Stiff Backs and the Tourist Invasion

Woke up to my alarm at 10:30 it was kind of cool out and very cloudy...looked like rain. This was strange considering how hot and sunny it´s been. I then decided that I needed to get out of the house, so I walked to the Starbucks next to the University. I shared an elevator with Maruja which was cute, she taught me the word for light rain, "chirimiri". Hehe. It was a day of chirimiri. Despite the initial cold, the humidity caused me to get kind of hot and I ended up sweating on the walk to the Starbucks. Tuesday was also a holiday, so nobody was out on the streets except, well tourist. Yup, it´s tourist season like whoa and I´m not a fan...they´re taking over my city! I swear, everywhere I looked there were people looking at maps, groups walking together, etc. There was also not one Spanish speaker at Starbucks...I must have heard 10 different languages and dialects. Craziness. I spent the whole time there, about 3 hours, reading the introduction to the next Lope de Vega play I´m reading, "Perribañez y el Comendador de Ocaña". The intro´s not as thorough as the previous play I read, so I had a hard time following it and focusing. Oh well, at least I only need to know theory thoroughly for the exam and just basic plotlines of the plays. Anyways, I went home for lunch which turned out to be the most difficult lunch for me; we started with a heaping plate full of ensaladilla rusa which, although I enjoy that dish, is a bit too much mayonnaise for me in such a large quantity. Then we got two large, fried fish filets that were a struggle to eat. I can´t handle so much friedness/fishiness. It was fish overload and it made me nauceous...I didn´t think that I´d be able to finish it. Luckily we had a simple green salad with it which helped balance it out. I was not too pleased about the meal afterwards. For dessert we had oranges which also helped to dillute the intense fishiness in my body. After lunch I packed up my stuff and went to the Starbucks in los Remedios with Stacey where I camped out until dinner. Rachael, Julia M., and Emily were there, too. I studied/typed my notes on Islamic art for art history and spent forever reading the first half of "Perribañez..." That play is a struggle, it is written in old Spanish so it uses words that aren´t in my dictionary and weird spellings (such as a double "ss", using x´s instead of j´s, and "ç" instead of "z"...oy). Stacey had a hard time concentrating and left at around 7. I was also having concentration issues, but I knew that my concentration would complete diminish if I were to return home. Soon Melissa showed up and we ended up talking just as much as we studied. We talked about this Whitney Houston Greatest hits album we want to buy from Vips...it´s only 12.95€ for a double disc! And it´s got the best songs on it, including a duet with Jermaine Jackson...who could resist?? I finally left around 9:15, got home for a very silly dinner: tortilla española, but with potato chips in it instead of actual potatoes, and the awesome endive-raisin-walnut salad with homemade blue cheese dressing. For dessert we had flan cups! Then I got my laptop and went out to the living room to type up some more art history notes. Maruja stopped me and told me that she doesn´t like us studying in the living room and she´d prefer that we study in our bedroom because the living room is not for studying, it´s for socializing and watching TV. Ya know, just when I start to feel at home she says things like that that make me feel like a visitor. Ugh. She asked me why I would want to study out there, and I told her that I had to type up my notes and I prefer to have the TV on when I do it. She said fine and let me hang out there. Stacey told me that she had been reading out there on the couch earlier and Maruja gave her crap about it, too. Sometimes I think that that woman has O.C.D. So once Maruja went to sleep, Stacey snuck into the living room with me to read. I finally finished around midnight and we went back to the bedroom where we both suddenly got really silly. We were all just so sick of studying, make it eeeeeend! I planned on going to bed early so I could wake up early, but we were just so restless. My brain has been going crazy, I´m just so restless. And my back was so stiff from sitting in front of a computer for so long. Blech. Finally we gave up on it all and went to bed at a quarter to two. When will the torture end, people?

Sometimes studying burns me

Woke up to another hot-ass morning to my alarm at 10:30. I walked out to find Manoli, the housekeeper, and suddenly got very confused. It was Monday, and she comes on Tuesdays, so I got all freaked out in my morning stupor thinking that it was Tuesday and I had wasted a precious day of studying. She assured me that it was in fact Monday and that Tuesday is a holiday so she came a day early. Cool. I got dressed and ready and headed down to the river. I hadn't studied by the river in ages (thanks, heat). It was hot out, but since it was the morning it was bearable, and the wind was blowing. So I sat by the river and read almost all of "Castigo sin venganza" for about 3 hours, walked home at around 2 for lunch and ended up sweating my ass off...and there was the heat. When I got home I was dripping in sweat, and realized that I had acquired a pretty nifty sunburn. My plan for the week was to read by the river every morning to work on regaining my now-faded tan, but now that I was burnt I was set for awhile. Oh well. Maria del Mar had gone home for the weekend, and had returned, so we talked for a bit until lunch which was pretty good: salmorejo (which is now one of my favorite Spanish foods) and something that Maruja had never made before: quiche. It was a shrimp and mushroom quiche. It was a well-done quiche, but I'm really not a big quiche fan so I wasn't digging it too much. Nevertheless, she did a good job with it. For dessert we had plums. After lunch I packed up all of my stuff and walked over to the los Remedios Starbucks (no way I'm going any farther in this heat). I spent a few hours typing up my art history notes on Ancient Egyptian art and Ancient Greek art. I couldn't type as many notes as I had wished because my laptop battery ran out, and although I remembered my power cord, I forgot my European outlet adapter. It was kind of challenging typing up my Egypt notes because that unit ocurred way at the beginning of the semester when I could not understand one word of my professor's lectures due to his thick accent. So my notes were messy sketches of slides and some random words that I could pick up, but really had nothing to do with the pictures nor relevance to the pertinent information being taught. Thank god for Bartolome giving me that textbook which taught me everything, and thank god I decided to start studying it way back in March so I have all of the notes already. Phew. Then I read more of "Castigo sin venganza". Stacey showed up at around 7, and Melissa at around 7:30. Turns out their lit. exam was absurdly easy...it was one question asking who was their favorite character that they had read all semester. Damn, I should have stayed in that class. Then I read some more and finished "Castigo sin venganza". Thankfully Lope de Vega's plays read really fast as long as I read the introduction beforehand. Awesome, so one down, four to go before my exam on June 12. I finished at around 8:30 and decided to head home because i had no more work to do with me. Stacey decided to come along. We got home, I showered, and got really lazy and wanted to do something mindless so I watched TV with Stacey until dinner. Dinner was okay: I got leftover salmorejo while Stacey got leftover quiche (she hadn't had it since she didn't eat lunch with us), and then I got a piece of plain fish and then we all got little half baguette sandwiches with cured ham and blue cheese. Eh, it was okay, but I appreciate her newfound creativity. After dinner Stacey went to the bedroom to read and then sleep (she has a headache) and I went to the living room where I watched "Mira quien baila", talked with Maria del Mar as she awaited being picked up for a date with Alfonso (she seemed excited...maybe this is the beginning of something good!), and typed up the rest of my Greek notes, then my Roman Art notes for art history. Then I blogged because I have been very behind. But now I'm caught up, yay! Tomorrow will be another fun-filled day of studying. I'm sure you're all very excited for another post like this one. It's kind of sad that my last days here are spent cramming for exams. I wish that we could all just hang out and enjoy Sevilla, but unfortunately we have to study. Damn. Okay, it's now 2am. Goodnight.
Oh yeah, here's the exciting thing of the day. Maruja gave us a fan for our room. Hooray! The irony is that it was excrutiatingly hot today, but once the sun went down it got cold. Hmmm...

Serving corporate America, one European Starbucks at a time

Woke up at 11:30 again to another scalding hot morning. Heat, why'd ya have to return, eh? I showered and whatnot and worked on stuff online until lunch at 2:30 which wasn't too great: we had the most fattening meal I've eaten in a loooong time (believe it or not). It started with gazpacho, which was good, then it moved onto the main course. Fried pork in that thick, oily, buttery blue cheese sauce. Then, she made homemade french fries (which were actually good), but we dumped them on top of the pork. So once the pork was gone you were eating fries soaked in blue cheese sauce. So basically, I had fried pork and cheese fries. I felt so gross afterwards. Blech. It's funny because Maruja has high blood pressure, most likely from cholesterol (those Spanish and their fried food), and her doctor told her to cut back on her salt consumption--yet she makes french fries and such. Oh man. For dessert we had plums which were delicious and redeemed the insanely greasy meal a bit. Then Stacey left for Starbucks in los Remedios to study while I did some more stuff online. I then decided to meet up with Melissa at the Starbucks next to the Cathedral again because it's comfier, and I needed to walk after that gross meal. Um, p.s., my Starbucks visits are getting absurd and are making me feel kind of dirty...but there's really nowhere else to go that's so convenient and open late. I soon packed up and headed out. It was SOOOO HOT out. Seriously. It was intense. I got as far as halfway through los Remedios and wanted to die. I stopped in the Starbucks in los Remedios and talked to Stacey for awhile, quite tempted to just camp out there because the heat was overwhelming, but I needed to brave the walk. Alissa walked in and the three of us ended up chatting for about a half an hour. At least I had cooled down a bit, so I was feeling a bit more motivated to continue. I finally got to the Cathedral Starbucks and was sweating more than I've sweat in awhile. It was once again in the upper-90's. Oof. Melissa was already there at that point. We both studied for awhile, being A.D.D. together. I don't know why I was having such a hard time focusing...perhaps the heat? I got myself an iced coffee which just caffeinated me too much and caused my concentration to escape even more. It was also pretty crowded that day, so I was doubley distracted. I studied art history the whole time--reading the chapter on Renaissance art which is pretty dense. Then I got a light dinner: a tomato mozzarella panini which was perfect since lunch was so intense. Melissa and I braved one cycle of the Starbucks mixes, but once the Brazilian CD started again we had to get out. I mean, seriously, we could not hear one more samba/bossa nova song. It had been getting ridiculous...it's making me hate Portuguese. So we weren't as productive as we had wished because Melissa and I are just so easily-distractable. There was a couple next to us that kept jamming along with the music then suddenly started having a photo shoot. They were trying to be all artsy about it, but, I mean, it was Starbucks! I don't know, I can't really describe the absurdity of it, but it was absurd and funny. So once the Brazilian music started we abandoned the scene. It was about 8:30. Then we walked back to the Starbucks in los Remedios because Melissa and Stacey are both in the Spanish Lit. class in the center and their exam was the next day and they could go over their notes together a bit. So we went to another Starbucks where I studied some more Renaissance art and they studied lit. Luckily no Brazilian music was played. At around 11 all of us left. I felt dirty. How much Starbucks could one girl experience in a day? Oy vey, I'm terrible...feeding the man. Once home I got ready for bed and messed around online a bit before ultimately calling it a night at 2.

Samba, Bossa Nova, Gothic Art, and Mel Gibson

Woke up Saturday morning at around 11:30 to a hot morning. Damn, the heat had returned. I bummed around, blogged, hung out with Maruja's granddaughters who were visiting a bit (which was hard since my voice was hoarse from all of the singing the night before), until lunch at 2:30. Once again, lunch was half good, half not so good...I'm sensing a trend. We started with what is called ensaladilla rusa which is what I consider the Spanish potato salad (hence why I love it). It consists of potatoes, tuna, peas, carrots, pepper, pickle, and lots o mayo. Then we had plain cooked fish which was fine, but nothing special. For dessert we had fresh-squeezed orange juice. After dinner Stacey and I got ready and walked over to the Starbucks next to the Cathedral because it's supposed to have a nice, secluded upstairs area. The 30-minute walk was brutal because not only was it hot, but also very muggy. Yuck. We arrived and headed upstairs which is so nice! It's got nice, soft, couches and chairs situated next to velvet-curtained traditional Spanish windows. The lighting's really nice, and it was nice and cold up there (the air conditioning was blasting). The only downfall was that they played the music up there really loudly...I consequently was quite aware of the Starbucks CD mixes...I heard the line-up 3 times. They have 4 mixes they play: a samba/bossa nova remix CD that was good at first, but near the end I swore if I heard another rendition of "Mas que nada" I would slit my wrists, a blues mix which is really good (lots of Ella and Louis), an amazing accoustic mix that just happens to have a kids' song on it called, "It's always more fun to Share with Everyone" (I don't think Starbucks Spain was aware since the song has a good beat), and a barroque/classical mix. Melissa showed up to study with us for awhile. I spent the first half of my time there reading "El castigo sin verganza", the first required reading for Lope de Vega (yeah, I've got a ways to go). I spent the other half studying the chapter on Gothic Art in my art history book. At around 9 we went to Cien Montaditos for dinner (I'm kind of obsessed with that restaurant now). We ate so much, we were inexplicably hungry. Once back at Starbucks I had such a hard time concentrating, so I got some tea and got back in the zone. By 11:30 they started playing that samba CD and I felt like I was going to pop a vain. So we left. We walked home, made an OpenCor stop where we ran into Alissa and Sarah who were on their way to go out. Sarah is all done with her exams except for a paper...damn, that's crazy. People are starting to leave so soon! Then we walked home. Stacey and I got back and decided to watch Braveheart. Marta has kept quite a nice DVD collection here, but unfortunately the DVD player's been broken...until that morning! So we broke in the newly-repaired DVD player with what I would soon find out to be one of the greatest movies ever. We were able to watch it in English, too, thankfully. So yeah, Braveheart. Most amazingly intense 2.5 hours of my life. Honestly, I've never been so captivated by a movie. It's just INCREDIBLE. Mel Gibson...his acting, his directing...fucking BRILLIANT. I wanted to cry so many times during the movie, not solely due to its content, but also the beauty of its scenes. Seriously, that movie is a work of art...a masterpiece. As much as I dislike Mel Gibson, I have a newfound respect for that man. I mean, he's truly an artist. After the film I was speechless...the movie had moved me. I'm not kidding, I was moved. Movies, or art at that, rarely have such a profound effect on me. It's crazy! It's seriously one of the best movies that I have ever seen. Ever. After the movie I think Stacey was kind of weirded out because I just sat there in silence, unable to describe the experience. I dunno, sometimes art really gets me...I guess I'm just the ideal arts & ideas major. But I seriously didn't know what to do with myself. Art sometimes has a very profound effect, and this was evidence of its power. I was moved, man, moved. It was 3:30 am and I was not tired at all. I forced myself into bed with lack of anything else to do and took forever to fall asleep. I just couldn't stop thinking about Braveheart. Amazing movie. Amazing.
Oh yeah, and I also had Brazilian music running non-stop through my head. Thanks, Starbucks.

Michael Bolton

Woke up at around 11:30 on Friday, bummed around and such until lunch at 2:30 which was, again, half good and half not so good. We had this delicious potato salad which I love: just potatoes, olive oil, tomatoes, onion, and green olives. Yes, I shall make it back in the States. Then, with it, we had just plain, cooked fish. Eh, that was okay. Then for dessert a big bowl of fruit came out with many choices: peaches, plums, and oranges. I couldn't decide! I settled on a plum. So ripe and delicious! Good choice, Lisa, good choice. After lunch I felt like doing something with myself so I walked to the center where I intended to blog but ended up just facebooking the whole time. Now that I actually have studying to do it's been a struggle to keep up with my blogs. You see, previously, when I never had homework, this blog was my only responsibility. Now that I actually have responsibilities that require thinking, blogging just doesn't appeal to me...all I want to do when I'm online is anything mindless. Oy vey. So anyways, the center closed at 5, so I then walked back to los Remedios and met up with Stacey and Katie who were studying at Starbucks. I did about 3 hours worth of Lope reading at Starbucks (I have 5 plays to read before the exam on June 12...ugh). Stacey and I then went home for dinner; we had shellfish croquetas (again? weird.), gazpacho, and shoe string potatoes covered in tomato sauce (so weird!). For dessert we had fresh-squeezed orange juice. After dinner I started to get ready to go out. Stacey had promised that Friday would be the one day that she would come out, but then she backed out on me! So I did what any normal girl would do: I peer pressured her. After a good 15 minutes of reasoning with her mixed in with a good dose of pouting, she caved and hopped in the shower. At 11 we walked to Vips to meet up with Katie and Melissa, who were running late, causing us to sit in Starbucks aimlessly for a good 15 minutes. Awkward. Then they showed up and we walked toward the center of town, but ran into Alyssa and the "Cornell Crew" (a.k.a. Julia, Emily, and Jenny). So we all hung out in Plaza de Cuba for about an hour and a having a pretty hefty botellon and causing a scene (many random Spanish dudes yelling at us, hissing at us, talking to us, etc.). There was a really cute 60-something Spanish man who approached us and practiced his English on us. Awwww. Melissa and I also had an escapade in the parking garage bathroom which we never knew existed...it's actually quite nice! Soon we migrated to Madigan's for car bombs, but Melissa and I opted to just stand outside because a) I had a rum and coke to finish and b) we were already drunk enough to the point that we knew that a car bomb would not be the best idea. Then we all headed over to Alfalfa with the intention of tormenting some newbies. Once there we bought some big-ass beers and took our sweet time on them. Emily decided not to come out with us, and Julia and Jenny got really wasted. Those Cornell girls know how to party, I approve. Sometimes ya just really, really need to let loose during finals. Fo reals. All of Alfalfa is pretty blurry, I mean, not because I was wasted (I wasn't that drunk), but mostly because Alfalfa is just different, as I have mentioned before. So it mostly involves us drinking and shootin' the shit, nothing too exciting. At around 4ish we walked over to Elefunk (wow, twice in one week). The first time I went there it was a bit disappointing, and I was wasted. This time I was just plain old drunk and it was even more disappointing. We ended up just using the bathroom then leaving. On the entire walk home Stacey, Melissa, and I belted 80's and early 90's soft rock. We were like a soft rock iTunes playlist. It was ridiculous and we were obnoxiously loud. I mean, come on, who doesn't enjoy some loud Americans belting Michael Bolton?? Alyssa and Katie were quite embarrassed and walked way ahead of us. We seriously sang the entire way home, it was really absurd...and amazing. We ended up waking up Melissa and Katie's senora and she sent them an angry text message. Uh-oh, they were in troooooouble. That's one thing that I will not miss about the home stay: feeling like we're back in high school with household rules. For example, Maruja got cross with me the other day for putting my feet up on the couch. Meh. Anyways, then Stacey and I walked home laughing about our silliness that night. Of all things to walk down the street belting at 4:30am...I mean, soft rock? Soft rock, people??
We got home and drunken facebooked for a good hour and ate cardboard. And by cardboard I mean these little fiber-rich, sugar-free, salt-free tostadas that Stacey had (we do our best to beat our Spanish spare tire that we've accumulated...oh yeah, people, get ready for my Spain belly when I get home). But yeah, they tasted like cardboard. Then we passed out at 5:30. The end.

Silliness

Woke up at 10:30am on Thursday morning to my alarm. I had scheduled my closing interview with Eva for noon that day, which at the time seemed like a good idea. I stumbled out of bed...still drunk. Quickly dressed and ate some breakfast and experienced a pretty surreal walk through los Remedios. Being drunk on a hot Sevilla morning is pretty interesting. I was kind of in a haze and inching up on my hangover. As I began to cross the los Remedios bridge I heard somebody yelling my name...it was Luisa (one of my program directors). Oy vey. I had a hard time focusing on our conversation, but somehow I was able to spew out some pretty coherent Spanish. Actually, it was one of the most coherent conversations that I've ever had with Luisa (she's the only one of our director's who's originally from Andalucia, so she's got a thick accent...therefore she's the hardest to understand). I take that as a sign of the improvement of my Spanish skills. Before heading up to the center I stopped at OpenCor to buy a big-ass bottle of water. Then I headed up for my interview which actually went pretty smoothly and well. Despite my altered state I was able to go into great detail about my classes and host family and my travel/coming home plans. It was a pretty basic interview to give information about when I would leave, if I was traveling, how my host family situation was, when I would have exams, if I had any papers or projects, and details about all of my classes (to help the next group choose courses wisely). I was very honest and thorough and overall had great things to say. She asked if I had any suggestions for the program's improvement, and I couldn't think of any. The best part about the interview was the Universidad de Sevilla 2005-2006 mosaic plaque I got. Woohoo! After the interview I walked straight home thinking of nothing but my bed. I however found the whole interview pretty silly and absurd due to it ocurring amidsdt my transition from drunk to hungover. Yeah, the walk home was pretty brutal: being hungover for a half an hour walk in hot weather is not fun. I got back home and went straight to bed until lunch. However, because it was so hot I barely slept. I mostly rested for a good hour and a half. Lunch was pretty silly: half good, half not so good. The first course was yummy: lentil soup (which I hadn't eaten in so long...one of my favorite Maruja meals!) with chorizo (I also, surprisingly have not had chorizo in a long time. So good!). Then the second course was not so good: meaty, fatty spare ribs that were swimming in this garlic oil sauce. It made our hands all greasy and the fattiness/meatiness was just a bit overwhelming. For dessert we had oranges. After lunch I had some major getting ready to do. I had tutoria from 4-6, then Pepe had gotten us tickets to this event called "Idn Jaldun" at the Alcazar at 8. None of us really knew anything about it except that it related to Arab artistic influence and architecture in Sevilla...maybe. Stacey and I thought that it was a performance so we told Maruja that we wouldn't eat at home. I also assumed that since it was a show it wouldn't finish until around 10, and since I planned to go out that night I wouldn't have time to come home before going out. So I had to make this whole elaborate plan: I got ready in some going out clothes, packed my little green purse with my books in my big orange book bag which I planned to just leave at the center overnight and take the green bag with me, and in the green bag I packed my birthday flask (finally bringing it out!) with some cheap vodka. So yeah, I'd be walking around all day with a flask in my bag. Wow. I then headed over to the center for my last tutoria with Bartolome where we discussed a crapload of Iconografia. He told me that if I wanted to meet again before the exam just let him know. Cool. I love Bartolome, what a huge help he's been, for real. After tutoria I hung around the center on the internet until it closed at 7. Then Stacey and I bought soft serve cones from McDonalds and sat outside and ate them; Leah, Sarah, and Maggie ran into us and we all sat outside together. Maggie had just gotten back from the States...she went home for a family reunion. How weird! I asked her what it was like because the whole idea of going back to the States is mind-boggling. It feels like we're in some fantasyland over here and the U.S. is the outside world...reality, if you will. I was very curious to hear about how it was! Haha, it's just so weird, I can't explain it. Then Sarah told us about how she's leaving June 7. June 7?? That's so soon! She's got less than two weeks, just about! I can't even imagine. I'm excited to go back to the U.S., but I don't know if I'm ready to face the 'real' world. Oy. Then we all walked together over to the Alcazar. We met Luisa's family (husband and two daughters). Her daughters are 4 and 6 and are absolutely adorable...little blonde curls, oh my! She had them speak English to us which was cute (they only knew "Hello. How are you?"). Then we walked in. Well, turns out that this whole Idn Jaldun thing is some exhibit in the indoor area of the Alcazar about the architecture of this dude, Idn Jaldun, who did a lot of stuff in Andalucia during the 1300's. So it's mujedar art, which is Arab art infused with Christian architecture. I mean, kinda cool because I learned about this stuff in Historia del Arte, but I was really just not in the mood for this. It was also pretty crowded and impossible to read any of the captions. It was a pretty poorly put together exhibit. All of us there were so baffled by all of this; we were all just restless and not in the mood. It's funny, I felt an uncultured A.D.D. kid at the art museum...but then again, everyone was acting the same way. So nobody really paid attention and we ended up being a big group of obnoxious Americans wandering around the Alcazar. It was actually pretty funny. We ended up spending a lot of time just sitting in random areas of the Alcazar and chatting. Ya know, no big deal, just chilling in a historical palace. Haha, that just shows how spoiled we've been here. How absurd. We met up with Jessica there and left at around 9 without really seeing anything. We were just sick of it and wanted out. Pepe, what did you get us into? We walked over to Cien Montaditos for dinner...so exciting, it's been ages since I've had me some Cien Montaditos! We hung out there for awhile. It was ten by this time and we had nothing to do. Stacey planned on staying in, but Jessica and I wanted to go out. But we had two hours to kill. She just decided to go back home and then we'd meet up later. I decided to do the same, especially since I forgot to drop my book bag off in the center. So Stacey and I walked home, I settled a bit, freshened up, and headed over to Vips to meet up with Melissa. We walked to the Cathedral then to meet up with Courtney and crew once again. Turns out Jessica decided not to go out at the last minute, so it was the same group from the night before going out. We pregamed on the steps of the Cathedral which is always very ironic, almost got attacked by a huge cockroack which the guy closing Starbucks across the street ran over and killed for us. Pre-gaming with my new flask was actually kind of fun. Yup, simple joys. Thanks, Nicole and Amanda! Then we went to Carboneria. We got there at about 12:30, so we didn't get to see any flamenco, but Carboneria had just opened up its patio which I had never seen before. It was really nice, pretty, and open. Despite my hesitance, we all got a pitcher of Agua de Sevilla...so I held back and made sure I didn't drink too much of that since it's a hangover in a pitcher. We were sitting next to this group of "newbies" from Texas Tech who just epitomized the obnoxious Texan stereotype. They were all drunk and thinking that they were all cool using their broken, terrible Spanish with this one really obnoxious Spaniard who was bothering us earlier. They had only been in Sevilla a day, and they're on some 6-week program where they get a private tutor to teach them Spanish who comes with them from Texas. Weird. Yeah, we found this out from one girl with which we conversed. They made us feel like mature adults, needless to say. They were loud and all like "Omigod, we're so crazy in Spain!" This one girl sitting near Courtney was so drunk she could not hold onto her cigarette and ended up dropping it a bunch of times, one of which right on Courtney's leg which burned her. Courtney yelped, the girl gave a very insincere apology and Courtney didn't even respond. Fucking newbies (yeah, we're Spanish snobs now). After a good two hours or so at Carboneria we did the standard migration over to Alfalfa. We ran into some newbies who looked lost, they asked where Alfalfa was and we told them to just follow us. Haha, I feel like a high school senior and they're all freshmen. We spent a good couple hours at Alfalfa, mostly just chatting and such, nothing too special (cuz Alfalfa just ain't the same no mo'). Then at around 4 we all walked home. I got back at around 4:45 and went to sleep.

One down!

I woke up to my alarm Wednesday morning very groggy, but determined to get things done. I had my first exam at the University of Sevilla that evening, so I was a tad nervous. I showered, got ready, grabbed my books and headed over to Starbucks. There I sat for a good 3 hours studying for Teatro. I went over my notes and then gave myself a practice exam. The exams at USevilla are essay exams, so I took blank paper and wrote everything that I knew about each play that we read. I was able to fill an entire blank page of information on each work. Therefore, I knew that I was in good shape. At around 2 I walked home for lunch; we ate salad, crab fritters, and fresh squuezed orange juice for dessert. Not bad. Then I got my things together and walked toward the center, first buying myelf a bag of peanuts because I have this superstition that before every exam I have to eat peanut butter to give myself a large dose of protein to help me think. Yeah, I´m a dork, I know. But it´s very difficult to find peanut butter here, so I bought peanuts. I sat in the center with a bunch of people from our Teatro class where we all looked over our notes and discussed Teatro, mostly asking and answering questions we had. However, I was studied out. I really spent most of the time just dicking around and listening to music. It was actually really fun; for a good two hours we all sat around and joked and laughed and just pretty much chilled out before the exam. I´m going to miss those silly times with everyone. People are leaving as early as June 2...it´s so weird that this other family I have is starting to fade, and we´ll never have this group back together again ever. Sigh. Anyways, at around 5:30 we walked over to Starbucks so I could buy a green tea because whenever I drink caffeine before an essay exam I get really in-the-zone and write a lot and really well...it helps me concentrate. We ran into this girl from our class who goes to University of Chicago and took the Lope exam a few days ago. She told us all about it and that it was easy and how/what we should study. Nice. She also assured us that we´re all, without a doubt, going to pass all of our classes (she would know since she has been here since September). She gave us a bunch of reasons which I won´t list, but basically we´re going to pass and I´m happy. The Sevilla grading system here is on a scale of ten; in order to pass, you must receive a 5. I´m aiming for a 5 in all of my classes, needless to say, which is basically a C-. I think I got this in the bag. I´m just aiming to pass because none of our grades factor into our GPA, they just go on our transcript. I don´t plan on going to grad school for a loooooong time, so I´m not to worried about how these grades will look. Besides, study abroad is a resume builder, not a transcript builder. Some people here are really stressing out about their grades and it´s so weird. I mean, a little bit of stress is a good thing because it gets ya studying, but really, all ya need to do is study a decent amount and you´ll be fine. This is what I really learned after taking the Teatro exam, for which I overstudied. The exam began at about 6:15. We all sat in a large lecture hall and he handed us all four sheets of blank paper. He then stood there and came up with the questions on the spot. There were only three questions, and we were to choose 2. Actually, they weren´t even questions. They were "´Barranca Abajo´and gaucho theatre", "The theatre of Roberto Arlt" (he wrote "300 millones"), and "Absurdist theatre in Latin America". I chose the first two questions and wrote two pages on both. It only took me about an hour and a half and I was one of the first people out of there. How easy. So easy. I knew more than I should. Yeah, definitely overstudied. So I´m expecting at least a 7 on it. I, without a doubt, passed that thing with flying colors. I got this. I´m going to dominate my exams, aw yeah! After the exam I stood outside and talked with AnnaRose and Vicki (two of the academic year peeps), then walked home where I was so happy to get one exam under my belt. I´m done with Teatro! I´m officially done with one of my classes! Yes! I was feeling great and was in good spirits. When I got home I earned my vegging; I watched TV, chatted with María del Mar and Maruja, putzed around on the internet, etc. Stacey didn´t get home until 9:20 because she spent the entire alotted time on the exam. I can´t imagine how that´s possible, but a lot of people spent the whole time on it. Then we ate dinner which was awesome and the perfect topper of the day: spinach and garbanzos (one of my favorite Spanish dishes, I´ve decided) and shellfish croquetas (one of Stacey´s favorite Spanish dishes). For dessert we had cherries (soooooo good!). Then I got ready to go out. Stacey decided not to celebrate since she had studied so much and so late every night she had only slept a total of 6 hours in the past 3 nights. Oh that girl. I met up with Melissa at Vips at 11:30 and we headed over to Flaherty´s to meet up with Courtney and her friend from school who was visiting (she just finished up a semester in Rome). We met up with her, Elise, and her friend from her program, Taylor. We sat at a table in front of Flaherty's for awhile chatting, people watching. It was really nice and Courtney's friends were both really cool. We sat there pregaming, having drinks, ya know. It was really nice because it was a really nice, warm night and we were sitting next to the cathedral having a drink at midnight...I really felt Spanish! It was also a good time people watching because all of the "newbies" have arrived. There are a bunch of spring and summer programs that come here and a lot of them have arrived. Most of them are from Texas and you can recognize them from a mile away. They travel in packs and are overly excited about the novelty about drinking in the streets. Haha, oh man, I remember those days. So that was all pretty amusing. Then Elise had some second-hand aquaintence that had just arrived on Summer program and met up with us in front of Flaherty's. He was with a friend and they were both pretty lame and yet amusing. You know, super awkward. I'm adding them to my "the awkward American boys you meet in Europe" play. They were all like, "Oh man, have you been to this bar Long Island?" Uh, yeah... "Yeah, it's pretty sweet." Um, actually, no it's not. Oy vey. We sat there for awhile, and all of us, sans awkward boys, walked over to Alfalfa (of course). Taylor bought me a big beer from Robotica because, after remembering to pack everything in my purse for the night, I forgot to pack money. Who forgets to pack money?? I'm in idiot. Luckily I survived on no money, and the next night Taylor wouldn't let me pay him back. How kind. Anyhoo, Alfalfa was fun, but it's just not as fun as it used to be. So many funny Americans and Europeans have gone home (we're one of the only programs still around) and a lot of Spanish people are studying so don't really go out. It's only the sketchy Spanish that are really out at Alfalfa, so Alfalfa has just become a place to go get a cheap drink with friends rather than a place to meet funny people. It's also become a good place to pester the newbies, mwa ha ha. After some time at Alfalfa we decided to go to Elefunk, a reggae club, which was exciting because it's a Sevilla staple and I still had never been there! On our way Elisa and Taylor, unaccostumed to the Spanish nightlife schedule (it was about 3am), decided to walk back to the hostel. So then it was just Melissa, Courtney, and me. We got to Elefunk which was nothing like I expected: white walls, kind of light, some paintings on the wall, the music was okay. The only cool think about it was the goldfish bowls hanging from the ceiling. Melissa left after about ten minutes, so it was just Courtney and me, which is a dangerous combination. Oh man, just wait till you see the pictures from the rest of the night. We're insane. Somehow I started talking to some weird Irish dude and he kept trying to make out with me and kept talking about how beautiful I am and how he wants to take me out for coffee one day and begged me to come home with him that night. Um, no. We left around 3:30is...Elefunk just wasn't doing it for us. Somehow we ended up hanging out outside with the bouncer who then proceeded to hit on me and beg for my number. I attempted to give him a fake number, but I couldn't remember how many numbers are in a Spanish number so I stumbled over my numbers, gave up, and just gave him my real one. It's not like I have to answer the phone or anything. Then we ended up taking a bunch of pictures with mopeds parked outside of the club. I don't know, we were wasted. Actually, that's no excuse. We're just a couple of tools. Haha. Then we called it a night. I bruised my foot on the way home somehow, and it still hurts. I have a nice bump there, woohoo. Somehow I always acquire random injuries when I drink vodka here. I'm bad news, man, bad news. Haha, oh well. It was an excellent celebration of my completion of my first exam at the Universidad!

I'M DONE(ish)!

So today was my last day of school. My last day of second semester. My last day of junior year. Woohoo! Just got those damn exams to get out of the way...
Anyways, let us begin. Woke up to my alarm at 8:30, tired as hell despite getting a good seven and a half hours. It's just the stress, and my ability to sleep now that the weather's died down have made my tiredness just everlasting. I got ready and headed out for the center at around 9:30. Got there a little before 10 in time for the last Teatro tutoria. There was a huge group of us and we had to meet in the computer area since the classroom was taken, which was kind of distracting and annoying. Jordi did a speedy tutoria all about "Los Siameses" and absurdist theatre so that we could get to the University on time for our last Teatro class. Camacho decided to hold a closing class to discuss "La noche de los asasinos" on Tuesday 11-1 instead of holding class on Wed., Thur., and Fri. Therefore it would be my last Teatro class. Craziness. Tutoria got out about 15 minutes late so I missed a bit of Teatro. No big deal since "La noche..." is going to be an optional question on the test which will be nothing more than extra credit (it is, however, a required question for the Spanish students). Class ended at 1 and everybody applauded Camacho. How nice! I loved Camacho, my other favorite professor this semester. After class I slowly walked home not only due to being extremely tired, but also because I pulled a muscle in my leg a couple days ago and it hasn't gotten better and it's caused me to develop a pretty embarrassing limp. I got home at around 1:30 and felt like doing nothing. I was classed out. And tired. I sat in front of the TV but ultimately decided that I just needed a nap. So I power napped for a half an hour until lunch at 2:30. I got a call right before sitting down to eat, which was weird to receive a call at home. It was Luisa telling me that Bartolome couldn't be at tutoria again. Lunch was alright: penne with tomato sauce and tuna, simple green salad, and fried fish. For dessert more nisperas. After lunch I walked back to the center where Luisa called Bartolome for me and I talked to him and arranged a time to meet this week. Then I studied for about an hour or two for Teatro; going over my notes and making myself a practice exam. I was growing pretty weary of Teatro. I mean, I know this stuff. I'm going to pass this exam, hands down. My brain is just full and I just want to purge this information so I can study for my other exams that deserve some more time and energy. I just want to take the exam already. Then I received a text from Melissa telling me to come to the Starbucks by the University. Once there I met up with her, Stacey, Jessica, and Courtney who had all been discussing Teatro. I joined in on the little study session until class at 6. It was going to be my last class at the University of Sevilla. My last class of study abroad. My last class of junior year. WEIRD. So off to Historia del Arte. Although it wasn't the official last day of class (which is tomorrow), the Teatro exam completely conflicts with the last day so I'd have to miss it. In class we completed our study of Renaissance art and started learning about Barroque art. Boring. After class I talked to the prof., set up an exam date (June 5 at 5pm...perfect), and asked him about the exam format. It sounds pretty easy; I don't have to do any identification, just look at five slides and identify what art period they fall in and their characteristics. That made me feel so much better--so all the studying I've done already has been perfect. Nice. Then I was done! Done with school (minus exams) for all of junior year! Done with class at the University of Sevilla! Wow! I'm practically a senior now! Craziness. Then I walked home. Tired once again. Once I got back I just felt like doing nothing again. You know, just vegging. I haven't wanted to veg out in forever. So I literally just lied on the couch, remote on my stomach, and flipped channels. I felt like a waste of space. There was nothing good on the 8 channels we get (of course) so I just facebooked until dinner. Dinner was so silly. Maruja, like, didn't feed me, which was not a big deal since I wasn't even that hungry. We all had a small, plain egg omelette and a small helping of salad and this potato/onion/zucchini dish she makes sometimes (which is delicious, by the way). But then she gave Stacey all of the leftover pasta from lunch, Maruja served herself the one leftover piece of chicken from last night, then two pieces of fried fish leftover from lunch remained. I assumed that one was for Maria del Mar and one for me, but then she ate them both! With the chicken! And then Maria del Mar took more salad, and by the time I had finished my food (which I ate slowly to try to make it feel like I was eating more), the dishes had all been cleared and we were served dessert (fresh squeezed orange juice). Again, luckily I wasn't too hungry or else I'd be pretty disappointed. I was more confused by the whole event. I found it kind of funny, actually. I also had a headache developing so food wasn't at the top of my list. Oh this stress. The stress not only gave me a headache, but also dehydration. I've been dead broke since Friday, so I haven't been able to buy myself my big, cheap liter and a half of water I buy every week. I'm used to drinking three of those a day (refilling it multiple times), but I've only been able to drink water at meals now which just doesn't suffice despite the slight decrease in temperatures. After dinner Stacey and I headed over to Starbucks to meet up with Alissa and Melissa to study Teatro. I had a headache and just wasn't in the mood. I mean, I know this stuff! We ended up talking about Teatro for a good ten minutes, and then just chatting and laughing and telling stories until closing at midnight. Whatever. I mean, I have literally all day tomorrow to study, but I really don't have anything left to study. I just need to get some rest, and take the exam. It was good to hang out with Alissa because she's traveled so much that we haven't been able to hang out. It was a good time. I'm going to miss these times. She goes home in less than 3 weeks, I can't believe it! It's all starting to come to a close. Wow. Well, now I'm off to bed. I could study some more, but my head is pounding and I just need to sleep. I'm waking up early tomorrow to study all day before the exam at 6. Oh man, wish me luck on my first exam at la Universidad de Sevilla!...My first real Spanish exam! Wow.

I heart art...

Woke up at around 11 Monday morning, happy after my first satisfying night of sleep in awhile. Thank you, weather, for cooling down. I got dressed and such and then sat outside on the porch to get some sun and study. All of my notes for Teatro are complete, so all I had to do was print and look over them. Hence, I studied for art history. I read alllll about Romanesque art. Wooooohoo. No, no, not really woohoo. It was really sunny and warm out, then it progressively got cloudy and cool and I had to put a sweatshirt on. How strange. Then lunch was served at 2:30 which was shellfish paella; delicious, yet overwhelmingly filling. I eat so many less carbs here that an entire plateful of rice poses quite the challenge. On the side we had a really good salad: lettuce, tomoto, cucumber, corn, and queso fresco (a light, white, fragile cheese that kind of tastes like the curds in cottage cheese). For dessert we had fresh squeezed orange juice. After lunch I headed to the center for tutoria to find that it was cancelled, so I sat at the big table in the computer room and studied some more art history. I had forgotten to send myself my Teatro notes so I couldn't print them out and look over them. Oh well. Then at 6 I had Art History. How appropriate. We learned about Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture which was reeeeeeally interesting (that's not sarcasm). We learned all about Da Vinci, looked at "The Last Supper", "The Mona Lisa", etc. We then looked at Michaelangelo's painted walls of the Sistine Chapel, and then some Rafael. I never thought that I'd like Italian Renaissance art being the Avant-Garde afficionado that I am, but I really, really enjoyed it. After class I talked to the prof. to tell him that I couldn't attend the last day of class (this Wed.) because it conflicts with my Teatro exam. So we made plans to set up an exam date on Tuesday, and he told me that we'd finish up the course talking about Barroque art. Hehe, we never got close to finishing the syllabus. Then I walked home, ran into Melissa on the way and talked to her a bit, then arrived back home. I was not motivated to do anything. However, I studied some more art history, this time reading the chapter on Ancient Roman art, and talked to Maria del Mar and Maruja's granddaughter, Reyes, who came over to hang out a bit. Then Stacey came home, then Maruja came home, and we ate dinner: cooked veggies (potatoes, green beans, and onions), and chicken breast marinated in a delicious light garlic sauce. For dessert we had cherries and nisperas (they're actually nisperas, not nipteras like I've been calling them in the past). After dinner Stacey headed all the way to Nervion once again to study at the Business school...I ain't never going back there. I just studied more art history in the living room with Maria del Mar (she has a big exam on Friday) and watched "Mira quien baila" (my new favorite show). At around 11:30 I got ready for bed and retreated to my room where I turned on my computer and read over some of my Teatro notes the best I could on my computer. Hopefully that would help solidify it all. I dunno, I definitely know everything well enough to pass, I just need to study if I want the good grade. Nevertheless, none of my grades here factor into my GPA, but they show up on my transcript. So I'd just need to do well to impress grad school...which I don't really have to worry about. So I'm just worried about passing, really, hence why I'm not making a huge deal about my Teatro exam (it should be my easiest exam). Although, in true Lisa form, I am nervous. I hate testing. I hate finals. Blahhhhh. Yet I learned so much art history today...
Whatevs.

Zeal

Woke up Sunday morning, gross and sweaty as usual, at around 11. Stacey had left to go back to the business school (I ain´t never going back there) and I just woke up, showered, did some studying for Teatro at home, and then ate lunch which was quite filling: some fish and herb fritters from a recipe Maruja got from TV (they were quite good), a shrimp, cucumber, onion, and tomato salad which was also yummy, sardines marinated in vinegar, which I didn´t get to eat because I got to eat two of the leftover stuffed tomatoes from the day before, and cherries (so ripe and delicious right now) and nípteras for dessert. After lunch I headed straight to Starbucks to study. I literally had 3€ to my name, so I got a cheap iced green tea and went to town on Teatro. I typed up almost all of my notes (I had left some at home so I couldn´t finish) and finished the last play, "El noche de los asesinos". It took awhile and I ended up heading out at around 8. I was starving, and only had 75 cents on me, so I found the cheapest little bread pastry thing from OpenCor, which was actually not that good, but did the trick. Then I went home and typed up the rest of my teatro notes. Done. Now all I have to do is review. María del Mar, looking all schnazzy, went out for another date with Alfonso, and I talked online with Stacey who was at the business school for a bit. We were both having focusing problems. After studying for so long, once night hits ya kinda lose momentum. Then Maruja made dinner, we ate at 9:30, pork with really yummy blue cheese and onion sauce, leftover gazpacho, potatoes, and a simple green salad. For dessert we had more cherries and nípteras. Then I went back to the computer where I did a bit more note copying that I had forgotten for teatro, then messed around on Facebook cuz my focus was shot. Stacey came home and we chilled in the living room for a bit. Then María del Mar came home and the three of us stayed up talking until 2am. It all started when she came home with a single red rose from Alfonso, and she told us about he´s unlike any guy she´s ever dated because he still hasn´t made a move. We figure it´s an age thing since he´s 37. She said that most Spanish men, within the first five minutes, will try to kiss you and then forget about you the next day. Alfonso is different. We´ll see. Then the convo evolved to the Da Vinci Code and how she´s boycotting it because she sees it as a lack of respect for her religion yadda yadda yadda. The way she argued her point was actually very valid, so I respect her decision. I still haven´t told her that I´ve read the book and enjoyed it. Yeesh. Then it evolved to how it´s outrageous that most of Spain doesn´t practice Catholocism but still goes to church to get married. And then how it´s an outrage that in 1975 Spain ceased to be a Catholic nation and they stopped teaching religion in schools. She also talked about how she doesn´t understand atheism and how that must be a depressing life to not believe in anything, and not believe in life after death and such. So basically it was María del Mar ranting to us and us just smiling and nodding. I put in my two cents a bit, but my opinion is so opposite of hers that it´s just not worth getting into it with her. I could see it amounting to something bad, honestly, so I´m not even gonna start. Anyways, ultimately the conversation evolved to movies, so that was good. Then we all went to bed, but Stacey and I stayed up chatting until 3. Mostly because studying made us restless and also because it´s seems as if we haven´t seen each other all weekend...gotta catch up! Anyways, so that was my Sunday. I know, yawn.

A funny day, a funny night...feels like Michigan, Spanish style

I woke up earlier than I had intended on Saturday morning due to the heat. Ugh, damn heat. I rolled out of bed, made myself some toast, and worked on the computer until lunch. At around noon Stacey left for Nervión to check out this study place. It’s called la sala de estudios and it’s located adjacent to the USevilla business school. Our friends who live in Nervión told us all about it; that it’s open all night (as opposed to the libraries that close at 9) and has a wireless connection. Not bad. Stacey decided to go there early, skip all meals, and just study all day, while I decided to stick around for lunch then take the bus over to Nervión to study for the rest of the day and evening and just skip dinner. Dinner was served at 2:30, as per usual. Dinner was pretty good: we had deeeeelicious tomatoes stuffed with crabmeat salad, then for the main course we had this weird thinly sliced herbed chicken breast (not a huge fan) and sautéed mushrooms and onions (am a huge fan). For dessert we had more nípteras. Yum. After lunch I got ready to head over to Nervión. Jessica gave me explicit directions because supposedly it was pretty hidden. María del Mar had told me about a bus that stops a block away from our place and would take me all the way to the front of the Business school. Perfect, this way I wouldn’t have to walk for 45 minutes in the boiling heat carrying all of my books and laptop. I boarded the C2 bus and enjoyed the ride. It was kind of cool: we drove through the Feria grounds which were so weird to see completely empty and abandoned. It’s like a skeleton there…it’s kind of sad. Then we passed through a couple barrios that I’ve never really seen before, as well as the big medieval fair that was happening in a park in the center of town. After about 20 minutes on the bus, I was dropped off in front of the facultad de empreseriales (business school). I then consulted Jessica’s directions which I had written on a piece of paper. I was supposed to follow some path, end up in an open garden area, make a left, and it should be the last building on the left…or something like that. So I started out, and turned out that I was on the wrong path. So I had to turn around and start again. I was already all hot and sweaty. Then I found the right path and then the open garden area. I walked through this area for awhile, all triumphant that I had found the hidden path, turned left at the end and walked the entire block without finding anything. I walked into a convenience store and asked where the sala de estudios was located, but they had no idea what I was talking about. So I walked to the right thinking that maybe Jessica had made a mistake and meant right (little did I know that Jessica is not good at giving directions). I went right, but ran into a dead end of construction. That’s the thing—there was so much construction that it made the whole search much more complicated. I had now been searching for about a half an hour. I then walked into a café and asked them, and a waitress told me to keep following the street to the right and to the end. So I did that and had no luck. I didn’t want to call Jessica because it costs me 80 cents a minute to make calls before 4pm and I’m too broke right now to recharge the minutes on my phone right now. Ugh. So I figured that perhaps the waitress meant the next street over. So I walked up a block and up and down the block twice. I was getting angry now. I went into a pizza place and asked a waitress there. She was super nice and walked down to the end of the street with me and gave me very concrete, specific directions. So I followed, ending up back in the open garden area. I found the building, which was in a completely different place than Jessica’s directions, but it was all gated off! There were students walking around, but there was no way in. What?? Was it closed now? What was going on? I was not happy. So I figured that maybe there was an alternate entrance. So I walked back the way I came, sweating bullets and pissed off as hell at this point, and, due to construction, ended up back near the bus stop. So I walked over to a hotel on the corner and asked there. The concierge looked a bit confused and just gave me directions back to the business school. Ugh. I give in. I was ready to just go home. At this point I had been wandering around aimlessly in the sweltering heat with my heavy bag for an hour. The whole purpose of my trip there was to study, and I had already thrown away an entire precious hour of studying. I was not pleased. At that point it was about 4:15 so I gave in and called. I don’t have Jessica’s number in my new phone, so I called Stacey. She told me that she had gotten lost, as well, and she gave me directions from the Burger King which was in the complete opposite direction of where I had been. She also told me that she was actually at the Burger King eating and I could just meet her there and we’d walk over together. Fine. I walked over there, so angry and frustrated and hot that all I wanted to do was cry. Stacey told me that she had felt the same exact way that morning. Turns out that at siesta they close the gate on the side that I went to so that you have to take this ass-crack back entrance to get in. Oy vey. I’m never going back there again, I decided. Just not worth it. I was so tired, hot, and frustrated that I bought myself an ice cream cone to make myself feel better. It worked. Then we walked over, which took about 7 minutes from there and was in the most random-ass area that I would have never found it. We entered a very simple, white room with old green cubicle desks. Very simple, modest, and kind of gross-ish. But it’s air-conditioned and has wireless, so it works. And it’s quiet. Jessica was in there, so we grabbed seats around her. I spent about 3 and a half hours studying for Teatro and intermittently checking email, facebooking, and talking on AIM. Perhaps this whole wireless connection thing was not such a blessing. But I did get a lot done. We also ran into Marlena and talked to her for a bit. At around 8:15 we headed out and my new crazy journey began. Jessica had to leave for dinner at 8:45, and Stacey wanted to eat dinner and go to OpenCor for snacks (she decided to stick around and study for awhile and not go out that night), and I told Melissa that I’d meet her at her piso that night to go out (her senora was out of town again) at 10, so I found that a good opportunity to eat with Stacey and then catch the bus back home. We went to Burger King, had some new healthy wrap thing that they were advertising which was actually pretty bad, then we rushed over to OpenCor which was a bitch since my stuff was heavy and Stacey walks really fast…and she was in a hurry to get back. We forgot that OpenCor was so far away, so Stacey just ended up saying goodbye and running ahead. Somehow, at my snail pace, I ended up getting there at the same time (I wanted to buy a 40 for pre-gaming). Then I said goodbye for real to Stacey. Now, I figured that in order to get back to my piso I would take the C2 bus again because it’s a circle line. The stop that I had gotten off at was pretty far away at this point, so I hoped that I’d find one close to OpenCor. Luckily, there was a C2 stop right in front. Nice. So I sat, waiting, without seeing any bus drive by. Then this elderly couple walked by and pointed to a sign behind me—buses had been rerouted for the weekend due to some random holiday. Great. So I’d have to find another bus stop. It luckily was only a 2 block walk to another C2 stop, and I got there right as a C2 bus pulled up. I boarded and grabbed a seat. Little did I know that this would be the most memorable bus ride of my life.
The bus first started by driving all throughout the barrio Nervión which was pretty cool; I got to get a nice visual tour of the barrio that I rarely ever visit. As we drove on and made many stops, the bus got progressively more crowded. We then entered the barrio la Macarena which was really cool because I had never really been to la Macarena. It’s an older barrio with a lot of character and culture…the USevilla fine arts dept. is there, so it was cool to see that. I was enjoying my tour, even though I had at that point been on the bus for a good 25 minutes. Whatever, I wasn’t in much of a hurry and I was seeing parts of Sevilla that I had never seen. At one of the stops in Macarena we picked up this gang of elderly people. All of the seats were taken, but the seats that are situated closer to the ground are indicated to be saved for the elderly, the handicapped, and people with children. So when the elderly gang boarded, many people got up and gave them their seat. All except this one, twenty-something girl. An old man started yelling at her to get up, but she wouldn’t. Then the old women joined in. Soon it turned into a screamfest. They were fighting hard core! This girl kept saying that she was a student, was sick, and had all the same rights that they did, while the elderly gang, who had all ganged up on her, kept saying that this one man was 90-years-old and was therefore entitled to the seat. They were, no joke, SCREAMING. It looked like they were about to beat her up or something, I mean, it was intense. The funny thing was that the driver acted like nothing was happening. There was a 15-year-old girl standing next to me and we both exchanged looks and giggled to ourselves. It was quite funny. Finally the girl gave up her seat, but they all continued to fight about it, and they were all saying how the girl had neither manners nor decency. It was insanity. This fight went on and on and on and on until they all got off at the same stop and continued to fight! This was insanity. I couldn’t believe it. Then the journey continued. I watched the sun set. We picked up a group of drunk guys singing flamenco songs, accompanied by the manager of the los Remedios Starbucks. How random! We were all the way in la Macarena, and lo and behold. So for a good 20 minutes these guys at the back of the bus sang flamenco songs and yelled every time we went over bumps. It was funny. Soon we crossed the bridge into the barrio Cartuja which is a very industrial, governmental area. The drunkards got off and the bus began to empty out. I started to wonder if we’d ever get to los Remedios. I had been on the bus for an hour now. I thought about asking, but started realize that I must have gotten on the bus at the beginning of the circle, stupidly. I later found out that in order to get back to los Remedios, the fastest route is to take C1, not C2 because it reverses the circle rather than continues it. So I got the entire circle tour of Sevilla. When in Cartuja I got to see Isla Mágica (the big amusement park), the contemporary art emporium, and this big weird building that always looks funny from far away but I’ve never seen close up. That was cool. I guess. FINALLY we arrived at the stop next to my piso in los Remedios. It was 10:15. I had gotten on the bus at 8:45. I kid you not. When I got on the bus it was light out, and when I got off it was pitch black. I rushed to my piso, quickly changed and got ready (I was gross and probably quite smelly, but no time to shower), and rushed over to Melissa and Katie’s piso. Miguel, one of my only Spanish friends (the one who Stacey went on a date with when I went out with Marcos that one time back in January) lives in Triana (right next to los Remedios) and was throwing a piso party that night and invited us. All of us girls were going to go, but everyone but Melissa and I got all stressed out and bailed on us. Oh well. I got to Melissa’s at around 10:30 needing to drink more than ever. I had had a rough day and just needed to get silly. I told Melissa and Katie about my crazy journeys while I chugged my large Cruzcampo and listened to Bob Marley. I love pre-gaming in their piso. At around midnight Melissa and I headed out. I gave Miguel a call and he said that he’d meet us in front of Vips in 10 minutes to walk us there so we wouldn’t get lost. We got to Vips in about 5 minutes, so we bought some Fanta to chase the gin that Melissa brought with her. We took a couple shots while waiting for Miguel, who soon showed up with one of his housemates who was talking to somebody on the phone. His friend reminded me of your standard UofM college guy. Miguel is a computer science major at USevilla and lives with a bunch of other engineers. His friend reminded me of a Michigan engineer. Kind of dorky, yet cool and fun. Miguel was wearing a Bob Marley shirt and had a hippie knit headband in his hair (he’s kind of a hippie, hence why we get along). They walked us over to their piso which was not far away at all. Miguel likes to practice his English with us, and he was telling us about the jungle juice, or “magic potion” they had mixed which is the drink of his hometown, Almería. He told me that it has all different liquors, like vodka, rum, red wine, tequila…sounds crazy. Oh man, I miss jungle juice at house parties. We arrived at the piso which was dark except for flashing green lights, and had lots of loud, fun music playing. The apartment looked just like an Ann Arbor guy’s college apartment: pictures of girls in bikinis cut out from catalogues, stolen stuff on the walls, music posters, etc. Omg, we were really at a house party! How exciting! It seriously was just like house/apartment parties at UofM. It made us so happy. The only thing missing was a keg. We were the only foreigners there, which was kind of awkward at first, but I think that they all appreciated our presence. Everyone was really friendly, not creepy at all like many of the other Spanish guys we’ve met. They were all just silly and wanted to talk to us and drink…just like in Ann Arbor! It was really refreshing. The jungle juice…or magic potion…wasn’t bad, either. Spanish jungle juice is different…I mean, it basically tasted like sangria. There was one guy there who was really drunk and did a strip show at 2am. He was hilarious. He was the token drunk guy…at every party there has to be a token drunk guy, and that was him. He was insane and kept talking to us thinking that he was being slick and flirting with us, but he was really making a fool of himself. Miguel kept asking us if we were liking the party and having fun every time he crossed our path. Of course! We talked to a lot of his friends and housemates and they were just all so nice and fun and silly. Marcos was there which surprisingly was not awkward. I told him that I hadn’t responded to his calls because I had lost my phone, kind of true, but really he’s just a shitty kisser, as you all know. I think that Marcos is kind of a ladies’ man player guy because I saw him with a different girl all the time. I saw him make-out with one girl which made me chuckle because I saw how sloppy the kiss was. But, then again, all Spanish men are sloppy kissers, so I’ve learned. At one point Melissa realized that she was really drunk and just wanted some water, so Miguel got her a huge glass of bottled water. How nice! These were obviously all good, intelligent, respectful guys that had no cruel intentions whatsoever. I mean, there were some who were obviously flirting with us, but it wasn’t the creepy I-want-to-hump-you-right-now flirting style of the Spanish men we’ve always encountered. No, their flirting style was more, well “American”. Ya know, actually talking. It was really refreshing. And really, they were all so nice and adamant about our talking Spanish to them even though they practiced their English on us. There was a wall near the entrance covered in paper with a box of markers. People had signatures and messages all over it. What a good idea! Miguel told us that the papers on the right were from their piso party from the week before, so we should sign the one on the left. I signed it probably about 5 times. I also put my email on it because my camera ran out of batteries so I only got one picture from the entire night! So sad! But others were taking pictures so I wrote a note over my email address saying to send me pictures! Then, somehow, who knows, we all started writing on each other. I wrote on the token drunk guy, “Bésame mucho” on his cheek, and then he wrote his signature on my arm. Then some others wrote their emails on our arms, and then somebody wrote on my arm, “Love is in the air” and on Melissa’s “Everywhere I look around”. Then somehow I ended up with a red, messy, heart on my cheek, and three red marks on my forehead. I kind of didn’t think anything of it. At around 3 it was really starting to clean out and calm down there, so Melissa and I headed out. We laughed about how silly the night was, but also talked about how much fun we had. It’s so nice to really make Spanish friends, and we made plans to hang out next weekend. Yay! We also laughed about our new tatuajes (tattoos). Haha. By the time I got back to my building I had forgotten about the marks on my face…I had walked home with marker all over me. I got in the elevator and was joined by some dude who was just getting back, too. We talked, he asked if I was from the States, etc. Then he got out. I’m always proud of myself when I have really coherent, friendly, non-chalant Spanish conversation. Proud, I turned around, and saw in the elevator mirror how intense the marks on my face were. I had no idea! I laughed out loud in the elevator. This guy probably thought I was crazy! Hahahaha. I’m really upset that my camera died because you should see how I looked. It was quite a sight to see. I then stumbled into the piso, got to my room to find Stacey awake. She had just gotten home…it was nearly 4am! She had walked all the way home (about 45 minute walk) from Nervión, not the safest area in Sevilla, at 3am. I can’t believe it. We shared each other’s nights. She got a kick out of my new tattoos. She told me that on her way home she was pursued by a group of 20-something Spanish guys hissing at her, and then one of them ran up to her and hit her on the head! They were obviously drunk, but it kind of freaked her out, of course. Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff we deal with here. Typically Spanish men kind of suck. But not our new friends! Miguel and gang are just like Ann Arbor guys, and that makes me happy. I’m excited about finally having some real Spanish friends. That’s how you immerse in the language right there. What an awesome night, it felt like being back at UMich…except in Spanish. Michigan: the Spanish version. I like it. Great night. Silly weekend.
I just want to say that April, by far, was the most fun month here. I have now decided that May is the funniest month here. By far. I’m loving May, everything silly happens. This was definitely one of the silliest weekends ever…well, except for Ireland. But that’s why May is the funniest month. What a trip, man, what a trip.

Party with the Program

Friday was one of my favorite days of study abroad so far. It was day of reunions, free food, free drinks, drunken elders, and debauchery. Let me commence.
So I woke up early after another unsatisfying 6ish hours of sleep due to the heat. I was tired. So tired. I showered, got dressed and ready, and headed to the center with Stacey for tutoria. It was pretty warm out, of course, but not as warm as it had been, thank god. We got to the center early, at about 5 to nine, so we had to wait outside awkwardly with the cleaning woman for aboout 15 minutes (the center opens at 9 and Luisa was late). We got in and immediately all flocked to the classroom for teatro tutoria. There were a lot more people there on Friday because our exam is on Wednesday (eek). We did a speedy overview of "300 Millones". It was a funny tutoria because Jordi (a.k.a. Jorge) was just being silly. We all think he's A.D.D. because he always gets distracted by things. For example, his voice cracked, he found a nickle on the ground and gave it to Stacey, and then went off on this whole description of how the room smelled like toast and what he'd do for some toast with ham. Hahaha. Maybe it's just funny because he's so damn sexy. Who knows. Anyways, after teatro tutoria we went straight into Lope which was really good, clear, and informative. He assured us that we wouldn't have to read all the books that we thought we would, so that was good. After tutoria I finished my Ireland blogs, got a much-needed frapuccino and enjoyed the nice weather (that ended up heating up to an annoyingly high temperature later on) and then, with lack of anything better to do, facebooked until Lope. Our last day of Lope. YES. It was a tad boring, but the caffeine kicked in at full force in the middle of class and I was hyper aware and took an absurd amount of notes...probably notes I wouldn't even need. She talked about useless stuff, of course. She also kept us a bit late so that she could fit everything in. Perhaps if she didn't go off on such random tangents we'd finish class on time. Once the class ended I wanted to sing praises to the lord. Thank GOD that class is over! Well, besides the final, but the class itself is excrutiating. I am so happy about that one ending, oh yes oh yes. Maruja's lunches are very unsatisfying and I typically buy something to hold me over everyday, so I went to McDonalds and bought myself a grilled chicken salad. They give you these mini oil and vinegar bottles and I couldn't get the vinegar open so I had employed the help of many of my program-mates (I ate in the center). But no luck. So Pepe came to the rescue with some scissors and finally knocked the cap off. Oh McDonalds and your complexities. Then Melissa met up with me in the center and I walked to the University with her so she could get some information sheets that you're supposed to fill out to give to the professors for grading. I had already done all of mine awhile ago, but Melissa had procrastinated until the last minute. I had to guide her to where the lit. sheets were because they are literally hidden in the ass crack of the University. It's quite comical, actually. Then we went to Teatro which was awesome; it was another performance, and Sara, a girl in my program, was performing in it. It was a pretty lengthy scene, and this group went all out with it--costumes, props, the acting, everything. It was awesome, it was like being back in Acting class at HPHS! They were awesome, and funny. Camacho loved it and expressed how touched he was by their effort and the effort of our class as a whole. I love Camacho! He talked about how he loves how integrated our class is with foreigners from all over the globe. Great man, that Camacho. Then after class I went to the lit. copisteria because we found out that if we read one more play for his course there'd be a question on the exam on it for extra credit. Why not. So we bought the plays, then I went to the ATM where I was rejected because I had exceeded my limit. Dammit, not again! This was bad news. Bad news, indeed. I asked Melissa to loan me a euro because I literally had no cash and I needed to grab a bus back to los Remedios after class because I'd have very little time to get dressed and ready before our program's farewell cocktail party about which, by the way, I was very excited. I then sat on a bench next to my Iconografia classroom and read almost all of act one of the play for Teatro, "La noche de los asesinos". I'm not reading it as deeply as I have the others, sans dictionary, so I'm ploughing through it pretty quickly. It's actually pretty interesting; very post-modern with a counter-culture-type idealogy. Not bad. The Iconografia profesor, Jesus, didn't show up until about 6:20 as per usual. We spent the entire class looking at how biblical (mostly first testament, so finally something familiar) and mythological iconography has manifested itself in modern-day imagery and advertisements. Pretty cool, very basic and easy to follow. It was also our last class which was nice, but kind of sad. He gave a nice closing speech at the end, and we all applauded for him. This is the only class (so far) at USevilla where the students have applauded the professor. Although he picked on me, and I had a hard time understanding him, Jesus was my favorite professor this semester. He's just so intelligent and enthusiastic about art history which I greatly respect. I'll miss him! I once saw him on the street earlier this week and he recognized me and said hi. Ohhh Jesus, te quiero! After class I rushed out to the bus stand near the University just as the #41 bus pulled up. How lucky! I boarded, as did an older woman, and it was just us 2 on the bus. Therefore we didn't have to make a bunch of stops so I got home really quickly, by about 7:30. I went up to the piso, changed into my summer dress that I had been looking forward to wearing for the past 4.5 months and never gotten the chance until now (the attire would be "semi-formal"), and then talked to Maria del Mar for awhile. She told me about the opera from the night before and how she had a great time with Alfonso, and I told her all about our impending shindig that night. Stacey, who had been in the shower, got out and changed and such and we both did our hair and make-up. We were then out the door by 8:30 to head to the Plaza de Cuba to meet up with Melissa and Katie to walk to the restaurant together. We got there around 8:45 with no sign of the girls. I called them and they said that they were on their way. In the meantime all of the los Remedios people from our program walked by/stopped to talk: Julia M., Emily, and Jenny all stopped to chat and then were off. They all looked so pretty! Then Lizzy, Rachel, Sarah, Maggie, and Elena stopped and talked to us and waited with us. They were waiting for Julia H. who had just gotten a haircut and were anticipating her hair debut. So we all joined in on the anticipation of the new Julia 'do. We all hung out awhile, chatted, everyone looked so nice! It was weird, and yet so nice to see everybody all dressed up looking shnazzy. We all clean up well! Hehe. Finally Julia H. showed up with her new haircut which looks amazing...it's shorter, and she got bangs. So good! Then, right behind her were Melissa and Katie looking all dolled up. Then we all walked to the restaurant Albardia, which is the same amazing restaurant in which we dined with Katie's mom back in February. This would be a fun time, I just knew it. It was a pretty substantial walk, and we got there at around 9:15. Everyone looked so nice, and it was so great to be together with the entire program for the first time in what seemed like ages. Also, all of the tutors were there! So that was cool. We were in a private room, and right as we walked in we were greeted by a waitress carrying around a tray of wine, beer, and tinto de verano. Open bar! This really was a cocktail hour. I knew that this would be a good time. Free, unlimited drinks. Yes. So we chatted and kept drinking, and drinking, and drinking. As did Pepe, Luisa, Eva, and all of the tutors. It was so funny. It was great to see the group dynamic change from quiet and chatty to beligerant silliness and noise. A bunch of waiters continued to walk around with drinks, then with little bite-sized, fancy sandwiches that were all so delicious: there was a ham, smoked salmon, red pepper and sardine, cod, and cured ham. They were all delicous! Then some more waiters walked around with these little pastry cups filled with onion and ham. Then some more came out with all different kinds of fritters: shrimp, cod, and potato. Then some more came out with kabobs: fried chicken, zucchini, asparagus, grilled chicken with onion. The food never ended, and the drinks never ended. It felt like cocktail hour at a bar-mitzvah. Therefore I felt like an adult, haha. But it was amazing! I ate and drank so much and took so many pictures and talked to so many people who I haven't talked to in a long time. The best part was getting drunk with the program directors and tutors, by far. Then the waiters with desserts came out: all different mini cakes and pastries. All so good! The food was all so delicious, and the drinks just kept a-coming! This was an awesome affair. I was a fan. And it was just so nice to be with everyone, all dressed up, being merry, etc. Eva, Luisa, and Pepe made some speeches, drunkenly (haha) which was actually kind of sad. I'm going to miss them so much. They talked about keeping in touch, coming back to Sevilla. I can't believe that I may never see them again, I feel a special parental bond with them. Then some of the academic year kids made speeches. This all must be so weird for them, being here an entire year and then saying goodbye. They all talked about how this is their family and it's so sad to leave...I can't imagine how sad I'd be leaving after a whole year here. I'd be a wreck. Then Lauren, one of our semester kids made a speech which was just silly. Then we all chatted some more as we started to clear out. The bar had closed (sadly). But we all took pictures, hung around, and all decided to go to Alfalfa. Yay! Going to Alfalfa with the entire group would be amazing! I was so happy. Then we somehow convinced Pepe and Jordi (yessssss) to come to Alfalfa with us. I walked with some of the girls over to Alfalfa, which was pretty empty. Well, it was only midnight, so that's expected. Jordi met up with us on our way over, actually (he had taken his moto, a.k.a. moped), so Jordi and I, yes, just the two of us, talked the rest of the way to Alfalfa. We talked about Sevilla and his studies. Sigh. He's studying to be a literature professor. How hot is that? Drool. So anyways, once at Alfalfa, as I said, it was empty, and nobody else from our program was there. So Jordi called Pepe and found out that everyone was having a botellon in the barrio Alameda, a more northern barrio which I had never been to and had been meaning to see for some time now. Yay! It was a trek, but we could do it. Jordi got on his moto and told us he'd meet us over there, Jessie (from Cornell) knew how to get there so we'd all walk together. First, Katie and I went into a bar and took a cheap tequila shot. Then we were off. For the walk Melissa donated the rest of her coke bottle full of fanta and rum because she had bought a large mojito from Robotica earlier. The concoction was pretty strong, I don't really like rum, but I dealt with it and finished it. We finally got to Alameda and found the big botellon. This was a really cool scene, I liked it! We found everyone, including Eva, Luisa, Pepe, Jordi, and Beltran (the anthropology tutor) who were all pretty hammered. It was hilarious! Everyone there from our program was pretty hammered, too. We all stood around drinking and socializing, joking around, having a grand ole time. It was so fun botelloning with not only the program directors, but also all of my program. I'll never stop pointing that out. I really have missed everyone, and this was a fantastic last hurrah altogether. Soon Eva, Luisa, and Jordi left (boooo), but Pepe and Beltran stuck around. Pepe was getting WASTED! I kid you not. Wait till you see the pictures. We all at one point took a shot with Pepe. Fantastic. At around 2 we decided to walk back to the center of town and go to TexMex because there was supposedly some big Pistons play-off game that started at 1:30am our time, so we'd catch a good portion of it. My feet were in a lot of pain from my shoes (why are my feet so sensitive? I've been wearing flip-flops way too much), I went along. Sounded like fun, and I miss the Pistons...the play-offs bring back fond memories of last Spring Semester on Cambridge Ct. Sigh. Well, Nick guided us there since it was his idea, and when we got there it was closed. He went, "Oh yeah, they close at 1." Haha, we were just all a bunch of silly drunks. My feet were in a lot of pain, and despite how drunk I was, they were throbbing, so that's always a bad sign. Stacey and I walked to the Plaza Jerez where we hailed down a taxi and headed home. We were in bed by around 4. What an amazing day and night. Seriously, for all of the reasons I have countlessly listed, it was one of the best nights I've had abroad. I love my program, my friends, my program directors, my fellow program-mates...my family. This is a whole other family and I'm getting sad about leaving because we'll never get this back. I'll never be so lucky to have an experience like this in such a great place with such amazing people with so many awesome opportunities. I love it all!

My life is fun

I woke up to find copious animal droppings on my windowsill. There is seriously an animal of some sort living there, no me gusta. Got ready and headed to the center to hang around before class. It was about 10 degrees cooler than the day before, which isn´t saying much--it was 89 degrees. It was also cloudy and humid. Woohoo! Hung out in the center for a bit, then went to Lope which was as boring as ever. We talked about religious street performances which I doubt have any relevance. The best part about it was knowing that I´d only have one more day...one more hour left of that class (Friday would be my last day of Lope) halleluyah! After Lope I wandered over to the center to internet some more. I skipped Teatro because it would just be more performances, and spent that hour blogging about Ireland...so much to say about that trip! Then I went to Iconografía at 6 which was actually quite interesting. We learned about the iconography of surrealism which was not only interesting, but easy to follow. Perhaps it´s because I´ve written a 20-page term paper on surrealism at UofM. But yeah, good times. Very basic. It was good to have a class where I understood everything because I was able to get a better idea of his lecture style and his tangents so I know what to latch onto from his previous lectures. Nice. Class got out at 7 and I walked straight home to type up my notes/study for Teatro. On the way home I ran into María del Mar on the street who was on her way to the opera to meet Alfonso (the new guy she´s been dating). She seemd nervous and excited. I´d better meet this guy soon...! I typed up all of my notes on "Barranca Abajo". It took me two hours, until dinnertime, to finish, basically. Then we ate, pescaditos fritos (little fried whole fish, sooooo good), and a cooked vegetable dish with green beans, onions, eggplant, and some other stuff, not exactly sure. But it was quite delicious. For dessert we had a fruit that I have never seen nor tried before; they´re called nípteros and they look like a mixture between an apricot, cumquat, and pomegranate. It´s light orange, you peel away the skin, and eat it. They´re little, so you eat multiple. They tasted like a combination of guava, mango, and kiwi. So good! I looooove nípteros. I looked up that word in my dictionary and it said "medlars". Is there a fruit called medlars? Where do they grow? And how come I´ve never heard of them? Well, I love them now. After dinner I finished typing some notes, hung out with Stacey in the living room and watched a little bit of the "Eurovision Song Contest" which is honestly one of the most laughable things I´ve ever seen. It was different European countries putting up their most famous pop artists to perform and compete to win, like American Idol, kind of. It´s just funny because the pop in each country is so different. For example, the Icelandic performance was more like a showgirls performance. A lot of them sang in English, and they were terribly written songs. Oh man. The Lithuanian group was my favorite: 7 40-something men singing a song called "We are the Winners of Eurovision" while attempting to "rock out". Oy. Those are the kinds of lyrics they come up with. It was hilarious, I can´t even describe it. At around 12:30 I went to bed. The end. Exciting day, eh?

So it was 99 degrees today...

I mean, I have no other way of titling this blog except by telling the temperature. It was torture, let me tell you. Let me begin to tell the tale of Wednesday, May 17. Woke up, got ready, went to the center for another tutoria for Art History. That's right, it's getting near crunch time and I need as many tutoring sessions as I can get. Bartolome and I talked Iconografia and the definitions of iconografia and iconologia for a good hour and a half. Not very interesting, but very informative and necessary for my exam. Maybe I should explain iconography: it's the actual logistics and semantics of the study of art history. Iconography is what is in a painting, and iconology is what the symbols mean. So it's getting to the root of the study of art history, basically. Anyhoo. Then I went online, worked on my Ireland blog, then went to Lope from 2-3 which can be best described as torturous boredom. Stacey actually fell asleep in class. The lack of sleep from last week mixed with the deadly heat just adds up, man. At least they blast air conditioning in all of my classes (some classrooms don't even have air conditioning). After class I lazed over to the center, literally sat and did nothing for a good half an hour which I found quite humorous (damned heat), then went to Teatro. Teatro was great because it was just groups of students doing what I believe is extra credit scene work: they performed scenes from the plays we read. One of the scenes I did not recognize which kind of worries me...should ask him about that one. Yeah, speaking of which, my Teatro exam is in exactly one week. I can't believe it. My first Spanish exam...I'm flipping out. Two scenes were performed, they were pretty good, mildly entertaining. After class I talked with Stacey and Jessica for awhile about exams, specifically our lit. exams. We talked about Lope and about how we may have to read more than we had assumed...five books before June 12! I immediately got a headache. I'm not kidding, my head suddenly began to throb. I haven't been stressed out about school since ::shudder:: first semester. This feeling is so new to me after the past 5 months of complete leisure. Oy vey, I was not feeling too well. I then walked back to the center to do Barcelona hotel research. More to stress about. However, I found a hotel that I think would be perfect: the NH, which is the same chain in which we stayed on our trip to Granada in February. Then I went to Historia del Arte where we learned more about Italian Renaissance art/architecture, primarily by Michaelangelo with a focus on the Vatican. We learned about the David statue, woohoo! Then, my headache and I braved the heat to walk home. I got back and was a sweaty, hot mess. The air was dense and I could barely breathe. I was so hot and exhausted despite drinking almost 5 liters of water that day. I had so much to do, but all that I could do was lie on my bed with my fan that I bought during Feria. I need to invest in a real fan. I forced myself up and sat at my computer dying in the heat and fanning myself with my wooden, fold-out fan. It was quite a sight, let me tell you. I did some necessary things online while chugging water, then moved to the living room to start typing up a study guide from my chicken scratch notes for Teatro. Oy. My head was not enjoying this one bit. Then Maruja came home and turned on the air conditioning unit in the living room, yay! It got so cold in there, I loved it. I wish the whole piso was air conditioned. Then Stacey and Maria del Mar came home, and now the whole "family" was sitting in the living room, watching TV, and chatting. I was concentrated on my study guide when Maria del Mar asked to use my computer to look up some opera that she was going to the next day. Ugh. I was not pleased. I was cranky, stressed, and headachey. And, since she's basically computer illiterate it took her fooooorever to find the simplest information online. I was pretty pissed off, and that made my headache get worse. I asked Stacey for some Ibuprofen, which I took, but then I just got nauseous. It was a nauseous headache--I knew it well. It was from the heat. The last time this had happened was last July at my summer home in Ann Arbor. Yuck. I hoped that I wouldn't throw up this time. I lied down while Maria del Mar used my computer and Maruja cooked dinner. Dinner was making me nervous. And I had a feeling I wouldn't get any studying done which sucks. Dinner was served and I psyched myself out into eating it: salad, potato and zucchini and onion sautee (which I love), and a plain omelette. Luckily it was an easy dinner, so I was able to eat it. Slowly but surely my nausea went away and my headache decreased, though I still didn't feel completely well. But the food helped. It was also a dinner with a funny discussion: there was a report on the news about how couples still have sex lives after 50. Maruja got all upset about it, "Why do they put this on the news??" "Nobody wants to know about this!" "What a dumb idea!" "Who does that?" hahaha. Us three just kind of smirked to ourselves, I wanted to laugh out loud. Hate to break it to ya, Maruja, but some people have sex for PLEASURE. Sometimes I find her strict Catholic mentality quite amusing. Then there was a huge report on the release of The Da Vinci Code which caused both Maria del Mar and Maruja to be a bit peeved. Maria del Mar told us that she had a friend living in the U.S. right now who told her that there was a movie coming out in the States depicting Jesus having relations with his disciples. Something tells me this is some U.S. conspiracy indie film thing that won't be mainstream in the least. In fact, I doubt that it's an independent film, more like a history conspiracy thing they'd show on the History channel or something. Come on, the U.S. ain't that outrageous. Although it would be kind of funny if Jesus was screwing his disciples...hehe. After dinner, since I was feeling a bit better, I sat in front of my computer in the nice air conditioning for and hour or so and typed up the first of four units of my notes for Teatro. Good. Good good. Feels good to get that done. I finished, and I was still feeling a bit woozy and knew that I needed to get to bed ASAP. Unfortunately my room, according to my clock thermometer, was 82 degrees without any sort of air circulation. Ugh. Well, at least I was tired enough to pass out after talking to Stacey a bit. I woke up at 1am to hear screeching outside. I had heard this sound the night before, too, but this time it was worse. I think that there are rodents living in our walls or window or something. I think I talked about this before. But the screeching this time was much worse than before. There must be multiple. I couldn't believe Stacey didn't wake up! I then had a hard time falling back asleep due to the screeching and the heat. Oh man. Nevertheless, I ultimately got a good night's rest. It was supposed to cool down ten degrees for the next week, so halleluyah. I heard that weather this hot in May is abnormal. Good. Good good good. And that was my 99 degree day.

Ten Thousand Sevillano Layers

This heat is killin' me. I ain't sleeping as well as I should. I woke up after a very unsatisfying night of sleep. Bah. I got ready, talked to Manoli (the housekeeper) for a bit who told me that the hot weather won't change except for the worst. Uuuuuugh, Sevilla. I walked to class down Republica de Argentina to see a huge strike going on. It was pretty rowdy, actually, something about metals...? There was a huge report about it on the news at night and it was a big deal, actually. They were throwing eggs and stuff. Crazy. Anyhoo, I stopped by the center for a bit before class. I was so gross and sweaty already. It's really hot out, I don't think you understand. I mean, this heat just came out of nowhere...suddenly, it was hot. Wha?? Oh man. I then dragged my sweaty ass over to the University for Historia del Cine. We finished La Dolce Vita (people were still talking during it...ugh) and then she gave a brief lecture on it. At the end of class she announced that this would be our last class before our final exam. Whooooa. We didn't even finish all of the subjects on the syllabus. Oh well, I'm okay with that. I can't believe I already finished one class! Crazy! She explained what the final would be like and it sounds like it shouldn't be too hard, so that eased my exam nerves a bit. I then walked back home...it was even hotter out now that the sun was going at full blast...and had lunch. Lunch was great: arroz cubano, a really good cabbage/raisin/walnut/sweet corn salad, and batido de fresa for dessert. After lunch I called my dad and talked travel plans...turns out I'd have to book us a train from Granada to Barcelona, as well as hotels in both places. Oy, always something to do, not enough hours in the day. I would have liked to have studied, but instead I spent two hours on the Renfe train website and Cheaptickets.com for hotels. I booked the train and a hotel in Granada, but am still browsing for a hotel in Barcelona, ran out of time before I could choose. I had to walk to the center to print some study guides, and then to Historia del Arte at 6. I was so gross and sweaty from that walk, especially since I was yet again sweating up a storm. I did my business at the center, then went to Historia del Arte where we learned more about Renaissance art. It was actually pretty interesting because we started looking more at painting than architecture...Boticcelli's the man, I tell ya. We ended class at 7:30 and I headed straight for the public library. Yep, the public library. I hadn't been to a library since ::shudder:: first semester. This should be interesting. The public library is really close to my apartment (just across the bridge) and is really nice, modern, open, and comfortable. The only downfall is that it closes at 9pm. Bitches. Also, you aren't aloud to bring in book bags, so I had to pay 50 cents for a locker. Stupid. I got a good amount of studying done in the hour that I was there, but was frequently distracted by the heavy, flegmy coughs of the people there. I swear, sevillanos all need to quit smoking. Seriously, let me digress a second. If you walk down the streets of Sevilla, the older population is pretty decrepit. I mean, they're not in good shape. You can tell that many years of chain smoking and eating high-fat diets has gotten the best of them. Sevilla would make a great don't smoke/eat a healthy diet PSA. The library closed down at 9 on the dot so I headed out and back home for dinner. Despite it being 9pm, it was still hot as hell. By the time I got home I was a hot, sweaty, greasy mess. Stacey told me that she looked up the weather in farenheit and it was 92 degrees today! Holy shit. That should give you an idea of what I deal with now. And I don't have air conditioning. Fantastic. And I walk EVERYWHERE. Well, I guess that it's a humbling experience. I mean, I'm terrible with handling heat back home, so this will lower my midwest heat sensitivity. Gotta toughen up, Lisa. But, come on, 92 degrees??? And it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. Glorious. Well, at least it forces me to stay indoors and study. We ate dinner at 9:30: Stacey, Maruja, Maria del Mar, me, and MARTA! She came back to do some packing and eat with us. I can't believe she's leaving us. This was the first time we had all eaten as a "family" in a very, very long time. I forgot what the dynamic was like. I miss Marta's presence! We ate cheeseburgers, simple green salad, roasted potatoes, and fresh squeezed OJ for dessert. Then I sat in the living room and did some more studying and continued to sweat my ass off. It was disgusting; I would sweat, and then wipe it with my hand which would do nothing but augment the amount of grease accumulating on my face and body. I was a mess. After finishing some studying I wished Marta a happy birthday before she left for the week (it's her b-day tomorrow), and then dragged myself to the bathroom for a much-needed shower to scrub away these ten thousand layers of sweat and grease that Sevilla has awarded me. This heat is so annoying, also because it just exhausts you, ya know? And I have so much studying I could do, but I just can't stay awake nor maintain the energy. Plus, classes end so late that it gives me very little time to fit in studying. Luckily I'll have less classes next week so I can study up a storm. And there's also this weekend. Oh man, this weekend is going to be study mania. Anyways, I took that shower which felt amazing, only to step out and start sweating again. Sweating is terrible, but it's even more terrible to do it when you're still wet from bathing. Ugh. I remember the good ole days when it was so cold that turning the water off and on in the shower was a challenge, and I had to turn onthe space heater after every shower! Holy crap, how time flies. I can't belive I have less than a month left. Wow. Anyways, I got out of the shower, sweaty (let the new layers begin!), came to my room, did some email stuff and blogged. I have to be up early tomorrow and just can't afford not sleeping enough again. It's bringing me down, and the heat don't help. Again, lots to do tomorrow. Oy. And I've already got a nice new sweat layer beginning...