so my last real blog post took place on wednesday. that means that this blog has to cover a very eventful thrusday, friday, saturday, sunday, AND monday! yikes! that´s the only bad thing about a blog: i feel like i need to write about everything, because this will be my journal at the end of the semester and i want to remember everything!
thursday was a pretty good day. during the intensive period of class, we only have class until 11:00 am on thursdays because we take trips around the city in the afternoon. the intensive period at the center is a lot like janterm: i´m only taking 6 credits worth of class right now, but my 4-credit spanish class lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes every day. that´s a LONG time to try to pay attention and focus in puro español! fortunately, the entensive period ends next week (ay! so soon!), and then i´ll begin what CCCS calls the continuation period. during the continuation period, i´ll have three, 3 credit class and i´ll continue with both my 1 credit classes. so, after a few weeks, my entire schedule will change and i´ll have what looks like a normal semester. i´m excited for that!
anyways, during the intensive period here at CCCS, class ends at 11:00 am on thursdays so that we can take trips around the city of sevilla, exploring some of the cities most famous places. last thursday, i traveled to the itálica, which is a set of ancient roman ruins about 30 minutes outside 
of sevilla proper. the itálica is actually the first roman city established outside of italy, making it the first city in the roman empire. the city was absolutely beautiful! it had some lovely green gardens, which for spain is awesome! everything here is very brown--even more brown than eastern washington or southern idaho! in the itálica, there is a large ampitheater much like a mini-colleseum. during the height of it´s day, the ampitheater could seat 20,000 people and more than 2000 gladiators, prisoners of war, and other unfortunate people could die on a single day. it was incredible interesting. the area beneath the ampitheater where the ferocious animals were stored is well-preserved. you can see the lines designating where each cage should go. behind the ampitheater, the city began to extend outward towards the hills. every house in the itálica had a heating system and running water--pretty advanced for a city built about 200 years BC! the main street running through the city still has much of its original stone, and the sidewalks are perfectly in tact. our professor told us that it was forbidden for carts to run on the streets of the itálica, because there were so many people and it was too dangerous.
the houses in the itálica were quite large--at least, the houses belong to the rich were. we
saw some beautiful mosaic floors preserved from a very fine house. this house had two floors, an open air patio, and even a swimming pool! it was pretty impressive. i really enjoyed exploring and walking in another world. it´s so interesting to see how far one empire could extend. from italy, all the way to the south of spain! back out in the courtyard of the itálica, our teacher pointed out the lovely pathway leading from the street to the city: it was a gift from moussolini, the italian dictator who tried to create another roman empire. his gesture had been an acknowledgement of this place as rome´s first real expansion and, as he was buddies with the spanish dictator, franco, the gift only seemed appropriate. very interesting...
of sevilla proper. the itálica is actually the first roman city established outside of italy, making it the first city in the roman empire. the city was absolutely beautiful! it had some lovely green gardens, which for spain is awesome! everything here is very brown--even more brown than eastern washington or southern idaho! in the itálica, there is a large ampitheater much like a mini-colleseum. during the height of it´s day, the ampitheater could seat 20,000 people and more than 2000 gladiators, prisoners of war, and other unfortunate people could die on a single day. it was incredible interesting. the area beneath the ampitheater where the ferocious animals were stored is well-preserved. you can see the lines designating where each cage should go. behind the ampitheater, the city began to extend outward towards the hills. every house in the itálica had a heating system and running water--pretty advanced for a city built about 200 years BC! the main street running through the city still has much of its original stone, and the sidewalks are perfectly in tact. our professor told us that it was forbidden for carts to run on the streets of the itálica, because there were so many people and it was too dangerous.the houses in the itálica were quite large--at least, the houses belong to the rich were. we
saw some beautiful mosaic floors preserved from a very fine house. this house had two floors, an open air patio, and even a swimming pool! it was pretty impressive. i really enjoyed exploring and walking in another world. it´s so interesting to see how far one empire could extend. from italy, all the way to the south of spain! back out in the courtyard of the itálica, our teacher pointed out the lovely pathway leading from the street to the city: it was a gift from moussolini, the italian dictator who tried to create another roman empire. his gesture had been an acknowledgement of this place as rome´s first real expansion and, as he was buddies with the spanish dictator, franco, the gift only seemed appropriate. very interesting...after returning to the center of town, chelsea and i booked it home for lunch, and then i booked it back to the center for dance class. dance class is going well. our professor actually danced the dance that we are learning, and man, is it beautiful! it´s not pure flamenco, as the flamenco is incredibly challenging and requires an extraordinary amount of skill, but it´s pretty close. i´m excited to be able to go out to the discotecas and dance the sevillana with my classmates--that is, after all, our final. after dance class, chelsea and i met up with some friends from the center 
(rachel, sophie, and kyle). together, we all walked across the guadalquivir river (the river that runs through the middle of sevilla) over to the musuem of modern art. it was my first time crossing the river, and it was so beautiful. i had a great view of the city and of the buildings constructed specifically for the world´s fair. the museum was a 30-minute walk from the center, and it is located in an old, gorgeous monastery. the monastery was like a maze! it was so confusing trying to find the specific exhibit we wanted! finally, thanks to the help of some kind spainards, we found the exhibit. it was a fabulous modern photography exhibit examining la humanidad (humanity). the photos were so interesting, and we spent quite a while wandering around. finally, we decided to leave, but we got sidetracked by a beautiful cathedral in the middle of the monastery. there were in the middle of restoring the largest room, but the rest of the building was covered in colorful tiles and beautiful, ornate cielings. i was really impressed--quite a lovely surprise!
(rachel, sophie, and kyle). together, we all walked across the guadalquivir river (the river that runs through the middle of sevilla) over to the musuem of modern art. it was my first time crossing the river, and it was so beautiful. i had a great view of the city and of the buildings constructed specifically for the world´s fair. the museum was a 30-minute walk from the center, and it is located in an old, gorgeous monastery. the monastery was like a maze! it was so confusing trying to find the specific exhibit we wanted! finally, thanks to the help of some kind spainards, we found the exhibit. it was a fabulous modern photography exhibit examining la humanidad (humanity). the photos were so interesting, and we spent quite a while wandering around. finally, we decided to leave, but we got sidetracked by a beautiful cathedral in the middle of the monastery. there were in the middle of restoring the largest room, but the rest of the building was covered in colorful tiles and beautiful, ornate cielings. i was really impressed--quite a lovely surprise!upon leaving the art museum, we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes for a bus to arrive. when we finally hopped on, we were really sure where we needed to get off, and we ended up getting off waaay early! instead of hopping back on another bus, we opted to walk back towards the city: a really good choice. we walked through some beautiful areas of sevilla, past old buildings and gorgeous gardens. it was really nice to explore, as i feel like i still haven´t had much of an opportunity to do so. by this time, the sun had set and all of the buildings were lit up, making the walk really really enjoyable. after about 45 minutes of walking, we were glad to find our bus stop and return home! i have been walking so much! i mean, it´s europe, so that´s to be expected, but i´ve been surprised at how tired my legs are at the end of every day! i sleep really well because i never quite make it to bed before 11:00 pm (i mean, we don´t even eat dinner until 10:00 pm) and i wake up every morning at 7:00 am to begin my day. on top of that, i haven´t really been able to take advantage of spain´s fabulous siesta--which makes the days very exhausting.
friday was finally a day for relaxing! chelsea and i had class (as usual) until 12:45. aftewards, we walked around the center of town for a while and finally made it home around 2:00. we ate lunch with our host mom, rosario, who is incredibly sweet and a pretty amazing cook. after lunch, i took a good, long spanish siesta! man, did it feel good. we didn´t really have any plans for the night, but we decided that we wanted to head back into town and do some more exploring of the center. we walked around for a while, and everything was so beautiful! it was all lit up for the night, and the streets were alive and hopping with people. we grabbed a seat at an outdoor cafe and had dinner. the food was pretty good, though definitely not as good as rosarios. we enjoyed chatting and people watching. we ended up sitting outside for about two hours. then, sophie and rachel called, so we headed back up towards nervión (our neighboorhood) where we met them at a bar and spent another hour or two just talking and enjoying the spanish life. after a while, sophie and rachel decided to head downtown, and chelsea and i went home to pack for portugal! it was incredibly nice to finally get a chance to relax and breathe on friday, and i´m already looking forward to this friday, when i know i will have the same opportunity... here are some more pictures of sevilla--as you can see, it´s really beautiful!
plaza de toros (bullfighting ring) in the center of sevilla. i´m going to see a bullfight sometime this week, and i´m excited to actually see the inside of this ring. it looks small from the outside, but it supposedly seats 12,000, so i guess we´ll see...
sevilla from across the guadalquivir rivier. you can´t seem many buildings, but it is really beautiful. the building with the tower is an old palace (i think...)
me in front of the HUGE cathedral in the center of spain. they have these carriages everywhere, and i can´t wait to take a ride in them (though i´m going to try and hold out until have some visitors...)
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