estoy felipando

A little artsy shot, through the bell tower thingy.
Overlooking the pueblo.

Martin, Jose and Chenoa checking out the architecture.

Precioso.

Where we ate dulces and had café.

A lot of the sights are similar to things I have seen in Mexico or other places which makes me feel at home here. I already feel like I have a new life in Spain. I want to take every moment and savor it though. Everything we do and everywhere we go I tell everyone “we are in SPAIN! this is crazy!” This semester is one I will remember forever but I really want to leave here bearing fruit of a semester of hard work and cherished memories. I have been studying a lot more then normal, I review everything every night to make sure I wont forget vocab for art and grammar class and I try to reread everything too. Its so amazing learning another language at the same time as learning history and art and culture. Everyday my vocab expands and I realize how little I know. Its exciting (and a little depressing because I know nothing).

This weekend has been fabulous… unexpected and sooo much fun.

Viernes

La Noche Larga kicked off the weekend on Friday night. All the museums in the city are open for free all night (till 3am) and they all have concerts and plays and wine and everything for free. It happen one night a year. I wound up hanging out with a Spanish friend Martin museum hopping and watching concerts and such…then we met up with others at a flamenco performance (ahh…so amazing) and got some semi-gross hamburgers on the fly cause nothing else was open (I hadnt eaten). After all the festivities we hung out for a while before Martin dropped me and a couple girls off at home.

This culture allows you to appreciate art everywhere you go, just looking at the architecture and old buildings makes me smile (especially now that I have learned all about them in art class!).

Sabado

Chenoa and I decided to be spontaneous on Saturday and go for an adventure with Martin and his friend Jose. They are great guys that we met through the school, a couple of the few Christians we will encounter in Sevilla. It was so great to go with them because they had a car and really knew the cool places. We explored a small town about ½ hr away called Arecenas. This town has amazing caves that you can visit and take a tour. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. So freaking beautiful. I was flipping out the whole time…it was sooo cool inside the caves as we walked through all these different areas with different rocks and minerals and such. I don’t know much about geology but it was really awesome.

After that we got some tapas to hold us over for our walk up to this mountain where there is a cathedral and palace ruins. I had awesome olives…they grow them here, and cheese and chorizo. The tapas were amazing. We shopped around a little so the guys could buy food and then went to eat it at this cool area with weeping willows and tables. The views were amazing and the weather was great and it all felt so European. I learn a lot of street words cause the guys were trying to teach us less formal sayings. We ended the day with coffee and dulces at a pastry shop that is really well known. Apparently this place has lines out the door normally but we were there in the off season.

The culture of Spanish food and “hanging out” involves a lot of relaxing and enjoying each others company…something I think we Americans are bad at doing when we have an agenda. I loved that we did a lot of cool things but there was no rushing and a lot of good conversation. The only time this cultural difference becomes a problem is with hunger. Come 3pm, post-cave viewing, Chenoa and I were starving for lunch. We were sitting in a tapas bar waiting for the guys to order and they were just taking their time, sipping their beers and chilling. I told them we were starving and they said “tranquila” haha. Basically, “chill out”. This is tapas style…you could spend all night just order little bits of food and hanging out and talking.

On the ride home we tried to practice English with them (for their sake). It was hilarious… they were sooo funny practicing what they knew from high school. I could not stop laughing even though I know it was probably mean… the only word that came out perfectly was “brownies” hhahaha. Made me realize how stupid I must sound speaking spanish even though they told us we speak really well.

Domingo

I met a cool girl at church. After the service (2.5 hrs long!) I decided I needed to make more Spanish friends so I asked the pastor to introduce me to young people. It was funny. He brought me over to a girl and introduced us. After besitos and introductions we decided to plan on hanging out. Later I did some homework, met up with people at a café to plan for Granada this coming weekend and spent the evening hanging out with Isabel, my Señora…making dinner and chatting. Good times.