Week 1 : Survived

Well, it has officially been a week since being in Seville and I survived (wish I could say the same for my feet...) If you know me at all, you know that I love walking. Well, turns out, when walking on stone sidewalks (we can't walk on the paved paths since it is illegal and only for bikers, RUDE) it does not matter the footwear that you have. I think my feet have grown a size since being here, but other than that, all is good!!

So after being here only a week I have noticed some major differences between cultures. First of all, when choosing a homestay, you can choose a family or a "senora" which is an old lady that sometimes still lives with their "kids." In Spain, you can literally be a "kid" until late 40s. We learned yesterday that there is really no incentive to move out of your parents' house until you are married or living with a significant other. They also go to school here until they are like 24-26 yrs old since it is basically free (like $4000) a year...free compared to the states anyways. Parents (especially senoras) are more or less expected to do laundry, clean, cook, do dishes, pay for college, clothes and bar trips...Mom and Dad this isn't sounding so bad ..... Kidding. It is definitely crazy to see how much kids rely on parents. NOT TO SAY that I don't because I defintely do, especially when I am home, but these kids do not have their first job until around 25. Just a different culture that we are all adapting to here!

Another difference..people here walk EVERYWHERE. I literally walk 30 min to gym, work out, 30 min home. By the time I am there I could basically turn around. Now finding this gym, Cuesta Sport, was a REAL treat. I knew I was in the general vicinity of the gym and did my best to ask around for it. I knew it was pretty much an Americanized gym since Sevillanos do not tend to use gyms on the regular, so I would ask people and they would tell me "5 minutos"... yeah well after hearing that from multiple people for an hour, I was beginning to lose hope. THEN I heard English...turns out I had met these kids the night before at the bar (they remembered me singing BEAR DOWN! the only memorable thing that night for me ... ) Back to the story.. I asked if they knew where it was; turns out my new friend Simon from Britain was on his way there and he knew the manager and everything. Got my membership no problemo and toured the gym. The ladies lockerroom is on the 5th floor; again after my 30min trek and hike to the top, I am just about pooped! But good news -- they have showers there so I fully intend to be showering there in hot water for more than 3 minutes. Jeannie -- no reason to go "au nautral" now..thank the lord! The gym has spinning classes every day, so once I get into a routine I can't wait to try some out...it is basically in a sauna so we will see if I can survive..but I am thinking so. I stand out like a sore thumb there amidst the beautiful Spanish men...but I am NOT complaining!

More on the walking thing. They all walk so slow, so I constantly find myself weaving in and out of everyone. The other night the little roads (more like alleys) have "sidewalks" they are big enough to fit two feet on and that is about it. If you step off of it, one of the silent cabs will come by and they do NOT stop (learned that one the hard way too...) Anways, so I was stepping off of the "sidewalk" and weaving in between people thinking (like my mother) "Man these people must have too much time on their hands..") WELL turns out they are smart. I fell off the sidewalk, nearly lost all my marbles, but caught onto the wall of the alley to balance myself. Good thing I can't understand what their thoughts are because I am sure it had something to do with "stupid Americans always in a hurry..." My philosophy: You live, you learn.

As Sara Reed kindly pointed out to me my writing is like my talking so I know I am a little sporadic, but I like to tell the stories as they pop into my head. We went out to a discoteca the other night--left at 11, got there at 11:45, and went home at 4 (again, early for here). Great night, met some great people, particularly the italianos.

We were given cards and had to find our partners. Well after talking to these two and teaching them how to do jello shots, or "jello shoots" as they said, ADORABLE, we decided to compare cards. Nicolo (left) and I had the same ones!! We were so excited and what did we win? Either a key chain or a little coin purse...exciting. NOT. Anyways, had a great time with these two. We left and ended up seeing them at another bar and this is what they started...

Yes, pretty much everyone in the bar danced underneath their scarves and played that game ( whatever game we used to play at the rollerrink and you can't knock the bar off, I am blanking) It was a great night, and we slept like babies!!

Well seeing as I am still in bed and I know my tostada and nutella await me, that is where I am heading, and then school for 3 hrs.. yuck. Until next time

Peace, Amor, Espana
Ana

The weekend in review

As promised as promised, (inside joke), here is the weekend report from my first weekend in Spain. I don't want to bore you with all of the details, but of course I will give the exciting deets! 

So the two pictures above are from the first discoteca Friday night. It was a blast -- both pics are with some Spanish "intercambios" that we met, which are basically like mentors for us. It was a blast...until we had to wake up early on Saturday morning for a tour. However, the city is so so bonita that I didn't mind. Everything is kind of a blur, but I think I (pretty much) know my way around. THE ONE THING that I can not get accustomed to is eating. ( I know I know, big surprise right?!) For breakfast we eat tostadas--toast with Nutella and sometimes cereal. My lunch today (Monday) was at 4pm. My dinner on Saturday night was not until 11:45 pm. So far, Lauren and I have only bought one box of cereal to munch on, but it has been 2 days and it is almost gone. I seriously think i have lost about 5 lbs (NOT that I am complaining) ...but this empty stomach thing is hard to manage!!! I am sure I will adjust though. 

Churros con chocolate!!!! Basically, the churros taste like you would imagine, and the chocolate is like hot chocolate but it is thicker. You also put mucha jugar (sugar) on it as well... it is what they eat here when they are drunk (much healthier than pizza I guess!) Lauren and I were trying to figure out how to apply the sugar correctly. The waitor corrected us, got us a new cup of chocolate, and he called me his queen :) He was so great. These taste so AMAZING, I will definitely be getting more! 

These three pictures are from our trip to Alcazar on Sunday. The first one is just a cute group shot in downtown Seville. The second is a group shot on one of the patios in Alcazar. Alcazar is a palace where the Spanish Royal family still stays today when they leave Madrid to stay in Seville. It was SO unreal to see. The architecture, the gardens, everything. I will get more pictures of gardens another day since it was rainy and freezing the day we went! The third picture is one of me, Colleen, and Abby, my friends from UW, and just ending our tour. They have been great girls on this trip and are in business with me, so you will be seeing more pics of them. After this, we had to go home for a SIESTA (I am really fond of those here) to get sleep for Bear/Pack game....

The americanos literally TOOK OVER a bar for the game last night. It was on at 9pm and it was a blast...well kind of. I mean I was by far wtih the nicest Packer fans I had ever watched a game with as they seriously were happy to see me freak out when we had our first TD! I got the crowd going at the beginning of the game by singing  (Yes the entire song) of BEAR DOWN! I even got an encore cheer  FROM THE PACKER FANS! There were like 10 Bear fans total...kind of brutal...but turns out NOTHING would have changed the outcome of that game since every call went for the PAckers. I will stop raving before my entire blog becomes depressing. Anyways, like I said, great crowd to watch it with. Got home and to sleep around 2:30 am, and woke up just in time to make it to my first Spanish class, 3 hrs long, today... talk about brutal. I thought power hours at Purdue were bad (75 min!) Well, since I have woken up with numb feet and hands the past few mornings, I am off to buy some warmer clothes and an umbrella and HOPEFULLY tickets to the Real Madrid vs. Seville game on Wed. We literally live 2 mins from the stadium...que chulo (HOW COOL!!!) Until then, missing home, still shedding a few tears over my beloved Bears, but all in all I am LOVING it here. 

Peace, amor, Espana

Anna

 (mi nombre Espanol since nobody can pronounce my name !) 

Staying at my home(stay)

So I think that it is about time I create a more thorough blog post since I have been to busy to do one yet! I will try to recount everything that happened (well, the important stuff that is) since I last left you hanging...I am sure you could barely sleep at night since you were so anxious to hear from me..kidding of course. So this week has consisted of little sleep, lots of fun, and the coldest experiences of my life. I know, that is saying a lot coming from Wisconsin and all, but although it is only 15 degrees Celsius (like 40s), we dont exactly have a warm house to come home too -- Spain is great sans the fact that there is no central heating..anywhere. And showering? That is a whole different can of worms. Yesterday I took a two minute shower MAXIMUM in freezing cold water. We also have to shower "army style" (turn water on and off) in order to save water...did I mention they don't use bath mats here? So not only do I get out of the shower with goosebumps the size of Texas, I step onto a freezing cold tile floor as well. Shaving oughta be a real treat...

Okay so onto the good stuff that you would rather hear about. The picture above is where I will be doing all of my studying for business...other classes happen to be half way across the city but walking is good for me... you can really take in the beautiful sites so that will be fun. Thursday we spent most of our day in lectures here...and later that night we went to a Flamenco show..it was so great ! 

The pictures above are from flamenco show! The first picture is so dark, but that is how it was in there the whole time. The second are obvi the dancers in training ! It was so great. A guitar played as the dancers danced for probably close to an hour -- it is something I will never forget. And the great thing is the Flamenco originated in Seville so there are people on the street dancing it all the time! After Flamenco we just went out for a few drinks. When it came time to find our way home (amidst all of the tiny little streets) we decided HECK NO to walking and took a cab. 5 euros for two people -- not too bad right? Got back to the hotel and called it a night...or a morning since it was 2am -- but to the Sevillianos that is weak since they usually stay out until 7am (don't worry mom I would NEVER do that...)

The picture above is one of my favs from Friday...the day we moved into our "homestay". There will be many more pictures to come of my wonderful host family. We are living with our mom Celia, sister Laura (in pic), and brother David (17). They are all so great and so easy to talk to and easy to understand (can't say the same for me..but my spanish is a work in progress!) We played soccer with Laura and her neighborhood friends for like an hour. Clearly I was taunting them with what little Spanish I knew saying things like "Estas listas perder" (Are you ready to lose) and more but...turns out she pretty much kicked my butt. Also, I am staying with another Americana from Purdue, Lauren, and she is AWESOME!!!! It is great to have an English reprieve when needed. We have a cozy little apartment. There are a FEW drawbacks. One: no central heat. Yes I know it is only 40 degrees, but when you come home to a freezing cold house, it is a little different than what we are used to at home. 2. I already explained the shower situation, no need to elaborate. 3. We sit at our kitchen table and put our legs under a blanket with a heater, how Spanish is that?!?!? I love it. I can tell they are going to be a great host family. I will tell much more about the weekend, but ahora we are heading to the most americanized bar ever to hopefully watch my Bears head to the superbowl...Superbowl Super Bears as dad says :) I am with a 10000 packer fans from Madison here. As great as it is to be surrounded by WI kids that say "Where is the bubbler" with me, after tonight I might feel a little differently about them. Kidding, they are great, but I am a lonely Bear fan over here. More later!

Peace, Amor, Espana

Annie

I have arrived!

Ok so now begins the real blogging. It seems like worlds ago that I actually got here. Plane ride over here could not have gone smoother -- I literally slept 7 hours of the 7h 45m it took to get here, so that was awesome. However, once we got to Madrid, we had to run (through the world's longest airport!) in order to make our flight. Did I mention that they dont have AC anywhere over here? No worries, 90% of the plane was students so we made it no problemo. A lot of us kids were on the same flight here from Chicago. Irony -- most kids go to UW here, and I have been SURROUNDED by packer fans. Plus side? I have people to go watch the game with on Sunday. Downside? I have to listen to all the idiotic Packer comments until then. But, as all Bear fans do, I can hold my ground. Okay..back to Spain. I have not yet toured Seville, that comes later today and tomorrow. So far, we have just been lectured and such, but the tour guides here are really nice. Also, today we start "No ingles" so we will see how that goes.

Well, my ideas aren't exactly flowing at 8am...I am still jet lagging pretty hard but I think that is due to the fact that I feel miserable (not because I am here, because my body hates me). Tonight after all of our hard work we will be going to a Flamenco show, so I can't wait!!! Tomorrow we will be meeting our host family. Two girls that have prepared me for Spain, Caitlin and Kathleen, told me about how wonderful their host family was etc. Turns out, I have the same one they did!!! The family does not know that I know them, but man what a small world!!! I will also be living with a friend from school, Lauren, and we were hoping it would work out, so that is a relief. So I guess I will leave you with that. Hopefully it was a some-what entertaining first blog, and many more to come. Missing my family like crazy already... and I am not exaggerating. I was SO excited to hear they got NFC championship tickets...they will represent me well!!! Also, one last thing, Kayla thanks so much for helping me pack my life away into these two bags. Turns out I underpacked compared to most girls ... who would have thunk it??? Enough rambling..until next time.

Peace, amor, Espana,
Annie

Before the Departure

I just wanted to make sure that this was up and running before I leave in one week from today!! I hope that my family and friends will be able to follow my adventures as I experience them as well. I hope to update this a few times a week, but we will see how that goes. I hope that you will be amused by my trip as I am sure there will be many interesting stories along the way. I will also be posting pictures so I hope you will enjoy those as well. Please comment as you wish as I would love to stay in tune to the American world as well! Also, not sure how it works, but if you have a gmail account you can be a "follower" but I am not sure what good that would do. Clearly, I am a blogging virgin. So until next week, over and out, or should I say Hasta la vista :)