That crazy bird

My alarm went off at 11 on Thursday morning and I was not a happy camper. I had not slept a lot, and although I wasn´t hungover I had that post-drinking groggy feeling. Good times. So I skipped out on the gym. I got ready, ate something, and headed out. It was a gorgeous sunny and I had time to kill before class. Since I´m going to the beach every weekend for the next 3 weeks I needed to buy myself some new sandals, a cover-up, and sun block and I found this opportune time to do so. I decided to head down calle Asunción, the main shopping street in los Remedios. As I turned the corner I passed Calzedonia which has a window display with this excellent pair of cropped tights in the window that I´ve been eyeing for weeks. Knowing me, I would not give myself another day to shop (I really dislike shopping) so I just said screw it and walked in. Well, actually I walked halfway down Asunción before deciding that this was my only opportunity. I know how my mind works. So I walked back. I asked someone there for the tights in the window. She found them in the store and then asked what size I am. Well, I don´t know what size I am in Spanish sizes. So she asked me my weight. Well, I don´t know my weight in kilos. So then she asked me my height. Well, I don´t know my height in centimeters. She seemed a bit impatient with the whole ordeal. I was a bit frustrated, yet I found it all kind of comical. She asked one of her co-workers what size I looked like, she said a 1-2 (whatever that means). So I got them...8€ and all. I asked if I could try them on and she said that you can´t try on tights. I guess that that makes sense; we´ll just have to hope for the best. I continued my walk and passed Pull and Bear which is kind of like a J. Crew meets Anthropologie type store. I had stopped in recently just to look around and had been eyeing this awesome pair of sandals. They´re thongs, but the thong part is a long printed piece of fabric that you tie up your ankle. They´re adorable. They were a good 20€, though, and I hate spending a lot of money on clothing. Granted, 20€ is not much, but I´d prefer a good 10€ deal. So I kind of hoped that they wouldn´t have them in my size so that I´d have an excuse not to buy them. Well, they had 3 pairs left, one of which was exactly my size. Great. So I caved and bought them. I then walked down Asunción more and stopped at Women´s Secret which is like a Gap Body, basically. They had really cute stuff but most of it was pretty pricey. Blech. But I found the perfect cover-up: it´s a brown, loose, terry-clothe short dress with spaghetti straps. I´m happy about it. Even if it cost another 20€. I felt really dirty after spending all of that money. I hate spending money on clothing, it makes me feel gross for some reason. I suck at being a girl sometimes. After that I stopped by SuperSol to buy myself some fruit which was a bit of an ordeal because I didn´t know the Spanish word for plum. I just wanted some plums. And an apple. It´s okay, I figured it out. Then I walked to the center where I met up with Stacey. She was all enthusiastic about me walking in with the big Women´s Secret shopping bag and asked what I bought. I, on the other hand, was not very enthusiastic. I always get kind of down after I go shopping, like as if I just threw away money. Like I said, suck at being a girl. I hung out in the center for a bit, checked some emails, and then headed to Lope. Lope was boring, as usual, and painful. One hour has never gone by so slowly. Okay, that's a lie; BIO160 first semester freshman year was the most painful hour. Anyhoo, after class I went back to the center, big-ass bag and all, ate my lunch and then went on WebMD because the finger that I jammed a week before hadn't gotten any better. I mean, the swelling had gone down and I wasn't in pain, but there were these red dots (I hate to be graphic) that turned up under the skin of my pinkie right after the incident and they hadn't gone away, just gotten darker. Also, blood was accumulating under my nail--it definitely didn't look like a bruise. WebMD said that if over half of my nail had turned purplish (yes) and if I didn't have full sensation (still a bit numb) I should consult a physician promptly. Ugh. So I asked Luisa about where I should go and she got all nervous like a mom saying I needed to go to Urgencias (emergencies), but it really isn't too bad, I just need someone to look at it. Eva then told me of a clinic in Triana to go to, and that I needed to bring my health insurance Sanitas card and passport. So I decided to go the next day after tutoria. Then I went to Teatro which wasn't bad, Camacho is still lecturing about teatro absurdo (theatre of the absurd) to introduce the next play we're reading, "Los Siameses". I like theatre of the absurd, it gets a lot of inspiration from modernist philosophers and writers such as Virginia Woolf (mmmm, yes) and Faulkner (eeeexcellent). After class I headed back to the center with my big bag (plus big messenger bag, mind you) sweating my ass off. I went online, talked to my Mom online, etc. Then I headed to Iconografia...fifteen minutes late. Embarrassed I walked into class to find the room completely empty! I had remembered him mentioning something about canceling class during la semana santiferia (the week between Semana Santa and Feria) but I never caught a decision. So no Iconografia! I was a happy camper. I had time to kill because we had all received free tickets to see the Sevilla Symphony Orchestra at 8:30. So I just went back to the center, even though I considered going home and dropping off my big-ass bag, I decided that it just wasn't worth it. So I bummed around the center until Stacey got out of her center grammar class. She had errands to run so I decided to accompany her; I mean, it was gorgeous out, so why not. We first walked through Santa Cruz (my favorite area in Sevilla!) to the infamous Arab baths. Sevilla's Arab influence is still pretty substantial, so some traditions remain, such as the Arab baths. It's kind of like going to a spa--except Arab...? I don't really know how to describe it...I'll do a better job after I experience it. But yeah, you get to go to the baths and you get a massage for only 26 euro so it's a pretty good deal. Stacey was making an appointment for her boyfriend, Ryan, and her. He's coming up the Tuesday of Feria for about a week and they're going to the baths the Monday before he leaves. How romantico. The receptionist who helped us was so funny and awesome. He was pretty, well, fabulous is the best word to describe him. He spoke to us in English, which was cute (I kind of think it's cute when people practice their English on us). Stacey has a huge red shoulder purse which she was wearing, he pointed to it and said in a thick Spanish accent, "Your purse." And Stacey was like, "Yes. What about it?" And he goes, "Your purse, NO." Stacey was kind of confused. Then he goes, "It's for the Weenter." Stacey assured him that she was aware and that she needed to go shopping. Oh man, he was great and we loved him. I hope to see him again, he is currently my favorite Sevillano. Y'all know me. After that we walked aaaallll the way to the bull ring, my bags and all...I swear, I was a bag lady all day. Stacey went to buy bullfight tickets for the Thursday of Feria for Ryan and all of us girls. I'm not excited about it, honestly. I knew that they killed the bullls, but I thought that it happened behind closed doors. Knowing that made me pretty hesitant about the whole bullfight thing, but I was still willing because that's a very big thing in Sevilla. But the previous night at dinner we watched some show that was showing old clips of bullfights. I almost lost my dinner, I'm not kidding. I also came very close to tears but I held them back because it was just Maruja, Maria del Mar, and me. They torture these bulls. They torture and taunt anbd tease them while slowly killing them. Then at the end a mule comes out and pulls the dead bulls away. This happens about 6 times throughout the spectacle. I was watching this show and this poor, bleeding bull dying as the torero (matador) taunted it and teased it and people just watched, and laughed, and applauded. This is entertainment? I'm getting really sad recalling it. We'll see how this whole bullfight thing goes. However, it's part of the culture and I just need to suck it up. Nevertheless I am anticipating tears and a possible sudden switch to vegetarianism once again. Oh man, wish me luck next week. So we went to the bull ring and Stacey bought tickets. After that we had time to kill (the theater that held the performance was a couple blocks away) so we stopped in a souvenir shop that had flamenco dresses in the window so I could see if they were any cheaper. They were about 200 euros less. I thought that perhaps I could buy just a skirt, but they're about 100 euros each. So I decided to just by a fake rose for my hair (you're supposed to wear a rose with the dress...I'll just settle for the rose). Then Stacey showed me this kids' t-shirt of a really adorable flamenco dancer. I was in love. So I had an impulse buy. I ended up throwing down 20 more euro at the souvenir shop. I felt nauseos afterwards, I'm not kidding. I hate spending money on material things. Then we walked to the theater which was really nice and modern. We took our seats which were on the side of the theater and I read the program. Turns out the director is American, but everyone in the orchestra is from all over the world. Craziness. I wonder how she teaches them the music? The concert was so nice and relaxing. The accoustics were fantastic. I especially loved the first piece: very light and airy and made me want to paint a picture. Yeah, I'm weird, I know. I really did, though! The next piece was an epic Beethoven piece and was quite long. During that piece I drifted off and thought about a lot of stuff, but the music still held my attention and served as background music to my thinking process. It was also a piece for piano with orchestra, so the piano solos were unreal. The pianist was also from Uzbekistan which I found kind of random and therefore silly. The first act was quite long and intermission did not occur until 10pm. Jessica, Stacey, and I had made plans to go to the Creperia in Alfalfa that night after the concert because we were having major withdrawals after our respective Paris trips. These plans had been made far in advance, we were serious about the crepes. Since it was already 10 we wouldn't have gotten to dinner until midnight and that just seemed absurd. So we left. I know, we're terrible. Actually a lot of people from our program left halfway through. I actually would have loved to have stayed for the second act, especially since they were doing a Bartok piece, but we had plans, man. And besides, the tickets were free. I made a decision, however, during the concert to go take advantage of free student tickets to the CSO at Ravinia this summer. Anyways, we walked to the creperia where there was a minor wait. We passed the time by looking at the huge, amazing menu. We were starved! We were finally seated in the cute, quaint restaurant with numerous black n white photos of Paris on the walls. I love Paris! We ordered; I got a Chef crepe which consisted of ham, cheese, and mushrooms. It was quite good, but didn't come anywhere close to an authentic Parisian salted crepe. We then splurged on dessert and I got a coconut chocolate crepe which was also pretty darn good, but again came nowhere close to Paris' sweet crepes. Sigh. But it was good to have crepes again. Mmm mmm good dinner. Our waiter was really awesome--he spoke English to us although we spoke Spanish to him the entire time. He was definitely practicing. I've found that the younger Spaniards talk English to us because, most likely, they're learning. Soon Melissa came and sat with us because she, Jessica, Courtney, and Scott had plans to go out. And how perfect that we were already in Alfalfa. By the time we left the restaurant it was 12:30 and Alfalfa was happening. Stacey and I were going to stay in for the night; so walking home through Alfalfa completely sober was quite an experience. It's a pretty dingy place, but somehow I love it so much. It really isn't that great from the sober point of view. But then again, neither are house parties at college, so go figure. I love being young, hehe. Stacey and I got home around 1 and collapsed into bed. We had literally not been home in over 12 hours...and I had been carrying my big bag all day! I unpacked my things while Stacey went to wash up. I suddenly heard her running back towards our room which baffled me. She ran in, gave me this petrified look and said, "There's a bird in the bathroom!" What??? Yeah, there was a bird in our bathroom. We keep the window open in our bathroom all day and night for ventillation, and lo and behold a bird flew in. I asked Stacey if it was flying and she said no, it was just chilling in the bathtub. What?? I was afraid to look, I mean, there was a bird in the bathroom! Stacey went to the bathroom to first rinse off her feet. She opened the shower curtain to turn on the water and, bam, there was a bird right there. Just sitting. She told me to come look at it...and I also needed to grab my toiletries cuz I was not washing up with a bird in the bathroom. I was hesitant because I was afraid it would fly all over the place, but I went. We slowly opened the door and peeked over. There it was. A big brown bird (I had never seen this type before) just sitting in our bathtub. It was completely docile and did not move nor flinch. It also didn't fly. It was actually quite cute and worried that it may be injured. There was a bird in our bathtub! We quickly and quietly grabbed our things and I wrote Maruja a note saying that hay un pajaro en nuestra ducha (there's a bird in our shower). So I only got to remove my contacts and wash my face before bed. Was too nervous to grab my toothbrush. There was a bird in the bathroom! What???!! We were so shooken up and giggly it took us awhile before finally getting to sleep...at 2:30. Aw man, and we had to wake up at 7:30 the next morning for tutoria. That crazy bird.