Sevilla: Welcome to the palace

Hola! So as some of you know, I just moved into a new homestay. A lot changed this past week! Basically, I had been living with a bunch of random exchange students and I was very uncomfortable with it - 8 different people in my homestay since I had arrived. I felt like I lived in a hostel! So I went to my program coordinator asking if this was acceptable, and to my surprise she was appalled. She told me that we were not supposed to be living with any other exchange students in our homestays. Well, let me tell you, Isabel did NOT like that I ratted her out. After finding out that I had spoken to CIEE (my program), she went from sweet, innocent old lady, to Nazi patrol woman. It was terrifying. Well, she kicked us out (my friend and I) but let me tell you, it was a definite upgrade. I feel like I went from rags to riches!

Right now I am living in the heart of the centro with a family. My host parents are Juan and Lola, and they have a 22 year old daughter named Monica, and two little dogs - Nana and Chici. I love the family - Lola and Juan are soooo nice and Monica is awesome. Its nice that we're close in age because she's really easy to relate to. She also has a very attractive boyfriend, so of course my roommate and I are going to try and meet his friends :) Good looking men roll in packs, right? Anyway, their house is absolutely GORGEOUS. My roommate and I like to call it the palace as a joke. It's an old style Spanish home with a courtyard, 4 levels, and a roof top deck. Tanning please? Lola told me that it was built in the 16th century. Also, Lola is an amazing cook. My old Señora became accustom to feeding me only vegetables and bland pasta. Often times I would have to go to the grocery store to grab a snack in between meals because I was always hungry. But Lola never leaves me hungry. For example, this afternoon when I woke up at 3:30pm (please don't judge me. I was at the second largest Carnival in the world last night in Cadiz and didn't get home until 8:30am), she told us that she understood that after a night of dancing and partying that we would be hungry. She then proceeded to feed us the largest meal I have had since I've been here - a chicken parmesan crusted chicken breast, a spanish omelette, noodle soup, a baguette, an apple and a pudding dessert. Did I eat all of it? Yes. It was sooo delicious.

As you can tell, I am extremely happy I moved. Best decision yet. Oh and my internet works ALL THE TIME! No more freezing/pausing skype conversations :) Get excited people!

As I said earlier, last night I went to the Carnival in Cadiz. Its basically a week long festival in the streets. Everyone wears costumes, drinks and has a great time. Cadiz is an hour a half away, so we all went with a travel agency called "We Love Spain." When I first heard about Carnival, I assumed it was during the day (aka a Mifflin Block party type thing). Nope, we left for Cadiz at 8:30pm. The way there was basically a party bus and we arrived to Cadiz around 10pm. They then let us run wild in the city until 5:30am and basically if we weren't back in time that we would be responsible for our own way home. Well, I only brought 5 euro with me, so I immediately knew I could not mess this one up. Although I managed to get separated from everyone I was with, I still had a great time making friends with people on the street. It was a blast! And yes, I made the bus on time.