Solucar Seville

... very reminiscent of la Alhambra in Granada. It had some amazing tiling as well as interesting art. There was one very old tapestry of a map of Spain and Africa but the tapestry was made from an upside-down point of view because back then it was easier for them to plot out ship routes if they were going "up" to Africa rather than down. From there we walked through the old Jewish quarter and saw a synagogue that is no longer in use. The Jewish people in Sevilla ...

... of our program, respectively, still had 2 seats at their table. So, Liz and I ate dinner with them. It was actually quite nice to have 3 hours to just talk to them and get to know them. But, OH. MY. GOD. Nuria talks SO fast, by the end of dinner, I felt like I had just stuck my head in a dryer and put it on full spin. We had planned to go out with the group that night, but the sheer mental exertion of keeping up with the conversation over dinner wore me out so much that I just went to bed. <br><br><br>

... for about half an hour before I realized that things weren't right. I turned around and headed back to the train station. I decided to scrap her directions and head out on my own. I did and after an hour of wandering the streets I finally found my hostel. HOSTELS: Hotels are something that can make or break you experience in a city. You get a good one and you fluke out, you get a ****** one and you can be stuck for a while in a really ****** place. Now, I do have to admit that I ...

... to Sean though, who was one of the aussies who is travelling around with his sister Georgie, and discovered that we are both doing the exact same itinerary for the next week and asked me if i would like to join them as they had a hire car and could take me along with them. I had no hesitation in saying yes, as a roadtrip through the south of spain sounds awesome to me! And i wasnt going to give up the chance to avoid getting on another bus hahaha. Another random ...

arrived last night. Day one is exploring... will keep you posted. Day one in Sevilla I am finally here. After 10 years of wanting this I am actually here. It seems very surreal. I arrived to find that it was a fiesta in Sevilla (a public holiday no actual ...

Went to the bullfight after I went on the bullring tour and they said there was a fight that night, ticket was only &euro;7 so was not too bad. It didn´t start until 2200 so had to go for dinner early, found the Irish bar in Seville, which is just by the cathedral walls! Fight was pretty grim, and I´m not sure whether I´d want to go to another one, but I´ve seen one now ...

... which is near our hostel). Lucky for us, it's one of four tourist buses that have mostly standing space and drivers that are patient enough, although not very helpful. In any case, we did get to our hostel and checked in. Once again, the woman at the desk didn't speak any English, although for us we managed to get by with our Spanish. We weren't sure what she was rapidly saying after the check-in processes, but as with most situations, there are only one or two ...

... the news! I called her as soon as I read on CNN that there was a storm, there had been deaths, and someone from The Villages had been interviewed for it. It hadn't specified a tornado, or I hadn't read that part, skimming it to see relavent information. I don't know why people make a big deal out of it - of course I called! Oh, and my family here is so cute! I had to explain why I had to ask them to be quieter so I could make a phone call in the room, so they wanted to know how she ...

... American is pretty much impossible - I think these party animals would put anyone to shame even in America's biggest cities.<br><br>They don't waste any time with school either - we started an intensive language course monday this week that runs everyday this week and next and finishes next friday. With 40+ contact hours, it is literally a semester of spanish condensed into 2 weeks. The quality of instruction in excellent - my class has 7 students and I have already learned so much ...

Saturady took the first bus to Sevilla, which was via the inland route this time. It did not have many stops, and Marg only just managed to hold things together until we had a stop at Jeruz, which she did not realise was supposed to be only 5 minutes, so Vern to the rescue and just stood in the door of the bus pretending not to understand what the driver was trying to say until her ladyship reappeared looking a lot relieved and thinner.