Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
Eras-what??? My Erasmus Experience

Before this summer, if someone ever came up to me on the street and said "Erasmus," I probably would have responded in one of the following ways:
a. By saying "bless you" politely and continuing on my way
b. By running and ducking for cover for the fear that it's a secret terrorist code word to start global destruction
c. Or by responding "ERAS YOU!!!" in a hasty tone with a non-so-pleasant hand gesture

And the winner is.....

D- none of the above!

Well thank goodness I now know what it is, because I would have looked like quite the idiot in Huelva responding in any of these manners. Erasmus are students who come mostly from Europe and were given grants to study abroad, and Huelva has quite the Erasmus population due to the University of Huelva. At one point, I was placed in a town directly between Sevilla and Huelva, but despite the glamour of Sevilla, I opted for the smaller city of Huelva. One of my main reasons for choosing this city was because it is very international and not as 'American touristy'. Plus, I figured I'd be more of a commodity in Huelva! Although my plan was to immediately submerse myself with Spanish friends, I quickly met a group of five amazing Erasmus students from the UK and we all quickly fell in love! Haha ok well not quite, but we couldn't get along better. Like myself, they all enjoy dancing while making slight fools of themselves! In addition, my roommate is an Erasmus student from right outside of Paris...so I've been meeting my fair share of International amigos.

One of the neatest things about meeting so many international students is being able to share our cultures with one another. Last Thursday my friend Rachelle hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving party at her piso; in attendance were amigos from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and the US...it was just so amazing to see an abundance of cultures coming together to celebrate an American holiday with such enthusiasm and support. (The rest of the T-day story will be coming soon...I promise!)

BEsos for now...more adventures to come soon....

~Nicole :-)

and PS- In addition to being able to learn about different cultures and countries, I now have many free couches to crash on when I decide to travel the world!!! Wohooo :-)