Out with the old and in with the new

Friday was the last day of our class. I can remember thinking how sweet it was going to be to just be in Spain for an entire month and only have to go to one class. And it's already over! Time truly is flying. I left home a month ago Tuesday. Looking back it just seems hard to remember not knowing my friends here or my homestay family. I wish I had known how lucky I was going to be with my roommate! My biggest anxiety before coming was that my roommate would be someone I could never be friends with...which has happened to a lot of girls here. I truly got very lucky. Now don't get me wrong, I miss everyone back home, especially if I'm bored or really stop to think about it, but for the most part Sevilla really is starting to feel like home.

Now that I've taken my moment to reflect on my experience overall, time for some details. Friday after we took our finals Colleen and I wanted to go out and celebrate. One of our friends said he was meeting up with a Spanish friend of his to go to a non-touristy discoteca. We were both very excited about the prospect of not being surround by international students and decided to hop on our Sevici bikes to meet up with them. I guess I was feeling overly confident in my ability to find my way around Sevilla and convinced Colleen that I new a faster way to the river. Big mistake. We rode around for 40 minutes trying to find them and at one point we even saw railroad tracks....confirming we were in the ghetto of Sevilla. After awkwardly biking around a huge apartment party, we eventually found our way to a new Sevici station. Only downside was the 0.50 euro cent fee I though Kevin's parents were going to have to pay since he is the one who so kindly let me use his Sevici pass from this summer. I eventually figured out how to pay it off with my credit card the next day though. After finally finding our group, we ended up taking a taxi to this discoteca very close to our house named Abril. The promoter of the club recognized one of the girls in our group and so we got in for free. The Spanish guys who were with us were told they would have to pay a 30 euro cover charge each. Needless to say they did not come in. I have never seen so many people inside a discoteca at one time. It was impossible to go anywhere without someone constantly bumping into you. We also all had our first real experience with just how forward and in many cases creepy Spanish men can be. Colleen at one point was tapped on the shoulder by a guy who said he wanted her to meet his friend. The friend then grabbed her face and kissed her. Without saying anything. Then just walked away. Not something that happens very often in America. Then later another guy kept just touching my friend Rachel's face. Just stroking her cheek or leaving his finger on her forehead. All very weird things. I finally couldn't handle it anymore and pushed his hand down. Good thing a stern NO and Barber brow translate in any language. He was so taken aback that it was very obvious him and his friends had never heard the word no before. I realize I am making it sound like it was a terrible night with only creepy men. This isn't the case at all. These are just the things that stick out to me I guess. For the most part the Spanish people I've met have all been really nice! It's just those select few that ruin it for the rest of them.

On Saturday Colleen, Molly and I all decided we wanted to spend the day exploring different parts of the city. It's so huge there's no way I'll ever be able to see it all! So with bocadillos and camera in hand we went to the Metropol Parasol first. It's a huge wooden piece of architecture in Sevilla. For a euro 20 you can go up to the top of it for a pretty cool view.

Molly and me outside the "waffle" building!

At the top

From there we went to find a nun's convent where they sell sweets once you respond with the proper phrase. We found it without too much trouble but they were already closed when we got there. We didn't let that get us down though! We instead had a nice picnic, got a cafe and then walked around window shopping until we ran into some other friends. We all went to a place that supposedly has excellent chocolate cake and chatted for a while. It was a very relaxing and successful afternoon. After store bought pizza with our siblings, we went out to a 3 story discoteca called Buddha. I knew it was going to be my kind of place when the first song we heard when we walked in was Beyonce's Crazy In Love.

This morning was typical Sunday morning paella but this time our parents had over a bunch of friends because there was a home Sevilla futbol game at 6. They ended up not being able to get extra tickets for me and Colleen, but we decided we'd rather wait and go to a game that won't be so expensive. Tickets for this one were 40 euros for the cheapest. Turns out to be a good thing we didn't go too because Sevilla lost 2 to 1. Plus my mom is sending my a Sevilla scarf that Kevin got for me as a souvenir. They play games until May so I feel certain we'll go to one.

My plans for Semana Santa are finalized as well! We've bought our tickets to Dublin, to Amsterdam, and then to Heidelberg, Germany. Traveling will be so much fun!!

Tomorrow is the first day of classes at the university for me. I'll have Historia del cine y otros medios audiovisuales at 9 am (VERY early for me) and then Geografia de Andalucia at 5. I'm a little nervous to go to a university class, but hopefully I'll get the swing of things. Apparently it's very common for Spanish students to never go to class here so I just hope I can meet someone who'll actually be coming to class! After the first lecture I'm supposed to go introduce to the professor about officially registering for the class. Hopefully the professors are as laid back as the students apparently are. Wish me luck! I'll let you guys know how it goes!