Climbing in the Campo

Jesús's Birthday!

On Wednesday, I went to a cafe with Inma and Jesús to celebrate Jesús's 20th birthday. The cake we got for him was delicious and it was a nice little Spanish session for me. Sevilla was playing Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey that night, so we met up with a group of Jesús's friends to go watch the football game in a bar. We walked around Nervión for about an hour trying to find a specific bar with bad directions, and it ended up being closed. We eventually settled on a bar with a big but very pixelated screen and a fence blocking the screen. We watched most of the game, but Inma and I decided to walk to the stadium and see the atmosphere there. We saw people walking out before the end of the game, so we snuck in and I got to see the packed stadium. My height did not allow me to see the actual game, but I was proud to have been there. Unfortunately, Sevilla lost even though they clearly should have tied.

Erasmus Friends

On Thursday night, I met up with my Erasmus friends to celebrate several of their birthdays. It was such a great time! We went to Los Coloniales and had a delicious meal. I felt totally comfortable there - something that rarely happens in this city. I was cracking jokes just like at home and had a wonderful time hearing everyone's stories. I makes me incredibly sad that many of them are leaving in a few weeks, but it has been great getting to know them here. Thank god I stayed in that hostel when I got here and met them all.

On Friday night, Reegis, Rebecca, and I cooked a delicious meal together - chicken, tortellini, and broccoli. It was not a late night for me because I had a big day on Saturday, but we ran into some friends in Plaza Salvador and caught up a bit before I headed home.

Fran, María, and Jesús in the Bosque Suspendido

Saturday was one of my favorite days in Spain so far. We had a teachers' fun day at a "bosque suspendido" (suspended forest). It was basically a ropes course suspended between trees. It was really nice hanging out with my coworkers outside of work. I got a ride there with María, the gym teacher at my school. She brought some guy friends who I instantly bonded with. We spent the day going through the courses, which pretty much terrified me, but I did most of them. My hands were raw by the end and my arms were very sore the next day, but it was a lot of fun at the time. After we spent a few hours at the park, I went out to eat in the town with María and her friends. We shared an amazing meal of olives, salad, croquetas, three types of meat, and yummy desserts. I had a great time getting picked on by and picking on the guys. They told me I would get an advanced course in (dirty) Spanish that day. Luckily, they spoke pretty good English too, so we could talk in both. One of the guys said I was "de puta madre," which you don't need to know the literal translation of, but it means really awesome. I've never gotten that compliment before, so I was quite flattered. After lunch, we went to that guy's parent's house in the countryside. They live on a vineyard and make their own wine. He gave me a tour of the wine cellar and explained how they make it all. We had coffee with his parents, and I didn't understand much of the conversation, but I still enjoyed being there. Then we took a walk around the property and I learned about a lot of plants, and he gave us lemons, sweet oranges (they don't have acid), and mini oranges that you eat with the skin on them. I was sad to go home after the long, great day, but hopefully I will see them again at some point. It was a wonderful day of adventure in the campo, and I ended it by relaxing and watching a pretty terrible movie with Rebecca.

Wine Cellar

I have been packing up a storm because I move tomorrow! I cannot believe it is so soon, but I am very excited to live in the center. Yesterday, I spent some of the day wandering around the Alcázar and catching up with friends, and it made me so pumped to be living right in the center of the action. I now have piles of suitcases and bags in the living room, ready to be transported tomorrow night. Hopefully they will fit in a cab and I can get them up the stairs in my new house. Until then, I will enjoy my last night in my very comfortable bed (it's extremely hard to leave) and enjoy my last day of work on a Tuesday before my schedule switches next week.

Almond Plant

Tufts in Sevilla

I had some fun things happen this weekend. On Thursday, I went with Chelsea to an African dance class. It was a ton of fun, despite the fact that I was unprepared for it and wearing jeans and a nice shirt. It took place in a garage with live drummers providing the beat. The teacher was an amazing and very flexible dancer who made us shake every part of our body. I hadn't worked out in a while, and it definitely made me sweat. The group had been practicing a routine, so I followed along in the back as best as I could. Then we reviewed a new routine they are starting with lots of jumping around and open arms. After the great workout, we went back to Chelsea's and had a delicious dinner cooked by Tobi. It was a very unexpected and fun evening!

On Friday night, I went out to Bandalai with my Erasmus friends. Before going out, we hung out by the river, which was freeeezing. I had an incredible night of dancing to hip-hop music. The crowd at the club was different than I've ever seen in Spain - think Spanish Jersey Shore. So I mostly hung out with my amigos! I'm really sad because many of them are leaving in mid-February, but that just gives me an excuse to go visit them around Europe.

I went apartment hunting on Saturday and came up with something great. I have decided to move to the center because I feel isolated where I currently live. I think being far away my friends and the bustling city life has contributed to my homesickness. In February, I'll be moving into a casa Sevillana, complete with a tiled entrance-way and huge roof. The house has two separate pisos with 3 girls in each, and the landlord lives downstairs. I haven't met my roommates yet, but I hope they are nice (I think they are from France and Germany for now). Next weekend, I'll be packing up all the stuff I have accumulated since coming here and moving on Tuesday. It will definitely be a new experience and hopefully brighten my life here.

Apparently, American study abroad students and Tufts students have taken over Sevilla. Yesterday, I met up with my friend Shari from Tufts, and, as we were leaving Cafe de Indias, one of the people I was Orientation Leader's for walked in. Then Shari and I went and had coffee with two other girls from Tufts. It was great to hear about how Tufts is holding up, but it mostly made me jealous of their program. I miss school so much, and their classes and programming sound incredible. Maybe I'll just crash their classes. Later, as I was walking down the main street, the only language I heard was American English. We are everywhere. This might also help cure my homesickness, although it's not going to help my Spanish skills.

I Love London!

Modern Architecture in London

I had an incredible time in London this weekend. Since I have been so homesick, it was wonderful being in a place that was a lot more similar to home than Spain is. It was so comfortable and easy to get around with everything in English. I hadn't been in a place where the dominant language was English since arriving in September, and I'm not sure I had realized how much I miss it. Not only was the language great, and the accent even better, but the city has so much to offer.

Rebecca and I took a late flight from Sevilla on Thursday night and arrived at Erica's house around 2 am. Ryanair flies to an airport 90 minutes outside of the city, so we had to take a bus from the airport. Erica welcomed us into her super warm home (something non-existent in Sevilla) and we climbed the seemingly endless stairs to her room. We went to sleep almost immediately because we had London to conquer over the next few days.

Beefeater at Tower of London

On Friday, we went to the Tower of London. It was quite different than I remembered (I pictured more of a tower) but it was pretty and surrounded by awesome modern buildings. We did a tour led by a Beefeater, who was very funny and dramatic. He startled a little girl and made her cry, which probably would have been me many (or not too many) years ago. After the tour, Rebecca and I saw some of the exhibitions but mostly ran through them because we were meeting Erica and her sister for tea. We attempted to take the Tube to tea and make it there on time, but there were delays and we ran around asking everyone how to get there. That is where English came in handy. Eventually, we took a different route on the Tube and made it there quite late. It was in a very fancy hotel called The Landmark, and we joined Erica and her sister, who already had their tea and food. We ordered our own and feasted and caught up on life. The food was incredible - tons of tiny, delicious sandwiches and endless different mini desserts. We sat there for three hours, finishing with the most delicious scones with jelly and clotted cream. It cost 40 Pounds, and I may have gained 40 pounds from it, but it was worth it. I wish I could dine like that everyday. After tea, we rushed home to get ready to go to a bar. We were trying to beat the time when the bar charges a cover, but we got totally lost right around the area. Luckily, Erica just barged in and told them we had a table so we never got charged. The place was playing great music, but it was somewhat awkward because only a few people were dancing, including me. We hung out there for a few hours and headed home for bed. Apparently, Prince Harry goes there sometimes. :)

Afternoon Tea

The next day was one of the most touristy things-packed of my life. We started off with a walking tour of Westminster, led by an adorable British lady who seemed exactly like an English professor. We saw all the necessary buildings - Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of Parliament. It was great to have someone show us all the hot spots and give us an adorably worded description of them. After the tour, we walked to Trafalgar Square and saw the monuments there. We crossed the Thames and headed to Borough Market. But along the way, we found the best thing in the world for English-deprived Sevillanas - a book fair! I'm pretty sure we spent half an hour there scanning every title. I ended up buying two books, as that is all Ryanair would allow me space for. I was like a kid in a candy store, though. We eventually continued along and ended up at Borough Market, where I spent another hour deciding what to eat. I ended up with curry and banoffee pie...both delicious. The market was wonderful and it was great to see such a diversity of food. Next, we stopped at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but all we could see without paying to get in was the outside. In a moment of daring spontaneity, Rebecca followed a group of students in on a tour. Apparently they sat in the audience and then started singing on stage, so she snuck on to the back of a tour group in the theatre and caught the end of it. Lucky girl. I waited outside with some necessary coffee and my newly purchased books. Then we headed to the Tate Modern museum. It was really big and full of incredible modern art. We zipped through it because we had to make it to the theatre on time! Earlier in the day, we had randomly stopped at a discount ticket booth and secured two tickets to see Wicked. I had seen the show before and loved it so I was pumped to get some theatrical culture back into my life. The theatre was quite big and we were in the second-to-last row, so it wasn't the world's greatest view, but the show, set, and costumes were incredible. Plus, I discovered the binoculars for rent at intermission so I could actually see some of their faces. The actress who played Elphaba had the most amazing voice, so I had chills for most of the show. It also made me miss belting out "Defying Gravity" with Kathy most nights of the week during college. After the show that I never wanted to end, we got some Italian food and a very quick drink at a pub. Everything in London closes super early, which I like more than the schedule of Spain. The last call for the pub was at midnight and the Tube closed soon after, so we rushed home. What a day!

Big Ben

Tate Modern

On Sunday, we went to attempt to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. It turns out that you can only see the majority of the ceremony from a very small part, but I saw the procession in and out of the band and guards. It probably was not worth standing there for an hour for 5 minutes of excitement though. I got off the Tube at King's Cross Station to try to be a Harry Potter tourist. I saw the space between tracks 9 and 10 but apparently missed the shopping cart stuck in a wall in the lobby of the station. Whoops. I continued along to the Angel stop, where I wandered around before meeting Erica for the ballet. There was a mall there with stores I miss from home, like Gap. Too bad everything was in Pounds and too expensive. I enjoyed a burrito, something Sevilla is also missing, and a yummy milkshake. I met up with Erica at Sadler's Wells Theatre to see a ballet of Cinderella. It was set in the time of the London Blitz. The show was amazing - the set, the plot, the DANCING! They made everything seem so effortless, and they did it in high heels. I would like to be able to do any move that they did in the show. It was a total pleasure to watch. After that, we got some Nando's chicken for dinner and had a lazy night in, watching It's Complicated and eating Ben and Jerry's FroYo.

Buckingham Palace

I slept in a bit on Monday with the sound of rain on the skylight. I packed up for my trip home and headed out to explore Notting Hill. It was such a cute neighborhood, filled with fancy white houses. I walked up and down the streets and saw the cutest thing ever - a group of school girls all dressed in the exact same grey pea coats, red pants, rain boots, and hats. It looked like a picture out of Madeline. British children are coming in a close second place to Moroccan kids for cuteness. I went into endless bookstores and fawned over all the titles I couldn't carry home. I also went to several grocery stores and wished I could buy all the food I'm missing in Spain. But I did get one more scone and a delicious bagel.

 Notting Hill

I got very lost on the way back to Erica's house but got there with the help of everyone's GPS on their phones. I grabbed my stuff and said a sad goodbye before making the trek to the airport. The bus to the airport was an hour late, so, for the first time ever, I was sprinting through the airport to catch my flight. I made it to the overcrowded plane, and the flight attendants eventually got the luggage out of the aisles so we could fly. I got home pretty late and went straight to bed because real life was happening again at 6:30 the next morning. I miss London already. I'm sure I'll be back there again someday. If only there weren't endless other places I wanted to visit first...

Back To The Grind

My return to Sevilla was bittersweet...mostly bitter. It was nice to relax after so much traveling (although I am convinced I could have gone forever), but I have been hit with a big bout of homesickness. I think that's what happens when I spend a month with friends and family from America and then they are all disappear. Besides being slightly depressed, I have caught up with friends about their vacations, seen two movies, and enjoyed walking around Sevilla. It also is reassuring that I'm not the only one who is homesick...it seems to have hit a lot of us. Hopefully that will all turn around soon, as I have a lot to look forward to on this side of the New Year: traveling, more friends visiting, longer days, springtime, and eventually returning to the homeland.

Yesterday, while walking on a main street in the center, I heard someone call my name. I assumed it was one of my friends from here, but I turned around and it was my friend, Mitchell, who is still studying at Tufts but is here on vacation with his family. I don't know how this always happens to me, but I can't go anywhere without running into people I know. It is such a tiny world.

I am even more excited because tomorrow night I am flying off to London!! I am going with Rebecca and we are visiting our friend Erica from Tufts. Her family lives in London near Abbey Road so we are gratefully crashing at her house and getting led around the tourist hotspots of the city. I also found out at lunch yesterday that four teachers from my school are also on my flight there. Random but fun! I was in London many many years ago but I am excited to un-London fog my memory. We will have a wonderful girls' weekend together! It is a bit sad that we are leaving Sevilla this weekend because it is perfect weather here, but at least we're not going to the snow-covered Northeast. It's a shame my school can't enjoy the glory of Snow Days.

Lisbon

We got to Lisbon late Sunday night because our plane was delayed for several hours and had to fly around in the air for a while because of fog. There was a huge crowd at the airport because all the planes had just landed and the line for taxis seemed like it would be at least one hour long. My mom asked at information if there was a faster way to get to the hotel, and the attendant told her about a secret taxi spot that no one knows about. We went to this place and immediately found a cab…phew! We arrived at the hotel and it was very nice. We had one room but there was a wall and door between where I slept and where my parents slept.

Building Similar to Josh's at MIT

On Monday morning, we had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel. There were delicious pastries with custard that are typical in Lisbon. We took one of those double-decker bus tours around the city to get a feel for it. The city is truly beautiful, with amazing monuments, adorable plazas around every corner, and pastel colored buildings. We got off the bus and walked around by the river. There were enormous monuments of explorers and a fort on the water. We walked down to see a building that is by the same architect as the one Josh’s lab is in at MIT, It was not even open because it is so new. I told him he should transfer there because it is in a stellar location on the water. We walked around Belém, a section of town, and had cod for lunch at a cute restaurant. Later, we took historic tram 28 that goes all around the city. Again, we got off and walked around the shops and hills and outside a castle. We tried to ride the tram back and ended up getting very lost but eventually got back to our part of town on a city bus. The city is cute and seemed very big after spending so long in Sevilla.

On Tuesday, my mom and I walked around a neighborhood called Chiado in the morning. It was filled with shops and more statues in plazas. Every side street looked super cute but we didn’t have time to explore them all. We all went to the Oceanarium on the site of the World Expo. The metro stations along the way were decorated in cool ways, and the metro station that we got off at was designed by another one of Josh’s favorite architects so we took many pictures for him. The Oceanarium was amazing! It was a building that projected onto the water and had a giant tank in the center with endless and incredible sea creatures. It also had rooms that you walk through along the outside with more amazing animals. Sea otters grooming themselves and floating along were some of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Watching penguins fly through the water and waddle on land was incredible. There was also the strangest creature I’ve ever seen called a sea dragon – it looks like a plant but is kind of like a sea horse. Google it now. I had a wonderful time walking around the aquarium and ogling at the cute sea beasts. After, we walked around the rest of the park and the giant mall in the complex but didn’t buy anything.

Sea Dragon

On Wednesday, we went to the Gulbenkian Museum. He was a super rich guy with a massive art collection. It had some really pretty pottery and famous paintings. It was pouring rain all day, but we attempted to walk around the city again. It was pretty futile in the torrential downpour so we ended up in another mall for an attempt at a typical Lisbon meal of rice with seafood but ended up getting a junky fast food version of it. Then we headed back to the hotel, changed out of our soaking wet clothes, and went to the airport. Lisbon taxis are the cheapest I have ever seen. The flight was easy but we wandered all around Barajas trying to solve a check-in issue with my parents’ flight tomorrow. We had no success in that but managed to acquire a terrible taxi driver who scammed us into paying him 50 euros for the ride to our hotel that is close to the airport. He told us that every taxi out of Barajas costs a minimum of 50 euros and even gave us a “receipt” but it had none of his information on it. The people in the hotel could not believe how much he had charged us but there was no way to punish him without his license number. Now we are relaxing in our hotel before my parents depart early tomorrow morning and I take the high-speed train back to Sevilla. It has been absolutely amazing having my family visit me and travel around. We went to some of the coolest places in the world and had incredible adventures. I will miss them a ton but am excited for 6 more months of adventures before going back to America.

Hammams and HaDads

New Year's Eve Party

On New Year’s Eve, our riad had a party. The party started after a fancy dinner that we did not attend. There was a bar set up in the patio and people stood around and chatted. We mostly talked to the owners and their 14-year-old daughter. There was a Moroccan percussion band, including a cute drummer with Down’s syndrome, that played periodically throughout the night and everyone danced around while they chanted and drummed. It was really fun to dance with the band members and the workers who were so excited to get a chance to party. The music went on into the early morning, so it was difficult to sleep, but it was great to start 2011 in Fez.

Cave

On Saturday, a driver took out us into the countryside for a tour. We first stopped at a waterfall and then got a view of the city from above. It was really fun to walk around the medina there – I’m pretty sure we were the only non-Moroccans in the whole town at that time. Things were much cheaper there than in the big cities. I bought dried mint tea for 2 dirham, and Josh had paid 50 dirham for twice as much in an herbal shop. Then the driver took us to another town that was very rural. We visited people who live in a cave. There are literally foam pads lining the stone wall that people sleep on. There was an old lady who made us tea and also carried a water bucket on her head. She wrapped a sheet around my head and had me try to steady the bucket on my head. I did it…with her support.

When we got back to Fez, we relaxed for a little while and had Moroccan bread and jelly for lunch. Then we headed back out into the medina that was actually open that day. I loved it! There were endless shops and so much energy in the streets. I think the social life in Morocco is really good, as people seem to just hang out in the streets all day. This includes the children who are running and playing all the time. I think I pointed out every cute kid in Fez to my parents. Unfortunately, one decided to follow us and beg for money for about 10 minutes. We finally got rid of him but ran into him again in an hour, and he begged some more. Josh had told us that we weren’t supposed to give kids money because their parents are ashamed if they find out their kids got the money from foreigners. We shopped around for a while and bought more scarves and postcards. At the end of the stroll, we got sucked into yet another rug store, and my dad ended up buying a very pretty one. The rug seller spoke Spanish much better than English so at least I got to practice my Spanish during the entire selling process. When we were walking through the streets, I got several offers for a Moroccan husband. The best I got was a guy who walked us back to our riad for free (even though we were not lost) and then offered me 400 camels and 6 houses to marry him. Not too shabby. Right now, I have 0 camels and 0 houses and 0 husbands, so I believe that constitutes an upgrade. If Spain and America don’t work out, I know I can always go back to Moroccan and find myself a mate. Hopefully, he won’t make me wear a headscarf, though. I’m not sure all of my hair would fit under one of those.

We had all scheduled hammams for that night at our riad. A hammam is the Moroccan version of a Turkish bath with lots of steam and a scrub down. We went down to the steam room and boiled in there for a long time. The attendant poured warm water on us, which felt good for a while but eventually I was just too hot. It was really difficult to communicate with her, so she thought my treatment was just the steam room. After I showered and put my robe back on (because she instructed me to do so), I tried to tell her that I wanted the full treatment of an exfoliation and mask. She eventually understood me and sent me back into the steam room. Then she changed her clothes and brought me into the scrub down room. There, she took a rough glove and exfoliated my entire body. I’m pretty sure she exposed a whole new layer of skin. After rinsing me off, she put a mask on my body that smelled and tasted delicious. It was made with honey. I relaxed in the steam room for a while more before showering and feeling my perfectly smooth skin. The treatment was not what I expected – we had heard that they use a traditional black soap and I expected it to be more of a mud bath. Luckily, I had bought some black soap and a glove in a store so I’ll be doing that to myself everyday. Ask to feel my arms sometime.

My dad and I ate dinner at the hotel that night. It was good, but not as incredible and unique as the first night. That morning, the owner had asked us if we wanted anything special that night and my dad said couscous. I am pretty sick of couscous at this point, so I protested, but, low and behold, that is what they served that night. I was pretty flattered that he took our request. It was very yummy but unfortunately, an unexpected piece of fatty lamb was not so tasty. The rest of the meal was good but unnecessary after all the food we had eaten that week. After dinner, we packed up all our clothes and gifts and got some sleep before our early morning departure the next morning. Now I am in the Madrid airport, waiting for our delayed connecting flight to Lisbon. Morocco was truly otherworldly and I loved Fez, but I’m excited to go back to civilization again. Maybe I’ll meet a Portuguese businessman instead of a guy with too many camels.

Update: We made it to Lisbon after hours of delays, but the hotel is awesome and it is time for sleep!