Looking Up

This past weekend was a slow but fun one! It was exactly what I needed after last week. Before I go into how my weekend was, I was surprised by the amount of feedback my last blog post got by other students who are here with me. I had a few text me and say things like, "I've been feeling the exact same way as you." or "I really needed to read that." It helped me to know I wasn't alone as much as it probably helped them to tell someone who understood. I've been talking to these people more and developing friendships with them that I'm really excited for.

This weekend it was just my host mom and I because my roommate was gone, and the communication between us went well. I usually look to my roommate when I am confused since she is a heritage speaker, but being alone made me try harder which was good for me. On Friday, I got to Face Time a friend from school and my family (which will always include my best friend, Alaina). I also started a short story that came into my head the other day on my walk to school. It seems like people are enjoying my blogs, so I am going to give writing in another form a shot. 

On Saturday (and Sunday) morning, I went to the gym to start the day and give myself an outlet. I wasn't a gym goer in the U.S., but it's a good way for me to kill time here besides throwing myself in my homework. On Saturday afternoon, I met up with four other girls who didn't travel that weekend like me. We shopped a little bit then went to the movies to see Split. First off, we were told the movie would be in English with Spanish subtitles. The movie was ACTUALLY in Spanish with NO subtitles at all. We all had a good laugh out of it, and it was all good. I really liked the group of girls I was with, and I pray that we turn into good friends before we leave.

Now about the movies here, they are boiling hot unlike the refrigerator American movie theaters. The heat made me feel sick which made it hard to focus, but I understood most of the movie. I was pretty proud of myself. After that, I came back home and watched Got Talent Spain with my host aunt because my host mom was visiting a friend. Sunday was a lazy day of homework and cat naps. 

Monday was a good day as well. We painted tiles in my culture class with lead. Yes, you read that right. We used lead paint. That didn't freak me out at all. Lol. I'm excited to see it after it's baked. 

We also had dance class on Monday night which will prepare us for Féria in April. It's basically a big festival all week, and all of Seville shuts down for it. I'm catching onto the dance quickly which makes me very excited for it! Because if you know me, you know I LOVE to dance. I told my parents that I was going to win over a Spaniard with my dancing/ Féria dress while I was here, and I'd bring him home with me. Hahaha. My dad said, "Make sure he's royalty." 

Today after class, my roommate, a friend, and I went to try on Féria dresses. I found one that I LOVED, but being the indecisive Libra I am, I wanted my host mom's opinion before I bought it (I will be posting pics of the dress to my Facebook). The start of this week has been good so far, and I can't wait to visit Córdoba this weekend. It's looking up for me here as I finish up my third week in España. 

xoxo, 

Caroline 

What They Don't Tell You

I don't feel like I can put into words what I have been feeling since Friday, but I'm going to try my best. Before studying abroad, we had orientations, and culture shock was vaguely mentioned in passing. This could be because they didn't want us to worry or because they didn't think it would be a problem. Regardless, I was under prepared and under informed about it. Culture shock is something experienced by people who are taken out of their culture for an extended amount of time and put into a new one. Common symptoms include: extreme homesickness, feelings of helplessness/dependency, disorientation, isolation, hyper-irritability (inappropriate anger), sleeping and eating disturbances, etc. After talking to some people who studied abroad, I assumed this would happen, but it was something I would recognize and could fix easily. Boyyyyy, I was wrong.

It started on Friday with feelings of frustration and anger at not being able to communicate in small talk with my host mom. I over looked it though as me being upset from having to move the day before. But that night and some parts of the weekend, I found myself unnecessarily angry at things or people that didn't make a lot of sense. Not to mention that I have spent 5 out of the past 6 days crying about something. No one told me it would be like this. No one warned me. On TOP of that, I have an anxiety disorder to balance. I'm not talking about anxiety that is like "Wow, I have a test tomorrow that I am worried about." I am talking about deep rooted anxiety that I have had from a very young age (acknowledged for the first time by therapist at 8 years old). My parents always said that when I was little (2-3 years) there were certain things that caused me to freak out, and they just knew to avoid those for me to stay calm.

This anxiety is adding to my culture shock in a way that I could not have prepared for. In my first post, I talked about having to get medical clearance to go abroad, and from that, I meant that I had to sit down with a doctor and plea with her that I was mentally stable enough to go overseas because she had doubts on whether I could handle it after checking my files. At the time of the meeting, I was doing great after almost a year of counseling. I had found my theater friends at Tech (shout out to the realest) and had the best roommate/friend I could've asked for (shout out Amb). We spent Saturdays in my dorm playing Cards Against Humanity and watching SNL. That's my kind of fun in my kind of place. In Spain, I don't have that which makes me feel extremely out of my element.
It breaks my heart that I don't know how to explain to my host mom that it's not her fault I cry a lot. She feels like she did something wrong when in reality she's one of the only good things here. It's hard to hide my tears and frustration from my peers who don't know what I am like outside of Spain. I like to think I am funny and energetic, but I'm finding it hard for me here to get excited about much. It's almost too easy for me to think "I only have 105 days left here, so what's the point in trying to act like I belong here when I obviously don't?" I can't allow myself to think this way though, and for now, I am trying to figure out ways to balance the culture shock, anxiety and adjusting to life here.

Luckily, I have amazing family and friends who understand, especially my roommate here. It's hard to be around, be friends with, or be with someone who is in a constant state of worry and stress. Since Monday, I have been praying at least twice a day to try to combat this. I continue to write in my journal to ease my mind. Writing down my anxieties helps get it out of my head, so I don't think about it and obsess over it. Today was the first day that I have felt mostly normal/okay since Friday. The rain (my absolutely favorite weather) has helped a lot. I *might have* done a little shopping therapy too. In the midst of trying to enjoy myself in a very foreign place, I remain hopeful that I will get over this and have a good experience in Spain.

xoxo,
Caroline

Everything Is So Slow

Hola mis amigos. I have been in my new host house for three days now, and I cannot describe how happy I am to be here. Mamá Carmen has been such a blessing. Not only am I grateful, I'm excited to be living here for the next 4 months. I envisioned my host family experience to be full of love and lots of family since it's important to me in the United States, and I have that here with Carmen. Her sister is always around talking to us, and she will bring her grandkids over too (11 and 9 yrs old). I always get a goodbye kiss on my cheek and a hug before anyone leaves the house and before bed. Mamá Carmen is so giving and sweet, and she's making my time here so much easier. We all sit around the table and talk just like back at home.

After being here for almost two weeks though, the finesse of Spain is wearing off a little. While I am extremely happy for the experience, little things here are starting to get to me. For example, there was always that ONE kid in high school that walked slow down the hallway. Picture that person and how frustrated that made you. That's EVERYONE in Spain. They all walk SO SLOW everywhere!!!!! It drives me crazyyy. I walk fast and have major pep in my step, and I don't understand how everyone walks so slow. It's like time doesn't exist here, and they just stroll causally everywhere they go. It stresses me out hardcore. Also, they aren't concerned with when things start or end. If someone tell me to be somewhere at 3:00 pm, I need to be there at 2:45 pm. That's not a thing though here. They aren't worried about being late or how long something takes. I can feel my chest seizing right now at the thought of being late. These next four months are going to majorly test my patience.

Other than everything being slower here, I've been doing good! I haven't gotten *too* frustrated with the language barrier. There was one day where I just wished more than anything that I was super fluent because it's hard when someone tries to tell you something, and you have to ask for it to be said a few times and a little slower. I swear how they talk here is the only fast thing in Spain. On Friday night, my host mom had her great niece and nephew over, so I got to practice a lot of my speaking with them. I find it easier to talk to children because I'm not as afraid to make mistakes to them. My host mom's great niece is especially easy to talk to because she was very patient with me and understanding that I am learning. She would talk slow for me, and if I didn't understand, she would find ways to reword it. I had so much fun Friday night staying in and talking to her. She showed me how she flamenco dances (she's the 11 yr old), and I braided her hair for her before we went to bed. It was arguably my favorite night I've had here so far.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, my roommate and I were running through the streets to catch the bus to Itálica. It is the first Roman city outside of Italy, and it has the world's fourth largest amphitheater! I didn't realize how much influence the Romans had on Spain until this trip. Remember a few posts back when I talked about how the houses on the countryside had courtyards? That's a thing the Roman's brought here. Itálica even had representation in the Italian government system during the time it was operating. It's just ruins now, so we had to picture a lot of it. It was still pretty cool though. I really enjoyed the amphitheater and mosaics (pictures in my 2017 album). They also had a lot of bath houses where people congregated to take baths together in water that continuously flowed through the pool. People also had the choice of a hot water bath, medium heat, or cold. The Romans pulled this off with their extensive aqueduct systems and impressive engineering. Hearing about all of the amazing things they pulled off without the use of electricity or steam power puts into perspective how much the people in the world now rely on major forms of energy. One thing about Spain that is interesting is that they are not wasteful of any resources which I feel ties in well to energy use. Everything is turned off and unplugged at night. In addition, water conservation is important here. It's interesting to see the contrast to what I am used to doing with energy back in America compared to here.

While getting used to the change in life and culture, I find solace in writing about it here and having people read it, sympathize with it, laugh at it, and enjoy mi viaje conmigo. Gracias.

xoxo,
Caroline

Packing my life into a suitcase, a carry on, and a backpack... Again

For everyone reading, I am sorry it has been awhile since I wrote last! I have had a lot going on the past few days, and I wanted to wait for all of that to die down before I wrote again. I'll get to that later, but for now, I am going to start where I left off.

Sunday night, my host mom made this Italian dish that's like lasagna, and it made me really happy. When we asked what it was and my host sister said Italian food, I said, "Ohhhhhhh, that makes sense" in my head. We went to watch the cowboys game after that, and I was so tired that I left at halftime. I'm glad I missed the end. I'll finish the discussion there. (-':

Monday was the first day of class! So far, so good. It doesn't seem like it'll be too, too hard. A lot of our learning is through studying the culture and going in the streets to be in the moment. We also are doing a lot of excursions for our classes too. It seems like there is something going on every week, and it's all fun and educational which is up my alley (#nerd). In addition to that, we also have Spanish language assistants who come and talk to us in Spanish to increase proficiency. Monday was a pretty lazy day for me for the most part.

Tuesday is when things started to change for me in Seville, and this is where I can explain why my title is about packing my life again. Without going into details, my roommate and I were having problems at our host family house that was outside our control and the university's control. I want to make it extremely clear though that I have no hard feelings or resentment to my host mom or family at the time. She ended up getting us comforters, so we would be warm, and she told me I could cook them an American dinner since I like cooking. My roommate and I also met some family, so I just want everyone to be aware that I did like my old host family as people. Some things just can't be lived with or fixed. You know?

My roommate and I addressed the issue to our coordinator, and she told us pretty much right there that she was assigning us to a new host family. We were told not to say anything about it, especially my old host family, in order to keep the peace until they found us a new home. Not only did I feel guilty for acting like everything was fine in my old home for two days when it wasn't, I didn't want my host parents at the time to get the wrong impression by our move. It was something that had to happen for the greater good of the experience of studying aboard. It was a little traumatizing to have all of this happen in the first week of being in Seville, but I knew then like I know now that it is for the best.

Our coordinator confirmed on Wednesday that my roommate and I would have a new host mom. We were to move in Thursday afternoon and try to pack as inconspicuously as possible over the next day until we could leave. So instead of writing for this, I have been busy sorting that out and doing homework. On the brightside of Wednesday, I got to visit Plaza de España for a presentation on Gerona which is where part of Star Wars was filmed for you Star Wars people. I also got to see part of the Universidad of Sevilla which was cool. It's nice seeing other kids your age and know that they are doing normal things like you in a place that can seem so foreign. Happiness aside, I spent most of yesterday extremely stressed out and anxious. I knew what was happening, and I had to act like I didn't which ate at my mind. I couldn't escape it no matter how far away I took myself from their apartment. It was hard on me, but there is no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason, and I was put with that host family first to remind myself how much I appreciate life in America and to be more grateful for my next host family.

Today after class, my roommate and I packed everything up as quickly and quietly (we weren't good at this one) as we could. Our host mom kind of caught on at some point, and she asked if we were happy there. She also asked why we took our shampoo and conditioner out of the bathroom. This really worried me, so I called the coordinator to come early. The plan was for her to knock of the door then talk to them without us around to explain the situation. The act of us moving out went different than I expected. It didn't seem like there were hard feelings, and my old host mom and dad even helped us move our stuff outside. We said our goodbyes, and I was off to my new start. We had to stay at the center for a little bit then went to our new house by taxi.

As soon as I walked into my new host house, I could just feel that it was home. My new host mom has never married, and she took care of her mom who recently died this past November (she has a large extended family though that come around often). She is so sweet and small. I can't help but think of my grandmas when I'm with her and in her house. My host mom has been wanting to host students to help with being lonely and bored, but she was a few days late for the application in the fall. Thankfully though, they felt like she was the perfect fit for us, and I couldn't agree more. She gave both of us huge hugs and called us her "mijas." The happiness she had at finally having us here was just radiating. We are the first host kids she's ever had, so this is new for all of us. We all fell right into place though, and the past 6 hours together have been great. She used to own a fashion store here, and she'd travel to Italy for every season to pick out the latest fashions. Also, her apartment is full of pictures and books. I love it so much. It feels like where I am supposed to be. Her dinner was amazing too. I honestly can't remember the last time I ate that much food.

I am really happy where I am, and my heart is full of gratitude and hope. I hope you enjoy the update.

xoxo,
Caroline

Vale

Friday was the thirteenth (!!!scary!!!), but we kick started the day right by eating breakfast and touring the Cathedral in Seville. As a group, we walked to the Cathedral in a very touristy fashion complete with an audio guide and headphones. La Catedral is the oldest religious, Gothic structure in the world. It was once a mosque, but after the Christians reconquered Seville, they converted it into something they could use. Next to the Cathedral is the archbishop's palace which is also beautiful in a more modest way. Once inside the Cathedral, we stayed in the courtyard for a little bit. The courtyard is full of orange trees, and it has an irrigation system built into the ground that the Islamic people had made back when it was a mosque. The monks would wash their hands in the water before they went to their praying times. After the courtyard, we went into the cathedral which held multiple chapels, a few organs, the remains of Christopher Columbus and his son, and many fantastic religious paintings. We walked through all of that before going up many flights of ramps to the bell tower called Giralda. At the top of Giralda, there are many large bells and a working wind vane that looks like a woman holding a cross and a palm branch (I think). To see pictures of the Cathedral, peep my Facebook page.

We had lunch after that, and if I'm going to be completely honest, I am already *kind of* sick of the food. I love food too. This is an issue. I am trying very hard to maintain an open mind though, but it's getting a little hard. I am sort of waiting for the culture shock to set in. Every time someone asks me how Spain is going, I say, "So far so good" because I don't want to go on and on about how great it is when at some point it might not be anymore. That may be pessimistic to say, but those are my thoughts right now. Culture shock is also a reality that I know will happen eventually.

We did more orientation activities that night where my friend Sarah Riggs and I were laughing and crying so hard over the word "vale" and the fact that they don't use fans. Vale is easily the most used word here, and it means "okay" or "good." It's a lot like bien. Also, they are all about energy conservation here, and that's why there are no fans. We also are limited on how long we can shower/use water. This is when we were told the dos and don'ts in our host family house, and we found out housing arrangements. My roommate in Seville is someone I know which made me really happy. At this time. I also found out my host parents' name. This added to the excitement because all I have wanted was a good host family that I could be close to.

That night, all of us Tech students went to this little bar here that all of the Tech students have been going to for years. It's a tradition to go and sign this big wooden fork with your name in addition to the semester you studied. The bar owner has kept it for a long time because he loves when the Tech students come to Seville each semester. The next day, we were up and ready early to be picked up by our host family! All of us sat in anxious excitement as we waited for our new mamá to pick us up. Mine got me about 40 minutes after pick-up time started, and I was off again to my next place.

Here were my expectations: A house with a quaint yard, little steps that led up to the door, and maybe a gate on the fence. That is not what my housing situation is at all. I didn't realize that Seville doesn't really have houses unless you're on the outside where some suburbs are. They had to build up with population growth, so I am in an apartment. It is completely different from what I am used to, not better or worse. It's going to take some adjusting, but it's vale. My roommate and I share a room and closet as well. The table we eat at is in the living room with a space heater under the cloth, so when you sit down, you pick up the table cloth and sit it in your lap. This is the ONLY part of the house with heat. To say that I am freezing is an understate (I am being a little dramatic here). But it is very cold in the apartment because there is no insulation in the walls or floors which are thin. Again, it's different than what I am used to or expected, but part of my experience is living their lifestyle. So, I'm trying.

I bet at this point you're wondering "What about your host parents? What're they like??" Well, my host mom and dad are older and retired. My host mom doesn't talk very much and seems sort of somber. I don't really know how to describe it. She is always really serious or in thought maybe. The closest I got to her showing some emotion is when she put out her hand for me to feel how cold it was (my hands are always warm, so I held hers for a second to warm them), and I told her that my mom always says. "Cold hands, warm heart" which made her smile. My host dad used to work with phones and talks nonstop. He seems very nice and open. I also have a host sister named Christina who is only 4 years older than me. She thought I was year older than her until I told her I was actually just 20 which shocked her, and we had a good laugh about that for a second. My host family, roommate, and I have been talking in Spanish this whole time too. It's a little hard because the accent here is so different. I feel like I keep missing words too which stresses me out a little bit. It was hard to tell my host mom is Spanish that I have a texture aversion to certain foods as well. I am sure she has never heard of anything like that before ever. She also keeps asking why I don't eat a lot, and it's because they serve us SO MUCH food that I actually can't eat it all. For lunch, we had a plate stacked high with pasta and yogurt. Dinner was yogurt, mashed potatoes, and pizza. The pasta was really good. She gives me yogurt since I can't eat fruit. I was excited for the mashed potatoes until I took one bite and remembered they don't use butter here. Mashed taters are one of my favorites, so I was a little disappointed. I've never been a pizza person either, so I didn't eat much of that.

Going back a little bit, my host family called me very tall right off the back. I am about a head taller than my host dad if that tells you anything. The shower head at its tallest is right below my chin. Being the tall, German girl that I am, I took one look at that and knew it was going to be a long semester. When I take a shower, I just kind of give up and kneel down to wash my hair. That way, I won't hurt my back from bending over so far. The water in the shower gets really hot, so there is a positive side to this situation.

I am in a constant state of reminding myself that I am integrating myself to a culture much different than my own, and like Dr. Inglis said, it's just different. I will continue to remind myself that and be vale.

xoxo,
Caroline

P.S. - We'll be watching the Cowboys game tonight at the TTU Center, so let's beat Green Bay!!! amiright? I don't have to be en los estados unidos to watch fútbol americano.

It's Just Different

I didn't blog yesterday because I felt like I didn't have much to say. Since we were so tired, we all slept between 12 to 14 hours to catch up from the jet lag. When we woke up, we went and searched for medicine for my friend suffering from food poisoning. After giving him medicine, we ate lunch at the hotel which had the BEST burger ever. Burgers are my favorite, and it made my heart happy to have a decent one. After siesta (nap), we met with other Texas Tech students and went to el Museo del Prado.

El Museo del Prado is a huge art museum in the heart of Madrid. We had to go through a security check with all of our stuff, and we weren't supposed to take pictures of the art which means I secretly took like two. They had people patrolling the museum to make sure we didn't take pictures, and I was caught one of the times. The lady would not get off by back after that which I get because I was doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing. After she followed me around for a few minutes, I silently begged her to chill out. I wasn't about to try again, haha. Also, I saw Las Meninas in person which is one of my most favorite paintings ever. It was truly a sight to hold. We went and ate at a fancy restaurant for dinner which included golden cod, ham with cheese, and white asparagus. Since we met up with people who had just arrived to Madrid, we showed them Plaza Mayor, el Mercado de San Miguel, and the tapas bars we had gone to the night before. It was basically a repeat of the night before just with new people.

I woke up at 6 am and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to stay awake. After finishing packing and waking up my travel buddies, we all rode on a taxi to the train station to head to Seville. Getting my ticket at the train station proved to be a little difficult. I had come to Spain with the expectation that most people would speak English, but I was poorly mistaken. Despite that, we got our tickets and hopped on the train. Just like that we were off! I have never been on a train ride, so this was a new experience for me. I had a window seat and was ready to see the Spanish country-side.

Words cannot describe everything I saw, but I tried to commit it to memory as much as possible for you all. Picture lush green groves of olive trees and farm lands with large mountains in the background. The land is separated by maybe hip high stone fences, very Princess Bride-esque. The houses all had a courtyard surrounded by walls, and the house would go on one or two sides of the courtyard. Some of the houses were short and white with reddish-orange roofs. Some of the houses were made of stones. Some were falling apart. I even saw a little stone castle. If walls could talk, I would have listened to them for hours.

The train ride to Seville lasted two hours and thirty minutes, but it felt way shorter than that. I knew as soon as I stepped outside of the train station that I already liked it more than Madrid. Seville seems older and more home-like, and the buildings are even more beautiful. The only thing that kind of threw me off is that the people in Seville have an accent that is so thick and hard to understand. One of my favorite parts of Madrid was talking to taxi drivers, but I could barely understand the ones here. Anyway, the streets are so narrow that they only fit one car going in one direction, and the buildings are really tall. They are built this way, so the streets are shaded because the summers can get up to 132 degrees Fahrenheit. We checked into our hotel and met up with more people to go get lunch. We went to this nice little restaurant, and the waiter there was my source of happiness today. He kept calling me this name that I couldn't understand, so I eventually had to ask him to explain it. Broken down, the name is Maria del Pilar, but he just said Maripili (pronounced Mary-peely) to me. It was so funny, and we couldn't stop laughing about it for some reason. She is apparently a Colombian actress after doing some research.

After lunch, I took a short nap before orientation which lasted forever. We walked to the TTU Center and went through all of the ins and outs of our new life in Spain. The man in charge, Dr. Douglas Inglis, told us, "Spain isn't better than the United States. It isn't worst either. It's just different." I think that the best way to describe it. It's just so different from what we are used to. We walked back to the hotel after orientation and had dinner. My mom asked, "What're y'all having?" I honestly had NO answer. I was just kind of eating and tried not to think about what it was. Later on, I found out it was asparagus soup, pork and gravy with like four slices of potatoes, and a vanilla pudding with cinnamon and strawberry jam on the bottom. The dessert was to die for. Now, I'm just hanging out with my traveling group and typing away. I am tired since I woke up so early, so I will probably go to sleep soon.

xoxo,
Caroline

Which Way Is Straight?

Today marks my first day in Spain! I left yesterday for Madrid, and everyone keeps asking me how my flight went. I do not like to dwell on negativity, BUT it was awful. I got zero sleep and it lasted forever (a little over 9 hours). They served us breakfast, and when I opened up my carton, my heart sunk. It had yogurt, granola, dried fruit, and the top part of a muffin. Where were the eggs? Sausage?? Hash browns??? Not there, let me tell you. The girl sitting next to me asked how my muffin was, and I said, "It tastes free, so I'll keep eating it." if that gives some insight into my true feelings.

After I got off the plane, I had to go up and down what felt like way too many escalators to go claim my baggage, but it was easy enough. My little group of early arrivers fumbled our way through taxi service and were off! Madrid is unlike anything I have seen in the United States, but if I had to compare it to one place, I would say Boston. It has similar large cemeteries, old buildings, a subway/train system, plazas, and large parks. The few major differences are that these building are all Spanish style, and there is spray paint almost everywhere. The city could be so beautiful and clean looking, but I find the graffiti to be a major eye sore. 

We checked into our hotel, and I cannot describe how bad I wanted to shower, brush my teeth, and nap. Food was calling my group though, so we ventured around our hotel to grab a bite. We finally settled on a restaurant close to a grocery store, so we could get shampoo/conditioner/etc. after lunch. Not only was the waitress completely rude, we had no idea what the food was. We understood the descriptions well enough, but I guess I didn't realize how important rare seafood and ham was to Spaniards. We settled with this thinly sliced ham from pig legs that they do this cooking process to (I'm not sure what it is, but it's everywhere) that is kind of like bacon, cheese for the ham, and fried calamari. 

After showers and recharging, we decided we wanted to explore Plaza Mayor in Madrid around 3 o' clock. We asked the receptionist for directions to the train station, and she said, "Leave the building then walk straight, and it's your second right." Well, we walked straight for maybe 30 yards when the road forked. We could not for the life of us decide which way "straight" was supposed to be, so we gave up and called a taxi. I think that situation perfectly describes transportation in Madrid. NONE of the roads make sense. Stop lights don't make sense. Turns don't. The roads don't. It's all a crazy giant mess that I am working on figuring out. 

Plaza Mayor is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen on this Earth. The cathedrals, statues, buildings, art, and architecture are presented in such a delicate and detailed way. I found myself lost in the buildings and even the little parks where the trees towed over the statues and the bushes wound themselves into mazes. I couldn't help but love every inch of this quaint part of such a huge, bustling city. The restaurants did not fail to impress either. I had black rice which is a squid ink flavored rice with green beans, peas, and squid. I also had Spanish style sausage at a tapa bar we stopped by. For those who don't know what a tapa bar is, it's a little bar you go into, and they serve small portions of regular food. Tapa is more of a way of eating rather than a type of food. You're supposed to go from place to place and try a little bit of all of the food. It almost didn't matter where we went to though because all the food had the same Spanish flare. After we were a *little* tired of seeing similar menus, we gave up and got McDonalds (or Taco Bell for the people who wanted that instead) to finish up the night. 

It's barely 9 p.m. here now as I finish typing, but I am so exhausted. The lack of sleep from the flight coupled with the fact that I woke up at 4 a.m. Monday morning has worn on me all day. For now, I need some sleep. 

xoxo, 

Caroline