Carnaval en Cádiz

CARNAVAL- WHAT A CRAZY EXPERIENCE.  And that is an understatement!  Carnaval is like Halloween in Madison, times 1000000.  We started off the night by taking at train from Sevilla at 8:20 PM and got into Cádiz around 9:45 PM.  Our train home wasn't even until 6:20 AM because thats what our Spanish tour guides told us to buy.  And apparently that was considered early to go home!  Most people from my program bought tickets for the 8:30AM train, but we decided that that was waaaaay too late for us!

Me, Rebekah, and Liz were dressed as Mariquitas (Lady bugs) and our friends Katie and Kristen were dressed as fairies.  I almost didn't wear a coat, but thankfully at the last second decided that I was going to need one! So glad I did because I was freezing all night long.  It was about 65 degrees during the day, but temperature dropped significantly at night.

Pictures of the streets of Cádiz...  So crazy.

We were all having a good time until we looked at our watches at one point and realized that we had 4 hours left and we were absolutely FROZEN.  We decided that we wanted to get out of the crowd for a little bit (which probably was not a good idea since it was soooooo much colder by the ocean and away from the crowd).  We met up with our Spanish friend, Gonzalo, and he helped us look for a place so that we could go inside and get coffee and warm up.  This, we soon found out, was impossible.  We searched for like 2 hours to find any sort of food place that we could sit inside and eat in, but without any luck.  All of the places that were selling food had their stores completely closed (I can see why), and were selling from the doors/windows.  At this point, it was so miserably cold and we just wanted to go back to Sevilla.

On the way back to the train station we had to walk through the main area again (outside of the Cathedral) and it was about 100 times crazier and 100 times dirtier.  Picture Mifflin, without any police officers, more people, and about a foot of trash completely lining the ground.  I was trying so hard not to step on glass, but I came home with a few shards in my boots.

The train home is a whole different story.  The line just to get into the station was ridiculous.  We didn't even know if we were in the right place because we couldn't see over the crowd of people.  Luckily, we got on our train fairly early and were able to get seats, but a lot of people had to sit on the ground.  It was also freezing on the train, so we couldn't really sleep, even though we were so exhausted.  I got home at 8:45AM and my host abuelo was awake and reading and he wanted to have a conversation with me about how Carnaval went and if I had a good time.  I couldn't help but laugh because here I was, dressed as a Mariquita, having stayed out the entire night, wanting nothing but to be in my bed, sleeping.

That day we were so happy to be home and were able to laugh at all the crazy things that happened the night before.  I can't say I would ever go back, but it was definitely an experience that I will remember forever!

Carnaval actually CONTINUES next weekend and the celebration is supposed to be even bigger for the finale.  It was funny because our program directors were the ones who suggested that everyone go to this event and it was actually the most crazy place they could have sent us.  It was even written on our program calendars!  But I guess thats Spain for you!  They love their parties!

Alcázar

Today we finally went to El Alcázar, which is a massive royal palace in el Centro de Sevilla. There are beautiful gardens inside of it and it is closed off from the rest of the city.  It is definitely one of the top 3 coolest places I have ever been to in my life.  The pictures definitely don't do it justice!

After that we met up with Rebekah's intercambio, José, and he gave us a tour of some places in Sevilla that we hadn't seen before.  We went to the top of this super cool building that the Sevillanos call "Las Setas" (the mushrooms) because it kind of looks like a bunch of big mushrooms.

It was such a great day!  I never want to leave!!

Más de Sevilla

Since I only have class Mondays and Wednesdays, I've been able to get out and do a lot of stuff in Sevilla!  I have done a lot of shopping and have seen a lot of different parts of the city, but I'm always extremely exhausted after 8 and a half hours of straight class.  It is so nice having 4 day weekends though!

This week I got lost about 109230948295 times.  I tried to meet Rebekah at the Catedral one day and it took me 2 hours to find her when it is only like a 45 minute walk.  I had to ask a bunch of people how to get there until I finally found it.  Also, on Tuesday we went on a tour of La Casa de Pilatos, which is a Palace in Sevilla.  We got extremely lost on our way there because we decided to try taking a faster route, but it actually took us twice as long to get there.  The streets in El Centro de Sevilla are super windy and make no sense whatsoever.  Unfortunately, we were in a rush to get to the Palace and I forgot my camera!  So sad!  Let's just pretend I took this picture.... (it is really from google)

On Tuesday, Rebekah and I made plans to meet with my friend, Gonzalo (who I met last weekend), and her intercambio, José.  We met them at a bar in our neighborhood and talked for like 3 hours in both English and Spanish.  Gonzalo and José are both pretty much fluent in English, but they are going to help us with our Spanish.  José is actually an English teacher!  We are going to try to meet with them at least twice a week because talking with them just for a few hours really helped improve our speaking!  They are also super cool and fun to hang out with!

Me and Gonzalo...

 Rebekah and José...

Tonight we are meeting up with them again and going to a disco with their friends and our friends.  Gonzalo is actually friends with our friend Pepe too!

My actual intercambio, Melchor, lives in Zaragota and only comes back to Sevilla for weekends so I haven't been able to meet him yet.  Hopefully soon!

Tomorrow I am signing a pledge to only speak in Spanish until May.  Only about 10 people in my program are doing it, but I really want to improve my Spanish.  I can only speak English when I leave Spain and when I'm talking to people from home.   It will be interesting but I think it will be rewarding!

2 days until Carnaval!! :)

Cádiz

A few days ago we went to las Ruinas Romanas de Itálica.  I literally only got 3 hours of sleep the night before along with everyone else on the trip so we were basically just walking zombies the entire time.  The coolest part was definitely the Roman Amphitheatre that could hold 25,000 spectators at a time!  Here are some pictures...

I also took a short cooking class back in Sevilla this week.  We learned how to make Paella, which is a famous Spanish dish made out of rice and different types of seafood.  It was delicious!  And this is coming from someone who is not the biggest fan of seafood, so that's saying something!

Today we went to Cádiz, which is a city about an hour and a half south of Sevilla.  It was literally the most beautiful city I have EVER seen!  The buildings are all mostly white and the sky and ocean were so blue.  It did not look real!  We started off the day with a tour of the city and we learned a little bit about the historical sites.  We also got to climb to the top of the tower of the cathedral that looked over all of Cádiz and the views were amazing.

Cádiz is right on the Atlantic Ocean, so we spent a lot of time walking along the beach.

My friends and I are going back to Cádiz next weekend for "Carnaval," which is equivalent to Mardi Gras or Halloween in the U.S.  It is basically just a massive party in the city wear people dress up in costumes and party until morning.  Our train back to Sevilla doesn't even leave until 6:30 AM!  That will be an interesting night!  More to come soon!

MADRID

So much has happened since I last blogged!

The intensive Spanish class was a little too intensive for everybody's liking.  3 credits jammed into 2 weeks is not what you want to be doing when you are supposed to be out enjoying the city!  As soon as we finished our finals, we packed up and left for Madrid.  We got there late Friday night and didn't really know what we were doing.  We asked the person at the front desk of our hostel where there were any good tapas restaurants around, and we took a wrong turn and ended up going down a sketchy street that was kind of like the chinatown of Madrid.  People kept coming up to us trying to sell us stuff or get us to come into the bars and it was just creepy.  We ate at kind of a sketchy restaurant that smelled like sewage and did not have very good food.  My friends Katie and Kristen ordered some shrimp and it was a little too fresh for there liking.  Here is a picture...

Our hostel is another story.  We ended up sharing a room with a 50 year old guy who literally slept about 3 feet away from my face and another random Turkish guy.  Definitely not what we are used to!  This was the first real culture shock that we have experienced so far.  So Friday night was a little rough.  

The next day was SOOOO much better.  We went to El Museo del Prado and El Museo Reina Sofia and they were both extremely interesting and breathtaking.  We saw lots of Picasso and Dalí in Reina Sofia and Velázquez and Goya in  Museo del Prado.  We took a guided tour en el Museo del Prado and were able to learn so much more about the paintings and got a lot more out of the experience than we would have by ourselves.  One of the most famous paintings in El Prado is Valázquez's "Las Meninas" and it was cool to see in real life.  Here is a picture from Wikipedia...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Meninasking.jpg/250px-Meninasking.jpg

Here is a picture of a cool church right next to El Museo del Prado....

After that we were exhausted so we went back to our hostel and took a siesta (claro).  That night we decided to go to the most famous discoteca in all of Spain.  It was called Capital and it was literally insane.  It was 7 stories high and each floor had different theme and there were THOUSANDS of people there.  It was sooooooooo fun!

The next day we went to the royal palace, which was also amazing.

After that we went to el jardín de buen retiro and then got churros and chocolate!

This weekend was by far one of the most fun weekends I have ever had!  I can't wait to keep traveling and see more.  I never want to leave!!!!!!

La catedral

Friday after our exam my group had an optional tour of la Catedral de Sevilla and it was amazing! This is a picture of one of the entrances...  The architecture is insane!

La Catedral is absolutely huge and I actually ended up seeing Naomi again by complete coincidence!  

Below is a picture of me and Naomi and Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Colombus)!  He is buried there along with his son.  

In la Catedral there is a tower known as "la Giralda" which is 34 stories high and overlooks Sevilla.   From all four sides of the tower, you can see a different part of the city.  It was so cool to see the city from a different point of view!

Yesterday Rebekah and I went shopping with some of the girls in our program.  This month there are "rebajas" (sales) in every single store which means now is a good time to shop!  We were there for at least 6 hours and we only made it into four stores.  Everyone dresses EXTREMELY nice here and i always feel underdressed.  No one ever wears sweatpants or tennis shoes and they are pretty much one year ahead of the U.S. on fashion.  People take clothes VERY seriously here!  We were told that people instantly know you are American if you are wearing a Northface jacket or backpack.  Let me tell you, almost every person in our group has one or the other.

Also, last night we decided to go for churros and chocolate and we were so set on this idea.  We went to this cute little café in Porvenir, right by our apartment.  We were so excited but when we tried to order we found out that Churros are only served at breakfast time!  So sad!!  Instead, the waiter tried to help us pick something else to eat, but really all we wanted was dessert or a tapa (appetizer).  He suggested this 3 cheese thing and we really had no idea what we ordered.  We thought it was going to be something like mozzarella sticks but it was a basket of bread and a cheese dip.  It was actually really disgusting unfortunately.  It was kind of chilly outside and the cheese ended up congealing together. Here is a picture...

I think the waiter could tell that we didn't like it because we barely ate any of it. He brought back the check and ended up giving it to us for free.   We felt really bad though and tried to pretend like we liked it, but it was pretty obvious we didn't.  People can be so nice here!

Also, this song has been stuck in my head for several days...  It is extremely popular here in Spain and everyone always does the little dance that goes with it whenever it plays.  It is in Portuguese (I think) so I'm not exactly sure what they are saying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBMFTDn-X50

¡Olé!

¡Finalmente hoy es viernes!

I just had my first exam for my intensive class and it was muy fácil.  VERY different from midterms in the U.S.!  I somehow get 3 credits for two weeks of class for only 3 hours a day.  Woohooo!  Although, there has been more more homework than I was originally expecting.  I shouldn't complain though!  I'm in SPAIN for crying out load.

A little bit about my week- class, lunch, homework, siesta, exploring the city, dinner, homework.  I'm definitely taking advantage of this whole siesta thing though.  I'm such a nap lover.

Tuesday night we had a tour of our barrios (neighborhoods).  I live in Porvenir, which is about a 10 minute walk from the business school.  Most of the other business students live in Nervión, which is about the same distance from the school, but in the exact opposite direction.  El centro is about a 35-40 minute walk from where I live, but about 20-25 minutes from every one else.  This means I will be spending mucho dinero on taxis here!

This is a link that shows my apartment if you want to see it...  (It is 42 Calle Porvenir on the 4th floor)

http://maps.google.es/maps?q=42+Calle+Porvenir,+Sevilla,+España&client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&gs_upl=5855l8986l0l9833l4l4l0l0l0l0l780l1298l5-1.1l2l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0xd126e9cedc8b4db:0x26be2aa93d095032,Calle+Porvenir,+42,+41013+Sevilla&gl=es&ei=opMiT4jBB8aO8gPdkOjWBw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ8gEwAA

Wednesday night our program had a social at a club for all of the intercambios to meet each other.  I didn't get the email with my intercambio's name on it until yesterday, so I haven't met him yet.  His name is Melchor Durán Garcia and I'm hoping to meet him tonight.  We are required to spend at least two hours a week with our intercambios, 1 hour talking in Spanish and 1 hour talking in English.  Did I mention that I saw NAOMI at this social!! She has been my best friend since 2nd grade and although we are both studying in Sevilla this semester, this was the first time I had seen her!  She is in the liberal arts program and lives on the other side of el río, muy lejos de Porvenir.

I was supposed to go on an 8 mile hike through the mountains on Sunday but the trip filled up before I was able to sign up.  I'm so sad!  Hopefully there will be more trips like this soon because it sounded really fun.