I think I found a new love

the ocean. I've only been to the ocean a handful times in my life, and going to the beach this weekend made me remember how much I love being near the water. Ever since I was little, I've loved swimming, taking in the sun, and just being around the water. I've heard it said that you're either a mountain person or a beach person, and if that's true, I'd be a beach bum all the way. I love the sand in my feet, laying on the beach, soaking sun up all day, swimming in the water, hearing the waves crash, and smelling the salty breeze. Sigh... is it that obvious I love the ocean?

Well, this past weekend, I was in luck! 5 friends and I went back to Cadiz for the weekend. Cadiz is a city in the south of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. We took the bus from Seville to Cadiz on Friday afternoon. Cadiz is where we went for Carnival a few weeks ago, but we were only there at night, and we wanted to see the city during the day. Friday when we arrived, we checked into our hostel around 5 and it was nice since we booked ahead of time, all 6 of us got to share the same room. We dropped our stuff off, talked to the woman at the reception desk, and she gave us a lot of great recommendations. Of course the first thing we did was go check out the coast line. It was so beautiful. Even though it was raining, I had an amazing time.

Friday night, after walking the coastline for a few hours, we did as the spaniards do, and went out for tapas and drinks. We had dinner, some wine, and then went back to look at the stars over the ocean. It was one of my favorite memories of Spain so far. 

Saturday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, which was provided at the hostel (for 17 euros, a place to sleep and breakfast wasn't too bad), and headed out to explore more. Luckily, we had better weather on Saturday. We walked around the city center, found the market, where they had every type of seafood you could ever want, and it was all fresh! It was so neat to see. Then, of course, we went back to the beach! 

we walked out a ways into the ocean, and the view was unbelievable!

After the morning beach run, we went for lunch, then found a nice plaza in the center of town. We just sat, talked, took in some sun, and had a great afternoon. Soon, it was time to head back. So, of course, we went back to the beach one more time to say goodbye, headed to the bus stop, and came home to Seville. It was a great trip, and I can't wait until we go back to the ocean again.

I loved the ocean so much, it may be just enough to make me move where there's a beach someday!

Just an update on a few of trips I have coming up in my time here:

March 8-11 Barcelona

March 22-25 Madrid, Toledo, Avila, Segovia (with my parents, huzzah!)

April 5-7 Lagos, Portugal

April 15-19 Marrakech, Morocco

May 11-14 Dublin, Ireland

and who knows where else my travels may take me!

Adios for now

Time has a way of getting away from you

Has it really been 2 weeks since my last blog post? My time here is just flying by. I can't believe I've been here a month already. I'm in no hurry to come home either! Spain, specially Seville, has become my second home. I've noticed that whenever we go somewhere outside of Seville, whenever we get back, I catch myself thinking "it's nice to be home." I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a city as fast a Seville. Something about this city just makes you feel welcomed and included and more alive than anywhere else.

But, let's see, what has happened in the past two weeks... Last weekend we went to Cadiz for Carnival. That was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Carnival in Cadiz is the most famous carnival in Spain and the third largest in the world. Thousands and thousands of people flood the streets of Cadiz to drink, party, and have a good time. I have never seen so many people in my life. It's like a combination of Mardi Gras and Halloween. Everyone wears a costume and has a great time. We boarded a bus in Seville around 8, got to Cadiz at 9:30 and then caught a bus back to Seville between 3 and 4, getting us home between 4:30 and 5:30. Needless to say, Sunday was not our most productive day here.

This past week, school wise has been busy as well. We had our first round of quizzes, so it was a lot of hitting the books this week. I had quizzes in my three cultures class (my class about comparing Spain was influenced by Christians, Jews, and Muslims), my advanced composition and conversation class, and my culture and society of Spain class. This weekend was exactly what I needed after a busy school week. Thursday night, or valentines day, a bunch of us went shopping at the big mall, then I went for tapas with 3 friends at our favorite cafe by school. We sat, ate, drank, and had a wonderful evening. 

Friday morning, we met at school at 7:15 and boarded a bus for Granada. It was a trip planned by our school, so everything was taken care of for us. We stopped for breakfast around 9, and got into Granada around 11. We toured the Alhambra, an old Moorish palace. It was beyond words. Granada was a really fun town. We stayed the night in a hostel and got to tour the cathedral the next day. It's the cathedral where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are buried, so how many people can say they've seen the tombs of the most famous spanish king and queen?

the first part of our tour of the Alhambra

A weekend getaway

Another week in Spain brought a whole other week of adventures! Classes are finally getting settled and now I definitely feel like I'm here for the semester. One thing I love about this city is how safe I feel. I can take the bus to the center by myself if I want, I run probably every other day and most of the time, people approach me and ask for directions! That has to happen a least 3 times a week. Either I look Spanish or people just think I know where I'm going. What a hoot!

Classes have been going really well and I already have my schedule down for the week. Monday and Wednesday, I have a 9:00 class, then about 5 of us go to the coffee shop down the street from school and sit and talk for an hour and a half while we wait for our noon class. The coffee here is some of the best I've ever had. I'm convinced the water tastes better here too! A coffee and 2 pieces of toast (or tostada as they call it here) is 1,40 euro, so it's a pretty good deal. We go back for our noon class. We have lunch at 2:30, I go for a run at 4:30, come home, shower, then go do homework. When it's nice, I go do homework on the balcony next to our room. I'm convinced I'm spoiled here. Tuesday and Thursday is pretty similar, except my classes are back to back so we don't go for coffee.

This weekend was the main event of the week.Around 8 of us went to a little town about half an hour away from Seville. Carmona was a beautiful city. It was small and quaint and around 33 km north- east of Seville. We caught a bus from Seville to Carmona from the city center for only 3 euro, so transportation is pretty cheap here. We got in around 1 and stayed until 7. We toured around the city museum, found a beautiful hill overlooking Andalucia, stopped for tapas and sangria, found some Roman ruins, and overall had a wonderful day!  

The view as we got off the bus in Carmona

The city museum we visited

Overlooking Andalucia

There's mountains back there!

Overall, it was a great weekend, and tonight is the superbowl. We got tickets to go to an American sports bar and watch the game with unlimited beer and Sangria. We also get hotwings at halftime and popcorn the whole game. The only downside? The superbowl doesn't start here until 12:30 am because of the time difference. But you know what they say, when in Spain!