plaza de espana.

Saturday was an excellent day. We went with Mary Alice on a cultural excursion to Plaza de Espana and I got to take tons of excellent pictures. I was so so excited. The lighting outside was amazing. Manoli had packed us lunches con bocadillas (with sandwiches) but a group of us were craving American food for lunch so we went to this pizza place called Sloppy Joe’s. It was wonderful to have cheese pizza. It drizzeled a little on our way home and it rained Saturday night while we went out so I came home soaked. But after we went out to a few bars, we went and got food from this burger truck. It kind of looked like our taco trucks at home, but they make burgers instead. I explained to the guy (in Spanish) that Soy vegetariana (I am a vegetarian) and he made me eggs in a hotdog bun with all the burger condiments. It was like the best thing ever because I’ve been wanting breakfast food so bad. For breakfast in Spain, we eat the same thing every day. We eat galletas (little cookie things) with nutella or jam, fruit, have tea/coffee/or hot chocolate, or we eat pan (bread – but its not like bread in the US its like cruton texture half the size of a piece of bread… it’s not my favorite) con mantequilla (butter) y mermelada (jam).

Today, it literally rained all day. I’m not a fan of the rain. I went to Rodilla (which is like a sandwich place) after desayuno (breakfast) because Rodilla has free wi-fi (well you have to buy something of course but you can stay there as long as you want.) But Rodilla is over by Catedral (the Cathedral) which is across the bridge and probably a 20 minute walk from my house. Anyways, on my walk to Rodilla I saw un protesta de trabajadores (a protest) in the streets. Workers were protesting the economic crisis all over Spain today. They were protesting in Madrid in the snow, in Sevilla in the rain, and all over Spain because of the recession. It was crazy; I wish I had my camera with me so that I could take a picture of all the people singing, shouting, and holding signs.

Getting to the café in the rain and back was miserable. Manoli says that it barely ever rains in Sevilla but this winter they’ve had lots of rain so far (especially in the last week that we’ve been here). It has rained three days I think, but it’s very on and off. And Sevilla is not a city that was meant for rain. I was telling Manoli that on my way home mis calcitienes y zapatos y mi mochila estan mojado porque hay muchos lloviendo y mas charcos en los calles (my socks, shoes, and backpack were wet because there was so much rain and many puddles in the streets).

This week I am trying to fix my class schedule and finalize what classes I’m taking. It’s just kind of a headache because I have to sit in on classes and see if they are at my Spanish level and then I have to get the teacher’s signature to get into the class. But the problem is that a lot of classes are filling up and I’m on waiting lists for a few of them but at the same time if I don’t get into certain ones, I should be sitting in on others. Ah! It’s just annoying and I wish they did drop/add online with PeopleSoft like TCU does.

I’m posting pictures from my Plaza de Espana adventure & walks around Sevilla on Facebook/Flickr today. I’ve been taking lots of pictures this weekend with Steve’s Nikon D70. When I go out at night and randomly during the week I will take my Canon point and shoot to take pictures with. But when I’m sight seeing or walking with the intention of taking pictures, I take the DSLR.

During the week, I can get wi-fi at school so that I have internet and after class I have time to post pictures, email, and catch up on life. On the weekends, we go to Gary’s/Seville Internet Café (owned by Gary, that’s why we call it Gary’s) to get internet or I take my computer to Rodilla. TCU gives us 2000 minutes at Gary’s that is included in our program fee, which is nice. But both Gary’s and Rodilla are like a 15-20 minute walk away from my house, so it’s a little inconvenient to walk to at night and especially when it rains.

picture (1) This guy was cooking chestnuts by Catedral and it looked so cool. I didn't buy any though. (2)Plaza de Espana - was built for the Iberian Expo in Sevilla. It's absolutely gorgeous.