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!

Beautiful Saturday on the river.

I could not have asked for a better day in Sevilla. It was 73 degrees and sunny here, but sitting out on the river in jeans (terrible idea) made it feel like it was 90 degrees out. I headed to the rio (river) and made sure to bring my Moroccan blanket with me (I love my Moroccan blanket it's so awesome and I can't wait to take it to the beach with me in California). I met my friends Ian, Jesse, Marlee, and Rachel out there and we layed out for a few hours. I was super hot in my jeans and kind of loopy from all that sun so we decided to head over to the international food fair, which is down by the river too. I gave in and bought chicken tacos from the Mexican stand. They reminded me of the kind my mom makes and it kind of made me really homesick. Of course my mom's are 100 times better, but those did the job. And the people working there looked at me super weird when I asked for lemon-- because what Mexican doesn't soak their tacos in lemon. These people were CLEARLY not real Mexicans.

Tanning by the river....and there's my orange Moroccan blanket I'm so obsessed with. 

Rio Guadalquivir

Midterms are oooover.

So I just got done with midterms week and I haven't really been going out too much because of studying plus it's been raining a lot here which really just puts a damper on things. My bed always seems like a better option rather than being out in the rain.
Thursday after midterms was fun though it was St. Patrick's day here so my friends Jake, Steph, and I went to an Irish pub by the Cathedral called Flaherty's. There were so many people all dressed in green having a great time. We got green beer and I'm really sad I didn't have my camera. Afterwards I walked to the river where I met some of my friends who were drinking on the edge of the river in honor of midterms being over. It was a lot of fun sitting out there especially since the weather was pretty nice.
Today was 70 degrees here so I went out to a street by my house called Asuncion famous for its shopping. There were tons of people out so I walked around and got some ice cream then I ran into a flamenco fashion show! It was super cool to see and there was great music. I'm really glad I got to see it. I met up with some friends after that and we went down by the river where they're having this international food fair. I mean it was practically calling my name...FOOD. I didn't get any food though because I was going to have dinner at my house later, but it was pretty neat. There were tons of booths with food/drinks from all over the world. I did get a mojito from the Cuban stand. Tomorrow is supposed to be 73 degrees here so I think I'm going to take a blanket and some homework down by the river and just lay out. Hopefully get some Mexican food at the festival too :)

Food fair!

My friend Jesse and I-- apparently the mojito
and hat made me look really Mexican.

"Though He brings grief, He will show compassion..."

I could not help but cry after reading that the body of a study abroad student was found in a river in Madrid. It just hits so close to home. He was also from California and, like me, had arrived in Spain in January. I can't even begin to imagine the pain that his family and friends are going through.

As teenagers I feel like we are very naive sometimes about the dangers that lurk out there. Even though I try to take a taxi or walk home with someone almost every night there are some nights that I have walked alone late at night and I know a lot of my other friends have too. Thinking "It's ok it's only a ten minute walk." The truth is though that anything can happen at any given moment and this scares me so much. Although I always ask the Lord to protect me and I know that my family and friends pray for me all of the time, it is also up to me to avoid dangerous situations. We are in Spain and are having so much fun that the thought of something bad happening doesn't even begin to cross our minds. Hearing these news was a huge wake-up call for me. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't even know what's going to happen today. My prayers go out to his family and friends. Rest in Peace, Austin.

"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamentations 3:31-33

The possibilities are endless.

I've recently been thinking so much about my future and what exactly I want to accomplish. I guess it's not even that much in the future considering I graduate in two years (THANK GOD). I am so ready to be done with Pacific and Stockton and the U.S. basically. I've been doing a lot of research and there are so many options for me after I graduate. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but what I know I don't want to be doing is teaching in a classroom in the U.S. I've been looking up places in South America-- Costa Rica is my first choice, but so far I've found a lot of cool opportunities in Chile. And another place that I am beginning to consider (and never even knew I would) is Thailand. Yes, THAILAND!! I love that there are so many things that I can do and so many places I can go in just two (hopefully short) years.
I feel like I have a really big chance of getting in to whatever program I apply for because the requirements seem to have my name written all over them. "Experience living/studying/working in a foreign country." YES. HI, THAT'S ME!!! I am loving this period in my life I am learning so much and growing so much as a person. Just had to get this off my chest because this excitement was TMTH.

Thailand!!

1st day at Universidad de Sevilla.

Since I've been here I've only had classes Tuesdays and Thursdays because my fourth class didn't start until today. I was up at 7am and out the door by 7:30am. Believe me, this was no easy thing for me to do considering I have been waking up around 4pm five days a week. I was so nervous about this class and had no clue what to expect. The class is Sociology in Education and it's with all Spanish students. But anyway, I pretty much loved this class. The professor is this crazy little old man-- I had no idea what the heck he was talking about half the time. The whole class was laughing the entire time because he was rambling on about aliens and the quija board (idk how to spell that?). The class is super small and everyone was pretty nice. I asked the professor a question during class and he was like "Que, que, que?!" Basically he said he couldn't understand anything I was saying and the whole class burst out laughing and so did I. Thank goodness I didn't take it personally and start to cry or something. I've learned that life is so much easier and so much better if you are able to laugh things off. I'm so glad that I liked this class I was super nervous about it, but he seems great even though he is a little crazy and the class doesn't seem hard at all. And!!!.....I talked to him after class and he told me I can take my final in May so I won't have to be here until the end of June!!! I am so so so happy! Today has been the best Monday ever and i just realized that tonight is the Final Rose ceremony on The Bachelor. Eeeeps! Happy Monday everyone :)

Barcelona-- going here this weekend!! :)

Oh my goodness.

Cheesecake Factory's Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake ahhhhhh.

Carnaval

Is this huge HUGE hugeeee festival/party in Cadiz a city about an hour from Sevilla. It is the third largest in the world after Brazil's carnaval and another I don't remember. So anyway, it's tonight. But due to my extremely out of control claustrophobia I will be staying home tonight. Lame I know. But I really think I would die. Just the thought of being there surrounded by a sea of people makes me cringe. I mean I can barely handle being in San Francisco or on a plane. I literally start hyperventilating, crying, panicking, breaking out in hives. Yeah it's pretty bad. So as much as I do wish I was going, I think I'd rather spend a peaceful night in my bed with my Jersey Shore friends. Happy Saturday everyone! :)

Kissing the camel-- Morocco!