so much so much

ahhh i am sitting on the terrace of the casa de Emilio
I am back at his house because there are people coming over from church to play games and eat ice cream(of course) but they are all running late so he has set me up on the roof/terrace with his laptop to check my email and blog :)

...one of the many luxeries i miss is having my laptop on hand at all times, i feel very disconnected from my closest friends and family without it --but on the other hand it has been wonderful to escape from the dependence i have on it

i am going to try to squeeze all that has happened in the past 4 days into one post--knowing that it is completely impossible but i want to share with you as much as i can! (plus this serves as a sort of journal for me)

eeekkk

so much has happened. :)

ok so last thursday after class I met with my intercambio (through the university they set you up with a college student here that wants to learn english, so you meet together and they help you with spanish and you help them with english)we met outside of town hall and then headed for a local cafe.

Her name is Chari and she is absolutely the cutest thing ever!i love meeting with her, we talk for hours just about everything under the sun. i speak in spanish and she speaks in english. it was so fun because i felt more free to make mistakes because she was making them right along with me.

afterwards Bettina met me in Plaza Juarez (one of the center places). when i arrived there was a jazz concert just starting up--however i was soo hungry so we went and got a bocadilla(sandwhich)..or actually 3 mini bocadillas--mi favorita! there is a restaurant here that has over 100 mini bocadillas, for one euro each! its amazing

so we started to walk and eat and talk and then came upon another concert in Plaza Nueva...except this was not just another concert..it was a BEATLES cover band!

crazy i know.

i can´t even explain how amazing this night was!Bettina and I found some seats in the crowd and sat down to enjoy the music. there were about 300 people there all siting in these nice marroon chairs

...i immediately started videoing and as i put down my camera i see this guy coming through the crowd. He was obviously a spanish college student and wanted the crowd to be more excited, so he took it upon himself to get the crowd going.

he was dancing through the seats and clapping his hands in the air....then he spotted me. i have no idea why

he then headed straight for me, pointing at me and motioning me to get up and start dancing with him!

holy cow i was so embarrassed. he got to my seat grabbed my hand and pulled me up. well i mean i didn´t really have a choice... sooooo i started clapping and dancing along with him :)...before i knew it about 50 college students from the back ran down to us and we all ran towards the front of the stage singing and dancing!

Bettina joined in the crowd and for the rest of the night we were at the edge of the stage singing classic Beatles songs to the top of our lungs!

"Lucy in the sky with diamonds!!....

"....hey jude...."

oooo I have many. many. videos get excited!

Friday night Chari (my intercambio) was celebrating her 24th birthday with a group of her friends and she invited me to come along. I invited some friends and it ended up being me, Bettina, and Chris(a guy studying with our program) and Chari´s group

I love being with mostly Spanish people. I love hanging out with them and attempting to speak spanish--i learn so much that way-Before coming on the trip everyone told me to make sure and not hang out with just americans. this is so very true, for many reasons. but its so hard to make a conscience effort to branch out and maybe not go do what everyone else from out program is doing. however, i am so glad I have had many experiences with the Spanish culture here on so many spectrum...i cherish the nights that bettina and I found random things to do and ended up making friends immediately and practicing our spanish

sooo we met up with Chari and her friends at her favorite bar and we just got to talk with them and get to know them. then i headed to a discoteca with them!

i can´t really describe the place we went. the only way i know how to really is that if Paris Hilton came to Sevilla she would show up at this discoteca.

it was insane.

i felt like i was in NY city. crazy crazy night!

it is so funny because everywhere they play American music but no one knows what they are saying. so every time a song would come on they wanted me to say the words really slow so they could understand. it was hilarious! especially because in most songs there is a lot of slang and to non-english speakers it doesn´t make any sense!

Well..then Saturday morning our program headed to Granada!I was so excited about this trip, i have heard so much about this city and was ready to experience it for myself

...it was everything that i couldn´t even imagine.

this city is set in the mountains with rolling hills all throughout...and of course the Alhambra (the palace that is in the running for one of the 7 Wonders of the World)...words can´t even describe.

this was the last city for the Christian Army to conquer in Spain and so much of the muslim/arabic influence is still very much apart of the aura of Granada

we had about 4 hrs to explore the city when we got there...we just started walking one direction and it lead us to a street full of Arabic little stores. i was lost in all the handmade purses and necklaces and lamps and blankets- all very intriguing

that night they took us on a long walk up the mountain so we could get a sky view of the Alhambra at night...it was a site that was absolutely breathtaking.

we then headed to a special Flamenco show just for us at a little place that was actually built into the side of the mountain in a little cave. Flamence is unlike any dance i have every seen, it is very very theatrical. full of intense emotion. I have seen it many times in Sevilla because Sevilla is well known for its flamenco as well and i have grown to love it...i´m practicing my moves too :)

after the Flamenco show Bettina and I and 3 of our other good friends headed to find something to do. we happened upon a hole in the wall arabic restaurant. we stayed for 4 and 1/2 hrs just talking and laughing and eating. one of the best nights so far...just remembering everything that has happened, sharing what we have learned...it was great

Sunday we toured the Alhambra and i mean i don´t really know what to say, i which i could show you all the snapshots inside my head. absolutely beautiful

So this weekend our beloved Sevilla fútbol team won! VICTORIA! and it means that they won some sort of Cup as well. i´m not sure on all the details i just know that it was BIG--whatever they did. and before we left Granada our directors told us that the town was going to be crazy that night and so we should all go out and see the fiestas and everyone celebrating.

Bettina and I headed to the center. thousands upon thousands of people flooded the streets all dressed in red and ALL carrying a blow horn. lol. it was very loud!

the players drove through the streets on top of their bus while the crowd sang and chanted.

"VAMOS A SEVILLA..VAMOS CAMPEON NA NA NAAAAAAA NA NA NAAAAA!!!!!"

the crowds were headed to Plaza Nueva so Bettina and i ran through the back tiny streets and attempted to beat the crowd. well...everyone else had that idea too ha! we finally arrived and in order to see what was going on we climbed up on a window of town hall along with some crazy Sevilla fans.

these people are crazy about fútbol.

crazy!needless to say it was a very interesting night and again i have lots of vidoes :)

well everyone is arriving at Emilio´s and I am going to go play games and eat!