12/3/2008

La Vida Sevillana

Dedicated to my host sister Maria, who taught me how to be a true Sevillana

I am a free soul, a lighthearted spirit.
Never shy, never embarrassed,
I am confident, outspoken
Attention on me.
Viva Yo.

I awake, a las dos, to chipper words “a comer!”
I sit at the table, my face fresh from sleep.
Letting out a big sigh “ooyyye que sueno”
Afterwards I return to my loving bed,
The sheets fresh from drying in the breeze on the rooftop.
I fall asleep again.
Siesta

I go about my day happy.
Not a care in the world; no stress.
While taking a walk I stop.
My favorite café on the corner,
I talk to a friend, to anyone, for hours.
Tranquila.

I return home
I love being home,
I kiss my father and my older brother on the cheek as they sit watching futbol.
Making my way to the kitchen where I find my mother
I learn from her, as she teaches me tricks and techniques of womanhood,
Later in my room, I lie next to my sister in bed listening to music until dinner is ready
La Familia.

The day turns to dusk
I get ready for another long night ahead
I meet with my friends;
Makeup applied heavily, clothes fitting perfectly, always in heals,
We have style.
We walk to our favorite plaza to Botellon,
ignoring the callings of beautiful, blue eyed, brown haired men
ssst sssst Guapas sst ssst

We talk and drink.
We are young and full of life
So much energy and excitement
We laugh for hours, about anything, together.
We sing through the streets as we walk to the nearest discotec.
We dance all night long.
Fiesta.

The life of a Sevillana, is a life I once lived and will never forget.

This was just a little poem i wrote for one of my classes and will be my final blog on my adventures here in Spain. I have had such an amazing time here, it has been an experience of a lifetime. Although i will miss it here so much, i CANT wait to return to my home country, my family, and friends for the holidays! I leave tomorrow to go to Morocco Africa for five days and am thinking it will be quite the experience. Wish me luck and safe travels. Love everyone so much and will see you soon!!!

Bethany

11/26/2008

Just another 70 degree November day in Sevilla...

Simply Heaven Haaaaay YA!

Naranjas!My host sister is the one with the long hair on the right Just a girls night out! P.S. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving...Eat a ton of TURKEY and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie for me!!!

11/16/2008

THANKS MOM FOR SENDING ME

THE HALLOWEEN CANDY!!

You never know how much you love that candy corn until you dont have it one halloween!

Love you so much and miss you like crazy.

London England

LONDON ENGLANDme in front of the london bridge The COOLEST market we found in town

A little Harry Potter looking neighborhood

Wimbledon Tennis Museum

Natural Hist. Museum

BIG BEN

me and the royal guard

Hi Everyone!
I have been really busy with school this last week, its been really hard to make time for the blog!! A couple of weekends ago i made the trip to London. I had such an amazing time. It was really funny because i talked to mom afterwards and she asked me, "did you feel a connection to your birthplace?!" and i really feel like i did. I felt at peace there and completely enamoured with the people and my surroundings. Two other girls and myself spent four days with a friend i knew from rugby in Washington. He had a small place in Wimbledon, just a short walk from the Wimbledon Tennis Stadium. We took frequent trips to downtown London, again mastering the metro system! We were able to see the London Bridge, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The London Museum, The Natural History Museum, and more. I also got to see the friend we were staying with play in a rugby game. He plays for the Wimbledon Rugby Club which is one of the four founding rugby clubs still playing today. We also spent halloween there, and went out every night with all the rugby players who showed us a great time and took us to all the hot spots around Londons nightlife. I had the best time of my life and will return one day.

11/4/2008

A Thought on the Election

Being in a different country has really put my thoughts in perspective regarding how I feel about my home country. By living here in Spain I have been able to see and experience the different ways in which a country can be governed and how it affects the people. The most important thing I have realized is that ALL countries have their problems to deal with and there are pros and cons to how America is governed as well as how Spain and other European countries are governed, which according to most democrats is sooo great. My thoughts have been sparked and put on high with the elections and by conversations I have had with my host sisters and other peoples here in Spain. Im hoping that by letting my thoughts out to the world through this blog it might ease my troubled heart as words of Obama constantly run through my head as he says “ladies and gentleman, we live in the greatest country in the history of the world, now join me in changing it!.”
First lets take a look at this socialist government that Obama and everyone else seems to think is so wonderful and so much better than America. I would argue that the reason why a civil war just ended in Spain, why the people have just finished fighting against the horrible military dictator Franco is because the Spanish people have no say in what their government does, they don’t have any say because so much power and the peoples money (taxes) have been given to the leaders of this country. Thank god things are chinging, although not a whole lot as the people are still struggling with the transition from dictatorship to democratic way of governing.
Today Spain is still living in a socialist society. Now I know from a distance it all looks really great. I mean the people here party all the time; just about every night, they have free/really cheap medical and education, and they all live on a whim because they all believe that luck is the only way to catch a break. This lifestyle sounds romantic huh? Until it becomes reality… And in reality the people here although they seem relatively happy, have no money, cant get a job, can barely afford a small apartment to live in, and all have gambling problems on top of it because luck IS the only way anyone here can get ahead! Don’t take me just saying so to believe it, lets look at my host family. Here in Spain the children live with their parents until they are married and able to leave the home. Most people don’t leave the house until their late 20’s or 30’s and some live with their parents their whole lives. We think that the American dollar is so low compared to the Euro and yet here I am, 21 years old living in America, I can rent my own apartment, drive a care, buy my own groceries, pay medical insurance, taxes and more!! Here that would be 100% absolutely impossible.
Here you are born into a social class, and although there isn’t a big gap between rich and poor no one expects to ever leave their social class, no matter how hard you work, its impossible to do so, so again they rely on luck, meeting the right person in the bar or at the café on the corner, who cares about work then right? This reminds me of when I was talking to Brittany on the phone about the lifestyle here, and she said, “doesn’t that mentality make the people kind of lazy? And in a way I think it does, why care about work or doing your work properly, why work hard at all, if its not going to get you anywhere? Now please don’t misunderstand me, I am not bashing the Spanish people or their way of life, I think that there are many good things that come of this lifestyle, and there are things that I envy. For example the family life, I think their lifestyle really harnesses family values that used to be important in America, and I love so much that their lifestyle isn’t all about work, as it leaves more time to enjoy other things. They say Americans live to work, and Spaniards work to live, but they only work to live because they know they are financialy stagnant…don’t you feel lucky that you actually have a choice?
I think this is where Democrats and people voting for Obama need to ask themselves, is the grass really all that much greener on the other side? There is all this talk about CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE! but is that really what you want? I feel that the one change that needs to be made is in the minds of the American people. Stop complaining about how bad our economy is and BUCK UP cut back on the Netflix, the starbucks, the cable TV, and the eating out! Lets stop being so spoiled, because in America even in this financial CRISIS!! We are still living 3X better than countries whose currency is “higher”. We need to be happy and thankful for the things we have and understand that America is still the land of the free, and the ONLY place where you can go from dirt nothing, and work your ass off to actually make something of yourself. I spent my whole weekend with a girl I met at the school here who is constantly saying how much she HATES America (I bet you can guess who she is voting for), and I have one thing to say to her. Get out! Be a drain on someone else’s economy, bash someone else’s president and see how that goes down in another country, take all your complaints and negativity in a place where you already have everything and see if the CHANGE makes you feel better! Lets not put it in our governments hands to make us happy, lets not give all our money to our government, so that we can all live like shit but yet have everything done for us. Lets take some pride in working for the things we have and then appreciate it once you have it. I don’t care whom you vote for in this election and I will respect whoever is elected president because respect is what is deserved to anyone who wants to take over the job of being president of a country where the people so easily turn their backs on what it means to be American. I just hope that Obama knows and values what it means to be an American...I guess we will find out.

McCain’08

My 21st Birthday in Ronda!

~*Twenty One and FABULOUS in Ronda!*~

Im TWENTY ONE!!! woooo hooooo! The day before my birthday the school took a trip to Ronda. Ronda is one of the most gorgeous cities i have been to here. We went there and watched a discussion on bullfighting at the oldest Bullfighting ring in Spain. The ring had a museum inside with a whole bunch of old matador outfits and interesting history. Afterwards we got to go explore the city for a little bit. There was such a cute shopping area and the best part was the Gorge! In Ronda there is this huge gorge that goes right through the middle of the city. It was the most beautiful view and it was such a beautiful day. The professor Judy who took us to Ronda to give us the discussion on Bullfighting had taken a trip there with a group of students about 10 years ago and a young boy in her group fell off the cliff and was the ONLY person to ever fall (or jump because i lot of people commit suicide there) who has EVER survived! It was so incredible to see. The girls and I fell in love with the little city and decided on a whim that for MY 21st BIRTHDAY we would stay in Ronda without any of our things, and catch a different bus home the next day. We went shopping because i had to look good on my birthday! and then hit the town. We went out to a little pizza place and drank champagne all night long. It was an AMAZING 21st birthday, Thanks to everyone for the birthday e-mails and thoughts. Miss you all so much!
Muchos Besos xoxoxo

Madrid!

Madrid! The Palace

Our view from our hostal above and below me and Katie freezing our butts off!

Below is me and Katie, the building behind us is the post office in Madrid..

I went to Madrid not this last weekend but the weekend before that. It was a big city and not as friendly as it is here in Sevilla but i had fun. We had to take a six hour bus ride to get there and we left Sevilla at midnight to get there at 6:00 in the morning. The two girls i was with had purchased these hotel vouchers that when we got to the hotel at 6:30am they said they had never seen the vouchers before and it was an expensive hotel. So we journied out into the big city of Madrid to find a hostal. It was a long weekend so the first few we went in had all their rooms booked! By that time we were exhausted and just needed a place to put all our bags. Finally at 10:00am we found a hostal that was only 17 Euro a night, which is pretty good for Madrid. Our room eneded up having a balcony that was so cool to stand out on and look down onto the city. It ended up having no heat and it was really cold, but i guess it was a trade off for the balcony and low price we paid. We spent the weekend walking all over Madrid. We got to go to the Museo del Prado and the Museo Sophia that have the most famous collections of artwork from all over the world. I got to see paintings from Picaso, Greco, Goya, Dahli, and more. We also went to the Palace in Madrid but it was closed because the Royal family was actually there at the time. On our last night it was Columbus Day and there was a huge parade, tons of music and festivities everywhere. I thought it was really cool we got to be in the Capital of Spain for its big day in history!