Huelga General

Hola todos!

I'm sure many of you have read about the "Huelga General" (General Strike) that will take place tomorrow across the nation of Spain. A large amount of transportation will be shut down or will be running pretty infrequently and all stores will be closed. Since I take the bus to school and it comes every 1/2 hour as it is on a normal day, I am not going to make the attempt to wait for my bus tomorrow for upwards of what could be one hour to two hours. The oficina para los extranjeros (the office for foreigners) at my school sent out an email that if we feel in danger at all tomorrow to make sure we go back immediately into our houses. We also need to avoid picket lines and large groups of people as they could potentially be very violent. So, I think the best bet would be to stay put in my apartment for the day. The teachers already said they would all be understanding if we weren't able to make it to school. The strike is being held by citizens who are in opposition of new government regulations. These new regulations include wage cuts, and increase in the retirement age, and reforms that make it easier to hire/fire workers. As all of you may know, Spain was definitely hit very hard by the economic crisis and the unemployment rate exceeds 20%. However, the strike may be incredibly unproductive as the new reforms have already been made legal and there may not be anything a strike will be able to achieve. I guess we will soon find out! 

Besos, 

Lindsay

An Eventful Weekend

Hola todos,

This weekend was quite eventful! On Saturday, Dana and I took the bus to Cadiz to go to the beach for the day. The bus ride was about an hour long and lets just say it was well worth the drive. The beaches in Cadiz are absolutely beautiful! When Dana and I arrived, we claimed a nice spot on the beach and didn't move for the remainder of the day, unless it was to go in the ocean. We weren't aware that people in Cadiz were so free to walking on the beach topless or completely naked, but lets just say that these people were everywhere you looked. I've heard walking around on the beach naked is quite liberating, but I can't say I would like to try it myself. Overall we had a wonderful time, and the weather was absolutely perfect--I walked away with a nice sunburn despite my use of sunblock, oh well!

Dana and I at the beach in Cadiz

The Ocean--so beautiful

Me at the beach!

Once we returned home from the beach, I went out to dinner with my friend Zach. We found this nice little restaurant somewhere in the center of Seville to eat, and they had calamari which I was really excited about. As many of you know, I only really prefer the circular calamari--if it's the squidy looking stuff, that's not for me. I was trying to ask the waiter if the calamari was circular and he didn't understand, so I just gave up and figured I would be in for a surprise. When my plate came, there were no circular calamari, but strips of calamari--quite interesting, and actually very good. After that, we went to go watch some of the Barcelona v. Bilbao game at an Irish pub, that was pretty fun, but I had to call it an early night because I was just so exhausted from being in the sun all day at the beach. I took a taxi home, and the taxi driver was really impressed by how well I could speak and understand Spanish--I guess I could say that I'm getting better and better at speaking Spanish as each day goes by. I thanked him very much for the nice compliment!

Today I went to the "Corrida de Toros" (the race of the bulls), or a bullfight. As many of you know, bullfighting is a traditional spectacle in Spain. In a traditional corrida, three matadores (killers) each fight two bulls. Each matador has six assistants--two picadores (lancers) mounted on horseback, three banderilleros (flagmen), and a mozo de espada (sword page). The modern corrida is highly ritualized. At the start of the corrida, the participants first enter the arena in a parade (paseillo) to salute the presiding dignitary and they are accompanied by band music. Torero costumes are inspired by the 18th century Andalusian clothing, and the matadores are easily distinguished by their gold traje de luces (suit of lights). I won't go into detail about how they execute the killing of the bull, but lets just say it's very intense and rather cruel! Tonight when I went to the corrida, the stadium was absolutely jam-packed full of people--I can't believe these things sell out on a weekly basis and that so many people get delight from watching six bulls get killed. It's a little strange, but I guess that's the culture of Spain, and I might as well accept it! I think if any of you were to visit Spain, that I would highly encourage seeing the bullfight, but it's definitely not something you would want to see more than once! These two following pictures are actually pictures of the matador--this is the guy that will take on the bull by himself and then make the final "kill". If it's a good kill, the bull will drop dead almost instantaneously, if it's not a good kill--then he'll have to stick another sword in the bull--YUCK!

So, this weekend I experienced a little bit of relaxation and a little bit of Spanish culture--overall calling for another great weekend in Spain. School starts up again tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it. On Wednesday there is a "Huelga General" (general strike) all around Spain. School will still be in session, but it might take me upwards of an hour to wait for the bus to school! We'll see how that goes. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and that this week treats you well! Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay

Just a few things..

Hola todos,

So I haven't written in a few days, but not too too much has been going on lately. Today is Friday, which means I have the day off from school (just like every other Friday), so I was able to sleep in and now I'm going to work on some homework for the morning. The school week went really well and I have been learning so much, whether its developing my Spanish skills or learning about Spanish history--never realized how much Spanish history there was until now! Next week the Spaniards start their classes, so UPO will be jam-packed full of students--about 10,000 of them to be exact. I'm sure this will be a bit overwhelming for me at first, because Bryant is only about 3,000 undergrad, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Last night our API group took some students to the Teatro de La Maestranza to see the Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla (The Royal Symphony Orchestra of Sevilla). Here we sat in a huge theater and listened to the music from the symphony for about two hours. It was really cool to experience, and there was a guitar soloist named Pablo Sainz Villegas, who was absolutely fantastic! When reading through the program, a lot of us got a kick out of the word "fagot" appearing next to someone's name when describing what instrument they played. When I got home, I immediately searched this word and a "fagot" is actually a bassoonist, so, remember that!

After the concert I had to get a taxi ride home as it was so late. This was one of the more enjoyable taxi rides I've taken as the taxi driver was so interested to hear about the United States and he asked me what I thought of Seville thus far. He said he had been living in Seville for 35 years now, and he loves it! He asked me about some of the differences from the U.S. to Spain, and I told him that in the U.S. we don't have a scheduled siesta time. He thinks this is terrible, and that the U.S. should incorporate the siesta into their daily lives, as he says that it is better for your health. So, I expect you all to work on that--and when I get home, hopefully you've perfected the siesta, if you haven't--I know someone that can help!

This weekend I will be going to Cadiz with my friend Dana and meeting up with my friend Alicia that I go to school with at Bryant. Cadiz is home to the best beaches in Spain--so I'm really excited to get on the beach and into the ocean for the day. On Sunday, I will be going to a Bullfight. I'm very excited for this, but also really nervous--I've heard from others that have already went that it's very graphic and sad because they end up killing six bulls by the end of the fight. Everyone says you have to go to say you've experienced it, though--so I'm going! Also, next weekend we were able to plan a trip to Morocco! So after Sunday of next week, I can say I've rode on a camel--pictures to come :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I hope the weather is still staying beautiful! Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay

My weekend in Granada

Hola Todos!

I had no internet yesterday at my house, as my host family is upgrading to wireless—I suppose that’s a good thing, but I wasn’t able to post a blog about Granada as soon as I got home!

Anyways, on Friday morning we left bright and early for Granada. We were aware there was a chance of rain in the forecast, so we were unsure whether or not we’d be able to fit our hike in at the Torcal de Antequera. Unfortunately, we had to postpone it until Sunday because as we grew closer to Granada, the rain became heavier and heavier. So, when we arrived to the hotel, about half of our group bravely took the walking tour around Granada. I found myself in this group, and Mom would be very proud, but I’m pretty sure I might have been the driest person in our group at the end of the day-- thanks to my raincoat and umbrella. We walked around the center of the city for quite some time, and visited la Capilla Real. This is where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried (the king and queen who granted Christopher Columbus the money to go discover the world). Our two program directors felt bad about the rainy day, and decided to treat us to churros and chocolate. If you have never tasted churros and chocolate, I suggest you do some time in your life. Basically, churros and chocolate is fried dough that you dip in gobs and gobs of chocolate a.k.a. DELICIOUS! After our tour, a few of the girls decided to walk around and shop for a little while. I ended up purchasing a nice Spanish-looking dress for only 14 euro. After shopping, we went back to the hotel and took part in our complimentary dinner put on by the hotel. All of us ate like we would never be able to eat again in our lives—the food was delicious and fairly American. After that, we had free time for the evening so I went out with a couple of friends and met up with another friend, Andrew (from Bryant), who is studying abroad in Granada. We had a drink at a Tapas bar, and then he took us to el Botellon. Basically what the Botellon is is a parking lot in Granada where it’s legal to drink outside. I would say roughly 1,000 young people from Granada were there and it was quite the atmosphere. My friends and I just wanted to go for the experience—and lets just say it was quite the experience, I’ve never seen anything like that before!

Churros and Chocolate!

The next morning we visited la Alambra y los Jardines del Generalife. La Alambra was conceived in the past as a palatine fortified town. Between the XII and XV century, it was used as the residence for Nasrid Sultans, high commanders, civil servants of the royal court, and soldiers of elite. This beautiful “town” took 400 years to build and the preservation of it is impeccable. La Alambra overlooks all of Granada and it is quite the view! La Alambra is also home to what our tour guide called an “impossible building.” This impossible building is square on the outside, and circular on the inside—fascinating!

La Alambra-the reflection pool

Tapas!

After we visited La Alambra, a few of my friends and I went to go try tapas for the first time. We found a nice little tapas bar on Calla Nava (home to most of the Tapas bars in Granada), and we decided to order the variety tapas plate—that way there, we were able to try a little bit of everything. The variety included everything from cheese to chicken to tuna to some strange mashed potatoes with what we thought had lobster meat in them. Whatever it was that we ate, we all agreed that it was really good—minus a couple of tapas that I didn’t particularly like. Later on that evening, our group went to see a Flamenco show. The show was absolutely phenomenal and it was such a great way to be able to experience the Spanish culture firsthand and appreciate such an artistic dance. If you are ever able to go to a Flamenco show, keep in mind that it is a lot of stomping—so don’t be startled when they come into the room and are stomping around everywhere, because I was!

Flamenco

On Sunday morning we left to go on our hike at el Torcal de Antequera. Luckily we had nice weather this time, and the hike was very enjoyable. I told all of my friends that whenever I hear about hiking, I always have immediate flashbacks to China when we went hiking (or what I’d like to call, mountain climbing) around Guilin—which wasn’t a very enjoyable experience on account of the 30 degree weather, rain, and muddy rocks. Anyways, we hiked up the mountain for a little while and were able to eat lunch and relax for a bit and then head back down the mountain. The view was absolutely beautiful—I would have stayed there forever if I could have! After our hike, it was on our way back to nice, hot Seville. When we arrived and got off the bus, you immediately knew you were in Seville on account of how hot it was. I’m concerned that it may never get “cold” during the time I’m here, but we’ll see what happens. 

El Torcal de Antequera

It was so nice to actually get back to my host family, and Juani wanted to hear all about my trip when I got home. She was very jealous of the cooler weather in Granada, as she said she stayed in all weekend because

it was so hot! I found out today that her birthday is 3 days after Sam’s on November 30^th, so I will have to remember and perhaps I can bake her a famous Lindsay birthday cake.

Today marks the beginning of yet another week of school. Tomorrow I believe I will be able to meet with my intercambio, so I’m really excited about that! I think that about covers it for my weekend. I hope everyone back home had a lovely weekend—I’m sure the foliage might be starting to kick in pretty soon. I’m so sad I’m going to miss it, PLEASE SEND PICTURES! Love you all.

Besos,

Lindsay

Going to Granada!

Hola todos,

Today marked the end of my second week of school. All went well, and I am managing all of my classes and homework just fine.

I haven't done anything very exciting this week besides go to school, but there should be a nice blog coming your way on Sunday when I return from Granada. I'm very excited for this trip and look forward to seeing a whole new part of Spain.

Tonight it's supposed to RAIN! I am so very excited about this because I don't think it has rained in Seville since I've been here. Hopefully the rain will cool things down just a tad. 100 degree weather all this week was not a very good time! It's also supposed to rain all day tomorrow in Granada, probably making touring around a bit difficult, but I think we'll manage. And yes Mom, that means I'll be breaking out my new raincoat. :)

I hope all is well in los Estados Unidos. Until Sunday..

Besos,
Lindsay

Relieved!

Hola todos,

Yesterday marked the start of my second week of school in Seville. I've finally worked out all of the problems with my schedule and my stress has officially gone away. For the semester I will be taking two history classes (Medieval Spain and the History of Spain), Mujeres en Europa (Women in Europe), Traduccion (Translation from Spanish to English and vice versa), and Ecological Systems. It's quite the mixture of classes, but I'm working on getting all my Liberal Arts credits out of the way, so when I return to Bryant, my focus can be solely on my business classes. All of my professors are really nice, and for my classes taught in Spanish, the professors make sure that the class is following along and ask if they need to speak more slowly, etc. I'm sure this will be a great semester!

For many of my classes, we will be going on small field trips to see different sites we talk about in class--which will mainly be for my two history classes. I will also go on a field trip with my Ecology class and we will be taking a hike to God only knows where. I told Mom to send me some old sneakers, because the professor showed us pictures from last year's field trip and students were falling right and left into the creeks that we have to cross over on LOGS. I've never been much of an outdoorsy person, but I will have to keep an open mind about this one--and I have a couple of months to mentally prepare myself for it!

This weekend my group is headed to Granada, which is southeast of Sevilla. Believe it or not, it will actually be cooler in Granada than it will be in Sevilla. For the past few days now, we've been experiencing temperatures from 99-105 degrees, so going to Granada for the weekend will be very nice as it will only be in the high 70s and low 80s there. I'm excited to get a change of scenery and start to travel around a bit!

Home life is going very well. I think my stomach has finally adjusted to this very weird eating schedule--so that's always good. I'm concerned, though, about when I get back to America and our family is eating around 6PM and I won't want to eat that early! Each day I try to communicate a bit more with my family so I can develop better speaking skills and I've already seen a marked improvement. When I was Skyping with Sam last night, he could hear the conversation Juani was having on the phone with one of her friends--mind you my door to my room was shut, and she was all the way on the other side of the apartment. I had been noticing how loudly they talk and now Sam can attest to this fact as well--it almost sounds like they're yelling, but they're not!!

That's about all for today! I have to eat lunch pretty soon and then it's off to class :) Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay

Outside of the Seville Cathedral

The past couple of days..

Hola todos!

I finally finished my first week of school, and am so relieved! I'm still working out a couple of issues with my schedule, but I think everything should work out fine. All of my classes are very interesting and the professors are fabulous--so it should be a great semester!

Last night I went out to dinner with my friend Dana. We came upon this big great street with a bunch of tapas bars. "Tapas" is the name for a wide variety of appetizers and snacks in Spanish cuisine. They're not very big portions, so you get quite a few, and then share them amongst the people you're eating with. Dana and I ate at a tapas bar, but didn't get tapas! This was because we weren't sure what some of the ingredients were in the dishes--that's why we must always carry out pocket dictionary with us wherever we go! Dana had a sandwich, and I had pizza--we were both pretty satisfied with our meals, but both agreed that it didn't compare to our favorite sandwich shop or pizza place back home! After we ate, we sat out in front of the Seville Cathedral, and listened to a group of men playing all sorts of different instruments--the crowd they had watching them was huge! While sitting out in front of the Cathedral, I saw a couple of my friends from Bryant which was really nice. Afterwards, Dana and I took an adventure across the river to meet up with some friends, but it wasn't that cool, so we decided to leave and go home :)

The amount of people out at night in Spain is unreal. It seems like the people in this city are very laidback, easy-going, and just very content with the life of a Spaniard. I mean, what's not to like? You get a siesta EVERYDAY! I think because they have that siesta that they are able to stay out until wee hours in the morning, when us Americans would have already been in bed for at least four or five hours.

I'm sure Mom and Dad are wondering how I got myself home at 1AM last night. Since the buses and metro shut down at about 11PM, I found myself having to take a taxi. For a typical city girl, this would be no big deal, but for a small-town girl, this was HUGE. Why? I've never, EVER been in a taxi before in my life. So, last night marked my first taxi ride and my taxi driver dropped me off right in front of my apartment.. it was perfecto.

I just wanted to share a couple of funny stories with you from the past couple of days. The other day I was sitting at the bus stop, and an old woman walked toward me with a grocery cart with a microwave (microondas) inside the cart. She sat down next to me and told me she would pay me fifteen euro to help carry the microondas to her house. That's basically all I caught of what she said, and when my bus came to the stop, I got on the bus, and I think I really made her mad as she was under the impression that I would help her--WOOPS! Also, on my way to school yesterday I got to ride the elevator (ascensor) with a little dog named Jorge. It reminded me of the time that we were bringing Zephyr back to TN and greet Sam, and we had to stay in a hotel and Z got to ride the elevator. I also just thought it was funny that the dogs name was Jorge, and responded to commands in Spanish. Perhaps when I get home, I'll make Zephyr a bilingual dog.

Zephyr waiting for the elevator

That's all for today! Hasta luego :)

Besos,
Lindsay

First day of School!

Hola todos!

I haven't written in a couple of days--life has been very busy, exciting, and stressful all at the same time. On Tuesday, our group visited Alcazar which is a royal palace right in Seville. Because of its beauty, it was chosen as a residence by many monarchs for centuries, and is now the residence of His Royal Majesty Juan Carlos when he and his family visit Seville.

The Royal Palace of Alcazar

After we went to Alcazar, we had our second day of Orientation and I finally was able to see my friend Dana which was so exciting! We received our schedules and they gave us some helpful tips about the first few weeks of school.

This morning, my first class was at 10:30 and I was at school until about 7:30PM this evening. It was definitely an extremely stressful day between trying to get my classes straightened out and finding where my classes were, but all in all, I think it should be a great semester--I even have one class with Dana :) When I have my schedule finalized, I will let you all know what classes I'll be taking. Right now, the campus of UPO is very empty because the Spaniards don't start class until the 27th. So it's just the students from the U.S. that are going to school there right now (there's about 230 of us!). The nice thing about this university, is that they give foreign students (like me) every Friday off, so we are able to travel! This week, though, we have school on Friday.

I'm going to call it quits on my blog for tonight, it has been a pretty exhausting day and I can't wait to get into my cama (bed). Mom and Dad, please let Reggie know on Friday night that I am already missing Papa Joe's pizza!

Muchos besos,
Lindsay

Orientation and Seville Cathedral

Hola todos!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day off from work today :) Labor Day, unfortunately, is not celebrated in Spain, so this morning I found myself waking up at 8AM and heading to school for orientation.

Day one of orientation went well. All of the incoming students from the U.S. had to take a placement exam, which I think I did pretty well on--I will found out the results tomorrow. Then we were given a tour of campus. Unlike Bryant University, Pablo de Olavide University is huge and very spread out. Going from class to class or from class to the library will call for a lot of walking, but I'm sure I can handle it especially if the weather is going to stay this warm until December! Tomorrow I will go back for the second day of orientation and we will receive our class schedules and I will be able to sign up for what is called an "intercambio." Basically, you are paired up with a spanish-speaking student and they teach you spanish and you teach them english--it's a pretty good concept!

After orientation we went to the Seville Cathedral. As I believe I mentioned before, the Seville Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the whole WORLD. Construction began for the Gothic Cathedral in 1401 and was completed in 1506. An interesting fact about this Cathedral is that Christopher Columbus's tomb is found here. Three other churches have claimed that his remains are in their churches, but it was recently confirmed after opening the tomb, under the permission of a descendant of Columbus, that his remains are, in fact, in the Seville Cathedral. The bell tower of the Seville Cathedral (The Giralda bell tower) has a height from the pavement to the weather vane of 98 m or about 321 feet! We were able to climb to the top of the bell tower and it has a magnificent view over all of Seville (pictures below).

El torre de Giralda (Bell tower)

Inside Seville Cathedral

The main altar in the Cathedral

View from the top of the Bell tower

Great pictures, huh? Check my facebook for some more! Hasta luego :)

Besos,
Lindsay

My first weekend in Seville

Hola todos,

It's Sunday evening, and I'm preparing myself for my first day of orientation at school tomorrow. I'm really excited for school to start and get a nice schedule going! Monday and Tuesday we have orientation and then Wednesday will be my first day of class :)

This weekend I spent trying to get adjusted to my new home life and exploring Seville a bit. On Saturday, I walked around Seville with two friends from my program for about 4 hours. We got lost once, but luckily had our map to get us back in the right direction! We went into different stores--just browsing and checking on the Spanish styles, but I didn't really find anything I liked which is pretty rare when I go shopping! There was a store, though, that was named after my mom, Pamela. I didn't know you had your own line of clothing, Mom!

Pamela Fashion!

Today I went to church with my senora, Juani. It was about a three minute walk from the apartment, so that was nice! The church was small, but very pretty inside. Due to the heat, mass was only a half hour long--and we thought Fr. Chris's masses were short! My senora also gave me a "novela" to read, which I will probably start tonight. It will be a pretty challenging task, but I'm excited to get started. I've also been reading the daily newspaper after Manolo is done with it everyday--trying to expose myself to as much Spanish as possible :) Other than going to church today and reading, I didn't really do much of anything--partly because just about everywhere in Seville is closed in Sundays.

That's about it for today. I can't wait to tell you all about my orientation, first day of school, etc. :) I also wanted to add the view from my bedroom. Pretty isn't it?

Besos,
Lindsay

Seville!

Hola todos,

It has been a couple days since I've written a blog, so I'm going to give it my best shot to catch you all up.

Yesterday we left Madrid and went to Toledo. Toledo is known as the Imperial City or the City of Three Cultures. Toledo was made the first capital of Spain under the Visigoths in the mid-6th century. Toledo served as an important hub for Jews, Moors, and Christians, and remained a city of religious toleration for hundreds of years despite political conflict and many changes. Toledo has 80 churches, and this is where the "Holy Toledo" originated (get it?). In the 1560s, Madrid became the capital of Spain, and the prosperity of Toledo ended.

La ciudad de Toledo (The city of Toledo)

In Toledo, we visited a Cathedral, the Church of Santo Tome, and the Barrio Judio.

The Cathedral in Toledo is the 2nd largest Cathedral in Spain (the biggest Cathedral in Spain is actually in Seville, and I will get to see it on Monday--this Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world). The Cathedral was built from 1226-1493 and was inspired by the Gothic Cathedrals of France. The beauty of this Cathedral cannot even be put into words. Here is a link with pictures of the inside, as I could not take any pictures inside the Cathedral.

Toledo Cathedral

Front of Toledo Cathedral

The Church of Santo Tome housed the famous painting entitled "El entierro del Senor de Orgaz" or "The Burial of Count Orgaz" by El Greco. I bought a post card at the Church, and took a picture of it so you can see what the painting looks like, but the picture doesn't do it much justice!

El entierro del Senor de Orgaz

Once done with our tour in Toledo, we had a 7 hour bus ride ahead of us. It actually went by pretty quickly, and they stopped a few times--so that was nice. When we arrived in Seville it was around 8PM and  we were all waiting to what looked like we were being adopted. The families would come along and our directors would call out our names, and then we had a family! Very exciting! My host mom's name is Juani and is married to Manolo. They have two daughters Laura and Susana. Laura lives across the street in another apartment building with her husband, and Susana lives in the room next to mine. My family is very nice and so welcoming. They have a lot of patience and are willing to explain things that I don't understand. It has been a challenge communicating, but I believe I'm catching on quickly--I have to, because no one speaks english in this house! The apartment that I'm living in is more than I ever expected. I have my own room and bathroom and also have internet access and air-conditioning--so I am very content. When I arrived to their apartment I unpacked all my things, and we didn't eat dinner until about 10:15PM--I'm sure Dad is in shock! After dinner I went to bed because I had to get some rest for our bike tour in the morning around Seville.

Luckily, the bike tour was early in the morning, as Seville is known as the frying pan of Spain. Today the temperature reached about 99 degrees. Our bike tour lasted about 3 hours and it was great to see some of the sights! Seville is such a beautiful city, and just the right size for me. A couple of guys on my bike tour had flat tires--I was glad it wasn't me, I had my fair share of that on my bike tour around China in January :) After the bike tour I had to rise to one of my biggest challenges so far--getting on the bus to go back to my apartment. I knew what bus I had to catch, but wasn't sure what stop it was, but I was able to communicate with a couple ladies on the bus and they told me that my stop was after theirs, so that was convenient. When I arrived home, we had lunch at about 3PM and then I took a siesta (I'm already getting used to siestas, which isn't too shocking). When I woke up I went to "Al campo," which is basically the Target or Walmart of Spain--one stop shopping!

Tonight I think I am going to just lay-low, as I am very tired from this weeks events. I believe tomorrow I will be exploring Seville with a couple of girls in my program, and I just found out that my friend Dana from Miss Hall's has arrived in Seville, so hopefully I will be able to see her this weekend also.

I hope everyone is enjoying my blog so far. It's very nice to have a reflection about what I'm doing each and every day just so I can realize how blessed I am to be here and have this opportunity. I'm also keeping a journal of my own that my brother, Sam, gave to me!

That's all for today! I hope all is well en los Estados Unidos (in the United States). Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay

Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial

Hola Todos!

Today was our last full day in Madrid and we went to the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial. It was about an hour drive from where we were staying, but it was well worth the commute. The Royal Monastery was constructed between 1563 and 1584 under the order of Phillip II. All Bourbon kings and queens of Spain have been buried there since its completion, with the exception of the first two Bourbons. It is a royal palace, as well as a monastery and a school. It also houses the private library of Phillip II, which contains some of the oldest books in the world.

My favorite part at the Royal Monastery was the church or la iglesia. The architecture and murals in the church were nothing like I have ever seen before. I was astonished by the meticulous detail and couldn't even fathom the amount of work that went into creating such a beautiful church.

Today I had a very big lunch at an italian restaurant called "Gino's." I had ensalada con angulas, un pizza, y el helado chocolate. The last two things I ate are probably pretty self explanatory, pizza and chocolate ice cream. My ensalada con angulas was even a mystery to me. I knew that ensalada was salad, but had no clue what angulas were. When I saw them on my salad they resembled very skinny white and grey worms--not very appetizing, but I figured I'd try a few anyways. Once I got back to the hotel, I pulled out my dictionary to discover that "angulas" are baby eel. YUM! I guess now I can say I've tried baby eel, but I don't think I will ever again! So, if you ever come to Spain, don't say I didn't warn you about the angula!

I was able to meet up with my friend Alex from Miss Hall's tonight. It was so great to see her and catch up on our lives since graduation and she's doing so well! A couple of other girls from Miss Hall's will also be in Spain this semester, so we're going to try and plan a nice trip for all four of us to go on--which I think will be really fun!

Tomorrow we head to Toledo for a few hours and then have a delightful 7 hour bus ride to Seville. I am so excited to meet my family tomorrow and finally be able to unpack all of my belongings and get organized! It's not so fun living out of suitcases! Everything has been going really well so far, and I have met a lot of nice people. I know my time spent in Seville will go by very fast, so I want to make sure I enjoy every moment of it and make sure I live each day to the fullest!

I was able to talk to all members of my family today, which was so great and I found out that Sam is a huge fan of my blog--so I'm going to do my best to write on this as often as possible. I think that's about all for tonight! Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay

At the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial