Dang..where did that semester go?!?!

Wow, i haven't written anything on here since Feria. I have some catching up to do!
I just got back to the US and I am not going to lie. It is strange. Coffee tastes like water. It is cold and rainy. Everyone is speaking to me in English and I still have to think before I say anything because my thoughts keep coming out in the wrong language. (Today when I went to yell at the dog I said "Que haces? Ven aca!" and then could not understand why she just looked at me like I was a moron.) I really miss sevilla. I miss Mercedes and her family, I miss the colegio (the school i helped at), I miss everyone that I met while I was there, spanish people and CCCS people. I never thought I would say this but I want to go back to spain. (yes this is coming from the girl who was convinced she would hate it and was dreading the entire experience..funny how things change). But since I am greatly in debt and need to find a job, I think I will use that as my distraction for the next few days while I remember how to be american and speak english. I will finish filling in the gaps of what happened in the last month later and add some pictures but until then...HI EVERYONE, I'M HOME!!!

Feria

Feria is the craziest most amazing thing I have ever seen. It makes me want to become Spanish, wear a flamenco dress, and learn to dance sevillano. I think the thing that is most amazing to me is how proud they are of where they live and their heritage. I mean, we have the 4th of July but that is for the whole country. We don’t even have enough history to celebrate, the US is too young. But here they have all of these traditions and customs. I love the way they all dress, the women in their flamenco dresses and the men in their short suits. I love how the whole world goes to the streets. I love how everyone is so happy and just having fun together. I love that the rest of the city just shuts down. I love all the horses and carriages parading through the streets, the people everywhere just watching and talking and dancing and drinking. I love how the tents are not just tents they look like actual houses. They are all decorated in different ways and it is just beautiful. Sevilla is great. End of story.

Sevilla y la fam

I got to show Sevilla to my mom and grandma and it was wonderful! They were only here for a day so it was not nearly long enough to actually show them the city but we had enough time to drink some wine on the roof of dona maria and look out at the the giralda, walk through santa cruz a little bit, see the lighting of feria, look at the cathedral, and eat lunch with my senora. They loved the cathedral, thought feria was a little crazy and that the lights were not nearly as exciting as they had expected but still an experience, and lunch with my senora was probably the most entertaining experience of my Spanish life. Watching the three of them attempt to interact, o man, it was great. No one knew where to look while they spoke, Mercedes (my senora) kept telling me to translate things that I had already told them and when I left to pack my stuff she was trying to show them her knitting and they all just kept talking louder and loud in hopes that maybe the words would magically translate themselves and the other party would understand. It was really fun to translate though and it was great that they all got to meet each other. Although now that my mom has seen where I live she is going to worry even more, not that it is a dangerous area at all. Good thing she brought the pepper spray haha. PS mom it really is in my purse and I did get it out after I got off my bike last night, just for you.

Marbella

The taxi driver pulls up to the gated entrance. I look ahead to see a tropical paradise sprawled out in front of me. Cual piso? The gate keeper asks me, but I am speechless..in both languages…I turn to him with a look of confused amazement. He laughs that “ooo dumb Americans” laugh and says, “What is your apartment number?” Finally my brain registers that he expects me to respond. “Oh, lo siento. 1214.” He says something else but I am lost again in the scenery: palm trees, brightly colored flowers, mountains, pools, Spanish style building with stone roofs and porches. My eyes traveled beyond the Marriott to see the ocean peaking out at me from beyond the trees. “This is it???!!” I asked mom. “Yup,” she says amused. “Dang!” was the only response I could muster.
The luxury only continues as we enter into our legit apartment with two bedrooms, two huge bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and of course, our own personal balcony. The beds each have about 5 pillows on top, but just in case none of those work for you, there is a whole closet full of other ones you can chose from. (You know how well I do with decisions. I literally had an assembly line of pillows on the bed and had to try each one multiple times before I could pick one.) From the balcony I can see the ocean, about 5 different pools, some mountains and the most amazing workout room known to man. It was basically Vanessa heaven.
The weather was a bit to be desired but we still had fun. We took some walks on the beach so that grandma could stick her toes in the Mediterranean Sea, mom had her drinks on the beach and I got to run into the sunrise. We had several interesting culinary experiences like lunch on the beach and Italian in the rain and our attempt to go in for tapas. (Mom was not into the legs of meat hanging from the wall and they did not think the pictures of flesh covered in cheese looked appetizing, I can not understand why haha). Needless to say, we sat down for about 2 minutes and then left.
Marbella was absolutely beautiful. It pretty much looked like a breathtaking landscape portrait that we got to walk around in. Never in my life have I been anywhere that amazing and wonderful and nice. Thank you Douglas, Of course we still brought our small town, American flavor to the table. Grandma and mom had a giggle about the topless Europeans and the men in Speedos small enough to make you want to rip your eyes out, we ran around in our bright pink rain jackets and tennis shoes, I gave my camera to a homeless man only to realize that he was not really offering to take our picture out of the kindness of his heart (but 1 euro for a picture isn’t too bad), we hijacked the covered beds in the center of the pool deck one morning before the rain just to try it out, we played phase ten in the hotel room, and grandma got a few snore-filled naps in on the pool deck. Over all, it was a wonderful trip.

4 yr old makeovers, rooftops, and sand

So this week began with yet another birthday party but this one was for the 3..now 4..year old grandaughter of my señora. There were about half a million people there. After a significant period of awkwardness, I decided to retreat to the kid area and play. So I ran around the house, played the wii, got a makeover from the birthday girl that consisted of globs of glitter all over my face, and pretty much just acted like my ridiculous self. It was great. The rest of the week was pretty average: a little bit of class, some crazy kids at the school, some homework here and there and that´s about it. Oh and we went to a play for one of my classes. It wasn´t really a play though. It was just one guy standing up reciting poetry. Imagine watching this in English, add some comfortable seats, a man with a strong andalucian accent, and oh ya, a language that I don´t speak...it was a great experience. I kind of wanted to jump off a bridge after. Haha ok, it wasn´t that bad...
On Saturday we went to the beach. There were about 5 other people on the beach because although it is like 85 the spanish people still think it is winter. And we went to a not so popular beach because we didn´t want to be touristy. It was a lot of fun. We played in the water a little, attempted to play with some dogs, and got sand stuck in places that I didn´t even no existed. Successful beach trip if I do say so myself...
The rest of the weekend consisted of doing homework in parks and exciting things like that. Exciting news for the future: MY MOMMA IS COMING!! AND MY GRANDMA TOO!!! A week from right now, they will be here, in Sevilla, with me! Wooohoooo!! I might be excited...just a little but....

OOO side note…I have a request. I am in desperate need of a job when I get back this summer (in June). So if anyone knows of anything I could possibly do with my life (if it involved Spanish that would definitely be a plus) please let me know and I would be forever indebted to you for your helpfulness.

Ok so as much as I loved Semana santa, Easter Sunday was the strangest day of my life. It was just like any other Sunday. There were just as many if not less people in church that day and we didn´t do anything too out of the ordinary. It was soooo strange. All week long we had watched crucified Jesus and distraught Mary parade through the streets but then the day of the resurrection, the central part of the entire celebration, the point of Easter, rolls around and nothing happens. I don´t get it. Does he just never get to get off the cross? Are the spanish people walking around with a crucifix statue in their heads or do they realize that he gets off the cross, he conquers death!! He died so we could live!! That is why we celebrate Easter...isn´t it?? I am not sure why this bothers me so much but it does....

Roma, Semana Santa

O wow. I have so much to write about that I don’t even know where to begin!! The week began with the greatest surprise ever, Jenn’s boyfriend showing up outside of her class on Thursday J. She had no idea he was coming. It was sooo great. So he was in Sevilla with us for a few days before we left for Rome. We were in Rome for 4 days and we saw and did sooooo much. At the same time, there is so much to see and do in Rome that I am pretty sure we only saw a fraction of the city. We had a lot of fun though. We saw the colloseum, la Fontana de Treve, Vatican City, the Cistine Chapel, the jail cell where Peter and Paul were kept, and I cannot even remember what else right now. A lot of things. It was pretty much every time we turned a corner there was another big a beautiful building or fountain or plaza to explore. Basically we spent every minute of every day exploring the streets of Rome. Of course we had to stop occasionally for some pizza, pasta or gelato haha but we kept ourselves pretty busy. O ya, we also went to the Olympic stadium and ran around the track and this bridge that is covered in locks hung on chains along the sides by couples in cheesy moments of love. It was really cool actually (hate to admit it, but it was). We stayed in a “bungalow” which basically meant a little camper in a campground hostel but it was pretty nice. Besides the fact that the entire thing shook every time someone moved and you could hear our neighbors through the walls it was pretty quality. We got back on Thursday night around midnight and then went straight to the street to watch semana santa processions. I got back around 5am…right as my senora was getting up to leave to go watch the processions herself. It was a long night but the atmosphere and the processions were amazing. There were sooooo many people of all ages that stayed up all night to watch them. After some of the statues passed there were people who would sing from window and other times there were chants led by the people. All the candles and beautiful details…impresionanate as the Spanish people would say. So basically I spent the rest of the weekend in the streets watching processions. It was a pretty successful Easter break I must say. It was so cool to see and entire city dedicating a week to the real meaning of Easter, the crucifixion and resurrection, instead of just bunnies and chocolate. If you want to see what I am talking about, you can search for videos of “semana santa, sevilla” in Youtube and you will get an idea. No worries, the klu klux klan looking people are harmless. Well, that is all for now. I am going to try to put up some pictures if they will work…we will see.

PARIS!

From the minute we stepped into the airport to my weary walk back home at 10pm sunday night the laughter and craziness never stopped. Jenn felt sick when we first left so she was pretty much on drugs all of friday. We basically had to drag her through the airport and direct her to the plane. We left at 10am and did not get to our hostel in paris until 1 am. It was a loooong day of travelling. When we got to the hostel the people that worked there were really nice but lack of lighting, a creepy spiral staircase and a little woman with a voice that could make millions in horror movies created an interesting walk up to our room. We pretty much thought we were going to die, when really, she just wanted to talk to her friend monica. (One of those stories that you just had to be there I think). The next morning we woke up, well, I woke up and jumped on everyone else, around 8:30. After a little song and dance in the room we went down to our free hostel breakfast and then off to take over Paris. We went to the church of the sacred heart, the eifel tower, the louvre (amazing! pretty much the greatest thing i´ve ever seen), sat in the leisure fields, ate some crepes, went to notre dame, met some really helpful french men while looking like lost tourists, went to hardrock and made a friend from brooklynn, ran through the pouring down rain to try and catch the eifel tower in its 5min of sparkle and shine..we made it in the last 30 secs, and then went to see Moulin Rouge at 1am. We finally headed back to our hostel around 2 and fell into comas about 2:15 only to get up in the morning and be tourists for a couple more hours before we had to leave. Basically we were like tourists on speed but we saw everything that we wanted to see and it was great. We had a blast and although it was a really short trip, it was well worth it.

So today I rode a bike in a dress. I am pretty sure I might as well have been naked. I don´t understand how spanish people do this. A lot of them wear heels too and ride. I am thoroughly impressed. It has been sunny for the entire week and it is beautiful and amazing. I have the urge to just skip everything and sit out in the sun all day. It cracks me up though that the spanish people still bundle up in their coats and scarves and it is like 70 outside. My señora constantly tells me I need to wear a scarf or coat and then I just take it off and hide it the moment i get outside haha. This weekend we are going to paris and I am really excited. I will be sure to put up lots of pictures and tell stories when we get back. We attempted to do couch surfers but it didn´t work out..sad day. Next time..I am determined to do that sometime before we leave haha. Well, that is all for now. Until after Paris!

Crazy children...

Ok so yesterday I was working with some of the younger kids, like around 7 I think. We were playing a game so the teacher and I were up front and the kids were sitting in their groups. Now, the teacher is this very spunky little fake blonde who is probably about 4ft 5 or something like that. She is always very bubbly and excited and going to her classes are by far my favorites just because it is always crazy. yesterday, however, took things to a whole new level. One of the students decided to get up and go sit in the teachers chair. After about 5 minutes she noticed and burst out laughing. This was the exact reaction that chair snatcher wanted so he proceeded to fall out of the chair onto the ground, rolling around laughing. Within 30 seconds the entire class was on the ground laughing. It was like a scene out of a movie..I´m not sure if the movie was a comedy or a creepy one with psycho children but either way it was entertaining. The teacher was laughing so hard she was crying. Here I am standing in front of this chaos watching children writhing on the floor with laughter and a little blonde lady exploding with amusement. I had no idea what to do but clearly there was only one logical option...to laugh. If you can´t beat em, join em right?

So, Sevilla has this amazing thing called Sevici where you swipe this card and it unlocks a bike that you can ride all over the city-my 40min speed-walk to school just turned into a 15 min bike ride. I think that my life is now forever changed. I might even be able to find time to run now!!! And write on this blog more than once a month...soooo exciting!!! Also, my wonderful family sent me a birthday package with some rainboots inside and for the first time in a month, it did not rain. Thank you!! The package was wonderful...I love it all. And it will probably never rain again because now I have rainboots haha. My birthday was great. Val and Jenn kidnapped me and took me to this vegetarian restaurant to give me a break from the mass quantities of meat that I have to eat here and then we went to a friend´s house to watch a movie and hang out. And it was sunny for some of the day! The day before (on Saturday) we went to Gibraltar but it rained the whole entire time so it kind of sucked. We couldn´t really see or do much because it was monsooning and my umbrella died from mass quantities of wind and rain. Pobre paragua....Oh, I got to work with the 3-5 year olds at the school the other day and it was pretty much the greatest moment of my life. They were sooo cute. I feel like there are so many stories I am forgetting about....o well, maybe I will remember later. Adios!

Salamanca!!!

So, we went to Salamanca this weekend and it was great. When we first got there the wind was so strong it felt like we were walking through a hurricane. We could barely move and debris was being hurled at our faces from all directions. Normal people would hate this but we though it was hilarious. All the spaniards thought we were completely nuts (which I guess is slightly true). The next day, however, was better. It was a little chilly but there was no wind and it was sunny most of the day. We decided to conquer every monument and tourist attraction in a day. It was kind of exhausting by the end but sooo worth it. Salamanca is full of beautiful historic buildings. Don't worry, I am putting up some pictures instead of describing them all to you. Probably our greatest adventures of the weekend were our meals. For lunch we went to this place called "Con 2 Huveos" just because it looked strange and we wanted to try it out. When we walked in the waitress told us we could share a giant ostrich egg for only 50 euros...haha ya right. We ended up with the cheaper option of duck, quail and turkey eggs. Duck and turkey are pretty similar to chicken but quail eggs are really, really little. They were pretty good. We expected them to make something out of the eggs but instead we just got a bunch of strange sunny side up eggs on a platter lol. It was foos but if I have to eat another egg anytime soon, I might hurl. Then that night for dinner, we were walking around searching for someone cheap and not packed to eat at and while we were staring cluelessly at one of the menus a waiter came out and coerced us into coming in. We still didn't really understand the menu but he was nice and explained it to us. We were feeling adventurous again and decided to order things that sounded strange. One of the plates (the one that got put in front of me of course) happened to be pigs feet. Like the entire foot with hair and hooves and skin still intact. My first instinct was to gag but instead i decided to pretend like it was science class and disect it. I even ate a piece haha. It was interesting but I don't think I will be ordering manitos de cerdo again. Salamanca is a beautiful city though and we had a ton of fun. I am so blessed to have two of my best friends here with me. No matter what we do, no matter how crazy or stupid, it ends up being fun. OOOO the rain is dying down! Time to run home before it picks up again. More pictures later, I promise. Adios!!

Exploring Sevilla

Whoops...its been a while again. Here are some pictures of some places around Seville that we visited during class that I meant to put up last week but didn't get a chance to...

Intercambios, Mantequilla de Cachuate y Lluvia

So yesterday was quite a day. First we went to Italica for our cultural visit during school. It was pouring down rain so we didn´t stay long becuase Italica is basically ruins of a Roman city. After we got back I had to run to the bus so that I could make it to the school on time. When I got there the teacher just takes me up and throws me in a class room...AHHH!! So I had to waste a half and hour talking to high schoolers about Indiana and asking them questions. It was actually really fun. I am not sure how this is supposed to help my English but it is good practice anyway. Then I had to go back to the school for a fiesta. We were supposed to meet our intercambios, which is like and language exchange buddy (they are all learning english at the center). Mine is this really tall basketball coach guy who is in love with the Indiana Pacers haha. He is really nice though so I think it will be a good experience. Oh ya, before the fiesta, Jenn had an undying craving for peanut butter because they don´t really have that here. We went on a search through Corte Ingles (Spains version of Walmart) to find the sacred mantequilla de cachuate. It cost us almost 5 dollars but we decided it would be worth it in the end. Of course, you have to have something to scoop it out with, so we found some oreos and felt pathetically american but you gotta do what ya gotta do haha. We ate our oreos and pb in the street. It was great. After the fiesta we tried to go for tapas. Haha so unnecessarily difficult!! After all that, mind you it is midnight and still pouring down rain, I went to my bus stop only to realize that my bus was done running for the night. I had no money for a taxi (smart, I know) so Jenn lent me some. My taxi driver was super nice and very "complimentary" we will say. Haha I got a cheap taxi ride out of the deal though so in the end, it was all good and very entertaining.

I am not so good at keeping things short and sweet...

So on Saturday we went to Carnival de Cadiz. It was pretty much like the adult version of Halloween (minus trick or treating). There were people dressed up in all kinds of crazy, hardcore costumes. These people don’t mess around. When they get dressed up they go all out. We ran into some guys dressed as Chinese people and they were trying to convince us (in Spanish) that they did not speak Spanish because they were Chinese. Then there was the huge group of people dressed up as foosball players. Oh, and lets not forget the very convincing cross-dressers…at least I think they were cross-dressers…My personal favorite, however, were the cows. I am not sure if it was my Indiana roots coming out or fond memories of a time when certain friends from Michigan brought out a cow suit to IN and we made Ashley wear it to the pizza place….Anyway, it was crazy but really funny. Lots of music and dancing, people everywhere, basically entertainment around every corner. We left Sevilla around 8pm and got back around 4am (my favorite time of day J). Most normal people would just sleep the day away after a night like that but since we are clearly not normal, we decided to wake up at ten and go out to watch the Sevilla Marathon. It was so much fun!! We were pretty much the only ones cheering but the runners appreciated it. They were thanking us (“Ay guapisimas!” counts as a thank you right??) and they definitely started running faster..or at least we would like to think so.
Today I had my interview for my internship. It really was not an interview at all. It was more like hey, what’s your schedule. Ok, you should come here on Wednesday and teach the kids about your life and the US. You know what, why don’t you just come Wed-Fri so you can teach the whole school. Oooo ok. So now I need to plan a lesson about life in Indiana in comparison to life in Sevilla. Nothing like jumping right in! I am excited though. They have kids from ages 3-18 in the school so I will definitely get to figure out what age group I like best and I will have lots of practice! Man, this is long…but I still have more to say!
We also went to Casa de Pilotos today and it was gorgeous. It is this huge mansion with all this beautiful artwork and intricate details inside. I took lots of pictures but it was raining so we didn’t stay there too long. Instead we went to h&m because Jenn needed a sweater and I don’t have a dryer in my house so my pants are falling down (more than normal.) It is a problem. But have no fear, I bought some that were not 5 sizes too big for once so hopefully they will stay on. Wow, that information really was not important to anyone’s life but just in case you wanted to know…haha.

Tengo internet en mi casa!!!

So today I innocently turned on the computer to try and be a good kid and do my homework when all of the sudden, out of the blue, the internet comes up! I decided that I must take advantage of this very rare perk of living in an apartment and us it...the homework will have to wait...darn :).

Today we went to the cathedral of sevilla and it was absolultely beautiful. I have never seen anything like it. It is this huge, beautiful, gothic cathedral that has all this intricate gold designs and decorations inside. I definitely felt like a tourist running around and taking pictures of every little thing but it was great. We climbed up to the top (a very long, sloping climb I must say..good thing we've got those CC runner legs to keep us going) and you could see the entire city from there. It was breath taking. I think that every day I spend here I fall in love with the city a little bit more. It also doesn't hurt that it was a gorgeous sunshine filled day.

Well, I should probably go actually do my homework and hopefully this internet miracle will happen again someday. Also, it is 9pm and we are about to eat dinner. Spanish life is so strange...I love it.

PS- I did not mean to put these pictures in here so strangely...I'm just talented like that

Whew...it's been a while

Wow, so this whole blog writing thing is not going nearly as well as I had hoped. Unfortunately, I don't have internet in my house but right now I am at a mcdonalds accross the street stealing their wireless haah. How american is that?? I don't even remember if I wrote anything since italy!! Well, Italy was great. I met a ton of wonderful people and saw the sights of Milan. It's a little too city-like for me but the D'uomo was gorgeous and we went to this little town by the beach that was absolutely amazing. It was one of those cute little towns you see on tv. Then I got to sevilla and fell in love. It is this beautiful, historic city with amazing architecture everywhere and so much to see and do. There is a giant river that people kayak down and people are out all the time. I walk literally everywhere. Some people ride bikes but I haven't signed up for that yet. My senora, they lady I live with, is great. I love her. She reminds me of a mixture of mom and grandma butler. Crazy and quirky and always going some where but she is always looking out for me and making sure I am safe and well cared for. She is really sweet and loves to talk. I'm not gonna lie, I don't really understand her stories when she gets excited about them because she talks too quickly but its great practice. Her family is over a lot and they are great too. Classes are good. I have a Grammar class and my professor is great. He is halarious and I'm pretty sure he loves me because I told him grammar was boring on the first day. :) whoops... Well, that is all for now. Besides getting lost alot and accidentally exploring things while trying to get home (good times) I haven't really had any grand adventures but I will be sure to stop by micky d's when I do to tell you all about them.

ITALIA!!

First off, British Airways are amazing...best flying experience of my life. Personalized movies, good food, comfortable seats and British accents, what more could you want out of life?? Italy is amazing. We went to this little beach town on Saturday and it was beautiful. I kind of wanted to stay forever. Milan is a little too big city for me but it is still nice-lots of pretty sights and amazing people. I will explain more later-the computer is about to die so adios!

PACKING!!!

AHHH!! I am finally all packed and ready to go!!! The next time I write on here I will be in Italy!!! WOOOHOOOO!!! I have to get up and leave in less than 5 hours. That is not so great. I should go to bed soon. Haha, that is probably not going to happen. I have a lot of energy...why does that always happen to me at night?? Well everyone, adios (or should I say chao?) the next time I talk to you I will be on European soil!!!!!

Food poisoning...

Ugh. The past few days have been awful. Kel and I got food poisoning (we think) and pretty much did not move off the couch on Monday. Today we started to feel a little better but not great. We had a nice at home dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Tracey. That was probably the highlight of the whole day. Maybe even whole week at this point haha.
The moral of the story: NEVER eat veggie fajitas. They will make you want to die. This is not an exaggeration of any kind. It was as horrible, if not worse than it sounds. But we did watch the office and bond so I guess some good came out of it...still it wasn't worth it.

Foot Painting!! (Not to be confused with foot washing)

So yet another night in metropolis of Angola, we were bored and in need of something to do. Kendra and I, under the influence of waaay too much coffee and lack of sleep (or in my case too much shopping) decided that we should paint a sheet. Why you may ask. I don't know, why not. It makes a good story in the end and a great tapestry for the wall, that's why :). So we tracked down all the paint in our house and some random old sheet that we had lying around. Jess came over and we decided to cover our feet in paint while stratigically hopping onto the sheet. (By strategic I mean completely radom and sporadically). By the end, it was covered in paint and so were we. Unfortunately so was Bella. She wanted to help and who were we to deny her of that pleasure? Haha. Kel, who had been off working hard all day, was less than pleased with the new picasso-fied version of her dog. Needless to say, we had fun. And Kendra's ceiling will look pretty sweet...once we figure out how to peel the now dried sheet off the basement floor....whoops!

It's really that easy??

So, the other day I was talking with the wonderful Haley Church about Spain and she said "Are you gonna start a blog?" I thought to myself...what a brilliant idea!! Now instead of attempting to email 57 different people about the same thing (and failing miserably by week 2) I can just write it once and they can all read it whenever the want. The girls a genius, I tell ya.

Being technologically challenged, I had no idea how one would even go about starting a blog. However, in the midst of boredom one Friday night I googled it. Low and behold, 5 minutes later I was, well, doing what I am doing right now- TYPING MY VERY OWN BLOG. Most exciting part of my night, I must say haha. Over the next few months while I am in Spain and other various places I am going to attempt to keep everyone updated. I cannot promise that I will remember but I am going to do my best to at least fill you in on the highlights. So, let the stories and adventures begin!! Have fun reading!