Thanks for calling Cornell, this is Emma speaking.

So, as you might have guessed, I am back in Day Hall. At Cornell. In Ithaca, NY. I suppose this blog entry could explain my new living situations, the amount I've been working, and the new people who I've met, but I'm not going to do any of that.

Instead, I am going to tie up loose ends from the blog and leave you all with more pictures than you ever wanted of my travel experience with Angie. I had to put the pictures -- all 600something -- into two different albums. I put some commentary under the photos, too, so you can have a bit of context.
Here's album one:

Eurotrip 2009

And here's album two:

Eurotrip 2009, Take Two

These are just my pictures, obviously -- I thought adding Angie's might be overload.

I'm not sure what else to say, really. I got my laptop back from Amy, and was therefore able to upload all my pictures from my camera and organize them. Coming back to Cornell at times feels strange, at other times it feels totally normal. In a lot of ways, my time in Spain feels totally imagined, like a dream I had and just woke up from. I don't feel like that life and those people and that setting actually exists. Not now, not when I'm here, back in Ithaca. I also can't decide if I relate to this place in the same way or differently. I can feel myself easing back into the old ways and the old way of interacting with this place, and to an extent I like that and to an extent I don't. The sense of self and independence that I gained in my year abroad is valuable, and I want those developments to morph and grow more while I'm here at Cornell for my last year, which hopefully they will. Being a Cornell Undegrad is a completely different way of living and interacting with the world than my life in Spain was. I hope, in moving back to my "old life", I don't lose the skills and insight that I had gained in my new one.

I should say, though, that this place is amazing and incredible in ways that I never appreciated before. The size, the beauty, the nature, the resources, the facilities. Mind blowing. I always knew I was lucky, of course, but since being back, it has hit home in a new way. This place where I get to be and study and learn and grow is incredible. And I plan to take full advantage.

It seems almost inappropriate to write more now in this blog. This blog for the past year has been dedicated to my travels abroad, to my new experiences and understandings of our world and of myself, to exotic and foreign things. It was my outlet, my way of digesting what was happening and sharing it all with you. Although arguably my upcoming experience at Cornell is just as interesting and exciting and unique, I don't have the same urge to blog about it as I did when I was abroad (nor do I think I will have the time for it). So perhaps I will take up this dear blog once again if I embark on a foreign journey into the unknown in the future, but for now, it is time to say farewell.

Thank you all so, so much for reading. It means a lot. I'll let you know if I start this up again any time soon.

Adios!

People Change, Places Don't

Greetings from the midwest of the US of A! I am home after a wonderful 5 week trip of Europe with Angie. Everything went well, we had no problems, and time generally sped by. We met some very interesting people and shared some pretty wonderful experiences. It was, in a lot of ways, the trip of a lifetime. We were constantly on the move, constantly seeing new places, going to museums, meeting up with friends. While I didn't feel rushed anywhere, Angie and I agreed that in the future, we would probably spend more time in less places. But, for Angie's intro to Europe, our itinerary was a good one.

Ideally I would like to be able to catch up the blog and bring everything to speed right now, but I can't upload my photos until I'm at school (my friend there has my computer), so that will have to wait for a few more weeks. I plan to upload a few photos from every place we went, make a Picasa album, and then post a link to the album in my blog, so everyone can see a good overview of the places we went and the experiences that we had. So, more to come on the trip.

Being home is good and strange and homey and foreign, all at the same time. When I went through customs in Detroit, the guy drilled me, found out I had been gone for a year, swiped my passport to double check, and then handed me everything, stamped, and smiled and said "welcome home." It's a small, stupid thing, but it made me feel like a returning soldier or diplomat or something. Like I had some business in the foreign service, like I was a representative of our country while away. And I was, I suppose, in a lot of ways. It just never hit.

Generally, culture shock has been okay. It's strange seeing all the nature all over the place. It's strange that people live in houses and have yards. It's strange that there are sidewalks and most streets don't have much traffic. It's strange that you can walk around almost all of Ann Arbor in under an hour. It's strange that it's safe, it's strange that there is a bird chirping near me right now. In a lot of ways, this seems too picturesque, too idealized -- especially when you walk 5 min to downtown and find funky cafes and fair trade stores. I don't take for granted what I used to. There is so much space here, so much breathing room. Things are GREEN! It's different. I like it, but it's different.

I miss Spanish, though. I hope I can still speak. I try, but it's not the same. It's strange that everyone here is part of my culture, it's strange that everyone speaks in English all the time. Hopefully at Cornell I'll find people to regularly speak Spanish to. That will help.

Not much else, I'm afraid. I imagined being home would be relaxing, and in some ways it has been, but it's also a lot of catch up on a lot of things. Lots of errands to run and people to see. My friend Sam is coming to visit for a week, then I'm going to Chicago for a few days with the family, then I'm off to Cornell. I'll update more once I'm back at school! (Ugh... this is all going by so fast...)

Curioso elemento, el tiempo (Curious Element, Time)

The title is from one of the songs from Cristina, "Tiempo" by Jarabe de Palo. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcgwAePTNk4)

Well folks, this is it. Probably the last blog entry until I am back in the USA, which means the beginning of the end for this trusty online journal.

My exam on Tuesday night was hard, my exam on Wednesday morning was alright, and I have a paper due and a test to take tomorrow morning. Then I'm free. Angie comes on Saturday, we leave on Tuesday. Having here her will be wonderful, no doubt, but it is strange to think about. Angie comes to Spain on Saturday. Two totally different worlds, meeting. And then our travels begin.

Liliana left on Tuesday. It's very weird to be here without her. I remember both deciding to come to Sevilla Sophomore year, both getting in, realizing we were going to get to spend a year together rather than being apart like normal, and then tackling this whole experience together. A year felt like a very long time. And now it's done. She's gone. I'll see her when I'm in Michigan. Liz left early this morning, too. I met her here in Sevilla this semester, but I feel like I've known her for longer. And now this context, this whole construction of our friendship, is done. Liz goes to Cornell, so I'll see her, and Liliana lives in Michigan, so obviously I'll see her, too, but that's not really the issue. My problem is that this situation here is ending, it's all ending, and going so, so quickly.

I wouldn't want to be here another semester. I should put that out there. In a lot of ways, I am ready to be back at Cornell. But being ready to be home does not mean that leaving this will be easy.

I canceled my Sevici card yesterday (for the bike system) and am giving my laptop to Amy tomorrow to take back to the hill for me.

I'm not sure what else to add. Not much interesting stuff has happened to me. I've been studying literally all day every day, with a bit of packing and getting rid of stuff mixed in.

I know traveling with Angie will be great and the tone of my next post is likely to be entirely different, but for right now, all I can think about are tests and leaving and how bittersweet it all is. This place and the Spanish people I have met mean a lot to me and it will be hard to go. I've never done anything like this before.

Because I won't have my laptop this summer, steady internet is unlikely, so I'll post our travel schedule until the end of July now. That way, even though I'm not updating, you'll have some idea where I am. Here it is:
June 13 - 25: Sevilla, Granada, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona -- Spain
June 25 - 30: Lyon, Marseilles, Nice, Cannes, Monaco(?) -- France
June 30 - July 10: Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome -- Italy
July 10 - 12: Prague, Czech Republic
July 12 - 15: Bratislava, Slovakia
July 15 - 18: Budapest, Hungary
July 18: HOME

That's it, in a nutshell, assuming all goes as planned. I originally wrote it out literally day by day, but I think this way is safer. I hope you all have a wonderful month. It's going to go by fast.

Mucho sobre la comida (A Lot About Food)

I just realized that most things I wanted to write in this entry have to do with food. That's telling, I suppose, as the only other thing I'm really doing is studying (Nazca, Moche, Inca, oh my).

1) I was in the kitchen a few days ago working, and I noticed just how Spanish our kitchen is. There were ceramics hanging on the walls and a pata negra (literally "black leg"; the Spanish ham that comes still on the leg, hoof included) chilling on the end of the table, half sliced into. I saw the bulk vino (wine) that Mayte and Fernando buy sitting in the corner in its boxes, waiting to get transported into the glass containers they have (they go through a lot of wine). There were 4 or 5 different glass containers of aceite (olive oil) sitting around and a big bin of live caracoles (snails) waiting to get cooked. And of course, in the corner were some cruzcampo (Sevilla beer) cans, waiting to be recycled. That whole scene has become normal to me, but it is so authentically southern Spain. I wonder if my kitchen in Michigan will feel strange in comparison.

2) Since it's getting unbearably hot again, the apartment smells like it did when I first came in August. Buildings really do smell different in summer, and that smell takes me back to my first weeks here. It's funny how smells can be so closely connected to emotion.

3) On Thursday, Luisa and Eva (the two women who work in the center) went out for lunch with Liliana and myself to our favorite tapas place, Los Coloniales. It was fantastic. Lots of fun conversation and story exchanges. The relationship that I have with them is yet another benefit to staying here for a year. Being able to go out with them like that for a lunch never would have happened last semester. But now I consider myself close to the people who work in the center, Luisa especially.

4) Austin and I cooked both lunch and dinner yesterday. I took pictures, although I'm currently too busy to put them up. It was fun. For lunch, we made vegetable and tofu stir fry with rice noodles. None of them had ever tried tofu before, so it was fun. They were all good sports and I think the food was decent, but Nando and Fernando could not hide their disgust for the tofu. At the end of the meal, Nando whipped out his mayonnaise and meat. It was kind of funny. No one else normally eats dinner in the house, so we made pancakes and scrambled eggs for ourselves (American breakfast for dinner!). We left one for Mayte and Fernando to try, and they both loved it. They had never had a pancake before. Oh, and for lunch we also made peanut butter cookies, which were a big hit. It was a lot of fun and provided some good breaks from studying yesterday.

As of now, nothing very exciting going on. I've spent the last few days sitting around, doing all kinds of studying. I am ready for this week to be done in the school sense, but not in the leaving Sevilla sense.

El otro lado de la península (The Other Side of the Peninsula)

Just got back from Portugal at 5:15am. Overnight bus there and back, two days in Lisbon, one day in Cascais (a beach town, no pictures on my blog because I didn't bring my camera), another in Sintra. A beautiful, fantastic weekend. Wonderful travel companions, excellent itinerary. Everything went very smoothly. It could not have gone better. It was a nice vacation and really great to get a taste of Portugal before I leave. I want to go back eventually--there are several more cities I would love to see. Maybe I can add it to my Spain road trip that I'm planning to take at some point. Right.

I don't have much interesting social commentary about the weekend. Generally, there were a lot of tourists where we were, but almost no Americans, which was a welcomed change. It's interesting how Portugal is so off the map for so many US travelers. My short time there absolutely wasn't enough, and I'm left with a craving to go back. The architecture, castles, and countryside was unlike what I've seen before. Very unique, and interesting that it's so close to Spain. Also, the hostels where we stayed were some of the best I've ever stayed in--one was even ranked the cleanest hostel in the world in 2008!

We could understand some Portuguese. It's interesting how some of the words are so close to Spanish, but others are entirely different. Still, between English and Spanish, we got by.

Now I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

At Lisbon's UNESCO world heritage monastery in Belem. Very neat.

And the tower, also in the Belem neighborhood! (After we went to supposedly the best sweet shop in all of Lisbon. My mouth waters just thinking about it.)

Liz and Amy in Sintra, a village just outside of Lisbon. We took the train there for a day. Beautiful -- surrounded by hills (or little mountains?), cute little city center, lots of castles and a UNESCO site.

Probably Sintra's most famous castle. On the top of a hill/mountain... we climbed all the way up and then decided it wasn't worth going in, but we snapped a few conquering photos before we left! The castle was quite beautiful on the outside and I had the pleasure of using muscles in my legs that living in Sevilla doesn't really require.

I'm a sucker for the "Old House With Laundry" shot. This one is in Sintra.

Amy and Liz in a castle tower in the UNESCO site in Sintra. I made them act like Rapunzel later.

The gardens had crazy caves that ran underground. This is an old well that you can climb down into to access the caves! I was scared. I held both Amy and Liz's hands and made whiny noises the whole time. But I did it anyway!

I told you, I'm a sucker for the laundry shots. This one is in the Alfama neighborhood in Lisbon.

Liz and a Lisbon house. I love this photo.

We climbed up the Alfama and walked around St George's castle. It's on the top of one of Lisbon's hills and had great views of Lisbon. Straight down is the center area where we stayed. Off in the distance is a bridge that looks exactly like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Amy and Liz entering part of St George's castle.

The classic Lisbon picture: winding beautiful Alfama streets and Tram #28. The trams were too packed with tourists for us to ride on them, but they were pretty to look at, nonetheless.

I'm very happy with the trip. It was relaxing, even though it was packed, and I loved spending time with Amy and Liz. Now it's back to a whirlwind of work (finals and papers), packing, goodbyes, and endings until Angie comes in 10 days. Yikes, I can't believe it. Too much to do! Too many ends to tie up, too many conclusions I don't want to have. But such is life.

¿La queréis frita o a la plancha? (Do y’all want that fried or grilled?)

I leave for Portugal tonight at midnight (taking the overnight bus, I am oh. so. excited.), but before I leave, here are updates from this week!

1) I tried snail. Yep. Mayte and Fernando brought home an enormous bowl of live caracoles (snails) on Tuesday and cooked those suckers up on Wednesday. I assume that a snail is indeed not part of the ocean, and I therefore went against my vegetarianism. But I don’t know; I was curious. They were so little and slimey, slugging around in the big bowl. Then, after properly prepared, they looked exactly the same but a little brownish and immobile. Still, before I ate each one I could see its little face and antennas sticking up. To eat them, you grab the head between your teeth and suck on it until the whole thing slides out of its shell. So you slurp them, basically. Mayte gave me maybe 8 or so in a little cup, along with another cup of just the broth that they cooked in. Apparently in bars that’s how they are served (note: every day it seems like there are more and more signs saying “hay caracoles” (“we have snails”) outside of the bars here. So yes, I have tried snail. It wasn’t half bad, surprisingly. And no, just because I ate the snails does not mean I have any desire whatsoever to cut off a piece of meat from the entire leg (hoof included) of pig that Mayte and Fernando have in the kitchen.

Me playing with the little snail head before I ate it with Mayte's hand scolding me.

2) On Wednesday at 3:37pm when I went to teach English for the last time, one of the digital boards around the city said it was 38 degrees outside. In Fahrenheit, that’s 100.4 degrees. I, like a typical sevillana, was wearing jeans.

3) Yeah, I went and taught English for the last time. It was sad. When I left, Javi (7) gave me a big, slobbery kiss and Nacho (4) told me not to worry, he’d invite me to his birthday party, which is at some unknown date in the future. I only taught that family English this semester, but I will miss them.

This photo has nothing to do with the above text. With Liz and Austin in boiling hot weather, um, working on my thesis. Right. And what hard work it is...

4) Barcelona vs. Manchester. Try studying for a final—in your own room, no less, not even in a public space—in Spain when that game is going on. Impossible. Mayte and Fernando had a lot of the family over and there was lots of sudden screaming and yelping going on from the next room. I could hear the cheering and chaos from the two bars outside on the other side of the street. And, of course, that doesn’t even begin to describe the constant honking coming from the heavy traffic passing by. ‘Twas an authentic European experience, even though I did nothing to instigate said experience.

Studying for my exam and a look of doom.

5) On Wednesday night, the same night that I was studying for my final and the Barcelona/Manchester game was going on, an ENORMOUS cockroach scurried up the wall in our room, near Austin’s desk. It must have been at least 4 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. The thing was huge. I saw it on the wall, then I looked to Austin’s face, and it was frozen in complete shock and surprise. There was a pause for a few seconds, asked if she should get Mayte, I said yes, then she jumped up, screamed, and ran out of the room. I moved over closer to the cockroach to keep an eye on where it went until Mayte came. Instead of Mayte, Jave came in (Jave is Mayte’s daughter’s husband and was there to watch the game), laughing and asking where the “little bug” was. So I showed him, he moved forward to step on it, and Austin screamed again. Jave missed the bug and jumped because he was so surprised at Austin. It was hilarious—everyone was laughing. So then the cockroach went under the bed right next to where I was standing. Austin ran away into the living room and I, logically, jumped onto the bed. Jave started rummaging around looking for the cockroach, and once I saw it climb up the wall behind me I was done. I told Jave adios and good luck, and I bolted out of that room. We heard lots of stuff moving around and Mayte eventually came in with the spray, spraying the crap out of everything under our beds. It was kind of funny (like the cockroach incident from last semester that involved Fernando thinking he could get it with a broom on the ceiling). Austin and I were standing and waiting in the living room, and of course Fernando took this upset as a perfect opportunity to play jokes on us. He lightly brushed our legs with a feather or something and we both jumped about 2 feet. I’m pretty sure I threatened to kill him, at which point he was completely doubled over with laughter, giggling uncontrollably at his well-timed joke. A few minutes later, Jave brought in the dead cockroach and was dangling it in front of people’s faces. And that was the moment when Mayte asked us “¿La queréis frita o a la plancha?” (“Do y’all want that fried or grilled?”). And so ends the cockroach story.

6) This should really be 5a, as it still has to do with the general cockroach situation, but that paragraph was getting too long. Anyway, I’m glad there was a cockroach in our room, because it led to major bonding. I haven’t ever spent much time with Jave or Susana (Mayte’s daughter), because normally they come over when I’m not there or I’m studying. They are great people—really nice and always up for a laugh. While we were waiting for Jave the man (that was my joke, I kept telling him what a man he was for killing the bug in our room), Susana showed Austin and me pictures of her new dogs, then Mayte had Nando take a picture of the three of us “mis tres hijas” (“my three daughters”). It was not awkward and the dynamic was very comfortable. I felt like I knew them well, even though I don’t. It was nice.

Right now I am in the general library in the rectorado, the building that houses my departments and where I have all my classes. Cristina and I agreed to meet this morning at 9am to study for awhile together, and I think later we are going to go to my favorite juice place and get a smoothie or something. I’m glad we met up because it got me out of bed and finishing stuff that needs to get done much earlier than I would have been capable of doing myself on a Friday morning. Also, this way we spend more time together—it’s scary how little time I have left to spend with her.

This should have gone in the last entry, but I didn't upload the pictures in time. This is me and Luisa, a woman who works in the center who I have gotten pretty close to, at the goodbye dinner last Friday.

Tonight, like I said, I leave for Portugal. I’ll be back in Sevilla on Wednesday at 5am-ish, I do believe! Hopefully it will be a cockroach-free long weekend.

Cuando viene el fin (When the End Comes)

I just took my first exam. Done with my first class. The end is here. It's coming quickly.

Part of my mood is probably thanks to Cornell graduation, which happened yesterday. I've been thinking about my good friends who have graduated, are packing up their stuff and leaving, setting up camp in places all over the world doing all kinds of work. It's very bittersweet. I was already feeling bittersweet leaving Spain in the first place, but knowing that graduation of the class of 2009 has just happened, that I get emails filled with sadness from my friends in Ithaca who are packing up their stuff for the last time... well, it just solidifies the general sad mood of the day.

But I had other, more relevant things to share...

1) On Thursday night, Austin and I met up with Cristina (my Spanish friend) and some of her friends at the Facultad de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Dept, basically) of the Univ of Sevilla. One of her friends studies art and her stuff was in an exhibition open to the public. It was interesting, nice to look at the art, fun to meet more of Cristina's friends. Then after, we went out for drinks at a nearby taberna. I had a FANTASTIC time. It was the first time this whole year where I felt like I was being myself in Spanish and not missing a beat. I was talking, joking, laughing, all in Spanish, saying things I would say in social situations in English, maintaining my personality across the language barrier. In the past, normally I interact just fine, but I never feel like myself. I am quieter and more timid and am very aware that I am the foreign kid who Cristina brought along. But not last Thursday night. I was being Emma, but in Spanish. And it felt absolutely wonderful.

2) That night with Cristina got me thinking about my language abilities, generally. I wrote on the side of my blog at the start of last summer that my goal for Spain was to come away speaking Spanish "fluidly." I remember lots of people trying to correct me on that ("don't you mean 'fluently'?") and having to explain what I meant. I wanted to leave after this year being able to communicate well, without pauses or "umms" or awkwardness in Spanish. Thursday night is proof that, in a lot of ways, I'm really there. I think I've reached that goal. It is sad in some ways, because it is the end of May and it is the first time I'm really solidly feeling that way, but better now than never. I did it, I suppose. I reached my goal. And as bittersweet (that's the word of the day) as it all is that it's happening now, just as I have to pack things up and head out, it still feels really, really good that I accomplished it.

3) Friday night was the center's goodbye dinner for us, because people are already starting to leave at the end of this week. It was the same place we had Thanksgiving last semester -- it was in a hor d'oeuvres type of format, and we all just stood around talking while all kinds of yummy finger foods were brought out. The sangria was also quite good. Anyway, it was nice. I talked to the people who work in the center a decent bit. Overall, though, just more evidence that things are starting to shut down here.

4) Cristina gave me a CD with a ton of her Spanish music on it. I'm listening to it right now. I love it. We have very similar musical taste, so I basically now have my music, but in Spanish. I'm so happy I have it. I made her a CD of American music, too, so we'll do a little exchange. That's just more evidence as to how we get each other, though. Our music is quite similar (read: indie/folk/rock, more or less). Here's one of my favorite songs that she gave me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t0VrYgAlfA

5) Cristina also lent me a movie to watch (wow, maybe I should just title this entry "Cristina"!) called 'Noviembre.' It was stellar, absolutely fantastic. It's an alternative movie made in Spain and winner of a bunch of film festival awards. Anyway, it was in Spanish, obviously. I watched it. No problem. In Spanish. No subtitles. No stopping. No nothing. At times I actually forgot that I was listening to Spanish, not to English. I was processing it subconsciously. It felt great. See #2 and my general fluid abilities with Spanish. Good stuff.

This is the last week of teaching English. This week I also have one more final to take and one more paper to turn in. Then Portugal for the weekend. I'm seeing Angie in less than three weeks. I can't wrap my head around all of this!!

It's the Final Countdown

It is May 21. In less than one month, I will be gone. No more living with Mayte and Fernando, no more Sevici biking to class, no more odd Spanish encounters, no more, well, Spanish society. No more center, no more Cristina, no more volunteering, and no more tutoring English. It has all already started to wind down. Some stuff, like tutoring English, ends next week. My routine here is over.

I have been here for 9 months. And now, all of a sudden, it's time to pack things up and go. I don't know where the time went. The transition home (and just away from Spain) is going to be really hard. But, that said, I wouldn't want to spend another semester here -- I think I've outgrown this program and what it has to offer -- so I suppose the timing is good, even if this is the worst kind of change. I've never established myself in a different place like this before. I have a life here, I have a routine, a family. And all that is going to evaporate.

I realized recently that I find my blog more boring than I did early on in the year. Well, no, not boring, but it has become something like "hey, I went on this trip, look at my pictures, this was really beautiful, I loved seeing this person, I had a great time." I wanted my blog to be more of something of cultural observations, of new understandings and reevaluations, of learning and growing. And while I know that has always been reflected to some degree, I think recently it has been lacking. But, if I think about it, that's just another sign that I'm ready for a change. It means things that used to startle or surprise me before are now normal. Or, in other words, what was once foreign (aka this culture, this lifestyle) has now become the norm. I'm embedded in it; I interact in it; I don't separate it or look at it as an outsider as I once did. I'm not claiming total immersion or anything close, but I have adapted to my situation here, and the lack of cultural things to say in my blog recently shows that.

I just finished filling out some paperwork this morning for Cornell Study Abroad. It is the first school-related stuff I have filled out in English since sophomore year. It felt weird. Really, really weird. And easy, in a kind of stupid way. Like it wasn't challenging. Like I wanted it to be in Spanish. (Note: the first essay I write in English at Cornell in the fall is going to be an enormous shock to the system.)

On a totally random note, I had been wanting to share this: so, my center class was canceled two weeks ago because our professor, Pilar, had just come back from Mexico. She felt fine, but Michigan/Cornell/Penn decided that she couldn't come near us for a week. So fine, we didn't have class. When we did have class again, she said that she had been in a place in Mexico with zero gripe (Spanish word... I actually don't know what people are saying in English. Influenza?) cases reported. In Sevilla at the time there were over fifty cases. So, theoretically, she had more of a chance of getting gripe from someone in Sevilla than bringing it back from Mexico. Our universities are oh so logical... They had regulations like "Pilar is not to come within 100ft of the center, nor the students in the center...etc." I understand the formality behind that rule, but really, it didn't make sense.

Also, apparently the University of Sevilla does an exchange with our three universities. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I think in exchange for us studying at the university here (and paying, obviously), Michigan, Cornell, and Penn each give a scholarship for two university students here to study in the US. It's cool. Today we all had a little schmooze session with the students. There is a boy and a girl coming to Cornell in the fall, both postgrad I think. One is studying CompLit and the other is doing Theater and Dance technical stuff. I had no idea that Cornell did that. It was neat talking to them, although the poor kids had no idea what they were in for. The boy thought he could roadtrip from Ithaca to NYC for a night of clubbing. He also wanted to buy a car to explore the US. We tried to explain how far away everything is, how Ithaca is small, and how he will have a lot of work, but I don't think it has sunk in yet. They are definitely in for a bit of culture shock. But, that said, it will be great to have the opportunity to meet up with them and have people to talk to in Spanish, if only in the beginning when they are still getting set up and figuring stuff out (as of now they know pretty much nothing, so we were doing a lot of question-answering).

I suppose that's all for now. This next week is my last week of class. I also have two exams. Then I have a week where I coincidentally have no exams, so I am going to bus over to Portugal with some friends from Fri night to Tues night. Then I have exams that next week on Tues, Wed, and Fri, with two other huge papers due, too. Angie comes on Saturday. So I'm fast approaching (slash already entering) the most stressful period of the semester, the period where almost all the work for all classes from the entire semester has to get done. I do that work and I think about the end. I think about progress and change. It is all getting very, very bittersweet.

Un fin de semana en La Costa de la Luz (A Weekend in "The Light Coast")

This past weekend was my and Liliana's getaway weekend. We set aside this weekend awhile ago (in between our two birthdays, plus we just wanted to take another vacation together). We hit up Andalucian nature, and we hit it hard. We went to La Costa de la Luz, which is a beautiful stretch of land between Cadiz, a city on Spain's southwestern tip, and Tarifa, a small town on the southernmost tip of Spain (on the bit of land that forms the Strait of Gibraltar). That strip of coast in between the two cities is called La Costa de la Luz and has several little whitewashed towns, parks, and wonderful, wonderful beaches.

Liliana and I stayed in Zahora, which is a little town (VERY little town) next to Caños de Meca, a slightly bigger town (pop 300), and a bus ride away from Conil de la Frontera, a much bigger town (22,000), and also the place where the bus to and from Sevilla stops. So, to get to our vacation hideaway, we had to take a bus to Conil, then another little bus over to Zahora (incidentally, we got off at the wrong stop, Caños de Meca, and had to walk 30min on the highway). Getting back to Conil to get the bus back to Sevilla on Sunday was tricky because there was no bus from Zahora to Conil and no taxis to be seen... after some aggressive phone-calling, though, and a lot of patience, we were zipping along the road over to Conil! So, moral of the story: Liliana and I wanted a rural, nature-y, cheap, pretty place to go to. We definitely got that. The only problem was that navigating a place like that, we found, can be really hard without a car. Public transport does not cater so well to the little hideaway spots. But, that's ok, we managed.

Friday, once we finally found our hostel (randomly on the side of the road, as much of the towns were because they are so small, and therefore hard to find) and got settled, we had a problem. Apparently the hostel only took cash. Ok. So we asked where there was an ATM. The only ATM within 25km was the brand that, for whatever reason, does not take our money cards. Great. We had enough cash to pay for the hostel, but not enough for food. It felt weird to be stranded without enough money, but we made do, and in the end it didn't matter, anyway. We bought groceries everyday for breakfast and lunch, and made sure to go to the supermarket that took credit cards. Then for dinner, we just ate where credit cards were taken (which, as it was a tiny place, was not everywhere). It ended up fine, but lesson learned: always travel with a lot of cash, especially if you are going to a smaller place! Anyway, the first evening we went out to the beach to watch the sunset. After a pit stop at the hostel (really more of a cheaper hotel) to add layers, we went outside to look at the stars. They were beautiful and bright, like you can only see when you're deep in the countryside. The only light disrupting our view was the light from the light house...

Me outside of our hostel. It was a fabulous deal and a very pretty hostel, but not right on the beach. That's ok, though--the walk out to the beach was BEAUTIFUL, filled with little houses and vegetable gardens and fields of flowers and horses grazing.

Saturday was our big hiking day. We walked about 20km total. From our hostel, we walked out to the beach, then along the beach. We got to a lighthouse on the coast, explored it, and kept walking. We walked through more beaches, got to various little towns, and cut through Caños de Meca to enter a Natural Park we had been wanting to go to. We ended up hiking through the park (which was a sand-duney cliff) to a 17th century tower, left over from Turkish Pirate times, apparently, and were faced with incredible views. We then did the whole walk back, getting to the beach closest to our hostel, Playa de Zahora, just in time for sunset. Then we went out for dinner. A perfect day.

Me at the start of Saturday. The beach was easily one of the most beautiful I've been to, if not the most beautiful. Scenic, natural, and not many people. Also, the area where we were apparently attracts a hippie crowd, which was an added bonus. (Note: the area is known for nudist beaches, and we definitely came across a few. Not just the typical topless women that European beaches have. I'm talking fully naked people, just chillin. Or swimming. Or walking. Or whatever.)

Once we got to the light house, there were boardwalks down from it to other deserted beaches.

On the boardwalk that wraps around the light house. This is the overlook of the first strip of beach we walked, which includes Zahora and Caños de Meca.

Like I said, hippie place. They don't just recycle -- they recycle artistically, and in style!

After a lot more walking, we found the entrance to the park we had wanted to hike in! This is me being excited. Beautiful trees to one side, the beautiful ocean to the other, and a sand dune hike ahead of me up a cliff! Excellent!

The destination of our Saturday walk. Pretty awful, huh? (That tower is the one from the 17th century!)

Me, bag, and view.

On our walk back we decided to go through the dunes a bit more inland than walk out on the beach itself. That's the light house in the background.

This picture is just to show you how far we walked... that is the cliff in the background that we climbed up! Next to it you can see Caños de Meca in the distance. (This picture is from on the way back.)

Approaching our home beach area once again. My footprints and Liliana's footprints. And light house!

Beginning of sunset. You can tell by the lighting.

Back at our beach after a long day's walk!

Sunday, after the hassle of getting to Conil de la Frontera so that we could catch our bus back to Sevilla later in the day, we walked through the town and went down to the beach for a few hours. The town was gorgeous -- Cadiz province is known for its whitewashed houses, and this bigger town was no exception. Caños de Meca was all whitewashed, too, but since Conil is so much bigger, I guess it was more impressive. Also, there was a cute old downtown area, whereas Caños de Meca was really just a street. Anyway, Conil was quite cute, and we enjoyed the walk and the beach before heading back to Sevilla in the eve.

A random corner in Conil de la Frontera.

Kitesurfers. I loved the colors.

A view of the pueblo (ok, a big pueblo) from the beach.

And so sums up a weekend in Cadiz province among whitewashed villages and nature. It was hard to decide which pictures to put up -- I have a lot, and a lot of good ones, too, if I do say so myself, but hopefully this gave you a taste of my weekend. It felt fantastic to get outside of Sevilla for a bit and to be in such stunning scenery. That said, it also just made me wish I could tour Spain with a car that much more. There are so many nooks and crannies of this country that I am dying to see, but it's just hard to do sans car. It's an unfortunate truth. Or an inconvenient truth.. but then maybe we'd get into copyright issues.

This weekend brought up a lot of thoughts about Sevilla, about this year, about experiences, about leaving. But I think I'll leave that for the next entry, as this one has been centered around my weekend vacation, which was quite nice. But for every place I see in Spain, there are 3 more places I want to go... that's what happens when you learn things about places and cities. In place X they mention place Y, and you love place X so you want to go to place Y. And so it goes.

Ok, now I am stopping so as not to spoil the next entry. :P

Mi 21a cumple (My 21st Birthday)

So yesterday was my 21st birthday. Not an entirely culturally new experience (although I did have some incidents that I'll write about), but worth sharing on the blog, anyway.

So at 6am I was woken up by Austin, but by accident. She had set her alarm (on vibrate) to set up her surprise for me, and I screwed up her plans by waking up, too. Anyway, so I went to the bathroom and went back to bed. The sun was coming up and the birds were chirping outside. Pause. THE. BIRDS. WERE. CHIRPING. I heard birds on my birthday morning!!! First time in Spain!! A few hours later I woke up for real, Austin had put up signs all over my room with pictures and funny quotations that we've shared this semester. It was really sweet and very funny.

After the normal combinations of homework and class, I went to the center, where I had some very, very socially awkward interactions. I don't know if I was just out of it or what, but my kiss-kiss with both Pepe and Luisa failed miserably. With Pepe I thought we were going for a hug, but he definitely thought the kiss-kiss, which was just really, really awkward. There is a way to mess that up subtly and a way to, well, not, and I was definitely in the latter category. It was bad. Liliana commented on it after, too. And with Luisa, I was just slow and kind of blobbish, so she had to move herself around me. There was no mutual kiss-kiss interaction going on. All of this sounds stupid written out, but believe me -- it was not pleasant. It's MAY and I still haven't gotten it down!!

Antonio, my History of Iberoamerica professor remembered my birthday, which was really sweet. He sent me an email and everything (the email was quite funny, as he decided to write part of it in English). Actually, no, he thought it was Liliana's birthday, so he sent her an email and told her happy birthday in class, but then we corrected him, which just proved for an amusing situation. It was nice that he remembered someone's birthday, anyway!

The best part of my day, though, was probably dinner. We had a little party at Liliana's house. My friends made dinner for me, which took several hours and was a lot of fun. For appetizers we had tomato, mozzarella, and pesto, with olive oil and bread, obviously. Austin got tinto de verano (my favorite Spanish drink, half red wine and half sprite-esque stuff) and Amy brought wine. Then for the main course we had a very colorful salad (complete with arugula!) and gnocchi with homemade vegetable and tomato pasta sauce. The gnocchi was good quality and delicious. I hadn't had gnocchi in quite awhile. Plus Liliana's pasta sauce was delicious. Then, for desert we had a fruit salad (Liliana went to the fresh market near her house so all the fruits were great), complete with mango, and Anne (Liliana's french apartment-mate) made fresh whipped cream to go on top. Quite delicious. The food was incredibly tasty. Absolutely zero complaints here. It was a really nice way to celebrate my birthday and it made me feel really lucky to have friends that would bother doing all of that.

And now, here are some pictures that I took from throughout the day...

On Monday and Tuesday, I always have lunch with Liz because we have Anthro together, but yesterday I decided to take a picture after we finished eating to document it. I look like a shaggy dog (am trying to decide if I'm growing my bangs out or not; that's why I haven't cut them yet).

Austin and I at 8pm after the last class of the day. I really like this one because you can see the background well, which is one of the patios in the university building.

Later, at Liliana's apartment, testing out the appetizers.

Liz, me, Austin.

A picture of my meal! Mmm... I can still taste the fresh fruits and vegetables...

Before eating: me, Austin, Liliana, Anne, Shannon, Liz (Amy is taking the photo).

Me with my desert and candle (in the nata!) with the cruzcampo that Kristin bought me (here, cruzcampo = life in terms of beer).

Oh yes, I know, how artistic. But doesn't the fruit look good?!

So yes, my birthday in a nutshell. It was a good day, but now it is back to the reality of work, especially considering I put off so much of it yesterday. Ah well.

This weekend Liliana and I are taking a little bus ride down to the beach for the weekend. Her birthday is on Monday, so we thought it would be fitting to have a little getaway together. We're staying in a little town that's on a supposedly very beautiful beach (Canyos de Meca) and right next to a National Park, so we'll also be close to a lot of hikes and paths and stuff. We'll be gone Friday to Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it.

"I got stuff to do, too, but I just brought it as a formality!"

This entry's quotation was said by my friend Shannon. We roomed together in Malaga for the night we were there (the center always puts us up in quite nice places with a very legitimate breakfast (the breakfast is not to be underrated)) and we were talking about all the work we had to do. Well, I was talking, she was listening. I said how I brought work and said I planned to do some on the beach, and she just kind of looked at me and said the above quotation. And it's so true. Everyone brought work this past weekend because you can't just straight up leave your work at home (that leaves a 0% chance that you'll do it), but it's not like they actually expect to get the work done over the weekend. It just leaves the chance that maybe, perhaps it will happen. Like Shannon said, it's just a formality.

So, Malaga from Saturday morning to Sunday evening. It was nice. I like Sevilla better, but it was nice. I've been to Malaga very briefly a few times in the past, but never as a destination. Saturday Liliana and I went to the Picasso museum (Picasso is from Malaga), got lunch (patatas asadas), went and had some coffee (caffiene was much needed, plus it was raining), and then climbed up to the castle ruins on top of a big hill. The view from the castle remains was spectacular. We stayed up there for awhile talking and taking in the scenery. After, we planned dinner (a great vegetarian place where I had WHOLE WHEAT PASTA) and did some walking around before checking in for the evening.

Today, Sunday, Shannon and I woke up early to leave plenty of time for breakfast. Like I said, breakfast on these center trips are to be taken quite seriously, then I packed up and headed to the beach for the day (well, until we had to get on the bus to go back to Sevilla at 4:30). The beach wasn't the best I've ever been on (read: found a used maxi pad, found some poop, saw another child pooping on the sand down the beach), but it was still nice to hang out with some kids in the program on the water for the day. The weather on Saturday wasn't so great, but today it was sunny and beautiful. A fantastic day for the beach and a fantastic day to go swimming in the still somewhat frigid Mediterranean.

The view of Malaga on our way up to the Castle. The day's weather had been kind of gross, and this was what it looked like just as it finally started to clear up. My camera didn't capture it very well, but the mountains in the distance covered by clouds were gorgeous. The whole scene was just pretty. Plus it smelled like wet nature (pine trees, anyone?), which was a beautiful thing. Liliana and I were raving. I hugged a tree.

Later, walking around on the remains of the castle. The weather was clearing up very quickly. A view of Malaga's mountains. (Mountains and ocean. And olive groves. Pretty great.)

Malaga city by castle. The population is around 560,000.

Before my delicious whole wheat pasta, taking in sunset on the beach. Malagueta was the name of the beach. I'm sitting on the "u".

Sunday on the beach with Liz and Austin.

All in all, a good weekend. And Shannon was quite right, I did not touch my homework.

I will say, though, that generally speaking I am done with the center trips (just to reiterate: the center takes us on 3 trips every semester, and this was the last one for this semester, and therefore for my Spain experience). I don't like boarding a bus with Americans, being loud and dominating a hotel, getting looks and having people talk to us in English before Spanish. I like going off on my own, doing my own thing, blending in. I don't need the center to babysit me in the same way I did last semester (ok, it was never a need, but it was nicer last semester). It's good, it's another sign of growing up, of moving on, but it also feels a bit weird. It's part of the reason I don't click as much with kids this semester, I think. Their experience is what I experienced last semester; their adjustments are my adjustments from last semester. What I'm thinking and feeling now is different and I just can't relate it to the stage that they are in.

I talked to Liliana a lot about that this past weekend, which was great. I'm so happy to have experienced this with her. There is so much unknown coming up, what with the year ending, us leaving Sevilla and our Spanish lives, and going home to a life we left quite awhile ago. I've started thinking about what it will be like, and some of the parts of transitioning back boggle my mind. For example, my phone. Free to others with verizon. Free after nine. Free on weekends. People to call. People to chat with. DID. I. MENTION. FREE? And the same time zone. Just incredible. No, but in all seriousness, that's just the basics. That's a funny example of something that actually represents a huge shift back to an old life I left behind and an old way of interacting with the world and with people around me. The transition is not going to be a walk in the park.

This weekend was a lot of thought and contemplation like that, mixed in with the itinerary of what we did. Leaving my life here is going to be hard. I've never done anything like this before, and leaving involves giving up a lot. I'm ready to go back to the states and then I'm not ready at all. I have progressed so, so much here and am finally settling in as more of a Spaniard than a foreigner. And now it's almost time to leave, to move on. Such is life.

Y la vida continua (And Life Continues)

Here's a compilation of things that have happened since Monday night, when I got home from Paris...

1) The center scheduled an emergency meeting to talk about swine flu. It was funny because it was so evident that it was scheduled at the demand of our home universities, not because the administration here in Sevilla was actually concerned about it. It was a very basic "this is what it is, this is what you need to avoid, be careful and cautious, stay informed" type of thing. Although Spain has the most cases in Europe, I don't think there have been any serious cases reported yet. Nevertheless, I have been carrying around Purel with me and have that magical stuff at the ready. Also, in my mind, swine flu isn't all bad -- one of my professors spent the feria vacation in Mexico guest lecturing, so she's back and fine, but she's in quarantine and we therefore did not have class this week. What a shame.

2) Our building is having some pipe repair type of stuff done (it is an old building--30some years old, I think), which means that for the next 3-4 weeks, the water in the kitchen is turned off and we can't use that sink. It's funny how much that messes up a household. There's still water in the other rooms (if we didn't have it in the bathrooms, that would be truly awful), but it's still a bit chaotic. Mayte was organizing and reorganizing like crazy, as you can imagine.

3) I can't believe it's already mid-May and that I really only have a month left of being here. I could write my blog entry just on that, but I'll spare you. I can already tear up thinking about leaving even though in a lot of ways I think I'm ready to go. This experience is so unique, and once I go, it's gone. I can come back to Sevilla, yeah, but I won't be a resident. I'll be a tourist. And I probably won't ever see Fernando and Mayte again. Ok, stopping myself.

4) The other day I was sitting and eating breakfast, and Fernando came into the kitchen and said "ay, que guapa estas, hija" (hey, you look pretty today, daughter) and kind of stroked my hair for a second. It was so... I don't know, so nice, so familiar, so comfortable. It's nice to see that I've been here for so long, that I've gotten to that point, but it makes it that much harder to imagine myself actually leaving. See number three.

5) Today it was 97 degrees. This has been the norm for this week.

6) For my Relato hispanoamericano class (Latin American short stories, basically), our professor switched on Wednesday. It was a planned part of the syllabus -- we have a different teacher to teach the last segment of the course, which is on Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The new professor talks like Kermit the Frog. It is unbelievable. Some words are fine and he sounds normal, but then other times I'm just incredulous that, when I look up from my notes, some green Muppet is not standing in front of me. It's really quite something. There are about 18 kids in the class from my program, and they have all noticed the same thing. At times, I can't help but smile to myself or chuckle, and I sit front center, so that's no good. I really need to work on it. I'm getting better. But yes, the one and only Kermit the Frog is employed at la Universidad de Sevilla.

7) Although I've been here for awhile and feel very comfortable in a lot of ways that I didn't before, awkward interactions still exist, and exist in abundance. I have some specific examples, but to be honest it isn't worth explaining all of it. I can't imagine being back in a place where English is the only language and all social interactions are 100% in my culture and in my control. Now that's just a weird idea.

8) That paper I've been complaining about in the last entries (the 15 page one) is still not done. Barely started. Yep... fantastic.

Ok, tomorrow morning off to Malaga for a night with the group from the center. Back in action early next week!

Las vacaciones en Paris! (Vacation in Paris!)

Not much time for updating, so a short-but-sweet and very timely entry is going to have to trump a longer entry that comes late. Better to keep up, I say. Plus I know I write better when things are current, not when they've already become past. (By writing this, I'm ignoring the 15 page paper I have yet to start. Right.)

A general mix of thoughts before picture time (I jotted these down on napkins and receipts during the trip so that I would remember to write them in the blog):

1) Lauren and Anne surprised me in the airport when I arrived. I was expecting to have to go meet them in the center of Paris (I was going over my French accent in my head so that I would know what to tell the cab), but then I walked out to the main area and I heard them call up "Emma... you're going the wrong way...!" It was an appropriate greeting, I think. "Emma, what the hell are you doing, we're here, you're off in your own little world!" It was so fantastic to see them there. Time has passed--I haven't seen Anne for almost 2 years--but in so many ways so much was exactly the same. It felt really good to have that and to have our time together.

2) I saw the Eiffel Tower lit up, dominating the sprawling, flat city of Paris as I flew in. It was absolutely breathtaking.

3) I consumed goat cheese at literally every meal, except for breakfasts. It was delicious (the French know how to do their cheese), but by the end I was pretty cheesed out. They even have cheeto-esque snacks, goat cheese flavored.

4) I found the French, generally speaking, quite nice and friendly. The stereotype was way off. I had one unfortunate encounter with a woman, but other than that people smiled and were very helpful. I was pleasantly surprised.

5) Apparently I said "thats what she said" all the time 2 years ago on our Germany road trip. Anne reminded me that I haven't matured much at all over the past 2 years, considering I still make my young, innappropriate comments with quite a bit of vigor. Great.

6) I missed the memo that, in Paris, you are only allowed to wear variations of black, white, and beige. Grey is sometimes acceptable and, if done properly, a dark purple can be added to the mix. I walked around in my bright red jacket. Yep. Hello, tourist Emma.

7) Paris has the best metro system I have ever encountered. We usually had to wait between 1 and 3 minutes for a metro. The longest we ever waited was 7 minutes, and that was only once -- the second longest time was 4 minutes. The network is huge and, because of the low amount of waiting, is very efficient. Trains normally run every 3-4 minutes. Another example of fantastic European transportation.

8) There is very cheap wine in Paris. Not in an "awesome, easy drinking" kind of way, but one night we cooked dinner, and getting wine was very cheap. Most wines were between $2 and $5, or you could splurge for a $14 bottle. We got a $3 bottle, I think, and it wasn't bad.

9) There is a Jewish neighborhood in Paris that was FANTASTIC. Falafel, Challah, Jewelry, kippahs... you name it, they had it. It made me irrationally happy. And I had falafel. I was quite content.

Other than these random points, we did a *lot* of stuff. All the major tourist things, and also some relaxation and bonding time. We went to the best hot chocolate place in Paris (incredible) and the best macaroons place (also incredible--French macaroons are not Jewish macaroons; they're different). Anne left on Saturday evening, which left just me and Lauren until Monday afternoon. Sunday we took a day trip to Reims to see the Cathedral (we studied a lot of it in high school) and toured a Champagne cellar/factory thing (Reims is right in the middle of the Champagne district of France). I won't bore you with more "then we did this and then we did that," but we did a lot, saw a lot, and, well, ate a lot.

My first view of Paris, getting off the metro. Not bad.

Lauren, doing her thing in her city.

Does this need a description? For the most part I didn't buy into Paris being a romantic city, but we were around all these couples and... yeah. This part passes as romantic, according to me.

Anne, Lauren, and me!

Yep. We took a lot of pictures.

Moulin Rouge. Kind of a disappointment, but a photo was necessary nonetheless.

WE ATE IN THE CAFE WHERE THEY FILMED AMELIE. I NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO FREAK OUT ABOUT IT BECAUSE LAUREN AND ANNE DIDN'T REMEMBER IT!!!

Montmartre.

Arc de Triomphe! Very near where Lauren lives... her homestay (where I stayed for the 2 nights after Anne left) is VERY posh.

One night we ate at the BEST crepe place ever... This is my goat cheese salad crepe. Desert crepes followed. I was in heaven (this picture is for my dear daddy)!

Little kids playing with the rented sailboats in the park outside of the louvre.

It was SO neat seeing this. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the art in the louvre itself (massive amounts of people, just a tourist event and not really a museum), but Lauren led us through it like a pro. We saw what we needed to see and left. I'm really glad I went, but in terms of actual artistic content, I think I liked the Musee d'Orsay better.

The back of Notre Dame.

In the Luxemburg gardens, eating our INCREDIBLE sandwiches (mine was more goat cheese). Lauren was such an excellent hostess. I didn't really have to think about where we were going or what we were doing. She knew the places to eat, the places to see, and the most efficient order to do it all, and she didn't tire of trudging along with us. Thanks, Lo. :D

Saint Chapelle. We learned about this church in high school, too -- it's very small, but all the walls are stained glass. Completely wonderful.

Anne very excited outside of Notre Dame!

In Reims with Lauren. We studied this portal and both remembered that freaky figure's smile on the left-hand side.

Near the Reims Cathedral!

Lauren outside of the Champagne place we went to. There are tons of very deep, hand-dug cellars under this patio!

So, all in all, another fantastic trip. It was great seeing Anne and Lauren and I liked Paris *much* more than what I was expecting. Not to say I was expecting not to like it, but people talk up Paris a lot. It was a beautiful, majestic, balanced city, and unlike any other I've ever seen before. I didn't tire of being there, and could have easily spent more time exploring various neighborhoods.

And now I'm here, in Sevilla again, with work up to my neck. It's currently 91 degrees. I still have 2 comforters on my bed. Yes sir.

Here's the link to all the pictures I took in Paris, if you're interested:

France with Lauren and Anne Spring 2009

Sorry this entry is all over the place. If you have any questions about what we did or something I left out, feel free to shoot me an email!