How do you like your heat in your homes?

Hola a todos!

I am currently sitting in my room with many layers on and a blanket wrapped around me. Yes, that's right, it is freezing in my house. Spaniards do not have central heating, so we just use blankets and layers of clothing to keep warm. And I'm being completely serious. As the days continue on, it becomes colder and colder--I'm banking on getting a space heater soon, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. My senora has been nice to supply me with what is now five blankets on my bed, and also gave me a fleece jacket.. to wear to bed. I feel as though there is no happy-medium here in Seville. It's either scorching hot or freezing cold--at least inside our houses. Despite the temperature, I am still loving it here.

Over the weekend I went to El Pedroso, which is about 1.5 hours north of Seville. I went here with my Ecology class and my Ecology teacher. Our attendance on the trip was worth 10% of our grade, so it was pretty important that we went. I was excited to go to the "country side" and the minuscule hills reminded  me of home, although they pale in comparison to the Berkshire Hills. The land on the way up to the mountains in very fertile as it is part of the Guadalquivir Valley. The soil here is like the color of clay, but I guess it's pretty top-notch soil. Many orange trees grow around this area too, I was hoping I could pick a few oranges, but I guess they were off limits. Also on the way we saw some Iberian pigs--our professor pointed out that they were small and dark--just like Spaniards. We also saw the spot where Seville gets all their bulls from for the bullfights--I wish I could have let them out and let them run free and escape from someday being fought in a bullfight :(

Before we started up the mountain on our hike, we stopped at a small bar/cafe area and had some breakfast. Breakfast here, for Spaniards, basically consists of bread and olive oil. This place, though, offered a few more additions including butter, butter and pig meat, and some sort of deer liver spread. I tried the latter of the two, and afterwards, decided I'd stick with strawberry jelly. For those of you who once thought I was not an adventurous eater, think again. When was the last time you spread some deer liver on a piece of toast? HAHA!

After breakfast, it was off to climb some mountains. The hike was pretty low-key, except in some areas where we found ourselves climbing large, loose rocks on what looked to be about a 70 degree slope--AWESOME! We stopped for quite some time to do some rock climbing and eat lunch. It was really nice to be surrounded by nature for the day, and escape the busy city life. I was glad that Mom sent me my old sneakers from home, as they're caked with that red clay/mud I was telling you about earlier. Once we descended the mountain, we hopped back on the bus and went to see a waterfall. Two guys in my group were crazy enough to strip down to their boxers and go swimming for about a minute. The water was probably zero degrees, so I'd say these fellows were a little crazy, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Waterfall

Beautiful!!

Such a lovely view!

I just thought this tree was cool!

That's about all for this weekend. I only have three days of classes this week, then it's off on another journey! ;) I'm assuming you're all getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am upset that I will miss my very favorite holiday of the year, but am patiently waiting to be back home in December for Christmas and be with the three people that mean the most to me--Mom, Dad, and Sam. Of course the grandparents will be with us in spirit. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday and enjoys the company of their family and friends on a day where we give thanks to God for our families and friends and for the countless blessings that he has given to each and every one of us.

Love and prayers. Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay