A week of traveling

So somehow it's already December.

Time has been speeding up at an exponential rate and pretty soon it's going to be Christmas, my birthday, New years, and then 2012. It's very weird to think about. I've decided that the best thing to do is to stop caring about how long I've been here/how long I have left and start working on filling these next few months with as much stuff as possible.

I've definitely gotten myself in a Christmas mood recently and now spend all my free time listening to Christmas music (especially Michael Buble's new album, seriously amazing), and walking around in the Central which is currently decorated completely with Christmas lights. I know that Christmas and my birthday are going to be extremely hard to celebrate away from home, but I just can't help being excited.

This week I went to both Cadiz and Sevilla. On Thursday I went to Cadiz because I was forced to finally get my Visa. I am now legally allowed to remain in Spain for the duration of my year. I didn't get to see much of Cadiz but from what I saw out of the car/train window, it's beautiful. Cadiz is filled with amazing beaches that I'm definitely planning on returning to when the weather is a little warmer. After experiencing the train station twice in one week, I'm now confident in navigating trains alone which means I will definitely be traveling a lot more in the future. Traveling in Europe is much easier than it is in the States. Flying from country to country is extremely cheap on quite a few airlines. My goal is to somehow see to France or/and Italy before I leave, or any European country for that matter. My main goal is France though because of the fact that I'm being forced to take French.The only problem is I can't really do it alone which makes traveling internationally a little difficult...and dangerous... Oh well.. When I returned from my trip to Cadiz, I asked my host family why they don't go there more often since it's so close. They explained to me that the reason they don't go to Cadiz is because Jerez and Cadiz are rivals. The best way to compare it is Yarmouth and Falmouth. There is no real hate between them but they're very competitive..in everything... I had never heard that before but I guess now I understand why when I told them I had to go to Cadiz they just stared at me with disgust like they were waiting for me to explain myself.

On Saturday I went to Sevilla with two of my exchange friends. Even though we were only able to stay there for the day, I'm pretty sure I've fallen in love with Sevilla. The city is absolutely gorgeous filled with beautiful buildings and churches. There was so much going on it reminded me of an old-fashioned New York City. As I mentioned in my last post, my camera broke so I wasn't able to take any pictures. Thankfully, my friend graciously said I could post some of his so I'll put those at the bottom. Apparently in Sevilla there is a Dunkin Donuts which is weird because I'm pretty sure those don't even exist in parts of America. I unfortunately wasn't able to find it but I did find Starbucks which I was so excited about I had two large coffees in a span of three hours. I definitely wasn't the most pleasant traveler after that....

Anyways,

I have an economy test tomorrow which I awkwardly haven't started studying for even though it's currently 7:20 P.M.

I guess I should get on that,

I hope everyone enjoys the pictures, Sevilla is truly a beautiful place.

-Libby