I've been slacking on writing my blogs...but here's a post, ¡por fin!

Ahhhh I definitely missed two weeks. The first was after Feria and the second was as I was starting to study for my finals! But I'm back to the blogging world!

So, I'll start with Feria. It was an amazing experience. Everyone in their dresses, the horses and carriages, the rebujitos, the music, the rides, the smells, sounds...the way every person you passed on the street was talking about Feria. The casetas, the bright colors, the general excitement in the air...and at the end of it all, fireworks (and churros...)! I've never experienced anything like it. Here are some photos:

Also during the week of Feria, Toni made me this little monedero that I am probably going to use a ton in los Estados Unidos because I love using things like this :D

The week after Feria, nothing super exciting happened. Isis and I went for a walk one day and stopped to get drinks from this new place near Corte Inglés where they sell "bubble drinks." It kind of reminded me of Sweet Frog except for...weird soda/tea/milkshake things? I don't know, I asked if they had anything made without milk and they had fruit slushie things so I got the watermelon one with little exploding fruit candies in it and straight up tasted like someone blended fresh watermelon with ice and put it in my cup. It was amazing. They also got our names wrong...as usual.

Also, everything in Sevilla is beautiful right now. Then again, Sevilla is always beautiful, but it's *extra* beautiful porque there are flowers everywhere:

Last Sunday was Mother's Day in Spain, so of course I made my host mom a Mother's Day card because she's definitely my Spanish mamá.

It made her cry, and then she gave me the biggest hug I've ever received and she kissed my cheek like 8,000 times (aka the "Spanish family" kiss). She's literally the cutest host mom on the entire planet, and I am so lucky to have been placed with such an amazing woman. Not only have I learned so much Spanish from her, but she's basically a living book full really good advice. Some of my favorite things she has told me are (translated into to English for you non-Spanish speakers) are:

"Don't let other people complicate your life."

"There are many stupid things to do in life, but none of them will get you to where you're supposed to end up."

"You're young. You have to live life to the fullest, because if you do nothing now, what are you going to do when you're my age?"

"Always have a job and a car so you don't have to depend on any man."

"Never have kids, Kari. They do nothing for you." (hahahaha)

"If you have a problem, just tell someone right then. Solve it, and that's it."

"When you don't want to do something, just tell the person you don't want to go with that your feet hurt. Sorry."

"Exams? Pshh, don't worry about those. There are bigger things in life to worry about."

"Never doubt yourself, you're very intelligent. Don't forget it."

"You have to always remember to stick with what you love, because in the end, that is what is going to bring you the most happiness, and it will all be worth it in the end."

"If you know you can do something well, don't settle for anything less. Just be patient with yourself and it'll turn out." (this was actually her telling me about how she feels when she messing up what she's knitting haha)


There aren't even enough words to explain how much I'll miss her when I go back to the States. I'm tearing up just thinking about it!

The next day, we had our JYS graduation and the señoras were invited, so obviously my roommate and I made it our goal not to leave the graduation without getting a "family photo" with Toni. Por fin, I have photos with Toni:

Wow the quality of this picture was decent until I uploaded it to my blog. Yikes.

Same goes for this. The quality has decreased after being uploaded...oh well, this is Toni and me! :D

This week, also, Toni ~finally~ me enseñó cómo hacer una tortilla española (vegana). (She taught me how to make a vegan Spanish tortilla!) It was so easy, and I can't wait to remake them in the States.

It's not perfectly round like a normal because we didn't use much in case I messed it up haha

Other than that, this past week was really stressful though despite the good things that happened, because #1 it was the week of my final final exams in Spain, and also my cousin's husband, Lance, went missing. It was some stressful days studying and hoping that Lance was okay and would turn up...and thank our lucky stars, HE WAS FOUND! It was such a huge sigh of relief when I was told he was found. We are all so so so happy he's back.

This week was also the last day of my internship. I'm not going to lie, I never thought this day would come, and I am sooo happy that I am done with it. I'll miss my classes, but really...I don't think I'm going to miss this internship...at all...

Today, I went to the Alcázar, probably my favorite place in Sevilla besides the Plaza de España, la Catedral, Parque María Luisa, el Puente de Triana...el Barrio Santa Cruz...okay well I just love all of Sevilla, okay? But the Alcázar is super awesome. Here are some photos (side note, I don't know what's up with this website today, but the pictures are not uploading with good quality...like they actually look better on Facebook, which is kind of saying something):

I only have a few days left here in Sevilla. I'm just going to try to enjoy it to the fullest. Every time I do something for the last time, I try not to be sad. I try not to think, "This is the last time I'm doing this. This is the last time I'll walk down this street. This is the last time I'll be in this store. This is the last time..." because that just makes it more sad (I learned that from Megan ;D). So I just push that all out of my head. I don't think about it at all. I just go through the day like everything's normal. It's the only way. I'd be too sad to function if I didn't do that. I don't usually get sad when I leave a place. I'm always just hopping around from place to place, especially in the last few years that I've lived with my dad. But you know, I've never loved a place so much. Every single time I think about leaving, I start to tear up (like now!). I can't think about it. But that is how I know for sure that I actually love a place. I don't cry very often, but when I do, it's because there's something big. These seriously have been the best 9 months of my entire life. I really wish I didn't have to go...but I know I'll be back.

Blah, okay, no more of this nonsense. I'll save the sad/sappy post for when I'm really leaving next week. For now, just rollin' on enjoying my last bit in this wonderful city.

I don't have any concrete plans for this upcoming week. Just going to do all of my favorite things, and walk around as much of the city as I can to take it all in while I'm still able...before I'm stuck back in the middle of nowhere, Virginia.

There goes another week...

Really, I don't feel like writing this blog post right now, but I need to get it done. All I really want to do is write about how much I hate the Sweet Briar mess, but this is my ~study abroad~ blog, so I need to talk about what I'm doing in Spain, otherwise my future self is going to hate my past self for not writing about what I did. But I'll fit a rant in, I can feel it.

Monday, I don't really remember much from other than that in my mitos literarios class, we took a lil' field trip around Sevilla to see things around here about Don Juan, like some plaques and statues. It was pretty cool, and we got to walk around Barrio Santa Cruz, which is beautiful right now. Definitely inspired me to go back later on in the week!

I also don't remember much from Tuesday, which shows that it was clearly an uneventful day. I do remember, however, that my host mom made an awesome tortilla española for dinner and she was like, "Ahh, Kari, I still have to teach you how to make tortilla before you go back to the USA!" Hopefully soon she'll teach me how to make one! I mean, I can probably just follow the recipe back in the States, but it would be nice for her to teach me.

Wednesday. Let me tell you about Wednesday. Sweet Briar went to court Wednesday. I went to class, and on Mondays/Wednesdays, I'm done with classes at 3pm, which is 9am in VA...which is also when the court thingy started. So I basically sat around all afternoon/evening watching live tweets of the court case, only to be disappointed with the end result. (Brace yourselves, rant coming.) This 60 day injunction deal is nonsense. I do not have the time for this. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see Sweet Briar close, but I don't want to go there anymore. I mean, ultimately, yes I do, but not after all of this. It just isn't going to be the same until it gets back on its feet. Honestly, I wouldn't even care that much, but the reason I care is because if Sweet Briar stays open, then Hollins (the University I have chosen and to which I've paid my deposit) isn't keeping the teach out agreement, meaning I will be considered a regular transfer student which is going to change everything, probably sending me back to Sweet Briar whether I like it or not, unless one of the other schools I've been accepted to plans on keeping the teach out agreement no matter what. I guess I should check in to that. Anyway, I just have one year of undergrad left, and then a year for my Masters and teacher license. Why does this have to be so difficult? Why can't Hollins just keep the agreement no matter what like I've heard other universities are doing? This is complicating my life, as my host mom would say. She would also tell me not to let other people complicate my life, but in this situation it's kind of impossible. I just want to know for sure where I am going to end up. That's all I want, but apparently that's too much to ask for. I literally feel like I'm just floating around in the air with no real direction, and it's super stressful. Also, not knowing what school I'm going to for sure is stressful because it also makes it so that I can't really figure out where I'm going to live this summer, so it looks like another school break will be spent house hopping. Do you know how much I hate house hopping? I hate it, A LOT. I just wish I had one place on this planet that I could call home and actually feel like I'm at home, but once again, apparently that's too much to ask for right now. Ugh, rant over.

Thursday, I don't know. Went to class, it was boring. Nothing happened, I guess. I think I made my schedule for Hollins, which looks pretty good except for me having to take a science class with a lab, but I had to face that eventually. I guess I shouldn't have put that off until my senior year, but whatever. No regrets. :P Oh, also, on Thursday, I decided to ~finally~ sign up for a Vegan Cuts beauty box subscription with some extra money my mom generously gave me <3 :D The Vegan Cuts beauty box subscription is a monthly subscription where they send you a box full of 4-7 sample size and full size vegan beauty products. ~~*so excited*~~ It's gonna be like getting a little surprise present every month full of vegan goodies :D

Friday I went to my internship and everything went really well, which was unusual because normally something goes wrong at that school basically every single time I go. I mean, the first teacher I work with had a test and didn't tell me, so essentially I could have come in an hour late, and I was kind of mad about that at first, but I just hung around and waited for kids to finish and then just talked to those students to practice their English. It wasn't horrible. Friday afternoon, I went to take pictures around Sevilla with my good camera instead of my phone, because I realized I still haven't done that. I think I got some good pictures, BUT I WOULDN'T KNOW, because for some reason my computer is just not having it with this memory card! It won't read the memory card in the memory card slot, so I tried my USB memory card reader, and that didn't work (the light didn't even flash?), so I went out and bought *another* memory card reader and used it with a different memory card first and it worked, so I put my other one in with the pictures on it, and then it didn't work! Nothing is going right in my life, not even something as simple as a memory card reader. #dramaqueen

Saturday morning, I wasn't feeling getting out of bed when I woke up, so I kind of just laid in bed until I absolutely had to get out of bed to go get ready to meet up with Genisis to eat at the vegan bakery. In the shower, I decided I would make Saturday an official "treat yo self day" inspired by Parks & Rec, since I wasn't feeling 100%.

Sooo, we ate breakfast at the vegan bakery, where I had coffee, a donut, and half of a strawberry & cream pie thing. Not the healthiest, but nothing matters on treat yo self day:

It was so pretty; the colors reminded me of a sunset :)

After the vegan bakery, we went to FNAC so that I could buy the dumb memory card USB reader that I was talking about earlier, and then after that, we went to Lush, which is basically where I spend all of my "treat yo self" money. If you don't know what Lush is, look here:

From Lush's Wikipedia page

The products at Lush are fresh, natural, and mostly vegan -- just what I like. So I got the Angels on Bare Skin facial cleanser, the Grease Lightening spot treatment, and the Skindrink moisturizer. I also got a sample of the Eau Roma toner, but I think I would like the Tea Tree oil toner better, which I'm going to go back to try.

After Lush, we went to H&M where I got a tank top and a cute skirt that I can't wait to wear soon! After that, we met up with Isis, got avacado maki for lunch, stopped and bought miniature paintings of Sevilla from a really friendly guy in Barrio Santa Cruz (mine is a really beautiful one of the Torre de Oro), and sat on the steps of the Archivo de Indias and ate ice cream (well they ate ice cream, I was too full for anything else). Then we went home and just chilled for the rest of the day. 

Today (Sunday), I woke up and got ready to go meet up with Mercedes. We went to see the horses and carriages exhibition for Feria. They were so fancy, and it was super cool! She's from Málaga, so this was her first time seeing it as well as mine! We were really impressed. Here are some (bad) photos I took:

After that, I came home and no one was home...still. I literally hadn't seen my host mom since yesterday morning. Turns out, she was in the hospital. Toni left me my dinner last night (Saturday night) because she went to her daughter's house, but apparently while she was there, she started to not feel good, so they took her to the doctor who then sent her to the hospital overnight. She still wasn't home when I went to bed last night, which is super rare, and by super rare I mean had never happened before, but I just figured she had ended up just deciding to spend the night at Rocio's house...which she also has never done, but I figured "eh, not too late to try something new?" I didn't know she was actually in the hospital until I read this note on the counter this afternoon around 3pm:

In English it (basically -- not a direct translation) says: Kari, it's Rocío, Toni's been admitted in the hospital. Here's lunch" Also, Spaniards' handwriting is typically really hard for me to decipher. It took me so long to figure out the word after "dejado." I had to text this picture to people because to me it looked like it said "iu(s/g)tesada," which is not a word. Obviously, thanks to context clues, I knew it meant she was in the hospital, I just didn't know what that one word actually meant.  Also, why do they write their "a's" like triangles? I've noticed a lot of people do that here....

Rocío is one of Toni's daughters. Apparently, the person who I heard come in late (aka 4:30am) last night wasn't Toni, but it was actually Rocío. I really wish someone would have told me she was in the hospital earlier...I mean, dang, way to leave me in the dark. She's home now, and apparently doing a lot better. I'm really glad she's doing a lot better! She went to the hospital for "alta tensión" which after having three different people explain to me what it means and watching Toni take her blood pressure, I've come to the conclusion that it means high blood pressure in English, but every time I try to look it up online in Spanish, I get stuff about cables and electricity, which is definitely not that unless Toni's a robot. Maybe alta tensión is like a nickname? I'm pretty confused about that, but whatever...I just hope she stays okay!!

So yeah, that was my week. We don't have school this week thanks to Feria, which I'm really not sure how much I'll like. We'll see. I'm still pretty excited for it, but I can definitely feel that I'm probably not a Feria person. If anything, yay for a week of no school! But boo for a week closer to me going back to the USA :(

*update* I finally got my memory card to work, so I uploaded the photos to my computer, only to find out that iPhoto has been replaced by "Photos" which I hate, and I don't feel like figuring out how to use it/if I even want to learn...so I'll just upload my Sevilla photos to the blog or FB or both...eventually. :l

Semana Santaaaa!! And other things

Well I guess it's time to write another blogpost! This time about a bunch of random things I've been writing down on my phone so I'll actually remember to put them in my blog.

First, though, I'll start with Semana Santa.

The first day I went out was on Sunday to see La Estrella leave. I got there pretty early so I could get a good spot. Unfortunately, I didn't think my spot completely through and ended up standing in the sun for a good four hours. I'm too pale for this!! I was sweaty and sunburnt, but it definitely taught me a lesson, and I clearly avoided the sun for the rest of the week. Also, I invested in an over-priced tube of sunscreen. It was a good investment.

I've already seen Semana Santa ensayos happening throughout last semester, and more-so this semester, so my first impression wasn't super surprised. It is impressive, sure, but I don't know...when I'm in the direct sunlight for too long I guess I get cranky. It was cool, but I wanted to leave so bad. When the virgin finally came out, I teared up a little bit, but not for the reason everyone else was (she's so beautiful, people are really religious, etc) but for the reason that I could finally go home.

On Monday I saw the San Gonzalo procession, which was important to me because it's my host mom's favorite one. Her grandkids were in that one, and they were so adorable when they were getting ready to go out! It was also probably my favorite one because I was standing by the hospital, and the virgin stopped at the hospital and danced, and then they threw a ton of rose petals from the hospital windows onto the virgin! It was sooo cool! Afterwards, I went and picked up some petals to press in my journal. :)

Tuesday was a lot better. Especially since by then I had realized to only stand in the shade, and I was armed with a nice coat of sunscreen. It really only went uphill from there. Tuesday night was fun because Isis and Genisis and I bought one of those giant things of cotton candy to share while we waited for the Los Estudiantes procession. The Jesus and virgin were pretty cool, and it ended perfectly. Right as we were leaving, our feet were hurting and we were so tired, and we were straight up about to go find a bench to sit on to prepare ourselves for the walk back to Triana, when we saw the 5 bus! We basically cried tears of joy and BOOKED IT to the bus stop. Perfect ending to the day.

My favorite night was Thursday night/Friday morning, aka the Madrugá, where the most famous ones come out starting at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning and go until like 12-2 in the afternoon. I left my house at 7pm and didn't return until 11:30/12pm the next day. It was completely worth it, though. It really threw off my sleep schedule, which I didn't appreciate, but hey what can ya do?

Also, Genisis' and Isis' family had tickets for the seats by the cathedral that night (well they had seats all week really), and they had two extra tickets...so obviously we tried to engañar the security guards at the gate with a story of how Genisis somehow lost her ticket. It totally worked, and we all got to sit down by the cathedral and watch the pasos! Super amazing experience that I'll never forget. I'll also never forget that later in the night, we tried to get into the *better* section, but her family only had one ticket...so we were way less convincing and it didn't work. Luckily, because their host mom is a G (as Genisis and Isis like to say), she got us the hookup with a security guard friend and we got to go in anyway! ;D That was even better because we could see the pasos enter the cathedral! Ahhh, so amazing!!

However, I'm not *that* big of a Semana Santa fan. I love it for the art/history/culture, but that's about it. I mean, yeah, it's impressive...but honestly, all of the virgins look the same. At least the Jesus ones are usually kinda different. Even my host mom agreed. Basically, once you've seen one paso, you've pretty much seen them all. I didn't even go out to see pasos on Wednesday I think because I was like, "eh...not really worth it." But I mean, if you ever get the chance to see it, you should!

Here's a video of the clips from my phone that I put together so you can get a good idea of what Semana Santa looks and sounds like!

So other than Semana Santa, which was all week, I've written down these little things I wanted to include in my blog. Here they are:

-THE SMELL OF THE ORANGE BLOSSOMS. PRAISE THE DEAR GOOD LAWD JESUS THERE IS NO BETTER SMELL ON THIS EARTH. I ~*completely*~ underestimated everyone when they told me that the orange blossoms smelled amazing. I have to say, "amazing" is a severe understatement. I swear, it smells like someone has run around the streets of Sevilla spraying beautiful tear-inducing (in a good way, like "I'm so happy I am smelling such a beautiful scent right now" way) perfume around every corner. I literally cannot handle it or breathe enough when I pass the trees. I also heard from one of my professors that somewhere in Sevilla they sell Orange Blossom perfume. I must find this and buy it if it doesn't cost an arm in a leg (which I feel like it might...).

orange blossoms<3

-It's starting to get *pretty* toasty here in Sevilla, and I brought enough of my American natural organic blah blah deodorant with me to last until like...two or so weeks ago (ugh, so close). I have discovered that Spanish deodorant, at least the one I bought, may smell nice, but that's all it has going for it. I asked Toni for deo advice, and she told me to go to the pharmacy and tell them that I have "sudor fuerte" aka in English, strong sweat. Ehh...I just want my American deo back. Also, TMI? Don't care. I'm human, and humans sweat. Get over it. This is something important that people need to know: if you have a favorite deo that works for you and you're going to study abroad, basically you need to bring a lifetime supply (or at least a lot) of that stuff with you to Spain, because you will sweat because it is hot, and I'm not about this Spanish deodorant.

-This fun conversation between me and Toni:

*Aitana (Toni's 8 month old granddaughter) crying in the background with obnoxious music coming from a baby toy and her mother saying "shhh ya está ya esta ya ya ya*

Toni: Niños, niños, niños...Kari, no tengas niños

Me: Vale, no voy a hacerlo

Toni: Un gato y un perro, pero no niños

Me: Vale jajaja

Translation:
Toni: Kids, kids, kids...Kari, don't have kids
Me: Okay, I won't do it.
Toni: A cat and a dog, but not kids
Me: Okay hahaha
Toni: *gives me that "I'm so freaking serious and I'm also probably going to throw this baby out of a window if she doesn't stop crying soon" death stare*

Also, I just want to write about something important to me really quick. I'm feeling kind of distressed now that I only have a little bit over a month left here in Spain. I was looking forward to going to Spain for such a long time...and now it's almost over?? What?! How is that even possible?! This has literally been the best past "most of a year" of my life...I'm not ready to leave yet. :'(

Also, it's been such a long time since I've really felt at home somewhere, and I really feel at home here. I haven't felt at home anywhere since I had to move from Colonial Heights out to my dad's. I mean, I feel kind of at home at Sweet Briar, but it's not the same because I know it's temporary (and now it's closing so isn't that just dandy). Ya know? I'm always going home for breaks, and I'm not even going home. I'm just kinda house hopping between friends and family...and even though I feel pretty comfortable where I go, it's not the same as feeling "at home." Since September, for about 8 months now, I've had a place to go home to everyday -- a safe, clean place with people who I really enjoy being around. I don't want to leave that. I don't want to go back to house hopping to avoid actually going home. It's not fun, it's stressful, and it's tiring. I'm not ready to deal with all of that again. I guess that's life, though. Time moves on weather you're ready or not...

Back to a less serious subject to end this, Feria is coming soon, and trying on dresses is my new hobby:



Now if only I had a spare 32309230 euros lying around to afford one plus all of the accessories! But not to worry, my host mom is letting me use one of her daughter's dresses!! I wish I could have my own, though. I'm not complaining too hard, though, I'll at least get to wear one to Feria :D

Also, going to Paris tomorrow so yay! I get to see Megan once again, and this time she'll be my free tour guide haha :D

An Almost Blogless Week

This is going to have to be a skip week for me. The reason the title says "almost blogless" is because technically, this is still a blog. #loopholes

Why?

#1. I am sick with acute tonsilitis which means my tonsils are infected and disgusting. It basically feels like someone ripped my tonsils out of my throat, ran them over exactly 72 times with an 18-wheeler, and then glued them back in my throat with acid. I also had a fever Friday and a good half of Saturday, and today (Sunday) my host mom made me go to the hospital because the medicine the house-call doctor gave me on Friday has done diddly squat. If anything, my throat has only gotten worse. I also just generally feel pretty out of it. Writing this short amount is actually pretty energy consuming. Thank goodness for spellchecker.

#2. As you probably know, Sweet Briar is closing, and I still haven't completely gathered my thoughts. I don't know what to say yet...and if you know me, you know I like to have what I want to say ready to say before I say it.

#3. Exams. This week I have midterms. I have yet to begin studying due to the whole Sweet Briar thing and then unexpected illness thing. If I feel ready to write my blog later this week, I'll likely not have the time because (you can bet each hair on your head) I'll be cramming for those exams.

So yeah. Basically the only thing you really need to know about this week is that Tuesday I found out my college is closing which basically feels like your life is ending, Friday I got really sick, and exams are this week. So much bad luck in one week. I kind of hate everything, but underneath the hatred, I know something good will come out of this...I hope.

Aaaandddd, if I can just make it to Thursday, Megan is coming to visit from Paris!! I haven't seen her since September before I left for Spain. It's been tooo long. Here's to hoping I'm still a functioning human being when she gets here...because right now I'm definitely more on the non-functioning side of things.

Aprovechar, v.: to make the most of

This week, instead of recapping what I did, I'm going to talk about something important...and then recap my time in Cádiz this weekend. 

So the thing I want to talk about is called "aprovechar." That's the Spanish word for "to make the most of." This week I realized that I have less than 100 days left in Spain. 72 days to be exact. That thought basically sent me into panic mode. 

Once you've been studying abroad for a certain amount of time, the brand-newness of everything tends to wear off. For example, when you cross the Puente de Triana, you're not ~~*crossing the Puente de Triana*~~, you're just walking across a bridge to get to where you're going. When you pass by the Cathedral, a beautiful grand building in the middle of Sevilla, you don't even see it. You tend to forget you're in a city of historical importance: a city Christopher Columbus once inhabited, a city Cervantes wrote part of Don Quijote de la Mancha, etc. It all just feels so normal after awhile. You get used to the way of life, your schedule, etc. You kind of fall into a rut, although I don't like to describe it so negatively. It's less of a rut and more of a well worn path. Either way, things lose their shiny glitter of excitement and awe, and just become average.

I am not the kind of person who likes to take things for granted, so I don't like to admit that this has happened to me. I try to appreciate as much as I can as often as I can while I am here, but like I said...it just happens without you noticing. 

So back to "aprovechar." Once I saw my time left here in Sevilla, I decided I  *have* to aprovechar the rest of my time here. Not that I haven't been doing that, it's just that things have just been feeling so normal...I'm on that well-worn path, and I need to get off. It's like that quote by Robert Frost:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

So lately I've been making sure to do things differently to get off this path. For example, I'm taking new ways home from the University. My normal and quickest way is my favorite, probably because it's the quickest, but lately I've been walking by the river on the way home. It's always so pretty, and I wonder why I don't do it more often. Probably because I always get side tracked and end up sitting by the river for a while, but that's okay. It's nice to take time and watch the world pass by. It's why I would prefer to live in the city. There are so many people doing different things, leading completely different lives. They all have a house to go home to (well, except for the homeless...), families, secrets, things about them that make them special. We are all so different, but at the same time we are eerily the same. We all have a brain, two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, blood, a beating heart, pumping lungs, etc etc. It's fascinating, and I'm going to miss all the people watching I do when I have to go back to the Middle of Nowhere, USA. 

Wow, I tend to go off the track a bit. Anyway, I just am making sure lately to stop and smell the roses. Breathe in the scent of the freshly baked bread at El Horno Abuelo as I pass by each morning, cherish the feeling of the Sevillian sun warming (or burning?) my cheeks when I walk home, listen closely to the familiar sound of Toni's knitting needles clacking upon each other as I eat a traditional (yet vegan) Spanish dinner made by no other than Toni, the best host mom ever, herself. These are all such small things that I might not ever get to experience again in my entire life, especially Toni's cooking, which in case you don't know, is usually amazing.

Just gotta keep actively thinking about what I'm experiencing. I think this is like a last minute attempt to stick all of these memories in my mind, because I know when I go back to the States, things won't be the same.  

...and so far, I feel like I should do this more often. Here in Spain and in America. Because really, who knows how many days you have left for the rest of your life? 

----

Okay, and now for Cádiz. I'm not covering the rest of the week because #1. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and #2. I don't want this to be too long because #3. it's another late post. 

So, we left Sevilla on Friday at 4:45pm. Our train arrived in Cádiz at around 6:30pm. From the train station, we walked to our apartment from Airbnb, which ended up not even being 5 minutes away. Super close and super convenient! So we dropped our stuff off, and since we had a kitchen, we went grocery shopping! We got lots of fresh veggies and Genisis and Isis, being vegetarians rather than vegans like I am, got lots of eggs. Yuck, I've always hated eggs my entire life. Ask my parents if you don't believe me. 

My reaction to eggs.

So after we got back from the store, we made dinner. Isis doesn't cook, so I cooked our food and Genisis made her own since she likes cooking almost as much as I do. I made lentil tacos (like normal tacos but with lentils instead of meat -- also minus the cheese and other dairy products), which didn't taste like tacos because the taco seasoning here is a package of spices labeled with lies. It said taco seasoning, it was even Old El Paso brand, but it wasn't spicy or salty or anything resembling a taco. Well, the taco seasoning in the USA is probably also a package of lies compared to actual Mexican tacos...but you get my point. It was vaguely tomatoey and like savory with something else, but it definitely wasn't normal. It was still good, but it wasn't what we were expecting. 

Despite the food being good, this meal was the worst meal I've had in a while, but it wouldn't come back to get me until Sunday (more about it later). To go with our tacos, we also got chips, salsa, and guacamole. I've never had to worry about ingredients in guacamole because it's usually vegan...so after having a good like 4 spoonfuls worth, I decided to look at the ingredients because once again, it just didn't taste normal. That's when I saw one of the first ingredients was cheese and closely following that was milk. I wasn't mad when I saw that...or even scared. It was a simple mistake, and I figured if my stomach could handle that cup of hot chocolate in Madrid without too many problems, it could handle the guacamole. I was so wrong (but like I said, more later).  After dinner, we just watched tv (aka Spanish cartoons because why not?) and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up with stomach cramps from the fiery pit in the center of the earth lovingly known by children as h-e double hockey sticks. Once those passed, I thought I was in the clear...so I made a yummy breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and a banana. It was nice to have a "real" and filling breakfast. 

Yep, you bet I took a photo. There weren't any bowls...so I had to make the oatmeal (which is slightly out of focus, sorry) in a mug. It was still good.

So we went about our day. I took a shower, and since there weren't any towels (something they should have warned us about...), I used my hair dryer to dry off. It was very warm and I would recommend it to anyone who's towel-less. I wish my towel could be that warm. So that was an interesting experience, but hey, it worked. 

The first place we went on Saturday was the beach. We walked along the beach, saw some ancient Roman ruins, learned that Cádiz is the oldest city in Europe, and then headed over to the cathedral. 

*Side note fun fact: My host mom just informed me that the actual old Cádiz is now underwater. My roommate added, "Ooo, like Atlantis."*

The cathedral was really beautiful, but obviously not as beautiful as the one in Sevilla. It was definitely worth the 3€, though. 

Inside of the cathedral

Outside of the Cathedral

After that, we went to a nearby cafe because Genisis and Isis needed to fuel their coffee addiction. It was so nice to sit under a palm tree and look up at the giant cathedral, knowing that the beach was just behind it. Also, it was nice and warm so I didn't even have my coat on. Spring had sprung here in southern Spain. 

After coffee, we searched for the Torre de Tavira. It was 5€ to get in with our student IDs, and once again, completely worth it. Genisis forgot her student ID, but since her and Isis are twins, they let her get by on the student price since Isis had her ID. Twin perks? I think so. Anyway, this tower has an amazing 360° view of Cádiz, and also this amazing thing called "cámera oscura." It was *~the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life regarding cameras and photography~*. It was this giant round white concave slab of stone, with giant mirrors and glass lenses up in the tower controlled by rods which reflects the images from the mirror onto the stone, creating a real time video "camera" on the table thing. It had extremely sharp focus, you could zoom in and out, and you could even see birds flying, people hanging their clothes, people on the street...it was crazy! It was also the ultimate stalker camera because you could see all over the city and the people walking near the tower. We weren't allowed to take pictures in there, so you'll have to check out this photo I borrowed off of the Torre Tavira website:

http://www.torretavira.com/es/photos/camara/imagen01.jpg

Then, we headed up to the top of the tower to take in the view of Cádiz:

Cádiz!

Me with maybe Rota (American Naval base) in the background? Our tour guide who showed us the Cádiz with the cámara oscura pointed out where Rota was but I don't remember exactly where...oops?

A tree in a forest of edificios

The view of the cathedral

All three of us atop the tower!

After the tower we headed home to make lunch. I made tofu with sautéed spinach, onion and peppers and it was tasty. We also put it on tortillas because we had leftover tortillas that we didn't want to waste. It was still good, yet untraditional. 

Yep, more food pictures. No shame. It was good. 

The time after lunch is lovingly known as siesta time, so we were all just half asleep lounging on our patio soaking up the warm sun and enjoying the warm weather to pass the time after lunch until our beach adventure closer to sunset time. As you can tell, this trip was way more about relaxation than actually doing things.

Siestaing -- well, Genisis is fake siestaing. She was definitely taking selfies and creeping on instagram while I was half asleep next to her. 

But suddenly, interrupting our nap-lazy time, I heard Semana Santa music. I immediately looked over at Isis and whispered "do you hear that?" When she realized what it was, we both started staring at Genisis to see how long it would take for her to notice. It took about .6 seconds, and she immediately jumped up and yelled "LET'S GO FIND IT!!" ("It" being the Semana Santa ensayo). In case you don't know, Genisis has an almost unhealthy obsession with all things Semana Santa. So, we all rushed to get ready to go, locked the door, and rolled out to find the Semana Santa ensayo. After a little while of following the music, we realized it was either go into the old district to find the ensayo, or stick to our original plan of going to the beach at sunset. It was getting pretty close to sunset, so we decided to head over to the beach instead. It was sooo worth it. Check out these amazing views (also I took about 302984 pictures of the sunset so bear with me): 

Cute lil' doggy prints :)

Quite probably the best sunset I've ever seen in my life. 

Actually, it was the best sunset I've ever seen in my life. 

Cádiz...stop, you're too beautiful!

I was obsessed with the clouds.

JUST LOOK AT THIS. IT'S AMAZING.
Definitely cried a little...

Once it started getting dark and cold, we decided to head back to the main land...but none of us wanted to turn our back on what was still the most spectacular site I've ever seen...so, our solution was to hold hands to walk backwards so we could keep watching the sunset and to hold hands to prevent tripping (or maybe to make tripping worse?). It may sound silly or weird, but it's the moments like that that kind of burn a place in your memory forever. 

Once we got back up to the main road, were planning on going to a Flamenco bar (with vegan options!) for dinner, but since we still had food left over, we decided to go cook dinner at home as to not waste what we bought. It was another repeat of what we did the first night, except without dangerous guacamole. And except I made a PB&J for dinner, because I haven't had a PB&J in who even knows how long, and I needed to shove something like that down my inner American's throat to shut her up until we actually get back to America in May. 

So this basically leads us to Sunday morning, aka the worst morning of my life. Some how, the guacamole waited until Sunday to make me feel like I was dying (that or I had a really weird temporary stomach bug, but I'm like 97% sure it was from the guac). I woke up and felt extremely nauseous,  and luckily I never threw up (throwing up is the worst thing in the world), but I did spend a large amount of my morning in and out of the bathroom. I didn't even get to go out and explore with Genisis and Isis. :(. 

However, I still managed to enjoy my time at "home." The weather was perfect so I had the windows open, and there was so much natural light in the little apartment. It was so peaceful, but I could still hear cars passing by in the street, the occasional group of people walking by (it was a quiet street), and despite my rumbly upset tummy, I probably couldn't have had a better place to be. It really felt like home. I don't know why, but it reminded me so much of the springtime back in the house I grew up in. I enjoyed it soo much, and it was a really good reminder that "home" can be anywhere with the right ingredients.

After a while, I think I got all the nastiness out of my system, and I felt dramatically better. I still feel kinda gross, but not as bad as before. I texted my host mom and told her I don't want much for dinner just to be on the safe side. 

Finally around lunch time, Genisis and Isis came back from exploring more of Cádiz. Just before they got back, I had a little oatmeal for lunch. Since Isis was mooching off me for food,  I had to tell her that I didn't feel like cooking anything or eating much for lunch, and since we were just planning on having leftovers for lunch, she could just reheat what we had the night before...but she also took it upon herself to take the leftover plain lentils we had in the fridge along with a red pepper and half of an onion, and whipped up this amazing "lentil dip." This was an amazing feat for her since we all know she can't cook. Her exact words when she was in the kitchen were, "Hey! I'm cooking!! I don't know what the heck I'm making, but I think it looks good!" Genisis and I just brushed it off and hoped for the best since we all know that the only thing Isis can make is eggs, rice, and grilled cheese. Her lunch ended up looking like this:

Yep, you bet I took a picture of her lunch.

That "lentil dip" was the best thing ever, and the exact recipe isn't on my blog, as to keep the recipe a "secret recipe." ;) It's that good, I promise. So anyway, even though my stomach was still recovering, I mooched a little off of what Genisis and Isis made for lunch. I ate a little bit of the lentil dip (which is more like a multi-purpose/multi-functioning lentil recipe) with some tortilla chips we had left over, and then I had a little bit of Genisis' tofu/spinach/onion/pepper mixture which was also quite tasty (not pictured). 

With the end of every lunch time begins siesta time, where I may or may not have fallen asleep in the sun and gotten slightly sunburnt. Oops...those siestas will get you. But still...#patioperks?

After that, we reluctantly just cleaned up and got ready to go. It was a sad goodbye. I'll miss Cádiz. It was a really great and relaxing weekend!

This upcoming week is looking kind of grey. Exams are coming up so I need to start studying. I want better grades than last semester, but at the same time, with only four classes and barely any internship hours, leading me to getting more sleep this semester, focusing in class is sooo much easier! I'm already feeling better about exams than I did last semester. I almost feel like I don't need to study! Hahaha, no, just kidding.

Well, actually, I probably don't need to study very much for phonetics because that class is super easy and also my favorite class, which means things stick in my mind really easily. I definitely need to study for my mitos class, mainly I need to review the story about Celestina because I didn't really understand what was going on in that story because we watched the movie as our main source of information, and let me tell you, that was the worst because I canNOT pay attention to movies to save my life. We only read a few excerpts from the actual story, so I'm going to have to do a lot of Googling to get a good grasp on the story. My poesía class will also need some good study time, but he said he will go over more of what we need to study later, so I'll just put that off. It can't be *that* hard...I hope...and for my creative writing class?? I don't even *know* what to study, so I guess this will be interesting. I'll just review all my notes, make flashcards, and hope for the best!

And now for some side notes:

Side note #1: There was a guy on the train reading a book that says "cómo ganar amigos e influir sobre las personas." (How to win friends and influence people)

Side note #2: The guy who sat next to me on the train had the same ticket as someone else! This other guy came up and was like "oh excuse me, that's my seat..." so the guy next to me pulled out his ticket and they compared them and bam they had the same ticket. How strange. Oh, and the guy next to me told me it's the second time that's happened to him! Haha whaaat??