salchicha

Salchicha means sausage, and I am sick of it. I'm sick of the smell, I'm sick of the way it looks, I'm just sick of sausage. Their sausage is like salami except with more of the weird white stuff in salami. Like what is that stuff? I'm extremely glad that I didn't stay in a homestay, because they would feed me this yucky stuff that Spainards think is good. They all must be too drunk to really taste what they're eating or something, because it's weird! Salted olives (as if they aren't salty enough alone!), SNAILS!, and ham. Lots and lots of ham. I see signs all the time that say "Snails to go" like why on earth would I want snails, let alone to carry around?! Disgusting.

Yesterday, I went to the cathedral. It's famous and the third largest Gothic cathedral in the world, which I can't believe because it's massive. It's the size of the the Clearview mall I think. The entire time I was inside, I honestly don't think I was breathing. The details on the walls are so incredible. There are sculptures carved into the walls and it had to take years and years to build. I wouldn't know though because the majority was built in the 15th century. I climbed the tower, which is 98 meters high, and it is the craziest monument ever. First of all, safety restrictions don't seem to exist much. 35 floors of ramps at a probably 35 degree angle on each one to get up. No elevators, no railings, no employees anywhere, you're on your own climbing this tower. But when you get to the top, it's fine. Sevilla is an extremely flat city, and you can see the entire thing from the top. I could point out the church right near our university and the plaza that I walk in. I could see everything and behind it all is some mountains, literally awestriking. Another thing the cathedral claims is that they have the body of Christopher Columbus there. EVERYONE has the body of Christopher Columbus. When I was in the Dominican Republic, they had it. Where on Earth is Christopher Columbus' remains? I will admit though, their monument/ tomb here for him is much more impressive than the one in the Dominican Republic. Anyway, if you get a chance google pictures of the Seville cathedral before I post them, because you have to see it. The pictures won't do it justice, but at least you'll get an idea.

Classes are tough, possibly only because they are 4 hours straight. My classes at Pitt are 50 minutes long. 4 hours straight is really tough and the air conditioning usually doesn't work. International marketing is awesome, I love my teacher, and I think I'm actually learning. The European class is tough, because I don't care so much about the things my teacher does... aka Europe. The surprising part is that they are both very honest about what's going on. My initial thoughts were oh, I'm in Europe and they are Spainards, they're going to try to make both look incredible. They're both very up front about Spain's tanking economy and say that the USA is in charge. Which we obviously are, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't come here and look around. It's a completely different life style, one that everyone should try out for at least a week or two.

Last night was my friends 21st birthday here, which is kind of unfortunate for her since she was already legal here. We went into one bar last night (a group of approx. 23 students from our program) and they gave every single one of us free shots. Chupitos means shots, and I'm almost sick of those too actually.

When I get back to Pittsburgh and it rains, I'm going to think the Earth is falling apart because I'm forgetting what rain is. Also it will be nice to have a dryer, hanging my underwear in the living room is getting a bit silly. I just want to stop sweating!!