Irrational Behavior

I'm aware that I haven't updated in over two weeks, but for once that isn't entirely my fault. The internet in my house was broken from the Friday before last until two days ago, so for once I've been prevented from writing by outside forces beyond my own laziness. It was really frustrating for a while mostly because I couldn't talk to my parents or anyone from home on Skype. This is how the saga goes: It stopped working Friday night, and last Monday was a holiday here, so we couldn't call to get it fixed until Tuesday. On top of that, my roommate was in France visiting a friend from Thursday to Tuesday for the long weekend, so I was all alone and disconnected from the world in my sad little world. It actually makes you a lot more homesick not to have a roommate, in my opinion. I was experiencing what would be called "irrational behavior" by the program handbook. They tell us that we may experience irrational behavior occasionally while here, meaning weird moods and strange feelings. I also couldn't check the "Oscar scores" as I accidentally called them--I've clearly been watching more sports than awards shows lately--until Monday. Conclusion: I really need to see The King's Speech, apparently James Franco and Anne Hathaway sucked as hosts (although I'm convinced it's just a symptom of the world's under-appreciation of James Franco), and overall I didn't miss too much because everyone just complained about how terrible the show was. I did watch The Kids Are All Right on Sunday, which didn't win anything but was nominated 4 times, and I really enjoyed it.

Due to the lack of updates, I'm resigning myself to the fact that I'm not going to be able to cover everything, so I'll try to focus on the big stuff that's happened lately. Big thing: Gibraltar! I went to Gibraltar on Monday since there was no school. We went with Discover Sevilla, a really cool group that takes students around on various trips around Spain and the surrounding countries. It was a really fun day trip. A little Gibraltar history: It was colonized by the Spanish initially in the 1400s, then taken over by the British in the 1800s, so it's currently a British territory. Technically, it was leaving the country. We got really lucky with weather; our bus tour guide--a really cool Gibraltar native named Alan--kept telling us how lucky we got with the visibility. We could see the tip of Africa! So I waved at Africa, accepting that Gibraltar is as close as I'm going to get to that part of the world this semester. Gibraltar is famous for the rock, which we did get to see. There are really cool caves within the rock that we walked through as well.

Another main attraction at Gibraltar is the monkeys, or barbary apes, as they're called there (so British!). If you let them, some of the guides there will get them to climb onto your head! I just couldn't make myself do it, I got too startled, but my friend Natalie bravely did so, and it was a sight, let me tell you. There was one cheeky little one that kept jumping from person to person and onto the bus and then onto someone else's head, and that was just too much for me to handle, so I didn't get to have a monkey on my head. It's okay though, they seemed kind of dirty anyway. At least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about my own lameness.

One of the most interesting parts of the trip for me was seeing the mix between Spanish and English there. Because it's an English territory, the official language is English, and British English at that. There were fish and chips places everywhere and red telephone booths and everything. Being there really made me want to go back to England. I don't know if I'll make it there this semester, though, since I'm placing priority on places I haven't been before. There's also a lot of Spanish influence too, of course, considering Gibraltar is geographically a part of Spain, I guess. According to Tour Guide Alan, everybody there is bilingual. He spoke to us in English, but our Discover Sevilla tour guide was a native sevillano, so when the two of them would speak Spanish, we could hear how Alan was fluent in both. Very cool.

Since I mentioned places I've never been before, another big development: Italy! I'm going to Italy in April! Two of my friends (Natalie and Sabriye) and I are going to Rome and Florence for a week when we have no school for Holy Week. We're going to spend a little more time in Rome than Florence because there's more to do there. Natalie is Italian so she's trying to get us family hookups for everything. We might take a boat ride out to Capri for a day. And I think we're going to get to be in Rome on Palm Sunday, which I've heard is amazingly cool, so I'm very excited. If any of you have been to Italy and have suggestions of what to do, let me know! I'm also going to Barcelona at the end of the month, and I'm so excited. I've been saying all along that I really want to go to Barcelona and now I get to go! Natalie, Sabriye, and I are going from March 31-April 3. Then my mom will arrive on April 4 to visit for a week, and then three days after she leaves it's Italy! April basically doesn't exist.

And one last trip to discuss: Saturday night we went to Cádiz for Carnaval! It was so crazy and so fun. You're supposed to dress up in a costume, but it doesn't have to make sense apparently, so what I wore is best described as business casual Aladdin with a punk mohawk. It sounds weird/slightly impossible, but there is the photographic evidence. This was another trip through Discover Sevilla, which was good because they make sure to get people back in as timely a manner as possible (public transportation doesn't get anyone home until the early morning). And it was Sabriye's birthday on Sunday so Carnaval was like a celebration just for her! There were just people everywhere in ridiculous costumes, live music, food, everything. I've heard it described as Spanish Mardi Gras, but never having been to real Mardi Gras, I can't say whether or not that's accurate, therefore the metaphor is useless to me. But if you've been to Mardi Gras, you probably have some idea of what Carnaval is like. There were food stands too with really good food. Sabriye and I shared a waffle with chocolate sauce on it that was delicious, and later we had a burger and fries. The burger was interesting, definitely not quite like American burgers, but the fries were delicious. It was a great time.

The next two weekends will be spent here in Sevilla, then on the 26th we're taking a day trip to Ronda with the program, and after that begins what I anticipate to be the fastest April of my life. And I'll be updating more now that my internet works again!

Pictures (from top): the rock of Gibraltar, Africa, the caves, as close as I was willing to get to a monkey, my friend Marni and my ridiculous/awesome "costume" for Carnaval (in which you can see two or three of the five shirts I wore under my costume--along with a pair of leggings and jeans underneath the pants--because it was supposed to be chilly. Marching band competitions in late October taught me to layer like a champ).