This is what I know...

1. I know that I do NOT fit in in Spain being almost 6 foot tall with blonde hair and pasty skin!

2. I know that I am not Catholic anymore... sorry mom...

3. I know that the weather here is beautiful and I am already in love with the city.

4. I know that there are girls here who have more money within the contents of their luggage than the price of one year of my private school education!

5. I know that I am a midwest girl and that´s the way it was meant to be!

6. I know that I better lose some weight here because I walk more than 2 hours to and from school EVERY day!

7. I know that I miss you all and wish all of you could experience this!

Yeah ok... So I´m in love... in love with a country. I love Spain. Every day, especially the last two since it has been so nice, I walk across the bridge and wish that everyone that I love could experience this. I can´t wait for Sarah to get here. I want her to experience what I did the first time I was here. Only this time, I get to be with her and for that, I am so thankful! I miss you Poozie and I can´t wait for you to get here!! I´m planning our trip now! You are going to love it!!! You´ll be able to wear your jeans and tshirts, if you want to stick out mucho, because it´s so nice here!! I also would love to experience this with my family. Daddy, you would love it here... everything is so rich with culture and architecture and history. The city itself is beautiful and well, the people are like most, kinda in their own world, but my HyVee Bakery helpful smile in every aisle is still on my face because I´m just so happy I´m finally here!

This morning I climbed to the top of the bell tower in the Cathedral of Sevilla. Let´s just say... it was a climb! But the views... breathtaking! Ask my mom and dad... I called them to tell them that it was amazing becuase I was so excited! It might have been something like 6:15am there!! La Catedral de Sevilla is the third largest Catholic Cathedral in the world. It´s so awesome because you can see exactly where the Catholics came in and took over the land and added their cathedral onto the muslim worship center. The architecture and the history! Amazing! Christopher Columbus is burried in the church as well. Kinda creepy but sweet at the same time! I was going to load pictures today but I forgot to bring my camera cord. Lo siento!

Classes are ok... nothing out of the ordinary. This class I´m in now is a lot like my class in Mexico. It´s a three week intensive period in which we talk about the culture and society of Spain for four hours every morning. And of course work on building vocabulary and working on grammar at the same time. I also have a current events class that is going to be cake! It meets for one hour every week starting yesterday until the end of April. We give 15 minute presentations over something about life in Spain. It requires no official research only what we see, hear, and experience. Me gusta mucho! And then, then there is the clase de baile. Yup... dance class in spanish! I feel like I´m in showchoir all over again. And those of you that had the pleasure of seeing me perform while I was in HS know that I am not the most gifted when it comes to dance. But... I try. Today the profe. had me dance with her and then after we finished she asked why I was so timid to dance with her... she said I did everything really well. That was refreshing and something I am NOT used to hearing from choreographers! So... that goes thru April as well. It´ll be fun!

Let´s see... Oh yeah... I went to Ash Wednesday mass last night in the Cathedral that I toured earlier today. Um yeah... I don´t really remember the last time I went to Ash Wednesday service at a Catholic church... I have flashbacks of early hs but that´s it. Now I remember why I practice Christianity and not Catholism any more. Of course I respect the ritualistic society that still participates in all of the holy days of obligation, but it´s just not for me any more. I kept watching people and it was like they weren´t getting anything out of it. The girls I went with, all attend St. Mary´s private Catholic college in Indiana, were oober excited about the fact that they received ashes from the Bishop of Sevilla. Ehh... big deal... I would have been much happier if I could have actually gotten something out of it other than enough material to journal about for my homework. Ehh... owell... I still have my faith!

Uh... yes... as for being a midwestern girl... MOST DEFINITELY! There are girls here who dress better than I ever will! I brought everything practical. Simple, easy to wash and wear with lots of different things, easy to layer, easy to reuse! These girls from all these east coast schools brought at least 2 large bags of stuff over and a big carry on! I brought one suitcase! I don´t have anything to wear out and I do not fit in here at all! Probably a good thing I never really cared about that anyway. I´m here to be me and study what I want and if I look like crap while I do it... so be it! P.S. The BRIGHT pink ISU sweatshirt got lots of funny looks when I wore it yesterday! I have to do my homework at the center and I normally do my homework in my pj´s so I thought I´d make myself comfortable! I like it so there! About the only thing I brought that fits in is the coat with the fur! Gracias Aunt Stacy! I´ve been wearing it almost every day. I use it like a coat and most of my shirts look pretty good with it. I also bought a brown scarf that looks awesome with it! You did good... the fur fits in in España!

Well... I think that´s todo! More luego!

Ciao,
The bloned