“When you come to a fork in the road….take it” – Yogi Berra

It’s been awhile since we’ve updated the blog as we’ve had quite a busy schedule the last few weeks. Let’s take a few minutes to catch everyone back up to speed. This could be a lengthy post, so we hope you are up for reading it!

Following our trip to Marbella, we continued classes throughout the week and spent the weekend of September 10^th -12^th in Sevilla. We probably would have gone to a nearby beach for a day trip, but I honestly think it was American football that kept us in town. We were able to watch the Auburn and Alabama games via internet. Then, on Sunday we went to our first bullfight and caught some NFL games at a “Tex-Mex” restaurant nearby Sevilla’s famous Cathedral. Below, you can watch a few video clips of the bullfight. Warning: Video content is fairly gruesome. It’s part of the Spanish culture.

The next week (September 13-17), we continued classes and my birthday was Thursday, September 16^th. Turning 23 in Spain seemed really weird being away from family and friends, but fortunately, we couldn’t have asked for a better group of people in Sevilla. A large group of us went out to eat and our good buddy, Luis, surprised me with a cake and candles. He bought those “dad gum” sparkling candles that are impossible to blow out. We’ve made some really good friends during our stay in Sevilla, and while we are looking forward to having our own home and living space, it’s going to be difficult to say goodbye to these relationships. Luis has become a great friend to the entire CIEE group, and we’re very thankful for all the help he provided. Below are a few pictures from my birthday night.

There’s a local travel organization called DiscoverSevilla that does a brilliant job getting in contact with all the international students studying in Sevilla. We decided to travel with a group of 110 international students, primarily from America, to Lagos, Portugal for the weekend (September 17^th – 19^th).

We arrived in Lagos on Friday around noon and hit the private beach right after checking into the hotel. The beach was a small cove surrounded by many 100 foot tall cliffs. We took approximately a 300 yard swim offshore to a cliff that we were able to jump off. For being a 6’4” man, Steven sure didn’t act like one when he was standing over the edge of a cliff pondering on whether to take the leap. Steven has an extreme fear of heights that came into play at just about every place we went in Lagos. After much heckling, he finally decided to give in and take the jump. Back on the beach, we listened to what we like to call “The Friend-Maker”, also known as Alan’s Bose iPod Speaker, threw the Frisbee, and drank “ron con limon”. Friday night, we went to a place called Joe’s Garage. It was kind of a “hole in the wall” type place with loud music and lots of Americans. Great party, great time.

Saturday, we woke up to leave for a Sailboat Cruise with unlimited sangria at 11am. Our group took 2 large boats out into the Atlantic to view the coast and all of its rocks and cliffs. We broke up into small groups and boarded another small motor boat which took us on a tour in and out of the "grottos". There a several pictures that you will be able to view, but no pictures or words can describe how magnificent these scenes truly were. After the Sailboat Cruise, we went to a different beach that was more comparable to an Alabama or Florida beach. Very open, with soft white sand. The water is not near as warm as it is on the Gulf Coast. It’s just cold enough to make you take a deep breath.

The most spectacular part of the whole trip to Lagos was seeing the sunset from the extreme southwest tip of Europe, also known as the “Edge of the World”. It always seemed so ludicrous for ancient explorers to think that this was the end of the world, but seeing the landscape ourselves makes their assumptions more tolerant. We’ve both agreed that this was by far the most beautiful setting we’ve ever experienced, and may ever experience for the rest of our lives. We’ve got to go back!

Now, Sunday. We traveled to another beach that was just as gorgeous as the others. Off into the distance, there were rolling hills as far as you could see. This beach also offered a surfing school that we couldn't resist. We paid 35€ for 2 hours of surfboard and wetsuit rental, as well as lessons from one of their instructors. Alan and I both were able to pick it up fairly quickly. Surfing absolutely wore us out…you’re talkin’ about some sore muscles…whew! We returned from Lagos Sunday night.

Please view our video and slideshow from Lagos below (*Turn sound on*).

Here are a few more cultural adaptations/outrageous rules from my Senora that I encountered over the last couple weeks.

• Returned to Sevilla from Lagos. Tad and I both had notes saying we were not allowed to touch our fans. She went as far as taping the pull cords onto the fan base so that it was not reachable without a ladder. Several days later, we talked her into using the fans because we were having trouble sleeping.
• The kitchen door was also locked before we got home from Lagos, and this forbids me from even getting a cold glass of water.
• The next day, she told me that I had to buy her a new desk chair because it was now extremely wobbly from me sitting in it every day. I didn’t know how to say “piece of crap” in Spanish, but I sure would have tried to mumble it out if I had had the slightest clue. Senora and I went to the furniture store together to buy a new chair and she tried to get me to buy her a much nicer chair than the one I broke! I told her I wasn’t going to buy anything except a chair that was identical. We eventually agreed on the a chair for 40€.
• Best Senora Story Yet! The very last night that we are staying in her house, Tad and I were getting ready to have a few beers with the group before we left the next morning. While I was putting on clothes, Tad was hanging out in his room and began to feel a bit warm. He reached over and turned the fan switch on. Without making more than 3 full spins, the entire ceiling fan (base and all) fell to the floor.  It was extremely loud so I walked into Tad’s bedroom to find the fan on the ground, glass and wood shattered everywhere. The only thing left on the ceiling was a few broken wires! Here comes Senora….Que pasa? Que pasa? (What’s wrong? What’s wrong?) She tried to tell Tad that since it happened in his bedroom, that he was responsible for the fan. She believed that Tad was pulling too hard on the fan pull cord, but he didn’t do anything but touch the wall switch. Not to mention, that if he was under the fan when it fell, he would’ve been severely hurt. Anyway, we left Senora the following morning with only 1 ceiling fan in our 2 bedrooms. There was no way she was going to get us for rent, a new desk chair, AND a new ceiling fan!

On Saturday morning (September 25^th), Alan and I took the train to Cordoba, and then took a bus from Cordoba to Lucena. For 5 nights, we are staying at Hostal Sara in Lucena. Sunday is bad day to begin looking for apartments because there is only 1 returning bus throughout the whole day. So, we have spent today doing as much research on the internet as possible. There is certainly anxiety building about searching for a place to live. We are attempting to prepare a script for any questions and answers that could be useful in a housing conversation. We drew many weird stares as we walked around for breakfast this morning. It’s completely different than being in a large city like Sevilla – it’s not very often that these small towns see Americans. Much less, two guys with southern accents.

It should be a very fun experience over the next couple days. We must find a place to live before Thursday, and start work on Friday, October 1^st.

Hope everyone is doing well. Miss everyone at home.

Hasta luego – Alan & Steven

New Video of Marbella Trip - September 3-4, 2010

Steven's look alike!! - Jesulin de Ubrique

This is one of the most famous and richest bullfighters and singers in Spain, Jesulin de Ubrique. More than 10 people have randomly told Steven that he looks just like him. Thought you guys could share in our humor. Here's one of his songs that a Spaniard friend posted on Steven's Facebook wall.

Más Económica

Alan may have lucked out on the getting the senora with air conditioning, but I lucked out by getting a roommate and a shower. Our group of CIEE teachers and I thought that the mental image of Alan sitting down, taking a bath, and scrubbing himself clean was hilarious.

Speaking of senoras - I am told constantly reminded on how to save money on utilities. Let me be brief, and just give you a few examples of how we save money around here. As well as a few stupid rules from my senora.

• I went to bed last night with the fan on high, and when I woke up it was mysteriously turned off. So while I was in a deep sleep, my senora opened my door sometime during the night, turned my fan off, as if I wasn’t going to sweat for the rest of the night.
• Speaking of fans, my ceiling fan is from the 1800s. So, I asked her if she minded if I went to El Corte Ingles and bought a personal small fan for sleeping. Nope, not allowed. – “no mas ventiladores, mas economica”.
• I normally leave either my cell phone, iPad, or laptop plugged in to charge when I go run errands. Every time I return, my things are unplugged.
• She unplugs the WiFi internet at nighttime as if it costs a tremendous amount of money to keep the router turned on. There’s not a set time that she turns it on and off, so we never know when we will have an internet signal. This causes problems for a serious college football fan.
• There is no hot water in the house, so my showers are quite cold. Sometimes this is good, because a cold shower will at least let me quit sweating for 15-20 minutes.
• After our meals, we try to help clean the kitchen. Put dishes in the dishwasher and put away items that need to be refrigerated. Senora told us today that she didn't want us to put things in the refrigerator anymore because we put fingerprints on her metallic finish and she had to clean them off. This new rule just about took me over the edge! 

Alan lives across the river in the part of town called Triana. I live in the center of Sevilla on Calle Feria. The weather is finally starting to cool down now that we’re moving into September. We started our 4-week immersion course with Spanish classes from 9am-1pm. Following our classes, each of us will normally head home to eat the lunch that our senora has prepared. It’s common for Spaniards to eat lunch between 2-3pm and make it their biggest meal of the day, which is followed by a light dinner. Both of our senoras essentially force-feed us. They prepare twice as much food than we would normally eat in America and expect us to eat everything. Then, there lies a serious problem when we don’t particularly like the meal. Overall, the food prepared for us has been descent. Some dishes are great, some are terrible. We’re both trying to keep an open mind and try everything.

The menu of foods that our senoras cook seems to be pretty similar. Here’s an example:

Breakfast: 4 pieces of toast and jelly, juice

Lunch: Gazpacho, Meat, vegetable or starch, fruit or yogurt

Dinner: Meat, Vegetable or starch, fruit or yogurt

So, we’ve been here for about two and a half weeks now. We’ve taken advantage of our first two weekends by traveling to some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The slideshows of pictures are posted on the blog, or you can just click this link to view to Steven's Picasa Web Albums.

During our first weekend in Sevilla, a large group of us went to Cadiz on the Atlantic coast of Spain. It was a beautiful beach with tooons of people. The beach was chaos because it was the end of August, also known as the end of the summer. The second weekend, we went to Marbella with 5 guys. It was a much more elegant beach with a more relaxed atmosphere. It’s a town with more of a tourist attraction. We stayed at Hostal del Pilar and paid €15/night. We really enjoyed staying at the Hostal as the owners were Scottish and extremely accommodating.

Pictures: Marbella Beach for the Weekend

Pictures: Beach Trip to Cádiz

Videos: Visit to Alcázar!

El Alcázar de Sevilla
Alan recorded about 30 different scenes of the Alcázar and condensed them to this cool clip.



Rollerblading in Spain
Alan caught this guy busting his moves in Sevilla. Thought it was pretty impressive.