Is the Glass Half Full...or Half Empty?

PLACES TO GO, THINGS TO SEE

I can hardly believe it, but my semester is already half-way over. I guess I can look at my time here optimistically -- remembering how many great experiences I've already had. It is much easier, however, to begin feeling anxious and pessimistic. There is so much left to see and do, and simply not enough time. I now understand why people come here and just never go back.


And here's a random siesta-time picture of my room.


SPANISH VACATIONS = WONDERFULLY EXCESSIVE

This week, we had our first time off from school. "Puente" is a Andalusian holiday, and we didn't have school Weds, Thurs, and Friday. Later this month, we get a full week for "Semana Santa" (Holy Week), followed by another full week in April for "Feria." Finally, we have another puente in early May.

Knowing this ahead of time, we booked our first eurotrip excursion to Rome (Tuesday to Sunday). It was amazing to be back in Italy -- surrounded by the familiar language, food, and culture. Although it was rainy and overcast every day, it was both unusual and interesting to be in Rome without the summer mob. Graham, Cody and myself crashed at my friend Hannah's apartment. Both she and our other friend, Sean Black, are studying at John Cabot University in Rome.



Although I didn't really see anything new, I enjoyed vacationing in Italy with good friends. However, we did go to the Vatican at night. Beautiful.
















Oh, and on a completely random note: I ran into 3 different kids from my high school on separate occasions -- Brian Rodin, Arthur Sherry and Scott Baldesare. They all spotted me and we had our "small world" moments.


HOME SWEET HOME

Even more interesting than our trip to Italy was the fact that we considered being back in Sevilla like being back home. We missed our Mama, our house, our friends, our language, and most importantly -- our city. Sevilla is a home away from home for us now.

When we arrived in Madrid from Rome, we made our way over to the major train station via a few Metro lines. We all figured we could grab one of the many easy-and-efficient AVE trains back to Sevilla. Little did we know, this Sunday was a HUGE travel day to Andalucia. Every single train to every single city in Andalucia was sold out -- and the buses weren't looking much better. Graham and I were even more upset because our friend Kyle was in Sevilla for the night -- and it now looked like we might not make it home.

Being the cool and crafty guys that we are -- haha -- we realized that I was 21 and could theoretically rent a car. We grabbed the cheapest car available: the ever-so-spacious VW Polo.

Other than figuring our way out of Madrid, the drive was fun, easy, and scenic. In the end, our predicament turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Who wouldn't love a road trip in Spain?