Homestay!!!!!

So after a grueling two weeks in the residencia, I have finally moved out and I'm living in a barrio called Triana. It's on the other side of the river. I live with a senorita who's 28, totally awesome, and is a professor of Spanish Literature and Language. I couldn't have had better luck with finding such a great place to stay in for the next three months. I am just so happy! I have my own room, basically my own little apartment. It's so sweet. I'll explain with some pictures.

I moved in last night. When you first enter, on your right is the kitchen.



Here's the other side of the kitchen


On the left side of the hall is the bathroom:

It's tiny, but I don't need a lot to get by.

Once you walk down the first hall, you get to a longer hallway. Down to the left is my senorita's side of the apartment.


This is her living room.


Another glimpse of it. The door you see leads to her bedroom.

Then you go down the hall..


And you enter my side of the place..

This is the sitting room I suppose. A small couch and a desk. I love it.


Here's another picture of it. The door leads to my room.


There are two beds because she normally houses two American students, but I'm the only one living here!


And here's the view from my bed. I'm lucky that I have a lot of room.

I start university classes on Monday. I'm really nervous. Wish me luck. I have to buy a bus pass and I think I need to start buying presents for people now so I don't forget. So let me know what you want. Especially my sisters. Because you guys are the worst to shop for. Yeah.

And I'm almost positive that Paris and Barcelona will be two very possible trips in the distant future!

And Granada next weekend. I can't wait!!!

Thanks for reading. I miss you guys. And sorry I'm slacking on the postcards, I swear I'll get to them...eventually.

-abc.

An update without photos...

Despite the lack of commenting I do hope people are reading this. Or else I'm just wasting my time, haha.

So things have improved immensely in the past week. It's been quite a week.

We started our intensive session class. It's one class for two weeks and it's for three hours everyday. It's definitely draining sometimes. There are a lot of assignments to get done. We had our examen parcial yesterday. It was pretty simple but that either means I did really well or I did really poorly. Vamos a ver, supongo.

I'm hoping that my Spanish speaking abilities are improving, but I don't know.

So I've been living in the residencia for a while now. I'm moving out next Friday into a homestay. I'm actually really excited. I visited two yesterday. The first apartment was amazing and hugeeeeee and had air conditioning in all rooms. It was nice, however the lady seemed a little on the quiet side. I then went to a different apartment in the same town a couple of hours later. The apartment is off a main street that leads directly to the bridge to get to the other side of town. Anyways, I chose to live with a lady who is 28 and lives alone. She was so cool. She just seems like a lot of fun and is super lively and has been hosting American students for four years now. It'll be nice because it's kind of like being with my sister. And I stayed there last night just chatting with her and her friend. It was super fun and I think I'm going to enjoy my time there. Plus, it was challenging but definitely kinda cool to be forced to speak in Spanish. My main goal is to be able to maintain a conversation in Spanish with native speakers. I think this entire experience will definitely help me stop doubting myself in every situation.

Hmm, I don't know what else to really say. If my schedule works out according to plan, I believe that I will only have classes Mon-Thurs. I really hope that works out because I want to go to Paris in November. I would also love to go to Italy and Dublin. I guess we will see. The number one city on my list is Barcelona.

Okay, well that was enough babbling to keep you all semi-interested. Now comment.

P.S. I really miss driving. I seriously walk everywhere and wouldn't be surprised if I average walking 6 miles a day. It's nice and everything, but so much time is spent walking haha.

Besos!

-abc.

Cadiz, Espana

So today, our group had a day trip to Cadiz. It is a city south of Sevilla and it is basically like an island that is attached to the bottom of Spain. It is quite honestly one of the most breathtaking and beautiful cities I have ever stepped foot in. It's about an hour and a half away from Sevilla.

This is a picture of what the city looked like today


Then we walked through the city and went on a little tour and learned about the history. It's basically like a peninsula and you almost always have a view of the Atlantic.


Another one of one of the great views


I have been really fortunate thus far with the people in my group. I took a lot of pictures with them, and here's one of the awesome people I've met



During our walk we went to a dead end street. At the end there was a fence that showed a glimpse of an old theater/performance center from the Roman period. It is still in tact and visitors can walk through it. They would have performances there and gladiators would fight there too. How cool is that? This is what it looks like now, at least it did today..


We walked around some more. Then we went to the cathedral, which is in like the center of the city. It was breath taking.


And then we went to the top of the cathedral, which can be seen in the picture above, it's to the right. We went up to take pictures.




I managed to get over my fear of heights to take those pictures and I'm really proud of myself haha. It wasn't anything like Diamond Head though.

Anyways, we walked around some more and got to see the commercial area of the place. It was fun. Then we saw the ocean again and we had to take more pictures. Kind of like this one

well clearly because I'm Korean.

Near the end of our tour, we went through this awesome garden that has really awesomely shaped trees. It definitely reminded me of Edward Scissorhands.


It was quite beautiful.

All right, I'm tired and I will add more about Cadiz tomorrow. I hope you enjoy what I have up now.

I just realize more and more how fortunate I am to be able to be here right now and to have what I do back at home. I miss everyone and love everyone.

I also have a new nephew as of yesterday. How exciting. I miss my nephews a lot. I missed Xander's first step and I didn't get to meet Jaxon. I guess there's much to do once I return.

Leave me comments!

-abc

Una ciudad bellisima..

I'm still adjusting to everything here, but I've definitely been enjoying myself as well. We don't start classes for another couple of weeks. Wish me luck when that comes around because I have to take three actual courses at the university. We'll see how that goes. I should probably just write all of my blogs in Spanish to help me.

Anyways, we've been doing a lot of touring the city and just learning about the program and what we've gotten ourselves into.

What I've really learned in the past three days of being here is that I definitely take a lot for granted when I'm at home. I'm really lucky to be who I am and to have what I have. It's so tough to get by speaking a language I thought I knew well, and it's tough to adjust to such different and new customs.

Enough of my blabbering about pointless things. I'll post up some pictures.



The night we arrived, we went on a buggy ride. This is right outside of our hotel.


I don't remember the name of this but I just remember being taken here and it's just so beautiful. It's right off the main streets of the city. How lucky are Sevillanos? Seriously.

And one of the last stops was La Giralda. So beautiful. Pictures don't do the Spanish architecture enough justice..



The next day, Ricardo, our guia, took us out for tapas at a local tapas restaurant. So delicious. And I downed it with cerveza, so it couldn't've been better. We had some beef tenderloin cooked in a whiskey sauce, chicken with bacon and cheese, and fried eggplant. So good. Salivate..NOW



Yesterday we had to walk around the city in groups on our own to familiarize ourselves with the area. You know me, I have no sense of direction so I'm always going to be lost. I probably will know my way around like the last day I'm here haha. Anyways, here are some pictures.


This is part of the center of Sevilla. It's just so awesome and chill.



We took this picture when we made a stop at El Torre de Oro. This is the other side of the city, across the Guadalquivir River. I am so lucky.


Yesterday we also moved into our permanent residencies. I did not choose a homestay, which I should have done, but I think I like this environment too. It will take some time to adjust..but whatever. Here are some pictures of the room, it's so tiny!, and pictures of the residence hall. It's under construction, but once it's finished we can go to the top floor and sunbathe and just relax. Happy times.



Our tiny room, however it is packed with IKEA furniture so I can't complain!



Yeah, that's all the room allotted for my clothes and toiletries. Wonderful, huh? haha.


This is a picture I took of the front lobby/sitting area. It's beautiful. I love all the intricate details. There normally isn't that much luggage, but we had just arrived to the residencia.

I suppose that's my update for now. We're going on two trips in the upcoming future, to Cadiz and to Granada. I really can't wait.

P.S. The sangria is delicious here.

I miss everyone. So comment now.

-abc.

El Primer Dia...

Hola a todos! Estoy en Espana en un hotel con la otra gente en el programa. Estoy nerviosa de lo que va a pasar.

The flight over here was a challenge that's for sure. I had started in O'Hare and flew off to Paris where I had a layover for four hours. I got lost and my luggage was almost screwed up so it was challenging to settle that in a language I don't know how to speak. Then I had to fly to Bilbao and from Bilbao to Sevilla. It was draining and I still don't know how to feel now that I'm here. It's just an adjustment but I think I'll enjoy it.

We had a brief orientation with the director and then we had a really delicious dinner. So satisfying after staying up for long hours and being drained. We had a tiny little break and I made some phone calls. Then we were taken on this horseback buggy ride throughout the town. I captured some beautiful photos, my favorites being of La Giralda. It was relaxing and enjoyable. I'll post up some pictures when I'm not so tired and when I have a little time. I just wanted to write an update for any potential readers.

I miss you guys a lot.

-abc

Bienvenidos

Hola y bienvenidos to my blog about my goings on in Spain. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy experiencing everything I'll be writing about. I'll miss all of you and will try to post on here as often as possible.

-abc