Some words...

Hola mis amigos!

Hope everyone is doing well! I´ve been doing well, enjoying life here in Sevilla for the last week. It’s a great lifestyle here, slow and easy…I think people here enjoy life a lot!

Let me tell you about some things:

School – School is going really great. I´m working a lot more than I thought I would be, but I sure am learning a lot. They speak Spanish pretty much the whole time in class. A lot of the European kids already know some Spanish since they´re close to Spain, and their languages are more similar, but its going well. We have about 4 hours of regular class, with 2 - 20min breaks in between. Every morning during the first break a number of us go down to the café next door and have a ´café con leche´and a ´tostada con marmalada´. One of my favourite parts of the day! I´m getting much better at my español, starting to feel more comfortable talking to the locals.

Tapas and bars – Almost every day at lunch, and usually when we go out for a snack, we go to a tapas bar. I need to take a picture of the food, but the typical place is a bar with some high tables and stools and standing room tables, and we get tapas and a beer or wine for lunch, or even for dinner if we plan on snacking later. Its great to try all their different kind of foods. I love the tapa culture!

A had a perfect Sevillano day this past Sunday, where finally the weather was good and sunny. We saw the sights, though nothing was open. One can never tell when thing are open, because here in Sevilla people take ¨siestas¨at any time, and businesses never post hours because they break at any time. Anyways, we saw the sights from the outside (Cathedral, and the Plaza de Espana), and then around 4 we started our tapeo. We went to 3 different cafes and bars, having a snack and a drink each time, and just hanging out for an hour, enjoying the air, the culture, and talking about nothing!

Cadiz – The Carnival of Cadiz occurs once each year, over a weekend, and someone told me it was the 3rd or 4th largest party in the world. When I got there, I understood why! There were people everywhere! Filling each plaza, street, sidewalk, we were jam packed! There were decorations similar to Mardi Gras, and alcohol and food everywhere. We partied in the streets a while, then ate, then partied some more, then went into a giant tent party with a huge stage and live Spanish music (with some American covers) and danced all night. We left Sevilla around 8pm, was in Cadiz until 6am, and then finally got home around 10am. Craziness! If only we could communicate well with the people there…

Not everything is perfect. My roommate, Benita, is starting to annoy me. A lot. I´ve learned that some Germans are a bit different. They are more stoic, show less emotion, and are very direct (read: blunt). Not everyone, cuz some of the German girls are cool, but my roommate is all of those things. This, combined with the fact that she is always stressing out and can´t relax, makes her hard to be around!

Anyways, I can´t complain. I´ve met some good compañeros, and I´m in a beautiful city with a neat school, great food, fun culture, etc etc. I sure wish I could have Nicole here with me to see this romantic city!

Hope you´re getting a good feel of Sevilla!

Hasta luego,
Alan

PS – Ben, I bought the postcards for Jen!