Whoa-kay.

So, bad me, I haven't updated this in a while. Oops. >.>

Tuesday I went out with Paul, Michael, Kayla and some other people to a bar near Calle Betis, which is sort of nightlife hotspot. It's called Fundación, and is a--wait for it--a Mexican bar that tons of Americans go to, to play beer pong tournaments. It's pretty baller, ngl. Ladies get free sangria, which is super baller.

Anyway, it was a good night, I had a really good time. Wednesday morning was a bit of the suck getting up, but nonetheless, I feel I have a new Tuesday night thing. Hooray!

Erm...the week was uneventful. We had a debate on...Thursday? Maybe? about the new smoking law that bumped my participation grade up a little. Loudmouth for the win!

Also on Thursday we took a trip to Alcazar, which is the royal palace of Sevilla. It's sort of a hodgepodge of art and influences, but it's really gorgeous. It's free for students to go, and their gardens are lovely and perfect for studying on nice days. I'm looking forward to going back. I didn't take too many photos (only had phone, not camera, since I need batteries), but I'll post the ones  I have later on FB.

Anyway, on Friday, I got a care package from Mom (most excellent! <3 ) and ended up following a group of friends to a travel agency group, where they were planning a toured weekend package to Morocco...which I ended up signing up for. XD Totally impulsive, but it's the only trip (besides the one I'm thinking about taking to Scotland) I'm taking in Spain, so I'm really excited!!

The weekend was...really boring, not going to lie. I have a ton of homework to do. Blegh.


TTFN,
Morgan

Por and Para would be my "Khan" if they fit nicely into a dramatic shout. Alas, too many syllables.

Not all that much to report, which I suppose can be both a good and bad thing. XD 

I got my first grade back in my grammar class, on a 200 word composition. Got a 89%, which isn't awesome, but is okay. Messed up on por and para, see above for this entry.Took a quiz today that I feel pretty confident about. The only part I think I may have messed up on is giving directions, which...well, I fail at in my native language, so I don't see how that was going to improve. 

Anyway, *finally* going out with people tonight. Like, to an actual bar. Cue dancing penguin:

IRL Happy Feet is so cute. 

 

Had a minor moment of clothing roadblock, but both Mom and Amy helped make a pretty obvious decision. Yay for mothers and friends. <3

Right, okay, have to do my homework before dinner so that it...gets done at all. >.>

TTFN,

Morgan

Ruinas de Italíca, and international keyboards

Some background information before I jump into this:

I'm currently in the intensive period part of my program, which means that for two or three weeks (I can't remember which, and frankly, I don't care enough to go look) I only have two classes to worry about. One is every day, at an early nine am, and the other is only on Mondays at six pm. My daily class is my grammar class, and it's divided into two parts- the first, 9-11, and the rest, 11:30-12:45. We have a small, half-hour break to go and get a coffee, check our mail, scrounge for food, etc. 

My Monday class is, well, it's sort of irrelevant to this post, but it's Cultural Realities of Spain, if enquiring minds want to know. 

Anyway, the class that is most important is my every day class, mostly because...it's every day...yeah. With the information in hand, let's move on to more interesting things. Interesting things like...

Ruins. Everybody likes ruins! Except for people who are particularly boorish or uncultured, and to them I say, "You're entitled to your opinion, I guess, but for the record it blows, sir/madam."

Anyway, yesterday, we only had the first part of class, before we were divided into groups and sent to different locations. My group went to the Ruinas de Italíca, which are the ruins a smaller Roman town. It's like, 25 minutes away from the main city by bus, and really gorgeous. We went on a pretty spectacular day for it. 

Oh, oops, ok, I saw totally going to do this in one sitting, but I actually have to go get ready to go- tapas and movie tonight, maybe even a flamenco bar. We'll see. Update later. 

¡Hasta luego! 

Morgan

EDIT:

Okay, so tapas were a bust, but movie was a good as I remembered. After the movie, everyone who watched it went to Valor, which is an amazing chocolate place. We got churros with hot chocolate to dip them in.

Just as delicious as you think it is. 

Anyway, RUINS. There was  huge theater/stadium, where there were plays and gladiator events, and a small city. The floors of the houses were still pretty intact, and the mosaics were gorgeous. I have photos up on Facebook, and eventually I'll get them over here. My group had Philip and Stephanie in it, and they're really nice, so I hung out with them for the most part. 

So, yeah. I feel my confidence level boosting a little from the free fall it took when I first got here, which is nice. I'm a little more confident speaking in class, though I've developed a habit of wringing the end of my braid when I get called on. *shrug* 

I don't know if I'm going to go out tonight- I might, if Dharma texts me the location of a flamenco bar she may be going to. My phone's been a tad retarded lately when it comes to texts, so I really have no idea if I'll even get a text if she sends one. Ah well. I have the whole weekend. 

Buenas noches, readers,
Morgan

Foggy mornings in Sevilla make for cold days in Sevilla.

First, to my great disgust, it appears Meryl Streep, whom I love, is playing Margaret Thatcher in a film. For those of you who are American/have no clue what this means, Margaret Thatcher is basically the female version of Dick Cheney to Britain. Pretty much the whole of Britain, and especially Scotland, feel like this when it comes to her:

Shit is about to get real, yo. 

I mean, it's Meryl Streep, so I'm sure she'll do a phenomenal job, but I'm worried that the film is going to gloss over the fact that Thatcher may actually be a heartless robot programed to frighten children and eat kittens, or I don't know, something horrifyingly evil.

Immense Streep dismay aside, it is a cold day in Sevilla. It's foggy, chilly, and generally blegh. Walking over the bridge today, the whole of the main city was invisible due to the fog. Of course, this is the day that I decide not to wear my peacoat, due to how it's been hot in the afternoons. It's a good thing that I layer and all that.

Speaking of layering, I am probably the least fashionable person in the program. I don't mind it though- I'm comfortable, and getting myself dolled up for one class takes entirely too much effort.

Sevilla continues to be absolutely charming, though, and I really have no complaints. Well, okay, that's a lie, I have two and they are both blisters on my heels. However, I am myself to blame for those and not Sevilla, so they don't really count.

As for my language, I feel that everyday my comprehension gets a little better. I'm feeling a little braver when it comes to going into shops, etc. Small victories for the win!

Although, my habit of being a home body is starting to worry Carmen, I think. She keeps asking me if I'm going out at night, and I keep saying, No, Señora. Part of it is how tired I am all the time, and now I've got homework on top of that. Ah well. Maybe on the weekend I'll go out to appease her, and see what it's like at the bars, etc.

In conclusion, small victories, cafe con leche is goddamn delicious, and Panic! At The Disco has a new music video out.

I may or may not be kind of overly enthusiastic about posting .gifs, ngl. 

Sunday in Sevilla

Today is gorgeous, sunny and 63 degrees. Dharma (who went out last night) and I (who did not, but I fear maybe suffering from the vestiges of jetlag) slept in till noon, then went out for coffee at the Cerveceria 100  Montaditos, which is a great place. They serve a hundred different types of little sandwiches that range from 1-2.5 euros, and you can get coffee or beer. It's pretty neat.

Dharma and I met up with another girl from her school, Molly, and Jean, who's Molly's roommate, and a member of my CC-CS group. It was nice to sit and talk for a while.

Yesterday was interesting, though. Got up later than I probably should have, confidant that, since I had managed to make my way to CC-CS without a map, I would be okay to find a new place with one...alas, I was wrong. Managed to take a wrong street, and missed the bus tour that we were supposed to go on. It was cool, though, because a bunch of us missed it, so we all hung out and walked around the center of this city for a while.

I ended up walking a bit further than I expected to, which meant a long walk back to the house. Oh well.

Anyway, after the walk, I ate lunch and ended up passing out for four hours. >. > Not an exceedingly eventful day.

So, in lieu of interesting update, have a picture of the orange tree outside my bedroom window.

So pretty. However, not encouraged to actually eat due to sourness. Ah well. 

Now that that's over for the time being...

The down low on what's happened so far. I was going to just write it out, but I figure it'll be better to separate it by day.

WEDNESDAY:

 Dad and I drove up to JFK for my flight to Madrid. We were early for check in, which didn't open until 2:30, so we hung out in line, I got coffee for us, all was well. After checking in, we said our farewells, and I got going through security. There, I met several other girls from the program (whose names are going to have to wait until I learn them all...There was Lizzie, Karen, Kate, Abby...and that's all for now).

The flight from JFK to Madrid was long, sleepless, and hot, for some bizarre reason. I couldn't sleep because of how frickin' warm it was on the plane. It wasn't too bad, though, not nearly as bad as the hellish nine hour flight back from Hawaii. I reread Game of Thrones, which was good. I'm not sure where Anne is, but if she hasn't started the next one yet, we're at the same place. I can't remember if A Storm of Swords or A Clash of Kings is next. Pretty sure it's SoS, but I digress.

Madrid's airport is huge. BWI is tiny compared to it. Once off our JFK flight, we wove our way around the terminal, up and down floors, and through security again to get to our connection. I don't know if I could have done it by myself, which makes me so grateful for the other CC-CS people that I'd buddied up with.

THURSDAY

After landing in Sevilla, we got moving and promptly...waited until the bus came, roughly three hours later. Which felt long at the time but now doesn't seem so bad. After the bus came, we put out luggage on a truck, hopped on the bus, and made for the hotel in the city.

The hotel was really nice, but has an unusual way of lighting- the lights don't work unless you keep your keycard in a slot about the light switches, which...took some time, and maybe some assistance to figure out. My roommate for the hotel was actually a very nice girl I met at JFK whose flight was at a later time. She didn't arrive until late, I had the room to myself for a while.

After a short break, we made our way to the cafeteria for lunch (beefy mac and french fries?) and then were again left to our own devices until we had an intro meeting and then dinner.

After dinner, I took wonderfully long shower, shaved my gorilla legs, and then headed to bed.

FRIDAY:

Up at a glaring (and by glaring I mean pitch black seven am) for breakfast and then for a walking tour around Sevilla, to the Center. It's a gorgeous city, guys, absolutely stunning. Our tour guide/ Professor-at-the-Center Luis, was awesome.

Then, we took a placement test. And, oh man, do I never want to see the results of that test. I kind of want to send the people grading an apology note and maybe a fruit basket. D:

After the test, we made our way back the hotel, grabbed our bags, and headed off to our home stays. I ended up sharing a cab with a guy named Paul, who is my favourite right now, because he is awesome and sweet and totally saved me in the cab. I was dropped off first, and pushed some buttons until I found Carmen's apartment.

HOME STAY

Carmen is awesome. I don't think she thought I was going to be this crap at Spanish, but she's taken it in stride. She also is really confused why I study religion but also want to be a lawyer. She gave me some pretty weird looks, but she's very nice. Her mother lives with her as well, and she's nice as well, although very, very deaf.

My roommates are Dharma and Ryan. Dharma I haven't really interacted with so much, since she's sick and is in bed, but I ate lunch with Ryan, and he seems really nice. He helped me with translating when things got a little spotty.

So, to sum it up before I have to run.

Oh, hey, Spanish is harder than I thought, also why have I not memorized all of my verb conjugations, WAAAAAAI, also, woman VOCAAAAAAAAB.

In conclusion

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

So, about that.

*hyperventilates*

'Twas the night before Spain...

And I'm exhausted. Which I'm sort of grateful for, because usually I can't sleep at all when I know I'm going to be traveling. Everything's done though. Bags are packed, things are charged. I just hope I haven't forgotten anything important.

You would think, night before leaving and all, that there'd be more of a mix of emotions-- and for the most part, there are. The panic and fear of a new place and language are still there, but right now they're dulled by delightful sleepiness. I expect tomorrow they'll be back with a vengeance, especially when lugging around my heavy suitcases.

And so, dear readers, with exhaustion in mind, I bid you goodnight.