Hotel Albaida Mazagon

Until now, I've nev** been outside of the United States. For the first time in my life I am an immigrant or foreign** I am only h**e legally until late Novemb**, so I have to apply for an extension on my student visa and apply for residency. I now und**stand first hand the frustration which immigrants and foreign**s go through just to study or work in anoth** country.

Something that seems soo simple is ridiculously complicated. I woke up ...

... out of the trees in the garden of the palace (they were supposed to be listening to their audio guides...I wasn´t with them, or clearly my reading Rick Steves, god of travel, would have captivated their attention). They finally did it only to find out the the orange was disgusting, sloppy and basically hollow. If Granada was hot then I really don´t have an adjective for Sevilla. Every trip I have taken has landed me in Sevilla but I ...

... After finding one place open late that turned out to be a gay bar, we aborted the attempt and turned in for the night. On day 3, we took a stroll to the Parque de Maria Lucia (which was oddly under construction in several places, with fenced-off areas) then the Museo de Bellas artes, where we saw just the special exhibit on Sorolla. That evening (after tapas at Alfalfa, again) we went off to the "Teritorias Sevilla," a week long music festival ...

... is going on. Everything is roped off so that the tourists don't disrupt the service. I was lucky - 11am Mass would be celebrated in the Royal Chapel (where King Ferdinand is buried). It was a small chapel - probably could hold 100 people at most - but it was lavishly decorated. Everything was either gold or silver. There was a choir loft off to the side where the choir processed in and sat down. That service was a day of special music. I ...

... I have 9 students but several were absent sinc thursday was a holiday and many decided to extend their day off, which is perfectly understandable. We are only 10 minutes from the city center, which is astoundingly beautiful. We are including some pictures of our first days here. Tonight I attend my first bullfight.

... een beetje te vergelijken met antwerpen, vermits er een grote laan autovrij is, zoals de Meire en je zo langs andere plazas en de kathedraal komt! Het is ook heel modern met authentieke gebouwen. Het is ook iets properder dan Cádiz, mss juist omdat Sevilla een stad is en toeristischer is. Zelfs in het busstation liep een kerel de grond te vegen en al het vuil van de grond te rapen. Geen hondendrollen dus zoals hiere haha. Ik ben ook een latte gaan halen in Starbucks, dat ...

To our delight, the Seville art gallery was free. There's just something about free museums: something enchanting. A free museum can almost make me believe in the joy of learning, in the purity of artistic expression, in the egalitarianism of the system. A free museum creates a sense of voluntarism. A non-gratis museum makes me feel pressured to learn: since I've paid I must make sure that I absorb everything. A free museum allows one to relax ...

... and with my own set of keys and with a charge cell phone. I figured everything was set! I was wrong. When I came back around noon, I couldn't make the key work. I mean, the key was nothing like any I've seen before in my life. But I thought, "How hard can it be? You put it in and turn it!" but it wouldn't work. The hallway down to the front door of the apartment is completely dark at any hour of the day or night, so you have to hit a button on the wall that gives you about 30 seconds of ...

... one; if it were an algebra test, I would stick to my refrigerator with a magnet. Two easy flights: the aforementioned trip to Madrid from New York, followed by a short flight to Sevilla (Sevilla and Madrid are the same distance apart as New York and Washington, D.C.). I loved Madrid's airport. It's huge and was recently completed in the last three years. The ceiling has peaks and troughs - looks like a sine wave. Colorful steel ...

... that we didn't get to go into, as it closed at 4pm; A bull fighting ring, which is an interesting little side journey (got to see the ring and the guide told us a little about how it works and its history)... did you know that when enough of the children of a certain mother bull have killed a matador, the mother is killed because they believed that such strong verocity ran in her blood and was passed on?! A great little town, but maybe next time in the fall or winter!