A week in review

Well, one more week down. It was pretty uneventful. I have made it a goal to complete all or most of my projects before December 9th when Erin gets in so that I have time to hang out with her :) So, the majority of this week was dedicated to researching and doing work. Really, uneventful. I went on a run, did some Pilates... figure it's time to get in shape again. I'm thinking of getting some tanning sessions because I'm way too pale for Spain but it's too cold to suntan exactly... Let's see... that's about all I did this week...

Oh, I recall some more.

We had a seminario in my Finance class this week on Tuesday where we watched a video and discussed it with some Spaniards who are also studying finance. That was pretty interesting, although not a major showing of people from the Spanish side. I guess the only reason we showed up was because it was mandatory for us. Also, I called KPMG finally and talked to the partner who hired me, which was nice. I got invited to go to Georgetown in February for the case competition there, and I accepted. It was quite funny. I got done writing a "sorry I can't do it because I know I'll be too stressed out" email, and then right before I sent it I was like, really, who am I kidding? Of course I want to do this, I love case competitions! So I deleted it and replied with a "yes I would be sooooo happy to do this" email. And I am. Good choices.

We went to Gibraltar on Friday with my econ and finance classes. It was pretty interesting, actually. We went to a presentation by the Chamber of Commerce there about Gib's history and economy and importance to the world. After that commitment, that only lasted about two hours max, we had about four or five hours of just touristing the town. SO well, this place is known for it's monkeys, so we decided to go check them out. Laura and I took the cable cars up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar while Jenni stayed down below at this awesome looking park because she's already visited Gib. So, the first thing we get when we get up to the top of the Rock... a monkey ninja jumping into our cable car - it looked like it was going to land on Laura's face. We screamed, everyone laughed at our ridiculousness. Good times. We got off and looked around and monkeys were everywhere, just like squirrels on the UW campus. Seriously, it was ridiculous. We walked around a bit and took photos of the beautiful landscape. Just in case you didn't know, Gibraltar looks out on the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the most narrow strip between two continents and you can actually see Africa from there... when visibility is good. Visibility was bad. The clouds were hanging low and everything. But oh well, it was still pretty. We met up with some other people in our program while we were up there and walked down this path where there were more monkeys. I was so scared of them at first, but we got gutsy and would get closer and closer and then we finally got them to go on our backs for great photo opps! It was amazingly cool until one monkey thought my dangly earrings were cool and started pulling on it... yeah, did not feel good. The same monkey was on my back earlier and it started picking through my hair like they do to each other so often. It was so weird being so close to them, because they seriously look just like us but with lots of fur. Little miniature people. And one mom took her little baby monkey and dragged it aside and it looked like she was disciplining him. Like, wow, it was SO cool.

But anyway, after we had our fun with the monkeys, we made our way back down to Gib via cable car and we had an interesting thing happen during that time too. One of the monkeys from the top of the rock was up on the top of the cable car and as we were getting down closer to the bottom, he jumped off and fell pretty badly down into the shrubs below us, it was a pretty far fall. But we saw him get up so we were like oh he's okay, but the cable car operator said that they need to go get him because otherwise the pack of monkeys from the middle part of the rock will kill the monkey from the top. They are like gangs in LA with their red and blue colors and all. Poor monkey, I hope he's okay.

So, after that debacle, we made it down to Gib and walked down mainstreet popping in to some stores. I found some gorgeous gowns which were all out of my price range obviously. We finally made it to the main square where we just couldn't pass up some Fish and Chips! This is a "colony/territory" of England, after all. What a good choice that was - the fish was delicious :) And fries, meh, fries are fries. On Friday night Jenni, Brett, and I went to go see the new James Bond movie - it was opening night and Brett has been dying to see it so we thought we'd be good friends and accompany him :) It was a good movie, but we thought it was a little ridiculous that we pick the action movies to see in Spanish - you know, instead of some nice romantic comedy that moves at a slow pace, we're like trying to keep up with all the Spanish in this rapid moving movie. I was impressed at our ability to understand James Bond in Spanish though. Way to go, us. Three months in Spain have served their purpose.

On Saturday the group went to Cordoba but Jenni and I were losers and stayed in Sevilla. I really felt like I needed to get things done for classes, and I have no more weekends left in Sevilla after this because I'm traveling all of them. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to just relax in my city :) I got a lot of homework done this weekend and much progress was made on the marketing project. It will be done today, my portion of it. On Saturday night when the group got back from Cordoba we got together and went to go see a Red Hot Chili Peppers coverband at this bar near our business school. They were pretty decent. We met some Brazilian bankers who thought they were so rico suave, though. I'm ready to be done with the men here, they are ridiculous and I don't fall for their shenanigans. They'll have to go find another dumb American :) But anyway, after the show, we went to Club Caramelo where they wanted to charge us 30 euro for going in, aka they didn't want us to come in, so we went to Club Abril and stayed there for about a half hour. I was tired and really not in the mood for dancing or anything, I wasn't really dressed for the club either, so I called it a night.

Yesterday (Sunday) I woke up and got to work on my marketing plan. It's looking fabulous, really. I can't wait to turn it in, haha. My senora left for the whole day and my bitch Spanish sister was in Madrid all weekend visiting her boyfriend, so I had the whole house to myself ALL day. AKA I made myself tea whenever I wanted, I ate lunch when I was hungry not when it was given to me, and I listened to my music a little louder. Oh, and during lunch I watched the Spanish Disney Channel. It's the small things that make me happy, haha. In the evening I went with Laura to Starbucks to study for a bit and then we went to mass in the Cathedral, which actually was a side chapel in the Cathedral. I don't get Spain at all. They are slow about EVERYTHING and start everything late. Mass was supposed to start at 8 pm, so we get there and they are already like at the homily! What's going on? They actually start mass earlier. But here in Spain the people don't seem religious at all, and church is more of a motion for them than a spiritual necessity. Which is fine, I don't judge, but the mass is so quiet and expedited. Get in, get out. Which is weird because everything else in Spain does not happen as quickly. I waited like five minutes for my Americano at Starbucks. Howard Schultz would be disappointed, haha. But mass, oh no, it's a quick one. Anyway, in the evening I went with Laura to TGI Fridays to get a drink and we sat and talked for a few hours, it was a really nice way to wind down the weekend. I had trouble sleeping last night. I had a horrible dream that I left my purse somewhere that I thought was secure and it was Halloween night and I get back and my passport is torn to shreds, my money is gone, and my debit card is missing. And NOBODY cared and nobody wanted to help me. They were like, oh Olivia it's Halloween, come out with us tonight and take care of all of that tomorrow! So I woke up from that and I was stressed out because well, I am stressed about it happening in real life. I don't walk around with my passport though, or ridiculous amounts of money. Partly because I don't have ridiculous amounts of money left, haha. Oh Spain how you have made an indent on my bank accounts. As long as I have enough to pay off one of my loans when I get home, I'll be content though. And all of my purchases have been quality ones, not to mention all of my Christmas shopping :)

Anyway, a new week has begun. London and Nantes starting Thursday. Lots of work to get done in the meantime. Like class in two hours... :/

Cheers, hugs, and kisses,
Olivia

I <3 Barcelona

These were the street performers we saw on Las Ramblas before we went to get delicious kebabs... and before my feet died.

The oh so awesome Marcet de Sant Josep... or more commonly known as La Boqueria.

This is the marina where we ate our lunch one day :)

And finally, this is the Arc de Triumf. No more videos sadly :/

A Love Affair in Barcelona

I am in love. With a city. Barcelona.

I had SUCH a great weekend this past weekend! Goodness, I don't even know where to start... but I guess the beginning always is a good starting point.

So, on Thursday after class I ran home to get ready because I only had an hour and a half to pack and shower and all of that. I got ready, barely just enough time to get to Plaza Nervion to miss our first bus and wait about 15 minutes for our next one. We got to the airport and through security and onto the plane and were ready to go! I ran into some people studying in Cadiz that I had some Spanish classes with at the UW on the plane so that was totally random and cool. When we landed, we weren't actually in Barcelona, but like 2 hours outside of it (cheaper that way, trust me)... but the bus system was not very well planned out there. We got there at like 11:30 pm, and there were no tickets you could prebuy for the bus... so there was a whole crowd of people in front of the bus, pushing and just being downright rude trying to get on the bus to get a ticket... because, not only was it 11:30 at night, cold, and dark... but there were more people than seats on the bus. Talk about survival of the fittest. We eventually pushed our way towards the front of the line and got on the bus and I had the pleasure of sitting next to a grumpy old man who obviously smokes like a chimney because he smelled like a lit cigarrette and he also swore like Spanish sailor :) FUN for me. But I just turned on my iPod and slept a little bit.

We got to Barcelona's bus station around 2 am and we were planning initially on walking to the hostel from there since it was only about a mile... but as exhaustion hit us along with the cold cold night air, we opted to split a taxi, which was a fabulous idea. We got to the hostel in no time and the guy was awesome, he didn't make us check in or anything, he just let us go up to our room. We had a room of 6, and there were only 5 of us, so the sixth bed was actually occupied already by this awesome chick from Victoria BC! Talk about neighbors. We woke her up, so hopefully she didn't mind, but later we got to know her and hang out with her and stuff, she was awesome. Anyway, as soon as I laid down I was out like a light bulb. I was quite tired.

The next morning started off with a deliciously hot cup of tea in the hostel. I was still pretty tired, but we wanted to get an early start on sightseeing... so this is what we did on Friday. Jenni, Lolita and I set off towards the centro, which was actually pretty close. We started at the Placa de Catalunya, where I was totally a nerd and excited to see the Credit Bank of Barcelona and a branch of the Bank of Spain, their version of the Fed... can we say business student? Yes. There was also a hotel named Olivia's Plaza Hotel, so that made me excited. There were a ton of pigeons in that plaza, which reminded me a lot of Krakow, too. After that, we made our way down the Avenida de Angel and hit up the Cathedral, which was actually being renovated from the outside, so we didn't get to see it in ALL of it's beauty, but it was still pretty beautiful. The inside was cool, there was a room underneath the alter with a tomb of some saint... I forget who now, but ask me later and maybe I'll remember.

Afterwards, we went to get a cup of coffee in the plaza by the Cathedral, which was actually really good and not so expensive. Only 1.30 euros. Not bad for a tourist town. Anyway, we decided to start our way down to the Picasso Museum and stopped by a very funky store with a lot of cool artsy wallets and earrings and things. I got an awesome wallet and a pair of earrings for Ola's mom because they reminded me of her :-) Can we say I can't wait for Christmas! I just can't wait to give everyone their presents :-) Anywho, we eventually made our way to the Picasso Museum where we proceeded to spend about three hours of our afternoon. It was SO cool. I loved it. Picasso was such an interesting guy and his art was fabulous. He did variations of Velazquez's "Las Meninas" painting - and there was a whole room dedicated to that, and there were a few I wouldn't have minded in my house :) I was already having visions of where it would be hung and what kind of furniture I'd have... haha, hey, a girl can day dream. But anywho, it was amazing. I learned a lot, actually, but I won't bore you. If you'd like to know more, just ask!

After the Picasso Museum, we were getting hungry for lunch, so we went nearby to a cafe where a nice fat lady helped us out :) She was really nice and didn't hate on us for speaking Spanish instead of Catalan. I was surprised at how different the languages are! So, we got some bocadillos and stuff, got filled up, and reenergized. We wanted to hit up the Sagrada Familia still, so we went to the Metro where we totally navigated our way to the other side of town with minimal extra help :) We took the Metro and visited the church, which was absolutely gorgeous. It's definitely still a work in progress, though :-) It was dreamed up by Gaudi who is actually from Reus, the city we landed in on our way to Barca, and he is a crazy cool architect/artist that gets all of his inspiration from nature. So this church looks like a stone forest, quite literally. Instead of massive ionic and doric columns, we get trunks of trees with brances and leaves at the top... all made out of stone. But anyway, it was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. So much detail. We also took the elevator to the top of one of the towers and walked down the stairs so we could stop at all of the balconies to take in all of the sites. It was just fantastic. Totally boggled my mind.

After hanging out in the Sagrada Familia and touring that museum that was attached, Jenni, Lolita, and I headed back to the hostel. While those two napped, I went out for a cafe with our new Canadian friend, Aisling. She is wicked cool and really fun to talk to. She's in Barca for ten days by herself without ANY Spanish knowledge. Talk about gutsy. I'd never. Haha. Anyway, for dinner that night we decided to go to the marina and get some seafood... but that proved to be unfruitful. It was wicked expensive for the tapas, which are tiny, so we opted for the trusty fallback meal: KEBABS!!! They were cheap and delicious, and we just sat on a bench by the marina instead of at a restaurant. Good choices. We also stopped by Las Ramblas, the main street in the city, which was busy and bustling. It looked like Black Friday, no jokes. There were random pet shops in kiosks set up and street performers dancing to some hardy American rap, awesome. After that, we decided to call it a night because it was already late and we needed to rest up for the next day of touristing! I wore my new boots and at this point my feet were absolutely done. It hurt so bad to go home! But we finally made it and I quickly went to take a shower. It was heaven, quite literally. I haven't had a shower that good since... well... since Seattle! I hate my senora's shower, AH! But anyway, I took my time and turned the water on super hot and enjoyed. Happiness ensued. Sleep was amazing.

The next morning, Jess and Tiffany and Aisling slept in a bit, but Lolita, Jenni, and I definitely had a lot to do that day, so we set out at like 9 am. We took Rick Steves' guidebook with us to tour the Ramblas, that main street I mentioned earlier. We also used his book the previous day to tourist the Avenida de Angel. He was our best friend this weekend. Anyway, we saw a bunch of cool sites on the Ramblas, the first one being a cute little coffeeshop off the Ramblas with Halloween decorations still up and a totally adorable little guy to help us out. We got delicious coffee in a TO GO CUP! This is amazing because Sevilla does not know what a to go cup is. We knew we were in a civilized city after this moment :) Anyway, we toured the Ramblas, stopping first at the market dubbed "La Boqueria" but formally knows as the Mercat de Sant Josep. I was in love. It was Pike Place Market on Speed. It was MASSIVE. The colors, the smells, all of the people. It was just amazing. I took a ton of pictures and a video. We got bocadillos for lunch there, and also some fruit. This was a very good idea.

After we were done being amazed at the market, we continued our walk down Las Ramblas towards the marina. We stopped at La Placa Real (yes, placa, not plaza... it's Catalan, different language and all)... where Gaudi's first public work was: A lamp post! He is so cool. We finally made it down to the marina and stopped at a little bazar there with a bunch of cool old antiques and stuff and looked around. We then walked to the Catalan History Museum. The best part: IT WAS FREE FOR STUDENTS!!! The best price EVER. We had so much fun. Such a learning experience :) And we all know how much I love learning. So anyway, we walked through this museum for a few hours and read all about the history of Spain, mainly northeastern Spain and Barcelona in particular. After doing that, we were definitely hungry for our bocs (sorry, boc = bocadillo = sandwich... we have a little Spanglish thing going here). We sat by the marina by all the boats and tourists and just took in the sites and the delicious food.

We wanted to make sure we had seats for our return bus that was the next day, also, so after we ate and reenergized, we walked to the bus station... er, to what we thought was the bus station! We had an interesting experience. First we thought it would be cool to stop by this parque where America's Next Top Model actually filmed once for a Cover Girl ad. And since this parque was on the way to the station, it made sense! We stopped by there and it was just beautiful - this old gothic looking building in the middle of a park, BAH! I can't express my joy for the majesty of this city. So we stopped for photos and walked around the park, which actually had GRASS! Something that Sevilla lacks. After that, we walked by the Arc de Triumf and went to the station... which was the wrong station... hmph. We seriously walked at least three miles to this station just to find out it was not the right one, and the guy at the info desk was SO not helpful. We had NO idea where any other bus stations were! Doesn't every city just have one station??? Guess not. So we figured it all out and it turns out there's another station by the train station... so we just decided to go there the next morning. We had some more things to see :-)

After that debacle, we walked all the way back to the centro to the Placa de Catalunya to grab the 24 bus which took us to the Parque Guell... only the coolest parque I've ever seen. It's also in Barcelona thanks to Gaudi, that amazing man. It was really cool, awesome architecture and just interesting fusion of art and nature. We walked around, snapped photos, and enjoyed a coffee on the top of the hill and watched the sun set over Barcelona. Can we say perfect? I had so much fun with Lolita and Jenni, I am like STILL on Cloud 9 about our weekend. We took the bus back to our hostel after we were satisfied with our stay at the Parque Guell. We had decided to have a homecooked meal earlier, so we stopped by the store and got some pasta and sauce and of course a bottle of red wine to enjoy with our meal :) (don't be mad mom, I'm 21!! haha) We got back to the hostel and got down to business. I opened the wine bottle, it was my first time, I was really excited because it worked! I kept the cork :-) We made our food and ate it at the hostel table and listened to awesome 80s music. It was perfect. Dessert was Nestle chocolates with butter crackers. So good. Afterwards, we went out to get a drink in town just to feel the Barcelonian atmosphere, and since Barcelona is known for it's amazing nightlife and we weren't going to partake in it, we thought a drink would be an appropriate dose of nightlife. We got home and I showered in an amazing shower again, and we read some Cosmo and called it a night.

The next, and final, morning in Barcelona, Jenni, Lolita, and I packed up all of our things while Jess and Tiffany and Aisling still slept (are we seeing a trend here??), and put them in the storage room and were off for the day. We took the metro to the RIGHT bus station and it took us a while to get to it - the train station is this HUGE thing, and then there's the bus station... one tiny kiosk to the left of it... which was closed on Sundays. We were scared. And then we found the time table... that said the bus to Reus left at 9 am. It was 9:15. We were shaking in our boots, but then a kind bus driver showed us the light and showed us the correct time table, thank goodness. There were several buses going to Reus later in the day. Silly girls. So we figured that all out and went back to Las Ramblas to enjoy Barcelona for a few more hours. Our friend Laura got in to Barca the night before, so we stopped and met up with her and her parents for a bit, and then looked at some amazing street art... I bought a really cool painting from this guy, it's a small one, but so cool, and I can't wait to frame it and put it up above my desk :) I will be so happy when I'm studying and look up and see it and remember all of the good times this weekend gifted me with :-) So cheesy, I know. We stopped to get a coffee and the guy asked us if we wanted small or grande, and usually even the grandes are small in Spain so we said grande... I saw cups up there - a small kind and a big kind - and the big kind was like, a small cup of coffee in Seattle, so I thought that would be good... oh no, no. We get our coffees. HUGE. Like, I was full after drinking it. I'm pretty sure it was more grande than a Starbucks grande. I don't know where the hell those cups came from, I did not see those behind the bar. But anyway, it was delicious cafe con leche. We drank that and walked around to some souvenier shops afterwards. I bought a little coffeetable book about Barcelona and a soccer jersey for my nephew because Barcelona's team actually kicks ass and is really good. So my nephew can wear it. Shhh don't tell him, Mom. I know you're reading this.

At this point, we wanted to get to the bus station to avoid the mayhem of the previous bus experience at the Reus airport. So we stopped to buy a bocadillo and went to the station and waited for about an hour. This experience was a little more orderly, but these people don't understand the concept of LINES. People just push and cut and it's horrible. We got a spot, no problem, though. While we were there, we started talking to this guy who was on his way back to London, but he was from Victoria BC. So we were just chatting, and I was like I'll be in London in two weeks from now, and he said great I'm there on business for two years. I said cool.... and then I THOUGHT about mentioning the global rotation thing I want to do with KPMG in Madrid, but I let it slide... and later, in the airport after he checked in and stuff, he was like, well here's my card to look me up when you're there... AND HE WORKS FOR KPMG!!!! WTF. What are the odds, ya know? So I was like OMG SHUT UP! And I showed him my duffle bag that I got at the leadership conference over the summer I use as my travelling bag. We laughed a little, how funny.

Anyway, that's pretty much the adventures of my Barcelona weekend. I could talk more about it, which is disgusting because this entry is already longer than a novel. Sorry. End of the story: We had so much fun, we got home safe, and I am so not looking forward to working this week! I will be glued to my books and homework because my goal is to finish it all before December 9th, when Erin gets here!!! I am SO looking forward to hanging out with her and showing her my city :) YAY, I can't wait. I love this place. Only 31 more days until I'm back home, though :) I REALLY can't wait for that. I got a cute little Hallmark card from my dog when I got home last night. My mom said Jasmine picked out the card for me because she misses me, haha. How adorable is that? I miss my doggy so much, there are so many ankle dogs that run around in Sevilla, I just want my own to be with me! But anyway, the card was a nice touch, thanks Mom. 31 days!!!

Okay, that's enough for now. Next weekend will bring Gibraltar and Cordoba.

Cheers, hugs, and kisses,
Olivia

Hello, Weekend.

Buenas tardes a todos. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, and didn't get your phone chargers chewed up by little doggies named Jasmine :-) Sorry about that one, mom... she's a good dog, I swear!

This weekend was pretty fun and productive. I had a good time. We stayed in Sevilla, and this was actually my LAST weekend here. Que triste. How sad. We went out on Thursday night to Buddha and danced the night away... well I only stayed until about 3 am, which is still early here seeing as there was still a line of Spaniards waiting to get in when I was leaving... but it was fun, danced to American music obviously though. Oh well. It was a fun celebration for the end of midterms and a new President-elect. WOOHOO.

On Friday I bummed around all morning on the computer doing research for my Finance presentation, which is looking pretty sharp if I don't say so myself... and then later in the day I met up with some girls to do a little shopping, which was fun. I got a really cute shirt that's black and turtle neck style with lace up at the top, and I knew it was something my senora would like so when I got home I was like "Oh take a look at this cute shirt I got..." and she obviously was in love with it, and just in case any one was doubting how much of a bitch Maria, her daughter is... read on.

So, my senora loved this shirt so much she was like, Oh Maria come here and look at this shirt, I can get you one just like it. And Maria obviously doesn't come in the room, so we walk to her in the living room. Maria loves purple, so I say "Yes, they have purple ones like this too, with long sleeves or short sleeves. It's only 15 euro," and Maria just looks at the shirt and goes "Olivia, did you try that on? It looks so big." I'm thinking in my mind WHAT A BITCH!!! RAAAAH! But I was like, "Oh yeah I tried it, it's only a medium..." awkwardness ensues. But she obviously didn't say she liked it at all, but deep down inside I know she liked and was jealous I found it first, haha. I'll go with that one.

So anyway, I stayed in on Friday night and took it easy. Went to bed around 11:30 and slept in until 9:30 on Saturday. I was impressed with myself. I continued being productive on the finance project research, and then Jenni, Stephen, Brett, and I went to a cafe to study some more. I just read for econ and marketing... and drank delicious Hot Cocoa with Caramel from Starbies :-) It was funny, I ordered it and it was pretty gosh darn hot yesterday, so the barista was like Caliente? Estas segura? I was like Oh you have no idea, I've been craving this for a while.

After studying for a few hours, we went and got Kebabs, which were truly what I wanted for dinner. My senora was gone all day so she left me my dinner, and I knew I wasn't excited for it... Tortilla Espanola... just like every night it feels like! Haha, so when I got home I warmed up the tortilla and cut it up and gave it to Lola, the dog, so my senora wouldn't think I was rude or not eating or something. But really, I get bored of the tortilla, and it isn't my favorite. It's good, though... I love the salad :-) I get that pretty often.

Anyway, we went out last night for Kareem's birthday bash and that was fun. We were going to go to Abril but they wanted us to pay 20 euros to get in!! It's ridiculous. The people in front of us went in for free!! But they know we're Americans and haters. So we didn't go there, we went to Calle Betis instead... where we had a lot of fun, but still couldn't get in to Boss, another club over there... it was a "private party" aka they didn't want to share with Americans. I hate that about this place, people are so rude and exclusive. But oh well, bars are fun too. We met some guys from Vancouver, actually, and one of them is like way obsessed with the Seahawks so that was cool. And anyway, we ended up making it home by 5 am... I know, ridiculous.

Today I am taking it easy and doing some more work on my presentation. That's about it! I know, super exciting...

I'll have more awesome entries in the coming weekends when I actually do cool things :-)

Cheers,

Olivia

Happy Post-Election Day!

Needless to say, this election was one of the most amazing races to have ever taken place in US history. They call it a "historic election," but I think it would have been a historic election whether or not we had a black man running for president and a stupid bimbo running for vice-president. All elections are historical when you think about it, since the next four years are kind of hanging in limbo during the election, but I will concede that this one was especially historic. I'm really excited for the outcome and I really do think a lot of good things can come from Obama. I wish I could have been at home to see all of the pre- and post-election excitement, but here in Spain there was a lot of happy chatter about the outcomes as well. I bought some newspapers today to keep as a momento of the election and how it was perceived in Spain, and it's ridiculous that the election news took up 16 pages in the paper. We would be lucky to even have one article about Spain's elections in the Seattle Times. Oh well, we see where the power lies and who is more important on an international level :-) Just kidding... sort of.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 and I was about to just lie there and try to go back to sleep and then it hit me: OMG OLIVIA GET UP! ELECTIONS ARE OVER!!! So I got up and watched msnbc.com stream their newsfeed live for the whole morning. My senora was happy about the outcome, my barista at Starbucks was happy, my marketing professor was happy. Good times all around. I bought a chocolate bar and ate it in celebration. Don't worry, I'll go running tomorrow after midterms, and then to the discoteca at night so the chocolate bar was okay. Rationalization, yes. But anyway, I am really hopeful for the next four years and I just wanted to write it out. It's weird being an American in a different country during such a pivotal moment. Everyone asks your opinion and they expect you to KNOW everything. So, in a sense it's good because I'm more motivated to research the topics and actually have an idea of what the election and politicians all believed, but it's also weird because I feel like I'm doing my happy dance on the inside and no one else is as excited because, well, it isn't their president. So, victory belongs to us and we'll see Obama get to work hopefully and bring about the change he talked so much about. Talk the talk, walk the walk, please. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In other news, 6 more weeks until I'm home! Yay! I have midterms today and tomorrow and I'm not horribly worried for them - I almost even want to go on a run today instead of study, but we'll see... maybe after class tonight. This weekend will be dedicated to working on presentations and projects, and I am feeling a very productive mood coming upon me soon so hopefully it will work out. Gibraltar and Cordoba next weekend. I'm excited for going to Buddha tomorrow, and Boss next Wednesday for the 80s night, haha. That should be interesting :-)

Alright, back to studying before lunch... maybe a run after lunch... haha. BAH I don't feel like studying, but I must :/

xoxo Olivia

I can't wait for...

While I do love Spain and all of the new cultural experiences I have been having here, nothing beats the comforts of home. I tried watching The Holiday earlier but my computer was having a spazz attack, therefore I have given up on that for now and resulted to a blog. I have studied all day for my midterms this week, so thus far I am getting A's in International Marketing and European Economy as I know those two subjects inside and out. International Finance is still in progress, and I haven't even started studying for my Arab Studies class. Oh well. A few things have been on my mind... like those aforementioned comforts of home.

I can't wait for...

- taking a HOT shower that's hot for more than two minutes.

- taking a HOT shower with a shower head that I don't have to hold.

- taking a HOT shower with real water pressure. None of this water trickling nonsense.

- peppermint hot chocolates

- driving my car

- walking my dog in the park in the rain and wind :-)

- sleeping on my soft mattress

- my own room

- feeling comfortable lounging on the couch with my feet up :-)

- eating cereal for breakfast without being judged (Señora: "You should have a tostada, a real Spanish breakfast"... Me: "Oh, no gracias, a mi me gusta los cereales... estoy acostumbrada comerlos...")

- eating dinner before 10 pm

- drinking more tea and coffee during the day

- using my personalized Starbucks Coffee tumbler

- Free WiFi at Tullys and Cafe on the Ave

- Alki beach on chilly days

- starting classes in January... real classes

- seeing all of my friends again

- Christmas at my sister's house on the 24th of December

- heaters

- wearing a sweatshirt and having it be considered normal

- the IMA

- being reunited with my mommy and my Jasmine, of course

- Peter... hehe.

- seeing Lia before she goes to Italy

- hanging out with Amanda :-) probably in between classes, haha.

- grocery stores that are open 24 hours a day and DON'T close for siesta

- stores in general being open during "siesta hours" or between 1 and 5...

- stores being open on Sundays

- cheaper coffee at Starbucks

- using the metro oddly enough

- walking downtown

- seeing people be productive and efficient with their time, unlike many many many Spaniards

- nicer customer service

- being in Seattle again :/

Maybe it's just because I've been bored today, but I can't wait to be home!! I went to study at Starbucks with some friends and it reminded me of back home and studying with my Seattle friends... 7 weeks, 7 weeks. Lots more fun times to come in Spain, though :-)

Cheers,

Olivia

A Sevillan Fall

Just in case I had any previous doubts: Life is good :-)

The weather in Sevilla has taken a turn this week and I'm loving it. The Sevillans, on the other hand, are not loving it so much. Yesterday I don't think it got about 16 degrees Celcius, which still is pretty warm, but people were walking around with winter hats and huge jackets like it was going out of style. So cute. I wore my North Face finally - the first time since I've been here! It was a little too warm for me, but hey, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." Brett and Jenna and I went to El Corte Ingles yesterday to find Brett a nice Real Betis soccer jersey and he said I looked very Spanish all bundled up while he was wearing a short sleeved shirt. But hey, I just want to fit in! Haha. It was really hot in that jacket, though. I don't know how the Sevillans think it's freezing. My señora even left me an extra blanket to cover my bed last night, but I didn't need it. Oh Spaniards.

I think I've finally given up on being nice to my señora's daughter Maria because she is a complete B*tch pretty much all of the time. I don't enjoy her company at all and I love it when she doesn't come home for lunch from work. Is that sad? Haha, my señora is lucky she got an American with so many things that's too lazy to pack all of them up in her suitcase again to move to a different house or to the student dorms, because if I had any kind of motivation I would have done that a while ago. I love my señora, she's really nice and talks to me and we have good conversations. But her daughter. God, what a bitter person. I try to avoid all kinds of contact her and keep our conversations to a "Hola" and then in my mind I think "puta." Haha. I hope they don't find my blog and read it... but it's not like I don't like her just because. I have tried to be amicable to her and start conversations. Like last weekend, her boyfriend was over for the weekend because he lives in Madrid, and so after he left I was just asking her questions about him and how they met and all of that stuff. I'm sorry, if you are really into a guy, you want to talk about him. She gave me one word answers. Earlier this week, Maria and I ate dinner alone because her mom went out, so I started asking her about her school because she actually goes to the same business school here as I do, she just doesn't actually attend classes. She just takes the exams... and she's 26 and not done with school yet, but that's a story for a different day... so I was asking her about her major and how she likes it and stuff. One word answers again, and she doesn't even try to get to know me at all. Usually when you get a question like, "Oh how do you like your major?" and are in a conversation, I feel like it should be two sided. Always one sided. So, during our awkward dinner, I asked her about it and then I was like, "That's really cool, I have liked all of my management classes I've taken (she's a mgmt major...), but I chose accounting as my major and I'm just about done." And then Maria does the head nod and gives me those eyes like, shut up seriously. So then I just finished my dinner in silence and went back to my room so she could be antisocial and watch TV by herself in the living room. Whatever.

Another thing that sucks is like, I got really good news from KPMG, like yay I have a job, and I was SO happy the night I got that email from the partner I interviewed with, and I told my senora and her daughter during dinner, and they were like, oh nice... moving on. I was WTF. Seriously. No congratulations or anything. Whatever, I'm going with Maria is just jealous because all she does is paperwork at a damn horse breeding business. How random is that. I'm working at one of the biggest accounting firms in the world. My friends in the program made my day though because they shared in my joy that I have a life after graduation already and I love that I have friends here. There are definitely a handful of people that I will be keeping in touch with after we get back to the States, and there are already talks of a reunion during Spring Break and summer in Boulder, Philadelphia, and Seattle. :-) I've made a few Spanish friends. I got coffee with my intercambio Juli earlier this week and that was fun, we actually had a conversation for over an hour without awkwardness, and he's just really nice overall.

Anyway, those are just my frusterations. There aren't many updates about Sevilla really. I'm not traveling this weekend and next weekend in hopes of getting a majority of my projects done for my classes for the end of the quarter, especially since I will be gone all weekends after that in this order: Barcelona, Gibraltar/Cordoba, London/Nantes, Paris, and Toledo. I'm excited. I might look for a dress for Peter's ball in Paris, just to say I got a dress in Paris and be really cool like that. Erin is coming on December 9th and I'm really excited for that. I really miss her and after the conversation I had last night with Brett about friendships, I really really just want to be home with my friends that I know are my friends and that I feel comfortable around, like, that I can be myself and not feel judged.

Also, today is Halloween so we're going to go out. I need to stop by the store and buy some butterfly wings after our company visit for marketing - we're going to visit a brewery today where they make Cruzcampo beer for our International Marketing class - which I really don't understand because there isn't anything international about Cruzcampo except for that Heinekken owns it or however you spell it. It's made in Sevilla and only sold in Andalucia, this southern region in Spain. International much? Not so much. But anyway, I'm just going to get butterfly wings after that tour today and wear my yellow dress tonight and call myself a butterfly, whatever. Halloween isn't my favorite holiday and I really don't feel like going out at all. We went out last night for a little while to Buddah and I went just to be social and now my hair smells like smoke and I just wasn't really feeling it last night. Perhaps tonight will be more fun. And anyway, after getting my wings, I'm going to be studying at Starbucks with some friends for our midterms that are next week. Exciting life I lead, I know, I know.

So anyway, the point of this blog began with just mentioning that I love the weather now, but it expanded to be more of a journal entry than a blog with my feelings and all. Woops. Hope you enjoyed anyway. Exactly 7 weeks until I get back to Seattle. I can't wait!!

Cheers,

Olivia

A Moroccan Monsoon - ¡FOTOS!

Here are some photos from Morocco:

Kids learning how to draw intricate designs at the artisan school we visited. Ceramics at the same school.

Which fish would you like? Fruits at the market! Watch out - they will make you sick.

Dinner time! Yum... The candle man that came to our rescue when the power went out. Inside a mosque we saw - we weren't allowed to go inside. We learned how to barter with rugs. This is the one I tried to haggle for. Me and Virgina, the program director, and our delicious capps. Brett's reaction after Jenni stole his seat next his Seat Buddy (me...)!! The tallest building in Tanger... it's the tower of the mosque. The business school in Tanger. Our new Moroccan friends, Amine and Amina! CAMELS! It was a rough ride to the standing position. AMIGOS! Me and my bestest buddy at the point where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. A town called Chaouen. In Chaouen - a continuation of the Sierra Mts. Oh you know, chillin' in front of the Smurfs' house... haha.

Hope you enjoyed those - there's plenty more so if you want to see more let's grab a coffee when I get back to Seattle and I'll show you all of them!

Cheers,

Olivia

Adventures in Africa

Hello to all,

I wanted to be sure to write about my trip to Morocco before I forgot about all of the awesomely cool details, so here in my attempt. I have to go to class in a half hour.

We left bright and early on Thursday morning after waiting for about 20 minutes for our program director who was late... she is obviously on Spain time! We hit the road at about 8:15 am and drove down to a town in Spain called Algeciras where we caught a ferry to take us to the continent of Africa... but the place where we docked was still a part of Spain - this city called Ceuta. The ferry ride was about a half hour. The rain was incessant. It would NOT stop at all. I was a little disappointed. When we got into Ceuta, we bolted for the bus so as to not get too wet, but everyone looked like they had just gotten out of the shower anyway. So, there goes my efforts at straightening my hair for the whole weekend - I was devasted! Haha, I didn't bring my hair straightener because I figured I wouldn't need it... darn it! After we boarded we headed for the border and into Morocco. On the border we had a creepy, smelly inspection patroler come on board and check out our passports. He was not messing around.


The city our hotel was in is this city called Tetuan. The hotel was really nice - super fancy. The lights were all motion sensored so as to conserve energy. Thomas Friedman would be proud. I shared a room with Danielle, so it was a precursor to our Paris trip in December! The bathroom was super snazzy - I finally had a shower that had hot hot water and I didn't have to hold the shower head and be cramped in a small bathtub. Superb! After we dropped our things off, we went to visit this artisan school nearby where little kids learn an art that ends up being their bread and butter for the next lifetime. It was really amazing, because the kids were so good at what they did and had a level of concentration I don't think I'd ever seen in a kid at an elementary school in the US. But it was also a weird feeling, because they were already learning a vocation - child labor laws anyone? This is the task that would sustain them for their whole lives and I know it's their lifestyle and tradition to stick with the way they've done things for years and years and years, but a part of me just felt bad because we have so many opportunities in the States and many people just throw them away... and here we are in Tetuan looking at these kids like they were a zoo exhibit, you know? I didn't like that... although I felt like the whole group was like an exhibit when we were walking in Morocco - we got a lot of stares.


After visiting the school, we went and got lunch at a traditional Moroccan restaurant. We got some kind of sweet noodle soup and couscous with veggies as the main meal, and the delicious delicious tea and fruit for dessert. We also got a performance from a crazy old man that balanced a tray of candles and water on his head while doing some dancing and moving around, it was a great show! It was still really windy and rainy outside, so that caused the power to go out for a while in the restaurant, so that's when crazy candle man really came in handy with his candles.


After lunch, we all went with our guide Abdul to visit the Medina in Tetuan - that is to say, the old part of the city. It was still pouring cats and dogs at this point, and unfortunately my umbrella I brought with me was a little broken, but it served it's purpose for the most part. We walked through the market where we were truly a spectacle for all of the locals and we got to see a mosque and a synagogue amongst some other things. It also is normal to see swordfish heads chillin' on tables and live chickens running around next to a stand full of dead, skinned chickens - body still totally intact. Very different from our nicely packaged chicken breasts wrapped in plastic at nice, clean grocery stores. We also learned how to haggle with rugs - they showed us a bunch of gorgeous handmade rugs, and we got to pick the ones we wanted to buy and haggle the price down. I chose a nice hallway rug that would have been cool to have, or maybe for my sister's house, and I haggled the price from 200 euro down to 60 euro, but I didn't buy it, don't worry. It was just for fun.


After touristing in the wind and freezing my butt off, we finally went back to the hotel for dinner... I believe we had some kind of fishy soup and some kind of main course - I don't remember what it was right now. I was really exhausted so Danielle and I went up to our room after dinner and chatted for a while and called it a night.


The next day we traveled to a town called Tanger about an hour and a half away from Tetuan. The streets were totally flooded, though, so we had to take a detour so it took longer to get there. We were supposed to visit a factory where they make clothes for firefighters and fireproof things, but all of the streets leading up to it were flooded and there was no way to get there, so we didn't end up seeing it, which was a bummer... We visited the business school in Tanger, though, and that was really cool. We met a lot of Moroccan students and it was really cool to see a different kind of school than the one previously mentioned. These people were really worldy and knowledgeable and I was really impressed - they had clubs and activities and when they talked about what they wanted to do in the future, they were all bright eyed. I mostly talked with this guy Amine and a girl named Amina (funny that they have the same name, but apparently just a coincidence). They both wanted to get their MBA after graduating.

After visiting the school, we went to get lunch at a restaurant where the food was absolutely delicious, but I know it made several people in our program sick... not me, though, so it's okay :-) It was this tasty fusion of cinnamon, sugar powder, chicken, and peanuts and it was all wrapped in some of the typical bread they make... kind of like a pita, but way better and not as thick bread. After we ate, we visited these Caves of Hercules which was okay... not as cool as I thought it would be, but at least it was sunny and not raining. That made my day. Then, the coolest part of the day... we got to ride camels! That was fun, they were pretty smelly, and it was almost like riding a horse, but a little bumpier ride. After we did that, we went to the place were the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea collide and meet :-) That was really pretty - the sun was setting and the sky was pretty colors.


Afterwards, we went shopping for a bit and I found some pretty cool things to give as gifts for Christmas time. I can't wait for people to open their presents! And it was cool - we had to haggle for a price and I got one guy to go down a fair amount for this one thing :-) Almost my bottom price, but I had to go up 5 euros because he was not budging to go any lower :/ Oh well. I'm really excited for it.

Upon returning to the hotel in Tetuan and eating dinner, we felt really great and so we decided to have a massage party. All of the boys got these awesome suites in the hotel (can we say not fair!! Girls need more room!), so we went down to Brett, Mike, and Matt's room with a bunch of people and watched TV and chatted about serious and not serious topics and got excellent massages.

The next, and last, day, we gathered our things in the morning and were off to a city called Chaouen. This entire city is painted blue and white, I kid you not. Although the main reason is to cool the houses in the summer and heat them in the winter, the blue and white also have symbolic meanings... that is to say, the blue means the love of God, and the white means peace. We got a tour of that city and walked through the Medina there (the old part of town) and I felt like I was in a world that was a cross between Dr. Suess' The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Smurfs... The houses were very quaint and very adorable. After getting a tour, we did some more shopping and haggling and by the end of the two hours we had to do that, I was exhausted and wanted no more haggling. I am so glad that we have set prices in the US. Can you imagine haggling for the price of your bread? No thank you! But I got some more cool things in Chaouen for gifts and I'm pretty much done with Christmas shopping, so yay me!

On the way back home, I slept in the autocar most of the way since I was exhausted. We nearly missed our ferry, which was cool, but in the end got back to Sevilla in one piece and with lots of good memories. Morocco wasn't as enchanting as it sounds, but seeing another culture and another lifestyle that is so different from ours was very eye opening and I enjoyed the experience very much... despite the rain and how unprepared we all were for it!

So, that's my trip in a nutshell (a very large nutshell). I'll post pictures later.

Cheers,

Olivia

Granada Weekend!

Hola a todos. It's Monday afternoon. I've been sitting and researching stuff for Marketing and for my Arab studies class all afternoon. Class work is finally starting, thank goodness. It's probably one of my favorite things to do. But we had a nice little break from school this weekend in Granada. There was a group of eight of us that went and we had a blast... for the most part.

We left early on Friday morning on the bus and I was a little tired but Brett and I are seat buddies and we talked the entire time so no nap time. We got into Granada and managed to use the metro system to get to our hostal, which was up on in a cute little alley. The room was great - it was my first hostal experience, and it was a success. The beds were a little shakey, but stable nevertheless. I had to have top bunk and I'm not a fan of that, but oh well, it was fun. We met a few really cool people also - this one couple that just took some time away from work to travel all through Europe. Talk about awesome! And then there was this one guy who was a wreck. He came to Granada to win back his ex-girlfriend's heart or something. She is studying abroad there and apparently he did something stupid and wanted her back. That conversation was a little funny/sad for the guy. The hostal wasn't dirty like I expected it to be, and we had our own bathroom. Our room fit all eight of us, too! Yay for a major sleepover! There was a kitchen as well, so we made some spaghetti the first night we were there and had a lot of fun. We ate it on the roof of the hostal in the breakfast room, and the view was great. We then proceeded to play Never Have I Ever which got interesting... :-)

On Friday we went to the Alhambra - that was absolutely amazing! Talk about intricate architecture. I swear, back then they had less technology and way cooler buildings. The ceilings in some of the rooms were just breathtaking. We walked around there for a few good hours... and afterwards just went and bought ingredients for our dinner and chatted for a long portion of the evening.

On Saturday Laura and Jenni went rock climbing and the rest of us took a bus to this town two hours away called Capileira, nestled in the Sierra Nevada. It was so pretty - on the bus ride there we saw about a gazillion olive trees, which made me crave olives very much. I am excited to buy some before I leave so I can have them at home in Seattle :-) The olives here are to die for. We got up to Capileira and walked around for a bit and then hiked to the town that was next to it called Bubion, which was only about one kilometer but fun nevertheless. We got back in the evening and went swimming at some random hot springs which was definitely interesting in and of itself. I've never been to a hot spring before and I'm probably never going back...

On Sunday, Lolita, Matt, Brett, and I woke up extra early and walked around Granada to explore the streets and found a pretty killer view of the Alhambra from some random neighborhood on a hill. We left around 4:30 in the afternoon, but not before I ate a kebab because it is officially the most delicious food on the planet. Had to indulge before coming back to Sevilla and starvation :-) Just kidding, it isn't as bad as I make it sound sometimes!

We finally started having homework a little, which is cool, but now I have to get used to actually having things to do. Not for long, though, since our finance class is cancelled tomorrow and on Thursday the whole program is going to Morocco until Saturday... so no homework getting done in those few days. I'm a little bummed because today I was going to go to some salsa club for lessons - and the first lesson is FREE (best price!) but we got assigned a presentation today for Marketing that we are presenting on Wednesday, so we have to have a group meeting instead of dancing the night away :-( Oh, school. Getting in the way of life! I am excited, though, because the winter quarter schedule was posted for UW and I can't wait to sign up on November 7th. I just want to be in Balmer!! It's amazing that I actually miss accounting classes - perhaps that's a sign that I'm choosing the right major if I miss it? I'm going to go with yes...

Anyway, not so very exciting entry, but it was a good mellow weekend full of sightseeing.

Cheers, hugs, and kisses,

Olivia

PS. I finally got my ATM card from my mom in the mail. Took long enough! I felt so naked without it - and not many places take credit cards in Spain and banks don't understand the concept of cash advances, so it was definitely a difficult past three weeks without any cash. I also received a fabulous CD from my mom - An Evening in Barcelona... you know, those CDs at Target that you can listen to snippets of if you press the button and it plays super loud and makes everyone you're with really embarrassed to be associated with you? Yes, I have that CD now so thank you mom! I am in love with it! Perfect homework doing music!

Late night insomnia

I spent the last twenty minutes trying to post some pictures and deleted half of them and none of them wanted to abide by the layout and wouldn't do captions, so I've given up for now. I might add some at the end of this post if I feel up to it.

I can never sleep through the whole night here. I always ALWAYS wake up. But today it doesn't matter too much since I have a 3 hour bus ride ahead of me that I can nap on. I'm going to Granada with a few friends, and I'm very excited for it. This will be my first hostel experience - definitely not my last! Today we are going to see the Alhambra and tomorrow we are hiking in the Sierra Nevadas. Mom, pamietasz te spodnie co od ciebie pozyczylam? Sa luzniejsze!! Wiec wiem ze juz schudlam troszeczke, ale zaloze te spodenki zielone krotkie jutro i tak i tak. Sorry, side note to the parental. We get back on Sunday, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of great stories and photos to relay to you via blogspot.

In other news, life in Sevilla has become fairly routine. Wake up in the morning, way too early for class of course, get ready, eat breakfast with the senora, go to my room, read every article EVER in the Wall Street Journal, go to class, eat lunch, go read some more, go on a walk, starve until dinner time at 10 pm, go to the meeting spot at Corte Ingles, and go to a cafe with friends until about midnightish, and do it all over again the next day. I love Sevilla, it's gorgeous, but once you become a part of the city, it's a different kind of excited that I get to be here. At first, it was like WOW I'm in Spain. Now that I've become accustomed to it, it's life as usual... minus the regularness of life in Seattle. No hard classes at all, although my Arab studies class is immensly thought provoking. I love that class, even though the teacher talks with the BIGGEST Andalucian lisp ever and talks at 100 miles an hour so it's hard to understand him sometimes. I am waiting impatiently for winter quarter schedule to be posted on MyUW, though. I'm ready to be challenged. I sign up for classes on November 7 :-) YAY for first registration day because I'm graduating this year and get priority! That weekend I might be in Madrid, by the way. And it looks like I'm coming home to Seattle a few days earlier (screams of joy for some, I hope) on December 19th. I don't think I could ever live away from Seattle for extended periods of time. If it was for work (like maybe for KPMG's International Rotation program?!!!!) it would be better because I would have more to do. I'm just an anomoly here - I actually want the teachers to give us work so we LEARN more, but I guess it's okay if they don't. I'll learn by myself. Next week I am planning on starting the work on my presentation for finance, my marketing plan for marketing, and a research report for European Economy. That will keep me busy, for sure... although the whole program is going to Morocco next Thursday... I can't wait for that! Shopping, anyone?! :-) Just kidding... well, a little. I'm excited for the bazaars and for the beautiful sights and touristing.

Okay, my insomnia has not gone away yet and I'm not tired still, so here is my attempt to add more pictures. Forgive the ugliness of the layout.

Cheers,

Olivia

Jenna, me, Brett, Laura, and Lolita in Jerez

.Cathedral in Jerez.

Real Alcazar in Jerez

.

Real Alcazar

Gardens at the Alcazar

Pretty colored rose :-)

Jerez is known for its wine.

Of course we had to take a tour of a winery!

And try the wine...

We got all dolled up last Saturday to go out!

Oh, just in the middle of a main street.

In Ronda with Laura

Brett, me, and Laura in front of the Puente del Coño!

Oh, just having a picnic with our sandwiches and bottles of water from our señora's. GORGEOUS view.

Churros. It was our breakfast in Ronda. Really healthy for you... hah.

Four Day Weekend = Great Success

This weekend we had four days off instead of our regular three... in the words of Brad Paisley, it was time well wasted. Thursday night we went to Buddah again because that disco rocks... but on the way there we became very lost and it tooks us about an hour to get there. But once we got there, the dancing was on! My intercambio friend Juli said he wasn't going to be there but then he showed up so I got to practice my español a little bit as well. He's nice, not a creepy guy, and he works for a trucking company so he understands my interest in DAF :-) But yes, it was a fun night full of dancing.

On Friday, we kept it pretty low in Sevilla. I went with Brett to the Palacio to take care of some business and then we went to see the Real Alcazar. I did just a quick tour because I didn't feel so great - my throat hurt and I had a cough and all. I took a few pictures, but I definitely need to go back there to do some more sightseeing. I spent the rest of the day just doing homework and stuff - not too exciting.

On Saturday I went with a group of people to Jerez, a little town about an hour and a half away from Sevilla by train. That was a fun day minus the first few hours... on the train ride, it was pouring rain and there was lightening lighting up the sky. Very ominous, but luckily it cleared up by the time we arrived to Jerez. The sights were great - I love all the cute plazas and fountains. We went to the Real Alcazar there and to the Cathedral, which was gorgeous. I lit a few prayer candles for some special people in my life there and I took a picture of it as proof :-) Afterwards, we did a wine tour of Tio Pepe, which is a very popular wine I guess here. It was very awesome - there's this room that you could have your wedding reception at that was ready for a party later on in the day. It looked classic... if only I lived in Spain! Haha. Anyway, we tried two types of wine - they were delish, I thought.

Saturday night was another crazy night out dancing.

Sunday... meh.

Monday... Laura, Brett, and I went to this cute town called Ronda about 2 hours away by bus. SO ADORABLE! The side streets looked just like Poland in Warsaw where my grandma lives. It left me feeling pretty nostalgic. We also ate churros which are so horrible for your body, but oh so delicious! Ronda is known for this really cool bridge there that is ridiculously large and I can't imagine how it was built but we explored some awesome trails and got great views of it. I'll post pictures later. So those were my events of the weekend and I loved it.

But, the awkward moments of my weekend: always and forever my senora's daughter. I think she hates me, seriously. I asked her about this town called Rota which is a military base because Bre's boyfriend might be stationed there so we were talking about meeting up, so I just asked Maria where it was and she turned so psycho on me! She sat up and looked at me so weird and was like, "Why do you want to know?" and I thought it was like some bad place that no one should talk about or something. And so I tell her my story and she's like, "It's by Cadiz, we have a friend there but there are two sides there, one Spanish and one US. He is on the Spanish side." And I just didn't even pry further. Awkward.

Another awkward moment: I am a clean person, seriously. I clean my room every morning and every evening so that there isn't a mess, and my bathroom is orderly - in my eyes. My senora walks in today and goes, could you keep your bathroom neater? Your room is your room - you can do whatever you want and keep it messy (MESSY?! Lady, do you not see how orderly everything is... like seriously, I have my laptop and a notebook on my desk, all of my books organized on a shelf, but perhaps she was referring to the cup of coffee I had sitting on my desk. I'm sorry that I like to drink my coffee in my room... ugh). But she goes, the bathroom should be neat just in case someone comes over and needs to use the restroom. (To clarify, there are two bathrooms and I have my own here...). But I just said okay I'll keep it nicer. But seriously, it's not messy. I keep my makeup in a bag. I keep all of my face stuff lined up by the mirror. I had a towel on the floor though, for when I get out of the shower so I don't slip or get the floor wet, so I think she was referring to that. UGH. Piss me off. I'm a neat person, I'm a little offended that she thinks my room and bathroom are messy.

Anyway, I had to vent. Yay for a good weekend. Next weekend I'm going to Granada with a bunch of people, there's eight of us going. On Friday we are going to the Alhambra in Granada, the Real Alcazar of all Alcazar's, and on Saturday we are taking a trip into the Sierra Nevada from Granada since it's super close. Three days of class this week.

I want to be home in Seattle with my crappy weather and delicious coffee and my doggy and mom and friends and comfy mattress and Alki beach and pretty campus :-( And real classes where I actually learn things, not these BS classes. I just want my senora to stop silently criticizing me and her daughter to stop being such a weirdo.

Adventures with two cripples

Here are a few photos from the other day when my friend Brett and I went to see the Plaza de España. We were both wounded... his back was out, my foot was out. We had a lot of fun. Que te disfrutes... enjoy.

Good < Bad?

Walking down the stairs last night, sprained ankle and all, I straight up bite it and fall down the stairs. My back is killing me. It's got this really nice bruise right around my tailbone. Super nice. I continued to walk to our meeting spot to meet up with Brett and Danielle for drinks. I was a walking target for a mugging, honestly. [aka that's why I called Peter so I wouldn't be ALL alone, haha. Thanks, baby... hah.] It usually takes me 10 minutes to get to the Corte Ingles where we meet. It took me 20 last night. I had a nice glass of white wine to numb the pain. It didn't work. This morning I tried doing some ab workouts... yep, the crunches I canNOT do because it kills my back. So, to summarize: Sprained Ankle + Bruised Back + Being in Spain = Una combinación mala. [But I'm trying to ignore all the bad luck I've been having and I'm still enjoying my time here, haha].

Breaking slowly.

Well, I don't know what to make of the past few days. There are ups and downs, and I think netted together it's an overal positive outcome... but gosh, those negatives are really major downers.

So, the other day started off on a great foot (no pun intended, as you will soon see...). I got on Skype at 7 am and FINALLY I got to talk to this boy that I like a whole lot and miss very very much. But I was set on jogging before class, so I left to go on a run and well, let's just say I didn't get very far. It was still a little dark in the park I run at so while I was running, I didn't notice a rock that was in my path. A rock that I stepped on. And made me fall. The first thought that ran through my head: "Holy crap, I am getting mugged right now. Bye, bye iPod." Well, I layed there on the ground hurting for a good minute or so waiting for my ankle to stop hurting... but it didn't stop. So I toughed it out and got up and limped home and continued to talk with Peter which made me feel so much better. But my ankle still ached. And still aches, actually. And, if that wasn't a bad enough start to the day, I go to take a shower and there is NO hot water and No water pressure coming out of the shower head. Not happy.

So, that was the beginning of my day. Later in the day, Brett and I have this fabulous class about International Relations and it gets cancelled because essentially the teacher does not want to teach the class because there were only five students in the class. So, that was another downer. But, things turned around. Brett and I went to the Feria to eat some kangaroo and have a Corona because at this point I just really needed something to indulge in. It was delicious. We then spent the next 2 or 3 hours walking around the Plaza de España and Parque de Maria Luisa snapping photos. We walked in on the practice of the military marching band and whole festivities that will be going on on Monday I believe for the Dia de Hispanidad - it's a national holiday here. So, we watched that and took pictures and stuff. I also saw DAF truck number 2, which was cool. The plaza was absolutely beautiful :-) It was built in 1929 for this Exhibition to show off the architecture and technology of Spain and now it's just a governmental building I think. Absolutely stunning.

Yesterday wasn't so bad, but my ankle still hurt... and it still continues to hurt. I have it wrapped in a bandage. My finance teacher was 10 minutes late to class. He then spent the next 20 minutes on his cell phone chatting. He let us out about 15 minutes early. I can't wait to get back home and have real classes. The classes here are jokes, and people actually think they are hard... in addition to boring. Me? I think they are interesting but the material is too easy. Much too basic. But I love school, soooo that puts me in a minority.

Last night I got some hot cocoa with Jenni, Lauren, and Jenna. It was without a doubt the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my entire life. I want to take it with me to Seattle!!! Starbucks has nothing on this little coffee place. Another low point, though, was my señora's granddaughter spent the night last night and cried for about half the night which was super fun to wake up to every few hours. This morning I tried washing my hair. In cold water, again, of course. Horrible water pressure, but doable. I lather my hair with shampoo. Turn the water back on. OH! Of course there is absolutely NO water that comes out save one small little trickle... so I spent the next ten minutes getting the shampoo out of my hair with that one little tricklet of cold water. Seriously, amazing. I hate that bathtub. I have a bruise from slipping in it last week, also. I am quite clumsy. And I'm breaking slowly. My throat has been a ltitle scratchy lately so I have been taking airborne. I caved in to taking Advil the other night to stop my ankle pain. My bruise hurts. I have mosquito bites AND little scars from where they are still healing. I am a wreck!!! Haha.

This weekend will be a lot of fun, though. It's a four day weekend because of that national holiday. On Friday Jenna and I are doing the Real Alcazar. Saturday we are taking a daytrip to a town called Jerez... it's a cute little beach town. On Sunday we are going to the Corrida de Toros... aka the bullfights. And I believe on Monday we will just head down to the Plaza de España to see all of the festivities of the day. I'll post pictures and videos later. This has turned into a novel, I'm sorry.

Cheers, hugs, and kisses,
Olivia