Today, I moved into my new homestay!!! I'm SO excited, I absolutely love love love this family!! The Dad is a professor at the University of Sevilla, and he teaches Chemistry. It is very helpful because he knows a little english, not enough that I can ever actually speak english, but just enough to help me out if I'm stuck :-) They have four little kids, all under the age of 12. I'm pretty much in heaven. The youngest one, who's 5 years old, just got a new bed today because he's now moved out of his "little kid" bed and he's SO excited. I love it. I swear that every piece of furniture in this house is from Ikea, and the bed-set in my room is one that I actually looked at when I was looking for one when I went to college...I think it's meant to be. I couldn't be happier with my new family!!
I had my first exam today for my Spanish class and I also had a 600-word paper due today. Needless to say last night wasn't fun, but I think I did fairly well so we shall see! This means that I only have 1 more week of this crazy intensive spanish class...although in this coming week I have to do 2 600-word papers (based on 3 interviews for each paper), a 15 minute presentation in Spanish and have a final exam. When they say intensive, they're really not joking! I'm just praying these next 2 weeks go by quickly so I can start my other classes which are apparently much less time-consuming!
I'm getting very excited to travel, hopefully planning a trip in the near future to get away for a weekend! I realize that sounds ridiculous because I already am "away" but being here is making me want to go and explore other places!! One group of students is going to Lagos, Portugal so I see that happening in my future, which I'm verrrrry excited for!
Short post this time, gotta go get ready to go out :-)
Hope all is well with everyone reading this blog...if anyone is actually reading this blog haha
Buenas noches, que tenga un buen fin de semana! (Good night! Hope you have a good weekend!)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Viaje a Alcazar
Hola!
Yesterday, our program took us on an excursion to Alcazar. It was a palace that was built many, many, MANY years ago for the Royal Family to live in at the time. Now it is used for tours mostly, but when the Royal Family comes to Seville, the place is closed off and that is where they stay to this day! They have continued to add on to the palace throughout the years, and the rooms are all different because different Kings wanted different designs, so it truly is a mix of old Arabic and more modern design. Pretty amazing architecture, nothing I could truly capture with my fairly lacking photography skills, but here are some pictures!
It's pretty easy to tell which is more modern, but all of these arches that are detailed are the more 'arabic' influenced architecture!
Finally got Britt in front of the camera! Thank goodness this girl is here :-)
Above is the ceiling where the King's throne sits, pretty amazing, picture doesn't do it justice of course!
I love the story attached to the picture below, it's so scandalous, apparently one of the Queens used to use this bath to...uhhhh...."entertain" her other lovers while the King was upstairs!!
So, moving on! Today was a fairly big day for me in Seville! My intensive Spanish class started and the teacher is really entertaining and fun...he is a democrat, but I suppose I can look past that :-) I'm a little nervous because we have to do interviews with random people on the street about why they don't have jobs and what they think about the new smoking laws, and I'm thinking that might be a little awkward!
I also signed up for my regular session classes and got into the ones I wanted. However, the best news is that I can change my homestay! I went in and talked to my advisor about it and she said that it was totally fine to change, people do it all the time. So either tomorrow or Wednesday I get to go and look at to new houses and apparently both families have small children :-) SSOOOO excited. Although I will feel horrible when I have to leave this house because I don't want to offend them as they have been very nice, I just don't feel very comfortable here and I know now that it's not just an adjustment thing as it's been a little while.
Also, last night I was able to watch the Packer game!! It was SO much fun because the bar I was in was really evenly split between Bears fans and Packers fans. In the last ten minutes I think my blood pressure rose a ton...especially since there was an extremely annoying bears fan sitting next to me who also happened to have an incredibly high-pitched scream...not pretty. Nevertheless, as soon as I knew we would win I reserved...yes, you read that right, reserved...my bar stool for the Super Bowl!! I'm heartbroken not to be in Wisconsin for this, especially because throughout the whole game I wanted nothing more than to be sitting on a couch with a big plate of food in front of me with my family and friends!! It was very odd watching this big of a game without seeing my Dad get so upset and wondering if his face could in fact get any more red (it always can) :-) Anyways, I will be more loyal than any of you Packer fans and watch it at 3 in the morning here in Seville from my oh-so-comfortable reserved bar stool!
That's all for now folks, I'll keep you all posted on the homestay although I won't be changing until January 31st as of now anyways!
Hasta luego!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Oy!
So, I met my host family. I'm really not happy at all here and I'm probably going to be switching. It turns out that it is 2 sisters and 1 brother that I'm living with, none of them married, all living in the same house. It's very odd and I feel very uncomfortable for multiple reasons.
Other than my homestay though, I'm having a great time! So much nightlife in Seville, me gusta mucho! Or for those who don't understand Spanish, I like it ALOT! Last night our entire program went out to celebrate ending orientation and we went to a "discoteca" or a dance club. I didn't do much dancing but my guide introduced my friend Britt and I to 3 guys from Spain that are SO nice and were speaking Spanish to us all night. I'm finally starting to feel like I can communicate in Spanish with people...other than my host family that is because they don't understand me! Plus, one of my goals was to get to know natives not just students from my program, so now we know some people and we're planning on seeing them again! They were teaching us phrases that are used in Sevilla that aren't generally used in other parts of the country. Apparently it was very entertaining for them to hear us attempting to say them, and having it be completely incorrect! Anyways, I feel like my Spanish is starting to improve and that makes me happy :-) however, I've got a long way to go.
I start my 2 week intensive Spanish course on Monday. It's 3 hours/day 5 days a week. Definitely a lot of Spanish and I'm looking forward to it because I think it will help my speaking abilities immensely! I ended up testing into Group 2, which is good because if I had been in group 5 or 6 I would have had to take a Spanish class at a fairly basic level for the whole semester which I definitely did not want to do.
For the past few nights we've been going out to dinner and lunch with our 'guias' or guides, who are college students from Spain. They've been ordering everything for us so we get to know what different foods are and how to eat them, because they have very specific table manners in Spain, for instance, you very rarely use your fingers/hands to eat. If you can't get something on your fork you use a 'pico' or a small breadstick. They are similar the ones that come with bread baskets at restaurants and are garlic, sesame, onion or plain...which I know because we serve them at the club, I'm not an avid fan of them or anything weird like that! We've been drinking 'tinto de verano' which is basically red wine with lemon Fanta. By the way, Fanta limon is the best soda ever.
Another cultural thing, there is not central heat here. So pretty much it's freezing in the houses and they have a big table in their living room that's covered with a thick tablecloth, so you put the tablecloth over your legs and they keep the heater underneath it, it's brilliant! So warm!
Anyways, I'm hanging in there, just trying to look at the positive aspects of my trip!
Other than my homestay though, I'm having a great time! So much nightlife in Seville, me gusta mucho! Or for those who don't understand Spanish, I like it ALOT! Last night our entire program went out to celebrate ending orientation and we went to a "discoteca" or a dance club. I didn't do much dancing but my guide introduced my friend Britt and I to 3 guys from Spain that are SO nice and were speaking Spanish to us all night. I'm finally starting to feel like I can communicate in Spanish with people...other than my host family that is because they don't understand me! Plus, one of my goals was to get to know natives not just students from my program, so now we know some people and we're planning on seeing them again! They were teaching us phrases that are used in Sevilla that aren't generally used in other parts of the country. Apparently it was very entertaining for them to hear us attempting to say them, and having it be completely incorrect! Anyways, I feel like my Spanish is starting to improve and that makes me happy :-) however, I've got a long way to go.
I start my 2 week intensive Spanish course on Monday. It's 3 hours/day 5 days a week. Definitely a lot of Spanish and I'm looking forward to it because I think it will help my speaking abilities immensely! I ended up testing into Group 2, which is good because if I had been in group 5 or 6 I would have had to take a Spanish class at a fairly basic level for the whole semester which I definitely did not want to do.
For the past few nights we've been going out to dinner and lunch with our 'guias' or guides, who are college students from Spain. They've been ordering everything for us so we get to know what different foods are and how to eat them, because they have very specific table manners in Spain, for instance, you very rarely use your fingers/hands to eat. If you can't get something on your fork you use a 'pico' or a small breadstick. They are similar the ones that come with bread baskets at restaurants and are garlic, sesame, onion or plain...which I know because we serve them at the club, I'm not an avid fan of them or anything weird like that! We've been drinking 'tinto de verano' which is basically red wine with lemon Fanta. By the way, Fanta limon is the best soda ever.
Another cultural thing, there is not central heat here. So pretty much it's freezing in the houses and they have a big table in their living room that's covered with a thick tablecloth, so you put the tablecloth over your legs and they keep the heater underneath it, it's brilliant! So warm!
Anyways, I'm hanging in there, just trying to look at the positive aspects of my trip!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Bad Day.
Sorry for the lack of post yesterday, I wasn't having a very good day. We left the hostel yesterday and came to the hotel to start our orientation! Our last day of freedom Britt and I pretty much just walked around...and did a little more shopping :-) I got a sweater, a shirt and a skirt, and I learned that exchange rates in stores are horrible so if you ever have the option...go for the euros!
We got to the hotel and had a little time to relax, but then we started with our orientation. We had about 2 hours of presentations about the program, living in Seville, living with a host family, etc. etc. It was pretty boring and you can tell that the people that had just arrived that day were pretty exhausted and not paying much attention. Then we had a portion specifically dedicated to housing and we received our housing assignments.
Here is where the day went way downhill.
I got assigned to a 'familia' that consists of a House Mom, Esperanza and her two sons Vicenta y Pepe...who are in their 50's...hmmmmmmmmmm. So I'm a little confused as to why they're living at home, I'm sure it's a cultural thing, but needless to say I was kind of upset. I don't really have any desire to live with 50-year-old men, especially since I'd specifically requested a family that had little kids because I like having people around and being social, and I like little kids!! Also, there are about 4 people I've met who have been put in families with little kids that specifically said they didn't want kids at all. And, to top it off, I'm not very close to Britt.
I'm trying to stay positive and not judge because I haven't actually met them yet, I was just given some sheet of paper with their address and description. Luckily, they do have "un perrito" and I'm not sure if that means little dog or puppy but we'll find out. I will meet them tomorrow. I suppose if I'm really uncomfortable and don't get along with them I can always change, and I have the option to do so on January 31st so it's really only going to be a week if I don't, it's just frustrating and then that triggered being homesick. Also, my roommate for the hotel wasn't here because her flight was so delayed due to the snow so I was all alone too so that wasn't helpful.
Oh well, that's in the past and I'm trying to be a little happier! Today we had another session of information mainly on the classes we have, and I got more bad news as 1 of the ones I want to take conflicts with another and apparently we may not be able to get into classes if we didn't put them on our class request forms...which were due like 5 months ago so I'm not too happy because I didn't know this class fulfilled the requirement then...oy vey. Lots of complaining I know but it's just been a rough patch here and I'm hoping it doesn't continue through tomorrow!
I have an interview in a little while to determine my Spanish-speaking ability, so hopefully that goes well although I'm assuming I'll have to take the Spanish class because I feel like the exam I took a while ago didn't go that well...actually, considering I guessed on about half the answers, I know it didn't go that well! But a lot of people feel that way so we shall see :-)
Tonight we will be going to see a Flamenco dance show and then hopefully going out to party a little and hang out with some new friends I've met. The students are all very nice, and now my roommate in the hotel showed up as well and she's super nice so hopefully this will continue!
Hasta luego!
We got to the hotel and had a little time to relax, but then we started with our orientation. We had about 2 hours of presentations about the program, living in Seville, living with a host family, etc. etc. It was pretty boring and you can tell that the people that had just arrived that day were pretty exhausted and not paying much attention. Then we had a portion specifically dedicated to housing and we received our housing assignments.
Here is where the day went way downhill.
I got assigned to a 'familia' that consists of a House Mom, Esperanza and her two sons Vicenta y Pepe...who are in their 50's...hmmmmmmmmmm. So I'm a little confused as to why they're living at home, I'm sure it's a cultural thing, but needless to say I was kind of upset. I don't really have any desire to live with 50-year-old men, especially since I'd specifically requested a family that had little kids because I like having people around and being social, and I like little kids!! Also, there are about 4 people I've met who have been put in families with little kids that specifically said they didn't want kids at all. And, to top it off, I'm not very close to Britt.
I'm trying to stay positive and not judge because I haven't actually met them yet, I was just given some sheet of paper with their address and description. Luckily, they do have "un perrito" and I'm not sure if that means little dog or puppy but we'll find out. I will meet them tomorrow. I suppose if I'm really uncomfortable and don't get along with them I can always change, and I have the option to do so on January 31st so it's really only going to be a week if I don't, it's just frustrating and then that triggered being homesick. Also, my roommate for the hotel wasn't here because her flight was so delayed due to the snow so I was all alone too so that wasn't helpful.
Oh well, that's in the past and I'm trying to be a little happier! Today we had another session of information mainly on the classes we have, and I got more bad news as 1 of the ones I want to take conflicts with another and apparently we may not be able to get into classes if we didn't put them on our class request forms...which were due like 5 months ago so I'm not too happy because I didn't know this class fulfilled the requirement then...oy vey. Lots of complaining I know but it's just been a rough patch here and I'm hoping it doesn't continue through tomorrow!
I have an interview in a little while to determine my Spanish-speaking ability, so hopefully that goes well although I'm assuming I'll have to take the Spanish class because I feel like the exam I took a while ago didn't go that well...actually, considering I guessed on about half the answers, I know it didn't go that well! But a lot of people feel that way so we shall see :-)
Tonight we will be going to see a Flamenco dance show and then hopefully going out to party a little and hang out with some new friends I've met. The students are all very nice, and now my roommate in the hotel showed up as well and she's super nice so hopefully this will continue!
Hasta luego!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Today we got a little bit of a late start...due to a somewhat late night last night. Britt and I decided to celebrate a little, and then it turned into a lot of celebrating...needless to say, we got a taste of Sevillan nightlife and it was very, very fun. So, this morning we skipped breakfast because we woke up late enough for lunch!
We decided to get some exercise today and went on a walk by the river...which looks like this:
It was too sunny for pictures so these don't do it justice; however, it's pretty easy on the eyes :-)
We went out to eat at a restaurant that was terribly bland and had no flavor to their food, but as always the coffee was delicious! I think I'll be in a lot of trouble when I have to go back to drinking Folger's. It simply won't be the same!
So we pretty much had a lazy day again, got ice cream again, did a little shopping. I bought a ring, earrings and sunglass all for 11 euro. Excellent shopping. I swear there are literally shoe stores every 10 steps. Heaven.
I have to show up for orientation tomorrow, so we'll be leaving the hostel and starting phase 2 of the journey. Meet my host family in 2-3 days and I'm a little nervous about it. Definitely hoping it's not too far from Britt and Kevin although I'm sure I'll meet new people as well!
Here's some more pictures for your enjoyment!
We decided to get some exercise today and went on a walk by the river...which looks like this:
We went out to eat at a restaurant that was terribly bland and had no flavor to their food, but as always the coffee was delicious! I think I'll be in a lot of trouble when I have to go back to drinking Folger's. It simply won't be the same!
So we pretty much had a lazy day again, got ice cream again, did a little shopping. I bought a ring, earrings and sunglass all for 11 euro. Excellent shopping. I swear there are literally shoe stores every 10 steps. Heaven.
I have to show up for orientation tomorrow, so we'll be leaving the hostel and starting phase 2 of the journey. Meet my host family in 2-3 days and I'm a little nervous about it. Definitely hoping it's not too far from Britt and Kevin although I'm sure I'll meet new people as well!
Here's some more pictures for your enjoyment!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Dia Dos
I'm not good at coming up with creative titles for these posts! But, it's day 2 in Seville, and I literally can't believe how much there is to this city. I think I could be here for 4 months and be entertained by something new almost every day!
Later on yesterday we did some more exploring and found a completely different side of Seville. I will admit that having only seen the part with really small streets and graffiti everywhere I was almost slightly disappointed because I thought I had made it out to be better in my head and I was wondering if I would like spending this much time in this city. However, after finding this new area I couldn't be happier and more excited! The other side of Seville is more spacious, it's got tons of fountains and statues and amazingly old and gorgeous buildings! It's so entertaining to just sit and look around.
Last night we ate at an italian restaurant for lunch and I had pizza, it was pretty good and we got to eat outside on the square. It's been about 50-60's depending on the sun, which is a nice break from Wisconsin weather. (Side note: To all of you in WI reading this blog, have fun with the snow hahahahahahaha suckers) We came back to the hostel for a little while and ended up sleeping for a couple hours because jet lag got the best of us. Then we all woke up hungry at about 10 pm and went to eat "bocadillos" or sandwiches and 1 euro beers/sangria. I discovered that ham here is much different than ham in the U.S. and I'm not sure I like it...but overall it was good and we ended up coming back to the hostel and going to bed.
Today we woke up too late for complimentary breakfast at our hostel...which is kind of a joke as it consists of stale bread to toast and stale cereal. So we went out and I had "pincha de tortilla" and I guess that's also considered "tortilla espanola" which I HIGHLY recommend, it was delicious! It was a sort of egg and potato baked kind of dish. I also recommend not having your first day in Seville be a Sunday because today everything was open and much more lively, with tons of people in the streets!
This morning we made it our goal to find the river, which we did and it's GORGEOUS! We all picked out houses that we decided should probably be our homestays, all of course overlooking the river. What do you think the likelihood of that is?? Alright, probably not super high. Kevin left to start his orientation today and so it's down to just Britt and I! We spent our afternoon reading on a patio at a cafe, and then getting "helado" or ice cream. It was delicioso! We're hoping to hit up the town tonight, although I'm still pretty tired.
I'm a little disappointed that so many people here can speak English because a lot of times the waiters/waitresses will approach us automatically in English, but I'm here to improve my Spanish. I think the blonde hair just automatically tips them off to the "foreigner" status, although I'm sure my mannerisms do as well.
That's all for now, hope you're all doing well in the States!
Later on yesterday we did some more exploring and found a completely different side of Seville. I will admit that having only seen the part with really small streets and graffiti everywhere I was almost slightly disappointed because I thought I had made it out to be better in my head and I was wondering if I would like spending this much time in this city. However, after finding this new area I couldn't be happier and more excited! The other side of Seville is more spacious, it's got tons of fountains and statues and amazingly old and gorgeous buildings! It's so entertaining to just sit and look around.
Last night we ate at an italian restaurant for lunch and I had pizza, it was pretty good and we got to eat outside on the square. It's been about 50-60's depending on the sun, which is a nice break from Wisconsin weather. (Side note: To all of you in WI reading this blog, have fun with the snow hahahahahahaha suckers) We came back to the hostel for a little while and ended up sleeping for a couple hours because jet lag got the best of us. Then we all woke up hungry at about 10 pm and went to eat "bocadillos" or sandwiches and 1 euro beers/sangria. I discovered that ham here is much different than ham in the U.S. and I'm not sure I like it...but overall it was good and we ended up coming back to the hostel and going to bed.
Today we woke up too late for complimentary breakfast at our hostel...which is kind of a joke as it consists of stale bread to toast and stale cereal. So we went out and I had "pincha de tortilla" and I guess that's also considered "tortilla espanola" which I HIGHLY recommend, it was delicious! It was a sort of egg and potato baked kind of dish. I also recommend not having your first day in Seville be a Sunday because today everything was open and much more lively, with tons of people in the streets!
This morning we made it our goal to find the river, which we did and it's GORGEOUS! We all picked out houses that we decided should probably be our homestays, all of course overlooking the river. What do you think the likelihood of that is?? Alright, probably not super high. Kevin left to start his orientation today and so it's down to just Britt and I! We spent our afternoon reading on a patio at a cafe, and then getting "helado" or ice cream. It was delicioso! We're hoping to hit up the town tonight, although I'm still pretty tired.
I'm a little disappointed that so many people here can speak English because a lot of times the waiters/waitresses will approach us automatically in English, but I'm here to improve my Spanish. I think the blonde hair just automatically tips them off to the "foreigner" status, although I'm sure my mannerisms do as well.
That's all for now, hope you're all doing well in the States!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I have arrived!!
Today is my first day in Seville! After an 8 hour flight (thankfully with Kevin and Britt) from O'Hare to Madrid, a sprint through the Madrid airport and a 1 hour flight from Madrid to Seville I arrived at about 9:45 a.m. Seville time. We had a very interesting experience trying to find a cab. It was all old men and because of the amount of luggage we had they wanted to take us in 2 cars, and weren't very happy when we bypassed the cars in line to go to a van. So 5 minutes in Spain and we're already making the Spaniards angry, hopefully it's uphill from here!!
We arrived at our hostel, Oasis Backpackers Hostel, and it's a really nice one all in all. We couldn't check-in until noon so we took advantage of that time to walk around and explore a little. Seville is NOTHING like what I had pictured in my head but it's really a beautiful city. It's almost all cobblestone roads and everything is very close together but it is truly amazing. There are orange trees lining practically every street. We decided to have some coffee...which is actually espresso...and sat in a courtyard and talked until we could check in. The streets were dead until 11:30 and then a lot of people seemed to come from church.
So now I'm sitting in my hostel with Britt and Kevin hoping to get a nap in before it gets too late because, let's be honest, no one ever sleeps well on a plane and right now jet lag wants to be my best friend!
Enjoy the few pictures I took quickly to give you guys an idea of what it's like:
We arrived at our hostel, Oasis Backpackers Hostel, and it's a really nice one all in all. We couldn't check-in until noon so we took advantage of that time to walk around and explore a little. Seville is NOTHING like what I had pictured in my head but it's really a beautiful city. It's almost all cobblestone roads and everything is very close together but it is truly amazing. There are orange trees lining practically every street. We decided to have some coffee...which is actually espresso...and sat in a courtyard and talked until we could check in. The streets were dead until 11:30 and then a lot of people seemed to come from church.
So now I'm sitting in my hostel with Britt and Kevin hoping to get a nap in before it gets too late because, let's be honest, no one ever sleeps well on a plane and right now jet lag wants to be my best friend!
Enjoy the few pictures I took quickly to give you guys an idea of what it's like:
This is part of a huge cathedral in Seville that was once the tallest building in the world.
I have no idea what this building is...but it was by the cathedral :-) The cathedral was in a big square, the side streets are a lot tinier than this!
Fountain right outside the cathedral
This is what a lot of the apartments look like, the architecture here is really beautiful.
An orange tree by another part of the cathedral, but you're not allowed to eat the oranges because they're apparently very bitter which is sad.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pre-Departure
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"If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you."
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I am literally in love with this quote, and I suggest to all of you that you see Eat, Pray, Love and/or look-up quotes for it. It's the final countdown, and in a short (errand-filled) 3 days I will be leaving for Seville, Spain. I'm using the coming 5-6 months to take a break from my stressful work-and-school consumed life to enjoy my time with no work and only 12 credits of classes. Hopefully, I'll have this extra time to relax, experience a new culture and even learn a little more about myself.
I've been looking forward to this trip for years, and I can't believe that in a short time I will be leaving for it. I will not even attempt to describe the amount of emotions I am feeling at the moment. There are so many people that I will be leaving behind and I'm not prepared for those goodbyes yet. Thankfully, I have equipped my loved ones with webcams and skype accounts so we will all remain in close contact!
These next few months I will be no doubt experiencing a number of "firsts," starting off with my first experience in Europe! As I have not traveled extensively before I believe this trip will be a chance to test my true independence.
I will be posting weekly (if not more) about these experiences because I know I will want to remember them and if you're reading this you're probably (hopefully) mildly interested as well :-)
So here are the details of my trip: I will be living and studying in Seville, Spain for the Spring semester of 2011. My program, Business and Society, starts on January 19th and ends on May 13th, with 2 week long breaks in between. During those 2 week long breaks I plan to travel to England, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal and Morocco. I'm hoping to squeeze in some Germany as I've specifically heard Munich is a must-visit. I will be taking one 2-week spanish intensive course right at the beginning, and then I will have 4 courses following that, hopefully including an internship with a local business.
Thankfully, I will be traveling with my roommate Britt, so I will have a shoulder to cry on at the airport and when I hit the portion of the trip most commonly known as "culture shock." I hear it occurs after about 2 weeks of being there, so something to look forward to...not really...
Anyways, I hope my first post hasn't bored you to death and you actually want to come back and find out more! If nothing else, come back to see the pictures I'll attempt to post...although to be honest I've never done that before so we'll see if I can figure it out!
More to come soon :-)
"If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you."
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I am literally in love with this quote, and I suggest to all of you that you see Eat, Pray, Love and/or look-up quotes for it. It's the final countdown, and in a short (errand-filled) 3 days I will be leaving for Seville, Spain. I'm using the coming 5-6 months to take a break from my stressful work-and-school consumed life to enjoy my time with no work and only 12 credits of classes. Hopefully, I'll have this extra time to relax, experience a new culture and even learn a little more about myself.
I've been looking forward to this trip for years, and I can't believe that in a short time I will be leaving for it. I will not even attempt to describe the amount of emotions I am feeling at the moment. There are so many people that I will be leaving behind and I'm not prepared for those goodbyes yet. Thankfully, I have equipped my loved ones with webcams and skype accounts so we will all remain in close contact!
These next few months I will be no doubt experiencing a number of "firsts," starting off with my first experience in Europe! As I have not traveled extensively before I believe this trip will be a chance to test my true independence.
I will be posting weekly (if not more) about these experiences because I know I will want to remember them and if you're reading this you're probably (hopefully) mildly interested as well :-)
So here are the details of my trip: I will be living and studying in Seville, Spain for the Spring semester of 2011. My program, Business and Society, starts on January 19th and ends on May 13th, with 2 week long breaks in between. During those 2 week long breaks I plan to travel to England, Ireland, France, Italy, Portugal and Morocco. I'm hoping to squeeze in some Germany as I've specifically heard Munich is a must-visit. I will be taking one 2-week spanish intensive course right at the beginning, and then I will have 4 courses following that, hopefully including an internship with a local business.
Thankfully, I will be traveling with my roommate Britt, so I will have a shoulder to cry on at the airport and when I hit the portion of the trip most commonly known as "culture shock." I hear it occurs after about 2 weeks of being there, so something to look forward to...not really...
Anyways, I hope my first post hasn't bored you to death and you actually want to come back and find out more! If nothing else, come back to see the pictures I'll attempt to post...although to be honest I've never done that before so we'll see if I can figure it out!
More to come soon :-)
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