The Beginning

I’ve officially been here for 2 weeks but it feels like a lot longer. Except for the fact that I’m still getting lost and using a map. And a lot of Spanish that is spoken to me goes over my head. I have definitely done the smile and nod when I have no idea what is going on. So here’s an overview of the last two weeks...

Orientation was a whirlwind of information sessions, tapas, flamenco, scavenger hunts, getting lost, and attempting to understand and speak Spanish. And hot Spanish college aged guides (with fabulous names like Tacho). So far I’ve been able to understand most of what people are saying, however the responding part is a little bit more difficult. I get really flustered when I try to speak Spanish to natives and basically end up stuttering. Something usually comes out that’s about 40% correct. Orientation lasted about a week, from January 19th to 23rd. Highlights: cheap tapas with our orientation groups, amazing sangria, finding an Owl at the ruins of Italica and throwing what I know, and seeing my friend Josh from Tufts.

We moved into our homestays the third day of orientation. The minute I got the sheet of paper with my homestay information on it I started to stress out. It said I would be living in La Macarena with two adults. Meaning, no children to teach me Spanish jokes or make things less awkward. It was also incredibly far from where Laura and Alyssa (from Tufts) were living. When I got there it was immediately awkward/uncomfortable and I knew it wasn’t going to work for the next four months. And so I’m moving (probably on Tuesday). There are many factors/reasons for why I am moving but there are far too many to list here so if you want to know exactly why let me know. The family I’m moving in with is from Bolivia (figures I would find a family not from Spain) and they have a one-year-old. More details on the new homestay to come.

This past week (January 25-29) we started our Intensive Spanish session. I’m taking grammar Monday through Friday from 3:00-6:00pm. It is miserable. Basically I’m in the legit grammar classes—some of the other classes have taken thirty-minute coffee breaks, learned Spanish swear words, explored the city. My class sits around learning when to use the verbs ser and estar and how to conjugate in the preterite. Worst three hours of my day. It also doesn’t help that our class is during prime siesta time. It’s also right after lunch so I’m usually entering into a food coma. Oh and the classroom is about 80 degrees. The other day we tried to get our teacher off topic and it worked for about 15 minutes until we went back to determining when to use por and para. Fail.

I have started to figure out weekend trips for the semester; this is what gets me through the worst three hours of my day. Officially going to Paris, Madrid, and Morocco. In the process of planning some other fun stuff, like Barcelona and hopefully England or Italy. Suggestions are always welcome.

Today (Sunday) we went to Cordoba with CIEE. Cordoba’s about an hour and a half away from Sevilla. Our guide was adorable. His name was Julio and he called us his baby penguin family. He mostly spoke Spanish but said a few things in English. Like “Come this way, family!” Precious. We spent the day in Cordoba and explored the Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos, the Jewish quarter, and the Mezquita. The Jewish quarter (like two streets with a Sinagoga) was probs my favorite part for obvious reasons. Julio told us that there were no more Jews in Cordoba, that they had all “left” a long time ago. This made me sad as I was hoping we could find some and make friends with them. During free time we went to a renaissance fair situation in a large plaza. It was pretty intense. There were some nice torture devices on display and we saw a large pig roast. Large crowd but very exciting. On the bus ride back to Sevilla we stopped because someone had to use the bathroom. I was thrilled because of course I had to pee but didn’t want to be “that girl” and make the two buses stop at some sketchy gas station. While waiting in line I learned how to say bladder from one of our program directors. Definitely a useful word to know when your bladder is the size of a grape. Overall a good day.

Highlights: 1. There is a fantastic small store owned by a Chinese family right by the CIEE Study Center ("La tienda de Chinos" as it is more affectionately called). They have everything and I go there at least once a day. 2. I've been taking the bus! I'm practically a local now. Aside from the fact that I can never figure out when my stop is. 3. I found the knock off brand of LU Le Petit Ecolier (aka chocolate schoolboy) cookies. They are at SuperSol (a supermarket) and they have dancing clowns on them. Best purchases I've made so far in Spain.

Happy February!

Why Spain?

When I was 13 some of my family (Grace, Gail, Zack, Sarah, and I) went to Spain for three and a half weeks in the summer. For those of you who didn’t know me at age 13, you’re probably lucky. I was such a brat. After being given the option to go to Spain or stay in Santa Cruz, my older brother and I said we wanted to stay in Santa Cruz. I wanted to work at the summer camp at our temple (Camp Kayetz whatup) and Jordy was in his rebellious teen phase. But one day Grace told me that I was going to Spain. So basically I spent the three and a half weeks making the trip miserable for everyone else. Lots of crying and asking Laurie to fly me home. Many tantrums and an obscene amount of whining in churches, museums, and hotels. However I apparently had a good enough time to decide sometime during high school that I wanted to go abroad to Spain during my junior year of college.

My first choice was Barcelona. I loved the architecture (so much Gaudi) and the proximity to the coast—I have this need to be near water at all times. Until sometime in June I was set on going to Barcelona. But one day during summer session one I had a "midlife" crisis. I knew that there was no way I could go abroad to Barcelona. I had two main reasons: 1) I have never lived in a big city and didn’t want my first big city experience to be in a foreign country, and 2) I don’t speak Catalan. My reason for going abroad was to learn Spanish not Catalan. I needed a new city and so I decided on Sevilla.

We spent about three days in Sevilla during our Spain trip in ‘03. My most vivid memories are Grace driving down a street not meant for cars and some intense flamenco. But I remembered having a good time (aside from making everyone else miserable) and thought I could see myself spending four months there.

And so here I am in Sevilla. Ready for all that Southern Spain has to offer me. I’ll be here until sometime in May or June, not sure when yet. I’m hoping to improve my Spanish, make some friends, and travel as much as possible. I decided to write a blog so that I can keep you all updated on my adventures and have a record of them later. More updates to come on my first official week in Sevilla.