Last Week of Freedom

This week started late for me because I got back from Ireland on Monday night, and I didn't really do much this week...but surprisingly I still have things to write about.

Wednesday wasn't too eventful, but it was still a really good day. I went for a walk in the morning with Genisis by the river, and then for another walk (also with Genisis and Isis) that afternoon. The morning walk was more for exercise purposes while the afternoon was our "welcome back to Sevilla" super long all over the city walk, with a churros pit stop by the river of course (totally canceling out whatever "exercise" we did that morning, oops).

Then later that night, I bought tickets to Paris! I'll be going to Paris on April 9th to visit Megan, who's my roommate when I'm at Sweet Briar. We're both studying abroad through Sweet Briar's study abroad programs. Obviously, I'm studying in Spain with Sweet Briar's Junior Year in Spain, and she's studying in Paris with Sweet Briar's Junior Year in France. I can't wait to go see her! I haven't been to Paris since I was 16(?), and normally I don't like to repeat cities that I've been to, but Paris is worth it when it involves seeing such a good friend!

Lil' dork in Paris back in 2011. Looks like I was having a rough hair day.

Thursday was the worst day I've ever had in Spain. Why? Because I bought my ticket to go back to the United States. 

No, I do not want it to be official. I do not want a reminder. I do not want an itinerary. I do not want to leave Spain.

I was completely fine with ignoring the fact that I didn't have to go back. Ugh. I really don't want to leave. I just have to make the best out of this semester, though. There's no use in focusing on having to leave. I'll just go back to ignoring it, because clearly if I ignore it, it'll go away. 

Anyway, on May 13th, I'll be taking a bus from Sevilla to Málaga, then flying out of Málaga to Dublin, and from Dublin I'll fly to Boston, and from Boston I'll fly to Richmond...and from there my dad will pick me up and take me to the worst city in Virginia...McKenney.

However...Thursday wasn't too horrible, because that's also the day Megan bought tickets to come visit me here in Sevilla! She's coming in March, and I'm super excited!!

This is probably how dumb we'll look when we're reunited.

Friday I went to the University with my roommate, Vanessa, to find our classes. I have 3 classes in the same room, so that's convenient. Finding Vanessa's classes wasn't too hard, until I realized she had some classes in the "secret classroom." My first class ever in the University was in that stupid classroom which is hidden away up this random staircase in what looks like an entrance into just an area with professors' offices. I don't remember how I found the classroom last time, but I know I was almost late to class, and I had walked around the whole dang school 32,033 times to find it. Hopefully Vanessa won't have to experience that nightmare now that she knows where it is. 

Then later Friday night, I went out to dinner with Genisis and Isis to our ol' favorite vegan restaurant. We hadn't really been there in a while, so it was nice going again. They have the best bread and little appetizers ever. This time it was some yummy black beans in some type of sauce w/ other veggies...and I had no chance. I had taken like one bite and it was already half gone. They tried to blame my slow eating on being an only child -- I don't know what it's like to have to fend for myself at the table (eat fast or eat nothing?), but really, they're just vultures. So then it became a "who can get more of this stuff the fastest" competition, and I obviously lost. I gave up on the beans and took all of the good bread. It was almost a win-win situation. As soon as there was nothing left, Genisis goes, "Wait...where's the good bread?" to which I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "I don't know." You snooze you lose. We also stayed from like 9:30 until almost 11:30 talking about everything there ever was to talk about. We were totally the last ones in there. Pretty sure they were about to kick us out...but I feel like we always have the most interesting conversations in that restaurant.

Saturday, I went to Ronda along with the new spring semester group. Since Genisis, Isis, and I had already seen and done everything during orientation last semester, we were allowed to break off from the group and do our own thing. That sounds really great, and it would have been considering that Ronda is amazingly beautiful...but the weather was freakishly horrible.

When we got there, the weather wasn't too bad. It was drizzling and breezy, so we went with the group to visit the bull fighting ring to see if passing the time there would allow for the bad weather to pass, but as we left, it just got crazy. There were straight up hurricane force winds along with tons of rain, plus it was freezing! While the rest of the group walked in one direction to continue their tour (the poor souls), we forced our way against the wind down another street, dodging tree leaves and trying not to break our umbrellas (Isis' umbrella did turn inside out, though).

Basically how it was for us

We hopped into the first café (with wifi) that we came across. I got piping hot green tea to keep me warm, and we sat there for a little while until the weather cleared up. After that, we went around to different stores to look around. Then we met up with Anjali (the JYS orientation assistant), went with her to buy cookies for the group, and then we ate our lunch on a bench in the warm sun. Then we went to another café to use the bathroom, and then it was time to head back on the bus to go home to Sevilla.

On the bus I started reading the book I bought...like back in November(?). I tried to read it when I first got it, but I just didn't have the time, and it was kind of difficult. I don't know what happened between November(?) and Saturday, but I yesterday when I started reading it again, it was soo much easier! I understood exactly what was going on. Sure, there were still words I was looking up as I was reading, but whatever...it was only a few words per page! I could actually picture the story in my head as if I were reading in English. But sometimes the words I needed to look up wouldn't show up in my dictionary app, but luckily I was sitting next to one of the María's, so I just asked her what stuff meant when I couldn't figure it out myself. She was super nice and helpful. She also complimented Genisis', Isis', and my Spanish and said that we had improved from last semester (although I kind of feel like the reason she included me in that compliment was because I just happened to be sitting there next to them -- obviously my confidence when it comes to speaking is at a 3 out of 10).

When we got back to Sevilla, Genisis, Isis, Anjali, Vanessa and I went and sat by the river for a while. I love sitting by the river, especially as the sun is setting because everything's so surreal. I've been in Spain since September, but everyday I wake up and can't believe I'm actually here. It's like I wake up and think, "Oh, I'm still here in Spain?? Perfect!!" It's like I'm afraid I'll wake up one morning and I'll actually just be in America...like none of this is actually really happening.

Also, that night, I finally realized what Toni has been saying when she says "dedeo" on the phone. Toni is *always* on the phone, and I don't mean to creep on her conversations, but she's right next to me and she talks way louder than the TV, so what else am I supposed to listen to? It's basically impossible to tune her out. Anyway, she always says "te dejo" but with her Andalusian accent (and my American-not-super-accustomed-to-Spanish ears), it sounds a lot like "dedeo," which totally isn't even a word...so I never ever understood what she was saying, until last night it just somehow clicked that she was saying "te dejo" which literally means, "I leave you," but I think it's like when we say, "I'll let you go." Now it sounds so clear, and I kind of don't know how I missed that before.

Sunday, I got up and went to the Parque de los Principios to meet up with Mercedes, a super nice teacher that I met from my internship. I never taught with her because she teaches science and not English, but I was with her and her class on the field trip to the Cathedral back in December. She's studying English and has to pass a test to get a certificate. She needs a 60 to pass, but the last test she took...she got a 59.

I sooo know how frustrating that feels. Before the Praxis I (a test you have to take in order to get your teaching license/apply to the Teacher Education Program at Sweet Briar) changed their scoring system to where you have to pass each subject individually rather than using your composite score, I "failed" the math portion by just one or two points. Luckily, I took it before they changed the scoring system, so my composite score was passing because of my high scores in reading and writing.

Anyway, I'm helping her with her English, and she's helping me with my Spanish. We walked around the parks and then sat in the warm Sevillian sun and chatted about all kinds of things. I was facing the sun the whole time, so in between squinting at Mercedes and staring at the ground to let my squinting muscles rest, I think my forehead got new freckles. Normally I get more freckles in the summer, but I guess for me in Sevilla, it's a year round thing. I still have more in the summer (and I had even more when I was little), but when I got home the first thing I noticed when I looked in the mirror was a new cluster of them.

Besides that, today I've just eaten lunch, had a hilarious conversation with my roommate and Toni about making up excuses not to do stuff (Toni's go to excuses: My feet hurt, sorry. I'm having "bathroom problems," sorry.) I also took a super long walk with my roommate where we got lost en el centro but then we some how ended up in Alfalfa, and then we got lost again and we like turned a corner and we were at Plaza Nueva. Our minds were completely blown. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed getting to know Vanessa more. 

Tomorrow.....classes begin, bright and early at 9am.

*Side note*

I was going to post this yesterday, but then our wifi didn't work last night when I wanted to post it. I have a real excuse! I promise I'm not slacking...yet :P

Post #13: My Last "Official" Post!

Yep! You read that right. Basically, if I don't want to write another post here ever again, I don't have to. It's because the semester is basically over. The last day of school is on Thursday, and most of the American students are rolling out sometime soon after that. However...I'm here till May! So I plan on keeping this up until I go back to the States. It would kind of be lame to only have a semester's worth of blog posts to document my whole (academic) year's stay in Spain. Plus I promised a few people I'd keep writing. Also, my (Sweet Briar) roommate along with my dad do not think that I'll keep up with this, and I just want to prove them wrong.

Anywayyy...

On Thursday they lit up the Christmas lights around Sevilla! They're so pretty. I've never lived in a city with such pretty lights. I don't even remember if Colonial Heights (my hometown) put up Christmas lights...and McKenney (where I live in the USA) definitely doesn't have anything. *Sigh*...the sad struggles of living in a small town/living in a small town in the middle of no where.

Here are a couple of photos I took of the lights with my phone (hence the crappy quality):

Seriously though. I almost don't even want to include these photos because they do not do the lights justice at all!

Onto another topic...I thought for my last "official" post, since this is the "end," it would be fun to say what I miss about America and what I don't miss. So here I go:

What I miss about America:

1. Virginia
       -Sweet Briar
       -The mountains
       -Winter
       -The anticipation of a possible snow day
       -My friends/family
2. The convenience of Walmart -- a place with basically everything, plus it's open 24/7, and it's cheap
3. Driving my car -- a weird thing to miss, but man I miss it
4. Cooking my own food
       -Spicy food
       -Asian food
       -Mexican food
       -The fact that being vegan isn't *as* abstract in the US
5. Studying at Sweet Briar -- finding quiet places to study where you aren't surrounded by tons of other people is really easy there
6. Central heating -- it's so cold inside of my piso...we're in southern Spain, who needs heat here? Newsflash: everyone does (don't worry, we have a space heater and my host mom put winter sheets on my bed: aka fleece sheets, and then like 3 more blankets)
7. Sweet, sweet silence  -- good Lord what I would give for some place that I could go where there is absolutely no noise (this ties in to the studying thing, but I also just like silence for times other than studying)
8. The rest of my closet -- I miss my other clothes. I'm tired of wearing the same things.
9. American money/prices -- I do not like euros. I do not like the fact that 40 euros is like 50USD.
10. The lack of crying babies where I live -- My hostmom's daughter brings over her baby once a week and I swear this baby literally just cries the whole time she's here. I've decided that I will never have a baby because I cannot handle this crying.
11. Dressing lazily. I miss the good ol' days of rolling into class in my sweatpants and hoodie and no one thinking it was out of the ordinary. That's basically unacceptable here.
12. My classes being like 5 minutes away from my dorm. A stupid thing to miss, and while the 30 minute walk to school here isn't bad, I would just love to wake up later.
13. Having a job. I miss making money.


What I DO NOT miss about America:

1. Remember how I said I miss Walmart? Well I do not miss trying to find a parking spot there...or anywhere. I do not miss parking, driving in traffic, or buying gas.
2. I do not miss my roommate. Just kidding, I really miss her! But I do not miss having a roommate. I have my own room here, and she has her own room at Sweet Briar, and we were Skyping a while ago talking about how much we like having our own rooms and how weird it's going to be having to go back to sharing a room with each other senior year!
3. Prothro. Who would miss Prothro? (Prothro = Sweet Briar's dining hall, where being vegan is basically asking to die of starvation and malnutrition...but for real though, their vegan options are seriously lacking...meaning they don't exist a lot of the time)
4. Living in the dorms. No annoying loud drunk people running through the halls at odd hours of the night, no annoying people playing their music way too loud, and no mysterious smells wafting through the halls. Also, no disgusting bathrooms dorm bathrooms/showers -- however, that is made up for in the bathrooms in the University, where not only is it disgusting, there is rarely toilet paper! Look, here's proof:

Behold! What the typical bathroom stall looks like at the University of Seville. Random tourist map, strands of toilet paper on the floor, trash on the floor, trash oN TOP OF the trash can which looks to be a random glass alongside a Starbucks cup, and what seems like normal toilet paper, but don't be deceived my friends, that toilet paper is unusable because it is soaking wet in a mystery liquid. Not even Sweet Briar's dorm bathrooms get this bad, or at least in my experience. I'm assuming it's definitely possible.

6. The freezing temperatures. Yes, yes, I know. I just said I miss the possibility of snow. But you know what? I am quite enjoying the "warm" weather here. Would I want it forever? Probably not.

7. The stress of going home over holiday breaks. No more leaving the comforts of Sweet Briar to go to the Smokestack...oh wait I mean my house, the place where the air is 78% cigarette smoke, 20% dust/pet hair, and 2% oxygen and where everyone just believes it's okay to start drinking at like 10am...and then never stop until they pass out. None of that crap here, just trips to Belgium and Ireland, and a nice, clean, and safe place to stay. 

8. Living in the middle of no where. While I still don't think I'm much of a city person, I hate living in the middle of no where so much. 

9. The holiday season in America. Okay, I know I've made a big deal of the holiday season with how excited I am for it, but that's because I'm in Europe. I mean, in general I really love the holidays no matter where I am, but now that I live with my dad, it's just boring and it kinda sucks. We don't do anything special at all. Last Christmas we got a tree, but it just wasn't the same...Christmas is way more fun when people are actually excited about it and there are traditions and stuff to do and see!

10. Having classes on Friday. Thank you, cursos concertados, for only being Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday classes. <3

11. Having a job. Yes, this is going on both lists. I love being an ARC tutor, don't get me wrong. But I also love not having a job just because that's one less responsibility that I have to worry about. (Although my internship could be considered an unpaid job). 

12. Tipping waiters/waitresses in the restaurants. It's nice to not have to try to figure out percentages or whatever, and it's nice that they get paid a decent amount here. 

13. Speaking of waiters/waitresses, I actually like that they don't hover over you here. I can actually eat in peace!

14. Constantly running into people I know. I think that's a perk of living in a city with a ton of people. I rarely run into people where I'm obligated to have an awkward small-talk conversation with. It's great. 


So yeah. Most of the things I miss aren't really anything super important, so I definitely do without them for a while longer. You know what I just wish didn't exist because I can't put it on either list? Exams. Exams are coming up this week, so I have to get studying! Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.