I have fallen in love with Spain. After describing my weekend of excitement to Ana, she doesn't believe that I'll be coming home. That of course won't be the case, but I could see why Ana would say it. I literally fell in love with Sevilla. Bullfights, Toreros, Flamenco dancers and dresses everywhere- when I come home with a brightly colored ruffly dress don't be surprised :). It was like another world to step foot on the Feria grounds. My friends and I were lucky enough to have met some Sevillanos who invited us to their "caseta" parties. The feria consists in all private tents with bars, food and flamenco. I can honestly say were were the only women in the casetas with out full flamenco garb. I can also say I've never wanted to have a flamenco dress so badly in my life haha but since I do love twirling, I do believe it would be an excellent purchase as the ruffles accentuate spins. My friends and I attended a sold out bullfight as well! How did we get tickets, you may be thinking to yourself... A lesson well learned from Dad. My two girlfriends have never scalped tickets before, so I stepped up. Never have I actually had to negotiate with a scalper, and clearly have never done so in Spanish- so after passing up two terrible offers without success (100 euro per ticket) I find a 3rd scalper and get his offer down from 90 euro to 55. Still thinking we could get them for cheaper I keep repeating "Es una mierda, somas estudiantes. Sabemos que el billete cuesta 40" "That's a shit offer, we're students. We know these tickets cost 40." Did I know anything about the ticket prices, of course not, but we got our tickets for 50euro in the end! And the fight was impressive. At one point, when the matador received such an applause and white scarves in the air, he clipped the ear off the dying bull and threw it into the crowd! Entirely disgusting, but apparently a huge deal haha I'm uploading pictures as I'm writing this, so do check out my Feria pictures because it's hard to describe just how amazing the flamenco tradition is here in southern Spain. The men and women are so proud of their dresses and caballero costumes. I'm so happy I was able to see it all!
In other, non Spanish news... I got an internship with Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago! The main work would be providing advice and representation to individuals and families seeking to obtain or keep benefits from one of the main “safety net” programs administered by the State of Illinois. These programs include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, Medicaid, Medicare, and the Food Stamp Program. I will be working as an advocate on behalf of the clients in their dealings with the agencies which administer the “safety net” programs. I will have the opportunity to use Spanish!!! because LAF has a significant number of Spanish-speaking clients. I am just beyond the point of excitement! Can't wait to be in Chicago doing what I've always dreamed of doing (although not a lawyer yet, I feel like it's the first BIG step!!!)
thanks for reading! abrazos,
Laurita
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