Well we have finally started to memorize our class schedule. It is so weird because one day we will have a class at 9am and the next day we won't have that class until 11am. It is rather random and hard to remember sometimes. Ha! On Thursday night we went out with a few friends from school.. We started out by hanging out in a plaza.. there were so many people! We then went to a dance club for a little bit. On Friday night, we went to Salsa dancing lessons. It was so much fun and we can kind of salsa dance now. How fun! After the salsa dancing lessons, we went to a few other dance clubs. At the end of the night, we got Churros con Chocolate.. it is really popular to eat them after a night out with your friends! They were SOO delicious!!:):)
Saturday during the day we just walked around the city and took silly pictures in the streets of Seville! On Saturday night, we went out to a dance club again! It was so fun, they played a lot of old school English songs so we had fun dancing all night!!:) The people here like to stay out really late at night!! The clubs stay open until like 5 in the morning! Crazy town!
Sunday we went to the Real Alcazar which is the oldest active royal residence in Europe, built in the 1360s! It was sooo gorgeous. We had lots of fun taking pictures of all of the cool things going on inside. After that, we treated ourselves to some ice cream :):)
We have finally received our bike cards that let us rent bikes whenever we want for a whole year. Although we will only be using them for a few months. We also bought a weekend to Portugal and we are going to that on March 31st!! Can't wait!!
Today and tomorrow we do not have school because tomorrow is the Day of Andalucia.. Andalucia is basically like a state to Spain. They don't call them states though, they call them autonomous communities. So tomorrow is basically like if Nebraska celebrated when they became a state. Which I'm not sure why we don't.. we could use another day off of school ;)!
Check out our Facebook pictures from all of our adventures here in Spain in the blog post below!!:)
Adios!
- Kelli :):)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Photo album links
Here are the links to our Facebook albums. You copy and paste them into your browser.
Morgan's: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2908591308068.2126581.1059125038&type=1&l=17aeb85067
Kelli's: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2731288004269.2123305.1319310041&type=3&l=ebd075d874
Morgan's 2nd album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3283320236057.2133545.1059125038&type=3&l=8baa2f66bb
:):):)
Morgan's: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2908591308068.2126581.1059125038&type=1&l=17aeb85067
Kelli's: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2731288004269.2123305.1319310041&type=3&l=ebd075d874
Morgan's 2nd album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3283320236057.2133545.1059125038&type=3&l=8baa2f66bb
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Carnival de Cadiz
Last night we went to the Carnival of Cadiz. The carnival includes a parade and music groups and skits. We only went to the huge costume party. We rode a chartered bus about an hour and a half. They told us to "follow the crowd" so we did and found soooo many people just hanging out in the streets. It was so packed so we just had to push our way through. Everyone was wearing costumes so we took advantage and took quite a few amusing pictures. Some of the best were foozball players who held rods behind their backs, "babies", bulls and bullfighters, mimes, super heroes. We dressed up as Minnie Mouse. ha We had a lot of fun walking around together talking to random Spaniards. It forced us to work on our Spanish too. ha We had to be back on the bus to return to Sevilla at 3 a.m. and then walk to our house so we got to bed about 5. It was a long night but also very fun!
Yesterday we were out walking around and felt just a few sprinkles. Suddenly people were getting out umbressas and practically running to get inside. We thought that was kind of interesting bc it was really not a big deal. ha We also saw 2 groups of break dancers in a plaza. They were practicing for what we assume was going to be a little competition. That was interesting to watch for a while.
We took a two hour walk today and went to Burger King for a little snack. I was amazed to see cerveza (BEER) on the menu. There were so many people out because it is the weekend and it was so nice out!! Lots of people were just sitting by the river drinking beer and smoking hookah.
~Morgan
Yesterday we were out walking around and felt just a few sprinkles. Suddenly people were getting out umbressas and practically running to get inside. We thought that was kind of interesting bc it was really not a big deal. ha We also saw 2 groups of break dancers in a plaza. They were practicing for what we assume was going to be a little competition. That was interesting to watch for a while.
We took a two hour walk today and went to Burger King for a little snack. I was amazed to see cerveza (BEER) on the menu. There were so many people out because it is the weekend and it was so nice out!! Lots of people were just sitting by the river drinking beer and smoking hookah.
~Morgan
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Hola from Spain!!
Well this last weekend ended up being a lot of fun!! On Saturday night we went out with a a mutual friends and a bunch of people that he knew from all different countries!! We met people from the United States, Germany, Italy, Finland! How fun!!
It's so crazy because first we went to a bar and just had a few drinks and after that, at 1:30am we went to the dance club!! They start charging cover at 2am!! How late!! At the time most bars are closing in the United States, some bars here are just starting to charge a cover!!
They are a lot more lenient on laws here too, everyone just drinks in the streets!
ALSO! How crazy is this, in the University cafeteria, they sell BEER!! ON TAP!! What the heck!! They don't even allow alcohol on campus a lot of times in America!!
Sunday night we went to get tapas with two girls from Italy, a guy from Finland and a guy from Belgium! That provided for some interesting conversation about varying customs.. To go to college in Finland, the guy told us that it's only about 600 dollars A YEAR!!! WHAT?! That's inexpensive! And, while they are studying abroad in another country, their home university PAYS them!!! Ugh, lucky! Also, in a lot of European countries, it is popular that once you are married to just wear a simple gold ring on your left ring finger rather than huge diamonds like in the United States!
Anyways, this upcoming weekend we are going a Carnaval in Cadiz, a city real close to Sevilla. It's basically another excuse to dress up like we do on Halloween and go out!
They do have Valentines day here! We celebrated by going to a candy shop and treating ourselves:)
TOLIET PAPER.. Before coming here.. I had read a few articles about how they don't usually have toliet paper in the bathrooms in Spain and I thought maybe those articles were outdated but NO!.. Most public places DO NOT have toliet paper! What happens is they clean them daily and put toliet paper but once that's out they don't care to put more in there throughout the day! Yucky!
Other than that, we hope to plan a few more trips for our time here and continue chugging along through classes!:):)
Adios!!
-Kelli!
Well this last weekend ended up being a lot of fun!! On Saturday night we went out with a a mutual friends and a bunch of people that he knew from all different countries!! We met people from the United States, Germany, Italy, Finland! How fun!!
It's so crazy because first we went to a bar and just had a few drinks and after that, at 1:30am we went to the dance club!! They start charging cover at 2am!! How late!! At the time most bars are closing in the United States, some bars here are just starting to charge a cover!!
They are a lot more lenient on laws here too, everyone just drinks in the streets!
ALSO! How crazy is this, in the University cafeteria, they sell BEER!! ON TAP!! What the heck!! They don't even allow alcohol on campus a lot of times in America!!
Sunday night we went to get tapas with two girls from Italy, a guy from Finland and a guy from Belgium! That provided for some interesting conversation about varying customs.. To go to college in Finland, the guy told us that it's only about 600 dollars A YEAR!!! WHAT?! That's inexpensive! And, while they are studying abroad in another country, their home university PAYS them!!! Ugh, lucky! Also, in a lot of European countries, it is popular that once you are married to just wear a simple gold ring on your left ring finger rather than huge diamonds like in the United States!
Anyways, this upcoming weekend we are going a Carnaval in Cadiz, a city real close to Sevilla. It's basically another excuse to dress up like we do on Halloween and go out!
They do have Valentines day here! We celebrated by going to a candy shop and treating ourselves:)
TOLIET PAPER.. Before coming here.. I had read a few articles about how they don't usually have toliet paper in the bathrooms in Spain and I thought maybe those articles were outdated but NO!.. Most public places DO NOT have toliet paper! What happens is they clean them daily and put toliet paper but once that's out they don't care to put more in there throughout the day! Yucky!
Other than that, we hope to plan a few more trips for our time here and continue chugging along through classes!:):)
Adios!!
-Kelli!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Things we've noticed:
There are kind of a lot of twins. They (and even just siblings) are often dressed the same.
Hardly anyone wears sweatpants at all.
There aren't many sidewalks, cars often drive by within a foot.
We've seen cars parallel parked side by side and were told that the outer cars leave them in neutral so if the inside needs to leave they can push it out of the way. I want to see that.
There are "bike" lanes on many streets.
People often just sit down on a bench or stairs and hang out and chat. Most things are slower paced and relaxed. They often leisurely walk through the streets.
We went to a bar last night and saw a small flamenco show. There was just one dancer but it was pretty cool. We had Sangria and it was pretty good. We rented bikes today. They have a system where you get a bike for half an hour and then can return it to a different station, wherever you are going.
~Morgan
There are kind of a lot of twins. They (and even just siblings) are often dressed the same.
Hardly anyone wears sweatpants at all.
There aren't many sidewalks, cars often drive by within a foot.
We've seen cars parallel parked side by side and were told that the outer cars leave them in neutral so if the inside needs to leave they can push it out of the way. I want to see that.
There are "bike" lanes on many streets.
People often just sit down on a bench or stairs and hang out and chat. Most things are slower paced and relaxed. They often leisurely walk through the streets.
We went to a bar last night and saw a small flamenco show. There was just one dancer but it was pretty cool. We had Sangria and it was pretty good. We rented bikes today. They have a system where you get a bike for half an hour and then can return it to a different station, wherever you are going.
~Morgan
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
We have had a request to do a blog sort of about the customs in Spain!! They are very different might I add!!
This week we started classes. After a rocky first few days we have decided on the four that we are going to take. And how great is this, we already have friends in them!! We met these two really nice girls who have helped us a lot in two of our classes.. They showed us the book store and said we could have photo copies of their notes!! I really love nice people!! Anyways, the meals here have been so great!! We have breakfast when we wake up, which consists of cereal! Morgan usually has coffee too! YUM! Lunch is served at 2! This is really late for us Americans so it took some adjusting at first. On Wednesdays we cannot come home from school until 4, so we asked if we could just have a lunch at 430 and our house mom, Lola, said no because that is against Spanish customs!! They don't eat lunch after 4! So instead, she packed us a sack lunch with a bocadilla (sandwich). And then, we don't have dinner until 9! Lunch is usually a lot larger than dinner. All of these things are so much different than the United States!
Also, we went to McDonalds the other day because I really was craving a pop. So, I ordered large Coca Cola Light. I'm expecting a good amount of pop, but no!! The large here is the size of a Medium.. It sounds like I'm being dramatic but the portion sizes here are exceptionally smaller than in America!
During siesta, which is from 2-4, you just have to expect places to not be open! It's true, they're not open! And, when we talk to the administration working at the university, they only have office hours from 9am to 2pm!! What a short business day!
Other than classes starting this week, we have just been trying to explore different places around the city by foot and trying to stay busy!
Tata for now!:):)
-Kelli!
This week we started classes. After a rocky first few days we have decided on the four that we are going to take. And how great is this, we already have friends in them!! We met these two really nice girls who have helped us a lot in two of our classes.. They showed us the book store and said we could have photo copies of their notes!! I really love nice people!! Anyways, the meals here have been so great!! We have breakfast when we wake up, which consists of cereal! Morgan usually has coffee too! YUM! Lunch is served at 2! This is really late for us Americans so it took some adjusting at first. On Wednesdays we cannot come home from school until 4, so we asked if we could just have a lunch at 430 and our house mom, Lola, said no because that is against Spanish customs!! They don't eat lunch after 4! So instead, she packed us a sack lunch with a bocadilla (sandwich). And then, we don't have dinner until 9! Lunch is usually a lot larger than dinner. All of these things are so much different than the United States!
Also, we went to McDonalds the other day because I really was craving a pop. So, I ordered large Coca Cola Light. I'm expecting a good amount of pop, but no!! The large here is the size of a Medium.. It sounds like I'm being dramatic but the portion sizes here are exceptionally smaller than in America!
During siesta, which is from 2-4, you just have to expect places to not be open! It's true, they're not open! And, when we talk to the administration working at the university, they only have office hours from 9am to 2pm!! What a short business day!
Other than classes starting this week, we have just been trying to explore different places around the city by foot and trying to stay busy!
Tata for now!:):)
-Kelli!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Well we thought we could spice it up a little bit and add a few videos of us in action in Spain! This afternoon after much relaxation, we went on a jog!! We went down by the river and we found these fun workout things!! At first, we thought it was a playground but after a little investigation we found out that it was actually some work out equipment! After the jog, we all came back to our humble abode and ate dinner!!
Also, Morgan forgot to mention in the previous blog that the house family has two dogs!! They are real little and so so cute! Except when they come and scratch on the door when we're trying to sleep....
hahah
So long for now!!
-Kelli!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Our host family
We finally arrived at our host family's house which was thankfully only a few streets away from our hotel, so we just walked down the street with all of our luggage. We unpacked...there are lots of drawers and a closet and two desks in our room (pictures are on facebook) so it is pretty nice. Their names are Juan and Dolores (who likes to be called Lola). They have two older sons who live on their own in Sevilla and a daughter, Monica, who is 23 who lives here but goes to school in a town outside Sevilla so we hear she's not here much during the week. They provide us with all three meals. Breakfast at 8 (before class at 9), lunch at 2:00, and dinner at 9. These are pretty normal times to eat here. The food has been pretty good so far. They bring them up to our little living room on trays and the table has a little heater underneath it to turn on and keep warm. :) Juan took us on a very long walk in the afternoon. He showed us he fastest way to get to the school, then the scenic route back, showing us lots of different landmarks and teaching us about the city. It was encouraging that we were able to have a long conversation with him all in Spanish! We went into La Plaza de la Encarnación (we called it the honeycomb. hah) you can go up in it and it overlooks the city. It was very cool.
~Morgan
~Morgan
Friday, February 3, 2012
The First Night Out!
Friday, the first weekend we had in Spain was actually pretty fun! We started off knowing zero people in Spain but thanks to Michaela's mom's old coworker, Alex, we got to explore a little bit. She is teaching here for the year and she is fluent in Spanish and English. She met us at the hotel we were at and we walked and had tapas.. which is kind of like appetizers, just little portions of meals. We then walked back to her apartment and along the way she made sure to show us fun landmarks and pretty sights! We got to the apartment and met her roomates who are also all teachers here from the United States. We hung out there and had our first taste of "tinto de verano" which is wine of the summer. It is red wine mixed with either lime or lemon juice! Very sweet and delicious! We then went around the town for the night with Alex and her roomates. They were very informative and we appreciated the time they spent with us very much. :):)
-Kelli!
-Kelli!
The first few days
Well they were a bit stressful, to say the least. (Wednesday) We got to the hotel and met up with Beth Erks, another girl From Missouri Western here for the semester. We all walked to the University, getting only temporarily lost. We got there and found out we needed to go to a different part of the city for the International Students Office, so we took a taxi there. But, they close at 2 every day (a very short work day) so we were too late to do anything. We took the 40 minute walk back to our hotel. Then tried to go out to eat, which was difficult because we didn't know what to order. We ended up getting completely different things than we expected. The next morning (Thursday) we took a taxi back to the international student building, and signed up for housing, which they never ended up helping us with. We had international student orientation. Luckily they had the English on a PPT!! We walked back to our hotel and stopped by a grocery store for bread, orange jelly, and ham. Plastic grocery bags are an extra charge. We took it upon ourselves to go to the school's website and search for suitable housing. We e-mailed a few people. Luckily, the next day Dolores (Lola) e-mailed back and said we could come visit. (Friday) We got up and visited the host family. They seemed nice and had enough beds for the three of us so we decided to take it. (Still having not heard back from the school about housing)
~Morgan
~Morgan
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