El Alcazar translates to "most amazing palace ever"

Hola! Estas 23:44 in Sevilla. (Hi! It's 11:44 PM in Sevilla) I am already exhausted from this week, and it's just started. It's been great though- I've made some friends who are all working in Grenada, which isn't that close, but at least I'm not a loner in the corner. Actually, that's not true. I'm in the corner with my friends. We had a tapas party tonight to meet other people in the towns, and we all just took the time to talk and get to know each other. It should be fun to see how we keep in touch and see each other. I guess that means we need to get cell phones soon!

Sevilla is beautiful. I'm staying in an amazing neighborhood, and when I walk to class or orientation, I get to walk past amazing buildings and fountains. If I knew what they all were, and the history, it'd be even cooler, but I'm not complaining. To start my history of Spain learning, I went to the Alcazar with a group of CIEE kids.

It was beyond amazing. The Alcazar was first built in the 9th century AD and it's the oldest royal residence in Europe because Rey Juan Carlos still stays there with his family when he's in Sevilla. It's been added onto and renovated as different powers and rulers lived there, but it has a lot of Moorish influence. Cool fact I learned: the Muslims used the color green to represent God, so there was lots of green in the decorations. I also learned that Sevilla was once the only gateway to the Americas! It's so weird to think about how far things have come. I'm having lots of "I can't believe I'm actually in Spain" moments, so expect to hear about them.

I'm sure you don't actually want to just hear about this place, so here are my favorite pictures from the trip:

The Puerto del Leon, entrance into Alcazar

An original arch from the 9th century Moorish palace.

Walking up to the main rooms. See how every section is different?

View of "los jardines" from a walkway on the wall.

One of the private rooms I believe.

View from courtyard into private rooms.

I love this courtyard! Apparently a Spanish Rey covered it up and turned it into a "salon de baile"

Arches in the private rooms

This is in the part built by the Catholic royalty. I don't think that this was a chapel, but I  could be wrong..

A door in one of the courtyards...

Me and the Alcazar are tight now.

I have 124 pictures from 1 trip, so if you want to see more, I'm sure you can.

Update

I'm working on a post talking about everything I'm doing here, but it's taking forever since I only get online before bed and try to use that time to Skype.

Here's a link to some pictures of the Alcazar, which is quite possibly the most amazing place I've ever been. It was first built in the 9th century, and today it's still a royal palace for Rey Juan Carlos and his family when they're in Sevilla. I am so in love with the Moorish architecture and design!

https://picasaweb.google.com/beccahampton5/Spain2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Packing = Complete. (I think)

I'm pretty sure I'm all packed and ready to go. Now I just need to add in my important things like makeup and other stuff I can't live without. I am leaving my hair dryer and straightener here, so I need to go invest in some gel for my hair. I'm pretty excited that both my bags seem to be under 50 pounds! Hooray!! I'm going to try and see if there's stuff I can take out, but at least I'm fine if I leave everything in.

5 days until I'm at the airport!!

It's Official!

Look at my shiny new visa! I'm so excited that I am FOR REALS leaving in 9 days. This is crazy. I have the address of my home stay mom in Sevilla, and I google mapped (totally a verb) her house and it look amazing. You guys, I'm going to be living in a major city for the first time in my life, and then moving into my little resort town for a school year. So excited!

It still doesn't feel real. I don't think it will until I am on the plane, so we'll see how this goes. Speaking of that, I need suggestions for books to buy on my Nook, and music for my ipod! HELP!

Not What I Expected

I'm currently sitting at home in Houston, Texas, instead of sitting in Sevilla starting orientation. Through circumstances out of my control, I was not able to leave for Spain yesterday. Hopefully, I'll be leaving September 18th, and probably not doing the immersion course. I don't know how I feel about all of this. I know God is in control of it all, and that His plan is infinitely better than my plan, but I did spend most of Friday sobbing about it all. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting, and now I'm doing more waiting. I am not a patient person. I have a hard time waiting for anything, much less the most exciting and terrifying and exhilarating adventure of my life so far. So cross your fingers, say a prayer, and think good thoughts for me some time in the next two weeks, and I'll have better news for you all soon!

The hardest part is preparing myself to leave the US and Tom this week, and instead still being here. I cried almost all last weekend because it's just depressing to think of how long it'll be until we see each other. We did celebrate our birthdays a month early, and I got fabulous presents that are coming to Spain, so that was an awesome boyfriend move. (I now own season 5 of Psych on DVD and Up on DVD!! Best presents ever.) I got him nothing useful and instead gave him random gifts that I thought were cool like graph paper sticky notes, rocket and robot window gel stickers, and a Mr. Right t-shirt.) Obviously, I am a stellar present buyer.

I cannot wait to have pictures and things to show you about Spain! Maybe I'll do a packing post and show you how much stuff I'm taking with me, and you can all tell me that I'm way over packed and to stop being so high-maintenance.

Dios le bendiga,
Becca

2 weeks

Exactly two weeks from today, I will be traveling to Spain. I'll probably be somewhere in Europe, but since I have no idea about flights other than when I leave Houston and arrive in Sevilla, I could be making that up. I'm starting to lose my mind about this.

Things I need to do:

-PACK.

-BUY THINGS.

-more packing

-eat at ChickFilA, Pei Wei, some Bar-b-que place, and Rico's. I am not ashamed to admit I know I'll miss fast food. 

-say goodbye to friends and family

-refuse to let Tom go back to Oklahoma. This will probably occur in the airport when he's supposed to fly home, and I am sobbing and hysterical and making a fool of myself because I'm going to miss him more than I can possibly imagine, or express. 

-get a temporary engagement ring that doesn't look like a high school promise ring. Not necessary for life, but since I almost cried when I had to think about putting my ring away for 8 months, I need something shiny to replace it.

-more packing, and more buying of things.

I really don't think I can do this. 

One Month

In one month I will be departing for Spain to start teaching. It still doesn't seem real to me though. It's like it's a movie or someone else's life. It's so weird to start stockpiling contacts, medicines, and all those other things I need to make my life run smoothly. I'm starting to address what I actually need to pack, and what I still need to buy to pack, and what I can buy when I get over there.

Things on my list:
-Get health form sent in
-Cut my hair short, preferably in a way that will grow out well and doesn't need to be blow-dried or straightened.
-Figure out my teaching clothes situation
-Buy teacher clothes
-Pack
-Pick up visa
-Repack
-See the boyfriend (and hopefully his parents)
-Celebrate an early birthday
-Figure out how to share American culture without weighing down suitcases
-Contact my school
-Practice Spanish. (yeah, good job me for forgetting it all)

There's probably a million more things that I've forgotten, but isn't that to be expected when you move across the ocean for a school year? Also, I am expecting that I'll buy clothes, shoes, BOOTS, and accessories in Spain, so I don't want to pack too much. It's kinda fun to picture myself walking down to the Mediterranean and just sitting out or visiting the Alhambra and picturing what I'll wear.

I think the hardest thing is going to be leaving Tom. He's been pretty great about dealing with all of my freakouts and nerves and the fact that he got a 2 year, long distance engagement when he proposed. Boyfriend, you are incredibly patient to wait that long for a wife, especially one that's going to turn your peaceful life upside down.

I'm so excited/scared/nervous/thrilled about this....