The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, not the beach. Good thing.

Thursday I walked out of class to find it was raining inside the CIEE center. (Note in previous post that the center room of our building has no roof.) It rarely rains in Sevilla so I guess they wanted to make sure we knew before we left the building... Luckily I had my umbrella in my backpack for occasions such as this. I'm sorry to say Jackie, we don't have umbrella men in Spain. Probably because the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

The rain was short lived so by the time I went to my class at the Seville Dance Center it was completely dry. Which was perfect for my leisurely bike ride across town. Since I didn't know how long it would take me and I still had to finish some stuff for registration, I got there early. This allowed me some time beforehand to chat it up with the other students before class. Slash that. Other student. Yes, there are only two people in the advanced jazz class. (I think because this class started two weeks ahead of all the other ones and the tardy Spainards are taking their time getting stuff together. Vamos a ver.) Anyway, Nadia is super friendly and she attends la Universidad de Sevilla (the school at which I'm going to take my clases para extranjeros) to study German. She spent her last year in Germany so she understood that I was eager to practice my Spanish with her. Prospects of a real Spanish friend! The studios at SDC are in no way fantastic and their idea of jazz is a little behind the times. BUT it feels good not only to move but to be part of something that is just normal. I get to build relationships with the locals not because CIEE set up some sort of intercambio for me but because I am part of their lives and they genuinely want to talk to me. Qué guay! (How cool!)

When I got back from my dance class I ended up watching this movie about the beheading of a Queen of England with my Señora. It was actually really good and by the time I finished watching it I was overwhelmed by the fact that this stuff actually happened. I walk past these historic landmarks of that era every single day and I think the reality of history has finally struck me. Its then interesting to see how that history can become all consuming and in some ways hinder the entrance of modern ideas. Example: The flourish of flamenco dance while modern dance forms lack the interest that is so common in the United States. I guess since the U.S. doesn't have the same deeply historical roots, we are able to progress farther and faster. So what is the connotation of historical roots of Spain - positive or negative? Pride in the maintenance of the same rich culture, or willingness to transform to something new or unconventional? No sé, just a thought to throw out there.

Back to my regular life. On Friday I had a short quiz in my grammar class. Jajaja... Short quiz is actually a 45 minute midterm but whatevs. It was pretty easy and I appreciate the review before we start real classes. It makes me feel more comfortable using the more complex grammar structures at home as well. I've begun to think very critically about structure and vocabulary when I'm speaking. As Molly and Grace know, I like a good grammar discussion now and again ;) Nerdy, I know... permission to laugh.

Now enough about my exam, what you really want to know is what I did on Friday night. Well lets just say I have to come up with another goal for the semester because I have achieved my late night outing goal. It all started when we went to the bus station at 8 PM to pick up our bus tickets for the beach (more on this later). Then we went for tapas, and after that, postre (dessert). Then we met up with a couple other people from the program at the Torro del Oro. Slash that. Practically our entire program was there. Sweeeeet because I came all the way to Spain to talk to other Americans in English. Falso. Luckily, Grace took it upon herself to practice speaking with some Spainards that were near the group and after a while I joined in (at this point they were quizzing us on Ricky Martian and a bunch of Spanish singers we've never heard of). That entertained us until two in the morning when a few of us decided we might as well check out a discoteca. However, after dancing with a Spainard who tried to kiss me multiple times (after like 2 minutes), I was done for the evening with the Spanish men. Don't worry parents, grandparents, and brothers - tried infers not successful :) So instead Molly and I enjoyed breaking it down while strategically moving in circles so the creepers could never get close enough to us to ask us "dance." Anyway, we've got moves they can't keep up with. Ja. (Now would be an appropriate time to note that since I didn't plan on doing any of these things I was dressed in my flowery J.Crew smock, belted of course Natalie. Looking fine but not exactly outing attire. But please I'm Amber Rogers, what did we expect?)

After the discoteca adventure I finally returned to my apartment at 4:45 AM. I had to wake up at 6:30 AM to catch the bus. Oops. By the time I got all my stuff organized I was able to take an hour nap before waking up for today. (Oddly enough there were more people hanging out and more businesses open at 4:45 AM than 7:15 AM. Huh.) HOWEVER. It was totally worth it because today Molly, Grace, and I took a bus to Matalascañas (about an hour southwest of Sevilla) to go the beach for the day. After a bit of a scare when we woke up to the fog of the mountains, it ended up being a gorgeous day. Check out the photos:

Remains of an erroded Roman watch tower

Almuerzo - pretty sure they took it out of the ocean and put it on our plates


Grace, Molly, and me* at the end of the day
*Note my lobster status... I may or may not have forgotten my sunscreen.

Now I really must go to bed because we have another early morning tomorrow for our CIEE trip to Cádiz. But first I must go apply my AfterSun cream before my señora reminds me again to wear sunblock tomorrow :)