Feria

Wow, it has been over a month. OK here´s the rundown.

Feria was last week, and what a blast it was. Everyone here piles into tents or casetas, and parties all night. There were literally thousands of tents, all filled with people and Flamenco music. Oh, yeah there were some rides too.

Most of the tents here are private, so, you have to know someone to get in. I personally thought that the publix tents were more fun. There were more people, and more to do. We danced Sevillas all night and day. It was so fun, because A We had no idea how to do this dance, and B because the people here are so nice.

We went for 6 nights straight, until like 4 in the morning. Now, I just can´t sleep when I need to. Oh well, it was a great time.

I love this place!

Semana Santa

Holy week is here! This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and the beginning of a great time in Seville. Here is the unofficial largest display of Holy Week. 500,000 more people are piling into the city. Today, there were tourists everywhere!

Eahc borough and cathedral of the city has their own float like display of the Virgin Mary, The Passion, or Jesus. They head to the center of town where the concentration of people are. There are a total of 59 processions, some with thousands of people. There is some more information on it, just click on the picture.

This week should be a fun one. My family is coming into town too.

Oh, I forgot the best part. The Nazarenes are the people that follow the floats. They are soldiers for Christ, but the thing is that they are dressed in white cloaks and pointed hats. It has nothing to do with the clan, but it is still a little scary seeing it everywhere now.

Lost . . . No Just Stolen

I have never had anything stolen from me before, until yesterday.

Some friends and I were at the bridge that we usually go to on wednesdays and mondays. There we do some bouldering and some climbing. No biggie, I always thought. Well, My friends left and I decided to stay and climb a little more. Well, I met these two new girls that were trying a new path. I was trying it and watching them try it. I always keep an eye on my bag, it's actually kind of an almost overly worried thing, but I got too relaxed. I talked with them for maybe 5 minutes. As I turned around my bag was gone.

All I could do was laugh. Wow, gone was all my id except passport, sunglasses, phone, books. I sat there just in awe of what happened. Then it hit me, my Senora's keys were in the bag too. Usually not a problem, but my senora is not normal.

I ran to the school to talk to my director. This was the easy part. Going home to tell my mother what I had done was terrible. She began to yell. I understood why, but my chest just hurt from all the stress. I had never experienced something like this before.

It was the weirdest feeling that I have ever experienced. Someone else besides me has my stuff. That really weirded me out. I felt so violated.

I still walk around eyeing everyone and every corner for the bag, but with no luck. I was mad for a while, but I began to realize that I was the idiot in the situation. I put myself out there to be taken advantage of. Someone just out smarted me (not hard to do).

So, I had to pay for new locks which cost 208 euros which changes to about 308 US dollars. That really hurt the pocket.

You live, you learn, and leave everything in your pockets.

Ronda

This past Friday our program went to the great city of Ronda. On the way, I thought that this was going to be another tour of cathedrals and other buildings that I would never remember.




Boy was I wrong.

We entered the city and it looked just like any other city. Tiny cobblestone streets wound around antique buildings and into the distance. A cathedral stood in front of us. We skipped the cathedral suprisingly and stumbled upon an old bullfighting ring. We stayed there for a while, and did the museum thing like usual. It was really interesting, but I was not looking forward to museums the entire day.

We walked out of the arena and strolled to what looked to be like a normal fence but as we got closer it turned out to be more than that. Huge mountains stared at us from a distance. I looked below at the grand rock face that we were standing on. Fields and tiny houses sprawled below us. It was truly a breathtaking moment.

The entire city is on the edge of a mountain. It is linked by a bridges, that connect the old city to the new one.

Looking at it did not cut it, we had to go explore it. So, we darted off down the side of this mountain. We climbed up walls and through ancient ruins. We went into caves and under rock faces.

On one trail, we were caught in some pretty heavy vegetation. As we sliced and hacked our way through it, we heard what sounded like water. We looked up from the walking and saw a huge water fall flowing from under the city. We just smiled as it crashed into a deep blue pool below.

We were just admiring its beauty when all of the sudden, we see a half naked man in the distance. Someone from our group yelled, "Hey, that's Patrick!" Sure enough it was. One of our friends from the group had decided to make his own path down to the water for a dip.

The day wore us out, and we all crashed on the bus ride home. It was truly a great day.

Click on the picture for some info on Ronda.

Americans

Dont´t get me wrong, I love America. There are just some things that I have learned about us Americans that has really made me think.

1. We are SOOOO Loud. In restaurants you can always tell who is American.

2. We eat huge amounts. Yes, there is an "Epidemic" according to the media, but you never realize it until you leave the country. OK, I still eat a lot here.

3. Bigger is not always better. These people do not have much, but are some of the happiest people in the world.

4. We think everyone in the world should speak English. I saw an American family enter a Mcdonalds the other day (who woulda thought) and really begin to argue with the cashier because they knew no Spanish.

5. We really should treat foreigners and exchange students better. For real, it sucks being the one that everyone stares at!

¿What Tongue?

So, I think that I have reached a crossroads in my language learning. Yesterday I heard someone talking and understood everything they said. Usually I can only do this with English. I can hear Americans talking from a mile away. Yes, I do believe that we are the loudest people on earth. The language that I understood though was Spanish and I responded to their conversation, to myself of course, in Spanish.

I just stood there afterwards, with my hands in the air, eyes closed, taking it in. A huge smile stretched on to my face.

I walked away feeling great about myself. "I have learned so much!" I thought. Pumped, I walked around talking to everyone in Spanish. ¨Hola,¨ I said to every Spaniard, as they looked my strange overly happy smile.

I entered a restaurant to treat myself for my progress. I picked up the menu and was prepared to order my favorite tapa, tortillas de patatas, when the waiter walked up to me. He began to speak, and I swear I have never heard such rapid speech. I knew he had asked questions, but I didn´t understand one. I just sat there, mouth wide open, in awe. All I could muster, was an uncertain ¨Si,¨ but he just shook his head mockingly.

I still treated myself.

I guess I have a little more to learn.

Fish Anyone?

The seafood here is amazing. There is not much of that fried stuff. Yes, I enjoy a good fried fish or eight, but here everything is just so fresh and great. Straight out of the ocean is how I like them. Fish comes to the table bones, scales and everything. It doesn't look too inviting, but I always find myself sucking every little bit of meat off of the bones that I can.

All the food in Spain is cooked with olive oil and it just tastes so delicious. It makes you feel a lot healthier too. For example, I have not had one salad dressing here. The only thing that we put on salads is olive oil (Aceite), water and a little salt. Oil is put on everything, and it makes everything delicious.

Breakfast consists of some sweet pastries and hot milk. Then I am on my way to school.

A couple hours before lunch people usually pick up something small to eat. It is almost like another breakfast really. You can have toast with different spreads, some fruit, or a sandwich.

Then it is time for the big meal. An average lunch in my home here consists of a salad covered in oil and a lot of bread to start. The main meal consists of a lot of fish, usually covered with potatoes and rice or noodles. Sometimes there is beef, but not usually. There is so much food during the lunch hour. People eat and eat and then take a siesta.

Between lunch and dinner many eat a tapa or two. A tapa is sort of a snack, or an appetizer. It's just enough to talk with friends and share some wine.

Dinner rolls around and it is a smaller meal, starting with soup. My favorite dinner is tortillas de patatas. It is a dish that has exactly what it says, tortillas made of potatoes. They are so good, and very filling.

After this, a tapa may get the job done, since this town never goes to sleep. They stay up and hang out with friends drinking and eating into all hours of the night.

Portugal Officially Awesome

Portugal is now my favorite country. This weekend we went to Faro, a town on the southern most part of the country. We had to catch a midnight bus to get there. We arrived with no where to stay, no map, and no idea where we were. We searched and searched and eventually found a place to stay. We slept and then hit the beach the next morning.

The beach turned out to be a little harder to reach than expected. On the map proir to leaving it looked like the town was directly on the water. It was not however, and we had to make a 4 mile walk there. This was no ordinary walk though. We went down dirt roads, through people's yards, and we got to see the real part of the city. We got honked at, looked at, and swerved at, but we made it. We spent the entire day there just hanging out. Some pics are above.

Being here has helped me to get my priorities straight. In the states it seems like there is so much pressure to be "Successful," to make money. That is what makes you happy. In Europe, that doesn't seem to be the case and I like that, A LOT. I am really not that worried about money. Sure I want to have things, but Spain is helping me to realize that more is not always better.

As you walk down the street you see older children walking with their parents and talking. families gather in little cafeterias and just share stories and laugh. Two o'clock rolls around and everyone takes siesta. During that time, people just, well, relax. There is no stress, it is just a time to be with the ones they love and talk.

They do not have much either. They usually only where a couple of outfits a week. Many don't have a car. Everything isn't bigger and "Better." They have what they need, and they are happy with the things they have.

Wow, this turned out to be a bit longer and choppier than expected, but I feel that it is necessary. So, I know that there will always be wants, but this place is helping me to understand what I need comes first.

Hippies? In Spain?

So, the other night from friends and I went to the, what we were called, the "Hippie" side of town. There we met some guys who were just hanging out playing guitar, dancin and singing. We used the little Spanish that we knew and talked to them. Without question they asked if we wanted to play and sing with them. We ended up singing and dancing all night.

Here is a video of our fun! My friend is singing in the background . . . yeah.

¡Cadiz!

This weekend about 8 of us are heading down to the beach! It is a little town called Cadiz. It is a peninsula of maybe a mile wide and long. Oh yeah, we have nowhere to stay. All of the hostels are full and the closest open hotel is maybe 6 miles away. We are thinking that the best thing may be to sleep on the beach!

We are not really worried about it though, because the people here are so accepting. Especially, when you get out of the city, they become so welcoming. With Cadiz being such a small place we are pretty sure that we will find somewhere. If not, the beach is cool with me!

Cadiz has such a rich history, click the pic above to read a bit of it.

MAN BOOTS

Andalucia, the region that I am staying in, is known for its rich history in Flamenco. This dance is EVERWHERE. It involves three parts, singing, dancing, and guitar. This is not like anything that you have ever seen. There is essentially a step to go with, but most comes from the soul. Dresses and flamenco shoes line the streets here, and shows are very common.

So, with such flamenco frenzy in this region, some of the group decided to take the flamenco class. It is so much fun, but it is a little harder than expected. Watching others really does not display how much is involved. Tapping, twisting, stretching, it's all apart. Oh yeah, this is all in man boots (Above). Getting used to heels is a little difficult, but hey everyone's doing it. I will try to get a video of the dance up soon.

Click the man boot above for the full history . . . yes it's wiki

Three Crazy Weeks

Hello, my name is Andrew Whelan and I am studying in Seville, Spain. I have been here for almost three weeks (Sorry for the delay) and will be here the remainder of the semester. This blog is going to keep you up to date with my adventures, but mostly, I want to give you guys a heads up on others cultures.

In these last couple of weeks my eyes have been opened to some unbelievable things. I have taken in a new culture. The food, the customs, the transportation, it is all new. Oh yeah, and the language is a big one, I guess. Ok it's a huge change. I thought that I knew Espanol pretty well, but I have been humbled a little.

Over the last weeks it has gotten easier to understand, but I am still nowhere near where I would like to be in my Spanish learning adventure. Stay Tuned! This is going to be a fun ride. Hey who knows, you may soon find yourself wanting an adventure like this.