September 11- 14

Hello hello!!

Well, I have a few days to cover don't I? K well on Wednesday it was the same thing during the day. At night we went the movie Mamma Mia. haha it was great. The movie was voice over in Spanish so the lips didn't match at all and then the singing was all in English with Spanish subtitles. The movie itself was so funny and cheesy haha plus the fact that they tried to make it in Spanish...it was just hilarious! We laughed so hard my stomach hurt at the end haha. We for sure fit the American stereotype that night...loud and obnoxious. None of the Spanish people were laughing! But I think we laughed enough to make up for them :)

Thursday we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Class and then tapas at night. We went to bed fairly early because we had to leave for an out trip in the morning on Friday.

So, Friday we left for Sevilla and Ronda. We drove for a few hours and then arrived in Ronda. We walked around in groups for a few hours and then had a picnic lunch before we got back in the bus. I loved Ronda, it was so pretty! It was a fairly small town so we made a loop around in a few hours and saw pretty much everything. But it is surrounded by mountains and there were lots of really pretty bridges, churches and buildings. One really cool thing we saw was some Arabic baths. We got to walk inside and watch a short video about their purpose and how it was traditionally set up. Very interesting and cool! On our walk I saw a guy sitting playing guitar :) I stood and watched for a long time and thought of you guys Daddy, Ryan, and Andrew :) You guys would have loved it, he was really good and it had a really relaxing feel. It kind of reminded me of Don Ross haha only he was better looking, he was shaved and didn't have long hair. ;) We also saw the bull fight ring!! We got to walk in it and even stand in the stalls where they keep the bulls....it still smelled like them because they had a bull fight the weekend before I think. It was so cool!! We are trying to find a fight to go to at some point :) So after that we got back on the bus and finished the drive to Sevilla. Once we got there we just hung out by the pool and got ready to go out with the group. We went to a really nice restaurant and had a cocktail party. haha We felt a little young and awkward but it was still really fun. It was a great way to mingle and meet/talk with lots of different people. After that we walked along the river on our way back to the hotel..and had ice cream :) haha surprise! Once we got back to the hotel we soaked our feet in the bathtub haha. I don't think my feet have ever been more disgusting!! haha

Saturday we got up and went on some different tours around Sevilla. First we went to a palace, it is like the Alhambra (the huge palace in Granada) only for Sevilla :) It was amazing!!!! We walked around with the director of our program and he knows so much! We first walked through the extensive gardens. It was amazingly beautiful! There were fountains, trees, flowers, fruit trees, peacocks, and even a maze made out of bushes, haha we had fun in that :) Then we went into some of the buildings, which were breathtaking too! The entire place had a ton of Arabic influence, lots of tiles and stuff. Next we left and had a break to get coffee and stuff. After that we all went into the cathedral in Sevilla. It is the third largest in the world, but the largest Gothic cathedral in the world! I can't even begin to describe it!! It was enormous and so beautiful! I could have spent so many hours just wandering through it!! I have tons of pictures that I will have to put up...but yeah I loved it so much!! The whole time we were walking through I kept thinking of the song "Everything" by Lifehouse, "How can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you?" :) Very cool. We climbed up into the bell tower too, it had such an amazing view of the city!! Oh man, I could go on for a long time about the cathedral haha but I won't, I don't know how else to describe it. So, after we did that we had free time for several hours. A small group of us decided to take the time to sit and have a nice lunch, do some shopping :), and then head back to the hotel to rest a while. Next we all met to go to a Flamenco dancing show. Again...it was so cool! They were so good! Liesel I thought of you, it was a lot like tap dancing :) But oh man, they could move their feet so fast and their faces were so intense too! Amazing, Amazing! So after that we went straight to a soccer game :) haha Reminded me a lot of football in the states :) There were so many people going nuts in the streets, and once we got in...there was a whole section filled with the craziest people. I imagine it was very similar to the student section at a University of Iowa game :) only this was called the "hooligan" section I was told :) haha I loved every moment of it!! The Spanish get so into soccer! We had front row seats too, we were so close to the field!! Don't worry Ryan and Andrew I took lots of pictures for you and even some video. You guys should be really jealous haha ;) Oh and yes I did pay attention to the game, they won 4 to 3 :) haha After the game I went back to the hotel and slept.

Finally, today Sunday, we got to sleep in a little later!! We had breakfast, checked out of the rooms, and then we went on another tour. This time we could choose to either walk along the river or go to an art museum, which is what we did. She told us that it is the most important art museum in Spain. Except for a small part, it was filled with all religious paintings and sculptures. It was so cool! We went with one of IES's professors and she talked a little too much for me :) haha So I just wandered around and did my own thing near the group. But it was still so fascinating, there were some huge paintings!! One part of the museum was an old church but now it is part of the museum. That was my favorite room, the ceiling itself had so much art work on it too...plus the walls were sooo high and just covered with enormous and detailed paintings of the Bible and Christ. So, after this we had some free time for lunch. We found an outdoor cafe and sat for a few hours and had coffee :) We also ate our sandwiches that we had made at breakfast and took from the hotel. haha you can tell we are poor college students trying to take advantage off all the free stuff possible :) (Interesting fact, I still have not used normal shampoo and bath gel yet this trip. I took the free ones from the hotels haha I think this will have to change though because it’s not great for my hair haha oh well ) Then we had our bus ride back to Granada! I slept almost the entire ride back :) Finally, once we got to Granada some friends and I went to a cafe that has free Wi-Fi and we started to look into where we want to go through out Europe. We didn't make any for sure plans, but we have a pretty good idea now! Oh and we randomly met some other girls that were in the cafe too!!! They just got to Granada yesterday and are studying with Central's program! haha It was really fun to talk with them a little, neither of them go to Central which I was sad about. I kind of wanted to play Dutch bingo and find out who they new in Pella and from my high school hahaha...I haven't played Dutch bingo in such a long time I kind of miss it now :) Anyways, we stayed there for several hours...and then I came back to the apartment, and here I am answer emails and updating everyone!!

So, overall it was a great weekend!! I have sooo many pictures that I took...Mom you would be so proud haha I'm getting better at this picture thing! I feel like I take one picture for every ten steps, I get annoyed fishing around for my camera all the time but I know I will want to have them later! Anyways, I hope to have time tomorrow to put up some of my favorites from this weekend....I need to find a better way to post them on this blog. The way I did it before is really annoying and long, but it works I guess if I can't figure out anything else.

Love you all!! Talk to you soon :)
Me

sorry..i just realized that i wrote a novel!!! :) haha