pueblo visit

the past few weeks have been full of blessing. my roommate/good friend/travel buddy jaclyn is planning on coming to visit and travel with me for a bit before she starts a summer sculpture studio in prague. not quite sure exactly where, but we're hoping for southern spain, morocco, and the UK.

my heart has settled here and my relationships are solidifying. one exciting relationship that has just bugun is with a girl named maria from the university here who is studying german and english so that she can be a translator or interpreter working in tourism. i've loved meeting with her and practicing my spanish, as well as helping her with her english. our first meeting was going along so well and she asked me to come home with her to her pueblo near the city of sevilla. what an opportunity! i was so excited at the chance to see the spanish home life outside of the city and practice my spanish tons. i took her up on her offer and went with her to arahal friday. that night we went out with some of her friends for tapas (tapas are a small amount of food served at a bar that comes with a drink in granada... but here we had to buy them seperate). on saturday we helped her dad, who owns the market below their house, mark and stock the shelves with new goods that had come in, had a big lunch, siesta, and then went to the mall outside of sevilla. what a zoo! fashion and the need to be up with it is rampant here. the place was teeming with people, lines everywhere and clothes more in heaps than on hangers. i was glad when we got back to the quiet pueblo. that night i thought that we were going to be doing the same thing as the night before, but no no.... after the first bar maria took me and her friend to a flamenco bar where customers were dancing sevillana (the basic flamenco that all spaniards know) to a live 3 piece flamenco band. it was 1:30am when we arrived and i was already tired, but definitely perked up when we got here. it seemed "very spanish" and just loved watching everyone have a good time. i'm determined to learn the sevillana before i leave, especially before we have a festival here in granada where everyone will be in the streets all night doing this dance. when we left that bar i was sure that we were going home, but i was wrong again.... this time, discotec. first for me here. maria loves them and the reggatone music that goes with it. she says that she usually stays out till 7am when she goes to the club. i don't know how spaniards do it, but they do it a lot.

i had midterms this week and am glad those are over... 4 in 3 days, gross. but tonight i'll be on my way to BARCELONA! we have all next week off for the Holy Week before easter and i'll be in barcelona for the first part finding every gaudi building possible. we'll be back here before all the elaborate processions start here in granada. it will be very busy here when we get back because granda is known in andalusia for giving a good show all week long.

look forward to lots of good pix in the next week.