One Month Later...

It's a good life when one of your biggest tasks to remember to do is updating friends and family on your blog...that being said, I have been slacking! I'll try to keep it as short as I can, as we have a lot of ground to cover.

First off, we celebrated Saint Patrick's day in Sevilla! My host mom was very confused why I insisted on wearing my still slightly damp green long sleeve shirt that Thursday. When I explained that I had to wear green because of the holiday, she was ecstatic to tell me the next day that she saw Biden on the news wearing a green tie! Clearly Spain is not very Irish. I had a picnic in the park with some friends, and then we met up with some others at one of the few Irish pubs in town. I had a nice weekend around Sevilla afterward and was finally able to see the Alcazar with my friend Sarah, and try a Mexican food place I'd had my eye on. It was delicious!

I am constantly reminded of how much I love this city. Admittedly we've had some bad weather as you can see in the pictures, yet the beauty of the buildings and the friends I've made here always astounds me.

Class that week was pretty easy, with another cooking session for my gastronomy class and a walking tour with my "Three Cultures" class. We even convinced the cooking instructor to try pickle-backs!

I have to say, the latter class is difficult but it has started to grow on me. The more I explore Spain, the more I appreciate learning about its intricate history, even if a lot of it is just names and dates.

After a fun week of class, it was time for an early Friday morning to get to Dublin for the weekend! Yeah yeah, I know we were a week off. To be fair, a lot of Dubliners we spoke to said they went to New York for Saint Patrick's day. All in all, I was glad to spend the weekend exploring rather than shoving our way down crowded streets.

Erin, Claire, Will, and I spent that first day in Howth, an adorable town on the coast that's only a 20-minute train ride from the city center. A woman Claire and I met in Barcelona had recommended we go, and we were so happy we did. We spent our time there walking along the cliffs and sitting by the water. Running on little sleep, however, we decided to head back and nap for a bit. Claire and I were able to rally and explore some pubs that night, but unfortunately Erin and Will were out for the count.

The next day, we started with a trip to the Irish Emigration Museum. Emigration, not immigration. At first, I was definitely confused about why they would dedicate a museum to everyone who had left Ireland. I soon realized though that Ireland is a land of longing, and a bit melancholy. Life there can be difficult, and still Irish people worldwide long for the sweet days of their homeland, whether they've ever been or not. You can hear it in their music, the stories they tell, and the food they eat. It is a country of hardship, and yet its citizens and those with its heritage take pride in their survival.

We continued to walk around, saw Saint Patrick's Cathedral, grabbed lunch, and went to the Guinness museum. It was fine. Beer is fine. I probably would have preferred a winery...We went back to rest before going out to dinner and checking out some more pubs. We found a great place with live music and enjoyed that a ton, then saw Temple bar before going home to sleep. Ryanair insisted that due to check-in delays we should get to the airport three hours early, so we did. It was overkill, to say the least. Although it was a quick trip, I'm really glad I went.

The following weekend, most of my friends were out of town. Not wanting to join in on their trips to the cold (Copenhagen, etc.), I decided to plan a weekend in Lagos, since it's only a 4-hour bus ride from Sevilla. I got out of class on Thursday and was off! I got in late, but was still able to meet a couple of hostel people. One such person was Cameron, a Dubliner in flesh and blood. I told him I was just in Ireland and he asked if I liked Dublin. I said it was a big city...he laughed and said he hated it there. I sighed with relief. I didn't hate it by any means, but I definitely wish I had more time to explore the countryside rather than the city itself. The next morning I woke up for a kayaking trip, then hung out at the rooftop pool (yes, this is still a hostel) and met a few more hostel people. We got a group together to go out that night, and I made plans to spend the whole next day at the beach with a girl named Bry I had met! It was lovely. My parents decided to start their trip around the Iberian peninsula that weekend, too, so I joined them for dinner and stayed with them that night. It was great to see them after 3 months! We explored a bit together the next day, then it was time for me to take my bus back. Overall, I've had a taste of solo travel and I can't wait to get more!

That was a lot. Now it's spring break, but I'll spare you all the details until next week! To finish off, here are more pics showing some other Sevilla highlights. Miss you all!