Mi Vida en España: Glimpses of my life in Spain: Rainy Days, but still things to be done...

Well, it has been raining most of the week which is kind of a downer when you want to be doing things (especially since most everything involves walking outside). Thankfully I made the very wise purchase of a 3 euro umbrella which I believe has been my best purchase so far here! :) The second week of classes seemed pretty successful, I can tell I’m settling into the schedule which is nice and figuring out the balance.

On Friday Lindsey and I went to Córdoba for the day by train. We saw the famous Mosque that was once the center of western Islam and now has a Cathedral within it. It was very beautiful and interesting to see. We also walked on the Roman Bridge. It is amazing how old these structures are and how well maintained they still are! The Romans really were so smart and advanced in their ways. We saw (and Lindsey touched! Ha ha ha) a ruin from the 1^st century!!! Crazy! We also went to the Alcazar of the Reyes Católicos. We weren’t as impressed with this Alcazar as the one in Sevilla. We actually kept wondering if were in the right place because it seemed mostly like a building with white walls. The Arab Baths in the gardens of the Alcazar were beautiful though and with the rain the colors of the flowers and plants really popped. It was a very tranquil day. By the end we were ready to head back though as it has been raining all day which meant we hadn’t sat down much since everything was wet. It’s kind of fun and interesting to feel so content to return to Sevilla – “oh we’re home now. We are in a place where we are comfortable and know the area.” Who knew that Sevilla, Spain could feel like that. :)

I have continued to meet with my language partner Isaac and now have a second one as well because Isaac and my schedules are different so it is harder to get together. The school has many language partners for us and they encouraged us to have more than one. Yesterday I met my second one, Juanlu, a 26 year old that lives just outside of Sevilla. He is very nice, a gentleman that’s for sure, and I think we are going to have a lot of fun. His English is at about the same level as my Spanish which is nice so that we both feel comfortable trying to talk, but do not feel intimidated by the other person. He has a lot of connections in Sevilla so I think we’ll get to do some fun things together. Yesterday we went to my favorite ice cream place, Rayas, and then walked around the city a little bit.

I was going to go on a trip with the school today (Sunday) but that has been postponed until next week Sunday because the rain. The trip was going to consist on riding horses in a national park and some free time on the beach along with other things which is why it wouldn’t have been so successful in the rain. Next weekend is my last free weekend here and the rest are filled with trips or festivals except for the final weekend of the semester when I’m sure I’ll be studying for finals – wow time is going to fly by fast!!

List of trips (completed and upcoming):

Zahara de Sierra

Madrid and Ávila

Córdoba

Ricón y Doñana National Park

Granada

Barcelona

Alicante

London and then Slovakia (to see Kacians!) – back to Sevilla for the end of Holy Week

Portugal

Rome (and maybe Assisi if I can get that worked out)

Málaga and Norway with the family!!!