New Apartment

We each have a ton of keys. Mark was trying to remember which ones went to which locks. This was after we saw a good portion of the city, bought some food to cook for dinner, and Mark and I played in a misty fountain.



So far my favorite place in the city. The Spanish Plaza. Stunning.



Plaza de San Francisco. Also nice.



I am having computer issues. I´m at the same internet cafe, but today the computer won´t put all my pics on Facebook. I´ll put a few up here, then wait to see if I can get it to work another day.

I moved into my apartment this morning. My roommates are quite nice. Laura from L.A. and Mark from London. We spent most of the day walking around Seville. It is definitely a beautiful city! Also, our apartment is really nice. It has a washing maching and dishwasher, and three toilets. Lol. Mark and I are sharing a bathroom (the door doesn´t lock, or really shut that well for that matter and the curtains on the clear door cover MOST of your view into the bathroom...) and I told him he´d better be clean. He assured me he is. However, after dinner he took a shower and then popped his head into my room with a grin and I noticed he was holding the mop. He laughed and said the shower curtain doesn´t stay put, and water went everywhere, but not to worry because he´s cleaning it up. LOL.

To get into our apartment there is a serious iron gate, with two locks. Then you walk up to another door, where there is another serious lock. All of our windows and doors on the first two floors are completely covered in this iron. You can see in the pic.

My room is about a million degrees. It is tiny, yellow, and I have a small terrace that opens out to the road. Our apartment is actually like a house, and as you walk in there is the living room and dining area, then you walk through an outdoor patio to get to the kitchen. The patio area has a beautiful old fountain that is no longer turned on, and above it are our wires to hang clothes. My pillow is aparently drying on them. I don´t know why. I´ve just left it.

Class starts tomorrow. I need to get back to my room and finish unpacking!

In Sevilla

!Hola! I made it safely to Sevilla. The trip went quite quickly, and I would have written sooner but had difficulty finding an internet cafe. I went looking for my apartment this morning and definitely got lost in the winding, narrow streets. I feel like such a tourist when I´m constantly consulting my map, but honestly, the streets are so crazy that I had to. I finally found the place I´ll move into tomorrow. I also went out and did practical things, such as purchasing a hair dryer, etc. I still want to find my school, and that should be it for "errands" for the day.

Sevilla is beautiful! Full of lovely colored buildings, tiny streets that wind all over the place, flowers, lots of sunshine and it´s very warm! My hotel is also quite lovely, with a great view of an outdoor courtyard below. I´ve included just a few pics for now.

There is definitely a lack of English-speakers here. I have been using all the Spanish I know and have been keeping my dictionary nearby. I think I need a smaller one, however, as my purse is getting very heavy!

I went to buy a Spanish SIM card for my German cell today, but the phone shop didn´t have any in stock. She said I could buy a cheap Spanish cell for 20€, which I tried to do, only she then said I needed my passport. Um, it´s in the hotel. Why would I be walking around with it? And the shop closed at 2, so I decided to just wait. I have a few € left on my German card anyhow. So if you need to reach me asap for any reason, my German cell from the U.S. is 011 49 175 66 22 699. I will post when I get a Spanish one.



Random yet pretty street I photographed while lost looking for my apartment.





In my confused trekking all over a certain area of Sevilla, I ran into several churches. This was my favorite.




A street near my hotel.

Oh yeah, did I mention I almost lost my boarding pass in KC? LOL. I set it on a table and walked away and forgot! It took my five minutes to remember what I´d done, and when I went back, it was still there. What a ridiculous way to start my trip! Then my second flight (Detroit to Paris, which was short, only 6.5 hours!) was boarding as my first flight landed, so I just rushed from flight to flight. But I must say, if you ever travel Air France, it´s so nice!

All right, I´m off for now. Hope you´re all well!

!Besitos!

One More Day

One more day til I'm off to Spain. I have the address of the apartment I'll be staying in the first month, but if you want to send mail, they prefer you send it to the school. So in case you need it, my mailing address (only until the end of September!) is:

Kate Austin
Student at CLIC
C/Albareda, 19
41001 Sevilla
SPAIN/ESPANA (put squiggly line over "N")

I'm pretty much packed. Well, ok, except for my carry on and laptop bag. My suitcase is just under 50 lbs, but I still need to throw in some of my wc stuff. So we'll see. I dislike cutting it that close, but since I'm only taking one bag....

Lexi and I did lunch today and as a gester of sisterly bonding, each got something called an "uglydoll" and I promised her it would travel with me and take odd pics. So if you see pics up with me and some butt ugly doll, yes, there is a reason. :)

Now I've just got to make sure I make all my connections and busses/trains. I so don't enjoy traveling. Good thing I have some very silly novels that will be packed later. Soon. I swear I am going to finish packing tonight.

Let the moving begin...

We moved Lexi into the dorms at KCAI yesterday, one week before I'll head off as well. While I felt the need to document the event, Lexi did not see such need. However, I had possession of the camera and took many pictures with Lexi glaring at me. In that sisterly love kind of way, of course.

Zeus is too cute. Told him bye this week. I'm a softie for cute dogs.

And this is my bag so far. Still needs a few things like shoes, but it feels like I am taking sooooooooooooo little with me. Have you ever tried to pack your life into a bag that can only weigh 50 lbs? Yeah, that's what I thought. :)

Eight Days and Counting...

It's that time again! I've been home long enough, had a lovely time with family and friends, finally finished my MA (my Dad is immensely relieved!), and even learned a bit about the thrilling world of insurance. So I'm moving to Spain next week, and will be doing a CELTA course so that I may find work as an English teacher. I'll be in Seville for the next month and can't wait!

Right now selected items of clothing are neatly stacked all over my bed as I decide what I can take with me and what, sadly, must remain. I'm only allowed a 50 lb limit, and my suitcase already weighs 15 lbs on its own! Darn it. I don't think that should be counted in the weight limit. How do people live with only two pairs of shoes? What will I dance in? How will I take books? Ohhh the issues!

You might be wondering, well, I know Kate speaks German, but has she been learning Spanish? To which I would respond, not really. A kind friend has lent me Rosetta Stone for the week, and it's helpful, but I doubt I'll be proficient by next Thursday. I have visions of walking into a store, needing a basic product, and of having no idea how to ask for it or read the label. I still cringe when I think of that half year in Germany when I hand-washed my clothing in my tiny sink with fabric softener, not detergent, until someone saw what I was doing and laughed at me. They did, however, show me which was detergent vs. fabric softener. Oh, the shame! I felt kinda dirty for awhile afterwards. Now at least I'll know to look up "detergent" in my dictionary.

I'll be blogging more often and putting up pics, so if you want to follow along, my blog will once again be regularly updated. :)