Livin' la Vida Loca: finally a few pictures

Ok, so I don't have too much to update since the last post, but I realize that post was pretty general so I'll give some more details and some pictures of the city so you can all envy me for being here.

My host mom is a very good cook, which is good because sometimes I can be picky. The food is kind of similar to America, it's mostly the same ingredients but in different combiniations, if that makes sense. For example, the other day for lunch we had pasta, but we had it with ham, hard broiled eggs, cheese, and sauce mixed in. It was actually good. I also tried calimari. I really did not want to but my host mom makes me try everything so I gave it a shot and it was actually delicious. It was fried...so that's probably why I liked it. Not going to lie, I am beginning to crave American food. Might have to make a stop at one of the Americanized restaurants here soon (they have Dominoes, Burger King, McDonalds, a pizza place called "A Slice of New York City" and more. I must say, my favorite part, and none of you will be surprised to hear this, is that there are "Heladerias" (ice cream parlors, but really gelato) EVERYWHERE. Literally every block. It's AMAZING. The gelato is also amazing, excellent quality. Shockingly I've resisted and only gotten it one time, but once it starts getting hot there's no way I'll be able to hold back.

Besides food, the way meals work is very different. Breakfast is pretty similar - I usually just have toast and coffee when I wake up. Lunch is around 3, and it's the biggest meal of the day. The whole family eats together, and everyone comes home from work to eat. Dinner is not until about 10:00. Everything is so late! Last night at dinner, my parents asked me if I got back late the night before. My response was "a bit late, yes." They asked what time, and I said 3. They then laughed and said, "i thought you said you got back late! That's so early, late is considered 6 or 7 in the morning!" I didn't really even know how to respond.

Another fun difference- today I walked into the kitchen and the first thing I saw was a giant cow's leg. My host mom was cutting the meat straight off of it to eat. That was something I was definitely not used to seeing. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian.

The amount of walking I have to do is INSANE. I'm hoping this means the amount of weight I lost will also be insane. I am basically as far from everything as you can get. Once I know my way better, I might start looking into the bike system so I can get to class faster. There's a bus system too, I may look into that for nighttime purposes (taking taxis so I don't have to walk by myself is getting very expensive), but the city is mostly walkable, which I do like, but when it's a half hour to class every day and with the schedule here I have to do that multiple times, other transportation might be necessary.

Yesterday we went to a place called Alcazar. It's a really old castle, it was absolutely gorgeous (pictures below).

Let me tell you, it is EXHAUSTING using a different language every single day. Sometimes I just have to sit in my room because my brain needs a break from Spanish. My ability to understand is getting much much better, but my speaking still needs work. A man in a bar last night told me it was very obvious that I'm American because of my horrible, or probably lack of, accent. I can usually speak well enough to get my point across though, which is all that matters.

Here are some pictures of the city, these pictures don't even do it justice. You can't imagine the beauty of it until you experience it yourself. It's unlike any other city.

me in the courtyard of Alcazar

one of the rooms of Alcazar..the king's child was born there (ew.) Imagine there were probably about 50 rooms similar to this one in this palace.

DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CHURROS

this is the view I have when I walk to school every day...that neighborhood is Triana, where I live. It's across the bridge from "El centro," where school is. It's beautiful.