it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my entire life. I will post pictures soon. There's not a whole lot going on this weekend...I'm laying low still trying to fight off my cold because next weekend I will be traveling to Madrid and I don't want to be sick while I'm there.

sorry this is so short...I will update more within the next few days!!

I hope everyone is well- know that I am thinking of you, and I miss you all so much!!!

ciao!

mama...donde estas sus dientes?

Mama...donde estas sus dientes?
Translation: Mama...where are you teeth?

I will explain later....let me first start with the fact that it is FREEEEEEZING HERE!!! i know what you're all thinking...ya right...you're in the south of Spain and you're complaining that its cold..but really it is. I did not pack for this weather- I packed for summer...well summer isnt going to come until march. Until then I shall forever be cold. I am sick right now, and my mom says I'm sick because I don't wear socks in the house. Shes so cute.

On Friday night Enrique- my mama's nephew from Paris- came to visit for the weekend. He spent a year studying at University of Seville, hes 21, so he knows a lot of people in the city. What a great opportunity! So Friday night we went out with him and met some of his friends from the University and went for tapas and drinks. It was so nice to be around real Spanish people and not americans. We made really good friend with them, and now we hang out with them all the time!!! Enrique went home yesterday (monday) but Pablo- one of the guys we met...we're going to tapas with him and some of his other friends on friday! Its so exciting!

On saturday we traveled about an hour and a half from seville to the city of Cortoba. If any of you have looked at the pictures I have recently uploaded on the google cite you will agree with me when I say Cortoba is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The history and the architecture of the buildings is just so unbelievable. I mean really...the United States is so lame!! We had a few encounters with the gypsy women in Cortoba...they were begging with their babies in the streets. Don't worry though- I was smart and I knew to say no!! I learned in my popular culture class yesterday that its forbidden in Spain to beg with a child under the age of 16.

On Saturday night all of my roommates and I went out to a few bars to celebrate my one roommates birthday. We went to this one bar that we call "the bar with two fabios" do i even have to explain?? haha. anyways..when we went in we were basically the only people there and we were speaking Spanish to them and we made friends with them and we got free drinks and shots haha it was so fun. they were taking shots with us. Now they know us by name its so great. Its like my own little 19th hole dad- except there isn't a back door. We left the bar con dos fabios around 130 and headed to another bar next door called Big Ben, its notorious for being an American bar, so all the creepy spanish men go there to pick up american girls. We just went for one drink and then went back to fabios. By this time fabios was super crowed and when we walked back in the bar tenders were like AHHH our friends and came right over and served us! haha its so fun being a celebrity!!!

Long story short...it was a loooooooooong night. Lots of walking and lots of not knowing where we are. I met two guys from wales..that was fun. We ended up at thie Discotech near the cathedral around 3 AM....there was some girl drama...gotta love it...and we didnt get home until 430. Im pretty sure Im still recuperating. nonetheless it was a fun night.

The rebajas (sales) are almost over...I think i explained how they have incredible sales for the whole month of january...like incredible sales...but soon they will end and it will be all window shopping for this girl. Im meeting sexton today to go shopping by the cathedral because my shoes almost have a hole in them from all the walking we do. YIKES!

My roommates and I are starting to plan our trips that we are going to take this semester...so far for me its looking like italy, the canary islands, and england/wales. My one roommate is going to Paris in march..but us CEA girls have a trip that weekend planned for us by our program so we cant go with. I think paris might be overrated anyways...who knows. I really really want to go to Greece, but I think that is a trip Im going to wait on and do when im a little older.

I feel like this blog is muy abburido (very boring). not a ton of exciting stuff has really happened these past few days...but I will try to update more often. I know I was slacking...oops!!

Well on that note...i'm off to go study my spanish vocab.

I hope everyone is well-

AHH I almost forgot...so about mama's teeth...the other night mama went out for a late lunch with her friends and she came back and she was pretty drunk and it was so so sooo funny! and shes talking to us and I am looking at her mouth and I realize that her two front teeth are missing!!!! It was so hard not to stare at her mouth but I couldnt help it! So now we have a big joke between us girls (minus mama of course) and we say mama..donde estas sus dientes? of course we dont say it when she can hear us...but we think she jsut forgot to put them back in. That was the first time we had ever seen that. it was too funny!!! I'm laughing just thinking about it. oh mama!!

PICTURES!!!!

I have created a website that I will be uploading my photos to every once and a while. If your interested please take a look. Keep in mind though...my pictures hardly do Seville any justice..you really have to see the city for yourself. it is MAGNIFICENT!!! enjoy!!!!

the website is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sabby1028

I miss you all dearly! TE AMO!!!

The first day of school

Today was the first day of classes. I had class from 9:00 until 3:45 with no break!!! it felt like I was back in high school. I'm definitely not used to being in school for that long with no break. All my semesters at college I have had a long break between classes for naps and lunch and all the necessary things of course...oh and most important..breaks to do homework that you didn't finish from the night before. Its a beautiful thing. But here...no breaks.

Here are the classes I am taking:

Spanish Language
Architecture and Painting in Seville
Seville: Past and Present
Popular Culture in Andalucia: Bull Fights, Flamenco Dancing, and Holy Week
Dealing with Immigration: A case study

I have the first 4 classes Mondays and Wednesdays and then I only have 1 class - dealing with immigration on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Needless to say I will not be going out on Sunday and Tuesday nights.

I love my spanish professor. He is so great! his name is Jesus Diaz and hes so funny! He really wants us to learn the language and I'm really looking forward to his class and his teaching style. All my other classes should be good...lots of field trips which is always a must but I'm not looking forward to history. I hate US history (sorry Aunt Colleen) let alone the history of Spain. Its very confusing and really boring. UGH! but my only other choice for that time block if I don't want to take history is international business. I don't think I have to say anything else- I'm clearly staying in the history class.

This afternoon Rachel and I walked to El Parque Principes which is about 15-20 minutes from our apartment and met Christy (one of my best friends from Westmont who is also studying in Seville for the semester). It was so great to see her! I haven't seen her since October when I was back in California visiting. It met a few of her friends and then we walked and talked for a while and did some window shopping on some of the high streets in my neighborhood. Come to find out...she only lives about 20-25 minutes from me so I'm happy about that. We're hopefully going to meet for a weekly cafe con leche (coffee with milk) date once a week to keep each other updated on the happenings in Seville.

Mi mama's nephew is visiting from France this weekend so its fun having him around. He's 21 and he speaks Spanish and French and a little english so its fun practicing our Spanish with him and helping him learn english. Every day my Spanish gets better and better. Its so great to see the improvements even with just a few days of being here.

OH!!!! did I tell you that we have a bide in our apartment? i can't remember if I already wrote about that but I still get excited every time I go into the bathroom and see it! I haven't used it yet..and I probably never will but its still so exciting to see it every day. I just think bides are the greatest thing ever. I don't know why but for some reason ever since Andrea and I were in Spanish 1 together in high school with Grace Lytle we have been obsessed with bides.

que mas que mas (what else, what else)

I can't think of anything else thats really important or interesting at the moment so I will leave you with that. I'm going to upload my pictures so stay tuned.

HASTA LUEGO!

I was just kidding...

so....in Spain....they definitely don't joke around the way we do in the united states. Those of you who know me well enough know that I'm a pretty sarcastic person...well I decided that I wanted to try to tease mi mama and so I made a joke last night at the dinner table. Not a good idea...i definitely don't recommend trying to tease someone when there is an obvious language barrier. She didn't really understand that I was joking and got angry with me and today everyone got chocolate with their lunch and I didn't get any. WOOPS!!! so this afternoon when I got home from school I went and apologized to her and made sure she knew I was just kidding and she told me that if I didn't joke around in the house it would be really boring so thankfully shes not as angry as I thought. PHEW!!! maybe tomorrow there will be chocolate with my sandwich. keep your fingers crossed!!!

Yesterday was the most random day of my life for sure...here's how it all started...

We slept until 11 o'clock..a.k.a. Megan woke us up at 11, and if she didn't....we probably wouldn't have woken up. We got ready and then all of us walked to the cathedral for a tour. We met the other students on our program and began our tour of the Catedral de Sevilla (The Cathedral of Seville). It is most likely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. We started off in the courtyard. Its so pretty and there are so many orange trees, but in Spain you can't eat the oranges off of the trees because they are too bitter. They export all their oranges to make orange marmalade. Good to know because the oranges look so inviting and I always want to pick them off los arboles pero...i cant. Here's where it gets good...so as we are walking into the cathedral to continue our tour and who comes walking out...BRIANNA MURPHY!!! (for those of you who don't know brianna and I were friends when we were kids and we went to high school together) it just goes to show how small the world is...but wait it gets better.

Despues de almuerza y las siestas (after lunch and naps) megan and I went shopping because she wanted to get a new pair of black boots (boots are extremely popular here) When we were walking home all of a sudden I see this girl running toward me with her arms out....then I realized its Mara...a girl I used to go to Westmont with who studied here last year and has since decided to move back and live and work here. it really is a small world!!! I couldn't believe it. I'm still flabbergasted.

p.s. I'm pretty sure mi mama makes the best mashed potatoes in all of Spain...I mean my mom makes the best in the united states, but my senora definitely gets the award for Spain..hands down!

stay tuned...my pictures will be coming to a theater near you. Check here for details :)

ESTOY AQUI!!!!!

finalmente estoy aqui!!!!!

believe it or not, i have wireless internet access in my apartment! i'm pretty stoked about that.

So where to begin..i suppose the beginning is the best place...

After a 16 hour trip, I arrived in Seville on Friday! CEA (my program) picked us up from the airport and brought us to our hotel right in the heart of the "old town." we stayed at the Hotel Giralda Friday night and Saturday night. On Saturday we went on guided "historical" tour with local Spaniards but it turned into a pub crawl...real historical huh? I mean im not complaining it was just funny. We went to this one bar that was just tucked away in a little ally and we got to see a flamenco dancer. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. Seriously, the intensity, and the passion is just out of this world. When I grow up, I'm going to become a flamenco dancer FOR SURE! We had sangria...which is my new favorite drink...and then continued on to a few other places. that being said I didn't get back to the hotel until around 2:30 AM but in Spain thats early! People don't start going out until around midnight.

today (Sunday) we moved into where we were going to live for the semester. I'm living with 3 other girls- Rachel (from Northern California), Meagan (from Pennsylvania) and Michelle (from Colorado). So far so good we all get along great. We're all living in one room...which i know sounds crazy, but believe it or not its not too too bad. We have limited closet/drawer/shelf space but its bigger than you would think. Its nice. It will be fun to all be in the same room. There are also two other girls living here. They go to Texas Tech- Texas Tech has a school here in Seville. So all in all there are 6 girls living here with just one woman...our mama!! I'm so excited that she wants us to call her mama and not senora because i just think thats more fun. She also has a dog..a pit bull/boxer mix and hes huge and really slobbery and believe it or not..HE EATS PAPER!!! and he likes it!!!! she was giving him a muffin this morning and then gave him the wrapper as well. its too funny because now we can actually say the dog ate my homework! haha too funny!

Mi mama is a Spanish professor at the University of Seville so the rule in the house is that we are only allowed to speak English in our room and only Spanish in the rest of the house. thats good though because that will really help me improve my skills. She doesn't speak much English...but its good.

what else...what else....i feel like i have so much to say but i don't even know where to start.

Classes start on Wednesday, but we're going to go to the school tomorrow to do some stuff and to try to get our barrings on the neighborhood.

OH!!! you will all be so proud to know that I ate paella today!!! YOU READ RIGHT!! I TRIED NEW FOOD!!!!! it was good....one of my roommates doesn't like fish and is allergic to seafood so i don't feel too bad that i don't like seafood either so our mama made one with seafood and one without. so of course...i had the one with seafood.. HAHA kidding.

I will post pictures soon.

TE AMO!!!

p.s. I have a cell phone here in Spain and I can receive calls for free. If you want the number just email me shiggin1@ithaca.edu

If you need a good laugh...keep reading

so here's a good one. Its Thursday morning ( the morning of my departure) and I wake up as usual and turn on my computer. Those of you who know me well enough know that my homepage is CNN.com. Its a good thing and a bad thing really. Most of the time it is good- it keeps me up to date with whats going on in the world because heaven forbid, the daughter of a sports editor would ever pick up a newspaper. haha just kidding pops. anyways, this morning was a little different. As CNN loaded I saw that the top news story of the morning was that there had been an "incident" at the London Heathrow Airport this morning, involving a British Airways Flight.

OH MY GOSH!!!!

I proceed to read the story to find out it was a flight coming from China, and it missed the runway. All 136 passengers were evacuated and no one was killed...THANK GOODNESS. But now lets talk about this....what are the chances the morning before I fly...TO THE LONDON AIRPORT...ON BRITISH AIRWAYS...that there is an "INCIDENT." i mean i seriously sat there for a good minute saying to myself, this has got to be some kind of a sick joke..and let me tell you...its definitely NOT FUNNY!!!! if i didn't already have butterflies, now there are alligators in my stomach and they are NOT HAPPY!!!

Of course the first thing i proceeded to do was to call my mom and tell her the wonderful news and what did she do...you guess right...shes hysterical laughing....called my dad....he did the same. I suppose it is pretty funny...ironic rather....and yes..i'll admit..once i regained my composure I did laugh a bit...but only a bit!

hahaha reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaallllllllll funny.

It has arrived...

I leave tomorrow.
The journey begins in Boston at 6pm. Then on to London. Then to Madrid and then to Sevilla. 16 hours of traveling- no sweat right? haha Its going to be a looooooooong haul- thats for sure.

I'm not sure how I'm feeling right now...I'm nervous, but super excited, and a little anxious too. I would be lying if I said I didn't already have butterflies in my stomach- but those of you who know me well enough know that there is never a day that I don't have a stomach ache so I'm definitely used to it.

Packing wasn't too too bad....actually thats an understatement. Packing SUCKED! but its about 90% done as of right now, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. There is plenty of time tomorrow to put the finishing touches on everything before we head out.

I can't believe the day has come...it came A LOT faster than I thought it would-

Ladies and gentlemen fasten your seat belts...its going to be a wild ride!

Procrastination

I leave in 6 days. The question remains...have I started packing yet? the answer...a simple no. Usually I like to pack because that means that I'm going on a trip, and who doesn't like going on a trip? Well the truth of the matter is, I can't bring myself to pack because I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to embark on this new journey. As I told Andrea last night on the phone, my goal is to not pack Wednesday night...but knowing me, I will probably put it off until then and then drive myself insane with the stress of packing for 5 months! It's true...I do it to myself, and I never learn. But hey, life would be no fun if we always learned from our mistakes and never made new mistakes. Mistakes are fun, and leaving packing until the last minute is definitely NOT a fun mistake. Is this even making sense? who knows....take it all with a grain of salt.