Casi El Fin (Almost the End)

Hey guys!

I want to thank everyone whose been checking out my blog this semester. I've had a great time sharing my experiences with you all, and I hope you enjoyed as well.

As my time in Sevilla winds down, I think I'm going to stop blogging. I'll be in Sicily in 7 days, and home in 13, and I'll try to do some posts on Sicily once I get home.

Very very excited for Sicily! I didn't realize until recently that I'm actually going to be staying next to Europe's largest ACTIVE volcano, Mount Etna. So yeah... should really make Christmas interesting. Especially since I'm flying to this volcano the day the world is supposedly going to end. I'm really testing fate, right?

Sunrise from my univ's campus

This is Edificio 25 (Building 25) at my university, where I have all of my classes and where the international center is located.

I'm not really sure how I feel about leaving. I feel that I completely want to leave and simultaneously completely don't. It's very confusing. On one hand, I am SO EXCITED to see my family and friends again. And to get back to "my life". However, I know I'm going to miss this place. This experience has been absolutely unforgettable, and I want to thank everyone who supported me and made this possible. Can't believe it's almost over!

Christmas lights ALL OVER the streets of Sevilla. These people really know how to deck the halls.

I hope you all have a great holiday. I'll talk to you soon (and see some of you in less than 2 weeks!) :D

Mi Fin de Semana

Hola a todos!

Had a really nice week/weekend. On Wednesday I went to a Spanish Table at school, which is basically just an event in the cafeteria where you meet Spaniards and speak Spanish. We also have English Tables, but you speak English so that Spaniards can practice their English. It's a lot of fun! I met a lot of cool Spaniards, some of whom I went out with later in the weekend. On Wednesday night I went out with my roommate until 4A (despite having to wake up for class at 8A) and it was a lot of fun! The club was playing like... 90's American music. Like... Ja Rule. Destiny's Child. It was AWESOME. I also went out Thursday night. And then Friday night. And Saturday night. Friday night, I stayed out until 7A, which might just sound irresponsible, but it's a very Spanish thing to do, so I'm glad I had the experience. And I was with Spaniards, so I really felt Spanish, haha!

Me with some Spanish chicas

On Thursday I went to a play called El Bobo del Colegio by Lope de Vega. It was really funny, and it was nice to see a theatre and play in Spain. It really wasn't much different than American theatre, except the language of course. They actually had American music too! The play didn't have a live band or anything, so for a few scenes in the play they played music. I really liked one song in particular: Coldplay's Hurts like Heaven.

I discovered an INCREDIBLE tapas place near my piso last week, and my roommate and I have been eating there a lot (since we eat out for every meal anyway). The tapas are very innovative compared to the traditional ones you see in Spain, and I'm in love. Here are some pics of the ones we've tried so far. All have been AMAZING.

Left: Artichoke hearts with Iberian ham, drizzled in olive oil
Top: "Mussel delights"
Bottom: These balls filled with crab meat and cheese. SO GOOD.

Chicken wrapper in bacon with honey mustard sauce (tastes different than American honey mustard)

Duck stuffed with goose pate.

Vegetable lasagna

Middle Left: meatloaf with applesauce
Middle Right: shrimp wrapped in bacon

Crepe stuffed with mushrooms, Iberian ham, cheese

Codfish with black olive and red pepper dip.

Me, Amanda, Marcela at tapas

Saturday night, I went to the top of Las Setas with some friends to watch the sunset. The Setas are these big structures that kind of look like mushrooms (setas = mushrooms) in the middle of the center of the city. 

The Setas

View of Sevilla at sunset. La Giralda/Catedral are on the left.

Me, Sevilla, Setas

What the setas look like from the top side.

On Sunday I went on a multi-person bike ride through the park with Marcela and Kaley.

Today marks 18 days left in Sevilla, 24 until home. Jeez! Time is flying!

Estepa & Osuna

Hey, again!

Haha, I'm doing like 3 blog posts today. So much happened over the last few days, I didn't have time to blog!!

So Thursday was Thanksgiving (see previous post). On Friday I got up early to go on a field trip with my school - remember, I have no class on Fridays. The trip was to Estepa and Osuna, small towns in Andalucia about an hour away from Sevilla. Estepa is where my Civilization professor (Enrique) grew up, and it's where his parents live now. Estepa is the only town in the world that makes cookies called mantecados, which are Spanish Christmas cookies, are only sold in Spain only during Christmas time. Enrique's parents own a mantecado factory in Estepa, so we went on the field trip to tour Estepa and the factory. We also went to Osuna to tour that town.

This trip taught me an important lesson in taking risks and taking advantage of opportunities. On Thursday (the day before our day trip to Estepa), a friend of mine started getting really negative about the trip. We weren't being provided food, and she didn't like having to pay for lunch. We also found out it was an all-day trip (rather than just the morning as we'd thought), and my friend didn't like that. She also felt like there was nothing to see in Estepa, and that she was going to waste a day on a trip that wasn't fun. To be honest (and maybe this is a sign of weakness, idk), I started to kind of agree with her. She was saying that she wasn't going to go, and I started thinking that maybe I shouldn't go either. It's easy to get caught up in negativity when you're around someone who's being so negative. We ended up talking to my roommate, who decided to go despite what my other friend was saying. She said that it was a new experience, so of course she wanted to go. I decided then that she was right, and I decided to go too, even though I knew it could be really lame and wind up being a waste of a day, at least I was trying, right? My other two friends both ended up bailing on the trip, for the reason that they wanted to take advantage of being in Sevilla and not waste time on some trip that could wind up being stupid. They're reasoning was "What's there to see in Estepa other than some cookie factory?"

Well - I'll post pictures about it right after this - I wound up having an awesome time. Estepa is settled in the mountains, and we climbed up one side and got a gorgeous view from the top. We got to see nice views of the countryside, too, which I hadn't seen since I went to Gibraltar in September. I am SO GLAD I went on this trip rather than staying at home. Sure, it was a small town. But I got to see a different side of living in Southern Spain. Plus, I got to try these mantecado cookies, which are very important in Spanish culture during Christmastime. I also got to go on a tour put on by my great professor. And - for whatever it's worth - my friends who stayed in Sevilla to take advantage of being there wound up doing nothing that day. I really think they missed out on a great trip. And I wanted to mention this because I think it's important to not be afraid to try new things when you're travelling. Maybe this is obvious, but I know I almost got sucked into a fear of taking risks, of only staying where you're comfortable. And I think I would have really missed out if I had decided not to go to Estepa and Osuna. I'm going to try to remember this for the rest of my time in Europe: a little risk is a good thing when you really have nothing to lose.

Anyway - we arrived in Estepa in the morning and went on a tour of Enrique's family's cookie factory. Enrique was our tour guide, and he was just as animated as he is normally in class. It was really cool to meet his parents and get to see him "in his element".

Part of the factory

Enrique showing us where they store the main ingredients: flour, sugar, almonds, and pork lard!

Raw dough going into the furnace

Coming out of the furnace, have to be cooled (furnace operates at 200C)

Me and Marcela in our factory garb. 

Enrique after he told us he "wanted to be in our pictures!". He's such a cool character. He kept saying he felt like a celebrity with all of us following him around, haha!

Enrique showing us his favorite type - regular mantecado.

They don't just make cookies - they also make chocolates. And they're delicious!

Enrique and his mom

"La Suprema Calidad" (Supreme Quality). True that.

Me and Enrique!

After the tour we got to try them! They had all sorts of mantecados and chocolates! They even had some protein bars, which they manufacture during non-Christmas times.

REALLY good chocolate.

The building you see on the right over the patch of trees is Enrique's high school. Can you imagine focusing on academics with this view?!

Enrique continued being our tour guide for the rest of the trip. He's always fun to listen to!

Remnants of the Muslim wall of the city

More Muslim remnants

View of Estepa

Steps to a convent in the city

me and Estepa

University of Osuna in Osuna

Osuna

Osuna - tower where Enrique's parents got married. I basically learned his whole life story on this trip. Even saw where he lived!

Wind turbines

Funny sign outside a bar. You see this all over Spain, it's how restaurants adverstise which tapas they have that day. It's a list of tapas, and then on the line 2nd from the bottom it says "Lo que diga mi mujer" which means "Whatever my wife says". Thought that was awesome.

That's all about Estepa/Osuna. I think I'm done blogging for today (3 blogs in 1 day is enough! :D). Tomorrow I'm going to do a blog reflecting on my time here so far, so be on the lookout for that.

Talk soon :)