This is it!

I'M GOING HOME!!!

I know that some of you might think I'm crazy for wanting to leave Sevilla, but I'm ready after 4 months out here. I do really like Sevilla and I've had a great time. My Spanish is infinitely superior to when I arrived, I've learned a lot academically and culturally, and I've met a bunch of great people. There have been a few bumps in the road, but overall, it has been a wonderful experience and I feel so blessed to have had it. :)

I'm heading out tonight to watch flamenco and celebrate my last night here with friends in Spain. It should be a really good time.

I can think of a few things that I will miss from Spain - the walking, the pace of life, the language, the people I've met - but I'm really excited to see my family and my friends and my pets.

Hope you've enjoyed hearing about my time here in Spain! See you on the flipside!

<3 Elena xxx

Killer week...

...literally. Kind of. It's a long story.

Here's how it goes:

On Wednesday I felt weird. I woke up feeling like I was having indigestion or something and it got worse as the day went on. I just thought, "Oh, it's heart burn or something. I'll take some tums when I get home from school and I'll be fine." Well, my body had other ideas.

I was sitting peacefully in my last class of the day listening to a lecture about the Spanish Inquisition when the pain in my chest/abdomen started to get worse, especially when I breathed (like a sharp stabbing pain). "Meh," I thought. "I've had this kind of pain before with the pleurisy. Since the weather is changing, its probably just that."

Except, then the pain wasn't just in my chest anymore. My upper back left should started to have this dull ache. Next thing I know my fingers in my left hand are tingling and my heart is racing like crazy. Have you ever watched your computer as it overheats from too many applications or something? You can hear it working like crazy and you know that any second its just going to give out and you'll get the blue screen of death when you try to turn it back on. That's what my heart felt like.

So, I politely excused myself from class and went to reception where the administrative assistant and the director of the program were working on something and calmly told them that I may be experiencing a heart attack.

Yep. You read that right. That's what I thought was happening.

Anyway, so we called the EMTs. By the time they had arrived almost all the symptoms were gone except the tingling and the sharp pain upon breathing. They were definitely concerned. They said that since the symptoms had mostly gone away, I didn't need to go with them in the ambulance, but I did need to go to the hospital that afternoon. They were mostly concerned because I am taking a beta-blocker medication which is supposed to keep my heart rate low (usually I am at around 55bpm resting). The fact that my HR was (what I estimated to be) well over 100bpm just sitting in class with no stressors and with my previous history of heart disease, I needed to get stuff checked out.

So, the EMTs left, we had a quick lunch at the school and then Leslie, the director, took me to the ER of a hospital that the EMTs had recommended for heart related issues. The doctor there didn't see anything strange in my blood (heart enzymes, specifically) nor any blips on my EKG, so I was sent home with a pain medication (since it still hurt to breathe).

Good. Maybe it was just a random thing that wont happen again?

That night, about an hour after going to sleep, I was awoken by tingling in my right hand. From what I know of heart-related stuff, I didn't think this could be related, so I just tried to shift my position, thinking I was pinching a nerve in my sleep or something. I tried this for about 5 minutes and it wouldn't go away.

Then my heart started racing again. GREAT. I took 2 aspirin really quick, just in case it was a heart attack, and my Spanish dad, Miguel, took me to the ER of a hospital near to my house where Leslie met us.

The doctor was a jerk. By the time I had arrived at the ER the tachycardia (racing heart) had stopped and I just had the tingling fingers. He told me I could wait (since he had soooo much to do... not. I was one of 2 people in the waiting room and there was no one in the back). They finally did an EKG and the doctor, before even examining me or asking me any questions, decided from those results that I was just a histrionic young woman who didn't need to be in the ER. He grudgingly admitted me to the hospital for observation, according to protocol.

Observation in Spain is not the same as observation in the US. I was not hooked up to ANY machines, just an IV. They wouldn't even have known if I was having irregular rhythms or anything. Bad medicine.

The next morning, they took blood and did an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart). The heart anatomy looked good - it has improved a lot since my surgery. The blood tests, however, did reveal a spike in Tropinin (the most important heart enzyme). It is supposed to be >0.01ng/ml. Upon admission it was 0.02ng/ml and in the morning it was 0.01ng/ml. So something DEFINITELY happened.

I didn't get to see the attending doctor until 3pm. He was just as confused by the results as the rest of us and definitely concerned given my history. However, as nothing new had developed, he changed the dosage of some of my medications and sent me home with orders to have a Holter EKG for the next 24 hours. I did the 24 hours with the Holter EKG on but didn't feel any palpitations during that time. I'm going in on Tuesday for the results of that test and a consult with the same doctor who discharged me from the hospital.

Since then, I haven't had any palpitations, just tingly fingers randomly for the following few days but as of right now (Sunday early afternoon), it has been almost 24 hours since any type of tingling. I'm currently feeling good. I'm a bit tired, probably due to the increased dose of my beta-blocker medication and from being in the hospital and I have been feeling a bit nauseous, but basically back to normal. I've been in a lot of contact with my dad (who has dedicated his entire career to heart-related medical problems) and my cardiac surgeon. What they think possibly happened is that I had some inflammation around my heart - a secondary infection caused by a sinus infection that I had last week. They think that this inflammation aggravated my already sensitive heart. They both (and the cardiologist here) think that the electrical currents in my heart weren't flowing correctly around the patch that was put in place 1.5 years ago and the circular current that resulted caused the tachycardia. However, they can't diagnose this unless I have another episode of tachycardia and they can capture it on the EKG. If this is the problem, it sounded like the cardiologist said it could be a very easy fix with some sort of IV catheter procedure. :)

I know that most of you were completely in the dark, but for those of you who did know, thank you for your prayers :) I think that my parents and the staff here were more concerned than I was, which usually is the case. I'm a pretty laid back sick person haha

Anyway, so I'm hoping it was just a little blip on the radar that is done with now. I'm hoping that for the last 12 days that I'm in Spain I can just be normal and enjoy my time here. Prayers for the last 2 weeks to be uneventful (medically) and for safe travels on the way back to the States would be appreciated. I'm hoping that if anything happens again it will be when I am safely back at home and I can be properly monitored, diagnosed, and treated by my own doctors, with my family around me, and in my own language (although I did surprisingly well and was told several times that my Spanish is very good :D).

12 days!

xoxox Alannah

Feria week

Well, Feria week is over and its back to school for me. Since the school day is over today, that means I only have 9 days left of class (8 for one class)! Woah. The semester is almost over!!

As I explained in my last post, Feria is basically one huge party. It's like a mini city on the outskirts of town that comes alive for a week of dancing, drinking, food, fun, and friends. It was a pretty cool experience. I went out on the first night to see the Alumbrado (lighting), which is when they turn on all the lights at Feria for the first time... hence the name Alumbrado. They start with the main gate of Feria, which this year was designed to look like the towers of the Plaza de España, and then light up the whole place, street by street. A group of us staked out a spot right in front of the portada (main entrance) where we could see both that and some nearby streets so we could see the lighting. I went back out to Feria a couple more times in the beginning of the week and had a really fun time :) I also got algodón dulce (cotton candy). Which I LOVE.

 

By mid-week, I was looking for something to do other than go to Feria again. So I hit up my girl, Elizabeth, and we went together to la Macarena, a neighborhood in Sevilla famous for its church and remnants of a city wall from the 8th-13th centuries. Afterwards we grabbed some pizza and ice cream. The church and the muralla (wall) were pretty cool, but I mostly enjoyed just talking to Elizabeth. It is nice to have one-on-one time with people out here, as most of the time stuff is done in groups. I really enjoy Elizabeth and, since she is from NWC, I'm looking forward to continuing our amistad (friendship) back in the States. :)

La muralla de la Macarena

The next day (or maybe it was 2 days later... I don't remember), Elizabeth and I met up again to go to the Alcazár Real (Royal Palace) in El Centro (the center). Its a really cool old building in the Almohade style of architecture (yes, I know that from my Spanish Art History class :P). The palace itself was great, but I really enjoyed the gardens most. There was even a peacock! Afterwards we grabbed some Rayas ice cream (supposedly the best ice cream in Sevilla - I thought it was pretty good, but nothing mind-blowing).



Around el Alcazár

By the end of the week, the cold that I have been fighting since I came back from England turned into sinusitis (a sinus infection). That was kind of annoying because the entire right side of my face, including my teeth and ear, was throbbing. So, I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics. He also prescribed some antihistamine (pretty normal) and some nasal spray (which I have never used before). The spray is weird. It has this minty flavor and is very strange to use and I don't like it much/at all, but all together, they cleared up the infection. The infection didn't stop me from going to see some flamenco with Elizabeth on Thursday night, though! I LOVE flamenco!!



My señora, María Luísa, in her traje de gitana

For the weekend, I mostly stayed in the house, as I was still recovering from the sinus infection. My señora was pretty confused by this and kept telling me I should go out more, but I just had a relaxing few days in my room reading and watching movies. I did, however, venture up to the roof to sunbathe a couple times, but everytime I was driven back inside by the intense heat of the sun and my incessant sweating. And, I secretly think that my señora enjoyed having me around a little because I offered to help her with hanging the washing up to dry and anything else she needed help with. She took me up on the washing, even telling her husband that we were going to do it together and getting a little annoyed that he was so insistent when he offered to do it for her. :)

Overall, it was a good week.

This week, we have a trip to Huelva coming up, which is apparently the place where Columbus hung out immediately before setting sail for the New World. And, I'm planning on going to Isla Mágica (the amusement park) this Sunday, which should be a good time, especially since the temperature will be dropping down a little for the weekend so I hopefully wont get heat stroke from being out all day. Haha. But really, it is HOT here.

17.5 days left :D

<3 Alannah

Why I'm still excited to be here and other musings

Be prepared for randomness in this post. This will be sort of a stream of consciousness type thinger.

I’m getting close to the end of my time here in Spain. According to the countdown on my phone, I have only 26 days left, one of which is today (which is basically over anyway), so really 25. This is exciting. I’ve been looking forward to going home for a few weeks now. I think my “homesickness,” for lack of a better descriptor, was brought on by my trip to England to visit my family. In light of this, I’ve been thinking,

“Wow, that was a dumb choice to go in the middle of the semester! It made you ‘homesick’ and you didn’t get to spend much time there. You should have stayed a few extra weeks in Europe afterwards and gone then.”

Thoughts about that statement: That was the longest break I had during the semester and I planned it wisely in that regard, as staying after the semester honestly didn’t even occur to me when I was thinking all this through and buying tickets and everything. Also, the more I think about it, the more I am glad I was there when I was there. I had tons of fun experiences that coincided with birthdays and holidays during that week. A different experience would have resulted if I went at any other time and I wouldn’t trade the time I had there for that. However, if I had it my way, I would have gone at both times – over Easter and at the end of the semester.  But alas, time and money are the bane of my existence. Ok, that was a little overdramatic, but kinda true. I am excited to get back to England soon, though. Hopefully this summer. And lastly, who knows, maybe a little bit of homesickness is good?

On that note, I’m trying to deal with this so-called “homesickness” in a healthy way. I wouldn’t necessarily define it as homesickness, per se. I’m not miserable here, in fact, I’m quite enjoying myself. I have realized how many exciting/interesting things there are still left for me to do in Spain and that I only have 26 days in which to do them. Which is also exciting, because that is a rather short amount of time and I get to go home soon J It’s kind of a confusing feeling to understand myself, let alone explain to others. I think, perhaps, the fact that I’ve been sick the last couple weeks has added to this feeling of wanting to go home. Even as an “independent” adult, you still just wanna be with your family when you’re not feeling right. This obnoxious cold that has morphed into either a lingering stuffy nose or allergies (I’m not sure which), is really getting old. Today, my stomach has decided to go on the offensive, too. I have no idea why. My body is stupid, as evidenced by hidden congenital heart defects and crappy gallbladder function that have decided to crop up in the last couple of years. Could be worse I guess.

Anyway, back to why I’m still excited to be in Sevilla.

 

1)      Next week is Feria. Feria is this giant party, essentially. It harkens back to the days when all the campesinos (peasants) would come into Sevilla for a big market at this time of year. After all the negotiations and everything were done, people would spend a week partying it up. There’s this whole part of the city that is just for Feria, kinda like a State Fair, but not really. What happens is that families or organizations set up casetas (tents) where there is dancing and food and drinking. In order to enter a caseta, you have to know someone who has paid into the caseta, because, usually the food in the caseta is free, paid for by people that have paid into the caseta for the right to come and go from that caseta as they please. For example, my señor, Miguel, is part of a hermandad (brotherhood) at his church that puts up a caseta. My roommate, Brooke, and I have been invited my María Luísa and Miguel into that caseta and they even gave us some special cards to get discount drinks at the bar. We just have to show the card and name drop Miguel’s name at the door J María Luísa also invited us to go with her to another caseta on Wednesday to hang out with “a bunch of old ladies,” as she put it. I think I’ll go for a while. It was really nice of her to invite us and she even offered to buy us a drink J Aside from the casetas, most of the Sevillan women will be dressed in traditional trajes gitanas (literally “gypsy outfits,” but they’re really what we know as flamenco dresses) and  A LOT of dancing happens. There is a specific kind of flamenco-ish dance called sevillanas, which is almost everyone here knows and is most common at Feria. There are also horse-drawn carriages shown off every day in the mid afternoon. There is also a special part of Feria set aside for a carnival type thing with amusement park games and rides. And, of course, there is lots of drinking. It’s a Spanish pastime and these people know how to party! The more I learn about Feria, the more excited I am to go! And there is supposed to be beautiful weather, so that’s always a plus.

2)      There’s some stuff I still haven’t done that I am excited to do. I still haven’t been to the Alcazar (the palace here in Sevilla) or la Macarena (the Macarena neighborhood – yes, this is the birthplace of everyone’s FAVORITE song). The Alcazar is supposed to be really pretty in the spring with all the flowers and there is a really cool church in la Macarena in addition to parts of the muralla (wall), left over from the city wall when Sevilla was a muslim city in siglos VIII-XIII (the 8^th to the 13^th centuries). Those are the two things that I really want to see, but I will also be doing some more exploring around the city before I leave.

3)      Isla Mágica (Magic Island). A theme park here in Sevilla. I’m a sucker for a good rollercoaster, so I’m planning on visiting this before I leave.

4)      The beach! There are no beaches in Sevilla, as it is inland, but there is OCEAN as close as an hour away. :D This weekend, a small group of us went to Matalasacañas, the closest beach. It was AMAZING. I realized that I haven’t swum in the ocean since my sophomore year of high school, so I was basically delirious with excitement. As evidenced by my obsession with marine science, I LOVE THE OCEAN. Waves are awesome. You don’t really get them on a lake in MN. And sand. And sun. It was just great. The perfect treat after a long week of exams. As I told my friend, Libby, while there, it was probably the best idea I had, apart from going to England, since coming to Europe. Honestly, it was that good. I’m planning a trip to another beach on May 1 when we don’t have class and I’d like to get in another trip if possible.

5)      Rayas. Apparently the best ice cream shop in Seville. It’s only open when the weather is warm, so it’s only just opened up, pero tengo muchas ganas probarlo (but I can’t wait to try it).

6)      Keep improving my Spanish. I’m still learning new phrases/vocab every day and having a great time becoming fluent.

7)      If you have gotten this far in this blog, I commend you. I have also just realized that my last 3 blog posts had long lists in them. Haha.

So, there are still some things to keep me occupied for the next 3.5 weeks until I leave. I didn’t add final exams to that list, because they’re not exactly exciting, but they are something that I have to do during my last week here.

 

This is a complete change of subject, but I realized last week that one of the things I am REALLY excited about when I get back and that I forgot to put on my list last time is going to church. I really miss River of Life. That’s kind of strange to say, as I’ve never felt super plugged in there, as most of the congregation is considerably older than me, but I like going. I enjoy learning about the Bible and spiritual issues (something that is missing not only from my classes here, but also my weekends). RoL (and Northwestern) are my little parts of God’s family and I’m missing that here. I have a Bible study and a weekly worship/message thing called Encuentro and I try to read when I can, but weekend are often busy or I’m traveling and I just haven’t made it a priority to get plugged in at a church here.  I probably should have, but I haven’t, so I’m looking forward to going back to that.

 

Also, for all my theatre friends out there, the other day in my Lit class, we acted out the last scene of the novel we were reading and I got to play one of the characters (surprisingly similar to characters I have played in the past), and it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a class the entire time I’ve been here, even though it lasted only about 15 min. It felt just like blocking a scene with scripts still in hand. I miss theatre.

If you’ve looked at my Pinterest lately, I’m sure you can tell what else I’m missing: I think about 90% of my pins in the last few weeks have been food. Haha.

 

Anyway, that was long and rambly. I’ll be surprised if you’re still here, but if you are, thanks for reading my strange thoughts.

Don’t worry about me – I’m still loving Spain. But don’t get too comfortable either. I’ll be back before you know it!!! May 10, in case you didn’t wanna do the math yourself.

<3 Alannah

 

Procrastination

In an attempt to further my procrastination from studying (which I really should be doing, seeing as though I have 3 exams this week), I thought I would compile a list of things that I'll be excited for when I go home.

• Being in a familiar environment where I can basically do what I want, including having people over.
• Access to drinks other than just water. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE water, but sometimes, you just gotta mix it up a little.
• Real vegetables. See previous posts.
• Mis animales (my animals). I miss cuddling with my puppy and kitten. Also just having them around. They bring a certain liveliness to a house and make things more interesting overall.
• Access to my full wardrobe. Even though my mother gets annoyed at my large amount of shoes, there have been many times here in Spain where I wished I had a pair that is sitting in my closet at home. Same with other clothing items.
• Driving. You don't know what you've got till it's gone.
• English.
• US food in general, including (but not limited to), chocolate chip cookies, potato chips, pastas, grilled chicken, Mexican food, rice, mashed or baked potatoes, etc.
• Friends and family. This experience would be infinitely better with people that I have a previous relationship with.
• Not having to light the pilot light on the thermos every time I want hot water.
• CEREAL.
• Girly things that I have in abundance at home but only in limited quantities/not at all here (ejemplos (examples): nail polish, curling irons, hair products)
• Theatre. No explanation necessary. Some people just have to be on stage. Or at least around those kinds of people.
• Northwestern College. School just works differently here. Not better or worse, just different.
• Reliable wifi.
• Working. I need monies and I like to keep myself busy.
• Green space.
• My bed with my linens.
• Random other stuff that I can't think of right now.

This may seem kind of ranty. I hope not. I am enjoying my time in Spain and am blessed to be here, but I'm ready to go home and enjoy all of the above things :)

Hasta luego,
Elena

Fail

Sorry guys, I SERIOULSY fail at updating this blog. It was going alright for a while there, but I got so busy here in Spain and travelling around that I just haven't had time to sit down and write a post.

Let's see... since my last post a lot of stuff has happened, most importantly, my trip to England.

Over Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain (23 March - 31 March), I jetted off to England to visit la familia (the fam). I'm now back in Sevilla and I miss England. A lot. I've decided there are a few select reasons why:


1. I have family there. Having grown up more or less in the good old US of A, I haven't had much experience with being around people that just love you. I mean, they're kind of obligated to, since they're family, but it feels really great. These are people that you can literally talk to about anything and they support you and are interested in you and you didn't have to do anything to earn that. What?! I know, you're probably laughing at me right now, but I've never really realized before what I was missing out on! I'm already making plans to go back :)

2. I'm not in love with Spain. People are probably going to think I'm crazy for saying this, but Spain is just kinda "meh" for me. I really like it here, but its getting old. Spain hasn't captured me or made me fall in love with it like other countries that I've visited have (i.e. Japan). Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and I'm learning a lot about myself and getting soooo much better at Spanish, but I won't really be upset to go home in 37 days.

3. Being in England with family (and even though it is extended, I feel very close to them) has given me a taste of home and I realize how much I'm missing my family and friends in the States.

4. Food. English food vs. Spanish food. Spanish food is más o menos (more or less) healthy. Ejemplo (example): We had fresh fruit with every meal and there is much less sugar in the food here. BUT, English food is more familiar. In England I had pasta and fish and chips and tea and wonderfulness all week. And REAL vegetables. I say real because in Spain, casi siempre (almost always), my señora takes perfectly wonderful, whole, fresh veggies and purees them into an unrecognizable goo with strange spices and a slimy texture. Ew. Just give me the real veggies, please! Like in England.


So anyway, England was great and I miss it. I met family members I've never met before and got to know the other ones better than ever. I decided that I like having cousins that are my age and invite me to hang out with them and their friends. I just felt really at home there. I fit in. With my family, I felt like I could let my guard down a little and I had so much fun :)

The only downside of the trip is that now estoy resfriada (I have a cold). But that's not going to put me off of going back! Just watch - I'll be back in England before you know it! And after that, next stop Aussie :D

<3 Alannah

Holy hill!

Oh wow, it's been a really long time since I posted anything. Oops. Lo siento (sorry).

Last weekend, the school took us on a trip to a nearby town named Ronda. Our school excursions are usually school-ish. Not my favorite. For example, we often visit cathedrals on school trips and everyone in the art class has to follow our professor, Carmen, around, listening to her very extensive knowledge on the architectural style of the cathedral through these weird little walkie talkie thingies. Which is interesting. It really is. Except when you have just spent hours and hours on a bus and you're kinda tired and just wanna look at the cathedral! Some people can tune her out. I don't have that talent. Instead, my mind forces me to pay close attention to everything she is saying. It's tiring. Luckily for me, this was not one of those excursions.

Before arriving in Ronda, we stopped in an ancient Roman city nearby. It was pretty awesome. Most of the houses were just piles of stones, but there was one thing left that I found incredibly cool - an amplitheatre! So, I took a picture of myself in front of the theatre that was around before Christ and imagined performing there. It is bigger than most stages that I have performed on :)




You can't see the stadium seating part of this amplitheatre because its built into the hill, but there are about 30 levels. Pretty big.




Landscape around Ronda




View of the bridge leading into the old part of Ronda

The trip to Ronda was pretty much just to see Ronda (which means "surrounded by mountains"). Yes, there is history and stories to be told about the city, but the real beauty of the city is in the landscape. Old Ronda is situated on top of a giant precipicio (cliff). It's quite a long way down. It was pretty cool.


In a subterranean staircase

After Ronda, five other girls and I hopped a train to Granada. Granada was the last stronghold of the Muslim empire in Spain before it was conquered in the 15th century by Isabel and Fernando. While there, the Muslims built a huge, beautiful palace and garden complex on top of a hill called the Alhambra. This was created for no other reason than to enjoy the surrounding nature. It is luxurious. We barely got in, since we couldn't reserve tickets online due to technical problems and there are over 8,000 visitors a day, but we did and it was absolutely worth all the pain it took to get there (which including booking it up a giant hill at 8:15am - don't worry, though difficult, my heart got me up there without giving out on me)! Take a look.




Karli and me in the Patio de Arrayanes (Patio of that square shrub thing)

Trying to look regal in La sala del trono (Throne Room)




Taking pics in the Generalife gardens
























So, thus far, Granada has been my favorite city to visit. Es una ciudad preciosa y la me encanta muchisimo (It is a beautiful city and I love it a lot).




The group in front of the Alhambra as viewed from the Mirador de San Nicolas (Overlook of San Nicholas) on the other side of the valley

(l-r) Karleigh, me, and Elizabeth

If you're wondering about the title of this post, it is because this weekend felt like one GIANT hill. Literally. Everywhere I went this weekend was incredibly steep and gave me a great work out. I'm really glad I had my heart surgery when I did, because without it, I never would have made it through the weekend. It was hard work sometimes, but definitely worth it for the views and the memories.

This week was also kind of figuratively a giant hill because it pretty much marked the half-way point through the semester. In reality, that was last week or something (I think I've been here for 9 weeks and have 7 more to go), but the reality of this experience being more than half over didn't really kick in till this week. I'm super excited to come home and see friends and family, but I'm definitely not ready to leave Spain yet! I still have so much to learn and experience! But the time will come to an end eventually.

This Friday, I'm headed out of Sevilla again to visit family in Southampton, England. I'll be there for 10 days. I'm really looking forward to being relaxed and spending Easter with family and just being in England. The last few weeks have been very hectic, though fun, and I'm looking forward to a relaxing spring break with family.

I hope this post and all the pictures make up for not posting as often as I should. :)



In front of a fountain in Granada. Kaitlin Lassen, if you read this, this ones for you - CHRISTMAS!


<3 Alannah