Well, it’s been a while since I last wrote a blog entry. I have been so busy here and traveling almost every weekend. The weather is beautiful in Sevilla now- 80 degrees and sunny almost everyday. My friends and I are all taking advantage of the beautiful weather and sit by the river after class everyday. There’s always a lot of young people by the river in the park- it’s a great place to meet up with friends and make new spanish friends. It’s really easy to pick out who the Americans are now because we are all wearing shorts and tank tops (I think 80 degrees calls for summer clothes don’t you?) But all of the Spaniards are still wearing jeans, boots and sweaters.
<— This is a picture of me in the Alcazar in Sevilla.
I have had a couple of friends come to visit me and my parents came to visit me last week. It was fun being able to be the travel guide and showing them all over this beautiful city. This is our last week of class before Semana Santa where we get a week off of school. Semana Santa is a huge deal in Sevilla. It’s a week long religious holiday that leads up to Easter Sunday. I’m going to be in Italy all week but will get to see the very end of it. Supposively it’s quite a site to see- processions from all churches in Sevilla to the main cathedral in the center of town.
I am so glad I chose to study in Sevilla- one because I love the city. I love everything about Sevilla- it’s culture, it’s town-like feeling, the architecture, the people here, my homestay, the food and all of the countless things to do on the weekends. And two because I’m in the perfect location to travel all over Europe. So far I have traveled to Barcelona (picture of my friends and I in Park Guell on the right), Prague, Lagos in Portugal (picture below on the left), Morocco (pictures below my entry) and Cadiz (beach in the south of Spain). I am planning on traveling all over Italy for Semana Santa and then to Madrid, Paris and London for Feria (another week off of school that we have in the beginning of May. It marks the beginning of Spring and is a huge festival all over Sevilla. Luckily I’ll be in Sevilla for 4 days of Feria to experience the festival.)
I have absolutely LOVED traveling with all of my friends that I have met here. All of the places we have traveled to have been so different and so interesting to see. I have realized that only problem with studying abroad for a semester is that there is so much that you want to do and see (especially in Europe) so you’re always traveling. I wish I had more weekends in Sevilla to meet more locals here and be able to hang out with my homestay family.
I definitely feel like my spanish is improving. Having all of my classes taught in Spanish has been very helpful as well as my homestay family not being able to understand or speak a word of English. I can’t believe I only have a month left here (and 2 of the weeks I’ll be traveling since we don’t have school.) Time is going by so fast- I am enjoying every minute of the time I have left here.
Camel ride in Tetuan, Morocco. <—-
Chefchaoen, Morocco- “the blue city” —->