As an apology for not blogging as frequently these past few weeks, I am going to make it up in this blog!

The week of March 5th- March 8th.

I booked an Airbnb and flights to Ibiza during Semana Santa (Spring Break)! Can you imagine that? Me, and going to Ibiza? Who knows what is happening to me in Spain. I am definitely changing, for the better!  In my anthropology class, we discussed the definition of sex and gender. In other words, how culture creates the identify for males and females and how anything other than male and female, is "wrong." Wednesday was my first day of tutoring an 8 year old child! I was very impressed by his  fluency and competency in the English language! On Thursday, I spent my morning doing homework and packing for Lisbon! My professor for Anthropology class let us out early to participate in the Women's March in Sevilla! This was my first march, and it was amazing! It was great seeing so many people marching for women!

(Weekend for this week is my blog on Lisbon)

The week of March 12th-17th.

On Monday, after getting some rest from travelling overnight from Lisbon to Sevilla, I spent my  morning with lots of self-care. I also tried to help my Spanish mom set up her new iPhone that she received as a gift from one of her daughters! How sweet is that! After my history course, I stopped at a shop to browse and get ideas on what to bring back as gifts for friends and family. I ended up buying lots of gifts. I also spoke with the employee who is Ecuadorian and is married to a Spaniard. She was super sweet and wants me to teach her English! On Tuesday,  during my 2.5 hour break, I visited to La Hospital de Caridad. It was a hospital that accepted anyone that wasn't accepted by other hospitals. The visit was more than interesting, and interesting in the sense of not knowing what to think of it. Wednesday was my second of tutoring my 8 year old! I ended the tutoring session a little early but spent time with my Spanish mom! We watched some interesting reality game shows as I read for class. Thursday was a very long day. I practically spent all day at school. I tried on flamenco dresses for Feria and found one (blue one below)! Although I wasn't in love with it, I still really liked it! The reason why I did this is because I am going to participate in a parade with my school for Feria (in April)!! To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was signing myself up for. My anthropology class was very lively on Thursday! It was because our professor wasn't able to attend class, and we had a substitute. For dinner, I had arroz cubana (rice with tomato sauce and a sunny side up egg). On Friday, I went shopping!! I know that shopping is a typical girly thing to do, but it is really hard to not shop in Sevilla! I bought myself my very own flamenco dress (red one below)! It is an older fashion dress but it is red!I don't feel as bad because  I bought the dress and all the matching accessories for only 21 euros (25 dollars)!! For lunch, I had spinach with garbanzo beans. I finally learned how to make it! At night, I met up with my intercambio and we spoke for a hour in a nearby park. I might be able to travel to his village (Sevilla has lots of close villages) and meet his friends if everything works out accordingly! Now, I am on today! I have finally caught you up with the last two weeks of my life! Today was a very productive but relaxed day. I spent all of my day completing homework, uploading pictures onto Facebook, and of course-blogging! I even took one of the best siestas I have taken in weeks!


Now here's a preview to the next few weeks of my life. I will be travelling to Morocco next weekend and to Ibiza after returning from Morocco. After returning from Ibiza, the month of March will be coming to an end leaving only April and roughly two weeks in May left with my time here in Sevilla! It's too scary to think about I have to leave this wonderful place soon! 

Hospital de Caridad

                           
                          

This past weekend I went to Lisbon, Portugal. I have to say, I have never been as soaked and cold in my life. My friends and I traveled Thurday night into Friday., arriving at 6 in the morning. We met up with two other girls late Friday evening. This was probably one of this first times I did not plan a trip nor look into transportation in Lisbon. We walked outside with downpours of rain and unbelievable strong winds. We took cover in almost ever corner we possibly could from 6 am to 11 am. My umbrella kept flipping inside out every two seconds. Needless to say, Lisbon was definitely winder than the Windy City. 

Friday was quite the day. After finally checking into our Airbnb at 11 AM, my friends and I decided to stay put for a few hours as we dried everything that was in our backpacks because everything was drenched, including ourselves. Finally around 2 PM, we headed out to the Sao Jorge Castle (pictures to the right)! On our way there, we stopped at a little shop where my friend bought an umbrella. The employees were Indians! I was in utter shock. Throughout the weekend, I saw lots of Indians and started to miss home just because of that. However, back to Lisbon and its beauty! The castle was beautiful and there was no rain! After the castle,  we walked to the Commerce Plaza where we were so close on beating the storm! Once again, we took shelter. The water view was absolutely incredible. We returned home to make pasta and have a
 girls´ night in. 

Carmo Convent

Saturday was so much better than Friday. The weather was in our favor and we were able to capture the beauty of the city. The first stop was Feira de Ladra, an outdoor market. We thought it was a small market that we could go through in 30 minutes, but we were clearly mistaken. The market seemed never ending. There we played with a puppies that were being sold and I talked to an Indian.. It´s a funny world. The man asked me where I was from. I said Chicago and he said, but you´re from India, right?

Azulejo (Tile from the Tile Museum)

 Anyways, we spent the rest of the day walking through Lisbon and visiting the Carmo Convent, Bario Alto, the world oldest 
running bookstore, and a tile museum!

Jeronimos Monastery

On Sunday, the group of girls split up. Half of us walked and the other half took a bus to the Jeronimos Monastery. I was in the group that took the bus. We arrived the monastery and found ourselves among the marathon in Lisbon. It was shocking to see so many runners! After the monastery, we walked across the road and went towards Belem Tower. It is such a beautiful tower. Since we still had lots of time before our bus left Lisbon, we ended up going to a contemporary art museum. I have to say, it was bigger than I had thought!

Belem Tower

On our way back to the bus, my group decided to walk to the station. We thought going uphill for straight two hours during the late evening of Lisbon as a good idea... It was okay though! We kept a positive attitude because there was no rain! Upon arriving to the station, we were never so happy to go back home, Sevilla.  

If you ever have a chance to visit Lisbon, do it! I promise it is worth every uphill climb!

This week was the first week of the continuation period of this semester. This period is when we can take courses of our interest in Spanish! I am taking Spanish and America History, Anthropology of Spanish Culture, a listening module, and Culture Realities- a course that focuses one different aspects of the Spanish culture. I really enjoy all my courses. Although my anthropology class is hard, I am trying my best to understand the course! Oh, I get to attend a pottery and flamenco workshop with my anthropology course, and I'm really looking forward to them!

During this month, we have a 10 day vacation (Semana Santa). I really wanted to go to Rome and Paris, but the cost of the trip was way too high. My friend and I looked into ways to make the trip more reasonable. We came up with a way to backpack throughout Europe and visit almost every well-known city. However, the price of that trip kept rising. We both talked to our parents and asked for their advice on what to do. My mom advised us to only travel to a few cities, and that was still expensive. My mom then advised us to travel somewhere in Spain and spend our vacation there. After talking about where to go between the both of us and being given recommendations from the home stay mom of my friend, we decided to plan on trip to Ibiza! We both are stepping out of our comfort zone and are exploring the fun side hidden in ourselves. My friend wants to go sky-diving and I want to go scuba-diving!! Tomorrow, we are going to a travel agency to see if there are any bundles or discounts we can purchase at a lower cost.

I did a lot of "shopping" this week! I bought two blouses for only 15 euros from a store named Mango. I also planned a trip to Barcelona with 2 friends in April! I am very excited to go there!  And the best for last! I went to Disney In Concert: Magical Music From The Movies organized by the Symphonic Orchestra of Sevilla Saturday night. It was a last minute decision and was the best one yet! Even though there were so many children at the concert, I had no shame in attending a Disney concert with four other friends. 

Frozen

Samosas de verduras-Veggie Samosa

After coming home, we went out for dinner and dessert! 

We stumbled upon a cheap, Indian take away restaurant 

named Desi Naan Kebab! It was almost as good as the

 food back at home! After dinner, we found an ice cream 

shop named Freskura that was open until 1 am and

cheap! This night was my first night out in Sevilla and 

am very glad that I found friends who are willingly

 to go out, and not to bars and pubs! 

Next big adventure: Lisbon, Portugal! Cheers to week two of the continuation period!