Scavenger Hunt Sevillano

Today was yet another unbelievable day, sometimes when I wake up I forget that I'm really in Sevilla, but then I go outside and get to spend my day in this breath-taking city. I met up with a few girls at Plaza del Duque which is a plaza that is about 7 minutes from my house, and is home to Corte Inglés, which is a huge department store, I haven't been inside yet but that is on my list for tomorrow. The girls and I then headed to Plaza de España, to meet up with other people from our group for another walking tour to help us get to know the city. However, once we got there it became clear that this wasn't your typical tour, it was actually a scavenger hunt! They gave us a list of thirty clues, with different point values based on difficulty, and two hours to find as many of them as we could! 

"Las Zetas" 

Plaza del Salvador. 

These are just some of the places that we had to find and take pictures with on our scavenger hunt, we also had to look for a special cafe where they sell churros con chocolate, a signature here, and a bookstore. Two hours later made it back to Plaza Nueva and met up with our guides, and our group won! I can be a little competitive so I was pumped up that we were the winners. Afterwards we were all hot, tired and hungry because it was 1:30 and we had all had breakfast around 8:00 and most of our Señoras don't make lunch until 3:30 or 4! So we decided to stop and get some helado and water. 

Just half of all the flavors they had!

My helado, marscaponé and galleta, two of the most popular flavors. 

Amigas with helado. 

After helado, I went back home and took a short siesta, then my señora made me a stew for lunch, it had garbanzo beans in it which I don't normally like but these were delicious. Also, I finally got her to stop giving me so much food. In Spain, the señoras always serve huge portions, partially because they leave so much time in between meals and partially because they don't want their guests to feel like they ever have to ask for more or don't have enough. Needless to say I have a new favorite Spanish phrase, "estoy llena" which means "I'm full", it's taken some work but she is starting to give me less food so that is a good thing, because I feel bad when I can't eat it all and she has to throw it away. That's another thing, in Spain if you don't clean your plate that is a sign that you didn't really like it. So I'm trying to do both of us a favor really. 

At 4:15 I met up with the kids who live near me and the guides took us to the CIEE study center so that we could find out what day and time we would be registering for classes. My group got there a little early so a few of us went out for some coffee. Then it was back to the study center, where I found out that I will be registering for classes tomorrow! I can't wait to know what I will be taking. We also learned about some of the interest groups we can join, they meet six times over the course of the semester and you learn about Spanish cuisine, culture, sports and much more. The coolest things about these groups is the third weekend in April they all go on a weekend trip to places like Morocco, Portugal, Majorca, and other regions of Spain. I have my eye on the Majorca trip, sign ups for those is January 23rd so I have a while to decide still. 

Once I was done at the study center, a friend and I went to Movistar to buy cellphones. That's right, I discussed what phone to get, activated it and paid all in Spanish, and now I'm the proud owner of this sweet little thing. 

Fancy huh?

It is super fancy. Prepaid, 8 euro cents a minute, 12 for texts. It doesn't even have a camera, but it was only 10 euro and it lets me talk to all of my friends, so be jealous. I do miss my iphone though. All kidding aside, mine is way cool, I'm the only one with a white one.

Armed with our super cool new phones, my friend and I walked back to our neighborhood, which I am proud to say I can now find with accuracy about two-thirds of the time. My señora made me a ham and cheese grilled cheese and then I got ready to go to the discoteca.

Two other girls and I met up at Plaza del Salvador and spent some time sitting outside on the plaza. Then we headed to Kudeta, which is a super cool 3 level dance club. It was a lot of fun, there were a lot of american students there but there were a lot of Spaniards as well. Having a chance to hangout with and talk to some Spanish students in a fun, social setting was a new experience but it was fun as well! It is a little awkward because a lot of them look at me and assume I'm Spanish, until I open my mouth, then they go "estás americana o inglaterra" aka "are you American or English". Hopefully by the time I leave they won't ever know. Also, most of the songs that they played were American Top 40, but things got old school when they played some Backstreet Boys, hearing the Spanish students sing along to American songs is right up there on my list of funniest things ever. I really like the discoteca and I'm sure I'll be going back, I met some other girls who live by me who are in a different study abroad program and I hope to see them again soon! Hasta luego!