La noche en Sevilla

Well, I just got back from hanging out with Lolita, Brett, and Julie at this cute little cafe bar just down the street from my house. Dim lighting, soft music, and the best white wine I've had in Sevilla thus far. It's so nice, just being able to go out and chat and not have to worry about getting home late or being hit on by españoles. It was a lot of fun - we planned on actually going out to go dancing, but it turns out that the place we wanted to go to was a pretty far walk so we kept it mellow and it was wonderful, haha. Tomorrow is my last real class of Intensive Spanish, and I have to say that the name really fits the class. We had so much work to do in the past two weeks, it felt like I was taking my regular 18 credits, but it was just one class! I write two essays a night in addition to a list of vocabulary that we are "quizzed" on in class the next day. But alas, I still have time for fun.

Yesterday and today my internet at my señora's house didn't work so I had to go to El Palacio to get the wifi there - the CIEE Program headquarters. It's a nice little walk through the centro, and today was actually perfect - not too hot, finally. But I know that will all change soon. Anyways, once Maria came back, my señora's daughter, she fixed the connection problem since the little wifi box is in her room, I didn't really want to go waltzing in there as if it were my own. Although earlier today I made myself a cup of coffee in the afternoon by myself and it felt very liberating. I think it's the first thing I've done for myself since I've been here, minus cleaning my room every morning... and my señora cleaned my room the other day anyway. No me gusta. But oh well, it's a part of her duties and I guess having a clean floor works for me. I just don't want her touching my actual things, haha.

Let me recap yesterday because it turned out to be an interesting day... Yesterday started out on such a great note and then things went a little sour afterwards. My group had our presentation yesterday and it was stressful because we were the first group to go, aka the group with the least time to prepare, but I think we rocked the presentation. I was very tired, but we had a great idea to make our presentation interesting and it turned out really well. We were consultants for Target and advised them about whether or not to go into Spain... which in case you're wondering, Target would fail in Spain for sure... but anyway, afterwards, since I had no saldos on my phone I went to refill them at the mall, and that's when things went bad. I only had 5 euro with me and I went to send my postcards first, and afterwards I had zero money to refill my minutes... so I go to the ATM machine to get some quick cash and oh, what do you know... the machine eats my debit card! I was so mad I wanted to cry, and yes my eyes did get teary eyed but no tears. The security guard wasn't helpful in the least bit and the guy on the phone from the bank that the ATM machine was from also said, No we can't help you. WTF. luckily I had my phone card on me that I bought when I first got here so I used up ALL of it taking care of this problem. I bought a new phone card today just in case it happens again, it was really lucky I had it with me because otherwise I wouldn't be able to call anyone! I was devastated. So I go home and my señora let the bathtub overflow with water because she forgot that she left it running so my room is half immersed in water, but luckily none of my things got wet. I didn't really want to stay there since she was cleaning and I asked if I could help her and she said no, and I insisted that I help and she was like, oh, no no I'll clean it up, you can just go in the other room and do homework.. so I was like, well I'll go with Lolita and Matt for cafe and do homework. And of course we end up getting sangrias and doing homework, which worked well, too. We went down so many random side streets to find a hidden cafe, and we ended up finding one that wasn't too far from the cathedral so we had a nice view. It definitely made me feel better because I was stressed out about my card being lost in a Spanish ATM Machine. We then went back to the mall because Matt still had to do his research about all of the INDITEX stores (which I finished last Saturday, haha... I know, I am a loser), so Lolita and I went into some stores to look around and there are so many cute things. I tried on this really adorable purple shirt that was lacy at the top and flowy at the bottom - so cute! But I didn't buy it, don't worry. There's this really cute green jacket I've been eyeing at Mango I might invest in for the winter... and of course, the cutest, comfiest pair of Oxford heels that would look great with jeans or a skirt that cost 90 euro, so I'd say that's a pretty fair price considering the quality and amazingness. But I haven't bought anything materialistic just yet... I need to find the perfect moment. I envision seeing something and just knowing that it's a perfect match. We'll see. So, that was my yesterday. I ended the night by watching The Holiday which made me a little bit more homesick than I thought it would, since today (or now I suppose it was yesterday...) was this special someone's birthday and the first day of classes at UW and I miss my doggy and my mom and my friends... But my days here are so packed that it only really hits me at night when I'm all by myself in my room. Other than that, I'm having a great time and I'm loving Sevilla more and more every day. The people are super nice and friendly, and it's cool because today I just striked up a conversation with someone randomly at the store while waiting in line and we chatted and it was muy bien. I understood, he understood, it was a great conversation... all like two or three minutes of it, haha. I also chatted with Jaime and Antonio today, the program director and my professor, about changing some classes and I think I might man up and take international finance instead of the wimpy cultural diversity class that sounds so Mickey Mouse, in the words of my accounting professor Larry.

So, all in all.. two days of class left - real class tomorrow and the test on Friday and actual classes begin on Monday. This weekend a bunch of people in the group are going to Lagos but it's pretty pricey so me, Jenna, and Matt are going to stay in Sevilla and go to all the tourist places and explore the city before school starts.

Okay, bed time since it's almost two am... I had a good day today and definite highlight was talking to my special someone so that was nice. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep all through the night because I haven't been able to in a while, I wake up every two or three hours for like a half hour each time, which is fine because I just listen to Barcelona, but really... come on.

Cheers,

Olivia