One Week into Spanish Life

This past weekend wasn't as crazy as the beginning of the week was. On Friday, I walked over to los jardines de murillo near the apartment and read El Alquimista. It was absolutely gorgeous of course, I will be going back there a lot. I also had an appointment with CIEE to schedule my classes: Flamenco, Gastronomy, Poetry, Cinema, and an intensive Spanish class. Later that evening there was an event at the CIEE center to get more information about activities in the city (gyms, outdoor adventures, flamenco classes, kayaking, Spanish cell phones, ect). And much later than night, I met up with some friends to go out to a bar (whoa, that's a first). We met a lot of Texas Tech students there and shared stories about experiences at our homestays, then there was dancing at the discoteca. That was a lot of fun, but I don't think I can keep up with the late Spanish going-out schedule. I spent a lot of time in bed the next day. But I did leave the house in order to get some churros and chocolate!! Something I've been most excited to try.

It was amazing.
On Sunday, CIEE students got to tour the Alcazar, which is a palace next to the massive cathedral in Seville. It has a really interesting history, and you can clearly see it in the architecture. The current royal family of Spain still uses it when they visit Seville!

In this photo you can clearly see three different time periods!! They only just recently discovered the part with the arches on the side of the fountain. It used to be filled in and covered in tiles, but while doing some restoration work, they discovered that there was another layer below that they didn't even know about!! I love archaeology.
I preferred the intricate architecture of the first floor in comparison to the Catholic/ Gothic additions.

Since it was rainy and soggy, we didn't get to walk around the gardens, but I am planning on coming back when it's dry!

Today, Monday, I went to my first intensive Spanish class. There were thirteen students in a tiny classroom for three hours, but our profesora, Rocia, is young and very nice. She studied in the US for a while, so her English is very good, though she teaches entirely in Spanish. After class I met up with Manu, a man who owns The Room, the restaurant that we went to at the beginning of the week, and is part of Discover Excursions. He wants me to take photos of his restaurant and the food for a book he's putting together and maybe shoot at the excursions! I think it's an excellent opportunity to gain more experience, learn how to shoot different subjects, and get something really interesting on my resume. On Thursday, I will be going over to the restaurant to experiment shooting with a few dishes (and then eat them). Hopefully everything will work out!