A busy week and back to normalcy!

Hey everyone! Thank you for being patient with my lack of posting in the past week and a half. So much has happened that I do not know where to start! First and foremost, my good friend Kevin from the U.S. came to visit me in Sevilla. He got in last Thursday and just left this morning, so between hosting him, class, and Rotary, I have certainly been busy!

Having a friend visit was a great way for me to step back and really appreciate being here. I realize how much I have come to love this city and was so excited to show him all of my favorite places and introduce him to all of my friends. Both of those objectives were incredibly successful. Kevin got along great with both my American and Spanish friends here (and gave my Spanish friends a chance to practice their English :) ). He was shocked at how big Sevilla was and how well I knew my way around. He got to see just about every corner of the city! He got new shoes just before coming to Europe, and he definitely put some miles on them! In addition, he came to Sevilla at a great time. The spring has definitely arrived and we have had beautiful weather all week. The orange trees are in bloom so all over the city the streets smell like orange blossom (great for the senses, not so great for allergies!). Here are some pictures we took on our various excursions throughout the city:

The River Guadalquivir in the springtime!

The narrow streets of Barrio Santa Cruz.

Oranges!

People in the streets on a beautiful spring day.

River/people at dusk.

Kayakers on the river by the Puente de Triana.

Kevin in Spain!

Plaza del Salvador on a Sunday afternoon!

Iván had some friends in town from Galicia, so we all went sightseeing together! It was a great day.

In addition to all of these fun activities, there have been some other important events that have taken place in the last 2 weeks. First, the Rotary Club of Sevilla has begun their annual series of talks by local politicians. The Club is hosting the candidates from the various political parties for Mayor of Sevilla. Last week I listened to a speech by the candidate of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Party, PSOE), Juan Espadas. The Spanish Socialist Party has been in power for quite awhile and the people are in general not pleased with the way things are going. The economic crisis has hit Spain harder than most countries so there is some skepticism as to how the future mayor of Sevilla will deal with those problems. Rotary extends invitations to both Rotarians and non-Rotarians to attend the conferences by the various politicians, so there has been quite a crowd at the past two meetings. This week was the speech of the candidate for the Partido Popular (People's Party, PP), Juan Ignacio Zoido. He seems to be the favored candidate, especially from the Rotary demographic. The PSOE and PP are essentially the Democratic and Republican parties, but unlike the U.S., it is not a bipartisan system. There are other parties as well, particularly in the Autonomous Communities. For example, the next talk will be given by Pilar González of the Partido Andalucista (Andalusian Party, PA), which is a party that only exists in Andalucía. As an apolitical organization Rotary has an obligation to welcome those of all political views, and I think this series of talks is a great demonstration of the ideal of tolerance that Rotary embodies. Rotarians are setting a great example by being active citizens and listening to the issues and concerns of all of the candidates, regardless of their personal views.

The set-up: our President José Luis sitting with the PP candidate, Juan Ignacio Zoido. Ignacio, as macero (Sergeant-at-Arms), is directing the conference.

José Luis gave each candidate a Rotary Club of Sevilla banner and he received a certificate acknowledging the event.

Me with the PSOE candidate, Juan Espadas.

Apart from all of this, I have been keeping busy with class, research, volunteering, and some other Rotary duties. Since this post is getting a bit long, I will give a brief overview and try to go into more detail in a later post. Classes are going great and I am really enjoying the material. It is making me very excited to start medical school in the fall! The research article we submitted in the fall has been returned to us with suggested revisions, so we have been hard at work to make the revisions and resubmit in the next few weeks. I have continued volunteering with the Fundación Gota de Leche, but along with the Healthy Breakfast program I have been participating in the Hygiene program as well, but more to come on that in a later post. And finally as I mentioned in a previous post I was helping a Rotarian, Raúl, arrange his trip to Chicago. He left today but before he left I helped him translate the presentation he will be giving in Chicago. It was a bit tedious, but the topic of the presentation made it a lot easier to get through the translation. Raúl is part of a committee that is trying to set up a Rotary Social Network - a Facebook like server dedicated entirely to Rotary. The presentation seemed great to me and I am excited to hear about the outcome of meeting in Evanston. Hopefully before long we will be able to keep in touch with Rotarians all over the world in one place! I'll keep you posted on how that progresses.

Well, I guess that is all for now! I know this was long, but that is what I get for waiting so long to update. As I said, I'll try to go into some more detail on some things at a later date. What's coming up for me next? Well this Saturday I am taking a day trip to Gibraltar to see the British rock! Then Monday instead of hosting a politician the Rotary Club of Sevilla is having a Benefit Fashion Show, but more to come on that later. Have a great weekend, and thanks for sticking with me!