Alright, it's time for a walk through Craig's little house. If you open up the front door, this is the first thing you will see. This is where we sit all the time. This is where we eat our meals, and this is where we warm our feet. :) It's incredible, because they don't have heating in the place they put a space heater under the table to keep your feet warm. Im getting really used to it. You'll notice all chairs are on one side of the table. That's because everyone has to be abble to see the tv while we eat, and after we eat, and before we eat, and all day long.
If while standing there you turn left, this is what you see. The beloved tv, which is always on, always. The table that we never use except when the rest of her family, who live in another flat, come over i.e.yesterday for lunch and the Sevilla soccer game. The kitchen is behind that door. I have only ever been in there once, when she first showed us the flat. She told us she doesnt want boys in the kitchen....insert comment here:) Her little bathroom is behind the kitchen, and her bedroom is a tiny sliding door that you can't see on your left right before the kitchen. Through the hallway on the right is where we will go next!! (cheeeesey)
This is our room. It's small. That's Jason watching the Office on my laptop :) That's his bed he's on, and the other's mine. Brilliant eh? And that's one of my sambas on the floor.
This is the view from my bed. Those are our closets, and our space heater, without which we would freeze. However we have to turn it off when we go to bed, and whenever we leave the room, because the senora is very paranoid that there's gonna be a huge fire. The rule is, if you can't see it, it can't be on. So really it's only on when we are reading or watching the office.
This is our bathroom. It's tiny. You'll notice the tile floor, well it goes throughout the house. Let me tell you, tile floor in an unheated house when its 20 degrees outside at night...is freezing. I bought slippers because it is so cold you don't ever want to talk on it barefoot. That is my orange towel which my senora gave me. I had used it twice before i looked at the design on it...which is a naked woman. Weird? Yes!
By the way, here is the New York Times article that I am mentioned in:) I'm on pages 3-6, with pictures on page 1. Check it out! it's all about JBU's first dance. Ciao! Actually I'm having trouble putting the link on this page. so i'll post it under comments if i can copy and paste there! peace

This is the Torre de Oro, or tower of Gold, on the river. I have to walk across this bridge every day to get to school. It's about a 20 minute walk to school, so no more getting up 10 minutes before class:( There is construction all over Sevilla because they are putting in a subway system, which they've been working on for a year and a half, which goes to show that construction is the same all around the world. It sucks and takes forever.
The "bar" we went to our first night of hanging out. By the way, they call any restaurant or bar 'bar' so that's why there are bars everywhere. These are kids from my group, and one guy from costa rica who we met here in sevilla. The guy in the front left is my roommate Jason.
These next pictures are from our walking tour. This is the Portugal consulate I think. Lets be honest I was talking the whole tour and didn't really hear much.
this is la Universidad de Sevilla (University of Sevilla for those of you who don't habla espanol...and are retarded and couldnt figure that out anyway...) It is the fourth largest building in Europe=frickin huge.
ya so funny story about this statue, our guides were like, anyone know anything about this man, and one kid was like "ya he fought a lot and the king didn't like him much."...wow, ya think that up all by yourself? I have no clue who he was but I coulda just randomly guessed that one.
Our guides, David and Leslie. They work with the school, and are cool
Adam and I with our random chinese friend. He ran up and got a picture with our huge group throwing up a peace sign while we were doing our big group pictures, so we ran after him and got a picture too.

Group picture: Adam and Tyler and I are in the front left, being silly.
And this is the Cathedral. Incredible sight. I look forward to going there on a Sunday to a mass just for the incredible experience. Sadly the other side is being worked on. More ugly construction. Well that's all I have time for now. I'll put up pictures of the casa next time. But there won't be many of those, cause it's a little casa:) Oh if you want to get a hold of me you can call me. We have cell phones from here in Spain.
Call 011 to get out of the US, then hit 34 for Spain's country code, then my number is 677-768-470. weird to have a 9 digit number. anyway, use a calling card or something, but it actually doesn't cost me anything to receive calls. So call me! I am 7 hours ahead of you guys, so only call between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm Topeka/Arkansas time, so between 2 and midnight my time. hasta pronto

quick lessons from spain

I have learned several quick lessons here, here are some:

showering after your roommate, even if you allow a half hour for the water to heat back up-bad idea. three seconds of hot water, and an instant ice bath. Shaving with cold water sucks too.

learn to like chicken and bread cause they are at every meal in some form or another.

It should not be called pizza unless it has normal toppings, ie crust with sauce topped in tuna, salsa, and some weird spice that smells funny- NOT pizza. (we call that nasty crap)

The casa is cold enough at night, remember to shut the window before going to bed or you are guaranteed to wake up shivering...repeatedly.

Finding an adaptor for your computer is no fun. Especially if you don´t know how to say; adaptor, plug, electricity, or laptop. Sign language never looked so silly...

Bars are everywhere and the place to be. It´s true, just accept it.

Construction workers will stop in the middle of whatever they are doing to simply stand and look at American girls.

Siesta is the single most brilliant idea ever, anywhere. The airplane? the wheel? sliced bread? all nothing compared to the concept of siesta. After you eat a huge lunch, you sleep. It´s so obvious. Why hasn´t America figured this one out?

It´s better to eat the food you don´t like the first time you receive it. Senoras hate to throw food away. So if you don´t like some food one night and you don´t eat it all, beware, it´s coming the next day and in an even worse form.

lessons from the streets:
Cars park anywhere, including touching the bumpers of the cars in front of or behind them.

Scooters are the Jerome Bettis´of the streets. Just move out of the way, cause they sure as heck aren´t going to.

Crossing the street is at times like frogger.

Take the right bus. The wrong bus is...well the wrong one you idiot, so get off of it and get on the right one.

Find the ATMs that you can choose "English" cause it´s nearly impossible to figure out how to get money out of an atm when it´s in spanish, and you look like an idiot standing at an ATM putting your credit card in several times and just trying buttons.


Well that´s all for now. If you want to call me you can, just let me know and i´ll tell you how. Oh and I changed this blog so anyone can comment, even if youre not a blogger. Pictures of Sevilla and the casa to come soon. hasta luego.

A new beginning

the journey has begun!
Yesterday I left 4 or 5 inches of snow in freezing KC and Chicago, and today arrived in mid50s rainy weather in Seville Spain. After three flights, hours upon hours of weather delays in the states, and very little sleep I made it in at about 9am seville time. We are 7 hours ahead of you, so as I post it´ll be 8 pm here, but 1 pm your time. Jetlag has me pretty bad. I left Chicago at 645 last night, and after an 8 hour flight arrived here at 9 this morning. Where did the night go? no clue. i only slept for about 2 hours on the flight. We hit some pretty bad turbulence when i finally fell asleep and it jolted me awake. I was travelling with the big group, about 40 or so, that will soon become my fellow students here at Acento Trinity College. We all made it safely, and only 4 bags were lost, but not mine. After arriving we were all separated onto two busses and we were taken around the city and dropped off to our senoras, our host families.

Me and my roommate were dropped off to a sweet lady in her mid 50s. Her name is Loli (Low´ly). She took us back to our tiny little flat in one of the big appartment buildings. She speaks pretty quickly, but for the most part I understand what she says, which is a relief cause my roommate probably understands only a third of what she says. She showed us around her little house with pride. She was sure to emphasize that the kitchen and immediately surrounding area were "hers" and that she didn´t want boys in there. She just talked away the whole time, and eventually let out that she is an evangelical Christian. This will be a huge blessing throughout these four months. I´m really thankful that God orchestrated this setup.

My roommate is a great guy. He plays nerts so you know he is cool:) He also plays some soccer, so hopefully we´ll soon find some games to get into. Tomorrow morning we start orientation, hopefully get our cell phones, change money etc. I´m writing now from a computer in the computer lab at our little school, which is located in a tiny section in a huge building on the river here in seville. I don´t pick up wireless in my room, which is truly depressing, but I´ll get over it, and hopefully find some little internet cafes near my house.

First impressions of the city of Seville: these people must drink a ton. There are literally bars everywhere! It´s incredible how many bars there are here. Streets are ridiculously packed with cars. People just park everywhere, and they park like 5 inches from the cars in front of and behind them. I understand why european cars have those ugly straight backs to them, it´s cause of the way they all park on the roads. The shops are mostly small little privately owned shops. It´s confusing cause during daytime hours they don´t have their lights on. So the door will be open but there won´t be lights on. I see the lights are off so i think it´s closed, but not true. I already found two mcdonalds, which i am extremely thrilled about. Otherwise i haven´t seen any stores or restaurants that we have in the states. Im guessing it´ll be about a 15 minute walk from my house to the school, but I havent really timed it yet. The shorter the better of course, cause that would mean more sleep.

Well I think that´s enough for an introduction to my life here in seville. More to come of course. When I can I´ll post pictures on here. Please feel free to email me or facebook me. I´d love to hear updates from all of my friends and family.

from Spain
Craig T Congdon