Soo… where to begin again? The past few weeks have been fairly uneventful my literature class ended and I now have afternoons free and only three classes… school is soo much easier than Carolina especially since I just have to pass my classes and my grades don’t really matter! It has been raining still and I usually just hang out around the house most afternoons after I siesta… but recently the rain has stopped and I just wander around Sevilla maybe get a pastry or shop a little bit! The forecast predicts very little rain in the next week so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way!
Ronda! We went to a little town called Ronda about an hour and a half away yesterday and it was actually really fun… despite the fact that there is pretty much nothing to do in Ronda besides look at the bridge & the oldest bullring in Spain! Although don’t get me wrong the views are gorgeous and pictures just don’t do it justice! We actually hiked down & back up the cliffs like twice. The first time we went down one side through a mine (where slaves had to carry up water… a real buns & thighs workout… pretty glad I wasn’t a Spanish slave) but we came out at the little river… on the way back up there were 365 steps and so my friend Cameron decided to make it a game of days in the year and let us know when she thought we passed a holiday. Once we made it to the top we decided our new years resolution was to workout more and we proceeded to go eat Italian food… yes I realize the irony in that! We asked for agua del grifo (tap water) & the waitress said they didn’t have any so instead of paying 2 euros for bottled water I sneakily poured some from my water bottle into the glass! I felt soo cheap but what can I say I am definitely a college student studying abroad! Afterwards we got some ice cream from McDonalds… tastes just like home except that I got a cono de kitkat off the euro menu (basically an ice cream cone with a kitkat in it)! We looked at the view from the other side… there was a man playing guitar and it was really beautiful… it seems like everytime I am just hangin out taking in some view theres always some perfect backround music to go along (violin at night by the cathedral… small woodwind type band in the center as I sit and write postcards… & yes even some people playing snoop dogs gin and juice cd as we botellon ie drink by the river at night… like I said it just doesn’t get much better than that! haha) Anyways back to Ronda… we then hiked down the other side with the view of the bridge and hung out down there for a while… it was really fun taking pictures & acting dumb all of my friends here are entertaining & I love that I get along with them so well! After hiking back up again we went back to the bus station and attempted to purchase tickets for the trip back… I would just like to state right now that I think the Spanish way of life is very nice sometimes definitely much more laid back & with that said… it is soooo inefficient! We arrived in Ronda about 11:30 & the counter to buy tickets back was not open (you can’t buy a ticket for there & back at the same time) so we went about our day & decided to come back later. We were pretty much done with Ronda by about 3 and headed back to the bus station to get tickets back for 6 bc we didn’t want to be stranded in Ronda. When we got there it was about 415 and they still weren’t open so we asked and were told 430 so about 445 the guy finally rolls up and opens the window and we buy tickets and go get coffee and wait. About 530 we realize that our tickets have the next days date on them & we then freak out and hurry back only to find the ticket counter closed again & our entire group (like 15 people) as well as other people trying to get tickets. When the man finally comes back he corrected our tickets & told everyone they just had to try to get on the bus. So when the bus pulls up everyone runs over & tries to get on however the bus filled up and two people in our group couldn’t get on so they had to wait an hour for the indirect bus which took 3 hours as opposed to 1 hour & 45 mins! I really don’t even understand how something can be sooo inefficient… are they expecting us to spend our whole day waiting for them to open & hope we make the bus? But anywaysss despite this minor stress the day was very laid back and Ronda was beautiful!
Ronda was pretty much the only trip I have taken in the past few weeks… last weekend I spent a day park hopping by myself which was nice and relaxing… I think in the next few weeks I am going to attempt to do some of the lesser known things in Sevilla so we shall see how that goes. As far as daily life we continue to eat the same interesting foods… some of which I like better than others there are really only a few things I just cant stand to eat one of which is this soup with like ham meatballs in it? Last time we had it I wrapped all but a couple in my napkin when she left the room and then ran to my room to throw them away… I should probably say something but I just don’t have the heart to tell her and we rarely ever eat it anyways. My favorite is still croquetas but I really like this soup with beef and garbonzo beans in it and garbonzos con espinacas (spinach with garbonzo beans… a typical andalucian food) is actually really good. Carmen always asks if we want oranges and so I eat those fairly often… I like oranges a lot I just hate the like pulpy part so it takes me like forever to peel them and I make a huge mess! Hopefully this week Rachel and I are going to get paella at a restaurant that was recommended to us and I have a few other typical dishes that I am determined to sample before I leave! We finally made it to this tapas place everyone recommended and for good reason because it was amazing. We had this almond chicken that was sooo good. I will have to go back and take a picture.Carmen always watches the news during dinner and points and says mira mira when she thinks something is interesting... though I usually dont think so. They also play like popular American music in the background which I find distracting & end up just tuning out the news.. the other day it was definitely taylor swift! Her tv is practically the oldest tv I have seen in like the past 10 years.. she was actually supposed to have her new one delievered on Tuesday & here it is Sunday & the old one remains... o those efficient spaniards! I really dont know how people can stand it! Anways about Carmen nothing is really new.. she calls her daughter rebe short for rebeca which I think is cute and rebeca usually answers "que quieres?!?" ie what do you want? I guess mother daughter relationships are pretty much the same everywhere haha Carmen's other daughter Miria is expecting a baby in may so she likes to talk about that... although she talks about just about anything.. she told me about all of her past pets yesterday... most of the time with her stories we understand the subject and just kind of infer the rest... I think it would be interesting to know all of the things she has actually told us.. it would probably be pretty different from our versions!
As far as the night life I love being of a legal age to drink here! Its wonderful although we usually just buy wine for really cheap at the store and then drink at home or by the river before going to bars and then eventually a discoteca. I mean I don’t really go out that much but it is fun and definitely very different. Like I said before the other night we (some girls and I) were down by the river the other night and Spaniards were playing snoop dog out of their car! I love how even though most people don’t speak English they listen to English music and it is almost like guys here get to a certain age and learn how to say at least one of the following: “I speak English” “What is your name?”or something else along those lines… I’m not sure why though because it is very obvious they do not speak English… I also still fail to see the logic behind the lame attempts to get attention they make to get attention. When we were leaving the river though my friend asked a group of guys for a cigarette and every one of them literally hopped up and practically ran over and tried to share their joint with us and then sell us weed… it was hilarious! only in spain! I don’t really have any lessons that I think I have learned lately. I have met some interesting people here though! Tons of people from other countries mostly Germany or the UK… I met a couple people from Iceland not sure why I think that is like the coolest thing in the world… the girl is really sweet despite the fact that I cant pronounce her name for life of me… it really just sounds like random sounds to me! I also met a really nice guy from Palermo the other night at the discoteca & talked to him for a while when I was waiting for my friend. The only other interesting story I can think of is that the girls I am traveling with over semana santa got stuck in their elevator last night at like 4am! I am soo thankful that it wasn’t me and super impressed that they were able to call for help and get out! I probably would have been stuck in there til someone tried to leave in the morning! I am now a little afraid of using our elevator which is like 4 sq ft.. not exactly somewhere Id like to be stuck especially since I don’t speak Spanish that well!
Anways I suppose that is enough for now! I think we are just about officially 2/3 of the way through school and I am just over halfway through my time in Europe… next weekend is my last free weekend in Sevilla so hopefully it will be sunny & gorgeous & I will have a lot more to write about!
Besitos to all!
(for pictures check out fb or I might try to do albums on snapfish or shutterfly or something soon)
