Damn, the Catholics got the goods

Monday, woooot! Woke up too early after a long-ass weekend...9am. Maruja was up pre-preparing our lunch (which smelled delicious) and told me that it was laundry day. YES! We had been wondering about laundry but were too shy to ask her. We got ready, ate some toast, handed over our laundry (which made me nervous because the washing machine is rough and she washes whites and colors together) and were out the door by 10. It was cold this morning. And by cold I mean below 55 degrees. We got to the center by about 10:20, where I frantically scrambled to gather all of the information I needed about class scheduling since my schedule appointment with Eva was at 11:30. Our meeting was brief and pretty easy since all classes will work for my Spanish major, I'm mostly trying to take as many 400 level classes as possible. It looks like after this program, in order to complete my Spanish major I'll only have to complete 2 or 3 more classes...senior year will be a breeze! We can only take a sum total of 5 classes, with a maximum of 2 in the program center and a minimum of 3 at the University of Seville. Classes begin in February, and for the first week we'll be testing classes out, so we pick 7-9 potential classes to attend, and we check out workload, how well we understand the prof., etc. I'm looking at taking all literature and art history courses. Haha, I'm a crazy lil RC/Spanish girl. After my interview I did some internetting in the downtime before our first Sevilla excursion of the week: a la Catedral de Giralda. We all gathered around noon and embarked on the 5 minute-ish walk to the tallest point and most famous monument in Sevilla.
The Catedral is simply stunning...it's one of the most magnificent places I've visited. It's humongous and beautifully ornate. Again, it's the oldest place that I've ever seen, and been inside. Pepe took us on a tour of all of the many rooms, tombs, courtyards, halls, etc. etc. etc. It's so beautiful on the inside, it's unexplainable. You walk through the halls and you can feel history in there. I mean, kings and rulers and priests have walked those halls for hundreds and hundreds of years. It's an unreal sensation to be present to its luscious history. Catholics got it good, I tell ya. I mean, being Jewish is cool and all, but it's kind of a bland religion. We get to wear hats, and black, and grow beards, but no cool gold hats, robes, stained glass windows, shrines, hymns, and cathedrals. Whatever, we're the chosen people, so we got that on dem Catholics. Booyah! At the end of the tour we walked up the bell tower which is 40 floors up, and you walk the whoooooole thing. It doesn't have stairs, it's a ramp, and it's the original floor that was there since the cathedral was erected. It was so crazy to walk up there and watch Sevilla grow smaller and smaller and smaller just as many priests did before addressing crowds. Wow. At the top, you get the best panoramic view of Sevilla, which looks like a cute, yet vast European village from there. Now that I know that my apartment gets wireless, I can post pictures of it all, which I plan to do because I have taken many. We were all kind of lost in our own little worlds, that we lost track of time. Stacey approached me at 2:10, we were going to be late for lunch! Despite our sore legs, we briskly walked down the entire tower and power walked like mad back home to arrive 10 min late for lunch. Luckily Maruja is so understanding. We ate right away, what seemed like a Spanish matzo ball soup--chicken broth with potatos and some sort of balls of spices, green onion, and ham. We then finished with salad (again, weird) of green olives, tomatoes, and egg. Not bad, my friend, not bad. We topped it off with an orange, of course. We then got ourselves together and were right out the door again to get some internet time before our next excursion. As we walked down our street, there was the same bum that tried to trip me the previous week, sorting beligerantly through the same garbage heap at the same time of day. We froze, and turned a corner to take a different street. Now I know his "hours" so I can avoid him easily. Oy. On our new route, we passed a dance studio that teaches flamenco which was a stroke of luck since we've been continuously searching for a flamenco studio! It was closed for siesta, but we kept it in mind. As we walked to class we stopped at a bakery to taste some Spanish pastries (p.s. my spelling sucks now because Spanish is really starting to take over my vocabulary, speech, and mental processes), Stacey got a lemon elephant ear-looking thing and I got some sort of layered almond nut thing. Who knows, but they were both delicious. I love the desserts in Spain because they're sweet, but not overly sweet like in the states. We're excessive about everything, I've learned. At the center we took care of some more computer-associated things, and then were off to la Universidad de Sevilla. The University is huuuuuuge (70,000 students) and is located in different buildings all over Sevilla. The main building is located just blocks from the center and contains not only administration, but the linguistics, literature, history/geography, and law departments. The main building is unbelievable...I mean, I can't believe that this is where I'll be going to school for the next 5 months. It's an old tobacco factory that was built in the 17th century, I believe, It's big and white with detailed moldings and inscriptions. The building, inside, contains many courtyards with fountains and whatnot. It's truly awe-inspiring. The tour was kind of weird, we were all very tired, and it was hard to hear Pepe over the echoes of students in the halls. All I caught was that the building is very confusing and disorganized in terms of room placement, and that you can use any department's library. All's I know is I gotta head to the University this week and find out where all my classes are located. I mean, god forbid I should get lost finding my classes the first day of the semester...being the foreign student who walks in late and whatnot. Now THAT'S embarrassment to the extreme. During the tour I talked to Courtney who also went on an "outting" with a Spanish guy. She told me that he was a horrendous kisser too! Now this is a sad, sad statistic. What am I going to do with myself if all Spanish men failures at the art of kissing? Oh man. Hehe, once again, all together now, OHHHH, SPAIN!
After our silly little tour I returned to the center for a bit more class research time and internet. I love internet, I don't know how people lived without it sometimes. I think I cried tears of joy when my wireless card picked up a clear signal here. Yep, yep I did. Stacey and I left the center as it closed at 7. We walked by a Cuban bar that's literally right next store to the center because I decided that I needed a mojito, stat. We were the only ones there, actually, people's schedules are weird here, so we sat and I drank a surprisingly strong mojito. But oh, did it taste good. I was surprisingly close to a drunken state by the end of the drink, so I was able to battle the cold no problem on the walk back. We stopped in some really awesome shops on the way home, one of which is a furniture store that has this handmade wall hanging that I've been eyeing ever since we got here...aaaaand it's 73 euro. Boo. We also stopped by the flamenco studio, there was a class going on, and we listened in and watched through the window. It sounds soooo fun, I want to take it soooo badly it's not even funny! Oh, and I also want to take a wine tasting class. Have I mentioned that? Well if not, they offer them once a week and I am so game. We got home, and discovered the internet which borderlines in importance Columbus' discovery of the americas. We did email stuff and looked up tickets to Cirque du Soleil, which is here till the end of Feb. I wanna go, I wanna go! It's expensive, and yet kinda worth it. Maruja brought most of our laundry back, and it was all in one piece, thank goodness. Then dinner was served: noodle soup and grilled fish right off the bone. Soooo good! The fish here, I swear, is to die for. One funny thing that they do here: they use mayonnaise as a dipping sauce like Americans use tartar sauce. Trying to assimilate, Stacey and I ate our fish with mayo. Silly Spain. For dessert we got those flan pudding cups again! The states needs to get some of those. Flan anytime anyplace is heaven to me. After dinner Stacey, Marta, Maria del Mar, and I watched C.S.I. Miami (in Spanish!). You know, I've never watched it in English, but damn, that's a good show! I loved it in Spanish, and just imagine how much more I'll appreciate it in English when I can understand every word. Hehe. My tiredness began to really sink in. I had been very tired all day, I call it "perma-tired". I had to shower, though, so I did. It was nice. I've figured out good strategies as to how to use the terrible shower here and walk away satisfied. Needless to say, I've mastered the art of one-handed showering. Now it is about 1am and I have been online for almost 2 hours. This is why having internet access is now bad news. Oh well, it's worth it, no? I think so. So that's my Monday, nothing too exciting, nothing too boring, but always a joy!