BONSAIIII

That's right! I was a tree! Not only did this match my title as "The Environmental One" among my friends, but it was also the cheapest option, seeing as I only had to buy the circular plastic bush that later would be placed on my head. Why this globe of plastic leaves was even created in the first place is beyond me...

So Carnaval is a crazy, crazy place. Imagine thousands of people, all dressed up in costumes, just socializing in the streets. We saw heart suckers, clergymen, chickens, sperm, race car drivers, Avatars, bulls, girl scouts, devils, angels, rabbits, and some that were just plain unidentifiable. For example, what ARE these things?:



The streets are packed with all of these characters, and everyone's talking and laughing and having a great time. There's nothing much to do except walk around, take pictures of great costumes, and make new friends. My costume was pretty popular, although a lot of people thought I was either a Chia pet or a bonsai tree. (Hence the title of this blog...try screaming BONSAI in a spanish accent to get the full effect of what I kept hearing all night.) People kept touching my leaves, so I got a lot of practice saying 'Be careful! It's fragile!" in Spanish. It was worth it, however, when I won the costume contest with the tourism group that we traveled with. Now, I get to travel to Gibraltar for free, just for wearing a cheap fake bush on my head! Awesome.

We got home from Cadiz at around 5 am (still very early for Spaniards) and then biked home after discovering that all of the taxis in Sevilla were occupied. Rocío spent the weekend here again, and we woke up to her tap-dancing in the kitchen at 2:15 pm. Although it was a bit of a rough wake-up call, I was excited to see that she had written us a note and put it under our door. She had drawn Chantel and I in our costumes and had written underneath:

"Dear Chantel and Lyndsay:
I like that you and Lyndsay wake up because I want that. ¿You like the carnaval and I want look the fotos. ¿OK? ¡Good morning! Love Rocío"

After reading that, I couldn't be mad.

Overall, Carnaval was a success. A very fun weekend to bring in the start of classes at la Universidad tomorrow. My schedule isn't completely finalized yet, but when it is, I'll let you all know what I'm taking.

And finally, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Know that I'm thinking about all of you, even though I'm more than 4,000 miles away.