Granada!

I'm sitting in the plaza by my house on a Sunday afternoon enjoying what should have been a rainy, miserable day. So much for the whole "it doesn't rain in sevilla" business cause I have learned that it does rain, and somewhat often in February. (i'm hoping March will be more dry). I'm lucky though, we missed most of the rain because our program took us to Granada for two days, one night. Granada is an amazing city. I somewhat wish I had researched Granada as well as Sevilla- I could have definitely seen myself studying there. It is similar to Sevilla, in the sence that it has a strong Arab, Mediterranean feeling to the city- small winding streets, moorish/mudejar architecture, ect. Granada was much smaller than Sevilla. It had this very unique university feeling- lots of young, cool students. We stayed a very nice hotel with all of our meals at a buffet (you can't beat free, buffet-style eating). The first day we arrived we took a tour around the Arab quarter. The area is called Albacin. It is all small winding streets filled with "Carmens," which are very nice, large houses from the Muslim kingdom of Granada. Apparently now-a-days, these Carmens are very expensive and a huge status symbol. After our tour we were given free time to explore the city. We walked around the streets, sat in cafes, and of course, enjoyed some delicious helado (ice cream). We went into a leather good store and a woman asked if we needed help and when we told her no she responded "OK, let me know" in perfect American English. We sat in her store with her for 30 minutes talking. Now 32, she was a student in Granada while in college. She went home to finish up college, sold all her possessions (or what couldn't fit in her allowed two suitcases) and moved to Granada. She has been there for 8 years and can't imagine moving home. She comes home to Chicago for 1 or 2 months a year. It was really interesting talking to her and learning about her move. She gave us some good advice- learn as much about our city as possible, most importantly the language- she said, don't hang around with too many Americans; be daring and approach other Spanish students and make friends. It will help our Spanish more than anything else. Pretty cool girl.

Anyways, we returned to the hotel for our siesta, enjoyed another large buffet dinner, and went out on the town. It was a fun night, but the bet part was the end. We found a pizza place, right next to a falafel restaurant- it was pretty perfect. The next day we were given free time in the morning. We walked to the Arab quarter to a street known for it's authentic Moroccan feel. There are lots of teterias (tea houses) and street vendors. we sat down for some arab tea and then realized we had to rush back in order to make the bus to take us to el alhambra. this was the best part of the trip- El Alhambra is amazing- it's a huge compound that ws originally used as the Muslim palace during the reign of the Muslim kingdom. Then after the reconquest- it was used for the Christian Kingdom and the personal palace of Charles V. It is immense and beautiful. I think (not sure) that it is one of the 7 man-made wonders of the world. After the tour we got back on the bus to head home to Sevilla. I was exhausted but couldn't sleep so I finished my book "Water for Elephants"- it was so good, I couldn't put it down.

Today has been pretty boring. Stephanie's parents are in town, I'm without a book, and soon my computer will die so I won't even be able to write you all. I think it's time for a new battery, or one that lasts me more than 30 minutes.

Just now many Sevillano men have begun practicing for Semana Santa. Semana Santa is a week-long festival in Sevilla (or really all over Spain). It's the week of Good Friday- Gabe will be here for the first weekend. Anyway, these men dress up and carry these huge metal structures on their shoulders. It's pretty strange but I'm very excited for the real thing. Apparently it is a religious week but here it is more of just a huge party all over the city. Bars and restaurants are open all day and night and everyone is in the streets partying. It's gonna be cool and it's gonna be here soon than I can imagine. Here's the line up:

On Tuesday night I am taking the overnight bus to Madrid to catch our flight to Geneva. From geneva we are going to Interlaken for two nights, back to Geneva for two nights and then back to Madrid early Sunday morning.

The following Thursday I am going to Prague for the weekend. I am very excited- this is one of those places on my list that I had to get to- I really wanted to go when I had a long weekend so that I could take the train to Poland but flights to Prague are really expensive and we found a great rate for hotel/flights/transportation for the same price as a one-way plane ticket! Crazy, huh?

The following weekend Gabe and Lexi are coming to Sevilla. I have school off the whole week and I'm thinking about taking the bus to Madrid for the next weekend. I'm going to be EXHAUSTED!

After all of that it will be March 23 and half way through with the trip! How insane?? Ok, well my computer is dying and I want to make sure this gets posted. I'll post some pictures later.

A Week in Sevilla.

Just wanted to update and say hello.  I have my first composition due tomorrow so this is of course another form of procrastination.  (FYI: I wrote my last post and put up pictures from Paris as a procrastination from studying for my first exam).  I think the exam went well but I haven't received the grade so I'm not exactly positive. 

So Sevilla is really starting to feel like home.  I noticed it when I was really anxious to return after Paris.  I was waiting for the bus from the airport and all I could think about was getting home and unpacking.  I finally arrived home and I was walking through la plaza de Alameda de Hercules (a very cute plaza right next to my street)- it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  It was so warm and sunny and everyone was outside, eating tapas with their friends and family- it was just like "wow, I'm so glad to be home." It felt really nice to be home.  

I made Stephanie (my roommate) go get some food with me and we went to get tapas at this great little place in the plaza called Las Columnas.  We couldn't decide what to get so we asked the people next to us what they ordered cause it looked good.  We ordered la ensalada con mariscos y menudo.  We ate them both but could not decide what was in menudo- so we asked.  The couple next to us laughs and asks us if we REALLY want to know.  Apparently, we had just had "estómago de vaca" translated into cow stomach.  hhahaha- I mean, it was good. Actually scratch that, the sauce it was in was very, very good but I could have done with out the meat.  At least now I can say I tried it!  Look at me,  becoming a adventurous eater. Next up, oranges. haha yeahhhh right.  

Okay, well I'm gonna go edit this paper- I had to interview Carmen (my señora) about her life and her views on Americans.  It came out pretty well.  Well goodbye for now. 

 peculiarities 

Photos to SHAREEEE

Being funny at the Eiffel Tower.

Emily, Andrea, Me at the underground club.

Funny faces.

This is us on the steps of the Louvre.

Me as a red head!!  Aka the outfit I wore to Carnivale last week.  I stole these photos from my housemate Denis because I erased my memory card.  I won't show the rest because well, some of you my worry!

Paris Holds The Key to Her Heart.

For those of you not attuned to the lyrics of quasi-Disney animated musicals- the title of this entry refers to the line from a song from Anastasia entitled "Paris Holds the Key to Her Heart" (obviously). So I have just returned from my first weekend trip to Paris. It was just as great as I imagined it would be, and them some.  Let me tell you all about it! Get ready for a long entry.

 So Andrea and I arrived in Paris around 5:30pm. We were traveling with two other girls from our program, Brooke and Carly. We are all going to Geneva together. Luckily, we found a British student studying in Sevilla who was very familiar with Orly Airport and helped us find the train to the metro. If we had not found this girl we would have been completely LOST- it was very confusing and dark. So we find our way to the line 4 of the Metro and get off at Gard de L'est. It's a pretty large train station which includes a mini-mall.  We have to find our hostel on Rue du Nancy, which we can't really find on the map.  To spare you the long story, we walked around for two hours trying to find Rue du Nancy.  I speak minimal French, as does Andrea- so we ask "Ou est Rue du Nancy?" to anyone walking by - in total about 8 people, each with their own set of wrong directions to our hostel.  I think they were just rude and giving us the wrong directions due to our American accents. Eventually we find a police officer who brings us to the street and we arrive at our hostel.  The young people behind the reception are very nice and speak English.  We have to drag our bags up the three longgg flights of stairs and we arrive in our small double room (which is very uncommon for hostels).  There is a sink and a bidet in the corner of the room, a water closet down the hall, and one shower located on the first floor. But overall it was very clean.

We venture out into the 10th arrang. of Paris and find a really nice tavern to order mushroom omelettes and share a salad. It was perfect. Spanish  food has been good so far but it was nice to eat more familiar, tasty food. On the way home we pass by a creperia and we share my first nutella crepe. End of our first night in Paris.

Day 1:

Wake up early and meet Andrea's friend Emily at the Notre Dame station. We walked in the cathedral and around the grounds- it was all very pretty but I've been seeing lots of cathedrals in Spain, so I wasn't overly excited.  Then we walked to the Louvre- we didn't go in but we walked around the building- it's hugeeee and so beautiful. We did go into Musee D'Orsey- it's a really cool museum built in an old train station. It must have been recently renovated because it all looked very new.  We stayed there until we got bored and took the metro to the Eiffel Tower.  We didn't go up, we were lazy tourists but hung around there and tried to find some lunch.  We couldn't find anything we wanted so we went on a seearch for a nutella and peanut butter crepe.  Blocks and blocks later we found one and it was definitely worth the wait.  After lunch we walked around St. Germains area and got coffee in some really nice, Parisian cafes.  Andrea and I had a light dinner at Les Deux Magots (which according to Pedro is a very famous, well known French restaurant).  On our walk home we got some macaroons for later.  We went out that night with Andrea's friend Emily and her friends.  They took us to this cool club located under a bridge.  There was a live French band playing and it was a really cool venue.  There weren't many tourists either- just lots of French kids. End of day 1.

Day 2:

Slept a little later after our night out in Paris.  We met Emily on Rue Cler- which is a pedestrian street that was recommended to me by... I don't know.  There are lots of little markets and speciality food stores and open cafes. We bought cheese, grapes, bread, and coffee for a picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower. After our early lunch we walked/took the metro to a new little area in the middle of the city- it's like Paris's Soho.  Lots of little boutiques and restaurants.  I can't remember the name o fit but it is known for it's Jewish and Gay population.  It was definitely filled with religious jews, the falafel place, jewish deli, and kosher pizza place was closed because it was Saturday.  that night we went for sushi- something we've all been missing in Sevilla. it wasn't the best but it was definitely goodd!!!  the night ended with another shared nutella crepe of course.

We left Paris this morning and I returned home to sunny, warm Sevilla this afternoon.  Paris was great but I was definitely ready to return home to Sevilla. It's funny how that happened... this has become my home- or at least some sort of interim home.  Okay well I'm going to upload some photos and start some work that I've put off.  Enjoy this long entry- there will be more soon.

Explanation of the title

I realize I didn't explain really why the title of this blog is "I Love Oranges!!"  Many of you may be wondering why I wrote such a blatantly false statement.  I hate oranges.  But somehow I am surrounded by them, EVERYWHEREEE...

First of all, Sevilla might as well me coined the city of oranges.  Almost every single calle is lined with orange trees.  Maybe it is just the time of year, but there are oranges on every tree and on the ground.  Oranges that have been crushed by cars and pedestrians.  Oranges that leak their orange juices all over the cobblestone streets. I can't get away from it.  There is probably orange guts stuck to the bottom of my sneakers.

Secondly, the first day I moved into my homestay my señora, Carmen NARRANJO (very similiar to the Spanish word for orange: narranja) asks me what I like and what I don't like to eat.  The first thing that comes out of my mouth is "narranjas y zuma de narranja (orange juice)."  At almost every meal there is some sort of joke- offering me an orange is usually how it goes. So my point is that I should love oranges... but don't get too excited. I still hate them.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  So I'm going to Paris on Thursday and I was looking for some suggestions, besides the typical tourist things, to do.  I will take anything- you can comment or send me an email.  Okay, time for bed because I'm a bum.  Goodnight!

It actually rains in Sevilla.

Exactly what the title says... last night I feel asleep to the sound of rain hitting the cobblestone streets outside my window. 

I am currently in class on Monday morning as I write this entry.  This was quite the interesting weekend.  Cadiz and Carnival were definitely almost exactly what I imagined- it was fun for the first few hours but at around 3am I was ready to go home and get into my bed.   But our train didn't leave the Cadiz train station until 5:10am. Worst of all, we couldn't wait inside the train station because they didn't open up until 4:10. It sucked!  But on a more positive note- I am glad I went.  It was crazy and there were thousands of people in the plazas, streets, and cafes (and really anywhere else they could fit).  But let me start from the beginning.

It was really fun getting ready- we were all dressed pretty crazily.  I wore a red wig and fake eyelashes and a crazy dress. I would show you pictures but I'll explain that part when I get to it.  We were running late because we're a house of five women. Someone said it would be really quick to walk to the train station from our house- only about 20 minutes.  It took about 35 minutes to walk, quickly, and we had people whistling at us on the way.  We finally get there and the station is crowded.  We were told by everyone (including our professors) that the train is free if you are dressed up... they were wrong.  On the line to the tracks they begin checking bags for alcohol.  Me, the most sly of us all, had a bottle of alcohol in my bag.  The second they check my bag and ask me to hand over my bottle.  I try to be quick and show them my water bottle.  Then they ask for more and  I say, "OK, I have some- Here take it!" - I was scared of these Spanish speaking police officers! I felt bad but my roommates said it was okay- the situation sucked but apparently I could have just put it back under my jacket and they would have let me go.  Oh well, probably not worth it to get in trouble in SPAIN!

So we finally make it onto the train and find seats.  About five minutes after I sit down, a cracked-out man (literally) starts asking me for hash.  Whenever I don't want to speak to someone, I just say "no comprendo" and look away.  He stops bothering me for a while.  The train is insane, everyone is screaming and making loud noises with strange instruments, laughing, smoking, smoking pot, and eventually smoking crack under jackets- on the train!  It was disgusting and nauseating and we were not very excited for this new adventure called Carnivale.   

So we get into the train station after 2.5 hours on the train and make our way to the exit.  From what I could tell Cadiz looks like a beautiful city.  It is on the water, has a port full of cruise ships, and architecture that resembles Sevilla.  All the restaurants and cafes are opened with outdoor bars where they have bocadillos, beers, and hard liqueur.  It isn't very crowded when we first arrive but with each hour, new hundreds of people make their ways into the plaza.  The main plaza is very similar to the big plaza in Sevilla- with the cathedral and shops, and even the same sandwich place: 100 mondaditos.  

We met Spaniards, Americans, French, Irish- people from all over.  It was fun until it wasn't and we wanted to get home.  I would love to post pictures from this crazy excursion but on the trip home I accidently deleted my memory card.  I freaked out but I only lost the pictures from this night and my birthday night.  It's not the end of the world.  I'll try to find someone else with pictures.   We got back to our house, after struggling to find a cab, at around 8am.  I was not a happy camper at this point and I was probably miserable to be around. My conclusion after this experience- I'm glad I went but I would NEVER do it again. 

The end.

Italica... quite the let down.

I've just returned from an extremely long and drawn out trip to Italica.  Italica was a Roman city in Spain that is only about 20 minutes from Sevilla (which was known as Hispolis to the Romans).  It was also Julius Caesar's favorite city... but not mine.  There was not much to see, a few cool mosaics, a lot of ruins, and some outlines of what used to be mansions. Anyways, the tour lasted two hours and then we were supposed to get a 2:00pm bus back to Sevilla but the bus was an hour late!!! Or maybe our professor just messed up. Either way, there were 25 students who were hungry and upset about the bus situation. I was hungry and cranky. This may have impacted my enjoyment of the ruins, but I doubt it.  Hence, there are no pictures to show from this trip.

Tomorrow I am going to Cadiz for the infamous Carnival.  We are leaving tomorrow afternoon to explore the city of Cadiz and then I believe the festivities begin around midnight. I hope to get on a train by 5 am.  This is very crazy of me- but you know, when in Spain.  I am debating whether to bring my camera or not- so there may or may not be pictures from this excursion. But I am hoping it will be a fun time. All of my housemates are going and we were thinking of dressing up as the Spice Girls- you know, they are quite the international craze.  

Oh yeah, I went out to celebrate my birthday the next night on wednesday. We went to this Cuban place that a friend of mine recommended and it turned out to be great!  And Andrea brought me a cake from el Corte Ingles which was delicious.  Seven girls finished it all!  It was a nice birthday celebration and it definitely made up for the less than exciting actual birthday.  Anyways, we are about to go shopping for costumes for tomorrow- I want to buy a red wig!  I've always wanted to be a red head (hahaha)! Okay adios for now.