Anyways last weekend I went to Sevilla with the other exchange students, another Interhispania trip. Like Madrid, we had a lot of fun together! It’s cool how all of us exchange student’s click so well, and I really believe these will be people I will stay friends with after we go home. I think exchange students are a special kind of person. We all have the desire to see the world and the bravery to put ourselves out of our comfort zones by leaving our homes for a long amount of time. We’ve all had great days and we’ve also had really really bad days, but we all understand what each other is going through and we’re there for each other. I didn’t really expect that I would have become so close with the other exchange students before I came. I made a friend Sophia before I came to Spain. She is a year exchange student, and I met her through our facebook group. She has been such a great friend to me. I swear in Madrid she could read my mind and knew when I was having my worst days and would message me asking me how I was. We even skyped one time when I was having a bad day. She always gave me great advice and made me feel better. I finally got to meet her in person when we got to Sevilla and I was sooo excited! Overall a lot of these exchanges students I feel like I’ve known forever. We all know everything about each others lives from talking so much and have really bonded. Thinking about saying goodbye to them already makes me want to cry.
Okay now what we actually did in Sevilla (didn’t plan on writing a mushy gushy paragraph about my exchange student friends when starting this). Sevilla was beautiful! Everywhere we walked it was beautiful, and smelled so good because of the trees called “Arbol del Amor” or “Arbol de Judas”. We walked along the Guadalquivir River a lot, and it was absolutely beautiful with the buildings sitting along it. One day a group of us got a boat for an hour and rode along the river, which was a lot of fun! We visited a navigation museum one day. Sevilla is where important explorers from Spain left from. Christopher Columbus probably being the most famous. We also saw the Torre Del Oro(where the explorers kept their riches), Plaza De Espana (built on the Maria Luisa Park's edge to showcase Spain's industry and technology for the world fair in 1929, also some scenes from star wars was shot here) Real Alcazar (a royal palace), and some other things I can’t remember at the moment. We also got to see a flamenco! This was pretty interesting. Not what I expected though. It was one women and two men accompanying her with instruments and clapping. I guess I didn’t really know what flamenco dancing was because she did a lot of clapping and stomping, and it was pretty impressive. One day we walked through a park (I think the Maria Luisa Park but I’m not sure). There were sooo many birds and you could buy food and they would fly on you and eat out of your hand. This didn’t really appeal to me, birds just annoyed me I guess, and I typically would shoo any near me. Well I decided “Hey everyone’s doing it I will regret it if I don’t”. This is when I discovered I have a fear of birds. First I just bent down and tried feeding them out of my hand but would jump back whenever one came near. FInally one flew on me..... and lets just say everyone got some entertainment from my reaction while the bird stayed on me. Now looking back at the video Andrea got of me it was pretty funny. When we were in Sevilla it was the beginning of Semana Santa, so we got to see some of the processions. These consist of people dressed up literally like the KKK, but they are called “penitentes” and do not at all sympolize the same thing as the KKK. The costumes represent them covering their faces for mourning their sins. Also in the processions have people carrying “Paso’s” which are these beautifully decorated floats with Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Even though we all know what the “penitentes” were, it felt weird seeing them because we all are so used to associating the costumes with the KKK. The processions were very interesting to see though. Our last day in Sevilla I had to say goodbye to some people who won’t be coming home with us in Barcelona, which was pretty sad:( I have a feeling I will be seeing them in the future though. Zoee if you’re reading this, expect to see me in Cali soon;)
This week in Cadiz for Semana Santa just felt like a regular week for me. My host family isn’t very religious so we didn’t go to church or do anything special. One night I went to see the Processions with some of Nirm’s spanish friends. The processions are held in the center of Cadiz. Again it was amazing to see all the paso’s. Getting through the center was really difficult with all the people though! Today was kind of sad though because it was Easter (Happy Easter everyone!) but Easter isn’t really celebrated here like it is in the U.S. So today I felt a little homesick since I didn’t wake up to an easter basket, or have an easter dinner, etc. Nirm and I tried to go to El Corte Ingles to buy some chocolate and make ourselves our own easter basket, but it was closed. Today is also my last day of break which I am happy about because sitting around the house and sleeping a lot is getting old. Also since I was only in school two days before I break I didn’t really make many friends to be able to hang out with over break. So I have been with Nirm and Kevin mostly, so I’ve been speaking English way too much. Kevin and I went to see Spider-Man 2 last night though and I was really excited I understood a lot of it! Okay well that’s all for now. Hope everyone had a great Easter! Adios!
Emilio and I!
Plaza de Espana
Sophia and I taking selfies with the Penitentes
My encounter with the birds, a little embarrassing but funny! (if on a phone you may not be able to see the video)
Kevin was must more graceful with the birds
Paso's in the church before Semana Santa began
Us exchange students hanging out on the balcony probably about 3 am
Mis Chicas:)
Cádiz processions
