Week One Complete

This past week has been a crazy one for sure. There are so many adjustments to make it is just crazy: new room, new house, new school, new friends, new language... everything new. But I am loving the people here especially. The directors are awesome and always helpful when we are trying to find things to do, figure out which place has the best tapas, or how to use the buses to get to the mall. All kinds of fun that are so much harder when you have culture and language differences.

My host family continues to be amazing but still there are things that are odd about living in a strangers house especially when you can't completely understand everything they say but only catch the main words and have to guess after that. One of the things that is the most annoying/ gross to me is the fact that they don't have dryers here. They wash clothes and then leave them outside on a line to dry. However, when it's 50 degrees outside, and super humid, nothing ever dries. So the towel that I use for the week is never ever dry. Gross! Also, you can only use hot water when you are taking a shower. You have to turn on the gas, and light this thing. It's super complex. But, when you just want to wash your face at night or something, ice cold water. A bit startling especially when there is no heating, only space heaters that you can't use unless you are in the room with them. But it makes me really appreciate all of the extra conveniences I have. It's not like I'm in third world and it's just too far different from home. Instead it's very similar and these people just don't need it. Interesting to think about.

Classes have begun and I'm a little back to reality. I'm taking three major classes and 2 classes on the side. I have short stories, Spanish art history, and a grammar class every day. It's nice because I start at 9:50 and am done by 12:30. My art class is going to be the hardest because I don't even know the word's I'm learning in English. But it's really interesting and I get to learn about the places around her much more in depth. One of the other classes is a current events/ culture of Spain class that just meets once a week (more or less) for an hour and the other one is a service learning class. I'm most excited for that class because it's through the University of Sevilla so I will actually be working with Sevillans and forced to speak Spanish with normal people my age. I will be assigned an intercambio which is a language partner type thing next week. They are trying to learn English and we are trying to learn Spanish.

Friday we went on an excursion to Cordoba which has a very popular mosque that is in art text books and stuff. It is truly gorgeous and it was really cool to be there. Here are some pictures:















We also went to an ancient ruins that's outside of Cordoba. I loved it.















Today, I went to the humongous mall that is in Sevilla. So much fun!!! We were there for 8 hours and just got through the normal indoor mall shops. We didn't even touch the shops along the main strip. I don't think I would be able to visit every store here in Sevilla if I had 4 years let alone 4 months.

I'm going to Barcelona in two weekends so I'm starting to get excited about that. We are planning out what to do with the rest of our breaks traveling wise. So much fun!!!

Love you all!!!

Vale!

So "vale" is the most important word I've learned so far while I've been here. They use it for ok (in every sense of the word), ya know, yes, correct, a filler, etc. Walking down the street and talking with Sevillans you hear it a million times. That's your Spanish lesson for the day. :D I can feel myself already improving so much it's crazy! I guess that's what happens when no one around you speaks English other than your roommates.

Classes began yesterday and I'm really excited about them. I'm taking three major classes (Art history, grammar, and a short story class) and then two other classes that are mostly to learn about culture. One is a current events class and the other is called Accion Solidaria which is a service class. I'll get to meet natives from Sevilla and work with them. We haven't been assigned our sites yet, but one of the sites is through the University of Sevilla and they go out to serve coffee to homeless people. It will definitely help me talk better and give me a way to meet people here which is the best way to learn the language.

One of the things I love about being here is how people will recognize that we are Americans and then try to show us how much English they know, or say "hello" and stuff like that. My roommates are blonde so we kind of stick out as we walk around. One of the funniest things that has happened so far was last Sunday. Irene, my roommate, and I were walking around taking pictures and the roads here are hard to distinguish from the sidewalks, bike paths, metro tracks, etc. So as we were taking a picture, apparently the metro was honking at us and we are just standing there in the middle of the track taking a picture. Finally a guy close to us said, "Hello!" in a very thick accent. hahaha We turned just because it sounded funny and then realized that the metro thing was waiting for us. It was hilarious and we are much more careful now where we stand to take pictures. :D

I forgot this picture earlier but this is the bridge that I cross every day on my way to school or whenever I want to go pretty much any where from my house.

Pictures!!!

First off, this is the sunrise from the plane on the way here. That was definitely the best part of the trip!!!


Apparently it doesn't usually rain here in the winter. Our senora freaks out whenever we go outside and there's a chance it will rain. She's like, "It's raining, no? Take the umbrella!" She's hilarious. But it has rained a bunch so the past few days so I haven't taken as many pictures as I've wanted to. But all of these were taken at places within a fifteen minute walk from my house. Enjoy!

This was taken when I first got to my house. I'm on the front step of the apartment. It's gorgeous and exactly like pictures you would see.


There are these ceramic tile signs everywhere and of anything you could imagine. The colors of choice here are blue and yellow :D


This is one of the catholic churches nearby. I can't remember which one, but it's in the touristy area by the Catedral (the third largest cathedral in the world. It's a 15 minute walk from my house).


This is the Catedral! It's gorgeous!!! and seriously soooo close to where I am all the time.



There are orange trees lining pretty much every street but you can't eat them. They are bitter for make up or something like that.


And here is a precious little plaza area. They are everywhere but this is my favorite.


I have to go to class but more will come :D

Finally Here!!!

Sorry I haven't updated yet. I've been here for almost 2 days now and it is the most beautiful place I have ever been. We went on a walking tour yesterday for almost 2 hours. At each corner we turned there was something better than the last. I kept expecting to see everything and it never stopped. It was raining so I couldn’t take pictures but this weekend I will be exploring with my camera for sure so pictures will come soon.

My host parents are awesome! Their names are Miguel and MaLouisa. They are hilarious and only can speak Spanish but they are extremely patient and always helpful. I told Miguel I was from and he got all excited about Indiana Jones. It’s hilarious to hear them talk about people they know of from the states.

We took a taxi from the airport to the house and the driver just dropped us off in front of the address with all of our suitcases. The streets here are barely big enough for a car to fit through and there we were (two of us) with about 7 bags. Our Senora wasn't at her apartment when we arrived so we had to ask every person that passed to use their phone to call her. It was hilarious. We kept saying we are students from the and need a phone because the lady we are staying with isn't here. Eventually a lady let us use her phone and our Senora came right away. She was amazing from the start making fun our all of our suit cases saying, “madre mia” which is like, “o my goodness” every few seconds.

The food is interesting. I haven’t gotten anything that I can’t stomach. I’m not big on fish but I’ve had salmon but it was so good! I also had caviar tapas last night. Tapas are one of the most popular foods in Sevilla. They’re like an appetizer on a cracker like break with cheese and some thing like jelly, fish, and other things on them. They are so good! Garbanzo bean stew/ soup was not too crazy but not something we would eat in the states. And that’s just in two days. I think my host mom is just warming us up because she makes other stuff for her husband that is scary like fish with the head and fins and everything, but I’ll try it. They eat at 3 and 9 which is hard to get used to because they only have toast for breakfast. My stomach growls by 11 am and it’s not even close to lunch. Hopefully I’ll adjust! Other than that, I love the people in charge of the program here. My roommates are great and I’m so excited about the semester. We’ve just had orientation so far to learn how to blend in and all kinds of things about the norms of the culture. However apparently I would blend in if it weren’t for my clothes. Haha I was out last night and a guy from Sevilla and thought I was from here and then I opened my mouth :D. But everyone so far is very patient as I talk and they always want to share the English phrases they know. One girl said, “All I know is ‘What’s up homie?’ hahaha It was hilarious! I’m waiting in line to figure out my classes right now and then we are done for the day. Going exploring tonight.

Sorry this is super long, but it’s been overwhelming and so exciting. I love it and am sooo glad that I'm here!!! I was kind of rushed so for all of you Kate Brannens my grammer/punctuation/everything else probably isn't the best but I'm hurried and trying to write as much as possible before it's my turn.
Love you all!!!

Not Yet

After wrapping up everything at home, eating a last meal with my family, successfully weighing in my baggage and getting through the security check point, I will have to return and do it again tomorrow. Unfortunately showing up on time and waiting around in the airport for a couple of hours does not insure that your flight will leave on time. My flight was not only delayed, but the delay would have caused me to miss my connecting flight to Spain. So I find myself back at home instead of someplace above the Atlantic Ocean waiting a little longer.

In an attempt to let everyone know what I'm doing while I'm in Spain, I am going to keep this blog as up to date as possible. I leave on Monday, January 19th so everything will start once I'm there.