La Ultima Semana

This is our last week Sevilla, we leave on Saturday, because we are only doing session 1. The last three weeks have flown by! Most of this week we have spent at the school doing our homework, presentation, and studying for our final. We have still gotten to visit different monuments in our class though. This week we went to the university of sevilla, el toro de oros, and la plaza de españa. Wednesday was our last day to tour the city with our professor. Tomorrow, Thursday, we have to give our presentations and Friday is our exam.

Today we are working on our presentations and then picking up some last minute souvenirs and maybe get some churros con chocolate. Then we asked our host mom to do some laundry for us so we can start packing. On Saturday we are taking the Ave to Madrid and then getting on a plane to Frankfurt to stay with a friend for ten days. Even though we are sad to leave Sevilla and the friends we have made here we are so excited to go to Germany.

On Thursday we went to a tile painting class. It was hard to paint them well, but hopefully they turned out okay! And later today we have to walk to Triana to get them. 

On Friday we brought out weekend bags to class and went to class before leaving for Portugal. In our arts monument class we went to the museo de bellas artes. The arts monument class is so cool because you don't just get to learn about the history of Sevilla and Spain, but you get to see it to. I'm happy we really get to explore the city during our class time. My favorite place so far was alcázar real. It's a huge combination of different palaces and it is beyond beautiful. Also seeing the city during class time gives us lots of opportunities to do other things outside of class, whether it's exploring more, shopping, trying new food, or doing activities. 

After class we left for Portugal. After the three hour bus ride we all changed and went to the beach. We quickly found out how cold the water was in Lagos. However, it was nice because it felt pretty hot there. Once we got back we had pizza for dinner. On Saturday we woke up, ate some breakfast, and we took boat tours of all the rock formations and caves. It was so cool and pretty to see them. Our boat guide was telling us the names of the different formations and showing us all the shapes. 

After the boat tour we just laid on the beach, swam a little, and collected sea shells.

Sunday morning we woke up and pack our things and got back in the bus to Sevilla. For the rest of the day we tried to write some of our paper for our class. 

el segundo semana

On Monday we had to get to school early to talk about our trip to Portugal with Elena. We paid her and talked about how we would be cooking in Portugal because we would be living in apartments.  Emilie and I are living with the new girl who will be here for session 2. We are excited to meet her and get to know her. During class we went to the archivos de indias and the ayuntamiento. It was really cool to see all the archives

Tuesday was a holiday so we didn´t have school. In the morning we went to the cathedral to look at the mummy, but we got there a little too late. After that we shopped at tourist stores and met some friends at a cafe to study. We ate dinner with our host family like normal and we had paella con pollo for the first time. It was really good. Our host family is really friendly and it is nice to be able to practice our Spanish with them at the dinner table. We also have a host sister and we talk with her about different shows that she likes, she also helps us with words that we don´t know in Spanish.

Today we had our first exam. Later tonight we are going to paint potery. It is so sad that we only have 10 days left because we are only doing one session, but we are still excited to go Germany after our studies.

El fin de semana

Last weekend was our first weekend in Sevilla. On Friday we  just hung out with some friends and went out to dinner. Saturday we woke up and got on the bus to go to Rota, which is a beach in Spain. When we arrived, we made our way down to the beach and hung out in the sun. It was a little cloudy and cooler on Saturday. We left the beach and ate at a resturant. We went back to the beach and hung out before we had to leave. When we got home I saw that I was a little burnt.

Sunday we got to sleep in which was so nice. then we went to the handmade craft fair near the cathedral and bought some things and gifts for our families. We at out again, because our host family doens´t cook for us over the weekend. Then Emilie, my roommate and I, on the way home we stopped in some tourist shops and got some more gifts. When we got home we put away our clothes that our host mom folded and I facetimed my family and boyfriend. it was a good weekend!

Mi primera semana

We got off the plane, last Sunday, at ten in the morning. We met Elena and got in a taxi to meet our host family. We got to walk around the city with our host mom and we took our first siesta. Walking around the city was so cool, everything was very different and all the buildings are very colorful. We started class on Monday.

For class we start off by learning about the history of Spain and the different types of architecture. The last hour and a half of class we walk around the city and go to different places to see the arcitecture and monuments. So far we went to el barrio de santa cruz, el palacio de lebrija, el alcazar, and el torre del oro. Every place has been incredible and it is so beautiful here.

Other than school, we went to a flamenco show, which was very different than I was expecting. We have gone shopping a couple times to get gifts and some other things here. We also got tapas one day after school. There are so many other things we want to do, we don´t know how we will fit it all in!

Hola

My name is Lilly and I am a sophomore at UW La Crosse. I am studying Spanish with a concentration in business and a minor in legal studies. My roommate, Emilie are I, came here together and are staying with our host mom, Asunsación, and her family. She lives with her hushband Antonio, and her daughter, Beatriz. They are all very funny and  nice. We eat every meal together and talk to them about  our day and other things in Spain.

When we left Wisconsin it was forty degrees and raining, but not here. It has been above ninety and very sunny everyday so far. Sevilla is very big and has lots of winding streets. It is a little hard to find our way around, but it hasn´t taken us long to figure out where everything is. So far we like it alot and have been having a lot of fun.