It's always sunny in sevilla...expcept for when it's not!

Kristin, her sister (Sarah), and I went to Sevilla for a weekend trip. It was precious! The first day was overcast and rainy, but the second day was probably one of the most beautiful days ever! It was like a dream. I really like Sevilla. We sort of just bummed around in our we-don't-want-to-spend-any-money way. The hostel we stayed at was one of the nicest hostels I've ever been to and for only 15 euro a night! (we didn't plan enough in advance to do couch surfing-fail).

We did go to see a Flamenco show, since Sevilla is the city to see Flamenco. It was really impressive! We were so close that we were getting wet from the sweat flying off the dancers. Gross and fabulous all at the same time!

The semester is in full swing now here in Madrid. All of the new classes have started, and I am really satisfied with them. I think it is going to be a good semester, but we will see if the tides turn...

Hope all is well with you! and

A SUPER HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MOM! HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU!

Oú est le Carrefour???????

This past weekend Kp and I went to Paris. It was very cold, but it was beautiful. Since we were only there for a few days, we barely saw everything there was to see, but we did see a lot. We mostly just walked around, so I will have to go back someday to go INTO all the museums, etc. It is a stunning city. I loved walking through the streets, seeing the people and the monuments. Here is what we saw/did : Arch de Triomphe, Louvre (didn't go in), Champs Élysées, Sacre Coeur, Eiffel tower, Notre Damn, and various neighborhoods. Because I know you are all very smart, I am not going to tell you which picture is what.

We couchsufed and stayed with an Algerian man, who moved to France 6 years ago, and is now planning on going to Canada to live and work, if he decides he likes it after he visits. He was a very, very nice man, but, as is normal, we made a mess of things!

We were supposed to meet him WAY before 7pm but we ended up getting lost for 3 hours looking for his apt. which was in the suburbs of Paris. He kept telling us to look for a Carrefour, a supermarket chain, which we couldn't see anywhere. We kept stopping and asking people. I got to terrorize friendly French people with my REALLY bad French. It was great! (and I do mean friendly French people, they were soooo helpful!)

He told us after the 5th call that he needed to go to work that night because he had been called in, so we were now feeling very guilty and stressed that we hadn't found his apt. yet. It turned out we had gone to an "avenue" instead of a "boulevard" or something like that. Also, he let us have the room to ourselves (it was literally a dorm room) and he stayed in a friends room downstairs the second night (since he was working the first).

He was a really great guy. We spoke some Arabic together! My Arabic is a disaster, but he said I have a cute American accent.