Oh there's no place like home for the holidays

Hey friends! As hopefully most of you know, I am heading back to NC for the holidays by hook or by crook. I was supposed to fly to the US today but bad weather everywhere has pushed back my flight to Wednesday the 23rd. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll be home on Christmas Eve! Also if you'll be in the area be sure to call me because I would love to see you! Os deseo Felices Fiestas!!

First Ultimate Tournament in Spain!

So this weekend one of our team capitan's Juan (or Jaunito), organized a hat tournament in Madrid this weekend. (Quick personal ultimate update: I was invited about a month or so to play on the Quijotes Coed team that practices Tuesdays and Thursdays. I used to practice on Wednesdays which was for the newer players. Although I definitely need to work on my game it has been nice to play more competitively and with better players). A hat tournament means that anyone can come to if they sign up. There were a bunch of people from the Quijotes who signed up as well as a couple of players from the ultimate team in Burgos and Santander. All in all there were about 50 players who signed up and 4 teams were divided up randomly by skill level on Saturday morning. My team was awesome! All the players were really nice and fun to play with. On Saturday we played a round robin of 3 games against the other 3 teams. We went 2-1 on Saturday qualifying us for the finals on Sunday. When not playing I got to socialize with some of the other players which was fun. On Saturday night a pizza dinner was provided (awesome!) and then there was a rockin' party afterwards. On Sunday, we played a round of discgolf and then moved into the semifinals and finals game. Sadly, our team (Baca con B was our name) lost in the finals 10-7 but we played a good game and had fun which is what a hat/ultimate is all about right? The ultimate season really kicks into gear in the spring so I'm getting pumped for more tournaments woohoo!!! FYI I am coming back to 'Mericaaaaaaa on December 21st (ie less than 7 days) and will stay until January 9th! Come hang out with me! Until then...here are some pictures from the ultimate tournament.
All the players from Juanito's Hat Ultimate Tournament! See if you can find me haha

My team before our first game Saturday!

NO8DO: Sevilla hasta la muerte

This weekend in Madrid we had a 4 day weekend so Tory, Allison, Bethany and I decided to take a vacation to Sevilla! For those of you who don't know, I studied abroad in Sevilla in the spring of 2007 which is where I met Tory and Allison. All week I was excited to go back to our old stomping grounds and revisit all the places we loved to go! I got to Sevilla on Saturday by taking the 6 hour bus which wasn't as bad as I thought. After having a quick bite to eat we headed into the city center to walk around and see the sights. We stopped by the Catedral and then walked down by the Rio Guadalquivir. Then we went to eat some tapas by our hostel which were delicious per usual. After we went to hostel and got ready to go out. We went to our favorite discoteca in Sevilla, Catedral. We went there almost every single week in during study abroad so we had to make a glorious return back. It was amazing and hadn't changed one bit! We had a blast and ended up staying out until 6 in the morning! It was totally worth it even though we didn't get up until 2 pm the next day. But it was fine since it was Sunday nothing in Spain is really open except for cafes and restaurants. While in Sevilla our favorite tradition on Sundays was to go sit by the Rio Guadalquivir in the afternoon and drink Shandy, a lemon flavored beer. Thus began Shandy Sundays. We decided to continue this tradition on our trip by have a picnic lunch and Shandy's by the river which was really nice. After lounging for a while, I met up with my friend from Martin Middle School Meredith Spivey who is doing my program in Murcia. She was in Sevilla for the long weekend as well and it was fun to catch up and see how she is doing! We went to dinner all together at my favorite restaurant in Sevilla Cafe-Bar Levies. On Sunday, we started off in the morning to find some of the ceramics that Sevilla is famous for! It was a little difficult because many of the shops were closed but we found some that were open and got some really cool pieces. We finished up the day by going to see the Real Alcazar and eating lunch and some delicious Bar Manolo olives! At 6, we caught the bus back to Madrid and Tuesday was a bank holiday so it was nice to have a day to recuperate from vacation haha. All in all, it was an amazing return to my favorite place in Spain! Next weekend: My first ultimate frisbee tournament in Spain! (okay so its a hat tournament but no pasa nada)

The symbol of Sevilla that means "You have never left me"

Shandy Sunday by the river.

Allison, Bethany and I with the orange trees.

In front of the cathedral with Tory.