BCN-->Sevilla/Jesús!

Hoooola! I write to you all today from a midday internet cafe that is serving as a chair which I can occupy in warmth, without eating anything, while remaining productive. If that makes sense... All travelers must understand this novelty. Anyway, I have so much to share! I hope that no one finds the title of this entry blasphamous (I have no spellcheck, welcome to my true idiocy), however, Sevilla is truly one of the most religious, or at least full of religious-stuff, cities I have ever visited. Every plaza is named after a saint, virgen, holiday or priest. Ridiculous aside: a big group of Mormon missionaries just came in and are using internet next to me:) Case en point. I have also seen more nuns in habits that I have ever seen in my life.

So beyond that. Today I walked the city over and then some and more yesterday in the rain. Now I present to you, experiences in list form:

1. I still have absolutely no internal compass. If anything, it is getting worse, even when I consult the map corner by corner, which is the safest way for me to be. Sorry to be redundant, but yes, I am redundant when I walk too:)
2. Saw the HUGE cathedral here this morning. It was impressive. Very cathedral-like. However, it has the biggest altar of gold I have ever seen and of silver too. I feel like I have come to the motherland for Latin American churches, because I have. Everything here reminds me a of much more grandiose version of churches I´ve seen in Mexico or Peru etc.
3. I am staying in hostels this week! So fun! Good trial run for Asia. I befriended my German study abroad roommates for tapas last night and we joined others in the hostel. The most Americans I have seen since I left. Ironically the 4 other Americans that came and ate tapas and saw flamenco with us all went to Harvard. Logically. Cue: One of these things...doesn´t belong.
4. The streets and sidewalks here are extremely narrow. Do not worry, photos to come soon can prove this. Even compared to other medieval cities.
5. It has been rainy and somewhat miserable in Sevilla. My book says the avg temp here is 26 C. I feel as though Mother Nature is laughing...
6. New favorite tapas: Espinacas with garbanzos and skewers of morrocan style chicken w/veggies.
7. Southern Spain really likes mosaics. Good thing I do too.
8. Walking from the bus to my hostel yesterday I passed TWO, not one, TWO old men singing outloud. YES!
9. I keep spontaneously smiling. I think this indicates happiness:)
10. I am FINALLY on the upswing of illness. I forgot how much it takes out of you being sick. Even climbing stairs like took it out of me and made my leg muscles throb. Now I´m back! With a nice cough to remind everyone of this...
11. Went to the Picasso Museum on Sunday, with my MPH friend, Emily, who is living in BCN. My favorite part (other than that it was free because it was the first Sunday of the month and having shared it with Emily) were the doves he painted in the Canary islands way back. Very cool museum store too, WAYYYY overpriced however.
12. The Spanish here is REAL!!! No more catalan and it is spoken quickly. I am happy and feel like can I attempt to speak better here:)
13. I have SO many thoughts that I´d love to share, but should really go walk around.

Please remember, to get a postcard, just email me your address:)
Que les vayan bien!!! Cuidense muuucho!

Updates: I just forgot soooo many things! Sevilla has orange and mandarin trees EVERYWHERE. Lining the streets, the plazas, etc. Can we eat them? Is this a way to help the homeless population? Also, there is a presence of homelessness in Sevilla, greater than that of Barcelona. People sit right outside of churches, with their head bowed and hand out. It´s really ironic (not the right word) but people flock to areas of religious people that perhaps will be more open to helping those less fortunate than they do in the big city of Barcelona. I also saw a man shove his wife to the ground after an argument while I was in Barcelona. It really rattled me. I was with my friend Dave Reed and he stood up to help defend the woman because it appeared like he was going to hit her further, but he was just trying to help her up. The man´s hat had fallen off in the scuffle and when he stood up it said "obama 08." Oh abusive Spaniard, why that hat? I felt really helpless due to cultural and language barriers. No one stepped in to do anything. It was sunny and noontime in a big plaza. Some old man sitting next to me came up because they saw I was upset and said, don´t worry, this happens every day with these two. Mayu tried to tell me that Spanish people are just WAY more passionate. hm...I´m still not satisfied with that answer. Ok...sorry trying to show that I am really seeing things:)