¡Bienvenido a Barcelona!

So this last weekend three other girls and I decided to take the 1 hour 45 min plane ride to a whole other world: Barcelona! I seriously felt like I wasn't in Spain anymore...I barely even heard Spanish being spoken! The official language there is Catalan, a mixture of French, Spanish, and Italian....like what??? Even then it was mostly English that we heard (the official language of tourism). Barcelona had a very large city and modern feel, which is so unlike the small, friendly, and historic feel of Seville. (I might be a little biased, but I am so glad that I chose to study abroad in Seville instead of Barcelona!)

The flight there was super early, so we had to get up at 4 am that day...the rest of the weekend wasn't much better. I probably totaled less than 15 hours of sleep the whole weekend! Anyway...be prepared for some major picture viewing!!

Art!

To start off the day, we walked around the city a little bit. All of Barcelona is very very artsy, and has many parks with random pieces of art. It is all very modern and abstract. I don't understand art at all, so don't ask me what messages these pieces were supposed to be portraying! They were fun to look at though:)

My travel buddy, Sarah :)

Arc de Triomf built for the World Fair in 1888

Park Guell

After what felt like a 5 hour hike uphill, we finally made it to the famous Park Guell. This was my first, but definitely not my last, contact with Gaudi's work. He is a super famous arcitect who lived from 1852-1926 who pretty much dominated Barcelona. So much in fact, that I think Barcelona should be named "Gaudi World!" 

                                 

His architecture reminded me of a winter wonderland! 

                                 

                                               

  

                           

                             

    

Our group of four split off in two's often due to different interests, which worked out pretty well! Sarah and I had a lot of fun getting sun burned and taking selfies in the park! 

                        

There was also more park surrounding the actual park, so we explored around there as well!

I know I am wearing tennis shoes...but when we are walking miles everyday it is a necessity!! Also, the thing I've noticed from watching the young woman in Sevilla is that you can wear them here as long as you are wearing athletic pants. Then it just means you are going for the fashionable athletic look! Anyway, who cares if I look like a tourist while visiting other cities...I am one!

The gardens were beautiful! 

Una vista bellisima con mis tres amigas :)

That night we went out for some good food and fun. Because of the large international population in Barcelona, we tried all sorts of food! We had an awesome Mexican meal and to die for Turkish hummus and falafels!

Our group with Maya's friend, who is studying abroad in Barcelona, and our new German friend on the left that we met at the hostel! 

Sagrada Familia                                          

The next morning at 9 am sharp...so tired...Sarah and I decided to beat the massive crowds and go to the Sagrada familia. This unreal basilica was started by Gaudi in 1882, but is still unfinished! Most of the inside is done, but the outside is still being worked on. It still has many many years of work on it to go..no one is in too big of a hurry to finish!

                       

 

                                               

The outside looks like a creepy, evil castle, but the inside again looked like a winter wonderland! It was hard to believe my eyes (as cheesy as it sounds). 

                             

The stained glass windows created a rainbow light that shone throughout the inside! 

The basilica had a museum that explained Gaudi's life and the building of the basilica. There I learned that Gaudi's inspiration was nature and that all of his work was based off of themes and objects in nature. This completely changed my perspective of the basilica, and I started to see that the columns were really trees and that the windows were flowers. I began to fall in love with Gaudi then, for making such a sacred place resemble the tranquility and beauty of nature.  

Catedral de Barcelona

                     

We also went to Disney World and took pictures in Magic Kingdom! Haha that's what it kind of looks like to me :p I am a sucker for an old cathedral, so I enjoyed it a lot! Our hostel was just a block from here!

Other Adventures

The Cascada made by Gaudi and Fontsere. It is located in a park with lots of other cool pieces of art made for the world expo of 1888.

Some more of Gaudi's architecture

Photos from a random parade that we stumbled across! It was a parade with a bunch of students dressed in creepy costumes.

We went to a HUGE market with every food you could ever think of...including lamb brain and heart!

Too bad it was too cold to go swimming!

I had so much fun in Barcelona, and I wish I could have stayed longer to see everything. That being said, it was so nice to return "home" to Sevilla and be immersed in actual Spanish life again haha. 

I am slowly starting to become a little porky due to the extreme amounts of delicious food at lunch and dinner that my family makes for me, mixed with all of the cheese, bread, and pastries that I've been eating. Don't worry, when I go back to the US I will get fit again, but for now just be nice and don't mention my growing waistline! Gracias :)

 ¡Feliz Dia de San Valentin a todos!

Roman Ruins of Italica and Exploring Seville

Buenas tardes! I have been busy yet again, taking advantage of everything here! Last Sunday, I took a trip to a suburb on Seville, Italica. This very small pueblo is the home of some ancient Roman ruins.

Italica

Italica was founded in 206 BC and was a pretty wealthy Roman city. It was where the families of Hadrian and Trajan came from! I am such a nerd when it comes to historic sights, so I thought it was really cool! I mean it was nothing like the streets of Pompeii, but it was still neat. 

There was also a museum that we visited before the ruins, that had replicas of a street, house, and tavern in Roman times, so we could see what the ruins used to look like. I really enjoyed the museum and our guide who was very informative. I felt smart already knowing many of the facts that they told us, from my time in Italy a couple of years ago. I still am no Adara Parins though, and learned a lot of new things about Roman life!

There was a pretty well preserved amphitheater there that was pretty cool to see! It definitely brought back major nostalgia of being in Rome with my dad! 

Jackie, Maya, and Me

There were many well preserved murals that were awesome to look at! Murals were very expensive, so these families must have been very wealthy!The stupid sun made all my pictures shadowy though :(

This past week, there have been many opportunities to explore the city of Seville more in-depth. I am really getting to know my way around the city, and understanding all of the history behind everything….which is fascinating! Some of the activities have included: the Plaza de España, the Torre de Oro, shopping and watching the many street performers here, going to see the Italian movie, "The Gran Belleza" with Spanish subtitles in the theater here, aaaand starting my real classes.

Plaza de España

I took a tour of the Plaza de España and its surrounding area with my program. They didn’t give us much time for pictures, but I plan on returning again, because it was so beautiful! The Plaza and many monuments and buildings in the surrounding area were built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. They really went all out for it, let me tell ya! The Plaza is an icon of Seville, and is where part of Star Wars Episode I was filmed!

 The Plaza de America is in the area as well, and this is where the famous pigeons of Seville flock to, even though they are all around the city.  LITERALLY all around the city. They fly right at your face and aren’t afraid of anything. Oh, and get this! On my way to class the other day I actually got pooped on …right in my hair! No me gustan las palomas!

Torre del Oro

With a couple of my friends, we finally visited the big tower that we pass everyday walking into el centro. The Torre del Oro is a military watchtower built in the beginning of the 13th century to control access of the Guadalquivir river. This river is very important to the history of Seville, because it allowed boats and goods from the New World to enter freely, but restricted the access of pirates. This allowed Seville to keep safe tons of treasure and artifacts brought from the New World by famous explorers such as Christopher Columbus. 

Sarah and Me

View of Triana from the Tower

View of the Catedral from the tower

Classes

I am really excited with the start of my new classes. They all seem super fun and very useful. They are all taught in Spanish and only for American students.Half of them are at the University of Seville and half at my program's study center. They are also all 2 hours long...but we don't have class on Friday so that makes up for it! 

I start out at 11 am every Monday and Wednesday with a class at the University called Cervantes y el Quijote. This class takes us through the famous novel, Don Quijote, which was written by Miguel Cervantes in 1605 and the second part in 1615. I needed the literature credit for back home, but I think I am going to really enjoy this class! The only problem is that my teacher speaks SUPER fast, SUPER quiet, and has a SUPER Andalusian accent (which means cutting off the ends of your words and having a major lisp). She spends most of the class picking on people and making them embarrassed and confused with what she is saying…you may be thinking that this sounds awful (it kind of is!), but I just look at it as a good opportunity to better my Spanish. I need at least one challenging class!

This  class is it for my Mondays and Wednesdays..nice! Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a class at the CIEE study center called, The Image of the United States: 100 years of myths and stereotypes. I am really excited for this class as it is US history through the perception of Spain. It will give me a whole other outlook on US history, while following along with Spanish history too. I have already learned so many interesting facts!

I then have a class again at CIEE called, Spanish for Health Professions. This will obviously be an invaluable class for me to take, as I want to someday provide health care to the Spanish-speaking population.

After that, I have to rush over to the University and take a class about Spanish Vocabulary. This is one of the classes I had to take, but I am excited for it because I just don’t know enough words in Spanish! We will also learn colloquial Spanish, which is something they don’t teach us in school, but is imperative to know to be able to understand Spanish speakers!  

Some pictures of the University of Seville

One of my classrooms

The University (an old Tobacco Factory) is so beautiful! 

There are random statues and artwork everywhere!

There are many open-air parts of the University

There is also graffiti on the statues...

Tiny little doors that lead into whole libraries!

Random Stair cases...it is like a labyrinth!

CIEE Study Center (a renovated palace!)

Part of my walk over to CIEE (Alcazar is on the left)

It is situated in a random ally!

The entrance

The main area, which is open-air