A week with my women

It has been a while since my last post, because I have been super busy playing Spanish tour guide for my mom and aunt Betsy! Thanks to Betsy's hard work, I was lucky enough to have family come visit me in Spain. The past week has been filled with adventures, and I will try to capture the best in as few words as possible, because I could go on forever!

The trip started in Madrid, where I took my first train to meet Missy and Betsy in Madrid at the Palace hotel. The train was smooth and worry-free, and it felt like a preview for the month that Grace and I will be hopping around Europe on mostly overnight trains. When I arrived in Madrid, I was whisked away to meet a lot of the people that work with Betsy at Edward Jones, and also enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner. It felt funny eating at 6pm, because where I am living, a 9pm dinner seems super early! After dinner I enjoyed wine and the company of the ladies in our hotel room. We were super close during the trip, mainly because of the sleeping situations! In Spain I have noticed that if you are staying in a room with 2 beds, they are going to be twin-sized. I don't know why I thought the hotel in Madrid would be any different!

This is the bed that I shared with my mom for three nights! 

This was the first night and the girls were a little tired! 

But face down on the pillow, Missy didn't snore! 

But let's just say I didn't sleep much for 2 reasons:

1. It was like a sauna in the room, mixed with body head I was so hot!

2. The surround sound snoring that went on in the room. Don't be fooled, Betsy snores too! 

Despite the bed situation, the hotel was lovely! 

We stated at the Palace, right across from the museum el Prado and the Parque Retiro. 

It was a great area, close to all the fun things in Madrid. 

On the first morning, my mom and I woke up and went to the park near the hotel while Betsy was in her meeting. The Parque Retiro in Madrid is huge, green and beautiful! It was nice to just walk around and enjoy the sunshine. When Betsy finished her meeting, we went out for our first Tapas meal. Not our best ordering, but we never went wrong with jamón! After our meal, I knew my mom would struggle a little with the Spanish food. She had trouble dealing with the heads and tentacles that they leave on the shrimp! 

For the rest of the afternoon, we explored Madrid with a partial bus tour and some shopping. My mom is obsessed with the royal family in England, so of course we took a visit to the Palacio Royal in Madrid. After leaving the Palace, we stumbled upon a little market in the city center and ended up spending the rest of our night there! It was a food adventure that turned into our dinner. We hung out by the wine bar, and when the time came, someone would take their turn walking around and coming back with a little tapa to share! It was such a fun accidental meal, because we tried a variety of things like cheese, croquetas, jamón products and paella. There were also a bunch of Edward Jones families hanging out from Texas, so it was fun to get to know people from all over the country. The night ended in the hotel room with bottles of wine and chatting about all the family gossip that I have missed out on! I loved sightseeing, but just relaxing in the hotel with my mom and Betsy was probably my favorite part of the trip. 

Here we are Day 1 at the Plaza de Toros

The Plaza in Madrid is the largest in Spain. 

Here I am with Betsy by the Cervantes monument. 

Cervantes is the most important writer in Spanish Literature and since that 

is my major, I really appreciated the monument and seeing the statues 

of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza too. 

Me with my mom at the Royal Palace 

Next, we had the whole day Saturday to explore Madrid. It is the capital of Spain, so there are a lot of important art works from Spanish history in museums that were right by the hotel. I had a few paintings that I was dying to see after learning about them in class. We went to the modern art museum and the Prado. I saw works by Picasso including the famous "Guernica." 

This is Guernica by Pablo Picasso

At the Museo de Reina Sofía, they have a room filled of the sketches that

Picasso drew to prepare for his famous work. 

It represents the Civil War in Spain. While Franco was in power, Picasso didn't

allow the painting in Spain, so it went all over the world, including New York. 

This was also in the museum with Picasso's works

It is Betsy's favorite by Salvador Dalí called "The Great Masturbator" 

Needless to say, we got a chuckle out of this one. 

Modern art museums always provide some interesting sights to see!

After the museums, we had lunch in the Parque del Retiro, sitting in the shade by the lake with all the cute little boats. One thing that I noticed in Madrid is the bird poop! I don't know what they feed their birds, but all the poop is bright/lime green! My mom figured that out first hand during lunch as a bird pooped from the tree we were sitting under. She claims that some got in her mouth, but we quickly switched chairs and were sure to watch out for birds from then on! 

Here is the view from our table at lunch!

Here we are at the Parque del Retiro

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the center of Madrid. Betsy needed a phone charger, so we were on a mission! After finding one, we ended up in Plaza Mayor, where it is typical to drink a beer at one of the outdoor tables and so we did! We also met some friends from Scotland who were in the middle of their Bachelor party vacation. The future groom was wearing a bull fighters outfit. 

Missy at Plaza Mayor

We finished our day in Madrid at a restaurant where we had probably our best meal of the entire trip. The waiter was such a cute Spanish man who brought us complementary little shots at the end. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but we had great fish, asparagus, artichoke, and shrimp in garlic sauce that had been beheaded and peeled! With daylight savings taking an hour from us, and an early train ride in the morning, I went to bed soon after dinner. 

On the way back from Madrid, I had to sit first class because the Jones group took up a bunch of the coach tickets! I was even served breakfast in my car! After this weekend, I am a fan of trains! 

I was ready to get back to Sevilla because I wasn't feeling that great and running on only a few hours of sleep. I was also more excited for that part of the trip, because I wanted Betsy and my mom to see my city! And it didn't disappoint, especially the hotel. The Jones group put us up in the fanciest hotel in Sevilla. Madonna even stayed there during her visit. It is called Hotel Alfonso XIII and it was built to be a palace for the king. 

Here is our hotel! If you look closely on the right you can see Betsy in our window

For our first day, we walked around for a bit, had tapas for lunch, and took a trip to my favorite the Plaza de España and Parque de María Luisa for our afternoon. 

My mom and me at the Plaza

Every time I go it always looks so fake to me! 

We rented a little row boat and went around the canals. 

Of course I did all the rowing! 

The sisters enjoying their boat ride

I don't think they were fully prepared for all the walking we were

going to do. And after millions of bathroom breaks and sore feet, 

they were happy to sit and enjoy the Plaza! 

Here is one of the best things we ate all week: Goat cheese and jam

Betsy is great at ordering off a menu! 

For dinner, we had a nice meal in the old Barrio de Santa Cruz. The food was yummy, but we had an encounter with the first rude Spanish person I have met. 

On Monday morning, I sent the sisters off the the cathedral while I went to class. When we met up in the afternoon, they of course had enjoyed the cathedral and were ready for more Tapas! Next, our plans included visiting the Alcazar, going to my favorite ice cream place, hanging out by the river and walking through my neighborhood called Triana. 

The gardens of the Alcazar are in full bloom and so beautiful. 

Betsy kept saying that she has never been to a city that smelled as good as Sevilla! 

I made them pose for a picture too! 

Our final dinner together was with Jones people, and their wholesaler took us out to eat! We enjoyed tapas and wine outside in a plaza in the Barrio de Santa Cruz. I got to talk with some incredibly interesting people, like a man who used to lead the ski team for the army! After we went to a bar to enjoy a drink with amazing views of the cathedral. 

Here is what the setting was like at the bar

The weather was lovely and the cathedral was lit up! 

When I got to the hotel on Tuesday morning, Betsy was barely getting up and barely able to walk! Poor thing got a blister after all the walking around Spain. Luckily it was our last day, and she was a trooper! I took them to get muffins at the convent, my school building, the Church of Salvador and the Cetas as a way to finish up our tour of Sevilla. 

Here they are in the Iglesia de Salvador

Semana Santa is next week, and they were in full swing 

getting ready for the processions! It was cool to see some of the images

that will be walked through the city next week

Last meal together :(

Of course it was Missy's favorite, italian food! Mixed with the 

best sangría in Sevilla, we had a great meal! 

It really was a blessing to get to share my spanish experience with my mom and Betsy! I learned a lot about the grown up world by meeting Betsy's coworkers and getting a feel of what they do. I also got a better understanding of what Betsy really does. It takes some serious talent to earn the trips that she gets to take, and she is so confident and proud of what she does. It was inspiring to talk to Betsy about how she ended up where she is today, technically running her own business and working for a great company. 

When I got back to my apartment after saying goodbye, I got straight into my pajamas and went to bed! This was at 8 o'clock at night! Unfortunately I got sick during our whirlwind of a week, and had to take my first visit to the farmacía. But after a long night of sleep, and the siesta that I am about to take, I am hoping that I will start to kick this sickness in the butt. I have a lot more spanish traveling ahead of me over the next week! 

senderismo

Before coming to Spain, I had no idea how beautiful the countryside was, or how mountainous the country was. But lucky me, I have had the opportunity to experience both of these things during various day trips around Andalucía. This past Sunday I had yet another chance when I signed up for a hiking (or "senderismo") trip to another Spanish national park. I am so lucky to have had these opportunities, because I now know that I love to hike!

 The park we went to is called La Sierra de Grazalema, and it starts in the town of Grazalema. This is another white Andalusian hill town and it is cool because it is so simply tucked away in the mountains. It still amazes me that people actually live there! We met two spanish guides in Grazalema and they gave us a run through of what our route or "camino" would be. Right off the bat they told us we would have three "climbs," so I knew it wouldn't be a piece of cake. Sitting at my desk now two days later, I can still feel some definite soreness in what my dad would call my "gluteus maximus!" But that is just a lovely reminder of the great physical activity, fresh air, perfect weather and beautiful scenery that I got to experience during the course of the day. While walking up and around the mountains we saw so many things like an abandoned house and a lot of animals. This particular park has a lot of farming, so we saw toros, pigs, goats, chickens, horses, donkeys, and when they weren't around, we found plenty of mounds of poo or "caca", so their presence was always felt!

Green trees, blue sky

It was so clear, so you could see for kilometers!

Here are some of the ruins of houses we found. 

My friends and I ate our picnic lunch in the "yard" of this house

In my food class we learned a lot about how the Andalusians raise 

their pigs for their famous jamón. While hiking, I saw it first hand!

There are two pigs grazing in this picture, and the trees are acorn trees

The pigs only eat acorns or "bellotas" because they are a food that 

contains good fat, so apparently that is what makes them the best! 

Here I am happy as a clam! 

We finished our visit in another Andalusian hill town Benaocaz

This was the center of the town where we grabbed snacks before leaving

After hiking, I had planned to skype with my mom and Betsy. Sounds easy enough right? Well apparently not for those crazy sisters! There were problems with no sound or no video (all on their end...), and after trying two computers at two different houses, they finally drove back to my house and had my dad to make sure everything was working. The whole thing was totally ridiculous and I couldn't stop laughing. I also got a special treat out of the deal, talking to my grandma Lulu. When my mom and Betsy got to Lulu's, the sound worked with no video so Lulu and I chatted while they went back to my house. Then once they had skype all set up, we had some planning to do! This Thursday I am taking my first high speed Spanish train to Madrid, where I will meet Missy and Betsy in a fancy hotel to spend the weekend in the spanish capital. But I am most excited for them to come to Sevilla on Sunday. It will be nice to have family see where I am living, because I just don't think any of my stories or pictures can totally encompass my experience here. So I hope Spain is ready for Missy and Betsy. Those two are bound to be a bundle of fun, and I am so excited. I get to see my mom in 48 hours! Wooo! 

A quick fun fact to leave you with: Today in my Public Health class my professor used dentistry in some sort of example. She ended up telling us that the spanish equivalent to the tooth fairy is called "Ratoncito Pérez." Not sure if I would prefer a mouse coming to my pillow or a fairy, but it is a cute story nonetheless. Books have been published with Ratoncito Pérez since 1902, first published for king Alfonso XIII. Funny how the same concept exists in both the United States and Spain, but the stories are completely different. I wonder where the story of the tooth fairy came from???

Well, time to get back to homework. My mom has made it very clear that I will be spending every minute with her once she gets here, and I never expected anything different. But that means getting ahead on my tarea, so off I go :)

suburbios

This Friday I didn't have class or any big travel plans, so I signed up for a morning trip with my program called "castillos medievales" or medieval castles. I was expecting to enjoy my morning, because it isn't every day that I get to visit a castle, but the whole trip was even better than I expected. It was organized by two of my favorite professors Alejandro and Ángel. They organized the trip because we went to their pueblos, or the towns outside of Sevilla where they grew up. For me, this was an incredibly valuable experience, because it provided me with an opportunity to see how a lot of spaniards live. Not everyone can afford to live in the main cities, so there are suburbs just like the United States. Only these are so much cooler because they have castles. Also, the community feel that you get from all of them is so refreshing. Both towns were quaint and understatedly beautiful. The people were friendly and it seemed like everyone knew each other.

The first stop was Alcalá, Alejandro's pueblo. It was about a twenty minute bus ride from the center of Sevilla. Unfortunately it was raining (actually a good thing for the sevillanos), but that didn't stop the fun. We got to walk around the pueblo while climbing the hill to see the castle. We were the only group up at the castle, and we got to climb through little stair cases to get to the top of the towers. Alcalá seemed to me like the sevillano equivalent to Bloomington. Only its main attraction is not a mall, rather a medieval castle built by the romans to protect the city from catholic invasion. No big deal. There are seriously houses right up next to the castle walls. At 11 o'clock in the morning we could hear people in their houses blasting their music and having a casual Friday.

I love the castles in the south of Spain because 

they are surrounded by palm trees!

Can you see the cross?

Of course the catholics made a few changes to the muslim palace when they took over. 

Here is a bridge in typical Gaudí style:

it uses glass (ceramics, stained glass) that is broken apart to add color 

This is supposed to be a dragon defending the castle.

I will get to see more if this style in Barcelona where Gaudí

did all of his best works!

View of Alcalá from the top of the tower

After Alejandro's pueblo we got back on the bus to go to Utrera, Ángel's pueblo. Ángel was my professor for my intensive class, and it was fun to get to see where he grew up. Utrera isn't as well know for its castle, but it has one of the most impressive churches I have ever seen, and delicious bakeries! It was so fun to walk around with Ángel because just about every five steps someone would come up and say hi to him. He said that he has lived in Sevilla for the past sixteen years, but the people in Utrera still know him very well. It was like walking around with a celebrity. 

Here is the main altar piece at the church

It isn't super close to the center, but every day people will set off

on a long walk to go and pray

Ángel told us that the town was divided between two parroquias, or parish churches. He said it isn't as big of a deal nowadays, but when his mother was growing up, you couldn't get married to a person from the other parroquia. 

Here is Ángel's parroquia: La parroquia de la Asunción

Here is the other: Parroquia de Santiago

View of Utrera from the top of the castle. 

I would say this is the sevillano equivalent to Edina. 

Same population, seemed like better upkeep than in Alcalá

Visiting the pueblos was a great way to see some hidden treasures in Spain. I might have to go back to Utrera for some more pastries from the bakery! They are so yummy! The morning made me even more excited about the trips I just booked. Since I am traveling Europe after my semester, I really want to see Spain during my time living here. I just booked a trip to Valencia and Barcelona for part of Holy Week when I don't have class. I am also heading to Madrid next Thursday to meet up with my mom and Betsy for the weekend. Now I just have to see if I can get the north of Spain on my agenda, but I might have to settle for beaches in the south...poor me! 

¡Puentes, Flamenco y Fútbol!

This weekend was full of Spanish fun! On Friday, my friends and I took a day trip to a town called Ronda. It is one of the famous white hill towns in Andalucía, but very distinct from the others because of its location: right on a cliff! The city was probably the most incredible place that I have ever been do, and no pictures or words can properly describe it!

After finding the other bus station in Sevilla, my friends and I set off with my Rick Steve's guide book (thank you Lulu!) and some snacks for the road. The ride was less than 2 hours, and again we were winding through the beautiful Spanish countryside. When we got there, we found a map and a park that had balconies over the cliffs. The buildings look like they are hanging by a thread on the side of the cliff, with a roman bridge connecting the two parts. There were little trails you could hike on that were on the side of the cliff. They were not much wider than me, and I felt like I could fall down at any moment. But that was only part of the fun! The weather was perfect and it was awesome to be part of the beautiful nature of the city. 

Just a glimpse of the Spanish countryside from a balcony on a cliff.

The famous Puente Nueva ("New Bridge")

You can see how the buildings are built right on the edge! 

While finding our way to the hiking trails, we walked by the "Arco de Cristo"

It had stairs so you could climb to the top and look out on the countryside

It was nice to sit in the sun and take it all in!

Here I am hiking near Puente Nueva 

Looks like a fun way to spend the afternoon! 

After getting back from Ronda, I enjoyed dinner with my host family and then went with my friend's family to a Flamenco show! My two friends who live across the street from me have a "brother" who is a singer in a flamenco band, so we went to watch Luis con su voz como un ángel. He was fantastic, and so were the other members of his band, especially the guitarist. I was expecting a concert setting, but the room revolved around a dance floor, and Luis and the band were just on a little stage a step up from the dancing. Also, the average age of the people there was probably around 55---and everyone was dancing until 3 o'clock in the morning! We were the only people in their twenties! My experience at the show was definitely on of my favorites since living in Sevilla. 

The highlight was a woman I met named Carmen. I'm not sure, but I think she is around 80 years old. She asked me if I wanted to dance with her, and of course I couldn't refuse! We danced to the music "sevillano" style, and she taught me how to move my hands and feet. She constantly had a smile on her face, and had so much energy for the entire night. We even chatted about how all the members of the band were so "guapo!" Carmen really was an inspiration with her fun spirit and energy. It is something that I have noticed a lot in people in Spain. Despite the crisis that they are in, you can still find people of every age out dancing the night away every night! 

On Saturday, I took it easy by the river during the day, and went to my first soccer game in the evening! My friends and I bussed down to the stadium where the streets were filled with people wearing green. Green is the color for one of Sevilla's soccer teams called Real Betis (the other is Sevilla FC). If getting to watch soccer wasn't exciting enough, Betis played Real Madrid---world powerhouse and the current first place team in La Liga, Spain's premier league. 

When we were finally going into the stadium we had so much trouble finding our seats! Typical Spain. Nothing was labeled, and the security guards had no idea what section was which. After asking countless Spaniards, we finally found our spots, and they were great! It is a small stadium, so like Target Field, there wasn't a bad seat in the house. All week everyone has been predicting a blow out, but I like the style of fútbol that Betis plays, and I had faith in the underdogs. They scored first, and ended up battling to a 3-2 loss against the number one team. It was a great game with great goals and great fans! The people at the game will actually cheer for everything, and when they start singing the songs, everyone knows them! To top it off, it was a beautiful night with a full moon! I would say my first international fútbol game was a success! 

Outside the Betis stadium

View from our seats

My lovely friends that came with!

Now I'm just in the middle of another beautiful Sunday in Sevilla. Just ate snails for lunch with a glass of wine and I'm about to head to the river to study! Midterms this week...not really sure what to expect! 

paella

It is Thursday in Sevilla, and with my program I don't have Friday class so my weekend starts a day early! The weather has really been picking up here, and I haven't worn my coat since Sunday, it is great! This week was pretty normal with classes, and I had the chance to volunteer (again) and take a cooking class.

Volunteering has been a crazy experience. I work with a classroom of three and five year olds during their craft hour every Monday afternoon. Classroom structure is completely different in Spain! The teacher basically explains the craft and lets them go wild---like really wild, but it is so fun! It always amazes me how fast the little kids can speak Spanish, but I guess it is their native language and they should be able to talk by now, but I am so jealous. This week we made birds out of paper hearts, and I learned a song that they sing about birds. It is funny because my time in the classroom is almost like a vocabulary lesson for me, because of all the basic words that I have forgotten since my Spanish 1 days. And being in a room full of thirty of the cutest Spanish kids is not a bad way to spend the afternoon. The kids seemed to have a rough Monday, so I had to comfort a couple of teary-eyed youngins, but it is the things like that I appreciate most for helping me improve my language skills.

On Wednesday, I signed up for a cooking class that is offered through my program. My food class had a jamón (ham) tasting that morning, and I went out for muffins during my literature class, but I feel like I am hungry all the time here, so of course I was ready to eat! I had to set off to a new part of the city on my own, which meant taking out my map for the first time in over a month, but I found it no problem and the class was incredible. It was in a couples' apartment and we made paella aka the most famous and delicious spanish dish. The couple was on the older side, and hosted a student from my program. They were soo so kind! The woman was so motherly and invited us back to visit before we leave after only knowing us for an hour! She showed us all the ingredients that go into paella and how to cook them. It was a lot easier than I expected, and after about twenty minutes it was ready to eat!

Here is a foto of the paella we made

It has green peppers, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, rice

black pepper, saffron, shrimp and mussels! 

All mixed together and cooked in something like a pressure cooker. 

So easy, I will definitely be making this often next year!

After the meal the woman announced that she had a surprise for us---she came out of the kitchen with a great big cake! It was a moist, orangey cake with chocolate frosting. So good! It probably wasn't the best idea to eat it after the two muffins and two cookies that I had earlier that morning with my literature class---yes we went to a café instead of having class, even during the week before exams!
But regardless, I happily ate my cake, and gave them my email so they could send me the recipes! While sitting in the dining room, I noticed a big picture of the Memorial Union Terrace in Madison! The couple had a student who went to Madison a couple years ago. It was a nice little reminder of home!

Tomorrow I am venturing off to Ronda, a small white hill town in Southern Spain. I am looking forward to a day with friends in a beautiful city. It is fun to travel on my own, because there is so much to discover with our free time! Then Saturday I am going to my first soccer game to see Real Madrid play. A soccer player's dream!

Disfrutando el sur

This weekend I hopped around the south of Spain on my trips to Málaga and Cádiz. Both cities are less than two hours from Sevilla, and I was great to get to see more of the diversity of Spain.

In Málaga, I went with my interest group to a spanish national park called el Torcal de Antequera. It involved once again driving a bus up a winding road to the top of the mountain. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the trip, but it was more beautiful than I could have imagined (despite the less than perfect weather). The park was created by the glaciers and it had a bunch of cool rock forms that I had never seen before. We had a guide to take us through the trails and we climbed up really high! It was my first hike in the mountains, and it wasn't easy! It rained the night before (second time it has rained during almost 2 months of being here), and everything was muddy and slippery. You would have to take a couple steps, then pause to actually get to look up and see all the beautiful scenery. I packed a sandwich and got to have a short picnic on the mountain too.

A lot of the rocks looked like pancakes! 

A little bit of the blue sky

Standing in a cloud

It really wasn't that heavy... 

You could see little fossils all over the rocks!

It literally started pouring ten minutes after we got back from our hike. Perfect timing! I would love to go back to el Torcal because the views looked incredible during the few times we got a peek through the clouds! 

On Saturday I went to Cádiz with my program. Cádiz is a cool city that is basically a peninsula surrounded by water. It is also argued to be the oldest city in Europe. It is also where the first constitution was signed in Spain in 1812 (so this year is a celebration year in Cádiz), when Cádiz remained the only city in Spain that wasn't conquered by Napoleon and the French. We just went for the day and got to enjoy the ocean and check out some cool castles and cathedrals. The city was very much like a lot that I have seen during the semester, just with more of a beachy feel because of the Atlantic ocean being on all sides. 

Here is the beautiful cathedral in Cádiz

We climbed to the top of the tower

Here I am up top getting some great views of the city

For me, what made Cádiz special was the food. A combination of fresh sea food and sweets made for the perfect day of eating. Hard to describe, so I'll take you through a photo tour of Cádiz cuisine! We got to tour a market and also go out to eat. 

They had a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables

Here is the shrimp or "gambas" that I love so much

Swordfish... 

Just a view of some seafood they were selling. 

The shells that are in the bottom corner were everywhere in the market!

I love the spanish language for many reasons, and this is one of them:

The stores are named by adding a "ía" to the end of what they are selling. 

Seafood is called "mariscos" so this is a marisquería. Genius.

There are marisquerías all over Cádiz!

Another example is a "librería" is a book or "libro" store, 

not a library! 

These are the tapas I tried. 

They are called "tortillas de camarones"

They are hard to describe, but almost like a homemade tortilla chip,

but with little shrimp and other seafood or spices added.

One of the most traditional spanish dishes is the "tortilla de patata"

This is similar, but it is distinct because they don't use potatoes or "patatas"

This ice cream changed my life. Seriously so good!

Last week my friend had me try a "Kinder" bar, which is

a popular candy-like bar in Spain. It is made out of wafer, 

chocolate and nutella (my new favorite flavor is hazelnut)

This was Kinder bar ice cream and it was so delicious! 

Especially eating it under the sunshine surrounded by palm trees

Our guide told us that we should try "pan de Cádiz"

We went to a bakery and the woman working had run out, so she

called the other bakeries around the plaza to help us find some!

It was such a cool act of kindness, and such a spanish thing to do

Then finding the pan made it even better!

Our search led us to a cute bakery in the plaza by the cathedral. 

Pan de Cádiz is a mini loaf of bread, but really soft and doughy with 

candied/dried fruit in the middle. It was absolutely delicious!

Here I am with some chicas enjoying our pan! 

Both trips this weekend were a blast! It was the perfect amount of travel, and I love that I get to see so many different parts of Spain--mix of the mountains and the ocean this weekend gave me more appreciation for the beauty that you can find in the world. Being in Spain has made me realize how much I love being outside. Even on a more laid back day, I love to just go for a walk by the river or through the parks in Sevilla. It helps that the weather has been perfect since coming here too! 

This week is the last week of class before midterms. In Madison I would have started by studying by now, but hey it has been seventy degrees with plentiful sunshine so here I say studying is overrated! Hope all you Minnesotans are enjoying the winter weather that finally decided to show up!