http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kaetlin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kaetlin en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:06:28 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:06:28 +0000 I will be on my way out of Sevilla in less than 2 days and I can not believe it. On one hand I am super excited to go home but on the other hand I am super scared. I can not wait to see my family I am craving grapes hummus chopped salad and black beans I am excited to go on old familiar runs I am dying to be with Brendan and I am very excited for my summer plans. Some of my friends her http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-398133.html My mom sent me stuff to make sugar cookies and decorate them Today Easter Sunday when Sarah got back from her vacations we made them and decorated them together. Magdalena loved them and asked for a recipe for sugar cookies. Wow... I would never call that an American food but I guess I just take them for granted I love decorating holiday cookies and it was great to add that in to my spr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-390014.html This week I went on a 6 day trip through a few parts of Morocco It was amazing. I went with a group of about 100 people my age mostly girls mostly american students. Here I will tell you how it went down Day 1 Friday April 3I woke up at about 4am after going to sleep at about 2. I do not recommend that sleeping schedule AT ALL I got ready and walked down the street to where we were http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-389110.html I am alive... I swear. After a long winter break of travel with the fam and Brendan and then some couch bumming in Lauras flat I am back to the semester life. This semester I am staying with a family in a house near where I lived last semester in the dorms. More will come soon on my house. We just finished our three week intensive period and I celebrated by traveling to that funny little tip http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Tarifa/blog-375946.html It has been a busy past few weeks. We are getting very close to the end so everyone is trying to get their papers written. I have one of my final papers going good thing because it is due next week Otherwise I have spent the last two weeks just trying to survive. I got another horrible virus and ended up going to the doctor this time. I missed a lot of school due to the fever that left me http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-347428.html This weekend was a blast. On Thursday we took Ashley to a show at la Carboneria to see Flamenco. Friday we chilled went running went shopping for boots and went to an international fair. Then... on Saturday we went on the bike trip that I planned. It was in a tiny town called Puerto Serrano. We took a bus about an hour and a half South of Sevilla. There we rented bikes to go on these http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-diz/blog-343369.html My weekend in Portugal was amazing. Today marks two months in Spain and I can't imagine going home yet I am almost positive that Lisboa Lisbon is the prettiest city I have ever been in. It was like a mix between the beautiful hills and bay of San Francisco the green lushness of Portland and the cultured European vibe of Paris. Yes that perfect If only they spoke Spanish instead of that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-341351.html Yeah they don't really celebrate Halloween here except for in some bars because this is such a hot study abroad place. There is a party tonight at our school but it won't be well attended because we are on our fall break so a lot of people already left for Italy London France Barcelona or PragueAntonette. I am still here because my trip leaves tomorrow morning for Lisbon Portugal. Ya http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-339982.html This weekend we went on a school trip to various towns in Extremadura which is the province above Sevilla. Check out the map I added. We started on Friday morning. The bus left for Merida which is a town that is famous for its well conserved Roman ruins. They have a gorgeous amphitheater and a theater. The theater is the best conserved Roman theater in Europe. There is one that is also we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Extremadura/Trujillo/blog-338355.html Some of you may have been able to tell from my posts that things have been falling apart a little for me. I have been struggling quite a bit with daily life these past two weeks. I think it has been a combination of my honeymoon period of culture shock going away not getting enough sleep missing people at home and lack of intellectual stimulation. It is really hard to express yourself in a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-337646.html I am back and ready to tell about more that you have missed. I forgot in my other blog to talk about the day that Antonette and I decided to get out of our room for the siesta and do some exploring. You see I had gone for a walk that morning just to pass the time and within 5 minutes I realized I had no idea where I was. Ok I knew where I was in respect to where I live I was not lost mom http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-337291.html Here goes for a long recap. I feel like I have a mountain of things to share. Ok that mountain phrase sounds a lot better when I was thinking it in Spanish... sorry When I got home from surfing I practically immediately was thrown into bed with what I think and hope was the flu. I hope it was the flu because if it wasn't I know I am doomed to get it later. I am just so go go go here that http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-336889.html So this weekend was a puente long weekend. Antonette and I decided to go to the coast to learn how to surf. Yes We left early Friday morning for the bus station. Then we took the bus to Conil de la frontera which is a small coastal town in the province of Cadiz. We had Hostel reservations at a 13 euro per night British place. Before we could go to our room we had to get to the beach t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/C-diz/blog-333744.html Happy day... On Friday to start the weekend I had to go to the Immigration office to get my Visa extended. Well I had to get up at 4am for that. So when I was done at 930 Antonette and I met for Churros at a stand on the river. I got mine with hot chocolate because I had already had coffee that morning when I was waiting in line for 4 hours. Then we went on a group trip to the archeology http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-331145.html This week was our first week of real classes. It was great. I think I will really like my schedule. I have class at 845 evey morning which obviously I dont like then when I wake up but I have enjoyed having started my day off early. I go down to the comedor to have coffee with cola cao hot chocolate powder and milk and bread with strawberry jelly. Then I walk to school. I have grammar a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-330173.html Hola. I have been a bit sick for about 4 days now which sucks. My throat was just sooo sore and now I have a cough but never a full cold. Thank God. We have just been going to school... I got an A on my second test. Finals are tomorrow and then we start the semester on monday we have been in the grammaronly intensive period. Right now I am pissed because I am trying to get my money bac http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-327483.html this week on thursday we had a party at school. It was a welcome party where we were supposed to bring our exchange partners but I haven't met mine yet. There were snacks and drinks. I had lots of tinto de verano. It was definitely a tipsy experience A first for me I don't have pictures but Antonette took some so I will have some soon hopefully. On Friday night we went out to a hip ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-325954.html Today we had a short class because on Thursdays we take group trips to various places close to sevilla. Last time I went to Italica. Today I went to the Cathedral in Sevilla. So one of the teachers from the center takes a group to the cathedral pays for all of us to get in and then gives us a very informed tour. It was so interesting. The teacher I went with was the teacher I first had in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-324987.html Today is not a super exciting day for you all to hear about but this is my blog I got up today and went to school We got our participation grades for the first of three weeks of class and I got a 92. That's good. I expect it to go up for this week though. We start class at 9am and have a break at 11 for a half an hour. During the break we often have mtgs or we can go to the computer l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-324603.html This has just been crazy. I feel like I have already been here for like a month. Siestas are incredible. Sometimes after lunch we just go to sleep for like four hours. It isn't even that we were all like oh we should try doing what the locals do. I think it is partly a result of the heat and the big midday meal then also being in a new place and slammed with needing to learn spanish. Plus http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-323587.html