For blue, blue skies.

Sevilla

Lately, the weather has been amazing. For some reason I expected to come to Sevilla in January and have blue skies and warm weather every day. Not sure why I believed this, but I did and was very disappointed when it proceeded to rain every day. The forecast seems to always say that it is going to rain for some part of the day. Waking up and checking weather.com (which is so “reliable”) to see pictures of rain is always a buzz kill. But I am happy to report that the last few days have been perfect (sunny, blue skies) even when the “reliable” weather.com says it will be raining all day.

Friday I went on a CIEE day trip to Carmona (a small town about an hour away from Sevilla) with Abby, Kayla, and Tamar. Our tour guide was Ángel, my Novela y Cine teacher and a CIEE favorite. We walked around the town for a few hours, visiting various historical monuments. The town is beautiful, everything looks old and the streets are cobblestones. The trip was fun and a nice way to spend a Friday morning and early afternoon.

Carmona

That night I went out for tapas at Levies near CIEE with Abby, Alyssa, Rozina, and Victoria. The food was amazing and so was the sangria. I realize that I go out to eat a lot more than I probably should (for my bank account’s sake). There is so much good food in this country and apparently I’m trying to sample it all before I go back to America. Wish me luck.

Saturday was an overnight trip to Granada with CIEE. I vaguely remember going to Granada when I was in Spain in 2003, so I was happy to go back and do all the touristy stuff again. We got to Granada Saturday afternoon and had a massive buffet lunch at the hotel. After lunch we went to tour the Alhambra and Generalife. The weather was picture perfect, sunny and no clouds. After spending the afternoon at the Alhambra and Generalife we went to a Tetería. Teterías are places that have tea, hookah, and sweets.

The Alhambra

Granada

Saturday night we attempted to experience the nightlife in Granada but apparently it doesn’t get started until 3:30 or 4am, so we were slightly unsuccessful. We went to a bar/club where the bouncer told us the cover was 5 euro. We said we didn’t want to pay and he let us in for free. Score. Then we went to a chupiteria, a bar that only sells shots (there were over 100), and some rando spilled a shot all over the back of my silk shirt. I tried to start a fight with her (I really like my shirt) but could only make angry faces and say “la chingada” over and over while she shrugged her shoulders and walked away. BUT, we managed to find the most amazing food: SHAWARMA. Shawarma is kebab goodness. Any description I give won’t do it justice, so my recommendation is to go get some right now.

Sunday we walked around the old neighborhood in Granada until it was time for lunch. Another amazing buffet, of course. I’d forgotten how much I miss choosing what I get to eat at every meal. We got back to Sevilla Sunday night and the week has already gone by very quickly. Its been sunny the last few days and I’m loving every minute of it.

I’m off to Madrid tomorrow night with Adam to meet up with friends from Tufts for the weekend. SO excited to see Sarah, Lindsay, Kate, Royi, Austin, Bobby, Ben, and Hunter!

Passport to PARIS.

This past weekend I went to Paris! And got the flu. The last time I was in Paris I was nine years old and the Spice Girls were popular. A lot has changed since then and I was really looking forward to seeing the city again.

I had big plans for Paris, aka recreating the Olsen twin classic “Passport to Paris.” This would include meeting cute French boys who work at flower shops, befriending French fashion models, dodging a stiff chaperone whenever possible, having dinner on a roof near the Eiffel Tower and getting in trouble with the French police, helping pass a law about clean water, and doing amazing shopping. Alas, none of my “Passport to Paris” dreams became a reality.

I got to Paris Thursday night around 8:30pm and took the OrlyBus from Orly Airport. After finding a cab driver at Denfert Rochereau who “spoke English” I got to the hotel and checked in. The hotel (Hotel Eiffel Park) was really cute and in the 17th Arrondissement, near the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. The room was comfortable and I could adjust the temperature of the room to something other than freezing. It was nice to be warm for once since my apartment is the temperature of the arctic tundra.

Friday, I slept in a little and had lunch with Kate! She’s spending the semester studying abroad in Paris with IES. She found us a cute restaurant for lunch near the hotel where the waiters insisted on speaking to us in English even when she spoke to them in French. Apparently this is a Paris thing, always speaking to Americans in English. Definitely not the case in Sevilla, although sometimes it would be extremely helpful. I ordered a “tartine” with goat cheese and it was fantastic. Halfway through lunch Ben came and ate with us.

After lunch Ben and I said bye to Kate and started walking toward the Eiffel Tower. We took some pictures there but decided to wait to climb it until the next day. Then we took the Metro (so French) to the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around the Arc de Triomphe for awhile and then walked down the length of the Champs-Elysees. It was a beautiful crisp, clear day.

Friday night we had dinner with our friend Pat who is abroad on the Tufts Program with Ben. We went to a trendy Italian pizza place and made friends with our waiter. After dinner we hung out with other Tufts kids for awhile in one of their apartments.

And Saturday is when it went from a great trip to a “what is my life” trip. I woke up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy (thanks Ke$ha). That is, if P. Diddy has some sort of stomach flu. Spent all of Saturday sick in bed, except for a twenty-minute walk around the neighborhood that Dr. Mom insisted I take. The good news about being sick in bed all day Saturday (if there is any) is that I didn’t spend any money on food since all I ate was a yogurt from the hotel. Brightside.

Sunday morning I felt better so we went to the Louvre for my remaining hours in France. I would have loved to spend the whole day there, but my flight left around five so we couldn’t. After looking through some exhibits we had a traditional French lunch of McDo (that’s McDonald’s if you weren’t sure) in the food court nearby. Tres authentic.

I was happy to go back to Sevilla even though my trip to Paris wasn’t exactly what I’d planned. It was nice to be in a country where I “speak” the language instead of one where I feel useless and understand nothing.

Already planning my return trip to France for sometime this semester. Oui!

Sometimes, we go to class.

Last week was the first official week of abroad classes! It was very exciting. Unlike every other semester I’ve been in school, I didn’t waste an obscene amount of money on pens, pencils, binders, notebooks, flashcards, folders, and a fancy planner. I got my planner (“agenda escolar”) a few weeks ago at the market by CIEE for 1,50 euros. Quite the bargain! It’s also bright safety cone orange so I won’t lose it/mistake it with anyone else’s.

The exciting thing about taking classes abroad (at least on my program) is that the grades don’t transfer back to Tufts. This means that I don’t have to stress about getting good grades while being abroad and doing all the cool abroad stuff. They’ll be on my transcript but I’m not concerned especially because I’ve heard that abroad classes are definitely not as hard as Tufts. Which, after going to one week of classes I can already tell is true. YES.

I’m taking four classes, which is the normal load for my program. I’m taking one Curso para Extranjeros (classes taught at the university but specifically for foreigners) and the other three classes at CIEE. My four classes are: Contemporary Spanish Film, The Novel and the Cinema: Two Ways of Telling the Story, Survey of Spanish Music in the 20th Century, and Mass Communications in Spain. Short recaps of my classes…


• Contemporary Spanish Film: The first day of class she explained the semester to us and it sounds fantastic (read: easy). Basically, we watch Spanish movies and talk about them. She also told us that if we needed to make a phone call, use the restroom, or eat something, we could just leave the classroom without saying anything. And if we miss a class or need to reschedule the midterm because of illness or travel, it’s okay. This is pretty much the class I’ve spent almost three years looking for at Tufts.

• The Novel and the Cinema: Comparing Spanish novels and books to their movie versions. I’ve heard good things about the teacher and he knows a lot about movies and likes to make jokes.

• Survey of Spanish Music in the 20th Century: Teacher is awesome. We listen to music and she sings along. We’re also learning about social, cultural, and political things that have happened in Spain and the music associated with them.

• Mass Communications in Spain: Media in Spain (WhatupCMSminor). Our teacher is great; she’s done a lot of media related things. At one point she was some sort of paparazzi in Spain until Antonio Banderas punched her cameraman and his bodyguard grabbed her by the hair and she thought, “What am I doing?” From there she went to work at different television and radio stations. Now she works for Canal Sur in Sevilla. Last week she took us on a tour of the station and it was really fun and interesting.


All and in all I’m really happy with my classes. None of them seem too hard and it seems like I’ll be able to understand everything that’s going on (always a plus when you’re taking classes in a foreign language). Yay!

Just a little BOTELLÓN.

Thursday night I decided to do the “going out” thing. I stopped at El Jamón on my way home from CIEE and picked up some classy alcohol (El Smirnoff), a bottle of lemonade, and a bottle of orange juice. I was ready for an evening of the finer things.

Botellón, or “outdoor drinking session” according to my pocket dictionary, is a big thing here. Americans love it because it’s illegal to drink in public in the US. Since hanging out or doing anything in people’s houses is taboo here, people get together and pregame in the streets. Not the classiest thing to be taking shots out of water bottles in the streets, but it works. There are many spots to botellón in Sevilla and Thursday I went to Toro de Oro with Susan (from Tufts). Toro de Oro is right along the river on the Centro side of Sevilla, across from Calle Betis (in Triana). Susan and I hung out there for bit, just drinking and hanging out with other Americans.

When we finished our classy lemonade-vodka concoction, Susan and I went back over the river to Triana to Long Island Bar to meet up with some girls from Tufts. Long Island is off of Betis and is my new favorite place. They have a shot (chupito) for every state, so of course I had to try the California shot. It was very sweet but good. The bar was filled with CIEE kids and a few locals. Another wonderful thing about Long Island are the American college flags on the ceiling. And there is a TUFTS flag. Naturally, I freaked out and took a picture. There was also free “sangria.” I use quotes because it came from a large plastic bottle. Sketchy, but still “good.” After Long Island ran out of “sangria” and I had a free tequila shot from Sarah, a group of us headed over to Buddha. Buddha is a three story club/bar in Centro where people go every Thursday. Had a lot of fun dancing with kids from CIEE and headed back to Triana with Susan around 4am. We stopped for churros y chocolate on the way home and they were fantastic.

Basically, I was a waste of life all of Friday. I don’t understand how people can go out at night and stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning and be a real person the next day. I woke up late and went to the bar for breakfast then went home and promptly got back into bed. At the bar I tried to tell Charile that was a chance I was still drunk. Not sure I used the right words or if that was appropriate at all. Whoops.

Still feeling the effects of large amounts of sugar and alcohol. Tried to look up “hungover” in my pocket dictionary but alas couldn’t find it. Apparently the word is “resaca.” Probs going to be using that word a lot this semester. Sweet.

In other news, I got a haircut. It was a little bit of a disaster. Basically my hair hasn’t been this short since I was five or six. I tried to explain that I didn’t want short hair, or for it to be a lot shorter, but that must have gotten lost in translation. Not quite sure what to do with it, but it will grow. For now I should probably buy a hat or something.

Homestay, Take Two

After a week and a half of something similar to my own personal reality show of searching for the perfect homestay, I finally found one. I went to four different homestays in Triana before deciding on this one. My new homestay is a young couple (he’s thirty-two and she’s twenty-seven) with a one-year-old boy. They are from Bolivia but have been in Spain for about six years. Figures I would find the non-Spanish family to live with. Two other couples also live in the apartment, but they keep to themselves for the most part. The apartment is huge and my room is great; a single bed, bunk beds, desk, and huge Ikea status closest. Best part of the apartment: It’s right above a supermarket! Supermercado El Jamón also known as my new favorite place. I moved in on Monday night and felt instantly welcome. My “senñora” and “señor” have been so nice about everything; asking if I need anything, saying they’ll come pick me up if I’m out late at night, offering to drive me to the airport when I go to Paris.

Carlos (or Charlie) owns a bar a few blocks away from the apartment where I have been having breakfast every morning. My breakfast consists of toast with strawberry jam, fresh orange juice, and a cup of red tea with sugar. It’s fantastic. While I’m eating breakfast, the other man who works there (Nico) makes me a sandwich (bocadillo/bocata) to take for lunch. Maria works during the day, from 9am-2pm while their son Aaron is at day care (guardería). Aaron is adorable. When I was moving in he was “helping” me unpack by trying to open my facewash and comb his hair with my huge pink comb. And when I asked him to put something in a drawer (“ponte lo aqui”) he did it right away.

The apartment is in Triana, down a street off San Jacinto, one of the main roads. I’ve already found a ton of people who live right near me, which is the opposite of my first homestay in La Macarena. It’s been less than a week but I already feel really comfortable here. SO happy to finally feel at home in Spain.