finalmente...

i did get home just fine, and then spain trumped germany in the eurocup 2008 final. all is well with the world. ¡¡¡VIVA ESPAÑA!!! thanks for reading! and now, for the last time,
-kl

svq-bcn-ewr-msp. oh wait, just kidding

so i was /supposed/ to be back in minnesota a few hours ago, but instead i am stuck in a hotel in newark, nj--the armpit of the world. sevilla to barcelona was fine, but then in barcelona i was one of the lucky 3 on the overbooked flight that got bumped to another flight, meaning that i missed my newark-msp connection and that was the last flight out of here for 16 hours. so here i am. in newark. when i should be home. ugh. the positive out of this is that i am getting a sweet deal from continental--600 euros, or about $1000, direct deposited into my account. sweet! that basically means that i just got reimbursed for nearly all of my spending in spain. nice.

on another note, here are the last of the pictures:

sevilla week 4: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll263/luckingk/sevilla%20week%204/
albufiera, portugal: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll263/luckingk/albufeira%20portugal/
sevilla week 5: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll263/luckingk/sevilla%20week%205/

eurocup 2008 finals tomorrow and you know what that means...

¡¡¡VIVA ESPAÑA!!!

besitos-
-kl

¡finales!

so last night (our last night in sevilla--sob!) we had our final dinner with all the students, institute staff and vicki. it was so much fun! we went to tex-mex (sean and stuart's bar) to watch the game and eat, and much merriment was had--especially when spain TRUMPED russia to make it into the eurocup FINALS!!! seriously, the entire country exploded and there was rioting in the streets. love it!

then we spent the rest of the night at a disoteca called buddha, which was so much fun!

today all my girls left, and i basically spent the day at home (meaning carmen's), and i decided it would be best to stay inside, as it is 120 (yes, you read that correctly, 120) degrees outside. oof. yuck. i did go out for a little bit, but 2.5 hrs was all i could stand.

otherwise the last week has been pretty full, with finals and such. i think they actually went pretty well. mon we went to the archivos de indios, where all of columbus's original papers are--wow. then we had our final lunch with sean, as he is off to the states, and that night we went to see sean and stuart's club futbol game. tuesday we went to casa de pilatos, which is very similar to the alcazar or the alhambra, but not on quite such a grand scale. after that we went to the tattoo and piercing parlor, where katie and sam got the inside of their ears pierce and danielle got inked. wednesday i studied my tail off due to finals being on thursday, and after that was the spain vs russia game. i'm leaving tomorrow morning at 5am, and the thought is suffocating--it's just so hard to imagine life outside of this!

i will post the last 400 pictures or so (week 4, portugal, and week 5) after i get back, as that will be the next time i'll have reliable internet. until then, besitos!
-kl

14

so it´s been a while since i updated, for which i apologize, but i have been busy (haha, story of my life). last week we had presentations in spanish all week, so that ate up time. also 2 quizes and a paper. our cultural activites were yoga, which i´ve never done before, and running, in which i did not partake, thank you very much. thursday we went out for tapas, and met 2 more spaniards. i think these 2 restaurants were my favorite yet. i elected against going out that night, as i was still running a fever at the time, and we had to get up early in order to go on our weekend trip to...

PORTUGAL!!! this is my 14th country (well, 15th if you count the amsterdam airport as the netherlands, which i don´t). we went to a resort in albufeira, right on the ocean. it was gorgeous:

temps in the 80s instead of the 100s, breezy, sunny, etc. i applied spf 40 sunscreen about 5 times a day and still tanned through it. ridic, man.

friday we spent all day at the pools at the resort, saturday we took the path down to the ocean, and then proceeded to clambor around on the rocks on the beach. big, climbable rocks. so pretty:

(ps, we met another american girl named vicki from ny state, also 20, spending the summer in sevilla, and she is on the far left, followed by katie, danielle and sam.) and sun we spent again at the resort before returning to a 110 degree sevilla. it was quite a relaxing weekend right before final presentations, projects, papers and tests.

sunday night we watched the fútbol game--spain vs italy. huge rivals, lemme tell ya. and spain won!!! soo much fun. it wasn´t quite rioting in the streets, but the entire country exploded in cheers when casillas blocked the final shootout (0-0 in double overtime). of course we have the semi-finals on the schedule for thurs, so go spain!!!

then yesterday we went to los archivos de indios, which is right next to la giralda, and houses all of crístobol colón´s papers (you yanks would call him christopher columbus), and it was fascinating. then we had our final lunch with sean, as he is off to the states now. that night we went to stuart´s and sean´s fútbol game, which was basically a club game. wouldn´t you know that it was like 80 degrees and we were all shivering with goosebumps and chattering teeth? whoda thunk.

had another presentation yesterday and a final paper tomorrow, followed by finals on thursday. but if that is what i have to do in order to stay here forever, you bet i would.

all for now. ¡viva españa!
-kl

¡fotografías nuevas!

read subject line.

sevilla week 3: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll263/luckingk/sevilla%20week%203/
barcelona: http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll263/luckingk/barcelona/

as always, ask if you have questions. enjoy!
-kl

barcelona!!!

ok. so. this weekend was basically amazing. ah. may. zing. (btw, the spanish socialist healthcare system is marvelous, and after one trip to the farmacia i got 20 pills for 75, count 'em 75, cents and they worked wonders, so i feel great). my plane landed in barcelona at about 8:20pm, and from there i had a 1/2 hour cab ride into the city. from there i met brock and his (and now my) friend linnea at the hostel. from there we went out for dinner, where i introduced them to tapas. yum! then we walked over to la sagrada familia, one of the gaudí cathedrals in barcelona. let me tell you how crazy this thing is. he designed it upside-down, so the whole thing literally looks like it's melting. and it's all lit up at night, gorgeous.

friday morning we got up and walked over to la pedrera, which was originally an apartment building, also designed by gaudí. the roof and exterior of this place are so alien! this is what you can see from the street (as always, click on any picture to enlarge):


and this is the ridiculosity that is the roof. what?!! love it:


from there we made a rather epic hike up to park güell, which is again gaudí. for those of you who are america's next top model fans, you will recognize this part of the park as the final catwalk in the season finale between caridee and melrose where they were the corpse brides. the whole park is like this, and the thing extends halfway up a mountain:


then we came across casa botlló, or house of skulls, again gaudí. are you starting to get a feel for his architecture yet? thinking maybe he was a little loopy? me too:


then we went back to la sagrada familia and this time we went in. here are a few pictures of the most bizarre cathedral i've ever seen. this is the new side, the passion:


and this is the old side, the nativity:


from there we went to a supermarcado and bought ourselves some dinner, and then we were gonna go to the beach and have a picnic, but we ran across this amazing little jazz quartet in a park, so of course we stayed and ate dinner there instead. good change of plans.

saturday, then, we started the day by hitting up a flea market, which was seriously like 6 city blocks jam packed with venders and hagglers. then we went back to that same park as the jazz concert, whose name is like 8 years long so i'm not even gonna try to type it, and ran across boats for rent! another happy little hiccup in plans. so we rented a boat on a lake. yay! then it was off to the beach for some much needed relaxation. that night we went to the football (you yanks would call it soccer) match for eurocup, again surrounded by overly enthusiastic spanish fans (spain won, woo!). and then, sadly, it was time for the weekend to come to an end, as we all had to get up waaay early flights (brock and linnea were up at 2:30, and i slept in to wake at 3:45).

now i'm back in sevilla, and up this week we have a bull fight tonight, which i opted out of. i'm not peta or anything, but i just don't think i could take the slaughter of an innocent animal in front of my eyes. academically, i have 2 quizzes, a paper, and a 15 minute presentation. yippee. so i should probably get back on that, haha. hope you're all faring well in the wet! today it was 39c/104f here. happy father's day!
-kl

sevilla week 3

well, it´s been kind of an uneventful week. tuesday was midterms, so all of monday was spent in preparation. tuesday was spain´s first game in the eurocup, so we went to sean´s bar and hung out with all the spanish fanatics, which was pretty fun. we also went to palacio lebrija, which is some countess´s house where she took stuff from all over the world and collected it just to have it. there were some pretty cool things there. yesterday we were supposed to go to casa pilatos in sevilla, but it was about to close, so it´s on raincheck.

in other news i am a bit sick. no good. fever and sore throat, and lemme tell ya, a fever when it´s already in the mid-upper 90s is no good.

up next: BARCELONA this weekend with brock! woo!!! until i get back...
-kl