It gets better everyday..

Hellloooooooo everyone.

So I've just decided to start updating every Sunday. Nothing happens during the week except class...and thats all boring and in Spanish.

Let's see, I finished my 2 week intensive course. I learned about 7 grammar techniques that I have repeatedly learned before and just never understood. I'm happy to say in two weeks I understand them all now. Well for the most part. We are all getting use to Sevilla and Sevilla is getting use to us. Twice now people have come up and asked us for directions. Granted I had to tell them I don't know where that is. But its nice to look like you belong there. I am understanding my senora a bit more each day. The guy who was fluent in english and spanish just went home on saturday, So now its just she and i. Its a little difficult but we are making it work. What do I miss the most besides family and friends...definitely the food. One girl in my program put it perfectly saying..
"I just want to sit down for lunch one day and not be surprised by what I'm eating...or have to guess what it is"
and another said...
"Its sunday and I want a big stack of pancakes with syrup..but i guess i'll just settle for an apple."

One big difference here than in the US and their salads. They don't use dressing. They don't even like it. All they put on it is oil, vinegar, and salt. Ya know making the salad actually good for them. I think thats a tip americans should take. and they have a piece of fruit with each meal. however they love mayonnaise here. Its really odd. And I don't mean as a condiment. Its like a sauce. I guess my friend dana's host mom makes her own mayo and dana just knows its gonna be on top of whatever shes eating that night. mmm yummy. Luckily my senoras on a diet.

Last night a bunch of us made a pact to do the Spanish thing and stay out till 7am. I don't know HOW they do it. We only made it to 6am and I was dead beat tired. And when I left the club people were still going strong. We hopped around all night though. It was fun. The last club we ended at was called Buddha. It was a 3 floor nightclub and you have to be well dressed to get in. It was really cool.

I start the rest of my classes this week. I have 2 everyday. I am taking a spanish film class, Spain artistic movements class, A spanish writing class, and a spanish speaking class. All of them will be taught in...what else...Spanish. I'm somewhat nervous but I know someone In each of my classes so its all ok.

Next week we planned a trip to lagos portugal. Its coming down to the last of the beach weather here so we're going! Portugal is suppose to be beautiful. Can't wait.

MOM, I want you to know the shopping here is killer. I have been very good don't worry. But when you come you'll just have to see it. Designer stores everywhere. All stores here are very Fashion forward. I'm learning a lot in that department.
I've also learned that Sevilla is the capital of ice cream shops, shoes, and wedding dresses. I don't know if thats true but I swear i've never seen so many of the same stores in one city.

Okay thats my update of the week. Hope everyone is doing well!!

FUN weekend

So this weekend was fun.

Friday we all took our exam and then went shopping in town. All of us decided to attend a white party. Before we went to that however we had to go meet our inter cambio. That is just someone who wants to learn english. They talk english to us and we talk spanish to them..and then correct each other. The meeting place was at a bar called capote. I never met mine. But the atmosphere was fun.

Afterwards 9 us hopped in a limo and rode to the party. At first it was kind of slow but then it really picked up and we all had a great time. The night ended with all of us in a skate park around 6am. Saturday morning I had to wake up at 8 and go to Cordoba. That was a hard bus to make. If i wasn't so tired The trip would have been better. But Cordoba was very pretty. Saturday night i just came home, ate dinner, and went to bed. I slept till noon today. Wrote a paper. Im about to eat dinner. then its sleepy time again!

Then Ill be well rested for the week. =)

Before the weekend update.

Okay,
I really don't have much to say. BUT my mom keeps emailing me about posting in my blog. So i'll do what I can. Lets seeeee..

This week has just been relaxed. I have stayed in the majority of the nights just trying to catch up on sleep etc. but then my friend megan told me that if you don't go out between the hours of 10-1, your host families will think you have no friends. Hmm isn't that funny. American parents tell you to stay in on school nights, Spanish parents get worried you're socially inept. So I went out last night. The problem in going out in Spain is there's no such thing as "oh Ill make it an early night" because really you don't make it to the tapas bar until 1045 and then you don't get your food and drinks till 1230 so you don't make it to the bar (just to have a drink with friends bc you need to be social) until 2. Overall I didn't go to bed till 4. I had to get up at 730. it was terrible. BUT my senora was very excited to ask me how my night went last night. So mission accomplished there.

Hmm what else... Oh i know. I'd very much like to emphasize the amount of food I'm eating. Yesterday, i had a bowl of pasta big enough for 2. 2 pork chops with tomatoes. and an Orange. And that was LUNCH. Im too scared to tell her to make me smaller portions. I think her goal is to make me gain wait. Everyone else's host moms are doing the same to them. I really have no idea how people are so small in europe. It does not make sense. Something else is going on here i think.

My first week of my intensive spanish course is over. I have an exam tomorrow. I hope I do well because the paper I had to write in spanish made me feel like a third grader who forgot her alphabet. I swear I wrote the sentence...The building is very big...at one point.

My weekend plans are as follows:
Tomorrow night my group and I are going to a student language exchange party. ha We were partner up with a student from the university with students trying to learn english. They will talk to us in english, and we will talk to them in Spanish. Then correct each other. After that party all of us are going to a huge white party. There should be 1000 people there all dressed in white. We are excited. Then we will all wake up an hour after we go to bed (probably) and day trip it to Cordoba. Sunday may be a beach day, but Im thinking itll probably be a sleep day instead! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

ps. My computer will not upload my photos. It doesn't make sense. So hang in there.

I can't get my pictures up, so here are other peoples.

My group at our orientation dinner. Theres 23 of us. And one waiter. But we had fun.

I found DANA!

Molly, ME, And jess hanging in the park next to a fountain. ^
The river. This is the edge of el centro.

Just one of the streets in sevilla. Very Narrow. Theres a million of them. Its a maze.

This is just a random plaza. there are many of these hidden within the narrow streets.

This will be my school in 2 weeks. This is the entrance.

This Is Sevilla from the top of the Cathedral

A very long post for all of you.

Hey everyone!

So I am finally in Sevilla and I love it. The city is so cute and authentic. I didn't receive my luggage until Saturday night. It was terrible. But I finally got it so all is well. I have 23 other people in my program... but all the CIEE programs makeup about 150 students. THEN there are at least 3 other programs in sevilla. SO if i want to find an american, no problem. I moved into my homestay. My Senora is very nice. I have no idea what she is saying 95% of the time. Sevillian spanish is very different from that of Barcelona or Madrid. They cut off the ends of their words and basically run them all together. If there is an s in the word...they skip it. They call is Andalu. If I can master spanish here, then everywhere else should be easy. Luckily a boy is also living with me. He is from utah and is fluent in spanish. He just came to spain to basically master andalu. He helps me converse with my Senora. He leaves soon though so uh oh. I live in a 3 bedroom apartment. Its quaint. Theres no air conditioning...but we've had amazing weather so theres no complaint. I started my intensive spanish class today. It goes for 2 weeks, 3 hours a day. My teacher is awesome. His name is Luis. I'll probably learn more in 2 weeks than I have in 6 years. I've been getting frustrated because 30% of the spanish I've been taught in the US is no longer correct, Certain words have changed to updated meanings. Basically, I look stupid. Also, in the US they stopped teaching the verb form vosotros..bc they said no one uses it anymore. That was a lie. Besides that... my spanish is coming along. At the end of the day I am mentally tired. Everyone says in about 3 weeks, everything will just click. I hope so. Lets see...

The food is good. Me and a pal have gone into restaurants and ordered anything that is common in spain but we have never heard of. The best part about spain is tapas. Which is just like tasting of a certain dish. Most cost under 2 euros. So she and I will order around 6. I have probably tried around 20 different dishes so far. Things get deceiving however. Once I thought i order scallops...and ended up with veal. Opps. My homestay is different. My menu goes like this:

Breakfast(8am): Toast and tea

Lunch(2pm): 3 different courses. Ex: salad, bean stew with sausage, watermelon.

Dinner(930 pm): 3 courses but smaller than lunch.

My senora puts so much food out and then yells at me to keep eating bc if I don't I'll get sick. Hopefully the amount of walking I do will burn off the pounds of food i consume.

The nightlife is great. After dinner (11pm) you go to a local cervesaria and order a few rounds of beer, wine, sangria, or a local favorite (redwine, club soda, and lemon). The tables are on the street and there is a cervesaria located probably every other store. So the streets just fill up. You either stay there or jump around but by 3 am all the young people head to the discotecas. I have yet to stay up till 7 am... but its the norm. This city is just relaxed. Its not uncommon to see 4 old men sitting in a park at 4 pm drinking 40's. Everyone really just enjoys the day. Shops close at 2pm for lunch and siesta ( naptime) then they come and reopen their stores at 6. I'm getting pretty used to it.

I am still trying to figure out how to put pictures up. They download very slow. I'll get some up soon. Hope everyone is doing well! I will post again soon.

A very Rocky Start

So..

If anyone had the flying day from hell it was me. First, my plane from boston to new york was delayed an hour and half. I do not know why. Then, I barely made my plane from New york to Madrid. I got to it with 6 minutes to spare. The plane pulled out...and then sat on the runway for 45 minutes. The flight went well, i just slept. I arrive to Madrid, pass through customs in 10 minutes, go to get my luggage and Oh, it's not there. It stayed in New York. After I cried in the bathroom for a good 5 minutes I sorted it out. It won't get to me until Saturday. Fantastic. Looks like deltas buying me a new wardrobe. I am now just waiting for my flight to sevilla. I am surviving in the Madrid McDonald's. ha. Girls keep coming up to me asking me questions in Spanish for a school project.. after a good pause I reply...No comprende. I actually do know what they are asking...But really don't feel like spanishing it up right now. I wish this travel process was over, but I've still got one more plane to catch. Please let nothing else go wrong.

Last night in the USA

This is my Blog for all my family (and friends) who want to follow along. Hope you all enjoy.

So I leave for Spain tomorrow.

My flight leaves Boston around 230 pm. From there I fly to JKF, switch flights, and fly on to Madrid. Once again I will catch yet another flight and head to Sevilla. I will meet with my study abroad program and head to my hotel where a 4 day orientation starts. I will meet the other 19 members in my group. After that we head to our home stays and start school!! I bought myself a digital camera today just for this trip. I will update again soon!!!