Sevilla: Well That Was Quick

Roomie Photo Op one, checkout that background.

Seriously, those two weeks flew by with a flash. Weelll, everything except the constant walk from Triana to Centro every.single.day. In total guaranteed I could clock 3 miles a day simply walking. After our wonderful orientation week of making friends and figuring out "The Siesta" we were pushed from the nest and made to fly.


We like to coordinate.

There is a lot to be said for living with someone else's Grandmother for two weeks after having not share my place since sophomore year of college. She was 62 years of energy and was in constant bafflement of how little I eat, but how much I sleep. What ever the awkwardness or culture clash that can be said for living in someone else's house in a new country, me and my Senora ended on a great note!


Cabra with my Senora.

Actually everything ended on a great note, despite that fact that often I felt like I was just going through the motions ready at all times to be in my bed in my permenant city for the next nine months.
As I mentioned earlier the friends I made and people I was able to spend time with was hands down the best part. A constant flow of invites to go here or meet someone there and even the folks in my Spanish class are characters that I hope to always remember. Guys there is absolutely no way I could list for you everything we did or saw, but I can provide some awesome photos from the few times we remembered to document the moment ( maybe me and my amigos can be in the next Iphone Camera commercial) with my typical sarcastic comments.

Plaza de Hercules was my kind of place

When you stumble upon a Texas themed bar with your friend from Texas at 4a, you have fun.

Get your guns up, cause there's a Fox on the field and he knows how to win!



Rooftop concert directly across from the Catedral y Giralda.

Chocolate y Chorros con mi amigos de clase.

 Obviously, it was fun! I learned some Spanish, met some great folks and started this Spanish Adventure off on the right foot. Now, I'm headed to my final destination: Jaen, Jaen! And all of my new friends are headed to their own homes, I'm sure we'll keep in touch and I look forward to the days to come.


 

Until next time, Adios, Hasta Pronto, Be Blessed . . .

Music For the Road

The other day someone mentioned being able to connect to Spotify and listen to their tunes from home. This then divulged into a lengthy conversation of all the memories attached to music- the songs we love, the songs we dance to, the songs we hate, but can sing along to perfectly. And often the songs we find ourselves too emotional for words while listening to every syllable as if it is our last connection to the dust in the corners of our homes that we forget about until we move never to return.



What you don't wear your gafas to concerts, trust me the last thing I needed to worry about was taking out contacts come bedtime.

That last set of songs are the ones you start craving when all comforts have been exchanged for adventure, suitcases and a new face around every corner. Once you install your Tunnel Bear or find Hola Unlock and can access the joy that is your digital collection of music from the first time you were listening to a song and then stopped to really listen. Then replayed the song again trying to figure out what was different that time around, but you can never have that moment back. You can only have the memory- which is great for times in your live when memories are all you can really carry because of the time difference, or faulty technology, or no privacy to really just hold a conversation with your "talk for hours without a second thought" person.

While, I'm definitely excited to have all of my Spotify playlist and the playlist of my friends back in my life, for some reason I keep returning to the same artist over and over. Listening to his select few songs and enjoying the memories.

While the rumors are true and this is possibly one of the hardest working musicians in Texas, people enjoy him because he's got stories and he likes to tell them through his music and while he's knocking back that "on the house" shot in between songs.

The majority of my readers will have never heard of him, he's no Prince style musical innovator or JT making women of all ages swoon, but if I was to hear his voice playing over a speaker anywhere in the world I would stop and listen. Then stay a little while afterwards to savor the richness of everything he put into that one song. If you are located in Texas go to his website, find the closest show to you ( any driving under 10 hours will be worth the night) and have a good time!
Ladies and Gentleman without further, lengthy introduction I present to you Mr. Josh Weathers:

Mr. Weathers feelin' good. @Jeff Prince fwweekly.com

Josh Weathers Band – Truth and Lies

It was a good night, er day. @damoonman.wordpress.com



Josh Weathers Band – All That Matters

Josh Weathers Band – Mind, Body & Soul

Josh Weathers Band – I Am Blessed

Josh Weathers Band – Big Night in the City

and one for the road . . . Josh Weathers Band – I Will Always Love You - Full Version - For Momma

 

I hope you clicked on those links and didn't pull the whole, "what I have to follow a link" technology baby pout. If you did sad day, you missed out. If you didn't have a great day humming those tunes!

Until next time, Adios, Hasta Pronto, Be Blessed . . .

Things I Never Knew: All About the Eyes

The Ultimate Stare Down



Eye contact in Spain is a language all it's own. A language that every other person knew about, is progressing well at understanding and has been pretty successful at executing- everyone, but myself.
So the way the language has been explained to me by a few Americans and my Spanish Professor after I asked for some details and worked really hard to interpret is now broken down here for all:
1.) If someone ( of any gender) is simply staring at you on the streets, it's a compliment. It is that persons way to show they are intrigued or that they admire your physical architecture.
2.) If you spot someone you may be interested in romantically you adhere to the decoded rules below:

• You the female wait until the male begins his stare down.
• Once the male has made sufficient eye contact with you smile to invite him to converse.
• If you decide at some point during the eye contact phase that you are not interested, turn away quickly and don't smile or you will receive some unwanted attention.

After having these rules explained to me I had plenty "light bulb" moments and a few cringe worthy memories for the road. My favorite of which took place my first night out on the town:

Male: "I'm really into eye-contact, I believe it's important." ( But seriously who says that?)

Me: " Same here, but I love people watching- human interaction can be so interesting."

Moment of silence for you to enjoy your cringe and laughter.

 Now back to my ramblings. At first I was all, " In one night you can make eye contact and a smile with 5 guys". But then I thought about it, the nerves and surrounding atmosphere can seriously hinder holding eye contact long enough to convey, " Hey boy don'tcha you know, you got something going on". Don't believe me, just give it a try the next time you spot a hottie with a body.

You may be asking what happens if this interaction happens in passing on the streets. Welp, I give you exhibit A and B:

I'm walking down the street and make eye contact with a very handsome young gent on a bike ( if you know me then you know my love for boys on bikes). We made eye-contact until the point for him to pass me occurred at which point he whistled and we went about our merry little lives.

OR you could smile, him stop his bike to invite you for drinks and five years later you are happily married living in Espana.

Your choice ladies.

Alcohol and Eye Contact, it's about to get real.

 What interest me the most about these silent interactions is that in a culture full of bright colors, vibrant personalities, an appreciation of the human physique, and a known abundance for cat calls in the streets this demure interaction exists so widely. Daily I'm "bird watching" folks on the streets to catch a glimpse and I've been prone to catch more than I ever expected.

Thank goodness Alex Lunato made sure I didn't even have to Ping Back this awesome Ecard.

 Please if there is a book about this subject feel free to suggest, or maybe even throw in your own commentary on the matter in the comments section- just remember as my observations are purely out of interest and not sign, sealed and delivered scientific study your comments should be kind and respectful to a welcoming culture.







Spotted: A Heard of Americans in Seville

Honestly, from what I've heard we're a pretty small group compared to some of the other orientation groups. I'm not going to talk about CIEE in this post, I'm going to provide that evaluation after I've completed the entire 9 months. What I am going to talk about is my favorite part of orientation week . . .Meeting all my fellow teachers!

Abracadabra: Madrid Turned Me Into a Tourist

I made it, safe and sound! Being as the plane ride was the worst I've ever experienced you cannot imagine how happy it makes me to say that phrase!

Off I Go!

So as of tomorrow, I'm will no longer reside in the United States of America. Whoohoo! I'm off you guys to start this Adventure- first stop Madrid.

To tie you over lovely folks until my return I'm sharing a barrage of wonderful travel quotes that for my personal experiences sum up everything I've ever wanted to say.

 Feel free to add your own favorite quotes in the comments section below- that would be a very nice welcome back!

 Until next time . . . Adios, Hasta Pronto, Be Blessed.