Happy New Year from Seville!!!!!!

Hola todos!
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year. I sure did! So a little update on what has happened in my life since I´ve last written......
December was a great month. It was a great experience to see how another culture celebrated Christmas. It was also very surreal to be in a place that was warm, sunny, and bright during December. :) The city was decorated very beautifully. In Spain, Christmas trees are not as common as belenes, or Nativity Scenes. Everywhere you went in the city, there were elaborate Nativity scenes, ranging from tiny, to life-size. I also saw a really beautiful Nativity scene in a candy shop that was made out of chocolate!

I had the pleasure of attending the Christmas party for the professors who work with me in Brenes. There was a big, elaborate lunch, but I was unable to attend because it was out of my budget range. However, I met up with the crew after lunch in a bar/club called Caramelo. I met up with them at about 7:30pm, and found all of my coworkers drunk and dancing to techno music like it there was no tomorrow. It was the most hilarious scene in the world! I took so many hilarious (and almost incriminating) photos of my coworkers, but unfortunately for me I was not as careful with my belongings as I should have been, and my belongings were stolen at the bar (my camera, my cell phone, my credit card, cash, etc.). I was so hearbroken about losing my camera, because I had all those great photos of my co-workers. Also, this incident happened only 2 days before I left for Christmas vacation in the Netherlands and Germany. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed about it. I keep trying to tell myself that material things don´t matter, but it still makes me sad to know that I´m in Spain and don´t have my precious camera with me :(

About my Christmas vacation:
I flew from Seville to Dusseldorf, a small town in Germany that is right on the Dutch border, close to where my friends Janneke and Aagje live. I was greeted at the airport by both of them, holding up handmade signs that said things like ¨Aubs!¨ and ¨Welcome to Holland!¨ and ¨Lekker Kontje!¨(inside joke).
The next day I went with Aagje to stay with her family in her town, Eersel. Her parents, Pieter and Hanneke, were so nice to me and made me feel so much at home. On Christmas Eve they took me to Belgium, to the city of Antwerp. It was so charming, and only about an hour or so away in train from their house. We walked through the city, visiting the city center and wandering around the traditional Christmas markets. It was there that I tried Gluhwein (spelling?), which is a hot, mulled wine. Quite nice! Afterwards we had tea and coffee in a cosy cafe and ate lunch in a very dark, candlelit Medieval cellar. It was AMAZING! I had so much fun! Unfortunately for me I was feeling quite sick with a cold and cough so afterwards we went back to Eersel and hung around in the house. I got to take my very first bath in over 3 months....I forgot how great they were!
Christmas day was spent with both sides of Aagje´s family- we had coffee and cake with one side of the family, where I met Aagje´s Oma (Grandma) and I absolutely LOVED that woman! She didn´t speak a word of English and my Dutch is rusty at best, but we still managed to communicate and I just adored her! She´s such a fiesty old woman....I hope I´m that cool when I´m 79! I also talked a lot to Aagje´s little Dutch cousins, who were 12 years and younger. They were eager to practice their English with me, and they were soooooo good! I had a lot of fun.
Afterwards we went to Aagje´s other side of the family for a proper dinner, and it was a LOT of people (at least 18). The dinner was at Aagje´s sister´s house, Pleun. The dinner was in the city of Eindhoven. We went with Aagje´s boyfriend, Ruud, who is a really cool guy. The food was amazing, at least 5 courses, and lasted more than 5 hours! And Aagje´s cousins are really, really good looking! :P
Then Janneke came to pick me up and we went back to her town, Venray. In Holland they have 2 days of Christmas- Christmas Day and the day after, so I was to spend the following day with her family. (BTW, there was no gift exchanging....in Holland this happens earlier in the month when Sinter Klaas comes in a boat from Spain, bearing presents for the children).
Janneke has a great family- an amazing set of parents, Jan and Marian, and a cute little 15 year old brother, Giel. For Christmas dinner some of Janneke´s aunts and uncles (and one cousin) came over to their house. Janneke´s mom prepared an absolutely amazing feast to say the least. Crabcakes with mango salsa, wild mushroom soup, frozen Champagne, rabbit in beer (my first time eating rabbit...tastes like chicken!), turkey in a mustard sauce, steamed vegetables and toasted pears with cinnamon cream. It was HEAVEN! And everyone was so friendly and funny, I had such an amazing time! I even read some dialogues out of my Dutch language book so that they could critique my Dutch accent......I got pretty good reviews, although I´m sure they were just being nice! :)
The next day Janneke told me to Nijmegen, the city where she attends University. What a charming school! I really enjoyed the city, especially the old city center. Janneke lives in a cosy studio apartment-esque place, and I really liked it. But that night I stayed at Aagje´s amazing house that she shares with roommates, and her, Ruud and I spent the night watching movies and such.
That weekend Janneke and I went to Amsterdam, a city that I have been to 2 times before and have absolutely loved. Amsterdam is an amazing, magical city. The canals and the houses are so picturesque, and the people are so friendly. I could definetely see myself living there at some point in my life. We walked around the outdoor market, I tried herring (raw fish covered in onions....very Dutch), we had the BEST hot chocolate in the world at a chocolate bar called Nubby´s, and we just took in the sights and ambience of Amsterdam. We returned later that night to Nijmegen.
The next day we took a 6 hour train ride (in first class, mind you!) to Berlin, where we were going to spend New Years and stay with Janneke´s friend Alessa, who is Dutch but is studying in Berlin. 3 other friends of theirs also came to stay, so it was a bit crowded, but a lot of fun nonetheless. Berlin was COLD. I mean freezing. I almost forgot what that feels like, since Seville´s warm climate has spoiled me so much. It was also very very cloudy while we were there. I don´t think I saw the sun shine once in the 4 days that we were there. :(
We visited the remains of the Berlin Wall, the AlexanderPlatz and Potsdam Platz (two important city squares in Berlin), the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building, the Berliner Dom, a church that suffered extensive damage from the bombings in WWII, a memorial site for the Jews who were killed in WWII, went to a traditional beer hall, ate Weiner Schnitzel (its sooooo good!), and went shopping in the city square (I bought my first leather jacket! ;))
For New Years we went to some clubs in the center of the city, with tickets we had bought in advance for 30 euros. With these tickets you have access to 15 different clubs, although i think we only visited 3 of them. We had so much fun dancing the night away. At midnight we all went outside to watch the elaborate fireworks display and wish each other a Happy New Year. We stayed out until about 6 in the morning. Needless to say we didn´t do too much on New Year´s Day....we stayed in and watched movies and relaxed while it lightly snowed outside.
Then Janneke and I returned to Nijmegen, then to Venray and finally on the 6th of January we flew (together) to Seville. Janneke is staying with me for a few weeks, although she leaves this Saturday, and boy will I be sad to see her go! We have had so much fun together, and it´s interesting because its kind of a cultural exchange that we are doing.....I get to see how she lives in Holland and she gets to see how my life is in Seville. I´ve taken her to the Cathedral, la Giralda, the Alcazar (an Arabic palace), to the river, tapas-crawling, clubbing, etc. We´ve had a great time together.

Okay, so some general observations on things:

- In Holland, the stairs in houses are soooooo small and steep. You really have to be very careful when you are climbing up them or going down....more than once I almost had a nasty fall!

- I found that the Dutch, in general, are very friendly people who love to have a conversation with just about anyone. I really loved the friendly, laid back attitude of the Dutch.

- Prices are, in general, quite reasonable in Berlin. I found Berlin to be cheapest capitol city I have ever been to. An example: I ate a Doner Kebab for 2.50 euros, had a beer for 2 euros, and ate a big pizza for 6 euros.

-Almost every Dutch person I met could speak very very good English. I am convinced that this is primarly due to television. In Spain and many other countries, all English-speaking shows and movies are dubbed in Spanish. In Holland, however, all English shows have Dutch subtitles, even cartoons (like the Simpsons). I think that this facilitates a lot in the learning of English, as well as the fact that Holland is a very small country and they must learn other languages in order to function in an international setting.

OH NO! The bell just rang (I am at school right now) and I must go to my next class. I will write more observations later. I will also post some pictures of my vacation that Janneke as so kindly sent me.

Hasta ahora,
Aubree