sunny seville

For the past two days the rain has held off, and we've had warm, sunny days. Finally! Today Julie and I went into Seville for some shopping and sightseeing, which was so nice. We met her mom at a rooftop restaurant directly across from Giralda, the cathedral of Sevilla and had an amazing view of both the cathedral, and most of downtown. I am so grateful to my entire host family, especially Julie, for showing me so much of Sevilla, because the city is amazing and there is SO much to see. Today Julie took me across the river to the very oldest part of the city, called Triana, where we went to a very traditional marketplace and talked with the shopkeepers and other shoppers. People were incredibly friendly, and really interested in conversing with me. It was tough at times to keep up with the pace of the conversations, but I got some good practice, and everyone we talked to was very understanding if it took me a while to think of a word or phrase. I am really excited about the fact that my Spanish seems to have improved a lot since being here, and I am much more able to sustain long conversations in Spanish about all different topics. :)

Julie's uncle has been staying with her family for a few days as he is here from Holland on business. It has been really interesting to talk with him about life in Holland and his perceptions of America and American culture, because his perceptions are very different from those I have heard from Spaniards, and the culture in Holland is amazingly different. All in all, its been a very good few days, and I am really looking forward to our last weekend in Seville, which should be sunny and great. more soon!