Semana Santa Adventures

Sorry this is a little delayed! These next couple of days I will probably have a couple posts trying to catch myself up again. The semester of classes is now officially OVER! People have started to leave to travel elsewhere and I have some friends who are already home. While this chapter of our lives is coming to a close, I still have about 2 weeks left, and am still hanging out in Spain until Friday.

My Semana Santa trip consisted of 7 people, 7 days, my 1 backpack and 4 flights. It was quite an experience, ha, but we had the time of our lives! This entire week was full of us doing stereotypical tourist stuff. It was pretty ridiculous, haha, but we had fun while we were at it and we got to visit three different countries that none of us had been to before. :) I'll just start from the beginning...

First, we went to Germany - we flew into Weeze airport and took a van to Dusseldorf which was about an hour away. When we originally booked our flight to "Dusseldorf" through RyanAir, we did not realize that it did not fly directly into Dusseldorf. So this nice man ended up taking us, for fairly cheap, directly to our hotel. There were seven of us, though, and only six available seats. He wanted four of us girls to cram together on the three-seater back portion of the van, but I'm pretty sure it was made for more like two people, so that didn't work. Basically, when it all came down to it, I spent the hour long trip sitting on the floorboard between two captain style seats, and this is how our trip began...talk about our own "Eurotrip." We literally all felt as if we were on Eurotrip, and, as we've said all along, we need a camera following us around throughout our adventures. Ha.

We were in Dusseldorf for two nights. We flew in late one night, had a full day and then another half of a day before our next flight. We got to Dusseldorf the first night...walked around a bit only to find most likely the ONLY Mexican restaurant in town, and of course we had to stop there. So, we spent our first night in Germany drinking margaritas - is that Texan enough for ya? The next day we woke up fairly early and went exploring. We found the shopping district (of course) and saw the river and parks. We also went up into the Rhine Tower which gave some gorgeous views of the city and distant countryside.

This is the German car we found that we felt like was very stereotypical and so cute!

This is the river/park area that runs through the shopping district in Dusseldorf. There were all kinds of upscale shops throughout Dusseldorf...it was actually a really nice town, and definitely somewhere I never would have gone if RyanAir didn't fly there - ha. This is probably the case with most of the places I visited this trip. 

Honky Tonk Hugo cracked us up and gave us a little "hometown" feel. He also asked us if we "Sprechen sie Deutsch," so apparently he mistook us for Germans, and, like I've said before, it's always a compliment if someone doesn't immediately know that we're from America.

This is along another river/canal right before we went up into the Rhine Tower.

View from the Rhine Tower

A typical German meal - bratwurst and a beer. :)

I had to find something with my name on it since I was in my native country! Haha...this was the closest I could find.

Next stop: Edinburgh, Scotland, and oh boy did we fall in love! We were in Edinburgh for the same amount of time, but we got there a little earlier on our first night in town. I never would have imagined that I would like Scotland, much less Edinburgh, as much as I did. It was not only, by far, my favorite city on this trip, but one of my favorites throughout the entire semester!

:)

This is the GrassMarket area that we stayed in. I would recommend it to anyone! It was the perfect location with all kinds of cute pubs and restaurants and was close to the Edinburgh Castle.

This was our first night in Edinburgh in a small pub by our hostel. We danced with the locals at a Scottish pub - it doesn't get more authentic than that! I think this was one of the reasons we liked Scotland so much...we definitely started off on the right foot.

Just me holding up the Edinburgh Castle

Our group of seven - five girls and two guys (poor guys, but they put up with us pretty well for 7 days!)

This was the beginning of the Royal Mile. A mile of shops, restaurants and pubs in Edinburgh.

This is a view looking down the Royal Mile

Like I said...stereotypical tourist stuff - haha. :)

The Edinburgh Palace - this marks the end of the Royal Mile

This was at the bottom of the hike before Arthur's Seat. We literally sat on these hills and just hung out for a while - it's the little things like these that I'm going to miss so much. It was so relaxing and something we would never do in the States. It was GORGEOUS! It kind of reminded me of the Sound of Music.

After our hike to the top of Arthur's Seat - loved the view.

This was the beginning of our ghost tour that we took one night through Edinburgh. It was too funny and creepy as well. We went down into the vaults underground and everything, but this is just the beginning when our tour guide was giving a demonstration of how they used to torture the citizens of Edinburgh back in the day - and used one of our friends as an example, of course.

The Scott Memorial

At the top of Calton Hill

Wreck 'em Tech!

This is Arthur's Seat that we climbed - the view of the acutal hill/mountain from a distance.

Next stop: Dublin, Ireland. We stayed in Dublin for three nights so we had a little extra time there.

This is the Dublin Castle

I loved the inside of the chapel at the Dublin Castle - it was so pretty and quaint.

St. Patrick's Cathedral...

and the gorgeous tulips in front of it. :)

We went to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin! It was actually really interesting and cool. We learned all about how Guinness is made and a lot about its history. I loved the way the storehouse is set up.

We also got to each pour our own "Perfect Pint" :)

We went on a day trip through the Irish countryside. Our first stop was on an authentic Irish farm that an Irish family still keeps in service.

This was our tour guide on the farm. It was actually his family's farm that is still in business. He is telling us about this tree that people tie a piece of themselves to (usually fabric of some sort) as a way to leave their worries in Ireland.

This is Granny's cottage that was on the farm. We got to eat some of her homemade apple pie - it was to die for. :)

These are the little baby lambs that we got to feed...they were precious!

Cliffs of Moher on the coast of Ireland

 They were actually in one of the Harry Potter movies and the Princess Bride.

I love this photo of the tulips and the little barn in the background. We took this trip at the PERFECT time of year! All of the flowers were blooming and we had gorgeous weather - not a drop of rain, which apparently is very unusual for Ireland.

Okay...that's about all for my Semana Santa trip. I loved it all and had a blast - we all did! It was so much fun, but it was also exhausting. We saw a lot of sites, though, and enjoyed ourselves. :) I should have another blog or two up today or tomorrow. Then I head to Italy to start my journey home!

I'll be in Texas in less than two weeks - counting down the days. :)

Abrazos,

Paige

The End is Near!

Hola,

I am hanging out at my home after a hot and sunny day at the river. We leave for our Semana Santa trip tomorrow. Seven of us are going to Germany, Scotland and Ireland together - it's our last trip! I am so excited to visit three different countries in seven days, but I think it's going to be exhausting.

I wanted to share a little bit about Semana Santa. Semana Santa is "Holy Week" in English. It always occurs during the week prior to Easter. I really don't even know how to explain it - it's near unexplainable. My host brother works for Semana Santa, as his job, others are just members of the brotherhoods and participate in the events. The brotherhoods and participants of Semana Santa have been practicing for the past month, so we've become more familiar with it that way. They are supposed to be anonymous and wear head-to-toe coverings during the actual processions. There is a specific smell and sound to Semana Santa that we have come to know. The smell is of incense and the sky becomes hazy with all of the smoke from the incense. The sound is of the music that is played. It is mournful, depressing, and off-tune (on purpose). This is about as well as I can describe the scene. It is a very important event for many - some for religious reasons and others for tourist reasons. Some hate it because of the way the crowds take over the town. Sevilla gains an immense amount of people during this week. The processions take place through the small roads in the "center" of town and they become packed solid with people. My host brother has told us about how his girlfriend, who is petite, has literally been picked up to where her feet were unable to touch the ground because of the huge crowd of people pushing and shoving in such a small area.

I figured I would share a couple of pictures and a video - hopefully the video works. I don't think there's really any other way to understand the Semana Santa scene.

Semana Santa in Sevilla

That link should be to a 10 minute Youtube video that I thought gave a pretty good representation of Semana Santa.

Ha. I wish I could see some of your reactions to this. Our brother has one solid white outfit and one solid black outfit although I'm not exactly sure why. He tried on the white mask/hat for us one day at lunch. Then I guess he brought home the black one and decided he would try it on completely for us. Our bedroom door opens towards my bed, so I am the first person seen when the door is open...the door has to be open all the way to see Kelsie. This particular night, our bedroom door was shut, so he knocked on the door and cracked it open and peeked in with his FULL black outfit, hat and all, so all I could see were his eyes...talk about creepy. I don't fully understand the outfits or the morbid music, but this week is a very interesting and passionate week for many people in Seville. I have had the opportunity to watch numerous videos of Semana Santa processions because of my brother and at my book store. We will not be in town for any of the actual Semana Santa events, but I am somewhat glad. I do not think I would like the mass amount of people that flock to Sevilla throughout this week.

Everything is still amazing in Sevilla! It is starting to become a little depressing around here knowing we only have so much time left together. We only have five days of classes left, and then a few days to hang out together after that before everyone starts leaving.

I forgot to mention in my last post that when my parents were in town they got to meet my host family! I wish I had a picture of it...it was so much more fun than I expected it to be. I was initially concerned and stressed out at the idea of me having both of my parents, who barely speak a lick of Spanish, meet my host family, who barely speaks a lick of English. Just the concept of having to translate and comprehend that many people talking to each other back and forth gave me a headache, but it was actually very fun! :) My mom and host mom got along GREAT, even with the language barrier. They are both outgoing and crazy and I have said from day one that my host mom reminds me of my real mom. After their meeting my host mom even said that she thinks my mom and her could be great friends - ha. I loved it! My dad enjoyed it too and both my mom and dad seemed to get their points across with a little bit of help from me - of course. :) Overall, it was one of the highlights of my week with my parents, and I think it was one of my parents' most exciting moments in Sevilla too.

I FINISHED MY INTERNSHIP AT THE BOOK STORE! I am so relieved. It was a great experience and I am so glad I did it, but it is a bit of weight lifted off of my shoulders now that I don't have to stress about working and getting enough hours.

I received an Easter package from my mom yesterday! I have a picture of it on my phone, but not on my computer - bummer. It was so cute! She sent me, a few of my girlfriends, and my host mom different O.P.I. nail polish colors from the Texas line that O.P.I. came out with this semester. They are so cute, and so fun, of course, being related to Texas and all. :) I guess that's the last package I'll receive this semester - how bittersweet!

If you had asked me three weeks ago if I was ready or wanted to go back to Texas the answer would have been, "No!" Now that a few more weeks have passed I am becoming more and more ready and getting excited to get home and see everyone. I would still say I am not completely ready to leave Spain, but I think once the time comes I will be. Although, I do think after a week or two in Texas I'll be ready to come back, ha. I can't WAIT to have Mexican food on the way home from the airport in Dallas. It will be my most-cherished meal in four months. I'm going to savor every bite, and I will NEVER take Mexican food, tacos or iced tea for granted EVER again.

That's about it for now...I just wanted to give an update before I had a ton to tell about my trip to three different countries in seven days. Sorry I didn't have any personal pictures to update y'all with, but I'm sure I'll have plenty, and then some, once I get back from this trip! Also, just keep me in your thoughts while I'm trying to pack tomorrow and fit SEVEN days worth of clothes, for fairly chilly weather, into ONE backpack. It will be a miracle. I'll definitely have to take pictures. :)

Hope all is well in Texas! I love hearing from everyone every-so-often, and soon enough, I'll be home and everyone will be able to contact me by phone at any point in time...WOOHOO. What a concept.

Love to you all!

XOXO
Paige

Gran Canaria - Sunshine, Foreigners and Good Times

Second blog post in two days, and I'm all caught up! YAY!

Hello again,

I just got back from spending five days in Gran Canaria! It was SO. MUCH. FUN. I aboslutely loved it, but, as my boss pointed out today, I love every place I go. I know - I just love traveling. Talk about being my mother's daughter.

Anyways, Gran Canaria (aka The Canary Islands) are islands off the coast of Africa, more or less, that are Spanish property. They are home to the highest point in Spain - a volcano. Therefore, the sand on the beaches at Gran Canaria is much more black than I have ever seen...because it is from the volcanic rock.

We had a long weekend this weekend and were off of school Thursday, Friday and Monday, so my friends and I claimed this as more of our "type" of spring break and enjoyed the beach for five days. We arrived on Wednesday night and didn't do much because our flight got in late. Our hotel was actually very nice. It was fully equipped with a little kitchen and had a nice pool too!

View of our pool at night from our balcony

On Thursday we all got up fairly early, went and bought food and drink supplies to get us through the day, and headed to the beach which was just a short 10 minute walk from the hotel.

We actually did use our kitchens while we were there. We enjoyed cooking, in general, and things that we enjoy, and at this point we'll do just about anything to save money - ha. We're all becoming broke now that the semester is coming to an end!

Our pasta meal one night

Breakfast burritos - potatoes with onions, bacon, cheese, eggs and salsa that tasted like BBQ sauce - WIN

One of our new favorite places brought our cute little drinks out with sparklers in them.

All of the girls

One of our new favorite places

The scenery around the island was gorgeous and it's amazing to me how there are so many places with huge mountains right next to gorgeous beaches and the ocean. I had never witnessed anything like this until this semester, and I love it.

There were all kind of nationalities in G.C., but I think we were by far the only Americans found on the entire island. People were amazed that we were from America and no one ever guessed that was where we were from. Some thought we were German and others thought we were English. It was pretty entertaining, and almost flattering, considering in Sevilla people know we're American when we breathe.

We didn't do much sight-seeing around G.C. It almost makes me feel unproductive in that we didn't do ANYTHING but lay around the beach and by the pool, eat good American-like food and hang out together at night. I think it comes from us doing so much traveling and sight-seeing with The Center that when we get a chance to get a way for a beach vacation...all we want to do is sit back and relax, and that we did - without a worry in the world...

Until about 20 minutes before our return flight to Sevilla, of course. We got to the airport a good two hours early or so because our flight was at 5:20, but the gate closed at 4:50 and we had to be out of our hotel by 1 p.m. After we arrived we tried to find the RyanAir help desk where we usually have to go, as non EU citizens, to show our passport and get our boarding passes stamped. We couldn't find the RyanAir counter and even asked some really important security guard/government looking men - they said we didn't need it. We sat around for a while at Starbucks (yes, at this point, we will pretty much jump on any American-like opportunity in food/drink consumption). Then we went and were about the second group in line for boarding.

Once they STARTED boarding the plane, we finally got confirmation that we DID need the stupid stamp on our boarding passes, but oh, even better, the RyanAir counter is now outside of security, down stairs and on the other side of the airport. Here begins our own version of "Vegas Vacation" when nine of us started SPRINTING through the Gran Canaria airport.

All of us had our one allotted carry-ons that we stuffed five days worth of clothes into. Personally, my backpack was LITERALLY about to bust at the seams. So...there we are sprinting through the airport...making it to the RyanAir counter, some of us sliding into it. One lady was working and had to stamp all of our boarding passes. I took my shoes off this time, and proceeded to sprint back up the stairs and through security over to the end of the plane boarding line.

We made it! But then we had the stress of whether or not they were going to tell us our bags were too big. Those of us with backpacks have never been hassled before because, typically, if you have a bag on your back they aren't going to bother you. Then...there was me with my almost-seam-ripping backpack who got stopped, after I was drenched in sweat and huffing and puffing from my sprint back-and-forth through the airport. THANKFULLY, there was a man with a suitcase larger than me that he was trying to carry on so the baggage check guy got distracted and was suddenly unconcerned with my almost-seam-ripping backpack. Whew, we officially made it on the plane and were all fanning ourselves with our, now, stamped boarding passes. Vegas Vacation meets Gran Canaria? If only someone could have been recording us...or if only someone had been recording our lives for the past three months. I think that could have served as prime entertainment, but it's a little late now.

Now we're back in Sevilla for a couple of weeks until Semana Santa hits. Then we're heading to Germany, Scotland and Ireland where we will definitely be doing some sight-seeing. Our relaxing vacation is over and we'll be back on our educational Eurotrip soon enough. :) Ha.

Only two more weekends left in Sevilla, one month exactly left in Sevilla as of today, only 12 more days of classes left and 40 days until I'm home in Texas! Let the bittersweet countdown begin.

All my love to Texas,

Paige

Madrid and More...and more and more and more

*Sidenote: I started writing this post PRIOR to my Gran Canaria trip, but I'm going to finish this one and THEN move on to G.C. I'm catching up...no worries!*

Hola :)

Spring break just passed and my PARENTS WERE HERE! It was so much fun having them here with me, and it was definitely a nice touch of home - just what I needed. My parents ended up getting in town pretty late on Friday night, so I just met up with them and we went to dinner and then started our adventures in Sevilla on Saturday. We pretty much just walked around Sevilla and enjoyed the atmosphere of the city. I think they quickly realized that Spanish food isn't so great - ha - welcome to my life! On Sunday, the rain really began. It rained practically the whole time my parents were in Spain except for the last two days. I was really disappointed because Sevilla has gorgeous weather 90% of the time! I don't think my parents believed me that we actually do have sunshine in Spain, lol.

We decided to go to a town called Rhonda on Sunday. Minus the cold and rain - it is a cute little town with some BEAUTIFUL views!

Rhonda is one of the many "Pueblos Blancos" (white villages) in the Andalucian area of Spain

We returned to Sevilla later Sunday afternoon and had an amazing Italian meal at a cute little, vintage-like, Italian restaurant that was right near the Giralda. That was definitely one restaurant I'll have to visit again before I leave! On Monday, my parents and I did some more sight-seeing and shopping around Sevilla and then that night all of my friends, my family and Kelsie's family went to dinner at a restaurant that used to be old Arab baths. It was a great atmosphere, we had a room to ourselves and another amazing meal that was kind of my birthday celebration in Sevilla. Of course we discovered all of these restaurants I had never been to when my parents were here.

Not the best picture, but it gives the idea of the cute restaurant with our private room.

The next day was my birthday - 21, woooo - and what did we do? We rode in a bus all. day. long. I'm not complaining though. It was a good day regardless and I got to spend it with some of my favorite people. We stopped at a castle on our way to Toledo, Spain.

Such pretty countryside views of Spain! :)

Before we made it to Toledo, we stopped in another small town and got to see lace being made. It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen and made me think of my Grammy!

If you're familiar with Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes - these are the windmills that are said to have been those in this "Claim to Fame" Spanish story.

A little view of Toledo, Spain from our hotel - where I spent the night of my 21st birthday.

Birthday dinner - ON my birthday in Toledo with my sweet Momma :)

A bunch of my friends after dinner outside of another cute little restaurant. Yes, we pretty much just hung out and ate good meals while my parents were here, but I could ask for nothing more.

Aqueducts in Segovia where we experienced our out-of-the-blue SNOW STORM. It was freezing cold, raining, snowing and none of us were prepared or dressed for the weather. Ha. Needless to say, it was a calm day mostly indoors.

Dad and I in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid on his birthday!

There were tons of street entertainers all around the city of Madrid. My favorite, though, was when we got to see some getting ready for the day.

That pretty much sums it up for Madrid and my parents' visit to Spain. We visited other sites and I absolutely LOVED Madrid. It is like the New York City of Spain, and we all know NYC is one of my favorite places. :) The last couple of days my parents were in Spain they got to see some gorgeous weather, but I do wish the weather had been better while we were in Sevilla. Overall it was a fabulous trip and perfect timing for some family time. I had an amazing birthday and am so blessed that I got to spend it with some of my favorite people. Although, we were definitely missing some!

Once we got back to Seville, we had some perfect weather for going to the river, so here are some fun "rio pics."

Although the river may not be the most glamorous thing in Sevilla, it will be one of my most-missed places. 

That's it for this blog post, but, like I said, I should be getting another one together to catch myself back up and tell all about my trip to Gran Canaria!

Besos,

Paige

Carnaval en Cádiz

I survived Carnaval! Ha. Carnaval is a carnival (go figure) in Cádiz, a town on the beach that I have mentioned before. It is a mixture of Halloween and Mardis Gras in the United States, so you can only imagine what it was like.

We went with a company in Sevilla, WeLoveSpain, that caters to students in Sevilla (particularly Americans). They had a trip that we paid for which included a bus ride to and from Carnaval with a bocadillo and a beverage. It ended up being mainly Texas Tech students from our program on our bus, so that made it really fun!

Here's most of our Texas Tech group while waiting on the bus before leaving Sevilla.

The entrance to Carnaval was all lit up and it then takes you to a certain section of the town where the carnival takes place. There were various concerts in different plazas and lots of food stands set up all throughout the streets with everything from cotton candy and candy apples to grilled hot dogs. A lot of the streets were decorated with lit up Carnaval decorations. The streets were packed solid with people and it was just one big...party. There really wasn't anything more to it (that we saw, at least). We were kind of afraid to wander off too far because we knew where we were supposed to meet the bus to catch our ride home and we didn't have a map or anything to show us how to get back, so we just walked as far as our mental maps could take us.

Here's a view of the streets in Cádiz...it was pretty insane but so much fun!

The costumes were crazy and so much better than your typical American Halloween costumes - everyone went ALL OUT. I loved it. My group went for something a little more easy/cheap for us. We dressed up as Las Animales de Fiestas, or Party Animals, or animals with party hats on - ha. :) 

Here's a pic of the Party Animals. There were quite a few guys dressed up as animals too, but they didn't have the party hats on. They were, instead, just decked out in head-to-toe animal costumes.

All of the costumes served as most of the entertainment for the night. It was basically a night full of people watching at its finest. Overall, it was a fun night, great experience, but was incredibly exhausting and I don't think I need to do it again - at least not for a very long time, haha. All in all, we left Sevilla around 10 p.m. or so, and were supposed to leave Cádiz around 6 a.m., but we didn't end up leaving until around 6:30 a.m. We finally got back to Sevilla a little after 8 a.m., and after taking a cab ride home (because the walk was too long for our exhaustion to endure) we were home and in bed by about 8:45 a.m. Whew, long night is an understatement. I was practically up for 24 hours on Saturday! So...Cádiz was a good time and I think we are all still recovering from our lack of sleep. Last night, (Sunday) I was in such a deep sleep that I didn't wake up once until my alarm went off the next morning, and at that point I was half way off of my bed, but apparently it wasn't bothering me one bit! Ha.

Only 4 more days until my parents come to see me! Woooo! :) I am SO excited to see them and show them around Sevilla. I don't exactly know what we're going to do, but just being able to show them a day in the life of Paige in Sevilla will be fun in itself. :)

I hope everything is still going well in Texas. This semester is going to be over before I know it! I've also already decided that I am eating at Rosa's on the way home from DFW Airport...and I CANNOT wait. One crispy beef taco plate and a LARGE UNSWEETENED ICED TEA - here I come!

Prayers, Love and Hugs!

Paige

Half Way Through!

We got back from our weekend getaway to Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday afternoon. The week prior to Lisbon was full of all kinds of quizzes, tests and projects to end our first mini-mester. It was a definite breath of fresh air to have a relaxing weekend removed from school for a few days. Lisbon is an amazing city! It is very hilly and colorful. A lot of the buildings are done in pastel colors and there were all kinds of murals and graffiti on many of the buildings, as well.

We left early Saturday morning and drove 6 hours to Lisbon. After making a stop at the hotel, we went to the monastery.

I know a lot of the buildings look alike, especially through pictures, but I figured I'd show a couple.

After the monastery, we went to the bay area to take pictures and hang out for a while.

There were sailboats everywhere! It was like something you would see in a movie. It made me want to sail around the bay of Lisbon all afternoon. :)

The bridge in this picture was built by the same company that built the Golden Gate Bridge - I'm sure you can't tell at all, ha. It was actually built 25 years after the GGB. This is the bridge that we entered into Lisbon on. When we left Lisbon we left on the second longest bridge in the world and the longest bridge in Europe. I didn't get a good picture of that one though. Behind the bridge in this picture, you can see the really tall statue - that is El Cristo Rey. On Sunday morning we went to the top of El Cristo Rey and had a fabulous view of the city!

Views from El Cristo Rey.

Here's some other Portugal landscape that we saw on our way out of town - I loved it!

Overall, Portugal was a pretty slow weekend. We did a lot of just hanging out together...not too much site-seeing. We were all so exhausted from the past week of stress and finals that I think it was just nice to relax and not do much. We had all of Sunday and Monday free to do what we wanted, and we did a lot of walking around and exploring the city. We went to a flea market and a cool look-out point. We also ate dinner (twice) at a Brazilian/Portuguese restaurant with all the different types of meat that are brought around on skewers. It was SO good and SO cheap compared to any restaurant similar to that in the States. Lisbon is home to the largest mall in Europe, but would anyone believe me when I said I didn't go? Ha. I didn't end up making it to the largest shopping mall in Europe. :( It was on the opposite side of town and was a little complicated to get to, but it is probably for the best that I DIDN'T make it there because now I actually have some money left to my name. :) The Portuguese language is not my favorite. It's very similar to Spanish when written out, but when it's spoken it sounds a lot more like German or Russian to me.

That's about it for Portugal. Life in Sevilla is still going strong! One of our final projects was to make a 7-10 minute (approx.) video corto (short video) in Spanish. Basically, we had to make a Spanish video over anything we wanted to, so my group did a Spanish rendition of the movie "Mean Girls." It was actually really fun making it and it turned out pretty cute! Last Friday, we had a showing of all of the videos from our entire class and, after watching all of them, the teachers voted on awards for best actor, best actress, best script and best movie. WE WON BEST MOVIE! Haha...it was pretty exciting for us, especially after all of the work we put into it, but it was also a big surprise to us! We each got a little Spanish "Oscar" - statues of the Giralda in Sevilla. I'm pretty sure each one of our statues has broken already, but it's the thought that counts. :) I will try to upload the video to the blog at some point. I'm still working on trying to get it on my Facebook for those of you that can see that. I'll keep y'all updated on it though!

Here's a shot of the river where we go hang out. I thought this picture gave a good idea as to what it's like. Last Friday, after class, we all went to the river and hung out all afternoon. It was SO warm! I was in a tank top, shorts and sandals in February!

Tomorrow night we are going to Carnival in Cádiz. It is basically one huge carnival that is similar to Halloween in the States because everyone dresses up. It should be quite an experience...I have heard you either love it or you hate it, so we'll have to see how it all plays out! I think it will be fun regardless. :)

We started our new classes on Wednesday after our trip to Portugal. Those are going well, but I can already tell I'm going to have a lot more homework because we have a lot of reading to do for these two classes (especially considering one of them is Spanish Literature). They should be good though...I'm just looking forward to learning more Spanish!

Yesterday, for our Life and Culture class, we went to the flea market in Sevilla. It is a small market that takes place every Thursday - El Mercadillo de Jueves. We were required to go with the class, find something we wanted and bargain the price down to 5 euros or less. It was definitely an experience - talk about some junk. There were all kinds of booths set up with everything from books and jewelry to hardware for cabinets and sticks tied together with some string. I found a watch I wanted for 3 euros...I tried to bargain it down to 2 euros, but the guy said it was "originally 5" so he couldn't give me any less than that (all in Spanish, of course), so I took the watch anyways - ha. I also got a red and black necklace (good for some Texas Tech game days!) for 1 euro...it was originally 2 - haha. Apparently I'm not the best bargain shopper, but the stuff was cheap to begin with! Then again, I can't say I had too much faith in that my watch would actually work, but I've been wearing it since I bought it and it's still ticking!

I guess that's about it. My parents will be in Sevilla in EXACTLY one week!!! I couldn't be more excited. My 21st birthday is in 11 days, my parents will be here soon, I'm living in Europe...life doesn't get much better than this! :)

Best wishes, thoughts and prayers to Texas!

Abrazos,

Paige