Never a dull moment.

Hey everyone! I'm sitting in my favorite cafe called "Mascarpone" (everything in here is pink!) to write this update before I head to class at 6:30. Earlier this week I went to another Flamenco show on Calle Betis, about 5 minutes from my house. It was awesome! Only singing and guitar (no dancing) but I really enjoyed the music! There were tons of locals there and I think it was pretty authentic, as opposed to the flamenco we saw last week. Below is a video that I recorded!

I've been SO busy this week! On Tuesday I toured the University of Sevilla, the Cathedral of Sevilla on Wendesday, and a school called Colegio Claret on Thursday. The university is really awesome and I'm excited to study there with Spanish students and professors. It's located in the "Antigua Fabrica de Tobacos", an old tobacco factory, and was founded in the early 16th century. I enjoyed the tour of the Cathedral of Sevilla, but after a while all of the paintings of "La Virgen" and baby Jesus start to look the same... La Catedral de Sevilla is the third largest church in the world and is the largest Gothic cathedral--it's huge! I climbed up the giralda or tower (40 flights of stairs!) and took some great photos of the entire city.  Colegio Claret is a middle school in Sevilla where I'm going to volunteer to teach English once a week. I'll teach a class of fourteen-year-old students for an hour every Monday until I go home in June. With any luck, I won't have any disciplinary issues as there have been some problems in the past. I'm going to have to put on an intimidating front!

View from the girlada, I live just to the left of the river!

On Saturday some of my friends and I decided to take an impromptu trip to Ronda, a small, scenic town about 2 hours from Sevilla by bus.  Ronda is an absolutely beautiful town set in the Serranía de Ronda mountains. Walking around the charming, picturesque streets I felt as though I had stepped back in time. The Puento Nuevo, built in the 18th century, is a beautiful bridge that straddles a 100m gorge. The weather was amazing, about 65 and sunny, and after walking around the city for a while we stumbled upon a tapas bar called "El Grifo" and stopped in for a snack.  "El Grifo" means "tap" in English and each table in the restaurant had it's own beer tap in the middle! We caught the return bus back to Sevilla and arrived home around 8 pm.

Beautiful views in Ronda!

Puente Nuevo

Photo in front of the cathedral in Ronda.

Taking a break in "El Grifo"

As you all know this past Sunday was the Superbowl. I heard about a bar in Sevilla, cleverly named "TexMex" that just happens to cater to Americans looking for somewhere to partake in this great American past-time. My friends and I made reservations at TexMex earlier in the week and were thrilled to discover that they would be offering hot wings for 50 cents each with RANCH dressing (we've been searching for this condiment everywhere). I had high expectations for the Superbowl festivities at TexMex and we were definitely not let down. The venue was packed with rowdy Americans and my friends and I felt right at home. It was definitely my favorite Superbowl celebration of all time!

Getting ready for kickoff! Seating was assigned, and we had a Packers Fan at the end of our table.

Alex and I savoring the delicious hot wings with ranch.

I had my first class at the University of Sevilla today, History of Relations between the Americas, and I'll attend it four times a week from 2-3 in the afternoon. The professor is about 60 years old, from Sevilla and absolutely adorable! I was super nervous about the class before because I wasn't sure if I was going to have a hard time understanding the professor or if he was going to be accommodating to foreign students or not but I think everything is going to be fine. I'm looking forward to getting the Spanish perspective on a topic as controversial as politics between the US and Latin American nations. This weekend I'm traveling to Barcelona with some friends and I'll update again when we return!