Sunday

(image: flare burning on other side of stadium)
Sunday started as a slow day, but we knew it was going to get awesome. We had tickets to a Real Betis soccer game, which is a professional team in the 2nd league of Spain. Their season has been promising thus far, and this game could determine if they will move up to the first league, or stay down in the 2nd for the upcoming season. Well as the day began, we slept in past breakfast, which we didn’t mean to. We felt kind of bad because we planned on eating breakfast and getting adjusted to the lifestyle, eating times, and everything else. It is a drastic change, but I think I will cope very well.
We ate lunch about the time we woke up. I would go into details but I am going to do a blog post soon with all of the meals so far. That should be very interesting blog. I have been asked many times to post about the food, mainly by my dad. So it shall be done!
After lunch we literally just sat around the “piso” and wasted time until the big game. While we were waiting, our host mom packed us “bocadillos,” which are little sandwiches. These weren’t little at all, but were more than convenient to take with us to the game which prevented us from having to buy a meal on the way.
Soon it was time for the game and we were debating taking the bus or taking a taxi as it was a 5 km (3.1 mile) walk in the heat. Our host mom provided us a very detailed bus map for the city of Sevilla. We would have to take two buses to get to the stadium, getting off one bus at a strange location and then having to walk to another bus stop in yet another strange location. We had it all figured out, had our bus passes ready to go and were ready to experience the common form of transportation of a Sevillano.
Minutes later we ended up in a cab, on our way to the stadium. We didn’t want to be late – was our excuse to ourselves.
The buses seemed a little too confusing for Alex and I because we don’t even use buses in places where they speak English. Trying a bus for the first time and changing buses at some unfamiliar part of town in a Spanish-speaking country would only make it that more confusing. Also, I wouldn’t have missed this game just because of taking the wrong bus and becoming even more lost.
The whole way to the stadium we saw people wearing Real Betis jerseys, shirts and scarves. Imagine walking into a Cowboys game at the stadium (the old, non-existing one) with a ton of fans headed toward the entrance. Now imagine that, throughout the entire city.
Every street and sidewalk was green and white. People on mopeds, or scooters, with their passenger behind them holding an oversized Real Betis flag letting it blow in the wind as they journeyed to the “estadio.” One flag was so large it must have cut their maximum velocity in half with the amount of drag it provided. We’re talking at least 6 feet tall and 9 feet long. And that was just the flag material. The pole must have been very long to be able to wave that thing in the stadium.
Ten minutes later and with a sudden withdrawal of 6 Euros from our pockets, we arrived at the stadium. There was a party outside the entire stadium. People carried liters of beer, usually Cruzcampo, which is the standard beer here. There was anyone from an old-man to a baby in line to enter the stadium.
We entered the stadium and the atmosphere was amazing. The stadium was only about half full when we sat ourselves in our fifth row, goal-side seats. As soon as the stadium filled up the atmosphere was just amazing.
They were singing songs and jumping up and down and it was very exciting for me. It was exactly how I imagined the fans should be at a professional football game.
They had some ridiculous mascot, which to this day I have no idea what it is. It’s not an animal, I know that. Well, I think it’s not.
Anyway, the game was very important as they were playing the first place team in the league, and they were only a few positions back. If they won, they could possibly secure a spot to join the first league again. The stadium was sold out, and we had some of the best tickets. It was well worth the price.
When they scored, off a penalty kick mind you, the stadium went absolutely crazy. Before the goal the game was evenly matched. Each side would take turns dominating possession, and it was just a matter of who scored first.
Well, luckily we got to experience that goal for Betis. They lit a flare on the other side of the stadium which burned and made smoke everywhere over the field. Can y’all imagine that happening at say, a Cowboys game? It’s just unheard of.
I will never think of being a fan of a team the same ever again. These fans put their hearts and souls into being a fan. Each week these people go to the game, no matter what. They live and breathe soccer (football). Football is religion, is a common saying about Europe.
This was such an amazing experience, and I am so glad we got to see a professional game. It was even better to see them win at home and get to sing all those songs, the best I could, with the fans.

Host Family

Saturday was a little more exciting. We finally met our host family. I ended up living with Alex, and another student from Tech named Aaron.

I have no idea what the name of my family is. However, my family consists of a single mother and a daughter of 28 years. The mother we just can call ‘Madre’ or ‘mama’ but I have yet to call her anything. Anytime we talk, a name is usually not used to start the conversation. Our ‘hermana,’ or sister, is called Isa (pronounced “Ee-thah” with the Spanish lisp) but her name is Maria Isabel. They are very nice people, and they have been taking in students for a long time. Last year they had two people from Texas Tech named Chris.

The house is what we would call an apartment, but they call it a ‘Piso’ which literally means floor, but they use it because an apartment is usually very small here. This ‘Piso’ is a very good size for a house. It is a four bedroom, one floor with a living room and full sized kitchen. The floors are all marble, as carpet isn’t used very much in Spain. The furniture is very nice and the house is kept very neat.

We are asked to wear something on our feet at all times when walking around the house. Not only is it a Spanish tradition, but it is thought that walking without shoes on the cold floor will make you sick. Also, if you catch a cold, we were told they will tell you that you had been sitting under the air conditioning for too long. These customs seem very different to us, however they are very easy to deal with as we can easily avoid any problem by wearing socks or avoiding the AC unit I guess.

Life is very different here. Showers shouldn’t be more than 5 minutes, which is very different for someone who can easily exceed 4 times that. Also, lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Breakfast is early in the morning and lunch is later. We eat lunch at maybe 2 or 3 pm. Dinner, as you all probably know, is at 9:30 p.m. or later. Siesta is a time when all of the shops close because no one wants to be out during mid day because it is so hot here.

Lunch was amazing. The first plate was a salad and the second was Albondigas with papas fritas (French fries or literally fried potatoes). Albondigas are very similar to meatballs, yet they are served alone and with a delicious sauce smothering them. This meal was amazing.

After returning to the Texas Tech center and planning our night with our new friends, we went back to the house. We told her that we were going to go out to the bar to watch the Champions league final and she told us she would make us an early dinner. We had dinner at about 8 p.m. before heading out.

Alex, Aaron and I headed out to the bar a little late for the game. When we got there, the bars were all filled. We might have overhyped the game though, because as it was a team from Italy and a team from Germany playing each other, nobody seemed to care. It was kind of a dud.

After the game ended we just grabbed a table and waited for people to meet us where we told them we were. They didn’t show up so we headed off to another bar. The bar we headed to usually has a lot of people in it and is very social. We arrived to a near empty part of town and police literally parked outside the bars. The policia put a huge damper on the night.

The bar remained empty and when I asked the bartender where everyone was, she said they went to the beach. So we came to learn Saturday night is not a big party night in the city, yet Sunday nights through Friday nights are very much party nights.

The night ended abruptly and without much excitement. We were a little too pumped up for the soccer game and the night on the town, only to find that no one cared about the Champions League final and Saturday is supposed to be spent at the beach.

What else do y'all want to know about here? Maybe leave some comments or suggestions for me. This would help me out a lot because I don't know if y'all want to read of my daily life or the food we eat, etc. Thanks for reading!

Freaky Friday... not really at all actually

Friday wasn’t a very special day. Alex and I had to wake up early because we had to check out of our hotel and move to the hotel for orientation. We had breakfast at the hotel and the eggs were very different from the eggs we eat back home. However different, they were amazing. Equally as surprising, the chorizo sausages and the odd looking cheeses were amazing as well.

After finishing we had the front desk call a taxi for us and take us to our new hotel. When we got to the hotel and checked in, we were told that we were the first to arrive. I thought this was weird because I remembered Brian and RJ telling me that they would be arriving in the morning, yet Alex and I arrived sometime right before 1 p.m.

Not having anything to do, we thought we would go ahead and check in with the Texas Tech Center since we had to anyway. After heading in some random direction without seeing a major street for some good time, we finally found an area populated by people. There we had to ask directions for streets and we eventually found our way amid the very hot day.

They say the heat gets pretty high up there. Maybe one day I will experience the 45 degrees Celsius heat. Just for you Americans reading this, which is nearly all of you, that’s 113 degrees Fahrenheit. And I have already experienced the 95 degree weather, and it’s a lot hotter than the 95 in Texas. July is supposed to be the way hotter than June, and it’s only May. I don’t even want to compare May to July right now. I have been told by a native Sevillano that May isn’t hot. Great.

After showing up at the TTU center, they wondered what we were doing there. They gave us a tour, and then sent us on our way. We didn’t even need to check-in there. It was a waste of energy at a time when energy is scarce. We said as the Spaniards would say ‘Mierda’ and headed back to the hotel.

When we returned we met some people that had arrived while we were gone. I knew Austin already, he was assigned the room next to us. He really wanted to go drink because it is legal at 18 here. I declined going out with him, even though he pleaded.

They returned shortly, to my surprise, a little disappointed. I asked him what happened. He said the bartender asked him what he wanted to drink and he replied, “Something that will kick my ass.” The bartender proceeded to hand him a tiny glass of wine. Needless to say, Austin was confused. He drank it, and headed back to the hotel.

Apparently the bartender was confused as well. He heard ‘kick my ass’ and apparently there is a wine in Spain that sounds like ‘Kick-mas’ or something like that. From there on out Austin has wanted to go everywhere with me and use my Spanish skills.

Later we attended orientation. During orientation we convinced them to take us to a phone store. We all wanted/needed a cell phone. We went to a local Movistar phone store. They didn’t have enough activated to provide enough for our whole group.

I decided to head down to the Vodafone store, for some reason more loyal to this company. (Whoever didn’t catch on: it was only for the reason that they sponsored Manchester United’s shirt years earlier.) Then I quickly found out the prices were too high for my liking. Also, if many of us in the summer program use the same service, it costs way less to talk or text with each other. For example, a text message from a Movistar phone to another Movistar phone would cost only 5 cents, whereas a text from a Movistar phone to another phone company would cost 15 cents. And to text the US, it was at least double that.

I plan on getting a phone on Monday, just so everyone knows. It will cost a lot to call me, so I recommend not calling me. We can set up times to skype or something, which would be just dandy with me.

It's a little dark, but it shows you how many people were there. But trust me, this video doesn't do it any justice.

Sevillanos Locos

(I will post a video of celebrations when Sevilla FC won el Copa del Rey later)

Thursday started very calmly for Alex and I. We slept through breakfast so we just went out to an early lunch at around noon. We went to the same restaurant that we did the day before because the food was good and didn’t cost as much as other restaurants.

This time we decided we would finally order paella. We had always been reluctant to do so for many reasons. For one, Alex doesn’t like seafood and many of the dishes have some sort of seafood. Also, they Paellas usually cost a lot and we have been trying to save money on food. The food here costs so much more than the food back home. However, the food is usually a lot better here.

Well when we did order it, we were amazed. It is served in the dish that it’s cooked in, which always makes for an interesting meal. It was so amazing. It was a noodle-based paella with chorizo sausage, frankfurts and bacon in it. There was also a load of mozzarella cheese around the edges that stuck the noodles to the pan.

After lunch Alex expressed his desire to learn Spanish. When we had returned to our hotel I showed him how to conjugate all the different verbs. He picked up conjugating very quickly. I think his past studies of French helped him out a lot. I then wrote down about 40 verbs on a little dry-erase board I had brought, which he proceeded to memorize. He remembered a lot of them throughout the rest of the day as well.

Well after just relaxing all day, a few Spanish lessons, and a big lunch, we decided that we were just going to have a calm night. We would just go out, get some dinner, and then head back to the hotel for our first day of relaxing.

We walked outside and heard a huge mass of people screaming. We were very confused. We then saw many roads blocked off by the police and their tiny cars. We were confused. Then we got a little closer to the screams, to find out they were songs. There were people in Sevilla FC jerseys everywhere.

I might not be the smartest man in Spain, but I think I was onto something right there. The night before Sevilla FC won the Copa del Rey. Then we were seeing everyone wearing Sevilla FC jerseys in the streets. They were all running in one direction, towards la Plaza Nueva. Then the screams we heard began to sound like chants, or songs sung in the stadiums during games. Taking in all of these pieces of information I concluded that there must be some kind of celebration.

Alex and I debated which would be the best way to go to find out. Should we take our normal route that we had been taking? Oh, wait. Maybe if we just follow all of the guys running down the street in their Sevilla jerseys, we could find the celebration! Great idea…

We sure enough got to la Plaza Nueva and it was filled. There were lights, explosions, screams, and chants all happening at once. It was ridiculous. It was at least a few thousand people. We were very shocked. And everywhere we turned, more people were piling in from the streets that led to la Plaza Nueva.

Scarves were being twirled, people were climbing on things such as the bus stops, lamp posts, construction equipment, and there were some people in the front leading the chants with megaphones.

Every so often something was shot into the air and exploded. It wasn’t like our fireworks though. Instead of a pretty display of burning fragments shooting outward in their predetermined directions, it was more of what I would call a “freaking loud explosion.” It consisted of a very loud noise, hence the name, and a bright flash. It might be comparable to being bombed, that’s how deafening the sound was. In fact, I might not have admitted it to Alex, but every time I heard that sound, I might have looked around to see which building just blew up before realizing it was the same “freaking loud explosion” they set off 15 minutes prior.

Anyhow, amid said explosions, there was a party in the streets. In Spain it is illegal to consume alcohol in the streets, so the police were patrolling this night. Where we were, near the location of the celebrations, people were either one of two things: drinking, or drunk. People holding bottles of wine, hidden ever so slightly with clear grocery bags, were stumbling around curbs and bars. Some managed to sit down under their own will, others managed to make it to the ground one way or another.

As we left the area, we were approaching a familiar location, the bars from the nights before. The drinking to drunken ratio went from about 1:1 to 10:1, heavily in favor of people trying to achieve their drunken status, rather than people who had already achieved it and managed to have enough time to nap on the streets. We were excited to see this because we were looking for people to talk to, not cry or throw up with.

Once we reached our destination of the same bars we had been to, I noticed there were police patrolling. On top of that, there were a lot of people drinking “Pepsi” in the streets. I was rather confused because the Pepsi looked more like a sparkling apple juice, but I am still trying to get used to Spain so maybe that’s Pepsi here. Personally I don’t think there is enough syrup in it.

Well anyway, we went into a bar to get just beer, I didn’t feel like I wanted Pepsi anyway. Plus, I am sure Pepsi costs more. We received two ‘botellas’ and wanted to join everyone outside. Well unfortunately there was a man guarding the door. He stopped us when we tried to go out, and I pleaded ignorance (in Spanish) and then went back into the bar.

To keep the story short, later he turned around and we fled out the entrance of the bar. It was a little gutsy, because I have never had to fight a bouncer before and I didn’t want to in Spain.

On the streets we saw other people with bottles and then the police were coming. The people holding Pepsi cups weren’t panicked, so neither was I. Other people with bottles either sat them down and walked away, or just threw them away.

I decided to hold mine behind my back. The streets are very small as you might know, and so the car will get right next to you. I thought hiding the beer would be a good idea until I noticed how close the car was about to be to me. The pea-sized car pulls right next to us, and momentarily slows down. I avoid eye contact and keep my hand steady behind me. As the car was near directly to my side, I had moved my drink to my other side in sort of a suave-James-Bond-move. In an instant, they drove off and the whole encounter was less than 15 seconds. However, it seemed longer than that.

Later we met other people in the streets. We thought they were speaking English, but they probably weren’t. Their names were Inma, Carolina, and Gema. Inma didn’t speak any English, Carolina spoke English very well, and Gema spoke it too well. I thought Gema also mastered the Australian accent before I found out she was actually Australian.

Gema left after about an hour, and then we were with the other two for the rest of the night. We all communicated, but I had to translate for Alex all the time from English to Spanish and vice versa.

We then went to a club, which is very different than the clubs in the US. Well, I haven’t ever been to a club in the US, but I imagine they are more hardcore back home. Here in Spain, they are called ‘discotecas’ and it was pretty much just a loud bar. The music was a little louder and the bar was a little longer. Oh yeah, also there was an area to dance but if you know me well enough you would know I didn’t set foot over there.

We all hung out and found out that the other two girls we were talking with were actually more women, than girls. We couldn’t tell that they were older. I won’t put their ages on here, but let’s just say we weren’t born in the same decade. Apparently the Spanish women age differently than American women. They age a lot slower.

Anyway, we made two friends in Spain that will actually show us around some cool places, but not until later. Carolina is taking it easy for now, she teaches English at a high school here and high school just got out. So she is relaxing for a bit, and yes I did party with an English teacher. And Inma goes to the University of Sevilla, and her finals are throughout the next two weeks. But later on, hopefully we can get the behind the scenes tour of Seville.

First Full Day in Sevilla

(Image: one of the towers of the Plaza de España en Sevilla)

Wednesday was another eventful day for Alex and I. First we woke up and got some lunch. We didn’t get anything too foreign, just Carbonara. After lunch we planned on walking all the way to el Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, the stadium of Real Betis Balompié, to buy tickets for the upcoming game this Sunday. Alex and I are getting very excited about the game.

Well after looking at the map, we realized we could stop at many places that we wanted to visit anyway. Our first stop was at the “Universidad.” It is a huge building, so intricate on many levels. It’s a huge square right in the middle of all different buildings.

Then across a few streets and down the road we came across a huge tower in the distance. Without stopping to pull out a map to see what it was, we headed in its’ direction. The tower was so tall that it was very easy to find. We then found out it was the Plaza de España. It was the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It was forms a semi-circle shape, and is the longest building I have ever seen. The tiles on the rails and everywhere were hand-painted, and there were thousands and thousands of them. I cannot even think of how to describe this place. It was amazing. They say a picture describes a thousand words, and unfortunately I cannot think of any to describe its’ beauty, so that’s the picture I have posted.

Then we headed South through el Parque de María Luisa. This was the largest park I have ever been in. We walked for a long time through a naturally shaded area that was filled with green trees and other vegetation. The trees were very tall, and it was a very cool experience as they had trails for us to walk through.

Every once in a while there would be an opening on the side with a statue or fountain or any kind of sculpture with a place to sit and relax at. The statues over here are very often, and I never tire of looking at them. These are beautiful stone sculptures that really can be breath-taking with the amount of detail.

We ended up finding the Museo Artes y Costumbres Populares, Pabellón Real, and the Museo Arqueológico. All three of these buildings were very unique which I hope to be able to share with everyone. I plan on uploading all of my photos on Facebook, so keep a look out. The garden between the buildings was also something I had never seen before, only in the movies.

Finally we walked down a seemingly never-ending street to the very end of its existence at the stadium. The stadium was very big, yet it is the smaller of the two for each of the professional football (soccer) clubs in Sevilla.

One quick note on why we were going to get tickets for Real Betis. Let me tell you about their rivals, Sevilla FC. I learned to dislike Sevilla very quickly, and not only because Luis Fabiano plays there. But I was talking to someone who was a Betis fan, and I asked him why he liked Betis and not Sevilla.

He told me it matters what part of the city you are from, but most people like Sevilla. And there’s no doubt that Sevilla FC is the dominant team right now, so everyone likes the bigger clubs. After I asked him if other people in Spain like Sevilla, he said something I will never forget. He made a comparison that seemed very harsh to me. He compared Sevilla FC with Chelsea in the EPL. I was disgusted. That’s all he had to say for me to not like Sevilla FC. Betis suddenly won my heart. The club with fans that are just common people, like you and I.

We asked someone where we buy tickets for the game, and we were pointed to a line that was alone the shorter side of the stadium. It looked very long, yet we walked up to it anyway.

As we approached the end of the line to hop in, we noticed we were very far from the ticket counter. The line went alongside the shorter side of the stadium and the length of the stadium as well. We didn’t even know if they would still be selling tickets by the time we got there.

After about 90 minutes of waiting, we were told that this line was for someone who had a ‘carnet’ card. We did not have such a card. We then were pointed to people who would sell the tickets after buying them for cheaper. I had been warned not to pay more than 5 or 10 euros for each ticket.

Well sure enough, some very sketchy man approached us and asked us if we wanted to buy tickets. He wanted us to pay the standard admission, and I knew I should try to lower the price. But then I realized that Alex and I really needed tickets together. And since it was such an odd request, and he was the only person who had those tickets together, we bought them at the standard admission price of 30 Euros. Pretty steep.

But later on we found out that the tickets were on the 5^th row, behind the goal. So taking that into thought, we didn’t pay too much. And this game is a huge game for Betis. Right now they are in 4^th place, and they are playing the 1^st place team, Real Sociedad. If they win, they will move to third place. If they stay in third place, they will move back up to La Primera Liga, the top division in Spain.

After we received our tickets we grabbed some dinner, and then headed to the bar. The Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid game was on and I was excited to watch the game. Not because I like Sevilla, but I wanted to see how the Sevillanos would celebrate if they won the Copa del Rey.

Sure enough, they won 2-0. I was only in the bar for the second goal, but that goal was very exciting for me. They screamed, spilled their beers, hugged, blew air horns and celebrated with so much passion. It was easy to love the atmosphere, even if I didn’t like the team. When the game ended, they ran through the streets.

They sang songs, danced, and held their flags up high. They were more than pleased with the cup final. We watched in amazement. I can only hope that they are this passionate about their country as well for the World Cup. I can’t wait.

After the fans started dispersing a little, we headed off to another bar. Along the way we got lost, but ended up at a pretty happenin’ location I must say. There were 4 bars in one area, and everyone was in the streets. The weather was perfect and it was just really cool to see that amount of people.

Alex and I walked up and were pretty reluctant to talk with the people there. It seemed everyone already had their groups. Eventually we talked to a few people, all of which were Americans. It was a shame. I wanted to meet Spaniards, but we didn’t talk to any. After a while we began to catch on that just about everyone there was American. It was interesting.

Apparently la Universidad de Sevilla doesn’t get out of classes until next week. That would explain the lack of Spaniards on a weeknight. Either way, it was a pretty nice night but we decided to head back to the hotel pretty late. We met two girls from Connecticut who were very nice. It was their last night in Seville as their study abroad program was just ending. They were jealous that ours was just about to begin. Anyway, they told us many of the things we needed to know like how to use the buses, public bicycles and more. It was nice to get more details on how Sevilla really works.

By and by the night ended easily as we walked back to our hotel for good and fell asleep without any problem ready for a new day.

Party Animals

Image: Catedral de Sevilla

Alex and I are real party animals. We fit into Europe’s lifestyle immediately. You definitely cannot control us with a lack of sleep through the night before. We are party animals, no question. Let me tell you about our night. Well first, let me tell you about Spain.

Dinner isn’t until 9, maybe 10 p.m. They don’t go out until after dinner. Some clubs and bars don’t open until 12. The night life is very established, but it is very much at night. It is bright here until after 9:30. The sun comes up early at 7 a.m. or so. So now let me tell you about our night.

Alex and I walked to the Cathedral which is supposedly the second largest in the world. It was beautiful. Then we were walking around and realized how hungry we were. We were too hungry to sight-see anymore. So we head around looking for a place to eat.

Everywhere we seemed to go was either a dessert shop or a bar that didn’t have a visible menu. When we did find bars with menu’s they had some weird food. There were a few butcheries with meats that were too odd, or too specific to a part of an animal. Use your imagination. We lost interest quickly.

Finally we were finding the real restaurants. We should have been looking outside at the tables, not in buildings. The restaurants were all outside with nice tables and sometimes umbrellas or table cloths.

We didn’t want to have to spend that much money, so we looked more specifically for tables without table cloths and regular menus. We found a pizzeria. Somewhat reluctantly I agreed to eat there as it was my first night, fairly cheap, and not some ridiculous part of an animal.

The prices were the cheapest we found. The cheapest meal I saw all day, from every restaurant was 10.25 (in Euros). Someone warned me about this on the plane over here. He said, “the meals are about 12 Euros, but you get a fair amount of food.” Just so you know the conversion rate for 1 Euro is 1.27 US Dollars. So anything we see as a number ‘x’ the price will be greater than that in USD, the currency I most associate myself with.

Back to dinner. I ordered “La Pizza de Sevilla,” or a pizza with bacon, Frankfurt sausage (hot dogs), one other meat, and chorizo sausage. The chorizo sausage was my favorite as it had a bit of spice to it. The price was a “low” 12 Euros. This price did not include a drink. Beer was cheaper than soft drinks, which were not even on the menu by the way, so I had to get one to save money. And besides the latter part of my sentence, I am being totally honest. Beer was the cheapest drink choice. The beer was… well, I don’t know how to explain it. It was light in color, but heavy like a dark beer. I personally enjoy both beers, but not mixed, which is how the beer seemed. It was the heaviest, strongest, light beer I have ever had. I guess that’s better than having a light beer that tastes like water. Keystone, Coors Lite, just to name a couple. The pizza was fabulous. I paid my check which was about 20 USD. And Alex and I proceeded to walk around the town.

We found one place which was where everyone was hanging out. There was some statue in the middle, with a large, beautiful building behind it with steps which everyone was sitting on. On the other side was a standard assortment of buildings each with their own color paint and dissimilar architectures. Beautiful. Most of the building’s are like that. Well one of those buildings was open with a bar. There were at least 100 people walking around with beers. I can’t believe they had that many glasses. It was mainly young people. Alex and I had found a hang out spot.

We felt gross after traveling though so we headed back to the hotel to shower before we went out. We stopped by the Plaza de Toros (bull ring) on our way back but it was closed. We snapped a quick picture, decided we would come back tomorrow, and headed to the hotel to get cleaned up.

Well we got in the room and right before mentioning who I thought should shower first, I laid down on my bed. I wasn’t under my covers or anything. Then Alex laid on his bed, also just on top of the sheets. We exchanged a few words before falling asleep for the night. Our hyped up plan of talking to Spaniards ended without a chance. The night was over so quickly.

I vaguely remember hearing a loud, annoying noise repeating over and over. I checked my e-mail this morning to find out it was my dad calling the room. I didn’t know phones sounded like that over here, and I also couldn’t get up to answer the phone in the first place. I was physically and mentally exhausted.

To be fair, I had 3 hours of sleep the night of the 16^th and only 1 hour of sleep the night of the 17^th. Which to be fair again, I was on a plane for the night of the 17th and lost 7 hours of a time change in the process.

However short, it was an amazing night with wonderful sites. Also nearly everyone has been very friendly to me. I talked to a Real Betis fan for about 30 minutes in Spanish and English. He told me about the game this Sunday, which I must go to. Also I asked for directions a few times, always in Spanish. Everything here is in Spanish, it’s weird. I can’t figure out why.

Special thanks to Sarah, my friends, and my family who have all been very supportive through the passing of my sweet Grandma. Those of you who knew her have been blessed with one of the greatest pleasures of all time. She truly was an amazing person, and will continue to be as she lives through all of us in our hearts and actions. I love all of y’all.

I left DFW not knowing if I would even make it to Spain in one day because I was flying standby. I met a girl from Kenya at DFW but she was a citizen of Denmark. She was very nice. She talked about how much she loved Texas and that made me happy to hear. Anyway, in Atlanta I was waiting to see if I would get on the plane when they called my name. I went to the counter and asked if first class was available. He said no. Then he proceeded to hand me my ticket with a first class seat on it. I was so excited, but I didn’t truly know why until after the flight. I was treated with such respect, that I didn’t know what to do with all of it. My pockets were overflowing with respect and kindness. I was wondering why it is so nice up in first class. Truly, I didn’t belong. But I accepted my meal(s) and was very pleased. That dinner was the best dinner I have had in so long, and it was airplane food. I should have taken a picture of it. I only got one hour of sleep though. It was disappointing because I was very tired. When we landed in Madrid, we walked forever until we finally came to Control. There they looked at a paper that I had filled out and then checked my passport. They waved me on. I went to get my luggage, which took forever. By the time I had received my luggage Alex’s flight was supposed to be getting in. So I waited a while, looked at shops, exchanged my USD for Euros to kill time. Then I was confused why no one on his flight or any American flight had walked past me. I was put in my first situation to use Spanish. Well, besides exchanging currency. When I used my Spanish there I said, “Ochenta Euros por favor.” And that was that. Too easy. I then went on my mission to find out where Alex’s flight was going to get in. I left baggage and went to the airport main entrance for my terminal. I was initially surprised that there was no Customs checkl. I found the informacíon desk and asked where American Flight 36 would be coming in. They said terminal 4, which was very far away from me. I then asked if they had landed and found out they were very late. I had to tell Alex how to meet me, but I can’t use my phone overseas. So I thought I should email him. Now I just had to find internet. I figured I could either wait at the airport for him, or tell him how to get to Seville with as little Spanish as possible because he took French in high school. I then decided that I would take a taxi to the train station and either a) have internet to email him there or b) take the train to Seville and race him to see if I could get internet at my hotel before he landed. I spoke Spanish to the taxi driver, and we talked the entire way to the train station. He was very nice and complimented me on my Spanish. I was glad to hear that. We talked about soccer, Madrid, Seville, Texas, Atletico Madrid (soccer team) and more. Then my first weird occurrence happened with him. We were sitting out front of the Atocha and I was about to pay him my 32 Euro cab fee when the lady behind us just crashed into us. It wasn’t a big crash, but I definitely felt and heard it. He turned around and probably cussed at her, but then never went to exchange information. It was weird. He said he doesn’t worry about small dents. Well anyway, there was no internet at the Atocha train station. I decided to change out of my fancy clothes I had to wear in first class into some normal clothes. While in the bathroom there were two little kids causing trouble. I then had my second weird occurrence. The kids were opening the stalls that people were using, and running away. It was very odd. And some random Spaniard yelled at them and scared them away. Then I went and got my ticket and proceeded to the platform. Security was minimal. The train ride was beautiful. I think I saw one castle, but I know I saw many old churches. It was basically like country life. Small cities. Very small. And farmland all around them, but the hills were gorgeous. I arrived in Seville and took a taxi to my hotel. I finally had internet, only to find out Alex wouldn’t be taking the train. It was good news and bad news. But mainly good news. I also found out in my email that my Grandma had passed away after a fairly short battle with cancer. This was very heartbreaking. I didn’t know what to do. I was alone in a foreign country with no one to talk to or anything. I went on a walk to calm myself. I ended up getting a little lost, which scared me. So since then I have just been sitting in my hotel while I am in my paradise. I will wait for Alex to get here before I go exploring again. Oh by the way, there are two toilets and one of them looks like a sink. I am so confused.

Getting Ready to Leave

I was going to leave with my mom, but due to the declining health of Grandma (her mother), she will not be coming with me. I will leave Monday morning at 6:55 a.m. en route to Atlanta flying standby. In Atlanta I will have a layover of 12 hours until I fly to Madrid on standby. From Madrid I will take a taxi to the train station and a bullet train to Seville. I am getting very excited already. I will be studying Engineering in Seville with Texas Tech professors alongside Texas Tech students. The classes will be in English, thankfully.

I am very thankful to be given this opportunity as not everyone gets to study abroad. I would like to thank my Grandma and Papa, my Dad and Michelle, my Mom and Jim, Sarah, any family I forgot to mention, and Srta. Elizondo for everything they have helped me with. I am going to miss all of them very much when I am abroad.

My life in Seville should be interesting. I will have classes Monday through Thursday, giving me a 3 day weekend each week. For the first summer term, I will have class from 9 a.m. until noon. During the second term I will have class again from 9 a.m. until noon and also from 5.pm. until 8 p.m. I will be living with a host family, which I am very excited about. I don’t know any details about the family I will be living with. I will have all meals provided and all laundry done for me. I am excited to try all of the different foods in Spain.

I will also be travelling to other places while I am already over there. I plan to go to Madrid, Barcelona and Cadíz, which are all cities in Spain. I also plan to go to outside of Spain with destinations such as England and Portugal. Some possible destinations include Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Italy. Of course I will not have time to go to all of these destinations. Also my dad will be visiting when I have a longer break between the two summer terms. We plan on backpacking through Europe from somewhere to somewhere else. The decision is very hard to make when your possibilities are almost endless and we both are easily amused. Every place seems exciting to us.

To sum this all up, I am getting excited and will be in Spain (hopefully) by the 18^th.