Flamenco Video

My Birthday In Sevilla!

Yesterday was my twenty first birthday, and my first birthday away from my twin, Shelby. Though it was difficult it wasn't quite as difficult as I was expecting, because I had so much to keep me busy.... I know at the very least my mother will be curious of what I did for my birthday in Spain so here it is.

Unfortunately one of my first steps onto the streets of Sevilla was right into a pile of dog poo. I'm going to take it as a sign of good fortune...like rain on your wedding day. haha. I managed to remove all traces of the event during my ten minute walk to school as I scraped my foot with the pavement with every step. My spanish class consisting of about 16-20 students sang Happy Birthday to me in broken spanish. After class my wonderful roommate, Kati, took me out for a cup of cafe con leche in a cafe where she and I are now regulars. :)





After my little coffee break my roommate and I returned to our temporary home with Carmen for a birthday fiesta. My Spanish mama is very good friends with her neighbor across the hall, Maria Jose. Maria Jose is also hosting Texas Tech Students in her home which is where I had my spanish fiesta! We had a dish native to Spain, paella. Paella as far as I can tell primarily consists of chicken, shrimp, peppers, and rice. Carmen also made a delicious cake to celebrate my birthday. My birthday song was sung in both Spanish and English. It was quite humorous when the host mothers sang the English version.... " Happy Baby do jew!" I can only imagine what I am saying in Spanish... :/

After I feasted I would have usually taken a small siesta, but on Mondays and Thursdays I have to leave right after lunch for English class. Ironic that while living in Spain I am taking an English class, but in order to fulfill graduation requirements I needed one more English class and this one happens to be Creative/Travel writing. After this night class a couple of friends and myself went out to have dinner on the streets of Sevilla. We ate at a Restaurante called El Cordobes.

After dinner we walked mere minutes to a red door that houses a flamenco dancing performace everynight at 10:30. It was a very small venue, but it had so much character. Unfortunately the flash on my camera was being disobedient so I don't have much aside from my own memory to capture the moment. The place had a lot of very unusual, yet beautiful, artwork on the wall. It was very small which made the performace more of an intimate experience, and was suggested to my friends and I by a couple of local students from the University of Seville. A part of the program allows us to speak with University students about three times a week to provide us with insights into the city we can't get from our host families here in Sevilla as well as a little extra practice speaking the language. This is definitely a place I plan to visit frequently in the hopes of a better seat near the performers. It was an excellent way to celebrate my birthday! (below I have attempted to upload a video from the performance. Only a small clip that doesn't give a good enough representation for how wonderful the night, the performers, and the location actually were.)

A COUPLE OF PHOTOS OF MY EXPERIENCES IN SEVILLA

My first picture in Sevilla: The Giralda Tower

We made a group trip to the Cathedral where Colombus is buried and to this tower which is connected to the Cathedral.

My group of Travelers with a great view of the city at night behind us.

(from left: me, Jennifer Jasso, Rachel Ray, and Lauren McVay)

Rachel and Lauren right after we got our passports stamped! So exciting!

Being adventurous right after we arrive in Sevilla, but we were only brave enough to wander a couple of blocks from our hotel.

This is the Texas Tech University Center in Seville. It occupies the top floor of this pinkish building. Very small campus, but it's right in the middle of the city!

I got lucky and got an awesome roommate ,Kati. This is her on our first day of class and in the background is what we get to see every morning on our way to school.

This was our first dinner in our host homes. Kati tried a clam, as did I! That's our mama, Carmen in the background.

I got a little homesick for Starbucks so this is my friend Chelsea who took me out for cafe con leche!

"Downtown" Seville: I just love this picture, and can't believe I get to see things like this every day!

Who on earth would leave this place!

Class field trip to the Guadalquiver River and the Torre del Oro. We had to find our own way to the Torre to meet for class. My group was the last to arrive. We were lost for about 40 minutes!

This is from when we got lost going home. This is in the Maria Luisa Park. There are some ladies that allow you to buy bird feed for only 1 Euro.

My mama, Carmen, making a gran paella for my roommate's birthday!

This is Mercedes, she is the adopted grand daughter of Carmen. She is over everyday for lunch. Pretty sad when a 18 month old can understand Spanish better than me.

Again, this is in the Maria Luisa Park where the birds hang out.

This was taken on Kati's birthday during her fiesta

(from left: me, Jennifer, Shelly, and Kati)

This was taken in Italica. It was a group excursion my school made that was only a 25 minute bus ride from Sevilla. It is a city of ancient Roman Ruins. This specific picture is of the theatre which actually holds a few performances during the summer. Of course this is the only photo I was able to get, because like a fool I forgot my camera in the bus during the tour of the actual city!

It was raining in Seville this day!

Spanish culture: I took this at a bar/cafe. In Sevilla it's a way to tell if it's a good bar. If there are lots of napkins and trash on the floor: go in. If not: it's a terrible bar and nobody goes there. A little backwards if you ask me. I instinctively started picking up a couple of napkins on my first visit thinking I was helping out by cleaning up a little. Apparently what I was doing was making them look like an unpopular bar to visit. haha.

A Delayed Hello!

I am finally living in Spain!

I've been in school for about two weeks now and I've been living with my host family a little longer than that. I can't believe it has been that long... time is flying! Allow me to fill you in on my journey to Seville. Boy did it have its challenges. All starting with checking my luggage at the Lubbock International Airport. I was so proud of myself for packing everything I would need for four months and three seasons into two suitcases. But...when I go to check them in the very unfriendly old man at the counter informed me both my bags were ten pounds overweight. I had the choice of either removing the weight or pay $100 per bag. Obviously I chose to eliminate the weight. Right there in the middle of the airport I was forced to remove twenty pounds of luggage. Painful cuts were made. I encountered my next problem when I arrived in the Boston Airport. Our plane was over an hour late arriving to Boston which gave us practically no time to get to our new gate that was a bus ride away from our arriving terminal. We also had to get new tickets printed at the check in station and go through security for a second time. During the hussle of things the lady at the check-in stole my passport case that I had recieved only a few days prior from my parents. Que triste! We made it to the plane with no time AT ALL to spare. The next problem arrived upon my arrival in Sevilla. One of my bags did not make the plane! I had to file a claim which proved an interesting experience with my limited language skills, but the woman assured me it would be delivered to my hotel. We travel straight from the airport to our hotel just in time for orientation. The next night my suitcase was delivered, but the problem was it was delivered with one of it's wheels missing and a huge chunck of the suitcase had gone missing with it. This made transporting my luggage very entertaining...for everybody else! One last problem was introduced just after the delivery and discovery of my suitcase and its injuries: My wallet was gone! I was stressed! We had been to several places in Seville the day before, but my wallet was not neccessary for any of these things. I had only removed it from my purse once. Naturally I returned to this store where I had removed it, but was told that they hadn't seen it. The people at the store had little interest in helping and didn't even appear to look for the wallet when I asked. The crazy thing is that the next day my host mother recieved a call from the hotel and they told her that an envelope of money had been delivered to the hotel for one of her students. After the twenty minutes of internet translations I discovered what she was saying: My wallet had been found!!! Pure miracle! Thank heavens I have so many people praying for me! Since the discovery of my wallet I have encountered little trouble in Spain!

I LOVE THIS PLACE!