Discoteca!

I just woke up, at 1 pm after recovering from last night... and my feet are no longer throbbing in pain. 

We has heard a lot about the discoteca (all ages club) and wanted to see what it was like for ourselves. 

I was advised to wear heels , which I had no problem with. I threw on a pair I hadn't used since 8th grade, not thinking much of it.  We took the metro, as usual and met up with the other girls, all in heels.  

When we arrived to Boss, the discoteca, you could feel the thumping music outside of the doorway, which was jam packed with a line full of  people. 

Finally, we got inside. Flashing lights, crazy people dancing and shoving, and music with the bass turned up all the way. We danced for a good 3 hours, got drinks, sat down once. It was fun, like a school dance x 10, with 20 times the amount of people and no adults. 

Around 10 or 11, It closed and we left in search of dinner. At this point, I was ready to saw off my feet. The pain was unbearable, but I resisted the urge to throw my shoes in the river, and walked around barefoot. 

This is all of us, minus Paloma who was taking the picture. (Sabina, me, Laura C, Maria, Laura L, Laura M, and Marta.)

Paloma and Laura M

Sabina and I

We found a nice pizza/salad/pasta restaurant, and my god did it feel good to sit. 

Being all fancy and European, they didn't serve tap water only water from glass bottles.

This was a pizza called the "Roma" which had a sunny side up egg on it.. first time I'd ever seen an egg on pizza before...

All in all, it was a great night, and we didn't get home till around 1am, where I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Band?

I'm still not sure what this class is called, but all I know is it's my favorite. Music is a universal language.. and it also helps that all the songs are in English. Hidden in the attic, 8-10 kids along with 2 speakers, a few amps, a set of drums, 3 microphones, and 4 guitars make music. It's a beautiful thing.

Masks & Home

Spain is a beautiful place, I highly recommend it.
Where else would you find a random marching band of giant masked people beating drums so loud it made your ears throb? Not in Providence... but Sevilla is another story.

 We went out on  Sabado (check out my espanol) and were walking around, shopping, when we walked out of a store to traffic. Everyone had stopped walking and had parted the cobblestone path, making way for a line of people disguised as demented kings, it was quite a sight. They were accompanied by drums, pounding away, and echoing in the city streets.

We scraped along the back of the crowd in an effort to reach the other side of the square, only to find another display of... marchers? 

These guys where different, more traditional, but just as loud.

We continued weaving around the crowd, but on every street was another procession, each one different from the last.

  I got separated several times, as I struggled to get a snapshot without getting trampled or lost in the crowd.

I know the shot is a little blurry, but check out his mustache. There where about 30 guys dressed like him, equipped with the same sharpie mustache, strutting their stuff through the city streets.

 I really love lamp posts. I know, of all things. But there's something about them, the intricate design on the metal, the light illuminating the orange trees, or the detail of the architecture nearby.

They're like warm fuzzy little snapshots of a scene, illuminated by warm light.

The next day, I met the family. Not my small family of  four, but the other half, just 17 people is all. We went out for lunch at 2:30, and where back home by around 6, not long at all in comparison to other get togethers.  I met Tios, and tia's,  abuelos, and abuelas, primos y primas. The list goes on.

These flowers caught my eye... they where outside of the restaurant.

The family was very nice, everyone greeted me with smiles and a kiss on the cheek. We ate at a very traditional restaurant, a former farm house that had been redone, it was open to the outside, illuminated by natural light, with a brick oven where all the cooking was done. They only had one pescitarian item on the menu, like I said, traditional Spanish. I had swordfish, and it was delicious. 

This is Laura, my host sister, you'll often find her smiling : )

Just another random lemon tree...

My new boots.

The back of the restaurant, we were leaving then.. as the sunset.

I thought I'd give you a little insight as to what my room is like, the walls aren't really pink, by the way..

This was the sign my family greeted me with the day I arrived, it set the tone. : )

My book, which I just finished today.. highly recommended, if you don't mind being scared for life.

Where would I be without my earrings?

And finally my room, home sweet home. I don't sleep on the same pillow as I have for the past 8 years, and I don't have the fan that used to lull me to sleep each night. Without them though, I'm perfectly fine. Had I not known I used them for the past 8 years, I never would have known I missed them..

Riding Horses

This was my very first impression of the ranch, a cute puppy eating, what I thought was a horse hoof. But, I soon found that it was only a pig's hind leg... no big deal.

It was totaly surounded by olive trees, they're everywhere here, so frikkin beautiful...

I may have edited this one, but the colors really were that intense..

Me riding Alanza, a very patient horse...

The trees..

Alanza..

I haven't exactly ridden a horse in quite some time, besides the 20 minutes 3 summers back, I hadn't ridden a horse since I was like, 4. So naturally, I picked up where I left off, riding with the 5 and 6 year olds in circles. It was slow, but that's what I needed. It was so peaceful and relaxing, and with practice, I will move on to the next class, where we canter and gallop.... but for now, circles are where it's at.

Escuela!

 This is the view of the school from the top of the school.. it's kinda on a slant, but you can see the city from the library area.

The Primary school area, where the little kids run wild 

This is the back of the school? The architecture is weird.. it's like in the middle of an old neighborhood surrounded by houses, but the architecture is beautiful.

(from left to right) Elena, Maria, and Malena

(left to right)Antonio, Adrian, Jose, and Estrella

The oranges :)

Band class! I'll be recording a video by special request next week...

Meet Draco, the official school dogie :)

Carpe Diem

Friday nights here in Spain, are not meant to be spent at home.
Everyone is out and about, and the city becomes alive.

We took the subway, or La Metro, which is only 2 years old, and super clean an nice.

We waked to the park, where we went ice skating.. the ice rink was surrounded by the carnival.

Us!!

Sabina, Laura Lopez, me, Paola, Laura Cuervas, Amalie and Marta

Ice skating... 

An ugly picture of the oranges in the trees... I had my crappy camera with me..

A guy dressed as a plant.

We stopped at a cafe that the girls raved about, it was in an ally way, and we sat on the side walk while we waited for our tapas.

These are.. I forgot the name.. but their like mini baked bread sticks and they are served with lunch and dinner, always.

And these are our tapas! We got mini fried fish (Bocarones) which is very traditional food in Seville, and calamari.