Cultural Observations/Italica

It's okay to let your dog do it's business on the sidewalk.
People bundle up even when it's only in the 50s.
You always use an umberlla, even if it's sprinkling.
Shops are never open at the times you want visit them.
Anyone from Asia is a "chino."
Ham is everywhere but beef is nowhere to be found.
Seeing naked people at a nude beach on the news isn't all that uncommon.
I watched a game show and the "mystery picture" was an up close shot of a butt.
People here really like their dried meats, me not so much.

On Saturday I went to Italica, Roman ruins in Santiponce outside of Sevilla. The first thing we saw there was the coloseum. It's a lot smaller than the one in Rome (which I really want to see!) but was impressive nonetheless. We got to walk around inside it so it was a little like being a gladiator. Then we walked around parts of the old city Italica. Only certain parts of it are left exposed because being covered up helps to preserve the ruins. The rooms in the home were really small but many of them had beautiful mosaics on the floor. Some of the mosaics are now in downtown Sevilla because over the centuries wealthy Sevillanos have have them removed from Italica and put in their homes (not illegal until the 1800s I think). We saw things like ovens, courtyards, fountains, and bathrooms. The Romans were much more advanced that their successors. Also, a section of lead pipe was shown uncovered. This was part of the well developed water system but also contributed to the very low life expectancy (20 for servants and slaves, 30 for upper class). On Friday we're going to Cordoba so I'll have more to tell soon.

He llegado en Sevilla

Sevilla was pretty overwhelming the first couple days I was here. It still is at times, but once you realize that if you can find the main street all the tiny medieval ones don't seem so confusing. My host parents, Adela y Juan, are very nice and feed my roommate Scott and I A LOT of food, it's all really good though so we don't mind. Having lunch at 2 or 3 and dinner after 9 took some getting used but now I like. When you take a siesta you can stay out till 3 or 4 AM and be fine the next day. The other thing that's taking some getting used to is the massive amount of walking, at least going to Tech was good preparation for it. My course load is pretty light, only 2 classes most days. I love Sevilla but the best thing that's happened so far is that one of my suitcases came today!

I'll do my best to write about something a little more interesting soon!

Planes, Taxis, Tranes, and Lost Luggage

I've finally made it to Sevilla. My flight was alright, minus the guy eating food with curry next to me, not really something you want to smell all the way accross the Atlantic. Heathrow is mad house but nonetheless I still managed to make it to my flight to Madrid (the UK security check people are much nicer than the ones back home, you can leave your laptop in the bag!). When we got to Madrid we found out that no one's suitcases had made it out of Heathrow, so we had to work out getting them shipped to our hotel in Sevilla; hopefully they'll be here tomorrow because the only clothes I have I've been wearing for a day and a half! The AVE trail to Sevilla from Madrid (high-speed) felt like it took 3 years. We were all really relieved to finally reach our destination. After getting checked in we had our our first meal at the hotel (4 stars) that we're staying at. After our late dinner and Spanish wine I was ready to call it a night.

Taking the Plunge

I can hardly believe that tomorrow I'm going to be leaving for an entire semester! After months of waiting it's finally time to leave. I've pretty much taken care of everything (except packing of course!) but I still feel like I have so much to do. I'm a little nervous about going away, but mostly I'm excited!