Thursday, October 28, 2010

Travel Itinerary!

Plans for the coming weeks:

Oct 29-Nov 1: Belgium (Brussels and Brugge) and Amsterdam

*apparently I have exams between these trips...

Nov 4-7: Bilbao to see Irati!

Nov 12-14: Barcelona

Nov 18-21: France to see Charlotte (my French friend who lives outside of Paris)!

Nov 25 (gobble gobble!)-28: Madrid to meet up with Sperka (my friend from Madison, studying abroad in Galway)!

Dec 2-9: Long vacation, no classes.  Haven't booked anything yet, but have a few ideas.  Any suggestions?

Dec 10-12: Last weekend here

*more exams :(

Dec 18: Leave for USA!

How to Call Someone VERY ugly in Spanish


My teacher Miguel: "Okay, let's think of sentences with the verb 'echar.'"


...Voy a echarme una sieta...Necesitas que te eche una mano...


Miguel: Well, I shouldn't teach you this, but does anyone know what "echar un polvo"means?


...to have a dust??...

Miguel: Literally that is correct, but in slang it means "to have a quicky."  And when you want to call someone really really ugly you can say "que polvo mas mal echado."  It means you are sooo ugly because your parents had a bad quicky.


Just wanted to prove to UT that I am not on vacation; clearly, I am learning very valuable insights into the Spanish language!



*Enjoy the views of yesterday's sunset from my bedroom!*

Monday, October 25, 2010

Morocco

To view all of my Moroccan photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/111161978190687820435/Morocco#
I have now been to over half of the continents.  Africa was my fourth--three more to go!

Salam wa aleikum, or “hello” in Arabic!  It actually means something like “peace be with you.” I arrived back in Sevilla yesterday night, after a weekend in Morocco.  Although I slept for about 14 hours last night, I am still a bit tired (how is this possible?)! 

Morocco was a really interesting and great experience.  I was originally planning on traveling there with my family, but my program offered a free (or, included in our fees) trip, so I ended up just going with my program.  Although I didn’t get to see the cities that I wanted to, it was still wonderful.  We were busy busy busy and I will try to do a short recap.

Crossing the Straight of Gibraltar
We left Sevilla around 7 Thursday morning, drove to Algeciras (city in Spain), and took the ferry from there.  The views from the ferry were quite beautiful…Spain in one direction and Africa in the other.  An hour later we arrived in Ceuta, which is a Spanish city in Morocco.  We drove through customs and entered into Morocco!  We dropped our stuff off at our hotel in Tetuan and went to the Medina (city center) of Tetuan.  Our guide Adbul, who preferred to be called “Michael Douglas,” led us to an art school in the city.  There was some gorgeous woodwork and scarves being made there.  After, we walked around the city a bit.  It would honestly be impossible to navigate the city alone; the streets are winding and lack streets signs.  We meandered through some markets.  They were awesome, but I was a little bothered by the bloody chicken and insect ridden pastries.  I am just germ phobic though!
Lunch was a typical Moroccan feast.  Cous cous and kebabs and tea with cookies.  We drank gallons and gallons of Moroccan tea all weekend.  It is very sweet (lots of added sugar) and served with herba buena and cookies.  I really want to incorporate la merienda (Spain’s “tea time”) into my daily American schedule, with Moroccan cookies and tea—so good!  And Roland (my dentist) would probably be guaranteed an early retirement if I did this.  Seriously, so much sugar in this tea!

Tour guide Michael Dougals and me

We walked around the city after lunch and heard a speech (while drinking tea) from a Muslim man.  It was interesting.  Most of the people in Morocco didn’t seem to be radical Muslims (young girls walk around in very western dress and attend college etc.), but this man was rather extreme.  He was in support of laws requiring women to wear burkas and he was extremely upset with schools that don’t have breaks for the five daily prayers.  After the speech we had dinner in the hotel and went to bed.

Tea and cookies--I drank roughly 88 glasses this weekend.

The next day we went to Tangier.  We started with a tour of a Coca Cola factory.  It was crazy!!  The machines are unbelievable fast and noisy.  This was my first visit ever to a factory, so it was especially impressive I think.  Also, we went to the caves of Hercules (he apparently slept here before completing one of his labors) and walked along the coast.  We also went on camel rides.  The coast was beautiful.  We drove past the King’s palace in Tangier.  This was obviously in a gorgeous neighborhood and the area was really beautiful.  We stopped and had lunch in a restaurant over looking the water.  We ate pastilla marroqui, which was soooo delicious.  It basically is chicken with spices and sometimes dates, covered in a dough shell with almonds.  It was one of my favorite meals on the trip thus far.
 
Riding camels

After lunch we went to a business school in Tangier and received a presentation from Moroccan students.  It was really fun.  They sang “Superstition,” Cascada’s “Everytime we Touch,” and some Arabic songs for us.  After, we drank tea (of course!) and talked with them.  Morocco is ruled by a king, and while they really disliked the last king, they LOVE the current king.  It was rather difficult to ask them questions, though.  We conversed in English, which they spoke perfectly, but I didn’t want to bring up anything taboo or ask an innocent question that could be perceived as insulting.  Someone asked if assembling in the streets was legal and they were very confused; they kept saying that they love their King and no one would ever want to do this.  After, we shopped around the city center and then went back to the hotel.


Our last day we spent in the city of Chaouen.  It was beautiful!  Situated in the mountains, it is a small town and known for its shades of blue.  We were guided throughout the city and had a lot of time to shop (and barter) for items.  We ate lunch in a Hotel Parador (we successfully got there via bus haha!) and then left.  It was a long journey back to Sevilla. 

In Chauoen

I really enjoyed Morocco, and am really loving my time in Sevilla, but I am growing more and more appreciative of how great a country America really is.  Obviously it has its own flaws, but it is such a wonderful place. 

This week I have a lot of projects due, then a trip to Brussels and Amsterdam, then midterms.  Got to get my studying on (but maybe a siesta first...)!

Hopefully this was somewhat coherent--sorry, I am still exhausted!

XOXO-Jane  

Monday, October 18, 2010

My family's visit


Tarifa, two cool kids slumming it and hanging out with me on the coast (Africa in the background)

Hola!!  Just finished an incredibly great week.  My family and I had so much fun.  Irati, our former exchange student from Bilbao, flew down and we had a fabulous time with her.  She is still as hilarious.  She wore 4 inch heels most of the trip but they were really comfortable—since they were “her short heels,” she told me!  She is studying medicine to be a plastic surgeon (reconstructive surgery).  We hung around Seville and spent a day in Lagos, Portugal.  It was gorgeous!! 

After Irati left, we had dinner in my apartment here, 5 courses made by my senora.  She really went all out.  We later took her and Marga out to an Argentian steak house for lunch.  The rest of the time we ate out at very Sevillian restaurants and once at an Italian place.  Great food, lots of seafood of course!  Best meal: Paella at La Isla.  Probably the best meal I have ever eaten in Europe.  Matthew enjoyed a donut in Dunkin Donuts and I posted a picture on Facebook.  Today, Marga bought me 6 donuts because she saw the picture and thought I would enjoy them!

We went to Madrid by AVE (high-speed train), and I really enjoyed the city.  Sadly, the Reina Sofia museum was closed.  Luckily, I will be back soon and I think then I can enter! 
We were planning on going to Morocco, but I found out that my program takes us there at no additional charge.  For this reason, we decided ahead of time, to go to Tarifa instead.  It is a beach town in Southern Spain.  I loved the topography, watching kite surfing, and taking in the Roman ruins in Bolonia. 

Also, probably the funniest night of my life occurred.  I cannot even begin to explain the gravity of the situation…my mom had to navigate us through the winding and narrowing (literally) roads of Arcos de la Frontera.  7 gears, 9 passenger minibus, and openings about 6 feet wide.  No idea how she did it, but there was not even a scratch on the car, well there were several, but they were attributable to my dad.  Oh wait, he is incapable of driving stick so he didn’t even drive!! ßHe gets very mad when we say this, sorry Dad, at least you can be sure you taught us honesty!  Mary took videos and our commentaries are quite funny.  I seriously was thinking in my head, “Who do we call when we cannot proceed?  The police?”

Just a great time!!!  Cannot wait to be reunited with the core in December.  Anyways, schoolwork is really starting to pile up (thus the lack of blogs), so I must go.  Heading off to Morocco this Thursday.  Will report back soon!

Much love, Jane 

*Also a SO to the Badgers--jeeeeez did I miss an epic game!
**And a VERY VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Wu Richard Yue--miss ya!
...Before I left for Spain...Matthew, Wu Richard Yue, Me, "Jane" (Olympic gold medalist in shooting), "Betty" (Olympic gold medalist in curling), and Mary


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Familia!!

Sorry there have been no updates on our family trip.  We are just always out having fun!!!!!  Here is a quick "top ten" list:

1.) Seeing Irati
2.) My mom driving us around in a 7-gear stick shift mini-bus
3.) My dad trying to speak in Spanish
4.) Mary eating a large amount of seaweed (she thought it was fish)
5.) Singing Christmas carols on a red-bus through Madrid
6.) Lagos, Portugal
7.) All of the food--my dad and I just finished $70 of paella...where are the Tums?
8.) 5-course dinner made by my Senora
9.) Dad getting in a quadracycle accident
10.) Being together in Europe--claro!

I will elaborate more later...

Un beso,
Jane

Friday, October 8, 2010

1 day until my family arrives!

Tomorrow at this time I will be hanging out with my family!  I am so excited to see them and show them around Sevilla.  In addition to my family's visit, Irati will be joining us!  Irati was the exchange student who stayed with my family five years ago.  We have kept in contact, and she will be flying down from Bilbao to join us for a weekend in Seville.  I realized that I have friends on every continent except Antarctica! Que guay!

This past week went pretty fast.  Classes are good but are actually requiring work.  News to me, as I thought I had signed up for a semester long vacation...  I really like all of them, though.  Also, my program offers free tutoring.  I have a Spanish tutor who I will meet with for 1 hour every week.  I am going to try and finish all of my homework today so I can devout all of my time this weekend to enjoying the company of my family.

Courtney (IL), Me, Makaela (OR), Denise (CA), Jamie (OR), and Elise (NYC)

This week I also met up with my intercambio and some other Americans.  Another night I went out with a group of Spaniards and Americans to celebrate my friend Denise's 21st birthday.  Last night, Thursday, I went to tapas with Luis, Makaela, and Alison.  We went to the oldest bar in Sevilla, El Rinconcillo, which was founded in 1670.  It was pretty cool, and the spinach was amazzzing!  There was a man there, we estimated around 90 years old, who wrote us poetry.  He wrote two poems in Spanish for us, as well as gave us each (Luis not included) a flower.  The first poem said that the rubia (blonde girl) was prettier than the Andalusian sun.  Finally, someone recognizes my beauty!

Denise opening birthday pastries!

Well, back to homework!!  And then taking on Spain with my original crew, can't wait!


Sunday, October 3, 2010

Carmona and Cadiz (otra vez)

Greetings from a very grey Sevilla.  Unfortunately, the weather today is rather ugly but it has been a gorgeous weekend otherwise. 

Thursday I had class in the centro until 6:35 and then cine club at 9:00, in the centro as well.  It is a bit of a walk, so instead of going back to mi piso, I just bummed around the centro checking out shops etc.  I ran into my friend Makaela, from Oregon, and we explored *cough were lost cough* for a while, before running into our friend Luis, from NYC.  The three of us went out to tapas…yummmm…and indulged in a grand pitcher of rather potent sangria.  After, we went to cine club where we inhaled popcorn while watching a movie about a father/son relationship in which the father was gay.  The movie finished at the early hour of 11:00 PM, so the three of us went to Plaza San Salvador.  We met a crewmember from U2 (they had a concert here the other day) and also spoke with lots of Spaniards.  Favorite moment: being told by a Spaniard that I am “too white” and really should get some more sun.
After Plaza San Salvador, we meandered the streets until stumbling into--not literally, we never drink excessively, Mom--the Torre del Oro.  We found a group of our American friends who were “botellon-ing” and hung out with them for a while.  I grabbed a Sevici and headed home.  Upon my arrived home I skyped Matthew, as it was his birthday, but didn’t really get to talk much as everyone here was asleep.  I am confident tha just gracing him with my presence (via the internet) was wonderful enough! Jaja

The Torre
Friday I explored Carmona with my group. It is a suburb of Sevilla situated on high ground. It had some gorgeous views. I got home in time for lunch, then worked on some homework, had dinner, and went out. There is a festival of nations currently going on it Sevilla, so I went to that. I indulged, and bought a pair of 7.50 euro pants! They are “genie” pants and I am obsessed with them!! So so so comfy. I asked mi madre aqui, if she wanted a pair too (Marga, mi hermana, has a pair) but I was answered with laughter (Jane!! I am almost 60! I couldn’t wear those!); I told her all about my Grammy who wears toe rings! Still wasn’t able to convince her…

Carmona

Saturday I went to Cadiz with my program.  We checked out the city, something I didn’t do on my first excursion there.  The top of the Cathedral has AMAZING vistas.  I also learned that “Die Another Day” with Pierce Brosnon (007) and Halle Berry, was larely filmed in Cadiz.  Although it was set in La Habana (Havana, Cuba), the filming actually took place in Cadiz.  Check out this link; it is the beach I went to Saturday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml75GSIY8mw&feature=related

Cadiz
Surrounded by the ocean and gorgeous view...360 degrees!

Saturday night I retuned home for a siesta and dinner.  After dinner, looking even more chulo (cool) than usual thanks to the assistance of my new genie pants, I went back to the festival of nations.  My American friend, Jamie, and I met up with a group of about six Spanish friends.  I really prefer going out with Spaniards to get more practice speaking and listening.  We found a neat little bar/restaurant and sat outside chatting.  I had a super interesting conversation with a girl, studying education here, who isn’t a Francista, but definitely prefers communism to democracy.  She hopes that there will soon be a revolution in Spain.  I headed home around 2 AM, in need of some sleep.

The pants!!!

Spanish friends!


This morning I woke up and helped Senora prepare some of our meals for this week.  Yummmm…ajo and aceite de oliva in everything!

I have yet to meet Rita, the girl from Africa, renting a room in our piso.  My senora is quite worried about her.  She never came home last night, never eats and is very very thin, and in general, is a bit mysterious.  Senora called her to make sure she is okay, but no response yet.  I feel badly, as she is incredibly worried and feels a bit responsible for Rita.

All I have on the docket for today is homework.  I wanted to go for a walk or bike ride, but it is supposed to start raining very soon--bummer.

Like always, besos from Spain!