Finals week - The family comes!!

Monday was a full day for me.  I had grammar final from 9-11 in the morning and then met Grace on my way home to pick up some final grocery items for our Thank You spaghetti lunch we were making for Rosario.  We decided to make spaghetti, garlic bread and caesar salad for Rosario and even picked up a pastry for dessert.  Rosario was so cute when we told her we wanted to do this for her.  Her response was "Sure...but I didn't think you two could cook." :)  HA HA!  I guess that's what happens when she was making all our meals for us.  The meal turned out really well and Rosario liked it!!  Grace and I were a little worried - of course we wanted to impress her and wanted her to like it...and she did!  The salad was probably the most different thing for her because they don't generally use salad dressing in Spain.  We did the whole bit with the salad - caesar dressing and croutons.  We of course did everything including the cleaning and washing of dishes - it was really fun to try to keep Rosario from doing anything!  I know she appreciated it.
After lunch I had to head out right away to walk to school with Lindsey as we had our finals at the same time.  We planned to do a little studying at the school before hand.  This was my history final.  Something that is different for studying for exams that are in Spanish is that not only do you need to know the material, but you need to know the words in Spanish to explain the material.  Thankfully we were allowed to have a dictionary with us for the exam, but you still needed to know most of the words because you didn't always have the time to look up many words.
It felt so good to be done with both my finals in that one day and I believe they went well. :)  That night some of my friends and I went out for tapas -a place that had been on some peoples list.


Tuesday was a beach day for me.  Juanlu, my language partner, has a beach house/apartment as many Sevillianas do to escape the heat during the summer.  We had talked about going for the whole semester and finally found this day that worked for me.  It was a lot of fun - the waves were amazing and the beach he had us go to was a smaller, beautiful beach.  It was near where I had ridden horses along the beach back in March.


Wednesday was quite an exciting day for me.  I woke up in the morning to begin packing up my things (this was not the exciting part - and quite sad/emotional....my shuffle play on iTunes also seemed to reflect this as it kept playing sad songs!)  Late morning I had to leave to go to the school to turn in my cell phone and internet.   After that I headed to the apartment where my family would be staying to get the key and check them in as they were going to be getting in late that night.  I don't think I fully realized that my family was actually going to be in Spain until I finally saw them there! :)


There was more packing and such before the evening when I met my friends for ice cream at another favorite place called Nice Cream.  You can't go wrong with a place called "Nice Cream" :)  After the ice cream we headed to the school for the goodbye partying that the school was hosting.  Sadly I could only stay for the first ten minutes because my family's flight was coming in at that time as well.  Juanlu was kind enough to drive me to the airport so that I could have those ten minutes at the party to say goodbye to friends and then he also helped get my family to the apartment so we only had to take one taxi.  When Juanlu dropped me off at the airport to park, I was walking to the door of the airport and suddenly heard "TERESA!" and my brain hardly had a second to comprehend what was going on as Daniel leaped into my arms with one of his great big hugs!  That was the BEST feeling ever!!  Jessica was next with Eli following close behind - they were here!  I walked over to where Mom and Dad were standing with the luggage - lots of hugs and "Bienviendos a Espana!" :)  It was SOOO fun to see them, Here - with me - in Spain.  Dad, Daniel and I took a taxi and Mom and the girls rode with Juanlu to the apartment.  The apartment was very close to plaza/square place called the Alemeda de Hercules.  It was about 10:30pm when we were settling into the apartment, but none of us had supper yet.  So, we went out for tapas at a place nearby.  It was quite an experience being the "expert" in these things - ordering for everyone.  It seemed to work out well and everyone was happy with the food.


Thursday morning Mom, Dad, Eli and I walked to Rosario's (50 minutes - way to go family!) to pick up my things.  We were going to have a snack and meet/greet with Rosario the next day when her wall was finished being fixed.  Juanlu met us there with his car to help move my very heavy suitcase.  Of course I had told Rosario she didn't need to do anything, that we would just stop by and grab my things...but once we got there she had to pull out of doughnuts and make some coffee.  My parents and Eli were able to meet Grace quickly as well and we made plans to meet up with her later that afternoon since she would be leaving the next morning and wouldn't be able to be there when we came back to see Rosario.  Grace and I were constantly translating between the family and Rosario - it was actually quite fun :)


We did some grocery shopping when we got back, Mom made lunch, and then we headed out to walk around a bit and show off a few things.  I showed the family my school and we also stopped by Juanlu's hostel that he owns because it was right around the corner.  We also did a little shopping for souvenirs/gifts.  We had planned to go to the Cathedral that day but because of a special celebration it closed early.  Right before we were going to meet with Grace it began to downpour.  That was sad because it limited where we were able to go with her.  We met in this one cafeteria and decided to ordered some pastries and ice cream from there.  Sadly we ran into some bad costumer service and weren't able to sit down with the ice cream - so we ended up walking to our school and sitting there.  It turned out to be very nice because we could sit and chat.  I had to say good-bye to Grace after that - not fun, but at least she's only in Illinois and we'll be able to get together.


We headed back to the apartment after that to get ready for supper.  Juanlu came over for supper that night and beforehand we played hide-and-go-seek at Daniel's request.  We had to be quite creative in that small apartment, but it was fun.  The family seemed to be adjusting to the time difference fairly well, but the mornings were a little harder for everyone to get going.  They were all troopers though and I learned a lot about the difference of traveling with 1-2 people and changing to 6 people.


Friday after lunch Dad, Jessica, Eli, and I headed to the center to buy our train tickets for the next day to Malaga (final destination Torremolines - a town close to Malaga).  After buying them we went to visit the Cathedral.  This was special for Jessica because she did a project on Spain before coming and one of the things she researched was the Cathedral.  We returned to the apartment after that visit to pick up Mom and Daniel.  We headed to Plaza de Espana & Parque Maria Luisa because they are two of my favorite places and so beautiful.  Also, a part of Star Wars was filmed in Plaza de Espana so I was sure to show him that clip later and he thought it was pretty cool to walk where the actors from the movie walked.


We took the metro to Rosario's for a "mariendo" or snack in the mid-afternoon.  She had quite a spread and the table set nice.  We somehow manage to all fit around the small table that generally just held Grace, Rosario and myself for so many meals before.  Translating went very well for my still learning Spanish and 6 other people in the room that were all monolingual.  Rosario was her perfect self - keeping up conversation, but interrupting herself to say how beautiful or cute one of my little siblings were.  We were there for a couple hours and near the end we exchanged gifts.  My family had brought a wide variety of things, but what Rosario loved the most was the quilt made by some of the women of our church - she absolutely loved it.  She gave the family a sculpture of a flamenco (Spanish) dancer.  Then it was time for goodbye.  Rosario and I hugged as we both cried - we really cried.  I can't explain the feeling of having her sobbing in my arms...it made my tears flow even faster.  I was saying goodbye to a woman who had been my "Spanish Mom", my guardian, my friend - who had opened her home and heart to me right from the beginning - who didn't miss a beat with helping me enter into this new culture and new place --- she had been a constant for 3 1/2 months and now it was going to be an abrupt change of not seeing her at all.  I must go back to Sevilla for the sole purpose of visiting her.


We met up with Juanlu on her our way back from Rosario's because we were going to walk the river at night - one of my other favorite places in Sevilla.  The view of the Triana Bridge designed by Eiffel at night with the lights of the city and the bridge as they reflect off the water is breathtaking.  We took a few fun pictures, enjoyed the view and walk, and then headed back to the apartment for one more game before heading to bed.

Saturday morning was a packing day and we checked out of our apartment around noon.  We were able to leave our baggage there until we needed to leave for the train station.  We headed to see some Roman ruins that had been discovered at a place where they had began building a structure in Sevilla.  After that we found a restaurant to get some tapas to eat and finished that off with a stop at my favorite ice cream place - Rayas.  The family had to experience the best ice cream before we left Sevilla. :)  After the ice cream we headed back to our apartment to get a luggage and then take two taxis to the train station.  We had a 5:00 train to Malaga and from there we had to take a local train to Torremolinos where our next hotel was.  When we arrived there the woman from our hotel was very kind and met us at the train station so that she could show us how to arrive at the hotel from there (and she also brought her car so that she could take our luggage for us).  We settled in that night and walked near the beach (about a 5 minute walk) where there were restaurants and had supper.  That was about all for that night as it was late and we were tired from the traveling.

Spaghetti Thank-You lunch for Rosario

With my gifts from Rosario - a beautiful shawl and Sevilla mug

Waiting in line for the Cathedral with my beautiful sisters - in SPAIN!

The family at Plaza de Espana!!!!

The Family meets Rosario!

Ice Cream at Rayas! - One last time :)

Last Week of Classes

****So yes, I am in MN as I'm finishing up these blog posts, but I do want to get the rest of my trip up here so you all can get most of the story :) ****


The last week of classes came quickly and went by quickly.  I really believe in the last month of my time Spain everything really seemed to fall into place and we all started to feel more and more settled/comfortable there (which is kind of a bummer since it was just before we all had to leave!).


I had a special birthday dinner with Rosario and Grace Monday night and then Lindsey and her host mother Loli (who is a good friend of Rosario's) came over for cake.  It was SO precious and FUNNY!  We were all laughing so hard...I think Grace, Lindsey and I had smiles on our faces the whole time just watching Loli and Rosario talk and interact - they are such a whoot!  Loli gave me a cute little pouch with a bracelet - she kept saying "Oh, it's a stupid little thing - nothing special."  If you know Loli that just fits with what she would say - of course I kept telling her that it was special to me. :)  Rosario gave me a Spanish cookbook because she knew I was living in apartment with friends this summer and that we have to make all our food.  I told her that I would have to try our some new Spanish recipes with my friends.


These last two weeks there was a lot of rushing to get all the things we wanted to do before we left done.  We were all making our lists and trying to figure out when and how to get them done.  There was a lot of ice cream eating, beautiful place visiting, and picture taking.  One of the things on my list was to get to a soccer game.  I had been trying to go for a long time with my language partner Juanlu because he is a member of the soccer club of his favorite team (Real Betis of Sevilla), but I was always gone on trips when they had games.  Luckily they had a home game the Wednesday of this week and he got us tickets.  WOW - the game and the fans were SOOOOOO much fun!!!  There was so much cheering and singing - you just HAD to get into the spirit!! My kind of game! :)  To top it off - Betis won 3-1 and has now ascended into the first division!  There was a lot of celebrating at the end of the game and a ton of fans rushed the field.  Very fun to watch! :)


Friday there was a beach day trip that we could go on with our school.  We were in the providence of Huelva in the south of Spain.  First we went to La Rábida which is a Franciscan Monastery where Christopher Columbus had visited and stayed because a friar there had helped with the plans of the journey and helped to get Columbus permission from Isabel.  We also saw the three life-size replicas of the Niña, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  We were able to climb on board and check them out.  My friends and I decided that we would not enjoy traveling across the ocean in one of these ships...they were actually pretty small.  After these visits we headed to the beach called Mazagón.  Thankfully, for this beach trip we had perfect weather!  The sun was hot and the water was cool.  The waves of the ocean were amazing and a lot of fun to ride - you just have to remember that this water is SALTY!  :)  There really is no feeling like getting really warm on the beach, jumping into the ocean, and then going back to warm up in the sun again - I JUST LOVE IT!  We did have to be more careful with the sun in Spain - it is definitely a lot stronger there...in other words - many applications of sun screen. :) The hours passed quickly on the beach and we headed back to Sevilla and arrived around 7.


The studying for finals began this weekend.  I had two finals left (I took my Sevillanas dance final during this week).  I was able to do a little studying outside on our terrace, but mostly in the morning and in the shade.  It started to get really hot in Sevilla those last couple weeks and it became almost unbearable outside in the afternoon.  Though, it wasn't much better inside as we did not have air conditioning in our house and our room seemed to capture the heat and hold it in late into the evening.  The ceiling fan helped some.


My system for studying was work hard during the day and then go out and relax in the evening.  It worked well.  We met up with some friends for the evenings and one of the nights explored a outside club.  I guess that's how many of them are during the summer in Sevilla because it is so hot.  I studied hard for the weekend and had both of my finals on Monday.......the last week in Spain to come on the next post!


More pictures :)

My b-day cake from Rosario :)

LOVED this b-day party!!

Betis game!
This kind of captures the moment, but you really had to be there!

In the gardens of the monestary

Kristine and I by the Santa Maria

Italia! Rome and Assisi

I made it to Italy!!! A dream come true :)
The weekend of May 5-8 (Thursday-Sunday) I went on a trip to Rome with a day trip from there to Assisi with my roommate, Grace.  It was an amazing trip - just perfect!  We didn´t have much time to plan before we left - such as specifics of what we wanted to do.  This turned out to be okay because we did decide that we didn´t want to be rushed and running around the whole time, trying to get everything done.  We wanted to take our time, enjoy the city, just enjoy being there and soak it all in.  I think we did a good job at seeing things, but also just enjoying it all.  The first day we walked a lot of the city seeing Plaza Navona, the Pantheon, St. Ignazio church, and Templo Adriano.  We tossed our coins in the Trevi Fountain which means we will be coming back :)  It´s amazing how refreshing the fountain was even though there were so many people there - the power of water.  The Spanish Steps were probably one of my favorite places of the day - they were just so beautiful.  We got gelato on the way home (their form of ice cream which is creamy and absolutely delicious!)  Being the ice cream lovers that we are, we decided that we would have gelato every day :)  It´s just a must when you are in Italy.

We very much enjoyed the dining in Italy.  Every meal we tried something new - either pasta or pizza...mostly pasta.  We made sure we tried branching out and usually it was a great success.  Every restaurante felt so special to.  The environment and spirit of Rome is so much fun and fulfilling.  We thought of many words to describe Rome/Italy such as precious, beautiful, classic, has character, and romantic.

The second day we went to Vatican city.  We went to the Vatican museums first - the line was very long, but moved relatively quickly.  The museum were very vast and full of so much to see!  There were many sculptures and painting, a map room, and so much.  It was very interesting.  We also saw the Sistine Chapel!!!  It´s so crazy to say that.  As my mom told me, it does seem smaller then you think it is going to be, but it is still quite amazing when you think about all the work that had to be done to complete it!  After the museums and Sistine chapel we stopped for lunch.  We were able to eat outside (as we did many times) because the weather was great the whole weekend!  After lunch we went to the Bisiclia.  WOW - it was so big, it just kept going in every direction.  We made sure we sent a postcard from the Vatican post office so that we can say we sent something from the post office in the smallest city. :)
Our next stop was the Colosseum.  We had looked up the hours online and it wasn't suppose to close until 7.  We got there at 4:30 and then saw a sign that said "Today, May 6th we will close at 1:00"  SUPER BUMMER!  Of course this was the only day we had time to go....at least we were able to see the outside and we peaked in through openings to see what we could of the inside.  We did check out some of the Roman ruins that were nearby.
We explored Rome a little by night this second night - we returned to Plaza Navona and enjoyed the street performers, the art, and the fountain.  Just walking the streets was fun and beautiful - the character of Rome is wonderful!

Saturday we had a day-trip planned to Assisi - the hometown of St. Francis.  SUCH a precious and beautiful town.  It is a small/old town, but still very intact.  There were flowers perfectly randomly placed on the walls and outsides of buildings, the views were amazing, and the spirit of the village was fresh and alive.  We thoroughly enjoyed just walking around and soaking up the place.  There was some sort of festival going on, but we never found out what it was because the information booth was closed...though many people were dressed up in medieval attire and I think it had something to do with the coming of spring.  We visited the Basilica´s of St. Clare and St. Francis along with their crypes.   Both were very beautiful.  St. Francis´Basilica is unique in the fact that the ceilings are lower than many I´ve seen and the walls are covered in paintings...it had a very homey and comforting feel yet it was still very large.  Assisi treated us well with beautiful sites, good food, energy, and a couple funny stories including that the men in Assisi loved us!  When we stopped to take a picture they offered to take a picture for us and jumped in the picture as well!
The train ride home was fun as we met a women from Italy who sat across from us.  Between her Italian and the little Spanish and English she spoke and our Spanish and English, we were able to have a conversation.  We also had a funny interaction with a man from Peru.  He kept speaking Italian to us and we kept speaking Spanish until he figured out that we couldn´t speak or understand Italian very well, but he couldn´t understand out Spanish...it was very weird.

Saturday night we went out for my birthday (which was Sunday).  We found a cute little restaurante, ordered some yummy pasta, and some white wine.  I´ve always said I was going to have a class of wine served to me on my birthday by some cute Italian waiter...well, the cute Italian waiter didn´t really happen (older gentleman :) ) and when we tried to order half a glass for each of us...we got half a liter :)  Oh well...it still happened and it was in Italy! :)

Sunday morning we woke up early and checked out to leave for a different part of Rome (about an hour bus ride from the center) to a church where a friend of mom, LeeAnn, works with the priest don Carlo.  We attended mass there at 10, visited the mountain town of Frascati, and had a lovely birthday lunch with don Carlo, LeAnn, don Carlo´s sister, another nun, and his fully present/funny mother who is 108 years old!  I had various fun surprises this day for my birthday.  First of all, when I got there don Carlo busted out of his office singing "Happy Birthday" to me in Italian carrying a rose that was bought compliments of my family back home .  Then, at the end of the mass (which was an AMAZING mass by the way...full of singing and participation - something I´ve missed!) during the closing song don Carlo was going around to people with birthdays and we were singing...well LeeAnn pulled Grace and I up to the front and I was introduced and song to :)  Then, at lunch I was sang to two more times...once when I got there and once when they gave me the cake they had for me and the bouquet of chocolate eggs for my gift.  The meal was phenomenal - homemade pasta, chicken, eggplant, and bread sticks.  We laughed and talked and it felt just like the Italian family meals you see in the movies.  The cake they got for me was in the form of a dove and is only available around Easter time.  It was such a pleasant day and a birthday to remember!!  Italy did not let me down at all!

The birthday celebrations didn´t end for me there.  I had to do a little something in Sevilla and well.  There happened to be fireworks that night so I went to those with friends and went out with some of my friends afterwards.  A 21st birthday in two different countries with many fun experiences...nothing can beat that!

Pictures!!

Grace and I in front of the Pantheon

Vatican City

The Colosseum that we couldn't enter

At Assisi - look at that view!

The men just flocked to us! Ha ha ha!

Oh the beauty!

At the church that don Carlo and LeeAnn serve at

My home-made Italian b-day lunch...cake and gifts (and a gift for Grace too!)

The group! (left to right) Back: don Carlo's sister, me, Grace, don Carlo
Front: don Carlo's 108 year-old mother, a nun friend

picture with LeeAnn and my rose from the family back home!

We were very sad to leave Italy - we are going to return!