Ruins and Legends (ruinas y leyendas)

No big news today, just keeping everyone up-to-date. Classes are going well. I didn't end up switching to the Spanish version of that one econ class because the teacher spoke too quickly for my liking and he didn't quite explain everything as well as the other professors. But I do still like all of my classes. The History of Sevilla class is definitely going to be the toughest just because of the work load.

I think I'm toward the end of my 'culture shock' and am really starting to settle into my schedule, which is nice. I still have to remind myself that I'm in a foreign country - it hasn't hit me yet. Time is also still messed up for me. It simultaneously feels like I've been here for a day, a week, a year, forever - I have to keep looking at the calendar to see what day it is. It's all very strange, but really cool.

This weekend the university had an outing to Italica which is right outside of Sevilla. Italica was an ancient Roman city and we went to see the ruins. Now, when I think of ruins, I think of statues and buildings that are deteriorating a little, but are still there. It wasn't quite what I expected. I mean it was cool to see for the history and I appreciated that aspect (plus it was free), but there wasn't really anything there! There was a colosseum which was really cool and also a bunch of mosaic floors, but that was pretty much it (and the temple was under construction). It was a fun trip, though, and I found another stray cat (once again - they are everywhere!) and it was a good experience to have.

For our Sevilla class we had to write a paper about a local legend in Sevilla, either la cabeza de rey don pedro (head of the king...) or el hombre de piedra (man of stone). The cool part was that we got to go and see the things we were writing about. I chose the legend of el hombre de piedra which is about this guy (El Rubio) who refused to kneel down when a priest was passing to administer a sacrament to someone who was sick. El Rubio said that only women kneel and he wouldn't kneel except that if he remained that way forever (sorry, rough translation). Then he was struck by God and turned into stone for blasphemy! His statue then proceeded to fall to its knees and is still in that position today (in a nook on a random street). It wasn't much to look at, but it was cool to have the story that went along with it. That was a fun day of exploring and being a tourist and taking pictures. The picture of me cheesing it up with the rock is el hombre de piedra.

Yep, there are new things I'm learning every day and I'm having a great time discovering all that I can! Until next time.

(Thanks for all the comments - I am reading them! It's good to hear from everyone!)

(Pictures: the two top are Italica, the middle is a picture of the two columns on one side of la Alemada de Hercules (who was very key in the forming of Sevilla), the next one is me with the man of stone, and the last one is El Corte Ingles - por supuesto! It's basically the Walmart of Spain)