"I hope I never lose my sense of wonder!"

So, I am pretty sure you could have all guessed.... but Sevilla was fantastic! Such a good weekend! haha. The trips that I have taken here have been really good, smooth ones. Maybe I'm just getting better at traveling, or planning. I'm not sure. But these last couple trips have been really calm and relaxed. Maybe it's the company I am keeping these days. Thumbs up to being tranquilo!

Sevilla-- what is there to say? It was just the way we left it! Mostly... Aside from Calle Asuncion, my calle, being completely torn up for renovations (to make it a pedestrian/bicycle path instead of a street for cars), mostly everything was just the way it was when we left. Even the metro obras in front of the school are still going on. Something tells me those will never be done! :) The Plaza de Espana was also under obras... I guess they are just doing construction on everything there. Or so it seemed!

Anyway, aside from the temperatures being insanely ridiculous, it was so nice. We got off of the train and knew where we were. We got on a bus and knew where we were. We knew how to get "home" to my senoras house. It was just so familiar and good. We knew our way around town and spent time just walking around our old stomping grounds, visiting our old favorite places. We met with Ana Bello for lunch at the CHINO!! It was so awesome. Even though I swore to myself I'd never be able to go back, after eating there 3 times in one week and feeling insanely ill after the 3rd time. I think that 2 years has been enough time to recover from that traumatic experience. haha. But, anyway, it was so awesome to hang out with Ana Bello. We are apparently taking turns visiting each other-- last year she came to Chicago, this year I was in Sevilla.... next year, we'll see. :)

So, I know you are all dying to know how things went with my senora. And, let me reiterate the phrase that NOTHING HAS CHANGED in Sevilla. On the first night, I already felt overwhelmed by her. haha. It's so hard to explain what it is about her that makes me feel the need to run out of the house screaming.. haha. But I guess I kind of feel smothered there or something. My mom doesn't even worry about my whereabouts as much as my senora does. I just want to go do my thing and not have to worry about what she thinks! I am confident that I can walk down Calle Betis without being mugged! (Though, apparently, Angeles was mugged on Calle Betis, they tried to steal her purse and ended up breaking her arm....)
And, I mean... she is just really manipulative, still. Like, trying to make us think she is really rich. And about how Triana is horrible, and poor. And Los Remedios is the best ever. And Calle Asuncion is the best street in Los Rem, and how her end is the best END of Calle Asuncion. haha. And about Maria Jesus.. of course, Maria Jesus. Apparently she is still doing her thing.. cleaning the house! Moving our bags and possibly looking through them! "Organizing" receipts and papers and anything that you may have absent-mindedly left around! It's like she's a detective looking for evidence, or a reason to be mad at you! haha. And apparently MJ STILL has yet to be seen! Angeles has a French girl named Valerie living there currently, and Jessie asked her about MJ...only to find that conveniently, she only comes when Val is at work. We tried to raise doubts in her mind, but I'm not sure if Valerie caught on. haha. I am still 100% convinced that Maria Jesus does not exist. To further prove this point, Jessie and I returned to the house one day when we were supposed to be at lunch...only to find Angeles in our room. Why was she there? haha.. probably just giving MJ a hand with the cleaning. Conventiently, when we weren't there! ....Man, I swear that one day I could write a book with the stories we have about Maria Jesus. But perhaps we will never really know!

Anyway....On Saturday, Jessie and I took a bus to Granada. It was awesome. We were actually able to meet up with Wendy Shidemantle, my spanish professor from Geneva. That was so cool. It's such a strange feeling to see somebody from one side of the world on another. But it was a lot of fun! And Granada was so pretty! I was digging the Muslim influence. The Alhambra.. it was beautiful. I mean, the gardens were. We had tickets for 3:00, but got there a little late, and the lady wouldn't let us in. They are extremely strict about time! So, that was pretty disappointing, but we weren't going to pay 13E again. Instead we sat in the gardens, feeding our bocadillos to small kittens, and quoting Leann Rimes lyrics. If you ask me, that's a pretty fair trade-off.

Here I will mention some things we did/saw/found in Sevilla...

• I found 10E on the floor of a bar our first night in Sevilla. This paid for our delicious, overpriced Sangria!
• Went shopping in el Centro.
  
• Lunch with Ana Bello, which was AWESOME. Great company, great comida, great times.
• Went to the school with Ana Bello. This was awesome, and sad, because I wished that everybody else from our program was with us!
• Went to OpenCor!
• Had conos at McDonalds!
• I had my first ever privately owned car ride in Sevilla.. thanks to Ana Bello for that exceptional honor! haha
• Visited Jessie's senora. We should have totally stayed there! ;)
• Took a paseo down Paseo de Colon.
• Had the world's most expensive, most amazing sangria in the Hotel Alfonzo XIII... the most expensive hotel in Sevilla. Mmmmm.
• Had pollo con melocotones for dinner. My fave. Thanks Angeles!
• BOTELLONED!! by the river, with Valerie, the French girl. Showed her what a real botellon was! haha
  
• Went to Granada all day Saturday. It was awesome. We did a lot there, too. Cathedral, Capillo Real (Ferdinand and Isabella's tombs), lunch with Wendy, Alhambra, a lot of Ice Cream, etc....
  
• Went to the Plaza de Espana at night when we got back from Granada. It was gorgeous. As always.
• Went to Tex Mex, but it closed 3 minutes before we got there. Que triste!
• Sunday, we went to church at the Iglesia Prosperidad! It was awesome. About 2 hours long, but good. We sat next to an adorable/horribly behaved child. He threw a rubber octopus at an old man. It was precious.
• We went to Rayas and had some fan-freaking-tastic ice cream!
• Went back to Tex Mex for lunch! And shared a pitcher of the best tasting budwiser I have ever had in my whole life. We may or may not have felt the effects of that.
• Walked around Santa Cruz. (very fun walk, I might add!)
• Walked to the Plaza de Espana during the day. It was still gorgeous!
• Walked through the Parque de Maria Luisa! It was SO hot, but beautiful as always!
• Went to the Plaza de America to feed the birds/take a million pictures of us covered with birds. I had never done that before.. it was slightly horrifying, and slightly hilarious at the same time. Birds are a creepy animal.
• That's basically it. We took a train there and back. It was nice. I enjoyed the train travel. Much easier and more relaxed than airplanes. I give Renfe a huge thumbs up!

It was such a good weekend. It was really relaxed and we pretty much had a chance to see everything we wanted to. I definitely have love in my heart for Sevilla! haha

On that same note though, it was good to come back to Toledo. I love it here, too. And I am definitely excited to apply for that job here. I have decided that I'm going to at least try for it.. we'll see what happens. I do need prayer about this though!

And, since this is already a mile long, as they always tend to be...
I am going to peace out.

Tomorrow is my last day of work. I am so saddened by this. I wish this internship was way longer. Seriously.. I have loved it. Definitely a great experience.
Unfortunately, I still have to write a 5 page paper also.. it's due Thursday and I haven't even read one source yet. I am blaming this on senioritis-plus.. a worse version of senioritis that occurs AFTER you have already graduated. It just doesn't seem fair!

Anyway... buenas noches!
un beso!
Raquael