Actividades

Keeping a straight face. Flamenco is a type of dance that originated from Andalusia. It is highly expressive, and the people in Sevilla tend to get really into this type of dance. Flamenco contains a lot of stomping and clapping. The professional dancers, known as bailaores and bailaroras, create a passionate story. To be honest, after seeing an "authentic Flamenco show" I didn't quite follow the passion, and was rather bothered by the length of the mans hair and how he was was keeping a straight face. 

Needless to say, I felt that I was not being fair to this type of dance. If I am living in Sevilla, I figured not only do I need to learn to appreciate watching it, but learn it! So, after seeing the Flamenco show this Saturday evening, my friends and I figured that it was only natural to take a class of our own! Ava, our tour guide on the second day of being in Sevilla told us that she offers a free Flamenco class for students once a month. Obviously, Maddie and I nailed it. 

Pepper the size of my head! On our adventures of finding food around Sevilla, we have found many markets that have fresh fruit and vegetables. Needless to say, not sure how natural this pepper is!

I found pizza in a hopeless place. Thin crust pizza! It is a really good thing I got away from pizza, but I had gone exactly five weeks with NO PIZZA! We went to a restaurant where I decided to "go for the gold" and order it...I'm not sorry about it either. 

El Centro

"El Centro" refers to the area of Sevilla which has a number of historical buildings and structures. It is actually the largest of any European city--fun fact, and it is right where I live!

Today, my roommates and I decided to walk around El Centro and go for tapas. We wanted to do the touristy thing to get a real feel of the land.

"Peter, is that you?" We found a market which sells fresh of every type of animal you could imagine--including rabbit!

Overcoming fear of heights. We climbed, actually we took the elevator, up to the top of las setas because we were told that for 1 euro we could see the entire city of Sevilla...it was in fact true. The pictures I took cannot even caption how breathtaking the sight was.

We have a Campus Candy. It is not actually called Campus Candy, but actually Wonkandy. It has so many types of candy, but no fro-yo :( Should I work there is the real question?

That picture everyone has... This is me in front of the cathedral.

The apron. We figured this would be a good purchase for the apartment...

9 things about Sevilla...

A few things I've noticed since living in Spain:

1. People don't say sorry. Example: I've had about eight people in the past week walk straight into me, and nobody says sorry. But worse, if I say sorry, they think it is weird.

2. Time means nothing. If you want to meet at 3PM, meeting at 4PM is totally acceptable with no apology. (We showed up an hour and a half late on our bike tour, expecting nobody to be there and they acted like it was no big deal.) Also, when getting served at restaurants, unlike in America where they serve you as quickly as you can so that they can get you out of the restaurants, you can expect to be at a restaurant for hours!

3. They don't pick up dog poop. You literally have to look down in certain areas of Spain to watch out for dog poop--and sometimes horse poop...eww.

4. They let their kids run free. We always see little kids running around the streets and walking without their parents...so un-American.

5. Their are many bikers. Bikers in Sevilla do not stop for pedestrians, I will not be surprised if I get hit by a biker...Also, they have bike stands everywhere around the city and you can rent them!

6. Nothing is open on Sunday. We decided to go grocery shopping for everything in our apartment this past Sunday, and realized the grocery store across the street was not open. We then proceeded to go to the big market about six blocks away, and it was not opened either. After walking around for quite some time and looking like the ultimate Americans, we realized all of the stores are closed!

7. People do not tip. Because they are not getting tipped, they don't ask how your day is, or if you need anything, rather you have to flag them down. Also, expect about thirty minutes after  you ask for the check for them to give it to you.

8. Kids drink at a young age. We have been to restaurants and seen kids who are about twelve or thirteen ordering sangria and drinks. My Communications&Global Competence teacher was telling us that binge drinking is becoming a serious problem in Spain. He explained that there are little stores which sell "party packs"--bottle of vodka, bottle of soda, and a few plastic cups...I thought it was too early in the semester to ask him where I could purchase said "party pack".

9. Absolut Vodka is cheap. Eleven Euros...enough said.

First couple of days!

I've been a few days behind in blogging, so tonight I'm going to write about our apartment and a few of the places we have been.


We were lucky enough to have our apartment just a few blocks away from "El Centro" which is where their are many shops, cafes, bars, etc. Our apartment was just renovated and everything is white. We have two bedrooms, gigantic closets, a balcony, washing machine and a flat screen television! Our kitchen has brand new appliances, a dinner table, the only thing we are missing is an oven--although I was still able to make frozen pizza a few nights ago. Below is a picture of one of the bedrooms. There is also a patio in this room and two desks.

We also have other girls in in the apartment right above us, so it was easy to make new friends! Our program has people from everywhere and we've met local Spaniards as well! We expected the nightlife to be wild, but we have not gone to sleep before 7AM since we have been here! It is definitely something that we will not be able to do all the time, but since class starts tomorrow, we are taking it easy. 

The picture below is of "Las Setas de la Encarnacion." Las setas translates into the mushrooms, which is what the structure looks like. The structure took six years to make and is the worlds largest wooden structure! It is not the size that amazed me, but rather the beauty. The picture cannot caption how amazing it is. For 1 euro, you can go to the top and see the entire view of the city of Seville!  

Las setas, for short, are about three minutes from my apartment, and right next to a lot of the shops and cafes. We went to a cafe which has amazing coffee, milkshakes, etc. Below is a picture of the tasty dessert. They also have an amazing banana milkshake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream! 

Before I came, I was told the city has an abundant of oranges, but every tree is either an orange tree or palm tree! On our walk to class, there is a street which has orange tree after orange tree.

Unfortunately the day of the bike tour around the entire city of Seville, I forgot my camera, but below are some pictures I have taken from exploring the city!

Meet my roommates..

Madelyn Gubernick: This is my roommate Maddie. Maddie enjoys talking. She also enjoys playing Jewish Geography--finding out that she went to camp/attended the same bar mitzvah/etc.

Meghan Sweeney: This is Sweeney, Sweeney enjoys Hello Kitty and  cooking. We are lucky to have her to open the wine bottle at every meal.

Lauren Intrater: This is Lauren. Lauren enjoys to fight me, physically, when under the influence.







ARE WE NOT THE GREATEST CREW YOU HAVE EVER MET!

The Great Schlep!

Flight from Miami International Airport to Madrid-Barajas Airport, taxi from Madrid-Barajas Airport to Madrid Atotcha Train Station, train from Madrid Atotcha to Seville Santa Justa Train Station, and finally taxi to el hotel! Luckily, I had a partner, or "companion" as my grandfather called her--Lauren! The bad news is that together we had seven bags, four of them over fifty pounds...

So although MSN rated Miami worst city in America to live in, my travels from MIA to Madrid were smooth. The flight boarded only 40 minutes late and we sat on the runway for about an hour. I was really excited to see that Lauren and I were seated in "preferred" seating on the plane! What that meant--NOTHING. We were not first class or business class like we thought, nor were we able to board early...still confused. But, thanks to the little pink ambien pill, I slept for a majority of the flight--believing that the flight was the best flight I had ever taken. 

It wasn't until I had reached Madrid, when I realized that my Spanish vocabulary was really only strong for three words: gracias, perdon, and Señor. Luckily, the people in Spain feel very strongly that they do not need to slow down when speaking Spanish to Americans, so that helped. 

All in all, the trip was smooth and easy! I'm here, and I'm safe! 

...I caved

I decided to finally make a blog, mostly to keep my fans (my parents) updated on my adventures roaming around Europe!

I love to talk and hence thought creating a blog would be right up my alley! I am spending the next four months in Sevilla, Spain, where I plan on embracing the Spanish culture--specifically the food and wine! I am eager to share photographs and stories of this amazing adventure with you all!

TOMORROW IS THE DAY! Seville, here I come. The real question: can Spain handle me?