The Day After

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Well I turned 21 yesterday, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I had class until 7 and then my roommate, Lindsay, and a few other girls that we've been hanging out with quite a bit went out for dinner. We were going to try this place that our program recommended with tapas but it was pretty crowded and we were starving. We ended up with margaritas and enchiladas at a mexican restaurant. It was really good! The girls paid for my dinner and drinks all night. They refused to let me pay on my birthday, it was very sweet. We went to a bar that this group called welovespain was hosting for international students. It was mostly americans and spaniards, but it was a lot of fun. Free shot at the door and free sangria until 12pm. We danced and took A LOT of tequila shots, which is my favorite. The shots were pretty cheap, so we took quite a few. I had a lot of fun, didn't get home until 4:30am and could barely get out of bed to get to my 1:00pm class, but we made it! I hydrated and ate a lot of pan and I was good to go. The girls were great and I had a lot of fun with them, even though I was kind of disappointed I didn't get my Wisconsin 21st with my friends at home. I'm excited to buy booze and celebrate with everyone when I get home!

I've been craving churros sooooo bad lately. We're going to get some this week hopefully! There is an ice rink down the street in a really pretty park that has student night on Thursdays (and there's a churro stand next to it!) so a group of us are going to check it tomorrow.

Then Malaga on Friday for the day, I'm excited for that! It should be a lot of fun. Then, pretty much half of Sevilla, is going to the Carnival in Cadiz on Saturday. We're taking a train for 21 euro from Sevilla to Cadiz at 8pm on Saturday, and then we get back Sunday morning around 7am. You don't sleep, obviously, but the train is hosted by the welovespain group again and they give you a sandwich and the train is like a party too on the way there. We're all pretty pumped for that! I'll be worthless on Sunday, but it'll be worth it.

The trash is really starting to build up in the streets. It's pretty nasty and I'm sick of the smell everyday on the way to school. It's not a very good look for Sevilla, but we're hoping the strike won't last much longer.

There are 2 girls from my program that I really like hanging out with and my roommate and I got lucky that they live in the building complex right behind us so we can all walk home together when we go downtown. We went exploring through our neighborhood yesterday a little bit and found an AWESOME pastry shop with really cheap things and they're really delicious. That's going to be a problem. There are also a lot of hidden bars and restaurants, it really is a nice part of town once you get off the main streets. I'm excited to find our favorite spots!

There's also a coffee shop, I think it's chain here but it has pretty good espresso, on my walk to school so I can stop if my hostmom ever forgets to make us coffee or something in the morning. I have vowed not to eat or drink anything american here, at least when I go out for food. That's including Starbucks, which is tough because there are 3 on one street right by the University. The espresso is much better here anyway though, so it shouldn't be too tough.

That's it for now, I'll let you know how Malaga and Cadiz are this weekend! I can't wait.

Love,

Haley

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