We arrived around 9 am in Rome. By the time we went to the bathroom to change and brush our teeth after our night train from Switzerland, found an ATM, got lost in the strange mall/train station, realized we couldn’t find even the right exit from the station that was our first step in the directions to our hostel, and then took a taxi a mere 7 blocks to our hostel, it was already 11:30 am! We checked in and dropped our bags off, and immediately fled to the streets of Roma! First we checked out the Coliseum and the Roman [View Full Entry]

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Monday Lisa and I left Barcelona and headed for Nice, France. It is a beach town on the French Riviera. We didn’t get there until around dinner time on Monday, and all we had time to do was walk around at sunset (which was gorgeous). We walked around along the water and stopped to have dinner on the beach. It was so pretty with the sunset and the waves! Tuesday morning we took a quick train ride to Monaco. Monaco is a very small country within France. It is on the water as well and attracts many wealthy people, especially in [View Full Entry]

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On Friday after I finished my program, Lisa, my friends Christina, Lisa, Monica and I made our way to Barcelona. We left around 4 pm, shortly after my last “almuerzo” (the main meal of the day, served at lunch time which is around 2:30) with my family and Lisa. She was definitely nervous about the meal in my house, but I promised her it would be great - and it was! We had chicken and some awesome patatas and gazpacho (a thick vegetable broth served cold). We arrived in Barcelona via train at 10:30 pm, and took a taxi to the [View Full Entry]

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Today I am leaving Sevilla for good. It is a strange feeling having made a life for myself here; new friends, new family, new school. It is so weird leaving not knowing if or when I will come back. I know one day I would love to take my family here and show them everything about my life I had in Spain. Luckily, I had a chance to do that yesterday with Lisa and it was great. She finally got here in the morning and met me at my school. From there we got smoothies, walked around the city, I showed [View Full Entry]

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This weekend I went to Granada with the rest of the students in my program. Granada is one of the most visited cities in Andalucia. It is famous for its mixture of three cultures: Christian, Muslim and Jewish. Granada was first settled by native tribes in the prehistoric period and was know as Ilbyr. When the Romans colonized southern Spain, they built their own city here and called it Illibris. When the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, they gave the city its current name of Granada. It was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christians [View Full Entry]

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I'm sorry I haven't been able to update lately! I've been busily roaming the streets of Sevilla whenever I'm not studying for my public health class (extremely hard but worth it because I'm getting nursing credit!) This past weekend, me and fifteen other students from my program traveled to Morocco! It was an incredible experience. I’m glad that I went. I never want to go back. We left Friday afternoon from Sevilla, and drove about 3 hours south to the straight of Gibraltar. From there we took the “fast ferry” about half an hour to Africa. Once we were on the [View Full Entry]

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Corpus Christi was on Thursday of this week in Sevilla. Our school was closed for the holiday, but we met outside of the school and walked around Sevilla with our instructors while they explained the holiday, the traditions and showed us the processions. Center city Sevilla (where I live) was decorated with religious shrines, rosemary all over the streets, and little girls in their Sunday best. Corpus Christi is in most literal terms the celebration of the body of Christ. It is exactly sixty days after Easter and marks the day that it is said Jesus truly left earth (for sixty [View Full Entry]

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Great weekend! Me and my friends stayed in Sevilla for friday night, mostly in an effort to save money and not have to pay for 2 nights in a hostel. We left Saturday morning at 8 am and headed to Matalascanas, a beach about 45 minutes south of Sevilla. The weather was perfect. The beaches of Spain are so nice because of how cool they are. In Sevilla, it is so hot! There is little breeze. At the beach it is at least 10 degrees cooler ... so nice! I'm about as tan as the Spaniards now ... or atleast I [View Full Entry]

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Last night for a class activity we saw the flamenco version of the opera “Carmen”. It was really cool to say the least. There was no singing besides the flamenco version of singing every once in a while (it´s a mix of bad opera and whining..) There was a band of about 20 with trumpets and drums and everything and that was really awesome. In the middle of the play a white stallion was on stage, tapping its hooves to the flamenco. There is a famous song that you would all recognize from Carmen, I´m posting a link to a youtube [View Full Entry]

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Something that definitely takes some getting used to is Spanish etiquette. From saying hello to the shoes on my feet, I can’t do anything right in this city! Especially at the dinner table! For meals, it is abnormal or rude to put your napkin in your lap. I learned that at my first meal with my family! They also have their hands/elbows on the table pretty much the whole meal; it is weird to have them in your lap. This is especially strange when I don’t hear my father say “bird get your elbows off the table!” every time I do [View Full Entry]

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