Cada día, cada semana, demasiado rapido

The past two weeks have been busy, and I'm sure since I only have less than three weeks left, it won't slow down.  Last Thursday I attended SICAB which is the international PRE festival that takes place in Sevilla every year.  It draws all the top breeders and riders from all over Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. All I can say is WOW.  I saw some incredible horses!  At the same time it was a whole new world of horses for me.  I think that part of it was not knowing what the judges were judging on, and after talking to Johanna and Nancy, some of it is that the culture has changed and in turn has changed the horses.

Horses with less than ideal conformation are so fat that you can hardly even see how they are built.  In the morphology classes (conformation) they are basically required to show off the horse's gaits in each direction.  This involves making the stallions as animated as possible despite the fact that it usually makes them fall on their front ends.  Basically what I saw was nice horses not being shown to the best of their ability despite knowing that I was looking at a high caliber of horse.

Reflecciones

Whenever I have a couple of days that are full of excitement I always feel like I don't know where to start.  This week marks the beginning of my last month here.  I can't believe it.  I feel like I just arrived, and also that I still have so much more I want to do.  I have a week long trip to Italy coming up next week, and so I feel like my time is running out.  On the one hand I mentally prepared myself for my four months knowing I'd be returning home in December.  On the other hand I know that if I wasn't mentally thinking about returning for Christmas and all the things I want to do in the spring then I would be perfectly able to stay here another semester.  

There is something about the time I spent in other countries that really gets to me.  I can never get enough and I always want more.  Four months isn't really enough time to truly learn the language and the people.  I have done a good job of pursuing friendships with Spaniards, something that was outside my comfort zone since I wasn't comfortable with spanish when I arrived.  I have traveled a lot, I have taken advantage of opportunities available to me within spain.  So then why do I feel like it hasn't been enough?  I suppose that may just be my personality.  Time will tell if I will be able to return to Spain after graduation, maybe to teach english, maybe to get a riding job, who knows.  Who knows where time and life will take me.

Ladrones son putas. Que mierda!

On Thursday I headed over to Nervión, a residential neighborhood in Sevilla to have lunch at my friend Fran's house.  It was Sahar, Christine, Adam, and Fran and we all had a blast just hanging out, eating good food, and speaking Spanish.  As much as Mom doesn't believe me, I really have started to eat different foods while I have been here.  That being said, I can't wait to get home to a good home-cooked meal, and to start controlling what I eat again.  Last summer I started using an online tool called calorie counter, where I was able to monitor my caloric intake online and get weekly analyses of my nutrition.  Since I have been here I haven't been able to do that because I have no control over what I am going to eat on a daily basis or how often I eat.  

The spanish have a different idea of food, and its basically that they don't believe in this new age theory of 5-6 small meals per day.  Each day I have either a piece of toast for breakfast or a half tomato and cheese sandwich (from the café next to CIEE), and a large lunch.  Sometimes the lunch has a protein aspect, but almost always it has a huge carbohydrate aspect.  A typical lunch would be chicken and rice (always cooked with as much oil as could be possible) then a small salad and a piece of fruit for desert.  Doesn't sound so bad right?  My señora goes out for dinner every night so each night she leaves me either a pizza-bread sort of thing, a pizza, an empanada, or a spanish tortilla (egg and potato omelette).  CARBS.  It makes me never want to eat pizza again.  I guess its good I have to walk 1.5 miles to class everyday.  Geez.  Anyway, I can't wait to start eating grilled vegetables, healthy stirfry and best of all lean meats.

La final fin de con los padres

I know it has been a while since I posted consistently, but starting now I promise I will post at least several times per week.  This past week Mom and Dad were here and we had a great time.  They arrived last Monday and only left first thing this morning.  I was able to show them all around Sevilla, we took a carriage ride touring the city, did some shopping, and Mom and Dad even went down and visited Rhonda and Arco de la Frontera.  They were able to come out and watch a riding lesson and each day for lunch and dinner we ate fantastic food.

Need to update more!

Lots to update on, but no time.  Last week there was an AXiD invasion in Sevilla when Alex, Emily, and Aly came to visit from Copenhagen.  We had the most incredible three days, I played tour guide, and they got to meet almost all of my spanish friends.  Needless to say, it was a blast!  Pictures to come.

Then last Monday Mom and Dad got here!  That has been a ton of fun too, unfortunately though, I am in school so that means I can't just hang out with them all the time.  They will come out to my farm to watch me ride on Monday though, YAY!

Xi love en españa

Last night Alex Lannigan, Emily Geigerich and Aly Hignight arrived in Sevilla, and I'm so freaking happy that I don't even have words to describe it.  I think with how homesick I've been this was the perfect time for them to show up.  Last night I picked them up at the bus station and walked them to their hostel, and afterwards we went out for a pitcher of sangria.  Afterwards I wanted to take them to try the drink Agua de Sevilla.  Its a drink thats made from 4 or 5 different liquors, orange juice, pineapple juice and whipped cream.  It is served at a little shot bar in the Plaza de Alfalfa, and as soon as we got there spanish guys started trying to meet them.

Pensamientos del futuro

The view of Ceuta, Spain, the Spanish territory in Morrocco

Its a week full of midterms and visitors.  On Wednesday night three of my favorite Alpha Xi Deltas arrive from Copenhagen, Denmark where they have been studying for the past few months.  Emily, Alex and Aly will stay here until Saturday morning when they leave for their next trip.

Lots to write about Morrocco, very little time to write.  This past weekend was the first weekend when I got truly homesick, this time homesick for the US, not for Sevilla.  Its a good thing I have axid's on their way to Spain and mom and dad on their way next week.