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?
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
*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.
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| Inside of the cathedral |
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| 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:
Then, we headed up to the top of the tower to take in the view of Cádiz:
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| Cádiz! |
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| 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? |
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| A tree in a forest of edificios |
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| The view of the cathedral |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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):
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| Siestaing -- well, Genisis is fake siestaing. She was definitely taking selfies and creeping on instagram while I was half asleep next to her. |
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| Cute lil' doggy prints :) |
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| Quite probably the best sunset I've ever seen in my life. |
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| Actually, it was the best sunset I've ever seen in my life. |
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| Cádiz...stop, you're too beautiful! |
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| I was obsessed with the clouds. |
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| 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.
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:
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).
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| 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:
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??
