Portugal...Kind Of

A couple of weeks ago my friends and I were getting a little stir crazy and decided to book some bus tickets for a daytrip somewhere. Unbelievable that you still get the travel bug when living abroad right? We heard amazing things about the Algarve coast in Southern Portugal and decided it would be nice to see another country. We booked some tickets to Ayamonte. One glitch. So apparently the coastal town of Ayamonte is actually on the border of Spain and not in Portugal. We made the best of the day and spent hours wandering around Ayamonte which actually turned out to be quite entertaining in itself. Oh but then we discovered you can take a ferry to Portugal. So we did that. We spent exactly 1.5 hours in the Portugese port town of Villa Real de Santo Antonio and although we can now say that we've been to Portugal, perhaps a second visit may be necessary to fully grasp Portugese culture. The lesson here? Always look at a map before planning excursions.

Ronda, Spain

So yesterday I took a little daytrip south of Seville to Ronda, the most spectacular of Andalucia's pueblos blancos. Ronda is a quaint little village perched atop a lush backdrop of hills and farmland. It was nice to take a trip out of the city, I was getting a little stir-crazy. On another note, I just booked a ticket to Barcelona for the end of November and I think I may be going to Madrid the beginning of December. So excited!

Seville

I'm starting to get settled in to my new Spanish lifestyle. My work began a couple of weeks ago and things are going well. I just got a second job teaching at a private English academy two days a week. The kids are kind of a nightmare but hopefully they will calm down. The plan is to save up during the fall and winter and travel travel travel in the spring and summer. Whats on the agenda you ask? Istanbul, Paris (take two), Marrakesh, and possibly the UK in the spring. When the weather gets nice enough I hope to see Croatia, Lisbon, and the Canary Islands. Hopefully I'll be able to find a job in Barcelona for the summer, it would be too great to be able to summer there again. I'm currently working on my grad school applications for some Global Studies and Sustainable Development programs in Europe for next fall. I never thought I would miss school so much.

Here are some photos from Seville to tempt those who are still contemplating a visit...

On another note, I'm running low on lemon pepper (EMERGENCY), if anyone would be so kind to forward some my way, it would be much appreciated!

Denmark

Sweden

Donde Está Wana?

...in Spain!!!

Finally, I am here in beautiful Seville. After nearly 3 days of traveling with way too many suitcases, I am finally settled into my new apartment. Words cannot express my jubilation, the future looks very promising.

Here are some photos from my brief stay in Malaga, another city in Southern Spain where I had to spend the night before I took a bus to Seville the next day. Malaga is known for its beaches which unfortunately I didn't get the chance to test out. However, I did get to spend the morning wandering and photographing my surroundings, two things that i do best!