Intercambios ¿¡vale!?

So I went on a day trip to Córdoba this past Saturday and it was fabulous, and I took about a million pictures. I'm working on a blog post to go along with them but it is taking forever, and I really wanted to post today so here it goes.

Today was my first day of REAL classes here in Sevilla, up until now I had just been taking a two-week intensive grammar class. That being said, my 'real' class that I took today, Culture and Cuisine of Spain, was much more relaxed than my grammar class. All we did today was meet our professor and she explained what we would be learning about and how the class would be graded, it all took less than half an hour, and class is scheduled to be an hour and a half... This can only mean one thing, I'm finally going to get to experience the much talked about but highly elusive "syllabus week", where you just show up for class and don't have to worry about learning or homework. People claim this happens back at UW-Madison but those people must not be taking the classes that I have been, 95% of all my classes back in Madison always start off with a lecture right away.

After class I headed home, and shockingly all of the shops were open, advertising the final week of sales. This was dangerous and very tempting, although I resisted I ended up with a caramel colored real leather jacket with quilted lining for just 35 Euros, and a skirt. Did I really need another coat, probably not. Has it already become the best coat I've ever bought, yup. It really makes me blend in with all of the people here and it is the perfect weight for the weird weather thats been going on here in Sevilla, cold in the morning and night but scorching during the day. Over lunch my Señora and I talked about the movie streaming site Megavideo being shut-down, she was very upset about it because none of the traditional sites such as Netflix or Hulu work here. It ended in me awkwardly trying to explain SOPA to her, I'm not sure how much got through but I tried.

Now for the most exciting part! Today was my first meeting with my intercambio group. The intercambio program is run through my school, CIEE, and is a way for Spanish and American students to get to know each other and work on their English and Spanish. My intercambio group consists of six Spaniards, two girls and four boys, and 5 Americans (including myself), four girls and one boy. We met at the Universidad de Sevilla at 6 pm and went to a café nearby where we stayed until 10 pm! The café had a promotion called "Super Lunes" or "Super Monday" and the deal was two mugs of beer and a plate of nachos or fries for 2 euro, we took advantage of this deal. We spent four hours talking about everything from where we were from, to our majors to how to say certain words in each other's languages. They loved to hear us speak English almost as much as we liked to listen to them try to speak it. I thought that was interesting because Spaniards usually get a kick out of Americans trying to speak Spanish not English. I think a lot of it was due to the fact that the five of us were all better at Spanish than they were at English. One of the funniest things that happened this evening was spending five minutes trying to teach them how to pronounce the words "bird", "beer" and "beard" differently. It was hysterical.

We meet every Monday night which is perfect for me because I only have one class on Mondays, at 9 am so I'll have plenty of time to do homework and hangout with my intercambios. The Spaniards are all really excited to have intercambios because there aren't enough Americans to go around, so if you get one you are kind of special! In addition to meeting some new Spanish friends I met new American friends as well, the other four Americans are here with CIEE but through the business program. I'm in the Liberal Arts program so I'd never met any of them, but the were all very welcoming and included me even though they all knew each other already. I think I will get a lot out of the intercambio experience, and I'm really looking forward to Monday nights now!

On a less happy note, as I'm assuming you all know there is a decent amount of financial unrest in Spain right now. They're broke, they have a ridiculously high unemployment rate and the people are not happy. Although I'd read about this in the news back home it had never affected my experience here. I hadn't seen any protests and you see less homeless people here than in Madison, but today I saw my first protest. It was in la Plaza Nueva which I walk through to get to the Universidad. Funnily enough I didn't know a protest was happening until I stumbled across it, because it was 5 pm and the streets are really busy during this time so I thought it was just the usual crowd until I saw the flags. Even though I walked right into it I didn't feel unsafe, it was very quiet and peaceful and unlike some of the protests I've experienced (read Madison) the protestors left me  and everyone else alone. There was no heckling or even trying to explain to passersby why they were protesting. I was curious as to why exactly they were protesting so I looked it up, apparently they were protesting the threat of having some of their social security benefits taken away. I'm glad I know what it was about but I hope things stay as calm as they have been in Sevilla while I'm here.

Tomorrow I'll probably post about Córdoba but I'm going out for my friends birthday so we'll see! Hasta Luego.

Mercados and Milestones

It's been a whirlwind week here in Sevilla, lot of exploring, adventures with friends and of course school. This past week I've had to do a lot of writing for class and it made me less than enthused about the prospect of blogging, which as why I haven't been very diligent in my posting this week. On the bright side I'm done with one whole class!!!! It still blows me away that I get three credits for a two week class, but I'm not complaining. One class down, four to go! I had my final exam today, it was the same format as the first, so fingers crossed that it went as well as I think it did. I'm getting ahead of myself though, so much has happened this week.

On Wednesday, as an out of class assignment we had to go to another mercado on Calle Feria. Last week we went to a flea/antique market, this time it was the Sevillano equivalent of a farmers market. I loved this assignment because I'm obsessed with the farmers market in Madison and I wish I could shop at it daily for fresh fruits and veggies, but alas it is only open on Sundays. So this market fufilled all my dreams and more when I realized it is the market where my Señora buys our fruits and veggies. I'm ecstatic that it is close to my house and I can swing by and pick up a pear as a snack whenever I want.

For the assignment I met up with a few girls in from my class and we went to the market to observe what we saw. We then had to write a paper describing the market, similar to a travel magazine article but utlizing the five senses. It was a fun assignment, and a real authentic Spanish experience.  I wish I had pictures but sadly, I forgot my camera at home. If there is one thing I've learned so far here it is to always bring your camera because you never know when you're going to want it.

After the market we still had an hour or so before class, and we all stopped at Starbucks (my first "american" purchase here) where we chatted and finished up some last minute homework before heading to class. When I got home I finally had some free time to spend up on my rooftop terrace, the view is really something else.

My rooftop terrace, shockingly laundry-free. 

View into the center of the city. 

Out towards the river, you can barely see the bridge. 

Creeping down on another terrace. 

That night, I had my first group meeting for the Cultural Expression club I've joined. Now I won't rehash the series of unfortunate events that led to my being in this specific club, but I will say that I wouldn't switch clubs even if I could. The group leader Abraham, is really nice and kept telling us how all he wants is that we have fun with this club, and all of the girls seem really friendly too. This weeks meeting was just an overview of all of the activities and trips we have planned throughout the semester, which culminates in a weekend trip to Madrid. I found out that we will be seeing two plays, visiting the history of fashion and taking a train there!

In the second part of the meeting Abe talked about some of the difficulties that come with studying abroad, such as culture shock, homesickness and loneliness. He talked about how they happen to everyone and that the good news is they don't last forever, especially if you get involved. I know that hearing this was reassuring to everyone in the group because everyone I've talked to, including myself have experienced one of these things to some degree and it is always nice to know you aren't alone. Then we wrote down our personal and academic goals for the semester and in april we have to meet with Abe and discuss how what helped us to achieve our goals and what prevented us from reaching them. My goals for the semester were to better my spanish, obviously, become less self-concious about my speaking and to not let my insecurities keep me from making the most of my time in Spain. So for me that just means putting myself out there and not missing a single opportunity, because really what is the worst thing that can happen? On this trip I've tried hard to be more outgoing and so far only good things have come from it.

I also learned that I will be part of an intercambio group. This is a group of six spaniards and seven americans and we all meet up once a week and go to a park, café or the cine to talk and improve our english and spanish respectively. I'm really excited about that, the first meeting is this coming Monday, it will be a great way to get to know more people and maybe even make a spanish friend. When I finally got back home at 10 pm this is what Pantera did to me, she likes to ride around on my back. It's all fun and games until she digs her claws in and refuses to get off.. She does it all the time, even when I'm eating.

Pantera riding on my back...

Thursday I finally got to sleep in until 10 on school day, wow, it felt so nice. My señora made fun of me for it though, as usual. Then I went to class, my final full day of class with Óscar, it was bittersweet. On the one hand I'll miss the class, but on the other I'm so glad to be done with grammar and move onto the "fun" classes. Speaking of new classes, we got our final schedules on Thursday and I was lucky enough to get all of the classes at the times I wanted. SO much less stressful than registering for classes back at home! As I was walking out of school I ran into Allison, and she asked me if I wanted to go to the Plaza de España with her later because it is supposed to be beautiful at night. I was so happy she asked because due to scheduling conflicts I wasn't able to make it to either of the Plaza de España tours, but I had been dying to go. 

The Plaza de España is really special, when it was built they tried to incorporate all the major types of arcitecture that is common in Spain, so there are Catholic and Muslim influences. Also, each province of Spain is represented by a tile alcove in the Plaza, and there is a moat that you can row boats in surrounding the whole thing. Fun fact, the bridges of Plaza de España were used in the filming of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and a lot of the college students at the Universidad de Sevilla were extras in it! I could go on and on about the plaza but instead here's some pictures.

The main part of the Plaza de España. 

 Artsy shot of side building/reflecting pool.

An example of all the lovely tile work.

 Me Vanna-ing the Barcelona alcove.

 The entrance arches.

 The arches are gigantic!

 Nonchalant on the bridge.

More bridges.

Messing around in the Plaza. 

On the walk back from the Plaza de España something amazing happened, Allison and I ran into a bunch of lost looking American girls, who were trying to ask some Spaniards for directions. We stopped and asked them if they needed help and they were so excited when they realized we spoke English. They were in Sevilla for the weekend with their program and they were looking for a place to eat, it was a good thing we found them when we did because they were headed in the total wrong direction. We were able to help them find somewhere to eat, and tell them how to get back to the river. It was a real milestone for me, because my knowledge of the city was finally at a level where I could help someone else find their way. You know that you truly understand something when you can explain it to someone else. It was a great feeling and we spent awhile talking to these girls and they were so sweet and grateful for our help. They are studying abroad in Madrid, hearing about their program makes me so glad I chose CIEE and Sevilla, because from what they told me I think I am getting a much more authentic and enriching experience than I would in their Madrid program. 

Well I'm going on a day trip to Córdoba tomorrow so I'll be back with lots to say and tons of pictures on Sunday, Nos vemos!

Visitas, monjas, café y rebajas

Visitas, monjas, café y rebajas are four of my favorite Spanish words and definitely describe my day today. It all started out with a visita or tour to the Universidad de Sevilla where I will be taking my Phonetics and Literature class starting next week! There are two campus for the Universidad de Sevilla, and we visited the one that is downtown in Centro where I live. The campus is about a twenty-five minute walk from my house, so a little bit farther than CIEE but still not too bad. The building where my classes will be is very large, one building is home to four different departments and five libraries, however in comparison to Madison the Universidad here is very small. What it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty though, all of the floors are marble, and there are vaulted ceilings and statues galore. In short it is breath-taking like 99% of the other buildings here in Sevilla. Also, our tour guide was quite the cutie as well so that made getting up at 8:30, that's early here, worth it!

The tour got done at 10:30 and we don't have class until 12, so we all headed back to the CIEE study center with an hour to kill. On our way back to CIEE we passed Convent Madre Dios, and one of the girls got all excited saying that we could buy sweets from the monjas or nuns. To make extra money for the convent, the nuns back sweets from ancient recipes and sell them. So we stopped in at the convent and bought twelve magdalenas for 4 euro. They were delicious, they reminded me of cornbread muffins but a little sweeter, very tasty and the convent is only two blocks from the study center so I'm definitely going to try some of the other treats they sell.

After buying muffins from the monjas we headed to the cafe just around the corner from CIEE and got some café. It was a much needed pick me up after the morning that we'd had, it was a lot of walking. We chatted about what trips we wanted to take, we're working on lining one up to Morocco and Gibraltar, and then it was time for class. Class was beyond boring today, it seemed to drag on forever despite Óscar's best attempts to liven the mood.

Finally, after class I went home for almuerzo, my señora had made curry and rice. So good! She is an awesome cook, and we talked about what classes I will be taking in the coming weeks. Then I took a short siesta with Pantera. Around five I went shopping with a friend to hit the rebajas or sales. I looked at a bunch of shoes but didn't end up buying any, I did however end up with two shirts and a dress, all for 35 euro. That is why I love rebajas, I will be so sad when they are done. Then it was on to homework, bummer but overall an awesome day!

Side note, while I was in class today I got a facebook message from one of my roommates back in Madison informing me that we have not one, but two bats in our apartment (one in her room and one in the kitchen) so she had taken refuge in my room. Unfortunately, that makes three bats that have tried to occupy our apartment so far this year, but I'm sure it will be taken care of by the time I get home :) On the bright side, now she has remembered to water my poor plants so some good has come of the bats!

Nos vemos!

Life in a Spanish household

Today in class we practiced the subjunctive tense and commands, as part of that exercise we had to come up with sentences about what we thought of Sevilla so far. Some of the prompts were: "The best thing about Sevilla is ..." and "The worst thing about Sevilla is ...", this really got me thinking that while I love it here there are definitely some major lifestyle differences. Since all I did today was go to class, get back an exam (which I did well on, YAY!), plan a trip to Portugal and go for a run, I thought I would take this time to fill you all in on some of the fabulous lifestyle changes I've had to make here in Sevilla. Some of these are specific to my house but a lot of them hold true for most families here.

1) You turn off the lights, always. Even if you are just leaving the room to go grab your phone, you turn them off. 

2) I have to light the hot water heater before I take a shower. Yup,  every time I want hot water this is what I have to do: 

The water heater in my kitchen.

• Step 1- slide knob over to the second notch
• Step 2- light match
• Step 3- push in REALLY hard on knob to turn on the gas and stick the match in
• Step 4- remove match and continue holding knob in for about 10 seconds

Pretty glamorous, I know you're all jealous. 

3) I also have to light the burners on the stove whenever I want to use them, that is significantly more scary than lighting the water heater. 

4) Speaking of showers, here you take short ones. But that isn't really a problem because I have a detachable shower head, that doesn't attach to anything, so you have to hold it above your head the whole time you're showering. 

5) My Señora doesn't have an oven or a microwave, so everything she makes everything on the stovetop. I thought that was really interesting, and she makes some delicious things in the pressure cooker. 

6) People walk really slow, I think my desire to walk quickly is one of the few things that screams "American!" to everyone on the streets. 

7) Las palomas, or the pigeons. I hate them. They are fat and fearless. I am always afraid that they are going to fly up in my face and peck my eyes out. 

8) My gatita constantly bugging me to give her attention. Okay so this one doesn't actually bug me...

Pantera, destroyer of bedside tables. 

She is a little bit of a spaz.

Despite all of these inconveniences and partially because of them Sevilla is the most amazing place I have ever been and I love it here. Hope you all enjoyed getting a little look at life in mi casa. 

Serenaded in Sevilla

The past few days I've been feeling a little under the weather, with a majorly stuffy head and a little bit of a cough I just wasn't feeling posting on the blog, I tried but ultimately I was just uninspired. However, after a few days of sleeping a ton, and drinking lots of water I'm feeling great! Crisis averted.

I had my first test this past Friday, my "midterm" after just a week, a little silly if you ask me. I think it went well though. It was four parts; two essays, fill-in-the-blank and then an oral presentation. Shockingly, my oral presentation went very well, my professor seemed to like what I had to say and my partner and I spoke well together. The test focused on assessing our grasp on the past tenses, it was mostly review so it wasn't too bad. Friday night I just stayed in and slept, as I was trying to keep a cold at bay. It felt nice to sleep in and Pantera cuddled my feet. 

Today was much more eventful, I slept in until about eleven. Then I got up and went for a run by the river. This is my new favorite place to be on Saturdays, there are always so many people to distract me while I run and there is the perfect amount of breeze and shade to keep it at perfect running temperature. I somehow managed to get lost on my run today though... Not sure how because I ran twenty minutes one way, turned around and started running back the way I came, but after about ten minutes I knew something wasn't right. So I wandered around the city for about half an hour before I finally found my way home, it was a little scary but I have a pretty decent grasp on the city so I knew what general direction I needed to head in. 

My Señora had a big plate of pasta waiting for me when I got home, which was perfect because I slept through breakfast and had expended way more energy than I had planned on my run. Then I relaxed, caught up on some reading for school and made plans for the night. My Señora was worried that I didn't have friends because I didn't "salir" or "go out" on Friday night, so I explained to her that I hadn't been feeling well, so she then decided it was okay. I thought it was cute that she worried about how I was fitting in here though. Then at dinner she also told me that I was very tan and looked Andalusian aka Spanish, which I took as a compliment. 

Later that night I met up with my friend Allison and we decided to explore Triana. Triana is a neighborhood of Sevilla, similar to Centro (where I live), but it is much more trendy and up and coming. We had a nice time just walking around and catching up, I haven't seen her much since orientation, so that was fun! We made our way through Triana walking by the river which is gorgeous at night. While we were walking we wanted someone to take our picture in front of the Puente de Triana, which is how we met Juan Ramón. He is a student at the Universidad de Sevilla, and is studying marketing, he was very nice and not overly forward or anti-american as some Sevillanos can be.  After taking our picture Juan seranaded us with his guitar, he played Oasis and Beatles songs. He was actually very good, and it was cute when he tried to sing in English. After throughly exploring the riverfront of Triana, we headed back into Centro. We had some café at nearly 1 am, but that is how they do things here! Then we were both tired so we headed home, but I had a great time exploring Sevilla. 

Puente de Triana

Me and the Puente de Triana

Me and Juan

Me and Allison with Juan's guitar

Me and Allison exploring!

So many activities

Yesterday my homework assignment was to go to a Spanish movie, and then write a summary about it. Some classmates and I went to "La Chispa de Vida", it was a lot different than an American movie but I still enjoyed it. I was really pleased to see that I understood most of the conversations in the movie and didn't leave the theatre with too many questions. The building was really cool too, the first level was filled with shops and restaurants and then the upper level was a suspended platform where you bought tickets with walkways leading off the platform into each individual theatre.

Cinesa Plaza de Armas 

(ok so I didn't take this one, but I wanted to show you a picture of the building)

Then today before class we had to pair up and go to "El mercado de jueves", which is basically means "the thursday market", and buy something for two euros or less. Once we found the object we had to make up a story about it's history, and we will be presenting our story in class tomorrow as part of our first test! We bought a ring for one euro. The ring has the initials CTR on it, and we are planning on making up a tragic love story to explain how it ended up in the mercado for our presentation tomorrow. The market is very similar to a flea market, except there are a lot more antiques, some of the most interesting things I saw were old tea sets, lamps and the crystal parts of chandeliers. There were so many people all crammed onto one street, it was very hard to navigate but definitely a worthwhile experience. 

Other than that I don't have much going on. I have my first test tomorrow, I don't think it should be too hard it is just testing our ability to use all of the different past tenses that exist in the Spanish language. Our professor has told us what all the parts of the test will be like so I feel like I'll be able to study for it effectively. 

Oh but check out where I get to go to school everyday!

Birds eye view of open air courtyard in the center of my school.

The terrace at school!

This apartment has a rooftop terrace?

Today I fully appreciated for the first time not being a blonde. I always thought it would be fun to have blonde hair, it's so pretty and looks better in almost every hair style, but living in Sevilla has made me love having dark hair because it makes me fit in. I can walk to class in peace without getting anyone of the negative attention that Americans, especially blonde's receive here. In fact I am often mistaken for a Sevillano and people ask me for directions, which is flattering  but only lasts until I open my mouth.

It was also my second day of class and I enjoyed it just as much as the first. We spent the day doing activities that helped us practice the many different forms of past tense that exist in the Spanish language, but our professor had us ask and answer funny questions so we got to learn more about each other and bond a little bit too. Our assignment for Thursday is to go see a movie, "La Chispa de Vida", which means "The Spark of Life". It is a dark comedy about the unemployment situation in Spain, which is a very relevant problem, as 30% of people under 40 are unemployed in Sevilla. I am really looking forward to seeing this movie because I will get to experience my first Spanish movie theatre, and I love comedies that have a little something extra behind the laughs.

After class I went home and my Señora made me an awesome lunch and I told her about my classes and trips I had planned. She told me some things I might enjoy doing while I was there and I feel like we really bonded today.  We must have because later she offered to show me how/where she dries the laundry. She took me up to the roof of our building which is how I found out we have a rooftop terrace with a spectacular view of the city. I learned which key opens the door to the roof and she told me I can hangout up there whenever I want, but that I can't take Pantera up there. At first I was just like haha, because it had never occurred to me to take the cat outside, but then she was like no really she is afraid of heights. Which made us both laugh. Later that day I embarrassed myself big time, Pantera came into my room and kept squeak meowing at me, and so I tried to imitate her. Turned out that my door was open and my Señora came in because she thought something was wrong, and I had to explain to her that I had been meowing because I was playing with the cat, AWKWARD...

I also signed up for two weekend trips through my program. I will be going to Cordoba for the day on February 4th, and to Granada for two days the following weekend! I am very excited to experience new parts of Spain and see what new adventures it brings!

P.S. Sorry that this blog was so boring aka had no pictures, it was too dark to get good ones of the terrace so I'll post some later.

Hasta Luego