i write this fresh off the bus from Toledo. we (the people in my program) left this morning at 9am to go there for the day, its only about an hour away from Madrid, so it wasnt a bad ride at all. once we got there, we went to this elevated point just outside the city where i took a few pictures of a panoramic view of toledo, probably a lot nicer in real life than on film, but it was worth a shot. after, we went to see the cathedral, which took about 250 years to build, literally, and is absolutely beautiful. people have told me this is one of the greatest cathedrals in the world, but i actually think i liked the one in sevilla better, i was more in awe in sevilla. not to take anything away from that of Toledo, but it wasnt as big or detailed as sevilla. however, the artwork inside the toledo cathedral was a lot nicer i think, there's this huge ornate sculpture of angels and saints and all other varieties of catholic imagery (excuse my lack of description of catholic artwork, but im not exactly an expert). the sculpture is all about contrast. . . bright white with shining gold, shadows and light, etc. theres a huge window in the ceiling on an angle that pours natural light in directly on the sculpture (not even an adequate word to describe it now that i think of it), so its pretty crazy. anyway, after the cathedral, we walked around on our own and ate lunch, then walked around the town some more before meeting to see a couple churches and synagogues. these were all really nice, but what struck me more was the town itself. its a peninsula of sorts, surrounded by a river, and its elevated on a rocky hill. looking at it from outside the city, it looks ancient, i cant imagine it has changed all that much over the centuries. the streets are narrow, like 5 feet wide in some places, and cars still go through some of them, its insane! for some reason, there weren't a lot of people there today, so walking around during siesta was surreal. all the streets were empty, these tiny little alleyways with views of the surrounding hills were completely vacant, i took some pictures that will seem weird cause there's not a person anywhere, which is rare in big tourist attraction cities i would imagine. the bus ride back was actually a good time, i talked with a few people i didn't know too well before, and they actually turned out to be really great people, so that was nice. . .

wow, this blog has defninitely been resurrected from the depths of boring blogs whose creators had forgotten them. . .again, if you like what you see. . .its all j yang. .. .www.hyperwest.net it will take you anywhere you wanna go. . .so things this week were slow, it started off fun, i went to an irish pub at 1am to watch the lakers-kings game, it ended around 5am here. . so i was tired for my 9.00 class to say the least. . . i felt like it was dance mix week or something (if that means nothing to you, you dont know me well enough, haha. . .) apart from that, it was only classes and my first paper, which i turned in today, that kept me occupied this week. although i have made concrete plans for at least one weekend trip. . .malaga (actually torremolinos, but we'll be in malaga and marbella as well). i'm goin next friday, june 14, goin to granada that saturday, and then back to madrid sunday morning, where my wonderful family is arriving around 11am (actually, just my parents, arthi comes monday, and neethi stays home. . boo) as for tonite, thursday night, im goin to a big discoteque for the first time i think, im actually not that excited, i think it might be like 7 floors of house music, which is ok, but i haven't heard good hip hop in what seems like a loooooong time. . .im goin to toledo saturday for the day though, so i'll update on that later

wow, quite a pleasant surprise, i was checking to see if my last blog was posted, and my page looked completely different. . . for those of you who wonder who made it look so nice, jon yang, thanks so much, u never cease to amaze me. so i promised a blog about sevilla and i haven't delivered yet. from the beginning: we (our whole group of about 40 students) took the train from the madrid atocha train station at 9am friday morning (may 31). it was early, but amazingly almost all of us made it on time. we took the AVE (alta velocidad something) which is basically the same thing as the TGV, a high speed, really smooth, train. it only took 2.5 hours to get there, most of which was spent sleeping, although the moments in and out of consciousness were made pleasant by the view of mountains and olive orchards. once in sevilla, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and walked to the old part of town where the huge cathedral is. i normally dont like seeing churches, temples and the like but la catedral blew me away. it was just so big and intricate and overwhelming. . .impossible to imagine it being built. while fairly dirty on the outside, inside its clean and airy and really beautiful. there are 50 chapels i think, a couple are stunning (pretty much all gold), many others are just plain old impressive, haha. christopher columbus' tomb is also inside, hoisted on the shoulders of four statues crushing a pomegranate with their spears (pomegranate is granada in spanish, which was the last muslim city that was reconquered by the christians in spain, hence the symbolism, interesting i know. later, we went to the real alcazar, a palace and gardens with a wide mixture of architectural styles, so that was nice too. i really liked the actual city of sevilla, the older part is unique, narrow streets dividing shops, bars, restaurants, etc. they also have these huge tent-like pieces of cloth hung between buildings and in open spaces, to shield everything from the heat. its hot, really hot. and its right on the river too, which makes it much more humid than here in madrid, so it was exhausting walking around all day. after eating and walking and resting for awhile, i went down to the newer part of the city, down by the river, and saw the sun set behind this modern bridge that was built for the expo in 1992. i doubt my pictures came out cause i was using a cheap disposable camera. . . i was pissed. apparently the night life in sevilla is rumored to be crazier than madrid, but im not so sure, we went to a couple nice places along the water, and to some other nice bars, nothing remarkable, but i didnt go to that many places to really pass judgment. the next day i woke up early for no reason (i thought we all had to) and walked ALL OVER the city, saw all the major sights: torre del oro, plaza de toros, plaza de espana--my favorite, etc. it was sooo hot and i was thoroughly exhausted by about 3pm. we werent leaving til 7, so a few others and i sat and chilled in a coffee shop, talked about travelling, i think i may have found people to travel with, which is definitely good. we got back to madrid at 10 and i came home, took a nap, then went out for one of my friend's 21st birthday, not quite as exciting in spain than in the US, but still. that was a decent time, but i cannot reiterate enough how much emborrachadas (drunken girls) can annoy me. everything back in madrid is good, saloni got here yesterday, i ran into her on the street, random, but she lives right near me which is nice. ok thats all for updates . . .