Carnaval en Cádiz!

Hi everyone!! So it is Sunday night and I should be sleeping, but since I woke up at 1:35 pm today...I'm not that tired! So- blogging instead.

I had a great week. Second week of classes, still going well. That one class I have at the University of Sevilla is still horribly boring and long, but we are making our way through it. On Mondays and Wednesdays my first class is from 11-12:30 at the CIEE center, then I go to the University for my 1-3 class. After that class, we usually sit outside and eat our bocadillos (sandwiches) that are Señoras pack for us. We eat in this great plaza with a beautiful fountain, and it has been so nice lately so we get to take in a little sun!! Then I make my way back over to CIEE where I have class again from 5-6:30. After that, I usually spend a little time on the internet there, and then go home. Then I just hang out at home until dinner which is usually around 9:15 (my dad's bedtime). After dinner I either just talk online and do whatever homework I have or I go out with my friends which is always fun! Oh, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have one class at 5-6:30, so I either go for a run in the morning or just be a lazy bum and hang out at home until lunch which is usually around 2:15.

So that's pretty much my day to day schedule...as for this weekend, I had a lot of fun! My friend Jimmy from school was in town from Thurs-Sat, he's travelling for the whole semester and made a stop here. It was great to see him! We went out on Thursday night and I showed him what the discotecas in Sevilla are like. On Friday, Chrisy, Jillian, Jimmy and I went to the Cathedral (my third time there, soon to be 4th when my fam comes!) and La Giralda, and then went and hung out by the river for a few hours in the afternoon in the gorgeous weather. It was a great day! Then at night Jimmy and I got some tapas for dinner and met up with my friends to go out afterwards. It was all very fun. Saturday I slept in late once again and then did some errands in preparation for our trip to Cádiz for carnaval!

Carnaval de Cádiz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_C%C3%A1diz) is a huge festival, like Mardi Gras kind of, where everyone gets dressed up and drinks in the streets. They have them in a bunch of cities; the big one around us is in Cádiz which is about an hour and a half from Sevilla. Our bus left around 9 pm and we got there around 11 pm because getting into the city was so crazy. Apparently Cádiz holds 30,000 people, but on Carnaval nights there is a million people in the city!! Anyways, it was absolutely crazy!! There were SO many people, everyone was dressed up in ridiculous costumes, and everyone was very drunk! I was dressed as el diablo (the devil), mainly because it was the easiest costume I could find! We just spent the whole night out on the streets having fun, and then caught our bus back to Sevilla at 4 am. I got back to my house around 6 am, and then went right to sleep until 1:30 pm! It was a crazy night, but a lot of fun. I'll try and post a picture of my costume soon!

Today was another beautiful day. I hung around the house for a while, and then met up with a friend at Plaza de España. Oh, I forgot a great story! So on Friday when we went to the Cathedral, a crazy thing happened. I walked into the Cathedral and saw a group of students listening to their tour guide, and the first person I looked at....was someone I went to elementary school with!!! It was Scott Shapiro, he went to Avoca/Marie Murphy/NT with me! I was so shocked; walking into the third largest cathedral in the world in Sevilla, Spain and seeing someone I've known since I was 5 is not something that happens all the time! Haha. But it was great to see him, and I like I said, I met up with him today and we hung out for a while. Great to catch up in such a great city! After that, I met up with Chrisy and Jillian and we got some ice cream and hung out outside- doesn't get much better!!

So that was my week, a very good one. And this week- MY FAMILY COMES! They get here on Wednesday and I am getting VERY excited!!! It is late now and I have to go to bed, but I'll post more about my plans with them soon! Love you all!

Jess