Yesterday we decided we had to get out of the house and do something, so we decided to just walk around some. We took some random turns and ended up finding a ferris wheel inside of a little fairgrounds and an ice skating rink. We're pretty excited to try the ferris wheel once its warmer, but it was freezing outside so we went towards the University and found somewhere to grab a coffee. I had my first cup of real coffee ever and actually enjoyed it a lot! After dinner we went to watch the soccer game at a bar and it was really fun. I wish Americans had as much passion for anything as Spaniards do for soccer. The bar went absolutely crazy when Betis scored, and it was a lot of fun to watch and hear all of their chants and songs (even though we had no idea how to join in). 

We had another great experience exploring today! We were supposed to start our first class today but our director's wife passed away unexpectedly yesterday morning, and they had the funeral today. He is such a nice man and it is really sad to hear. 

Instead of class we all met at the school and planned our first trip! We are going to Ronda for the weekend, which is a little town in Spain that is one of the top ten attractions of this region. Apparently it has huge cliffs and we are planning on hiking to them. It is supposed to be beautiful so I will be sure to take lots of pictures. There are about 10 other students going, and we calculated that it would cheaper to rent two cars and split the cost than it is to take the bus. So I'm sure I will have plenty of exciting stories of Americans trying to drive in Europe. Luckily we found an automatic car, because I'm not sure any of us are fit to drive up a mountain in a manual car in a foreign country. 

After our meeting we ventured to Los Remedios to a street that is supposed to be full of shops. It is a beautiful area of town and is where the "old money" lives. The babies are all dressed in fancy little outfits and their mom's push them down cobblestone streets in high heels. It's actually rather impressive. We found a new shop called Cien Montaditos, which is a place with 100 different types of sandwiches. Today is Super Monday there and Maggie and I split 2 beers and a plate of french fries for 2 euro total, which is a great deal here. We have decided that we will probably become frequent visitors of that place.

Plaza de Espana, where government employees work. It wraps
all the way around and has a river in the middle. 

We passed through a plaza to get to Los Remedios, and there was a government building that was so beautiful. We just came up to it out of nowhere and it was so surprising. All of the police men also ride around on pretty white horses. 

Tomorrow we are taking our second group excursion to Las Reales Alcazares de Sevilla which is the location where the royal family of Spain stays when they come to visit Sevilla. It is supposed to be very nice, as I am sure you can imagine, and I am excited to see a local palace. Maybe I'll meet a Dutch or Count or something to marry so I can become royalty too.