Weekend and other things

This past weekend Miriam, a woman who works in the international office at UPO and who studied abroad at UF, set up a dinner for all the UF students who are here in Sevilla. We all shared tapas and drinks and had a great time telling stories of how we figured out we were going to be studying here, what we have done so far and what we are looking forward to the most. It was a great experience and I'm glad I got to meet some more people who are so similar to me.
   Then a group of us went to the Sevilla bullfighting museum. It cost 4 euros and was only an hour long tour but we learned a lot about the history and the cultural impact that bullfighting has on Sevilla and Spain in general. The bullfighting season starts in late April so it will be warmer. It's somewhere around 30 euros for a seat but the price changes depending on where you sit and for what fight you want to see. The Matadors are like celebrities here and the calendar shows what 3 men are fighting that day. Hopefully I'll see a good fight and come back with some great pictures.
     After a long day in the city Kelsey and I came back to the apartment and decided to try our hand at cooking some sesame chicken. It turned out great and was crunchy yet spicy and we made a great sweet and spicy sauce to go on top. The only thing that went wrong was when I tried emptying the pan of hot oil into a plastic container to recycle. I thought that I had waited long enough for the oil to cool down a bit, but it was still very hot and melted our only measuring cup. We still have to go buy a new one to replace it but that shouldn't be too hard.
    This week has been pretty exciting at school. Today Kelsey and I received some packages that were mailed to the school. (Thanks mom and Mrs. Fuller!) We also went to a "spanish lunch" today at school with a lot of other international students and we sat and talked with some spanish students who study here. It was a great way to practice our spanish orally instead of in the classroom. I signed up for a soccer (futbol) tournament with some other students and we will all be mixed with spanish students and play against each other. At the lunch I learned that one spanish student had also signed up for the same tournament, so we might be playing on the same soccer team. It's good to know that the Spanish students over here want to get to know us as much as we want to know about them. Today we went back and forth abut how to say certain expressions in Spanish like "2 birds with one stone"and "we're on the same page." It was really interesting trying to explain those expressions to someone but once they finally understood it was pretty easy to go form there.
   I hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too long for this update, I've been busy with a lot of things here. I am a student here and I'm not just traveling and partying in Spain for a whole semester (no need to worry mom). But I really do love it here because every day offers something new to learn or some one else to meet. And with that I wish you all a Happy Valentines Day and I'll keep you updated with the rest of this week. Adios.