So much for a chill, quiet night...

A weird laser beam instrument thing they set up for FACYL

FACYL hot air balloon! Volar es FACYL!!!

Alquilando (renting) paddle boats on the Rio Tormes with Kirsten, Jenn, and Chelsea

Buenos dias!

So you remember how I was excited for my "quiet Monday night playing cards?" Well instead, Cami and I ended up meeting up with a group of guys we met a few nights ago from all around the world and talking with them until 5 am! There were the two of us Virginians, a guy from New York, a German, a Canadian, a Belgian, and two Italians. There were like eight languages being thrown out! It was so guay (cool)! Mostly we all spoke Espanol to each other, though, because that was the language that we were best at as a group. The Belgian guy, bless his heart, had such a strong accent that whether he spoke Spanish or English, I couldn't understand a word of it. Wish I knew some French! Anyways, I finally got to meet some new people not just from America, so I was very excited. We're hopefully meeting them at The Irish Rover again tonight for karaoke night!

Yesterday it was gross and rainy, so the street performance we wanted to see was again cancelled. It had a second performance scheduled for tonight, though, so we're going to hopefully see it before the karaoke, if the weather finally permits. I'm sick of this cold- I didn't bring nearly enough cold weather clothing. Silly me, right? It's only JUNE. This weekend in Andalucia should be much warmer, though- Sevilla, especially, is basically in a desert! By the way, for a quick fun fact, the region is called Andalucia after the Arabic name for Spain, al-Andalus. The Moors were slowly pushed South through the course of the 800 years after they conquered it in 711, and so the southernmost region had an Arab presence for longest. The cities we're going to see, especially Cordoba, will have a lot of Arabic and Muslim influence!

Besides meeting boys and freezing every day, we've mostly been buckling down on coursework. I started my research for my 8 page paper yesterday, and I like my topic. I am writing about a pretty recent literary movement called autoficcion, which is basically an autobiography with fiction woven into it. Unfortunately, since the movement originated in France, a lot of the good sources are in French. Now I REALLY wish I knew French! Jaja. Well, this is why God made Google Translate, supongo (I suppose).

Que tengan una tarde fantastica!

Besitos,

Caitrin