Homestay! Homestay! Homestay!

I got assigned my homestay yesterday! I will be living in the part of Seville, called Los Remedios. I’ve been on google maps about 100 times since receiving my address, wandering the streets of Los Remedios virtually of course but I have a McDonalds, a US bank and the 2nd largest department store chain in Spain, just ONE block away. So it looks like I’ll be having some familiar names and favorite things right near by. This is the Puente de San Telmo, the bridge that I will walk across everyday to my classes!

Los Remedios is famous for being a riverside neighborhood over looking the Torre de Oro and La feria de abril de Seville (Seville April Fair). La feria happens about 2 weeks after Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Easter, and it runs for six days and everyone from all over Seville come to celebrate La Feria. More on La feria in April but I for one CANNOT wait to wear a traditional Flamenco dress during La Feria!!

I don’t know that much about the neighborhood but I will be living across the Guadalquivir river from the school but it’s only about a 20 minute walk so I think I’ll be okay! I’m curious to check out the public transportation throughout Seville, I know they have bicycles available for public use and a fee of course so I’ll have to check this all out.

That’s all for now! official countdown till I leave 8 days! EEEK, WOAH, AHH, MY OH MY it’s all really happening! I will arrive in Seville approx. 14 hours later after 2 flights and a long layover in Madrid!

It’ll all be worth it!!

Here’s something to think about…this is a image I saw about a month ago from Life Hacker about why study abroad is worth the expense…I definitely think it’ll all be worth it regardless of the cost, as the old saying goes “When in Rome, live like the Romans.” So in Seville, I will live like the Sevillanos!

En las semanas próximas..

¡¡Hola hola hola!!

hope you all liked my little makeover to my blog

So in the next few weeks I will be embarking on a few things…EEEEKK

• Within in 1 to 2 weeks I will know who my host family is (AHHHHH!! I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS! okay..I’ll be honest, I’m also SUPER NERVOUS and hope I fit in with their family!) and then learn more about them before I live with them for the next four months
• I will begin packing up everything and anything I can possibly think of that I will need in Spain
• Make my mother more worry more about me leaving…but hey that’s what they do..pardon my french “c’est la vie”
• Visiting Siena to present over $13,000 to the best charitable organization out there, Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region (check them out…www.trinityalliancealbany.org)
• Saying goodbye to my siena friends and family all over again
• Get on my first overnight flight to Spain and procede to take over Madrid’s airport with Laura and the other CC-CS students on our flight while we wait to take off to SEVILLA!

I’ll probably be embarking on more things but that’s all I could think of for now…or well seemed most important!

-e

comida y la tele

  As I write this blog post, I am watching an old episode of Grey’s Anatomy, one of my all time favorite tv shows. I am a tv junkie. There I said it, I love my shows and I am very loyal to them. Here comes the question, how am I going to keep track of my shows in Spain? Now here’s the caveat… I hope that I am never bored so that I will have a minute to sit down and catch up on Glee or Grey’s and I have a feeling that Sevilla will not keep me bored! 

   I promise this post has a purpose and it is not my ode to Grey’s Anatomy. I decided to check if per chance Hulu was available in Spain, not a huge surprise… it is not. But what I stumbled upon was a great little TV series called “Made in Spain with José Andrés” then from some research is a cooking show on all types of Spanish foods seemingly taped in Spain. In the next 21 days until I leave, I’ve got some episodes to catch up on and make me hungry for sure, for some Comida Española! 

-e

One of my favorite things…

Everyone has their things that make them happy and just all around smiley, well one of my favorite things is Palm Trees! Living in New York state there aren’t really any opportunities or places to see palm trees. Whenever I go to Florida to visit my “snow bird” grandparents usually every couple of years, I never want to go inside because I love all the palm trees. So I cannot wait to get to Sevilla where I will be surrounded by palm trees until May

El tiempo calor!

So even though it is in the middle of the night in Sevilla, looking at the weather for during the day is getting me through these unbearably cold days in Nueva York! ¡Necesito Sevilla pronto!

How to dress like a sevillana…

For many of you that know me, know that I put a lot of time in what I wear down to the clip or the socks. (lol) My roommate, Linley, who studied abroad in Ecuador, visited me during the summer for 3 days and all she brought with her was a drawstring backpack that had everything she needed for the weekend.  When she arrived at my house, I said to her “that’s it!?” She told me once you go abroad you know how to pack, I’ll let you know how that goes in May.

A running joke through this pre-adventure has been, “what are you going to bring? how are you going to fit it all?” As my optimistic self has been answering that question, “I can do it!”  As the days get closer, I wonder more and more how I am going to bring everything I can possibly need with me for almost 4 months in Europe.  I go through this same struggle every August when I pack for Siena, I ask myself the same questions, “do I need this? do i REALLY need this?”…then I often fight back and forth with myself, “yes I need this, I need a shirt in every color.” By the time Thanksgiving rolls around and I start to bring my warm clothes home and I realize I never wore that yellow shirt I told myself “I had to bring.”

I’ve been told to pack for two weeks because there will be laundry, but have lots of room for things you will buy. I know I will have to control myself when strolling the streets of Sevilla. It’s my first trip to Europe!  My friend, Caroline, whose family lives in Spain advised me that I all I need to fit in is a scarf and a pair of boots.

So that is my first step on to how to dress like a sevillana, pack my favorite scarfs and once I get to Spain, a beautiful pair of leather boots made in España!

-e