Here are the links:
Sevilla: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039277&id=1136880093#!/album.php?aid=2039064&id=1136880093
Ronda: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039277&id=1136880093
Marbella: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039324&id=1136880093&ref=mf
Sooooo a lot has happened since I've last updated (which of course will probably mean a long post, so sorry again). I went on my first weekend trip, I've started my regular classes as well as my internship, and it's been almost a month since I've arrived here in Sevilla! (crazy, I know).
I'll start with my trip to Ronda and Marbella last weekend- 15 of us total went on the trip, which you would think is a lot (and it is) but it worked out surprisingly well and I had a great time with everyone on the trip.
Ronda is a town just south of Sevilla (less than 2 hours away by bus) and is one of the prettiest towns I've seen so far (look at the pictures!). It was a pretty small town, so we were able to see it all in one day, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere because not only were there amazing views no matter where you turned, but everyone there was extremely friendly and welcoming.
Marbella is a city on the coast about an hour away from Ronda, and we spent one night and one day there. (It took me a while to realize that "Marbella" means "beautiful sea," which any Spanish student "should" easily be able to realize). The town was a little dirtier than I would have expected and it was also kinda foggy, but still pretty and a good time.
Some highlights of Ronda:
- Ronda is officially the town I would like to retire to (until I see another town I like better)
- For lunch I had my first seafood paella (which is a typical Spanish dish of seafood and rice) which was extremely good since Ronda is pretty close to the ocean. I also finished basically a whole bottle of wine by myself... needless to say it was a fun lunch, for me at least.
- After watching a mini-video, I now know that I find the history of Arab Baths extremely boring, and I think you would too
- I saw Susan Boyle! Not really, but she looked just like her. I tried to take a picture of her face, but as I was about to take it my friend Amanda, noticing that I was taking a picture of "nobody," jumped in the way with a big smile just as "Susan" turned around and walked away. If there's one thing I regret about the trip, it was not getting a picture of her face. Thanks, Amanda.
- Look at the pictures!
- We went to a restaurant that had the best sangria I've had so far (I lost count of how many pitchers we ended up getting)
- STORY: After getting denied from a discoteca because our shoes weren't fancy enough, Josh, Nathan and I headed to the beach while everyone else went inside the club. It was dark out so we could only hear the water, so we start to walk along the road by the beach. We eventually get to a couple little restaurants with seats outside, and a man working at one of them yelled to us, told us to sit down, and gave us three Heineken. As a student of business, I started to take mental notes cause this guy was quite the salesman. As we drink our beers outside, we hear the man talking to himself saying in his who-knows-what kind of accent, "when business good, Muhammad happy" over and over a few times. We all laugh, and he asks if we want anything. Not wanting him to be unhappy, I order a "kabab" which was a pita thing filled with hot shredded chicken and some sort of spicy sauce. It was very, very good, and since business was good, Muhammad happy. As we ate, we also heard him yelling out to everyone who passed by "lo barrato sali caro," which I guess is a Spanish saying, that in English means something like "cheap things end up expensive." We asked him what he meant by this, and the example he gave was "if you buy cheap alcohol, you drink a lot of it, and you get sick and go to hospital, and it ends up being more expensive." Needless to say, Muhammad provided us with more entertainment than any discoteca could have provided
- The most popular part of the city is called Puerta Banus, and it is filled with nice cars and yachts, expensive stores and attractive people, so naturally, I fit right in. Someone also told me that it's that way because the mafia lives there.
- I had reallllly good ice cream- i don't remember what it's called, but it was basically blueberry and cream cheese and i think graham cracker crust pieces
- ANOTHER STORY: When we were waiting on the bus for it to leave, there were 3 people we were traveling with who went to go buy some pastries at a "near by" pastry shop before the bus left. While they were buying their necessary desserts at the very last minute, the bus starts to reverse out of the station. We yell at the driver, telling him that we are missing people and that he is leaving at 6:30 when the bus is scheduled to leave at 6:35, but both him and the understanding (not) people on the bus said that it was time and that we had to leave. So, eventually he gets out of the station and starts to head towards the main road. Keep in mind that this is the last bus back to Sevilla, and we have our first class the next day, so we're thinking that our friends are SOL at this point. Sarah calls our friends, and of course they don't pick up. Finally they call back and Sarah explains that the bus is leaving without them and we can't convince the driver to stop. As Sarah continues to talk to them, the bus keeps on going until it suddenly comes to a stop... and we see one of our "missing" friends Armando, in typical Armando fashion, standing in front of the bus with his hand out, signaling to the bus to stop. (Tiananmen Square, anyone?) Our 3 friends finally get on the bus, smiling with their pastries, after JUST making it to the bus before we got on the main road. As you can tell, we liked to try and not draw attention to ourselves...
- Look at the pictures!
Moving on to why I'm in Sevilla, I also started my internship this week- As i said before, I am interning for IELE, which is a school that teaches Spanish to people of all ages and all levels. The lady I work for (the founder/owner of the school) is named Macarena (like the dance) and she is EXTREMELY nice and we get along great. She even laughs at my witty jokes, in Spanish =). (maybe it's because she feels bad, but either way, she still laughs!) She is also a Spanish professor, so she helps me with my Spanish as I talk with her, which is really helpful and valuable, and for free! After just two days, I have gotten more confident with my Spanish simply by using it more often. If fact, on my second day, she let me go out for coffee with some of the students after their class... It was me, a guy from Scotland, a girl from France, and another girl from Japan. They were all very nice and it was cool how all of us, who are literally from all different countries, were able to communicate in a language that was foreign to us all. And whenever we made mistakes in our speaking, we helped each other out because we are all learning. I thought it was pretty cool and really enjoyed it, and although that isn't part of my "duties" as an intern, I hope I get to experience more things like that during my internship.
Other than my internship, I also started my regular classes last week. I am taking a Spanish grammar course for 2 hours at 9am (borrrrring), as well as the "classroom portion" of the internship, a finance class and a corporate organization class. All of my classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays (internship on tues/thurs) and no class on fridays. The first couple days of all the classes were pretty boring, but they all seem fairly easy and definitely manageable. All the professors seem very laid back and are very nice and easy to understand, so I'm hoping for a good semester! AND they seem to be light on the homework, which is a good sign so far!
Let's see, what other random things can I tell you guys?? The gas in my homestay was shutoff because there is a leak that they need to fix, so I can't take warm showers for a couple days, so now I REALLY feel European. Also, this weekend I am going to Cadiz for Carnaval (the Halloween of Spain except a lot bigger and rowdier), and I am going dressed kinda as a "punk," but more "emo" (for those of you who know what that means). I'm kind of nervous about it cause my costume is ridiculous, but oh well- I'm sure there will be pictures. I have also been working on some other travel plans, but all I have been able to officially book is a trip to Amsterdam and Germany in April, which I am very excited about! I am also working on trips to Italy, Paris, Switzerland, and Portugal, as well as other places around Spain, so I'll let you know the line up when I get it all booked!
Again, let me know if you can view the pictures or not(those of you without facebook) or tell my parents or sisters, and they will let me know so I can e-mail them to you guys if it doesn't work.
Enjoy the Olympics,
Ross
