10 best places to live for escaping world conflict:

As you all know, I am just dying to travel to Costa Rica. Hopefully even teach there after college! Stumbled upon this little fact today...

"Costa Rica has a stable democracy, a disbanded military and a national policy of neutrality. It also ranks highly on the Global Peace Index, Happy Planet Index, and Life Satisfaction Index. Although it sits in the middle of a tumultuous region, there are far worse places to sit in peace as the world goes down in flames all around."

4th of July.

Is it weird I already have a countdown for this holiday?

Maybe it's because I can't wait to make this...

Don't these look absolutely delicious and refreshing? Check out the recipe below.

Raspberry Coconut Popsicles

Ingredients {makes roughly twenty 3 oz. popsicles}
*1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
*1 cup blueberries (fresh of frozen)
*1 can coconut milk (full-fat or light)
*2 cups water
*1 cup apple juice (or any other juice you have on hand)
*1/2 cup honey (or more–adjust to taste)
*5 oz. Dixie cups
*wooden popsicle sticks

Preparation
1. Combine all of the ingredients in your blender.
2. Pour mixture into 5 oz. Dixie cups, filling 2/3 of the way.
3. Freeze for 30 minutes, insert sticks, and continue to chill until the popsicles are fully frozen, 2 hours or more.
4. Carefully cut and tear the Dixie cups off of the popsicles, and seal in a plastic bag.

(Recipe was found here)

All things beautiful

Sigh. I just love. All of this.

(All images can be found here)

(Image can be found here)

(Image can be found here)

Florence.

By far, one of my favorite cities. Florence was beautiful. On our last day there we went to the Michaelengelo look out point to watch the sunset. Absolutely breathtaking is all I can say.

See for yourself...

Morocco.

A little late but....here's a video of my trip to Morocco!

I didn't make it (hence, the random people in it haha) this was made by the guys at Discover Sevilla, which is a company here that does trips and lots of fun stuff for us Americans. My semester would not have been the same without them! I absolutely love them and all of the guys that work there Benni, Dani, Manuel, Alan, Luis, Rufus...(hope I'm not forgetting anyone!).

Such a great trip with great people. Rode camels, saw the ocean, bought a blanket (that I absolutely love), ate delicious cous-cous....was in AFRICA!

Waka, waka........

Rough day? I'd say so.

Today, was a rough, rough day here in Sevilla. It started off early-- 10am. That is about eight hours too early for me as I tend to wake up around 6pm here (ask my host family they will tell you I sleep like a hibernating bear, as they have not hesitated to tell me about a hundred times or so). I woke up from a really strange dream that had left me just really startled and shaky throughout my entire morning. I walked the 30 minutes to class in this rainy, but super humid weather. My feet were hurting, my legs were hurting, basically my whole body was hurting (this because I have started exercising recently...I had to lose these 10 pounds somehow...). Finally, get to class and sit through an hour of nothing. Literally, nothing. My professor talked about nothing that had any relevance to Sociology in Education whatsoever and it was just so upsetting because I have to stay until this class ends (June 8th) even though it is all crap. Well, after this hour of nothing, I have to check out some books from the library and find out that I am not even registered at this school and they have no record of me ever being there. GREAT... They send me all over telling me different things in each office and finally I am told that that was a mistake I actually am enrolled. Phew...Good to know that they now know what I had been trying to tell them all along! I was so frustrated and it made me miss America so much. I kept thinking to myself this would NEVER happen in America I just want to go home! I was so frustrated that I proceeded to hide behind a bookshelf and bawl my eyes out (definitely felt better afterwards though).

My day had a few other low points mainly getting interviewed for a great job, but possibly not going to get it because I have to stay until June 8th for this pointless class. Even though I could be home on the 2nd because my professor is letting me take the exam early, but noooo my program is forcing me to stay until the last day of lecture. It is just so upsetting and so frustrating. My day ended by a huuuuge bug flying into my room while I was trying to sleep. This bug looked like a cockroach with wings. It was terrifying. I was trying  to get it out of my room, but somehow lost it and had to go sleep on the couch because I was too scared to sleep in my room.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I'm sorry I just want to SCREEEEAAAAMMMM and get all of this built up frustration out. I keep kicking myself for signing up for this class because if it wasn't for this class I would be home already. And I am just so mad I feel like it's ruining my life. So far this class is
1. keeping me from going to my brother's graduation in 10 days, 2. keeping me from going to the beach house with my best friend Kaela at the end of May, 3. most likely keeping me from an amazing summer job, 4. keeping me from going homeeee. It just honestly is ruining my life right now! I know that's an exaggeration, but really I just keep thinking to myself "What if I hadn't signed up for this class?"

As angry, frustrated, homesick, upset, and worried as I am though I know that there is a reason I am still here and not home yet. I trust that the Lord will provide, like He always has for me, and in the end things will work out just the way they are supposed to. It's upsetting knowing that I can't control what happens because I am human and all I want to do is be in control. But I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father, who has great plans for me. I am just trying to put my trust in Him, especially on hard days like these.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; 

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

When he calls to me, I will answer him; 

I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, 

because they trust in you. 

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, 

the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15

Oh, I just can't get enough...

NO8DO

pan

picos

RyanAir

Sevici

Constitucion

Demo

Alfalfa

Agua de Sevilla

Bare Nostrum

CIEE

vale

hombre

NPN

Buddha

BAMF

Internation Party Sevilla

teach me how to dougie

DiscoverSevilla

Toba

Benni

Dani

Luis

Torre

botellon

Don Simon

Cruzcampo

interest group

yellow bar

rio

terrazas

cafe con leche

wifi

Mascarpone

Coloniales

patatas bravas

queso

jamon

Feria

rebujitos

tinto de verano

Cien Montaditos

jarras

euro

Tetuan

Sierpes

Matahambre

Vodafone

toque

Puente de Triana

Los Remedios

Hotel Bequer

Sol Melia

taxi

PDC

Calle Betis

Fundicion

Bar Julius

senora

homestay

Big Ben

cerveza

chupitos

Long Island

Levies

chinos

chino candy

Principes

U. de Sevilla

Poonfest

Socibus

bueno

C2

Giralda

Catedral

naranjos

cobblestone

horses

Corte Ingles

Arte y Fiesta

shortcuts

Asuncion

Abril

Bandalai

Plaza de Espana

Granada

The Situation

babes, babes, babes

food fair

Morocco blanket

day drink

flamenco

La Carboneria

boxed wine

casetas

Italica

Salvador

Flaherty's

tequila

Camborio's

ron

Jerez

Tio Pepe

Matalascanas

Alcazar

peacocks

Phoenix

40's

bocadillos

kebabs

churros con chocolate

gitanos

Strongbow

TexMex

sangria

vino

Cerveceria Internacional

Mahou

Virgen de Lujan

Plaza de Armas

converters

lentejas

Zara

HyM

lefties

cursos

siesta
futbol

Sevilla.

Most of my friends have left Sevilla because our semester ended on Thursday, but I am here to finish up an extra class. I'm actually not as lonely as I thought I'd be though. I've been spending a lot of time with my host family and it's also been really nice to have alone time. It's given me the opportunity to reflect on my experience here, whereas if I would have left Sevilla the day after classes ended (like most of my friends did) I would have been immediately thrown back into life at home and would not have had this time to reflect.

Today, I spent some time reading some of my blog posts and I laugh at some of the things that I had forgotten happened here. I also read the list of all of the American things I miss and all of the things I disliked here at times and I realized that as much as some of those things did suck, they are what made my experience here. Things like my siblings walking in on me while I was showering, them almost breaking my computer, walking 30 minutes to class and crying because my feet hurt so bad, the intense heat, the rainy days that I had to taxi to class and just wished I could drive there myself and not waste 8 euros, sobbing while Skyping my family wishing I could go home, hysterically crying on our last night here at the club. All of those things that weren't ideal are what made my amazing experience here and have given me great stories to tell.

My time here is honestly indescribable and it's a weird feeling knowing that as much as I talk about it and try to retell my time abroad no one will ever understand just how amazing it was. I love all of the new friends I made here from all over the U.S. It is a wonderful thing to have at least one friend in almost every of the 50 states. These people that I lived my experience with and became so close with in our time here will always hold such a special place in my heart and even though our time in Sevilla has ended, we are forever bonded. I cannot express into words what an incredible semester this has been and all of the memories that I now have. And I also can't put into words how much I love Sevilla and how it hurts to know that in a few weeks I will be leaving this beautiful city. My heart is so full and I have so much love for Sevilla. The amazing cobblestone streets, the orange trees that give the city such a distinct smell, the horse drawn carriages (minus the poop the horses left everywhere, but honestly I will miss that too because it is part of Sevilla). I will miss it all so so much.

This has been the most incredible time of my life. And even though it hurts to know that it is over, I could not have taken more advantage of my time here. I did it all. Went out every night even though waking up for class was awful, ate everything even though I knew I was gaining weight, made incredible new friends, traveled everywhere I could and saw amazing things like the clocktower in Prague, the Lennon Wall, the Vatican, the sun set over beautiful Florence, rode camels in Morocco. Everything. I loved every minute of it. And even though I will be paying off student loans forever, it was so worth it to be able to live this incredible experience.

So $8,000 poorer, 10 pounds bigger, 5 shades darker, 10,000 pictures, and 1 million memories later...Sevilla, NO8DO.

Abril (a club), every Friday.

Botellon (pregaming) at Torre de Oro every week with all of our friends.

Buddha (my favorite club) every Thursday night as a BAMF. My friend Dani.."teach me how to Dougie. 

The 3rd largest Cathedral in the world. Walked by this everyday for school. 

CIEE going away party with my intensive session girls. Going to miss them and getting coffee everyday after class for 2 weeks straight.

Cien Montaditos 1 euro nights with my interest group. Angela, John, Claire, and I.

Definitely going to miss my orientation roommate, first friend, and one of my best friends here Marlee. And of course Bar Julius aka Da Jungle, Toba, 1 euro shots and beers, Room Raiders always on TV, and some crazy times.

Demo. Our second home. 

Things usually got pretty wild at Demo.

Feria de Abril. Wow. No words for it other than it made me love Sevilla so much more.

Tuesday nights Fundicion. Beer pong, flip cup, free sangria, and the infamous bull.

The beautiful Giralda. No other building in the city is taller than it.

Long Island and their shots from every state.

Long Island.

The beautiful narrow cobblestone streets.

Amazing architecture and NO8DO everywhere.

The delicious pasta I got at my homestay. Tomato sauce, cheese, and tuna.

Walking across this bridge everyday and the amazing view of the city at night.

The many days spent at the rio and beautiful Torre de Oro.

Sevicis all over the city and the crazy rides I had throughout the city.

Sevilla FC Futbol game and riding through Sevilla on motorcycle with Jorge, director of my study abroad program.

The spectacular views of the city from the Giralda.

The amazing weather and drinking at the Yellow Bar.

NO8DO.

This song has been playing on repeat this past week. It made us all cry because it sums up perfectly our time in Sevilla. It is so sad saying goodbye to the amazing people that made my experience here. This was the best thing I have ever done though and the most amazing time of my entire life. NO8DO.

Flamenco dress disaster...

So this past week was Feria in Sevilla, which is a huge celebration/tradition here. It's been going on for tons of years and in a nutshell...the ladies wear flamenco dresses, men dress up super nice, there's drinking, dancing, carnival rides, food. It's just this huge all day and all night festival for a week straight. It was amazing and made me love Sevilla so much more (if that's even possible), but I don't really feel like going into detail about it right now so I will share when I come home.

But anyway, my host mom let me borrow one of her flamenco dresses so I would be able to dress up and immerse myself in the culture, etc, etc. I was kind of excited to be able to dress up and wear it to Feria, but it was soooo tight on me when I tried it on. It looked really good though because the dresses are beautiful, but then I had to zip it up and it was soo hard to zip. Guess those crepes with nutella finally got to me...But it zipped...or so I thought...I got it to zip all the way up, but when I went to look in the mirror the zipper broke from like the bottom to the top and I was stuck in the dress! And I didn't want to ask my host mom for help getting out of it because 1. I was so embarrassed and
2. felt awful for ruining her dress. And they're so expensive so I was panicking! After a ton of effort, I was able to yank the opening wide enough to swivel the back of the dress to the front so that I could work on fixing the zipper. Basically I yanked and yanked until the hole was big enough for me to get out of the dress. By this point I was sweating profusely and almost in tears because I didn't know what I was going to tell my host mom. I worked on the zipper forever and in the end I was able to fix it PTL. Moral of the story: 1. I need to work on losing the 10 pounds I've gained here....2. Never again will I try to make something fit that is obviously just NOT GOING TO FIT. And 3...no more crepes with nutella :(

The dress was kind of...sort of...like this. Except all black and no sleeves just two straps.

Easter in Sevilla.

I finally went outside today after having stayed in my bed since Friday morning when I got home from Italy. Pathetic, I know...I really shouldn't even be admitting that, but oh well "no pasa nada" (a common phrase among Spaniards and one I now live by).

I woke up around 2 pm today and my host family was gone so I was having brunch by myself, but they got home while I was eating and I got to catch up with them since I hadn't seen them basically since I left for Italy last Wednesday. My host siblings and I watched a movie on T.V. and I told them about Easter in the U.S. and how we decorate eggs and have Easter egg hunts. They thought that sounded really fun so on my way to church I bought them chocolate eggs that I'm going to surprise them with tomorrow. My host sister Anna who's 10 was talking to me and asking when I was going back to the U.S. and I told her June and she got really sad because she told me she doesn't want me to leave. It made me so happy to know that they really do like me and want me to stay. It was nice to catch up with them today and I'm excited to give them their Easter eggs tomorrow.

I went to mass at 7pm, but it was sad not being there with my family. I really miss them so it was kind of depressing. Plus I miss church back home. Here mass is kind of weird. They talk really fast and there's no music and the priest never seems passionate about it. It kind of sucks, but I'm still glad I got to go to church because it had been a while since I last went.

Then tonight I went out to dinner with my friends to a place called Matahambre. It was so much food and so yummy. It was so nice having Easter dinner with friends here considering we were all sad we were missing Easter dinner back at home.

Sorry this post is all over the place again. Happy Easter miss and love you all!

Italy.

And here are some pictures from Rome, which I really liked. We did a lot of tours though which was really draining, but overall a great time.

Our group inside the Colosseum. From right: Ari, Angela, CJ, Alicia, me, Kyle. And on the bottom are Ian and Marlee.

The sun setting over St. Peter's Basilica. So beautiful.

At the Trevi Fountain. 

Florence was our next stop and it was beautiful. The city was small enough so we got to see everything in a day. It was also really clean and super relaxing. We hung out at the top of this hill called the...Michelangelo I think? And saw the sun set over the entire city. It was truly breathtaking.

At the Michelangelo (?) drinking wine and watching the sunset.

The views were spectacular. With my friend Marlee.

Sunset over Florence.

Our last stop was Bologna because it was cheaper to fly out of there and also because our friend Marlee's friend Mallory studies abroad there so she was able to show us around. She was a great host and we had a great time even though there wasn't a whole lot to do in Bologna. We took blankets to a park and played games and relaxed, which was much needed after having traveled for a week straight.

40 something days to go...

So it feels like I just posted those last few blogs, but it has been over a month that I posted some. This reassures me that time will fly by and that I'll be home in no time. My CIEE program is coming to an end. We have finals in 3 weeks, but since I enrolled in a university class I am here until that class ends in June. Too bad all I want to do is come home. I love Sevilla, I really do. But I think I've hit a point where I feel like I've had my experience and it's time to come home.

On another note, I just got back to Sevilla yesterday from a wonderful Spring Break. A group of 8 of us traveled to Prague, Rome, Florence, and Bologna. It was an amazing time with great people and delicious food. All of the cities were wonderful, but Prague and Florence were definitely my favorites. Both were very clean and had so many beautiful things to see. I posted all of the pictures on Facebook so check those babies out.

And on one more note, here is a list of everything that I miss:

1. Family and friends obviously.
2. Being able to stay in to hang out rather than having to go out to see people.
3. Breakfast.
4. Food that tastes good. Especially my moms.
5. Normal roads. Not a million crooked little side streets.
6. Fast walking. NO ONE in Spain walks right.
7. Kleenex. They don't sell kleenex in boxes here. So strange. And I'm sick so those could really come in handy right now.
8. Costumer service. Obviously.
9. English.
10. Driving.
11. Condiments on sandwhiches. Lettuce, tomatoes, pesto, etc. Sandwiches here are either jamon (ham) and cheese or cheese and tomatoes.
12. Free bread/chips/etc. at restaurants. Here, they'll put it at the table when you come in, but definitely charge you for it when you get the bill.

Ok. Just had to get that out. Sorry this post is all over the place. Here are some pictures from my travels!

Pub Crawl we did in Prague. These are my girl friends that were on the trip: Angela, Marlee, me, and Alicia.

The famous Lennon Wall in Prague.

The famous clock tower in Prague.

Homesick.

I'm not sure if it's the ridiculous amount of work I have to get done before May or if it's the rain or if it's because I had kind of a bad night. But I'm so homesick today. I'm laying in bed not wanting to do any homework I just wish I was home with my family eating yummy breakfast (which I never get here). Also, it's Sunday and Sundays are always our family days. We wake up to the sound of my mom and dad cooking us a big breakfast then we go to church. I just miss home and as much as I do love Sevilla it's obviously not the same. I'm also probably a little (or a lot) upset because I've been having a hard time with my homestay and not getting enough or any food. Like today it is 2pm here and I have yet to get one meal. It's just been really hard and usually I can deal with it, but today is just especially awful. I realize that not everyday here is going to be amazing and I do have more good days than bad here, but I just hate feeling homesick.

And also I had the weirdest dream that they wouldn't let me donate blood and I woke up hysterically sobbing, which was just very strange.

But ok I will stop being such a downer now and tell you about the great day I had at the beach yesterday. It was sunny with a cool breeze, which was perfect tanning weather. We took a bus to Matalascanas an hour away and layed out all day. It was really relaxing and really great! I will upload some pictures later.

Perfect Sunday in Sevilla

I could not have asked for a better weekend. Yesterday was beautiful and today I pretty much did the same thing except it was even better, which I didn't think was possible. I took my Moroccan blanket to the river and met Marlee there. We layed out and this time I was in shorts and a tank top so it felt wonderful. We got cute nailpolish at the chino and just sat by the river and did our nails. Then our friend Ian showed up unexpectedly with his Moroccan blanket and as you can imagine it was pretty much a party after that...(I mean two Moroccan blankets in one place?!) Ian and Marlee are definitely some of my closest friends here so it was so nice to be able to just lay out with them and do nothing and just talk. Of course all of Sevilla was down by the river drinking and having a good time. I love being surrounded by so many happy people. We ran into a few other friends so they all joined us on our blankets and it was so nice to lay out and take in the sun together. After a few hours Marlee and I really wanted to shop so we went into el centro, but had forgotten it was Sunday so of course everything was closed. We still walked around for about an hour though just talking and being touristy taking pictures. After that we went to this really neat bar overlooking the river. Our friends Andrew, Randy, Erin, and her friend from London joined us up on the terrace. We sat there talking over our beers until the sun went down. We were pretty hungry so we went down to the food fair and I had food from the Argentina place, which was pretty great. And I'm pretty sure it was beef so that was a big step for me! There was live music and even though it wasn't great music it was still really cool. We wandered around cool shops and then through el centro until around 9pm. Such a great great day. This weekend I hung out with a lot of people I hadn't really hung out with a lot before and I had so much fun I could not have asked for anything better.

I get goosebumps thinking about how blessed I am to be here and to be experiencing all of this. Spain is amazing, but more than that this experience is truly life changing. It's made me want to go and see the world even more than I did before. I still wake up every morning and can't believe this is my life. It's so unreal it really is there's just no other way to describe it. I can't believe this semester is more than half over though it makes me so sad when I think about it. I know I'll be ready to come home, but I wish I was coming back next semester. I love it so much here. And it makes me sad knowing that I have a lot of my weekends/weeks left here already booked to travel somewhere else. I love traveling, but I love Sevilla and miss it every time I go somewhere else. This is just home for me here. Sevilla, I really am just so in love with you.

Triana-- a neighborhood in Sevilla by the Triana bridge. Home of the churro stand :)

Some more of Triana

Wonderful bar right on the river.

Triana Bridge.

Rio Guadalquivir...still debating whether or not it's sanitary enough for me to swim in...

In el centro...the Giralda part of the Cathedral.

Drinking at the yellow bar on the river.

Stayed until the sun went down. So beautiful.

Down by the river at the food fair.

People enjoying the music. 

Really cool art.

Market where they were selling things from all over the world. Really cute jewelry too!