winding down

well, i've officially reached the point in my trip where i have to accept the fact that i'm going back to the united states and try to squeeze all of my possessions back into my bags. yikes!

i have less than 48 hours left in sevilla. in fact, i'm leaving for madrid tomorrow night on the AVE after finishing up my last final. then, very early tuesday morning, i'm leaving on a jet plane (yes, that was a nod to john denver) and heading back to the states. it's going to be a very long trip, but totally worth it! i'm really sad to leave spain and say goodbye to the people i've met here, but i'm so excited and ready to be back at home where everything is familiar and where i don't have to make a constant effort to understand everyone. it's going to be so nice to have my full mental capabilities back! i feel like i've constantly spent at least 50% of my brain paying attention to the things people say, so it will feel good to just listen and understand without putting the puzzle pieces together. i'm also excited for other american things, like long, hot showers, central heating, and driving a car... oh, it will be so nice! not to mention the people... i mean, that's why i'm really excited to go home, right? :)

the past week has been such a blur! i had my last days of class on wednesday, and it felt so nice to just wrap things up and walk away. thursday, chelsea and i made lunch for rosario. we made her a traditional american breakfast, complete with homemade hashbrowns, pancakes, bacon, and a really tasty egg scramble with cheese, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. it was so good, and she really appreciated everything. she was so complimentary, telling us that it was the best meal she's ever had (complimentary, like i said). she was so delighted and it made me incredibly happy. afterwards, we gave her a little gift: a pretty scarf we bought at the cortes ingles. she was so touched that she started to cry. she told us how wonderful we both were and how she wished that we were staying for the full year. it was a pretty awesome morning/afternoon, and it made me so happy to make her so happy! that has definitely been the highlight of the week. friday was spent studying for my art history final exam, and then i actually took the exam friday evening. yikes. it was intense! my hands actually hurt afterwards from writing like a mad woman! i felt so wonderful and relieved after everything was said and done, though. it was a nice release. afterwards, i met up with chelsea and liza, and we went out to dinner to celebrate finishing (or almost finishing, in my case) the semester. we went to pizzeria san marco, which has wonderful food. it was so great to hang out with the two of them one last time! we had such a blast.

yesterday morning, i woke up to nasty, nasty weather. i headed into the center all bundled up against the wind and rain and i met up with liza to do some last-minute shopping. we went across the whole center buying gifts. i had a lot of success and i got everything that i needed (woo hoo!). i headed back to the house for dinner and a play date with carlos. he came over for lunch because he wanted to play with me one more time before i leave. it was fun :) he's such a cutie, and we had a really good time. he was poking me with this lance at one point (i know, it doesn't sound like much fun, but it was), and somehow he managed to cut himself and not me (go figure). his little finger was bleeding and i said "oh carlos! look! you're so brave, just like a knight." and he got this very serious expression on his face and nodded slowly, saying "yes. i am.". it was pretty funny. after he settled in for a nap, i came upstairs to study for my last final and pack. yikes. packing is a slight nightmare. everything fits fine in my bag... the only problem is that my bag weighs about 8045.6 pounds. it's a little out of control, and i'm not sure what i'm going to do to offset the heaviness. i don't have another bag (i sent it home with my parents) so i seem to be at an impasse. oh well, i'm sure that i'll figure out something.

today has been lazy, with studying, more packing, and general straightening-of-the-room activities. chelsea's been in barcelona the past few days, and i've had the room to myself, which allowed me to explode my stuff everywhere in the process of organizing. it was somewhat convenient, though i'm sad that i didn't get to spend this last weekend here with her. she gets back tomorrow morning, and we have enough time to eat lunch with rosario and hang out a little bit more before i have to head into town to take my last final. it's going so fast! i can't believe that i've been in spain for 100+ days and now it's coming to an end. i'm meeting to hang out with liza one last time this afternoon. we're swapping london photos and eating crepes at bliss (ah bliss... i'll miss that too!). anyways, i'm trying not to wax sentimental, but i've had such a wonderful time here, and i can't believe that it's coming to a close. thanks for everyone who's read the blog and left comments. i'm still planning on writing my london blog... it just might not happen till i make it back to the states! but that way, i'll have a record of everything for myself.

well, this is probably the last post in sevilla (unless i get bored of something...) so i guess this is me, signing off! thanks for following the adventures, and i'll see most of you when i get back to the states. pray for safe and uneventful travels--i'm worried about the snow and delays. an early merry christmas to everyone! if i start a real-life blog, i'll let you know... :)

random sevilla happenings

here´s a short post in honor of some of the little things that have happened in my life in sevilla during the past few weeks. i´m working on a serious london post, but it´s going to take a while and i find myself in the middle of my last week, which also happens to be finals week, so it may take some time to get it posted. in the meantime, here´s a smaller but still fun look at my life!

hanging out with the niños:

rosario has four grandchildren, and two of them spend a significant amount of time at the house. these two, carlos and jaime, are incredibly cute though somewhat rambunctious and crazy little boys. carlos is four and jaime is about 18 months. carlos loves to play with chelsea and i, but jaime is really shy. in fact, if i look at him and we make eye contact, it´s enough to make him cry! however, last week, jaime finally came out of his shell and we became buddies! it was the best! i tickled him and he kept running and jumping into my arms. so sweet and incredibly endearing. so here are the photos documenting our playtime.

this little guy is carlos. he loves to attack chelsea and i. here he is, grabbing onto my leg in an attempt to bring me down. good thing he´s four--that means i win a lot!

this little guy is the shy one, jaime. he´s so cute! rosario and i had such a blast watching the two of them running around in a wild frenzy. they totally tore the house apart! there´s a reason rosario calls them her two terremotos (earthquakes). oh, this is the first time jaime let me touch him!

aren´t we cute! carlos is, of course, standing on a chair. he´s a total ham for the camera, as you´ll see in a few photos...

me and earthquake #1!

me and earthquake #2--aren´t his chubby hands and cheeks so cute?

here´s carlos, being a total ham for the camera. he loved having chelsea take his picture!

jaime in his happy place, playing with some toys and the t.v. remote control!

hanging out with the shuman family:

the night after i returned to sevilla from madrid after saying farewell to my parents and kevin, my friend liza invited chelsea and i over to hang out with her family. we played a card game called yuker (sp?). i´d never heard of it before, but it was fun, and i plan to bring it back to the west coast (liza claims that it´s a midwest thing). afterwards, we went out for dinner at a really awesome tapas restaurant. it was so wonderful to hang out with her family! they were so cute!

me in the tapas restaurant with our really awesome pork rolls. doesn´t sound so awesome, but trust me, they were!

liza and i strategizing over our hand. we made a mean yuker team!

across the river:

before family week, i decided to head across the river to explore the neighborhoods los remedios and triana, two famous neighborhoods in sevilla. liza lives over in los remedios, and she kindly agreed to meet up with me and show me around. it was fun!

cool tower located right off the triana bridge. i´m hypothesizing that it used to be some sort of tower used to guard the river... i could, of course, be totally wrong.

my favorite bridge in sevilla: puente de isabela segunda (better known as the triana bridge). it connects sevilla and triana.

awesome house on calle betis, the nightlife hotspot in sevilla. i´ve, of course, never been there after dark, but it was cool during the day too!

view from across the river! yay!

juice, crepes, and the flamenco museum:

the friday before family week, i went to sevilla´s flamenco museum with a group of students. it was a pretty cool museum, filled with lots of video footage documenting the evolution of flamenco dance. it was fun because we went with our dance professor and she had lots of interesting things to say. afterwards, a group of us headed over to bliss, my favorite cafe in sevilla. they serve fresh-squeezed juice and really awesome crepes for cheap! it was so nice! i just hung out and had fun with the girls...

afton and i enjoying our really awesome juices. mine is a combination of apple, lemon, and ginger juices... super tasty! it makes me want a juicer!

all of our pretty juices in a row! i´ve become a regular at bliss (so has chelsea) and we totally have our favorites. mine is the one on the closest end, and her´s is the green one. funny how i can recognize them! ivana´s drink is between mine and chelsea´s, and afton´s is on the end...

here´s the flamenco museum group! we´re all striking our best, most impressive sevillana poses (though mine is a little bit more flamenco-y...).

me enjoying the really awesome pair of flamenco shoes on display at the museum! they are seriously so huge. they could totally be used as a crib, which would be really funny and totally awesome... i´m considering it for my future...

a wonderful week of visitors!

alright, here's a photographic look at the past week. it was pretty great! i had some wonderful visitors come and see me here in spain over the thanksgiving holiday. my mom, dad, and kevin arrived on sunday afternoon, and it was insanely difficult to keep from jumping out of my skin! i was so excited for the their visit! they arrived on sunday and hung out until early saturday morning, when they left again to head home. we explored sevilla (many of you will already recognize places that have showed up in this blog previously) and then made our way over to madrid for a little bit of exploration (again, you've already seen pics because we didn't go anywhere that i hadn't already been). it was absolutely wonderful! i have no complaints about celebrating thanksgiving in spain with people i love (except that there was no turkey)... either way, here are the pictures complete with captions and descriptions. hope you enjoy!

first stop after their arrival was the hotel alfonso XII, sevilla's beautiful and luxurious hotel built in 1929 for the world's fair. i've walked past the hotel every day and i was so excited to go inside--especially as a guest and not a trespasser! after freshening up and dropping of their stuff, we all headed out for a walk around the town. i showed them all the sights: the cathedral, plaza nueva, puerta jerez, calle sierpes... we even made it over to CCCS! here's a picture of kevin and i in front of the doors to the cathedral.

after wandering around for a while, we made our way to CCCS! here's kev and i, sitting in the main room on the first floor of the center.

after visiting the center, i had to keep everyone up and moving so that they wouldn't succumb to the jet-lag. in order to keep them going, we walked around the city at night. we walked across the puente de san telmo over into triana (a neighborhood across the river). we then wandered around calle betis before crossing back over the river (this time on the puente de isabella II). this is a picture of the torre de oro as we made our way to cross the river.

a look at the puente de isabella II from the puente de san telmo. so pretty!

on our way back towards the center of town, we stopped outside the plaza de toros. here's kevin and i. i'm the toro, just in case you couldn't tell.

kevin in his most masterful matador pose. all he needs is the cape!

after we spent the afternoon wandering around, we headed to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner and then back to the hotel for bed! i, of course, was totally awake, but everyone else was beat. the next day (monday) we woke up and had a fabulous breakfast at the hotel (photos to come) before heading out to the cathedral. here's kevin with the remains of christopher columbus.

my favorite picture of the whole trip (kevin and i did the cool effects on the train to madrid). here we are in the orange tree patio, waiting to climb up the giralda.

two of my favorite things: kevin and the cathedral's bell tower, the giralda!

mom and i, hanging out on top of the giralda. the view was great, but the wind was strong and cold!

kev and i at the top of the giralda.

after our morning at the cathedral, we made our way across town to my house to have lunch with rosario and chelsea. it was unbelievable how much food rosario made! we had a huge feast! everyone filled up on the appetizers, thinking that they were the main course. man, was everyone really surprised to see a HUGE pan of paella come out. it was all so good, and it was nice to have these two parts of my fall come together.

a look at some of the appetizers...

the whole crew with our feast! another one of my favorites from the trip.

after lunch at rosario's, i had to dash off to class. i made it there just in time. everyone else got to take a nap (totally unfair). after i woke everyone up, we decided to talk a walk around the center at night. here's a picture of kevin and i at the cathedral at night.

on tuesday, we walked over to the plaza de espana, which was so beautiful! we wandered around the plaza and the park for the entire morning (after eating breakfast with chelsea and rosario at the hotel--another fun dining experience).

mom and dad in front of the museum of arts and customs. it's one of my favorite buildings in sevilla because the architecture is just so cool!

that night, we headed over to the tablao arenal for a flamenco show! the show was really impressive, and i was glad we went. here's kevin and i at our table, waiting for the show to start...

after the show, we had a late italian dinner at pizzeria de san marco--another one of my favorites!

here's the promised breakfast picture: wednesday, kevin and i decided to try to caviar. obviously, it was not a huge hit. i have to agree with his face. my dad described it tasting like salty, fishy worms, and i have to agree.

kevin in the plaster patio at the real alcazar. we spent the wednesday morning wandering through the alcazar, listening to the audio guide and getting our fill of arab-inspired architecture.

the whole gang!

a look at the awesome structure.

me, playing the part of the prince in the prince's bedroom.

kevin looking royal and king-like inside the gothic palace in the alcazar.

hmm... which one is better-looking? you vote...

hanging out in the gardens at the really cool duck pond!

picture in the gardens...

wow... it's so beautiful.

look! we're on the balcony overlooking both halves of the garden!

kevin and the really awesome billboard made of tile circa the 1930s.

i tricked kevin into taking a picture with this street performer. we were shopping down calle sierpes, and i got picture taken first (only it didn't turn out), so this is the one in the blog!

the streets at night after a rain shower... i was in class.

thursday morning, we hopped a train to madrid in order to hang out and enjoy the sights there. here's kevin, sipping his orange juice in our first class cabin.

hanging out on the AVE!

a look at the city from kevin's hotel room. it was right in the heart of downtown with lots of action and good shopping!

kevin and i snuck out while my parents were napping for some chocolate con churros. here's kevin's reaction to the awesomeness...

i do like chocolate con churros!

kevin and the puerta de alcala!

after the chocolate con churros, we headed down to the parque de buen retiro to hang out for a while and enjoy the gardens. it was a beautiful picture of fall tranquility.

kevin in his best seated statue pose. i was highly impressed.

well, i think we're pretty cute.

kevin and the really big pond... i tried to talk him into rowing me around in one of their rented boats, but he wasn't having it...

kevin and the fountain we dubbed spain's ole faithful... another awesome duck pond!

we stumbled upon this really awesome glass building!

glass building from another angle--so cool! we did actually go inside... not quite sure why those pictures didn't make it on here!

friday morning, we all headed over to the royal palace together. it was a crisp morning, and i think we were all happy to be out of the cold and in the palace. here's the church right next door.

mom, dad, and i in front of the palace!

again, kevin and i snuck out that afternoon for a little wandering of our own. here's our pit-stop at a fine american institution!

it was sooo nice to have american food--even crappy american food!

after we wandered, mom, kevin, and i headed over to the prado museum. kevin was a real trooper, putting up with my art history explanations for a full two hours. he gets an award for that one!

after we got back, kevin and i wandered up to the rooftop terrace. it was beautiful and there was no one out there because of the cold! we had a whole view of the city that was magnificent!

the empty terrace...

view of the street below from the terrace--the have their christmas lights turned on! how great is that?!

hugging on the terrace thanks to a camera timer and a table...

for our last meal in spain, the four of us went out to dinner at this beautiful little italian restaurant called garbo. the food was awesome and we had a great time. the waiters even gave my mom and i a rose at the end of the meal!

we had just been making fun of each other when this picture was taken, that's why our smiles are so big!

a last group photo! it was such a good week and i couldn't have asked for a better time.

oops! somehow this pictures got out of order. here are a few more from the plaza de espana... sorry about the mix-up!

kevin and the tiled map of agricultural spain... i thought it fitting.

parents, me, and the great big fountain!

a really cool picture on the really awesome bridge! the whole bridge is covered in gorgeous tiles (as i'm sure you can see). it's really neat.

a look at the plaza de espana. i just learned the other day that they filmed a scene from one of the newer star wars films here... i'm going to have to investigate!