Thus far, I had done a good job of keeping up with the ‘every wednesday’ blog post but this week I am a day late..forgive me! Either way, a lot has been going on! Last entry I left you all on the edges of your seats I know, ( ; with my impending bullfight and trip to Portimao, Portugal. The bullfight...well it was exactly what it sounds like and what you expect it to be. It was sad and a bit gory, but I am glad I went. It is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, that I never have to go to again. The fight consisted of the sacrifice of six individual bulls.. I stayed for three. The hardest part for me was seeing everyone stand up and cheer as the bull takes its last stand and falls to the ground. (Sorry to all of you who are cringing right now.. not my intention!) But what I tried to do was look at this as a culture experience.. there are plenty of thing that we as Americans do that Spaniards might view as sad and gory. (For example, plenty of people pay lots of money to watch sumo wresting/fighting, whatever it is!)  Fun fact: plenty of people that have lived in Spain all of their lives, including some of my family members, have never once attended a bull fight..nor do they intend to.  However this serves as a source of income for the community in many ways, and is a very longstanding tradition. In conclusion, I am glad I went... I faced a fear and came out alive.. kind of my motto for coming to Spain and all of the new things I am trying here. (wish I could say the same for the bulls...oops! just had to throw that one out there!)

Just one..non-gory pic!

Saturday morning the forty plus student in my program and I headed via bus to Portimao, Portugal for the weekend. The bus ride was about 3.5 hours, and was very scenic and beautiful. Once we arrived at our hotel we left our things and headed to lunch. My friends and I proceeded to order our food in Spanish as we had been accustomed to doing for the past few weeks...quickly we realized that this wasn’t exactly what we should be doing in Portugal. Our waiter became kind of frustrated and said “SPEAK ENGLISH!”. While this took us all by surprise, it was also a refreshing surprise to revert back to the language we all know best! After lunch we headed to the beautiful beach, on which our hotel was located. The weather was again a beautiful reprieve from Sevilla’s 90‘s but was certainly not “hot”!We spent hours soaking in the sun, walking the beach, and going through the various caves along the coast. Just as I was about to leave to head back for a much needed shower, I said to myself “When are you going to have another chance to swim in the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal?” I faced the cold ocean water and had a blast in the waves! (I kept saying, we don’t exactly have these waves in KS! ha!) After defrosting with a nice warm shower, a group of us headed to a beautiful restaurant right on the water. I had a 3-course meal for 7.80€.. muy barata (very cheap!) the best deal I have found so far!! And while I haven’t mentioned this previously, eating out is a nice treat from my daily serving of soup or sopa by my Senora... Yes that is right...Even when it was 100 degrees outside, we ate hot soup! Mama mia!! After a deliciously filling dinner, we headed out for the streets of Portugal! On our way to the “discotecas” (clubs) we ran into some Portuguese teens who were absolutely fascinated by us and by America. We stopped and chatted a bit with them, and ended up learning a lot about Portugal and its culture, and making some new friends! 

The next morning we awoke to a “Spanish hotel breakfast” (you wouldn’t believe what their continental breakfast looks like! :)), and headed for our next adventure! As a part of our program, we were to take a huge boat along the coast of Portugal, end up in Lagos, where we would board smaller boats and explore the beautiful caves there. This was what I was looking forward to most about the trip! As we boarded the boat with very scary looking skies, I knew we were in for a treat...a bit of sarcasm... Not fifteen minutes into our ride, it began to POUR!! The waves were GIGANTIC, the thunder LOUD, and the boat was shaking like you see in the movies (thanks Mom for telling me to take my motion-sickness medicine!). We all dispersed to search for shelter on the top and bottom level of the boat where the captains were located. I was lucky enough to be located in one of the furthest seats from shelter and therefore was one of the last to claim a spot ‘off deck.’ I ended up next a Portuguese crew member who spoke very little English and was not really able to assure me in any way that we would make it back to shore alive...the language barrier really hurt with this one! After another fifteen minutes of heading out into the deep blue sea (ocean, really:)), the captain announced that we would have to turn around and head back to Portimao. While this was music to my ears, I also worried deeply of how we would make it back okay (me worrying, what a shock.., I know!)  Anyway, to make a long and scary story short, without loosing my breakfast off the side we made it back safe but very wet! Although everyone was very sad about missing out on Lagos, our program has decided to ‘refund’ us by taking us all to the Arab baths next week for a nice 13-minute massage. I am really looking forward to this!

Beautiful beach of Portimao, Portugal

Portiamo, sunset

Scary skies on boat tour

Although Portugal was beautiful and a fun getaway, I was also very excited to return ‘home’ to Sevilla. Sunday night’s always bring me a bit of homesickness, but that is to be expected. What I was not expecting upon my return Sunday night was my inability to walk.. Although I had had a pain in my leg for a few days prior, by the time I got to my apartment, I was barely able to walk. I limped the 30 minutes to class on Monday and decided that if I wasn’t improving, I needed to go a doctor. Monday & Tuesday came and went and I was only worse. So, Wed. I decided to head to a clinic that is offered through my program. I was lucky enough to have a bilingual faculty member go with me just in case I couldn't understand what the doctor was saying. It was definitely an experience to go to a doctor in a foreign country.. Although health care is free here in Spain, I think the doctors back in the good ol’ US of A are better! She looked at me for 3.5 minutes, prescribed me a special cream, and charged me 32€. It turns out I just pulled a muscle in my calf, and I am happy to report that hoy, el jueves (today, thur.) estoy mucho mejor! (I am much better!) 

Tuesday I began my fourth class, Introduction to Spanish Cultural Studies, at the University of Sevilla. It is being taught by two locals who seem to be real characters! It is fun to attend class in such a historical and beautiful building! (Not to mention many of my family members have walked through the same halls in the past! Kind of fun!) So far we have touched on many famous monuments, museums, and must-see places in Sevilla.. we also learned things like it’s best to stop in at restaurants that are ‘dirty’ and have lots of ‘servilletas’ (napkins) on the ground because this is a sign of a good place - waiters are too busy to clean up! Not exactly the same policy in the U.S...eh?? 

With all of the great things that have happened this week there have also been many learning experiences (now I can call them that.. in the moment they were just frustrating experiences!) Limping around the city this week certainly made me appreciate my car and the short distance that I have to walk to school in Wooster. I was invited to dinner with a friend of my family, named Candela. (I met her at my cousin’s wedding the first week I was here,  and she so sweetly has kept in touch with me since!) As I was waiting 15 minutes for my bus, bus card in hand, stop schedule on post-it, a homeless woman crossed the street towards me. She began talking to everyone at the stop, and finally she began talking to me. I could not understand what she was saying because she was talking so fast, but I didn’t want to be rude and just ignore her. Just as I said to her “no hablo bastante espanol” (I don’t speak enough Spanish ( : ), the bus that I needed pulled up and left...without me on it! I was waving my hand frantically but the driver didn’t see me. Even though most of the buses here “stop” at all stops, if they don’t see you, they won’t open their doors. Anyway, I was so flustered that I would now be late for dinner and had to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus. Certainly not the end of the world, but alone at night in a foreign country, not exactly my cup-of-tea. Eventually I got to the restaurant and had a fabulous time with Candela, and three of her friends (two from Italy and one from England). We ate at a place that was “dirty” and delicious! ( :

Today it has been raining here ALL day long.. It is cause for huge celebration because it hasn’t rained in 4 months..not an exaggeration..that is normal here I guess! I could easily go on and on about more bad things that happened to me today (especially with that darn bus system!!!), but I just decided.. Why? Instead I will end on a positive note! Stuff happens, and tis life.. I guess it just feels a lot more dramatic being in a foreign country! 

I am continuing to meet new people - both foreigners and locals! We have two new Spanish boys living in our house, and I love being able to converse with them! I have met a few more girls in my program whom seem very nice, and might serve as great travel buddies! I am enjoying my classes and continue to feel more and more cultured! I know confidently know my way to school each day, and recognize more and more of the city.. Next step: mastering el systema de autobus (the bus system!!)

Until next time! Thanks for reading!!!

Con Amor,

Catie

p.s. - I have received many emails about how to “post” comments on my blog. You can scroll to the bottom of any entry, click “comment”, and then you may have to create some kind of an account.. I think it is fairly simple, but if you prefer, keep the emails coming!! I love to know you’re reading! ( : xoxo