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