How was your day? Routine.

Today marks 13 weeks I have been in Sevilla. It really does feel like a long time since I arrived here and was living out of a suitcase in Hotel Becquer. When I think about this past week, there is really nothing special that comes to mind though. I guess you could say I have integrated into a pretty routine life here. As Lourdes says "un día normal". But what may be "routine" for me is actually the things that I will remember most when I return home to the United States. I usually wake up around 8:45 every morning for my early Centro classes and come home around 2:15 for lunch Mondays through Wednesday. Thursdays and Fridays, Lourdes makes me a bocadillo (sandwich) because I have class during the official "meal time". And then Monday through Thursday I have a class from 4 to 5, which I can't stand some days because it is right in the middle of the afternoon when I could be outside or doing work for my classes. My class schedule here is very broken, but I can't really complain because I am enrolled in five classes and there is no way I could have coordinated it such that I could get afternoons off and Fridays off too. Regardless, I usually spend the next three hours after my class with an Intercambio at a nearby restaurant or café, or go to the recently discovered University Library on the second floor of the building. I forget sometimes how cool this building actually is. It used to be a tobacco factory so it is very common to find rooms and libraries in obscure places throughout the building. I finally have started some of those long papers I have due at the end of the semester and they aren't as bad as I thought they would be. My goal is to get a lot of them done by the end of Feria, because after that I will need to hand them into my program center to have them edited, and turned in by the end of May. I figure if I start now, and write a little bit everyday, it won't be as painful as it sounds. And I know that when I write these papers it is only going to help me in the long run, so I can't complain. I figure as long as I do the best I can in my work, my professors can't demand much else, especially since I am a foreign student. Everyone says they are soft-hearted on grading foreigners, but I don't think I'll believe that until I see it.

These past two weekends my roommate's parents were in town for his birthday. They took me out to dinner twice, which was really nice of them and we celebrated Saturday night (April 9) because he turned 21 at midnight that Sunday. We ate at a really good restaurant called San Telmo that Saturday night, and we celebrated at a few bars on Calle Alfalfa, which is located pretty much right in the center of the city by Plaza Nueva. His older brother was here too, so it was kind of fun to show someone our own age the nightlife of the city. The Chronowski's also let me send home my winter clothes in a suitcase with them, which was a really nice gesture. I sent home every last sweatshirt and sweater I had here, and kept one pair of jeans and one pair of khaki's. It gets so hot here during the day, it is almost starting to be unbearable (even with shorts). I don't even want to think what it will be like come the middle of June. I sure hope the university has air conditioning.

I can really tell my Spanish has been improving because my Intercambios and Lourdes have commented saying how much of a difference they can tell in my speaking between the time they met me and now. When I first arrived in Seville, I probably understood about half of what the Spaniards were saying, but now there is barely anything I don't understand. As for the speaking, I think that is where I have seen the most progress. Having conversations with Lourdes is so much easier now than when I first arrived. The other day I explained to her for about 5 minutes straight the implications of Obama being re-elected in the United States for 2012 and did it all in Spanish. I was really proud of that, and she understood everything I said. It's a good feeling to actually see progress in my language skills, and I hope I have more opportunities like that one in the future to prove myself capable of fluently speaking Spanish.

This Thursday I am headed to Lisbon and Lagos Portugal with some people from my program. I am really excited to see Lisbon because it is Portugal's prized capital, and Lagos will be like a nice beach vacation. We return home to Sevilla the Thursday of Semana Santa (Holy Thursday) just in time for the most famous procession called the Macareana that starts at one in the morning on Friday. Armando told me he would make a plan for me to follow for Semana Santa so I can see the most famous and important processions. I am lucky to have someone willing to do that for me because otherwise I probably would just be aimlessly wandering the streets of Seville.

Although this past week has been "routine", looking ahead I don't see a single "routine" week left in the program. Between Semana Santa, Feria, Malaga with Pepe, exams in the Center, and the end of university classes in June, my time here is kind of running out. And yes, I did finally buy my return flight home ticket, so you can all stop worrying that I was going to stay in Spain forever. That certainly doesn't mean I am not coming back though. I think I have a college graduation present in mind for myself next May...