Solidarios para el Desarrollo;

So its almost 1 am in the morning and I just got back from my first night volunteering. The organization is called "solidarios para el desarrollo" which I think means solider for the unfortunate or something along those lines. There were 5 different things I could choose from and the one I picked was to help with the homeless. The volunteers do this every weeknight but my night is thursdays, from 9 pm to about 11:30 pm which means more like 12:30 am spanish time haha.

But what we did was were broke into two groups and before we went on our "routes" throughout the city, we made hot chocolate and walked around the city and gave it to the homeless along with some cookies. We would just chat with them for a bit and listen. I was surprised at how talkative they were but then again I'm not. They don't really get to talk to anyone so I'm sure when the opportunity is at hand, they take advantage.

One man that we met at the bus station was missing teeth and had something wrong with his voice so none of us could really understand him (even the spaniards!) but I more or less understood the conversation. I played a more observant role in the group, but I was fine with that. The man though kept saying how I reminded him of his old wife or girlfriend or whomever and his daughter who live in Germany and the last time he saw his daughter was about ten years ago and she was pregnant. So I felt bad but then again fortunate.

What I really loved was that the ladies I was with, all in their 30's, had been doing this so long that they actually are friends with the homeless and are laughing and chatting and kissing and it was really great to see that kind of connection.

&& I was surprised at how happy they all were, without jobs or homes, all the people we met were smiling and thinking positive which was good to see. Overall it was a very humbling experience that makes me grateful for what I have and what I am capable of. I can't wait to go again next week, but now I must go to bed, I'm going hiking in the morning!!!!

Man, I can't believe its April alreadyyyyyyy..... !¡

Some thoughts coming to paper..

Being here && writing this blog has made me open up to people that I normally wouldn't, to share this great experience and to show all my feelings about it. The distance has made relationships stronger like with Christine who I talk to now more than ever which is awesome, my parents are seeing a bigger side of me & my co workers can see another side of me.

It has also drawn people away, which I'm just letting go now. But most surprisingly, it has shown me relationships that I took for granted. I have pleasantly talked to more people that I was just ok friends with and really made me see them in new lights. People I has just met and never really talked to have taken the time to message me and see how i'm doing && that really makes me appreciate them more, I won't take for granted those friendships whatsoever. 

&& lots of people are super jealous of the beautiful place we live in & I may have lots of vistors one day!  I now know how my mom feels whenever she says "aweee we live in such a beautiful place" because it's true, moms are always right. 

La loca life;

See, I said I was going to see more of the Sevillian sights during the week && I'm so glad I did, because this Park is the Plaza de America && it's soo pretty! But don't fall in the water, it's icky. 

The other day we came across these roman columns that I had actually read about && it was neat to see them tucked away and hidden, it was like a treasury find!

Two things my friends would coin to me:

1. I love cheetah print

& 

2. All I want to do is dance

Luckily, I've made many friends that love to dance too! And being that I'm "of age" here, I can go dancing any night of the week!!! Not that I do, but our newest tradition here is on Wednesdays. There is this franchise here called "100 montaditos" (100 small sandwiches) and they range from 1 to 2 euros, but on Wednesdays everything is 1 euro! And its delicious and it's super yummy, they also have cheap drinks but I'm all about the cream cheese montaditos :) 

Afterwards we usually go to this discoteca called Bandalai and on Wednesday's its Hip Hop night and it is the most amazing night EVER! It's like being at home and its so much fun. We just dance all night long in this disco and get lost in the music. Spaniards do battles and everything there!

See, I'm too into dancing to take a picture. I've successfully mastered the art of evading men, finally! They're all upfront and icky and can't a girl just dance with her friends?! But it's called a little spin move-evasion to the middle of my friends-slash pretending like I didn't notice them coming at me haha but it works && it makes me much happier to just dance in peace. 

&& we have started to go down to the river during the days after class to enjoy a drink and card games with friends in the nice weather, That's me and Sara. 

The bugs are not very fun tho...

&& as the night passes at the river, we get to see all the beautiful sights light up, this is the Triana Bridge. I just usually use it as a landmark like Hey chicas pass the bridge with all the circles and were up there somewhere (riiight, like have fun finding us its so crowded!) 

Everyday is an adventure if you make it one :) 

Rachel & I making our own adventure ;)..the big block in front of us gives light to show people the old roman water system in Sevilla. 

Tomorrow I start my volunteer work with the homeless && I'm so excited!!

Córdaba & Granada, España

Welcome to Córdoba Spain. It's in southern Spain, on the way to beautiful Granada. It's a small cute town that my program took us to for the day, it was a short time so I don't really have much to say (I need to get back to blogging the day I get back so I remember the cool things I learned!!) enjoy :) 

This is the Cathedral, ya know I'm sure you're just as tired of hearing about cathedrals as I am touring them, but they are all very cool and neat in their own way. 

There were sooooo many arcs! 

Called a double arc, not too hard to tell but my friend Kristen is in a Spanish architecture class & likes to show off her skills. 

This was my favorite room in the Cathedral, its so girly and white and pretty :)

This was my favorite little tid-bit in the Cathedral. It's the artist signature of that column. Kind of neat and different.

These flowers are what córdoba is known for && man do they show it off! There EVERYWHERE!!

The Synagog

&& that was it for Córdoba, just a few hours and a lunch there. Now on the..drumroll pleaseee....GRANADA!!! granada means pomegranate in spanish, but they don't have pomegranates there...how does that make sense?! It's my favorite fruit so it was quite the disappointment. But Granada is also in Southern Spain & just soooooo beautiful! Here is the Alhambra, kind of like a fortess but different because it's bigger and has more purpose. Isn't that pretty! We saw it at sunset and the entire city, breath taking. It was quite the hike to get up to this view but it was totally worth it.

Top left: Christina, Sara, me, Katie, Ali & Kelsey

Bottom left: Kristin, Kristen, Rachel & Maggie

Top left: Ali, Katie, Kristen & Christina

Bottom: Kelsey & I

in front of the Alhambra

&& then after our workout to the top of the city, we went back down to watch this flamenco show inside a gypsy cave. It was pretty cool because there were multiple performers. They were fun because they were talking to each other and feeding off each others energy, you could tell it wasn't a super professional performance because of that but that's what made it pretty cool. 

What the heck is this dude wearing right?!

The next morning we got up to see the Alhambra, luckily we didn't have to hike up to it. It's beautiful, but I was distracted by our FBI agent looking headphones thingys to hear our tour guide so honestly, I don't know much of the history :/ haha shucks, now I feel bad. FOCUS SADI!

Rachel, Me & Katie

Katie & I

Ok SEE don't they look like secret agent stuff, I seriously couldn't get over it. I had slept like 3 hours because my mind was busy worrying about housing all night so I was just so tired I was loopy and I HAD to talk like an agent the whole time! 

Kristin, Rachel, Me & Maggie

Oh well to that nice picture they wanted to take ha

&& thanks to my parents for giving me an extremely small ears, they couldn't hold up the ear piece?!? haha but it's ok, I rather have super tiny ears than big!

This is neat, it's on the walls (well durr) and its actually writing, but I don't know how anyone could decipher that. 

The city of Granada

Part of the cieling, first time I've seen stars up on one. 

This ceiling looks like the upside down whirlpool or something.

It was a short trip, just one night but it was fun to see another part of Spain! I was going to stay another day and go snow boarding for the first time ever in the Sierra Nevada which is suppose to be AMAZING because you can be on a snowy mountain and see the beach from the top, which is really cool. Butttttttt I'm going to Italy (TWO WEEKS YAY!!!) soon so I decided to save some dough ya knoww.