Faro Fotos

S. Great place for quiet time!
T. Leaving Armonia Island
U. Lunch
V. The beach!
W. What is the purpose of this sign? The store had 3 of these. I am 6 Euros tall.
X. Huge creepy Ad
Y. Our view for dinner (Faro)
Z. Our Hostel

Faro, We Hardly Knew You

What a weekend. The title is because we really didn't do or spend much time in Faro. Let's start with Friday.

Micah and I went for a run towards the Cathedral to exchange some money, sign up for "Hablo Espanol," a promise to only speak spanish, and to pick up my mail from CIEE. Thank you M+D and grandma Savat, I loved the letters! I also received, from the apartment, a leter from G+G Rumsey, thank you both so much! The ride to Faro went pretty smoothly, arriving at the hostel by about 6:00 PM. The hostel was phenomenal actually. We had our own room with two beds, provided towels, shower gel, and they cleaned and made our beds each day. The SHOWERS. Oh man, POWER. It was a small taste of home. WE took three 20 minutes showers while we were there. :) We had dinner just before sunset on a wall overlooking the vast wetlands with our homemade sandwiches and oranges. We then wandered around the small city for a couple hours, having been asked several times for money for the "bus". How easily are we recognized as Americans? Our goal is always to save money on weekend travels. We spent 8 Euros each on groceries before leaving which will hopefully last us the weekend. To cap off the night, we went to a coffee shop overlooking a small harbor where I enjoyed some green tea (cha), Micah had some hot chocolate and we discussed religion and politics, as always :).

We overslept on Saturday, but then realized that Portugal was an hour earlier. Last night, we kept asking these guys why a show hadn't started because it was 11:20, and it was supposed to start at 11:00. They probably thought we were foolish Americans, not knowing the right time. Breakfast at the hostel was excelent, we were waited on! We decided to take a bus to Olhao to take a ferry to Armonia. Bus and ferry round trip combined = 7 Euros a person. The beach was breathtaking. Will post photos soon. It was probably about 68 degrees and sunny and we had the beach to ourselves. A great, relaxing, cheap day. We got there at about noon and left at 5:30. Everyone on the island has sand yards, with cactii and odd plants. In Granada I spent about 115 Euros, 76 in Faro. After dinner and showers we returned to the same cafe for hot chocolates and played some rummy. At any other card game, he dominates. I, however, cannot lose in rummy.

Sunday was very quiet. We slept in and relaxed, had lunch and read by the wetlands. We did, however, have our first encounter with very legitimate pick-pocketers (guy and girl). It was so obvious, but I can see how they would be successful. What time is it? Is this your toy sword? (Micah bought it for a costume for Carnival in Cadiz). They played with that for a while, then wanted to see our belt buckle? to see what brands we were wearing? To take a photo with their arms around us? Ha don't worry, they got nothing. We almost missed the bus home, because we waited at Gate 3 for our bus, as it was supposed to be there. The driver from Gate 5 asks us if we're headed to Seville and then makes us feel dumb for not assuming that it was his bus we should have been getting on. Oh well, we made it home. A Spaniard overheard Micah and I debating if I should take History of Spain in english or spanish and he convinced me that I'm foolish to come here and take classes in English. Okay. Well, time for homework. Oh, and the superbowl is tonight? I'm still sick to my stomach about the Vikes game, I'll watch tonight but I don't want to.

Oh, lastly, I'm concerned that I won't be able to see all of the places that I would like to in Europe. But, I'll do all I can. If I travel nearly every weekend, I shall consider it a success.

Aust

Hey, Americans!

Wow, soooo books in Spain are actually very cheap. Instead of having the students purchase textbooks, profs assemble articles and book chapters in the copy center and bind these pages. I bought three "books" (all I need for the semester) for 32 Euros. Today I talked to Ana about the time differences in the U.S. and how I normally eat at 11:30 or noon and hence was very hungry when we hadn't had lunch by 3. She had a good laugh when I said my parents go to bed at around 10. Gustavo doesn't eat with us at 9:30 PM for dinner because he says he's not hungry and it's too early.

Micah and I did some reading about Faro. We thought it was closer to the Atlantic Ocean coast, but is actually looking out onto 150 square miles of wetlands and islands, how cool! You can take a ferry to the island for 3 euros and go exploring! Needless to say, we're excited for the trip.

Tonight Micah, Jackie (from Texas) and myself went to a bar called Levies where I choked by overlooking the Tea menu and settling on a Coke Zero. Should have gone with green tea. This place is very close to La Carboneria, where we were going to watch live flamenco in a few minutes. Just then we see three Northface-wearing, map-holding American girls who were clearly looking for La Carboneria (its very tough to find). We simply called out, "Hey, Americans." They responded with "Is it that obvious?" They are studying in Alcala de Heneres near Madrid, here for the weekend. So they joined us on our way to Flamenco and the night was pretty fun. The three of us walked back because the metro had closed by 12:30... it was a nice night and about a 30 minute walk. It was great being to discuss spirituality with them. People on this trip are so open to it and it continually encourages me to learn more, get in the Word more, listen to more sermons, read more about Chirstianity, develop more relationships, and build a heart for God's people.

Tomorrow Micah and I are going for a run in Seville at 10:00. My next post will come on Sunday! Hasta Luego.

Austino

Semester, Day 1

Hey all!
This weekend my roommate Micah and I will be heading to Faro, Portugal. It sits on the southern coast (our hostal is about 5 blocks from the beach). It should be about 62 and sunny for the whole weekend. It was kind of last minute - we wanted to go to madrid but a round trip bus would be 64 Euros in total, each way taking 6 hours. Faro costs 27 Euros round trip and is a 2 hour bus ride. We don't really know anything about the city, but figured, why not? We also got a hostal for two nights, 12.50 Euros/night/person in our own room, although we share a double bed haha. We're leaving at 2:00 on Friday and leaving Faro at 2:00 on Sunday. Should be a relazxing weekend - we're going to bring a soccer ball to play on the beach.

We are still working on our Semana Santa week-long break trip. Ryanair.com is extremely cheap and we have a great timeline for the trip, but for some reason the site is not functioning and hasn't for about 48 hours. We are getting nervous that things will fill up. Right now, we plan on spending one night in Milan, three nights in Venice, three nights in Slovenia (country northeast of Italy) with some of Micah's friends for free, and then 4 nights on the island of Sardinia in the city of Cagliari. And... I will be missing one days worth of class. Its worth it, right?

The semester started today. My classes went pretty smoothly. I believe that finance will be very easy, as some students haven't ever taken a finance class and this is my fourth. Managing Cultural Diversity should be good - not too difficult either. We have a final project on basically anything based on our experiences here. I'm looking forward to that. History of Spain in Spanish is tough, its hard to understand the professor. It'll improve with time I'm sure. Lastly, Business Spanish (in Spanish) is good and I think that it will be helpful. There is a guy in that class named Austin and he is from Texas and is pursuing a finance major. Whoa.

That's all I got! Adios

Austino

Granada Photos I

I will just say that it was very difficult to select photos to post. I snapped 200 shots.
P. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Q. A picture from Alhambra
R. Me in the cathedral of Granada. I think it's prettier than Seville's.
S. Me at the top of Sacromonte
T. People that live in the caves
U. Our group on the hike up Sacromonte
V. Inside our hostel, a view from the second floor
W. View of Carmona
X. Phil and I in Carmona
Y. We initially stood on the small pillars for the picture, but were yelled at (in Carmona).
Z. Mitch and I on the roof of Hotel EME for a party with La Catedral in the background (in Seville).

For Anne

Cocoon. Little Girl. I love you. Flowers/cross. You're a star. Thiago!

My Class Schedule

Monday and Wednesday:

9:00-10:20
Historia Contemporanea de Espana (Contemporary History of Spain in Spanish)
10:30-11:50
International Finance
12:00-1:20
Managing Cultural Diversity
1:30-2:50
Espanol de Negocios (Business Spanish in Spanish)

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:
No class

Yeah, things couldn't have worked out better for me. I have the best schedule possible. My weekend starts on Wednesday afternoons. I'm going to post some photos tonight as well.

Austino

Grand Granada II

Read the post below this one first!

Alright, part 2.

Sunday (today): Rob and I got up earlier than the rest and headed for Alhambra at about 8:30 AM. We simply wanted more time to explore the area as long as we paid what we paid to get here. On the way up, a man asked us if we were going to Alhambra and showed us the way. He seemed quite nice and showed us a sign map of Alhambra. Then he quickly opened the box he was carrying and started shining Rob's sneakers before we had a chance to say no. His two minutes of work apparently cost 5 Euros per shoe, we gave him about 5 and kept going. Lesson learned.

Alhambra was absolutely beautiful. You get great views of the city and gardins. See photos to come. I think the views were a bit spoiled from the night before's great views.

Some then returned to the city to try to go La Catedral that Kyle, Reagan, Allison and myself saw the day before. Us four made the hike, a very long, upward hike to La Cartuja - a monastary that my traveling book correctly stated is a good palce to visit. From the outside it appears small but once you enter the rooms it is astounding. However, they don't allow photos inside - lame! Reagan snuck in a few of the courtyard - this is my own reminder to get them! We then made it back to the bus stop. My legs are soooo sore. I spent the last hike trying to determine what part of my legs ached the most. I eventually determined that it was my left calf. I finished Shawshank Redemption and slept the rest of the way - just in time for burritos from mi senora! Goodnight all!

Austino

Grand Granada I

WOW. What a weekend. This will be an overly long post. Get some coffee first.

Friday Night: Friday we went to a roof party on top of Hotel EME, accross the street from Seville. It's one of the nicest and most modern hotel in Seville. It was really fun and we had a great view of the city the whole time. The plan was to head to La Carboneria afterwords for some live Flamenco but the majority of the group headed to Buddha (a discoteca) and I headed back home at about midnight. I needed the sleep regardless - I cough as I write this. Basically this company called DiscoverSeville puts on these events and gets us into nice places for free because... these bars see the benefit through alcohol purchases. So as we're on the roof they would let us know where we're going next. More or less.

Saturday: Jam-packed day. First, we went to Carmona from 10-2 - an event put on by CIEE. It was pretty fun. Our tour guide, however, spoke on the bus about the history of Carmona on the bus ride to and from the location... which was a bit annoying. However, Praise the Lord! I had some great conversation with Micah about my faith and the Chirstian religion as a whole. He's a great guy to talk to. Carmona, I believe, is called "the city of death". We visited some tombs and strolled through the town. We got back later than planned, at about 2:25 and we needed to catch a 4:00 bus. We literally ran from the bus to the metro, took the metro home, ran to our casa, shoved food in, finished packing, and ran back to the metro to catch our bus. We made it. Granada here we come.

The bus ride was very smooth with beautiful views of the mountainside along the way. The bus was probably about 15% full. I had some good time alone with God (TOWG) and then watched the Shawshank Redemption on my Ipod. My fellow travelers (Micah, Phil, Rob and Kyle) all slept. Haha - finding the hostal. We took the correct bus, but took it about 7 stops too far, to its final stop. We asked a guy on the bus where La Catedral was and he was shocked as to why we were still on the bus. The hostal was very skecthy on the outside. First, we saw a sign that said it was closed for the holidays until January 24. Great. However, a woman accross the street - having surely seen this happen numerous times showed us an even sketchier door to knock. It all worked out. I would say the hostal we had this weekend was the best value hostal we may ever have this semester. You'll see photos. That night we checked out a Bohemian bar to get some chocolate deserts - sweet place. We returned on Sunday.

Sunday: This was our full day. Oh boy was it full. Got up at about 8:30, went to bed at about 5 AM. We first went south to Garcia Lorca Park which was really nice and a good way to start the morning. We then walked up the excessive hill to Alhambra to buy tickets for Monday (thinking this was necessary). We got up - they told us, if you want tickets for tomorrow, buy them tomorrow. Nice. We also took the "scenic" route which included a much longer and more difficult hike on a rougher terrain. We then wandered for some time around the city looking for any type of cheap food. At this point, the group consisted of Phil, Rob, Kyle, Reagan, Allison and myself. We found La Hambergueseria which had good cheap food. We then tried to locate (unsuccessfully) Puerta Nueva, which 0 of 4 Spaniards even new existed. At this point we decided it wasn't important enough to visit. Next we headed north to Sacromonte, a hillside that overlooks the city. It is stunning. Interesting story - we were about halfway up when we wanted to get a group picture. We asked this well-dressed, young, vibrant woman to take our photo. We then continued hiking up and eventually found our way above the sea of white houses to the open hillside - where people live in caves all over the terrain. There are no words - i really don't know what to write here. As we nearly made it to the top of this hill of caves - we saw the woman again. She lived there.

It was a bit scary - I personally was very hesitant to walk by all of these cave-type homes - not really knowing if people would be mad or offended or could potentially be dangerous. :) Mom. We then decided to increase the stakes. There's this ancient wall that follows along the northern hillsides of the city, probably 25 feet high. Rob and I decided to climb it to get a vew of the entire city. It was somewhat tough, but we made it and that view alone has been the greatest moment on my trip thus far. It's amazing that the poorest of the poor and the royal families in Alhambra have the same beautiful view. We spent about 2 hours up on the hillside taking in the view. At about 4:00 some of us headed down permanently (myself included) to get some coffee and tour La Catedral. The others stayed up to watch the sunset - and ended up actually chatting with the locals and seeing their homes in the hillside. Wow.

La Catedral was awesome, prettier than Seville's, in my opinion. It's almost all white and very well lit up. Yes, I did all of this in one day. We then went to get tapas at La Antegualla - where you get a drink and get a "free" tapa. So it'd be 2 euros per coke and tapa for me. It was great. Next Micah, myself, Phil and Rob went in search for live music and/or Flamenco for about 2 hours - no success. We had a good time bonding and exploring though. Next we headed to Flannigan & Sons to watch the Vikes game. It was a great time there. There were about 20 people from my program in there. Many were dancing and enjoying themselves as some of us just watched the game (and the crazy dancing). The bars in Granada are required, by law, to close at 3:00 AM. Luckily, thank you Brittany!, a friend told me that Paddy's Pub has screens you can watch from the street. Kyle and I made it over then where about 50 people were watching the game from the street in silence (if too much noise is made the cops are called). There, Pat Delahunt from high school was watching the game, what are the odds?? I pretty bummed about the result - Favre being Favre for the first time all year on the last play of his career, but yeah. We were better. We were unlucky. Aaaaaand sleeep.

Post 1 of 2

Let the Traveling... Continue

My last post before the Granada trip. I hope you all enjoy the posts - if I write a bit too much or discuss irrelevant things - it's because this blog is as much for me to look back on as it is for you to read, enjoy, and follow my journey. :)

Today I had my last 4-hour class which finished with a 1.5 hour final. Woo hoo! I'm done with the intensive session. I just hope that I can continue developing my Spanish, as I will now only have about 3 hours of spanish class a week for the remainder of the semester. My spanish is actually quite good, RELATIVE to the other students in the program - which has surprised me.

Mom met my senora yesterday - I translated the conversation and that was quite fun. My senora kept saying "Que guapa!" which is "How pretty." Anne met two-year-old Thiago - I think she enjoyed that. Oh - these were both via Skype.

So tonight I am going to some gathering on the roof of Hotel EME, which is right next to the Catedral. Then, we are returning to La Carboneria to hear/see some live Flamenco and will hopefully show up on time this time around. Then later, I will pack for the weekend (and will be sure to include my Vikes hat!)

So from 10-2 on Saturday we do a trip to Carmona. We are taking a bus ride at 4:00 to Granada which takes 3.5 hours (I will definitely be listening to some Mark Driscoll sermons). We leave Granada on a 12:00 PM bus on Monday but we may try to take a later bus... School starts Wednesday. Orientation for full-semester classes is the night before. Well, that's all I got. I know that you all live and die by my posts each day, but you won't be getting one until Monday. Deal with it.

Oh and I just had my first game of FIFA on PS2 against Gustavo and lost 4-0. I took one shot all game which was not even on target.

Austino

Nada Mucho

In Spanish this means "He swims a lot." However each word individually can mean "not" and "much" so sometimes we incorrectly respond to a question with "Nada mucho."

I am slowly getting over my cold/cough. Micah, my new roommate, currently has a worse bug. He has just about completely lost his voice. I hope that doesn't get passed over to me or more importantly the rest of the family.

In class today we discussed all of the cool sites and events around Spain. It made me even more excited to travel. I think have like 17 3-day weekends and two full weeks off. I have an interest in visiting the following places: Italy (for a week), France, Granada, Cadiz, Mallorca (an island east of Spain), Toledo (Matt Sauer), Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon (Portugal), Morocco, Malaga, Cordoba and more.

Austino

Granada > Minnesota Vikings...apparently

Hey all,

So I have made plans for Granada this weekend and we have reserved the hostal (total = 25 Euros for 2 nights) and a bus (round trip = 37 Euros). I am getting pretty excited to see the city and will have to do some reading. However, I am obviously not going to bring my laptop because you just don't bring a laptop to a hostal - which means I won't be watching the Vikings game which airs here at about 12:40 AM Monday. I believe some people post the complete game in segments on youtube so I will try that. Somehow, NO ONE can tell me the score until I watch it. Ahhhh.

The food here, served by my senora is incredible. I love it every day. Last night, for example, we each got two full burgers with all the fixings. The milk is still gross, but I choke it down.

I have to take a spanish class during the regular semester that starts next week. Originally I was planning on taking Business Spanish - but may now take Translation instead. I am very intrigued by this class. The rooming thing is going well thus far. Adios.

Austino

Reales Alcázares (Royal Palace)

Hey followers,

Today, I went to Reales Alcazares to see where the Royal Family and other important people would eat, sleep and spend their time (and still do). About three weeks a year some people are staying in the area. However, I have limited photos because my camera was low on battery so I took photos sparingly until it died halfway through the tour... :(

Two embarrassing stories:
1: Last night, I wanted to take some cough syrup after dinner. However, Thiago needed some too and after the fact I learned that he takes medicine from a different bottle. She brought his over to me, with an empty spoon in the other hand, and asked me to read the bottle because she can't read small print. However, I didn't understand, the spoon was literally right next to my face, and I attempted to eat off of the empty spoon because I thought she was like serving me the medicine. Anabel had a great laugh about that.

2. My cough has been so bad - that yesterday Gustavo told me that Ana was complaining about the "dog" on the floor below because of its barking. No, it was me in my bedroom coughing.

U. I saw Jack Sheppard running through these trees...
V. No comment
W. The pic is really cool - the pillar one. The moors, when building this, put lead between the pillar and the weight above it. By doing this, if there is an earthquake or something, the pillar would merely shift and not crumble. WOW. You can tell it has shifted quite a bit.
x. The main area for Reales Alcazares.
Y. OUR room now, with two beds.
Z. Me heading to the Vikes game, sporting my hat from Anne!

The pictures are posted in reverse order, so I'm going with the alphabet system.
Also, staying diligent in the WORD is going really well. Two chapters a day is great, if I have my priorities in the right order. I am sure to work on this before devoting any time to the computer.

Austino

SKOL

Go Vikings!

I went to a bar called Flahrety's accross the street from La Catedral. It was an American place where I was able to order in English and everyone inside was speaking English. I now dislike the Cowboys more than ever - based on their fans in Spain. After every play, 3 yard gain, 6 yard gain, a Vikings 0 yard gain, was followed by excessive clapping and cheering. It was sickening. Having said that - it was great fun as the Cowboys really had nothing to cheer about after the first quarter.

So far - we've only been mocked once for being Americans. There were three of us (all guys) walking and chatting when these guys overheard us and started a string of Spanish slang directed at us, for literally having done nothing. It's a little sad (for them).

My cough is consistently terrible. I am going to take some medicine tonight that Annabel has. Hopefully that helps. My goal this week is to sleep more (I should probably skype with Ty for counsel). I had class today, came back for a big lunch of pasta with tomato sauce, got into the Word and took a siesta (nap). Tomorrow, Micah moves in. This should be a positive thing.

Well - not much more happening. Oh, plans. As of now - Micah, myself, Phil and Kyle may take a bus this weekend to Granada. It will cost around 30 Euros, and classes don't start next week until Wednesday. Also, CIEE is putting on a trip from 10:00 to 2:00 on Saturday to Carmona. So maybe we will head to Granada after that. I think the bus ride to Granada is about 3.5 hours. We are also looking at traveling to Italy for abuot 9 days during one of our weeks off in April - for about 15 Euros each way!

Anyways, buenas noches!
Austino

Weekend Photos

1. Micah, Phil and myself at La Carboneria.
2. The path we were walking on - cool colors.
3. Me near the waterfall.
4-5. There was a letter under that rock written to Morgan Freeman...
6. Best picture of the trip. This dog was cold and skinny. :(
7. Orange I ate from a tree on the hike.
8. Dawn when she gets mad.
9. Me playing music in the plaza.
10-11. Two photos of me at the Plaza de Espana

A Great Weekend

Hey all,

On Friday night Micah, Phil and I went to this place called La Carboneria, kind of a hole-in-the-wall joint bar with live music and/or flamenco. We showed up at about midnight, an hour late, so only caught like 15 minutes of music. Afterwords we spoke with a russian couple for about an hour - in English! We said something to em in Spanish and he responded "English please." We spent an hour or two just wandering the streets due to the great weather.

On Saturday we had the all day hike in Santa Ana, about two hours from Sevilla by bus. We had some fun tour guides, saw some great stuff, and really got to know each other a bit better. About 25 people came on the trip. On the trip I also saw where they filmed the end of Shawshank Redemption and Avatar's Home Tree (see photos). That night I went to bed really early - like 11:30 to get some rest before going to church the following morning.

On Sunday (today) I went to La Catedral with Micah and Caitlin. Again, the cathedral is spectacular. But it irks me how hundreds of pounds of gold were used to paint the extremely large worship area. Literally all four walls are painted gold. Micah had never been to church before - its tough to show Chirstian humility in a place like that. I'm glad I went and Micah and I talked Christianity and spirituality for a couple hours which was awesome. We went to a cafe and sat outside, then walked through a couple nearby parks and museums. I am going to do a little homework this afternoon, maybe nap, definitely relax, and finally get pumped for tonight's Vikings game! There is a bar called Flahrety's that will be showing it. I can't wait!!

Oh, and I need to clean my room.

Austino

Over The Hill (in no relation to age)

I think that after doing so well the first couple days, I wasn't prepared to hit a "what the heck am I doing here?" slump - because I thought I had surpassed that already... meh it's here. However, I was listening to Mark Driscoll, a pastor at Mars Hill Church speaking about the heart. How the heart is the root of all problems - such as "what is at the heart of this issue?" If there is a contamination in the river, you go upstream to the source to fix the problem. People may have various struggles, such as lust, greed, etc., but a contaminated heart is the source of all of these sinful issues. I need to make my heart the one and only issue while I am here in Sevilla. I pray that I return with a heart fully-seeking God and His Kingdom. I wrote out a New Testament reading schedule today. If I read two chapters every day while I am here and stay diligent in the Word, I can read Matthew, John, and Acts through Revelations. Only Luke and Mark will be left for the United States. I also plan to be sprinkling in some Driscoll sermons when time permits me to.

I am very excited about God's plan for my development and where this semester will take me (literally and figuratively). I am now going to a live music bar and will try to return early to sleep for tomorrow's all day hike. Hasta pronto!

Austino

El Futbol y El Piso

Las Fotos

1. The apartment complex that I live in. I'm in the sixth floor.
2. The milk that I am served here. Yup, just sitting out on a crate. They are "good" until April.
3. Oragne trees in a plaza of El Catedral. They also line the majority of strees in Seville.
4. Christopher Columbus' tomb. The real one.
5. A view from the top of La Giralda which is a spiraling ramp (allows for horses) that leads to the top of the tower in El Catedral. You are looking at El Catedral, the portion that forms a huge cross, which is highest in the center.
6. I haven't been in a photo for a while... You had to stick your arms through those bars for a good picture.
7. A view of La Giralda from the bottom. Notice my artistic capture of the orange tree.
8. The Sevilla game with my new scarf!
9. Us guys at the game! (Its hard to bring so many males together at once, as 75% of the students here are women).
10. The view from our seats. There was about 10 rows of "preferential seating" in the upper section, and we had the second row behind this section. Great view.