Friday, February 8, 2013

Catie Prechtel is a student here and she is studying in Sevilla, Spain! She was nice enough to send us a link to her blog. I will have an exerpt here and I will also leave the link in case you want to see what other adventures she is having in Sevilla!

2-2-13
Today was our first day of rest. I woke up pretty late in the morning, and spent quite a while relishing in the fact that I didn't have to rush off to some tour or meeting. I didn't even leave the apartment until we had eaten lunch, which was around 2:45. I think I'm getting used to the later eating schedule finally!

When I finally did leave, I met up with Ali and Shelby and lots of the other people from our school group, and we went to the Plaza de España/María Luisa Park. I absolutely love the Plaza de España! It's so incredibly beautiful! As always, there's amazing detail in the Spanish tiles, and the architecture is gorgeous. There's a little pond that runs around the courtyard, and you can even take boats on it! I think I already said this before, but this Plaza appeared in Star Wars, and here's the scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVQyW1n5ECY
However, those blue/green domes in the background are completely added. The plaza and the columns as well as any of the porcelain railing and tiles are all real. Also, this scene is a good reminder of what a terrible actor Hayden Christiansen is, and the fact that it must be crazy expensive to fly actors all over the world just to get that one perfect shot for a movie.

In my desperate search for a sweater to help me from freezing on those cold mornings and evenings that we still have, I broke down and bought a $20 sweater with the Universidad de Sevilla logo. I feel so hip! I'm also proud that $20 is the most I've spent on anything since I came here. The majority of my money goes to food and postcards, both of which I will be cutting back on as I get more settled. I've realized that it's incredibly expensive to get money out of ATMs here- a withdrawal of $100 should not have a $37 exchange fee!!! There goes 5 meals I will never have. Nobody takes food away from Catie. I officially declare war on banks (though I think I probably should have done that a long time ago!).

While I was sporting the new sweatshirt, we all stopped at a gelato place to get my new favorite dessert: fresh-baked waffles with gelato on top. It was so delicious! Never had a better waffle in my life. The gelato, on the other hand, decided it would be cool to drip all over my new sweater swag, which was quite a moment of panic for me. However, I managed to save it in a Burger King restroom. All is well. Got to videochat with Mom and Dad today, which is always a treat! I'm turning in early because I am utterly exhausted.

For those of you who are curious about which classes I'm going to take, here's my tentative schedule:

Monday:
-Art and Society
-Cultural Anthropology and Art

Tuesday:
-Islamic Law
-Art and Society
-Cultural Anthropology and Art
-Anthropology of Sexuality

Wednesday:
-Islamic Law
-Art and Society
-Anthropology of Sexuality
-Art and Market in Contemporary Society
-Cultural Anthropology and Art

Thursday:
-Islamic Law
-Art and Society
-Anthropology of Sexuality
-Art and Market in Contemporary Society




Seems like quite a load, and I'm not sure if the classes are at the right levels that I need to be able to transfer them at, so we'll see how it all goes!

Here is the link to the rest of her blog!