Study Abroad 2017: Week 15: Dec. 11th-17th (La Última Semana)

Well, folks. This is it: the last week of my living here in Sevilla. I'm not quite sure how to feel... it was a very long week for sure, but now--it's Sunday. Tomorrow is my last day walking to UPO ever and it's also my last day with my host family. But..... you know what that means?!?! My parents are here!!!!! They land in Sevilla in less than an hour from the moment I am typing this. I cannot wait to see them. I don't think I'm going to let go of them once I touch them.....

So I had three days of class this past week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday which were just full of review and presentations and projects and essays. Then, Thursday I had two finals and Friday one. Now I have my last one tomorrow at 9am. Then bam--there goes my first semester/quarter of my junior year and my time studying abroad. Es loco (it's crazy).

So on Monday I found out that I won the photo contest!! I entered a photo contest through my school where I had the chance to win a free sweatshirt. And I won it! I went into the office to get it and Rubén, of course, was there. He asked to see what photo I posted and said I had good photography skills. I don't know why I'm so awkward but I just get super shy when he talks to me in the office... although I did finally get a picture with him so I'm proud of myself (see below). But anyway, I really like the sweatshirt so thanks to everyone who liked my photo on Facebook so I could win, hehe. On Tuesday, it was the last day with the kiddos I have been teaching at the bilingual school outside the city. My heart was so full when I left because each one of them lined up and gave me a card and a hug. It was the sweetest thing ever. I cannot even begin to explain the emotions I felt after leaving them. I didn't ever want to leave... it will never be that way again. Ahh, it makes me sad just thinking about it. I wish I had more time with them. I would spend the rest of the year with them if I could. It was just a day of goodbyes I suppose because then, later that night, I had to say goodbye to one of my friends that I made in Morocco. Her name is Lindsey and she was in another program here in Sevilla which ended a week earlier than mine. She left to go home this past Wednesday.

On Friday night, my friends and I finally made it to the discoteca that is right next to Carly and my place. It is called Abril and it's this massive place. We had a great time because they were playing great Spanish music and we just were dancing and people-watching. We realized that Spaniards seriously dress so nicely. It doesn't matter how cold it is outside... they will still be wearing dresses or bras (seriously, fancy bras) and skirts with tights and high heels. Me? I decided to go for the natural beauty/casual look. I wore jeans and a bright pink shirt and hardly did anything extra special with my hair and make-up. There were two things I learned from that club that night. One, no true Spaniard wears jeans. Two, they all wear dark colors. It was quite comical. I probably had five or six people touch my shirt or point at my shirt. There were the blue lights in the club so I was extra glow-y. At first, I thought people were just being touchy because that's what Spaniards do (they have no concept of space). And then I realized I was being touched and talked to because they were pointing out my bright pink shirt. Leave it to Kellie to stand out with her bright pink something or other. Oh, also... I've gone from trying to fit in and be a Spaniard to appreciating the uniqueness of being American and being myself. I'm proud of being American and proud of my American accent. There's no hiding it. I guess that's why I didn't think twice about the pink shirt. Also, if you put on an American song, I'm going to dance and sing every word. Oh, dancing gives me away too--I dance very "big" and just a lot... and Spaniards are very casual and tranquilo and move very slightly, however they usually dance very well. To be honest, I don't really care--I just have fun! I met this guy David, who talked with me for a little. It was so loud in there that he couldn't hear me so I wrote out what I was trying to say in Spanish and he would try to talk to me in Spanish or in English. At least I can say that I met a local. And of course I got a picture... because I take pictures with all the cool guys I meet. Well, we finally got home at 5am and went to bed at 5:30am. Then, we woke up at 1:30pm the next day.

Saturday was really fun. After lunch, Carly and I went downtown where there is the Ferris Wheel, Christmas markets, and an ice skating rink. A group of my girlfriends and I skated for an hour or so, then rode the Ferris Wheel right as the sun was disappearing and it was so pretty. You could see the entire city. It was a very fast Ferris Wheel, which made it so fun! After that, we did a little shopping in the Christmas markets and then Carly and I were going to get sushi for dinner downtown somewhere. Oh, back-story...so our host mom had this big party thing all day Saturday. We saw her at lunch and she was all dressed up and, man, she looked like a babe. She was so cute...she didn't want to leave us. Well she said she was going to probably be back super late and we didn't want to make Padre cook for us and we had wanted to get sushi so we decided to go get sushi. Okay, so back to us going to dinner. Carly and I were on our way to this sushi place we found and right before we got there--we saw a pizza hut. We smelled the pizza and we were like, mm.. let's just go look inside. Well, I know... I know we are lame, but we decided to get pizzas para llevar (to-go) and go back to the house, pick up a bottle of cider on our way home, and watch a Christmas movie while eating and drinking on our couch. It was a great choice. We watched a cute Christmas movie and ate our yummy pizza and drank our cider. Then, our friends wanted to meet up at a bar downtown. So we went to this Irish Pub. It was grand--we had our own table between the six of us and we were just chatting and listening to the very loud Irish-ish music. Oh, and I met this guy named Florencio who was super funny. So I went up to the bar to grab a drink and he thought I was copying his drink or so he said. Then, we just chatted for awhile. He was from Sevilla, too, so I can say I met another local. He spoke very good English and he was quite funny. So the Irish Pubs started to get super crowded and so I realized I had been gone a long time but my friends hadn't noticed because they just thought it was taking a long time to get a drink. Well, then the moment they happened to look over was when he was telling me the reason he got kicked out of this club. He had pulled out these animal masks, had put it on his head, and then given it to me to put on. So as my friends look over, they see me putting on this animal mask. They got a great kick out of it. Don't worry, I got photos (see below). His friend was pretty funny too. It was great meeting some more locals. Well after the pub, MJ and I (the OG) decided to go out to a discoteca again. There was one called Utopia which is really popular and was close by. So we go around 2am and end up waiting in a line for 45 minutes. We finally were done waiting since we hadn't moved much so we tried another discoteca. We had to wait in line there too and it took another 30 minutes. Then, right as we were towards the front, I texted Carly to make sure she made it home okay because she had left to go get a taxi an hour and a half before. She replied and said "No I can't get a taxi. Help!!!!" I was so confused on what she had been doing or where she had been for the past hour and a half. I was very concerned so I told MJ to wait in line and that I was going to go get her. Well, on my way to go get Carly, MJ called me and said she was the next person in line. I started to sprint back and we got up to the front, but then there was an entrance fee and I was like MJ we really need to find Carly and take her home. After waiting in line for so long, we had lost our motivation to dance. So, MJ and I left and went to find Carly. We found her on the corner of the street by her self, trying to hail a taxi. She ended up telling us that there was this massive line for the taxi and she didn't know what to do. She had tried walking home and then her phone died, so she asked someone to take her back to Triana, which is the neighborhood where the pub was, that way she was at least in a public area that was familiar and would have lots of taxis. There were just so many people out and about--it was ridiculous. And it was definitely not the warmest so... like I said, Spaniards are loco! Well, I have the application 'MyTaxi' on my phone so I called a taxi with that and we ended up making it home by 4:30am. It was quite a crazy evening though!

So now it is Sunday. I slept in until about noon. I woke up at 9am this morning with a bad cold, or so I thought. My nose was stuffed, my voice was froggy, and my head felt full and heavy. But once I fell back asleep and woke up again at noon, I felt quite a bit better. Then, host mom and Carly and I went to lunch "afuera" or outside the house at a cafe on the street. But, the first one we went to had really bad service (even for Spain) and the tables were in the shade so host mom decided we should go to the mall and eat at an American restaurant there. We had to ask for la cuenta (the bill) about four times or more. Host mom was not happy. But then, we went to Fridays which is TGI Fridays and had a huge meal there. It was exciting because we had to wait for a table and so they gave us one of those pagers that buzz when your table is ready. The host hands it to our host mom and she goes "Qué es?" like "What is this?" because she has never seen one of those before. Isn't that crazy?! We had fun with her. She got cajun ribs, I had a tex mex type burger, and Carly had french dip. It was the most American meal I have had in months. Yet, now I don't feel as good as I normally do so I have to admit, I really like my Spanish diet here... but it was still a wonderful time. I did a little shopping after and then came back to the house. Now... I really need to pack...but I really don't want to. So I am going to try to procrastinate, yay.

Well, the next time I blog, I will be in Prague, Czech, with my parents. Ahh! That is so crazy. And then 11 days from now and I will be flying home to Denver. Wow--America--I'm coming for you.
Hope you guys are all doing well and are getting ready for Christmas and are enjoying the holidays! Hasta luego!