From January 10, 2008 until May 12, 2008 I am studying abroad through Simpson College in Seville, Spain. While taking 18 credit hours I am living with a host family, becoming active in the culture, using my Spanish speaking abilities and exploring Europe. This blog will serve as an up-to-date reference as to what I am doing, the things that I have encountered, and the experiences I want to share.

Know that I miss you all and I hope you enjoy the frequent banterings of my experiences in Spain! I will be home soon enough but for now...¡Hola de España!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Blue Sparkles, Scarves and Face Paint

Friday February 1, 2008

Today we woke up around 9:30am and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Encarna was in the kitchen and was making freshly squeezed orange juice. What a great way to start the day off! It was already a better day than yesterday. During breakfast Encarna asked if we had made our minds up about going to Cadiz for Carnival yet. We hadn’t decided yet, but Encarna decided to make the decision for us, she said that we had to go. “You are in Sevila! Why not?” So she offered to drop us off close to the train station, so we could get tickets, on her way to the doctor. We gladly accepted the invitation and were headed to the station 20 minutes later. We went inside, figured out how to actually get a ticket and we were booked to go to Cadiz from 9am to 8pm the following day. Cadiz is a huge version of Mardi Gras/Halloween that lasts for about two weeks long. There are parades, shows and tons of people come dressed up to Cadiz for the celebration. We came home, ate lunch and then headed to Republica to book a hostel for Paris. I also had a group meeting for History at 6pm, which didn’t even start until 6:45pm because that’s when everyone actually decided to show up. After booking a hostel, with literally one-minute left before my computer died, I met with my group and then we came back home. We still needed to get costumes for Carnival. We were thinking about being schoolgirls with shirts that our host sister found around the house for us, but we had trouble finding ribbon and neon tights that were big enough. We finally decided that we would get sparkly masks, bright colored shirts, scarves, face paint, and call it good. After searching for a while we assembled our costumes for less than 15 Euros apiece from a few different discount stores. We went to the grocery store next to get sweets and more importantly Coke. We returned home and showed our sister our costumes. She liked them so we are set to go for tomorrow! Tonight we are having a chill night because we have to leave our apartment around 7-7:15am to get to the train station in time for our departure. 

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