Happy Monday!

I suppose I should start studying for my Semantics and Phonetics exams, both tomorrow. Turns out motivation is hard to come by when you haven't done anything all semester! I've discovered my teeny tiny room is not the most studying-conducive room (cabin fever, meh), so I'll probably end up at Mama Goye, our trusty little cafe that stays open, always. It's the only reliable thing in this country, I swear. I'm definitely excited to come home...my ability to stomach chorizo is disappearing haha. 

Okay, studying commences...now. 

"Bird." -Betsy Collins, legendary

The emo stage has ceased, my apologies for being melodramatic. A new day has dawned, the cock has crowed (at least I can already joke about it, right?). I actually felt a new calm today, maybe because my ambitions have aligned. I found my perfect career: professional scheduler. I only have one class on Mondays and Fridays, at 10, first! I'm taking three of my five remaining core classes, the fruits of my previous indecisiveness in choosing a major. I'll also have a News Writing class, as an outlet to quench my language thirst, because how will I live without creating these little blurbs, in all their ineloquence? A tragic thought indeed. I may just have to continue Incessant(ly) Rambling. 

Dire Need of Detox.

Just ate the grossest thing of my life. Carmen fed us the most mysterious of mystery meats, though she did tell us it was a small type of hen (shadykins!) Nastiest color ever. Full of teeny tiny bones. Pretty sure I swallowed a few. My stomach hurts. America, I long for you. 

Single digits.

Officially done with classes, hip hip hooray! I've only been looking forward to this for about nine weeks! Not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do with myself for the next nine days, but due to my latest discovery that H&M is heated, I might just camp out there. I think I'm ready to go back to America, where things generally run smoothly and make sense, i.e. where garbage isn't collected at 2 a.m. and where the line between what is a sidewalk and a street is never a blur. I've also come to the realization that Sevilla is the most poorly designed city as far as pedestrian walk signals go. They really need some new civil engineers, maybe we can send Adam out here? For instance, on the way to class I cross a street with two different ped signals. The second signal comes on first (?), followed by the first. So by the time I cross the first part of the street, I have to run across the second to make the light. Yup, your guess is as good as mine. Additionally, on the way to the bus station, the signals come on at the same time. You have about 25 seconds to cross the first part of the street and 10 for the second. 

Side note: I can't wait to never eat chorizo again!

Mario, Luigi, The Turtles...

...back from Italy! Glorious (extended) weekend, indeed. We tore up the place, what can I say. Florence was absolutely beautiful...seeing Michaelangelo's "David" was probably worth the trip itself. We then spent two days in Rome, where we saw the Pope, no big deal. First we went to the Vatican museum, which boasts a ridiculously expansive collection of artwork. Makes me wonder how such wealth has accumulated in an institution that preaches almsgiving...but I won't get into that haha..We wanted to see St. Peter's Basilica, but for some reason no one was being let in, so what else do we do but join in the line. At 3:30 the crowd started pouring in, and we found out there was a pre-Advent celebration. The ceremony consisted of a multitude of Latin hymns and a homily from the Pope. I found it slightly awkward that a bunch of mostly tween girls near the aisle were snapping as many pictures as possible as the Pope walked by, standing on their chairs. You would have thought it was the Jonas Bros rollin' in. All in all, I had a great, grand, wonderful weekend, and it was lovely to spend the holiday with Mary, Abbey, and Molly! 

Because 12 Grimmauld Place is calling me...

Minor change in plans haha. I'll be going back to BC next semester. There were no major events really that affected this decision, mainly just that I feel oddly stagnant as far as academic progress goes. It's kind of hard not to love living in a city that is sunny virtually everyday, but I really should be taking advantage of BC. I think I miss the stress in some twisted way. The unproductivity is getting to me. I can putz around after college, in the summers, whenever. Additionally, I'm tired of our one printer at API being broken and the university library being closed due to student protests...being a fake student in general (paper ID cards, really?) Most important, 12 Gerald (Grimmauld) is calling my name, and you just don't mess with the Order of the Phoenix. 

Other events: 

I just finished my group presentation on Medicine in the Renaissance. My section was on the philosophers (yeah yeah you can laugh)...I'm just hoping I didn't sound like a total imbecile, or imbeSULLin (Brian Regan anyone? No? Okay, moving on.) 

Tomorrow Joanna "Vlada" Pasheluk and myself will be presenting our Semantics project...so hopefully no one in my class reads this tonight otherwise the surprise will be spoiled (Does anyone even read this?). 

I missed my art history class this morning to finish our power point presentation. Apparently the professor read our midterm exams aloud, and I received an 8/10. I'll take it. This was our exam, which was written on the board last week:

1. Retablo

2. Cupula

3. Montañés 

As you can see, the expectations were clear. 

Thursday I am going to Italy to meet the Arndt gals! I'm flying into Pisa, maybe stopping to see the leaning tower (before it falls over, right dad?), bus-ing to Florence, where we will be for two days, followed by two days in Rome. 

Done rambling,

Maddy

Soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuvres!

Just returned from a group trip to Paris, the City of Lights. Besides minor hotel problems (murky cesspool of yellow water and proliferating bacteria in the bathroom of our first room), I found Paris to be absolutely delightful. The night we arrived was quite clear, which is a rare occasion for this city, as the subsequent days of gray nebulosity proved. The clouds still were not enough to take the beauty away from the city. Never have I seen anything so ornate. In Paris, each bridge, each lamp post, comes down to the finest detail. 

The Eiffel Tower was a convenient 10-minute stroll from our hotel, so we took advantage of the clear first night to see it up close. It stands at the end of an expansive park, reaching toward the sky. Its blue ilumination made it a remarkable sight. On the front side is a ring of glowing stars, representing the European Union's current presence in paris. Additionally, for five minutes on the hour, the tower twinkles in brilliant crystal lights (warning to the epileptic). 

Eiffel by day: me, Marisa, Joanna

Eiffel by night

The following morning involved a three-hour bus ride slash tour through the city. It was about as exciting as a bus ride can be, but we did get to stop at the Musee d'Homme for an uniterrupted view of the Eiffel! A visit to Notre Dame and Saint-Chappelle followed. We toured the Conciergerie, the old prison where the anti-Revolutionary folk were kept before losing their heads (pun intended). Unfortunately I had to take a break from everything since I wasn't feeling well. So while I was lying incapacitated in the hotel for 3 hours, Joanna, Marisa, and Jessie went to see the catacombs. 

Saint-Chappelle

The next day began with an utmost inefficient visit to the Louvre. After waiting around for about an hour and a half, we entered the museum and probably saw about 2% of it on our tour. But hey, I saw the Mona Lisa. If nothing else, the arquitecture was immensely impressive. We hopped on down to the metro to peruse Les Puces de St-Ouen, Paris most famous flea market. The little white tents went on forever, chock full of antiques and little knick knacks. We wandered our way over to a little ma-n-pa cafe for lunch, where the four of us ate Croque Monsieur (note: the decision to eat ham was purely for cultural enrichment haha). We took the Metro to Montmartre, the gigantic and seemingly only hill in Paris. A short hike brought us to the most spectacular view of the city and the impressive Basilique de Sacre-Coeur. Jessie and I spent the remainder of the evening wandering around Marais, a neighborhood with a plethora of cafes and very cool vintage stores. We ate dinner at a small sandwich shop and chatted briefly with the two workers. One asked if we were American, and when we said yes, he mumbled something that apparently was "Obama," when the other worker corrected his pronunciation. He gave us a big grin and thumbs up and said "Obama, good!" and the other (smilingly as well) did a thumbs down as said, "Bush, bad." We encountered nothing but friendliness in Paris, and I think the recent election (or maybe a little luck) had a lot to do with that. So thank you, Barack!

Sunday we spent the day at Louis XIV palace in Versailles. The palace was majestic. One hallway included room after room of brilliant jewel-toned colors of gold, red, green, purple. My only grievance is that the palace is currently home to a Jeff Koons exhibit, with awkwardly-placed contemporary art pieces (i.e. a giant, metallic-magenta balloon dog). We wandered around the expansive gardens, but I think the cool weather and general brown-ish tone of the landscape made us appreciate it less. I would love to see it in the spring time when everything is full-bloom. 

Well, that ends my trip to Paris. I think it's time for you to put a smile on: