what an experience.

I'd like to start out by saying, I'm LOVING Sevilla. I've never been out of the United States until now and I can't tell you how much this trip has already impacted me. I was forced into speaking Spanish almost all the time and I can already see an improvement! I used to be so shy when speaking Spanish because it wasn't a strength of mine and now I'm not afraid to answer questions in class. Everyone here came to learn the language and with everyone participating in class discussions it makes it easier to join in. 4 out of the 5 classes I'm taking are taught in Spanish and each teacher brings something different to the table. I'd actually have to say my least favorite class right now is the only one taught in English, my Spanish Art and Architecture class. It kinda just reminds me of classes in the States and the material right now isn't very interesting (being that I'm no art buff). My favorite class right now would probably have to be my culture and civilization class! My teacher speaks very fast, which has taken some getting used to, but she is very interested to hear the differences in Spain and the United States and we make fun trips to the markets and surrounding stores! I love studying how the people in Spain live out their daily lives and how that compares to mine.

Today is the last day of school for the week (hallelujah no friday classes)! So I'm about 4 hours away from finishing my first week of school in Spain! I made it! Our school doesn't have Friday classes because it gives the students extra time to make travel plans and venture off and visit other places in Spain and Europe. I haven't made any travel plans yet but Ginny and I are looking into possibly going to Dublin for St. Patty's Day (everything is already so booked up!) and we are for sure going to Barcelona for 4 days at the beginning of April! We've also started to look into getting some tickets for a Sevilla fútbol match (for those of you who don't know, that's soccer) and we are searching around for some tickets to see Barcelona play Bilboa when we go in April! I'm really hoping that we find tickets because soccer is HUGE in Spain and it would be another chance to experience the culture!

As far as home life is going, I couldn't be happier with the new "familia" I have gained through studying abroad. My host mom is so sweet and helpful! She loves hearing about my day and what I did and she always likes to engage in conversation. Her granddaughter Blanca, who lives in the house, is such a comedian and loves all kinds of attention. She's a little performer and is always putting on a show! The other night, after dinner, she grabbed her toy microphone and started singing all kinds of songs she had learned at school, which included some Shakira as well. She also showed off her Flamenco dancing while twirling around in her "high heels". Every Tuesday and Thursday I don't have time to come home for lunch so my host mom has been packing me a "bocadillo", which is like a sandwich. On Tuesday she packed me a sandwich with an omelette on it and an apple and today, Thursday, she packed me a sandwich with chicken and tomatoes with a pear and an orange. I loved it and I thank her everyday for the lunches she packs me! She also did my laundry for me a couple of days ago and this morning all my clothes were neatly folded on my bed for me to put away (and no mom, I'll try not to get used to it!).

On a side note, today with my culture class we went to the market and it was such a crazy experience! There's all kinds of venders that sell things like fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, and bread! The fruits and vegetables are so ripe and fresh, as well as the meats and seafood. One seafood stand had a open basin of snails crawling around and another had these like sea squirts that were still moving! Also, when my group was leaving the market we passed by a meat stand that had whole rabbits in the case. I made the mistake of making a comment about them and the next thing I know the vender has the dead rabbit in his hands and is coming towards me while moving the rabbits head around like it was still alive! He definitely laughed at me when my first reaction was to scream and then sprint away. I was a little embarrassed but hey, I made that guys day. He had a good laugh...so did everyone else in the group. As we were leaving I turned back and the same vender was in the process of skinning the rabbit. I turned back around very quickly, not wanting to see the rest of the process in person. Some crazy things I saw at the market today was a whole pig head, sheep ears, hearts/livers/kidneys/stomachs of cows and pigs, and the most disturbing was still probably the dead rabbits. I'll have to take some pictures next time I go so I can share with everyone!