Miércoles de Ceniza—Day 15, February 17, 2010

¡Uy! Sorry it’s been so long since I updated. Homework and school kind of attacked. I will try to update you on everything important that has happened in the interim. I can’t believe I’ve been in Sevilla for two weeks now.

Saturday morning, Alicia, Kerry, and I went for a walk around the barrio of Triana. Alicia has a book of neighborhood walks that point out historical sites and various points of interest throughout neighborhoods in the city. Triana is on the other side of the river from Nervión, where I live. It’s famous for its ceramic factories, where they make the beautiful azulejo that I love. Now, most of the actual factories where they fire the pieces have been moved outside the city to reduce the pollution in the city, but a lot of artisans still have shops where they paint ceramics in Triana. We visited several, and I bought a couple pieces. We also saw the Mercado de Triana (the Triana Market). The building in which it is housed is fairly modern, but there has been a market there for generations. Inside, it was filled with walled off stands, each one with a specialized product, like fruits, meats, fish, cheese, etc. I really liked it because it seemed that the people who worked there were really into their work. It wasn’t the sort of place where the employees just scan barcodes and countdown the hours until they get off. The butchers knew meat, and the fruit sellers knew fruit, knew how to recognize good products from bad products, and enjoyed sharing their knowledge.

On Sunday morning, Alicia and I went to mass in a smaller church close to where we live. It’s the church where Carmen usually goes, and her brother was a priest there. Grand as the Cathedral is, I liked this church a lot better, because it was a lot smaller and more personal. But they used a lot of incense in the mass, which made my throat extremely dry.

Sunday evening, a group of us went out to celebrate Laura’s birthday. We went to a tapas bar near the Cathedral that had vino de naranja (orange wine). There is actually a place a couple doors down that is more famous for their vino de naranja, but it was pretty small and crowded, and there were six of us, so we opted for the larger one. I tried a glass of the vino de naranja. It was very thick and quite sweet, almost like a desert wine. I was able to drink it straight because it was so sweet, but it kind of had an aftertaste like orange flavored candy. I’d like to try the vino de naranja from the other bar, where it’s famous, but I don’t know that I liked it enough to get it again otherwise.

On Monday, my class at the Universidad de Sevilla began. I was not able to get into the Cervantes class I wanted, but I am taking a class about Lope de Vega, one of the foremost playwrights in baroque Spain. The professor is very nice, but she talks much faster and with a heavier accent than my professors at the center do. They all know to slow down for Americans, but Profesora de los Reyes can’t really cater to foreigners. There are, however, several foreigners in the class besides Kerry and I, including an English girl named Laura, with whom I’ve talked a few times. She is in this program called Erasmus, which is a European program for people studying languages at the university level. She said that all students studying a language have to spend at least one year abroad (a year in one country if they’re studying one language, or a semester each in two separate countries if they are studying two languages). She’s been here for a semester already, and she is teaching an English class at the university. She’s really friendly, and I love love love her accent. I kind of want to tell her how much I like it, but she would probably find that weird.

As a side note, there has been some confusion with the end date of the university class and my program, and I will be coming home about a month earlier than originally planned. I don’t want to go into details here, just wanted to let it be known. I’m a little miffed about it, but I still have three and a half months here.

I do however have some very exciting news—I am going to Morocco a week from Saturday! I am so stoked. I had been hoping to be able to make it down there. There is a group that CC-CS works with to send students to Morocco, but those trips are all four days at the least, and I didn’t want to miss a day of school. But a found a program called We Love Spain that sends students there for three-day trips. The girl working at the office when I booked said it’s a really good length of time to get a taste of Morocco, figure out what parts she might like to visit again.

And now for a few more assorted ramblings and observations:

In my language class, we were discussing vocabulary that has to do with non-profit organizations, and my professor told us that there is a group here in Spain called Clowns without Borders (Payasos sin Fronteras). They go to hospitals to entertain ill children. I think this is really cool.

We learned a phrase in my language class that is basically the equivalent of “Go jump in a lake.” It’s “véte a freír espárragos,” which literally translated means “Go fry an asparagus.”

It has rained almost every day this past week, and I am very ready for the sun to come out. My socks and shoes and pants get extremely wet, and with the houses as cold as they are, they don’t dry very quickly. This rain, however, may be a very good excuse to go buy a new pair of rain boots, as my old ones broke.

I am getting more comfortable with Spanish, but at the same time, language fatigue is definitely starting to set in. I can understand it pretty well, I’m getting better at using subjunctive verb forms, and I’m finding myself incorporating the words I learn in class in my everyday speech. But there are times where my brain just does not want to speak Spanish at all, and I start making elementary mistakes I don’t normally make. Hopefully that will pass soon.

That’s all I can remember for now. Buenas noches.

Visitas y Paseos—Day 9, February 11, 2010

Yesterday morning, class ended two hours early so that we could go on tours of a few different sites in Sevilla. We were divided up into three groups, each with a professor or two as our guide. My group went to the Cathedral, so I was able to see it in more detail. I took some pictures, but there is no way they can possibly convey how giant and grand this place was. It used to be a mosque, but after the Reconquista, los Reyes Católicos turned it into a cathedral. But there are still remnants of the original mosque, including La Giralda, which is the giant tower and the tallest building in Sevilla (although the very top part is not original, as there was an earthquake that knocked the original top off) and the Patio de Naranjas (Patio of Oranges) with the fountains where the Muslims would wash to purify themselves before worship. The Cathedral itself has elements of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance architecture. Also within the Cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Apparently lots of different places claim to have the real remains of Columbus, but, according to my professor, these are the real ones (of course, my professor may just be biased in favor of Sevilla). I’ll try to post some pictures here, when I have internet that’s more reliable.

That afternoon, after my dance class, I went with a group from our program to take a short tour of one of the buildings of the University of Sevilla. The university is divided into facultades, which are like the colleges in an American university. But they are not located together one campus. Rather, the buildings are spread out all over the city. We went to the Facultad de Filología, of humanities, which is where I will be taking my literature class. It used to be a tobacco factory, and is actually the tobacco factory in which the opera Carmen is set. The building is gorgeous, with many interior patios with fountains, and shiny marble floors and marble statues of naked men in the staircases. I must say, it was extremely intimidating. Not like American universities, which do all they can to make visitors feel welcome. There was just this sort of cold face to the University. In Spain, students don’t generally live on college campuses, and they usually just go to the university in their home city, so going to college isn’t the same sort of undertaking as it is in the States. We got a lot of odd looks, as we were a group of fifteen to twenty Americans, taking pictures. I felt like a prospee (prospective student), but I imagine the Universidad de Sevilla doesn’t exactly get prospees.

After the University tour, there was an open-air market going on in the Plaza Nueva. Kerry, Alicia, and I poked around for a bit, and I bought a scarf for 5 euro. There were a lot of different things, like scarves and hats and jewelry and food. I also bought some honey roasted (or some such thing) cashews to munch on, which were thoroughly delicious. I haven’t had a lot of nuts since I’ve been here, so I enjoyed them a lot.

Tonight, Tiffany, a friend from TU who is spending the full academic year in Granada, came into Sevilla. She is heading to the Carnaval in Cádiz this weekend (sort of Spain’s Mardi Gras), but she’s staying in Sevilla for a few nights. She, Laura, Kerry, I, and our roommates went out for tapas. We went to a place that the manager of Tiffany’s hostel recommended called Taberna Colonias. The prices were fairly cheap, with good portion sizes, and our waitress was extremely friendly. Among the dishes we tried was patatas a la brava, which consisted of fried potato coins with a spicy red sauce and a white sauce that can best be described as being like ranch. I really liked this one a lot. It also had no pork, which was definitely a plus.

I am starting to feel more integrated into the culture here. On Thursday, my group returned from our visit before Alicia’s group, and since I wasn’t sure when she would get back, I went ahead and headed home. Walking alone through the streets of Sevilla gave me this thrill, because I felt like I fit in. I wasn’t yapping in English, I knew where I was going and didn’t have to pull out a map, and the public transit didn’t faze me at all. I felt like someone could look at me and maybe mistake me for a sevilliana. Although, according to one of Carmen’s neighbors, I have a very English face. Not exactly sure why, and I don’t think I could recognize an English face, but I’m ok with looking English.

All for now. ¡Hasta luego!

Llevo una semana—Day 8, February 10, 2010

I have now been in Spain a full week. It’s strange to think about, and yet I feel like I’ve been here much longer. I’m starting to get used to a lot of things, like public transit. Especially now that I have my bus card, it’s much easier and less scary.

Alicia and I were late to class yesterday. There was much more traffic at 8:30 than we expected, meaning we waited for the bus a good fifteen minutes. Luckily, though, our professors were both very understanding. Maybe it’s the more laid back Spanish culture, or just that our professors understand the difficulty of adjusting to the rhythms of such a different city. Whatever the cause, I am grateful.

My professor for Cultural Realities is Luis Delgado. Thus far I like him, although after only one hour it is difficult to form much of an opinion. We’ll be doing of lot of discussions of current events in that class, as well as a weekly journal about various subjects related to contemporary Spanish culture. Afterwards, I had my dance class. We are learning the sevillano, which is related to flamenco, but different. It’s a partner dance, to be done in social settings. I’m not a good dancer, and I’m not very good at it. But that’s ok. It’s fun, and something distinctly sevillano (as the name would imply). Lola, our professor, told us that unlike other classes, we should not practice out of class. I think she doesn’t want us to remember wrong.

After classes, Kerry, Jenny, Alicia, and I met up with a friend from TU. Her name is Laura, and she is also studying here in Sevilla, but with a different program. It was very nice to see a familiar face. We went to Café de Indias and spent a while talking.

When Alicia and I returned to our home, Carmen’s sister and brother-in-law were visiting. Her brother-in-law had brought over his recently published doctoral thesis. Carmen introduced us, and we spent some time talking. I realized this was the first time I had really heard a group of Spaniards conversing together, because they used slang and turns of phrase that they generally avoid when they know they’re talking to Americans. For instance, they would use “hombre,” as a form of address/interjection, even when talking to women. I suppose it’s kind of how we might use “dude.”

This morning, Alicia and I overslept. We awoke with enough time to dress and get to class on time, but just enough. I took me forever to explain to Carmen that we overslept and so we didn’t have time to sit down for breakfast, and no, it was our fault, not hers (as she got up after we did, because she didn’t hear us moving around), and I’d like a piece of bread for the road, but it’s fine as it is, I don’t need jam, or butter, or oil, no really, plain bread is fine . . . sigh. I think I got everything I meant to say across, but this language barrier can be exhausting.

And now for a few assorted impressions and observations:

I’ve heard that one of the biggest causes of culture shock is food, but I have had very little problems with that. Granted, my host mom doesn’t like pork, so that has made adjusting my diet much easier. But although there are some things I’ve had that are very different, I like just about everything I’ve had. It seems to me that the flavors of Spanish cuisine are more muted and subtle than those of say Mexican or Indian or Chinese cuisine. As I mentioned before, the flavor for a lot of dishes comes from olive oil. Everything is very savory, but not bland; there’s a depth to the flavor. This may be partially because my señora has high blood pressure, so she doesn’t put much salt or spices in her food. But although I often like very strong flavors (like chile or curry), I don’t find the food here bland at all. The desserts are less sweet than those in the U.S., but sweeter than those I had in Scotland. Also, one more random observation concerning food, I asked Carmen for café con leche in the mornings (coffee with milk), and rather than giving me a cup of brewed coffee with some millk to add in, she boils a pot of milk, and then gives me instant coffee to stir in. Generally I prefer the flavor of brewed to instant coffee, but I must say, I really like the milk base. I think also they drink whole milk here (at least, the milk in our hotel was whole milk), so that makes it very creamy.

People here are very pushy especially when boarding or getting off the bus, or going through doorways. But they’re not as cold and grouchy as I thought they would be. In general, you don’t see strangers talking, or making eye contact, or being friendly with each other. I’ve heard from people that they’ve asked strangers directions, and received looks of “why are you talking to me?” But when there’s a reason to speak to a stranger—asking the price of something, sometimes asking directions, ordering in a restaurant—there are many who are very friendly, even with us obvious Americans. There was that lady in the tapas restaurant the other night, and a very nice man who explained to me how to recharge my bus card. It’s interesting, because socializing with friends and family is so important here. Meals take forever, because we sit at the table talking, and even still Carmen comments on how Alicia and I are always “in a hurry.” And in restaurants, the waiters tend to leave you alone long after you’ve finished eating—it’s not bad service, it’s letting you take your time. And yet, even though this aspect of a social life is so important, being friendly with strangers is so much less common (from what I have heard, this is even more true in other European countries).

There is a lot of construction around the city, or at least on my bus route. I’m not sure what they’re doing, but there seems to be a fair amount of growth in the city. There’s also a lot of restoration going on in all the historical sites (Plaza de España, the Cathedral, etc.). I don’t know if there’s usually this much restoration, or if there’s something big going on. Maybe they start this type of restoration every year before Semana Santa since they know a lot of tourists will be coming in.

I knew all the adults here, including the men, would be very well dressed, but what I wasn’t expecting was how well dressed the children would be. All the girls have cute little coats and cute little shoes, and they all wear skirts or dresses with stockings, and have little ribbons in their hair. The little boys all have little polos or button-up shirts tucked into little slacks, or sometimes shorts. I saw this one boy, maybe 7 or 8, riding a bicycle, wearing khaki slacks, a pale pink button-up shirt, with a pea green sweater tied around his neck, and his golden blonde hair nicely combed to the side, and all I could think was how very European he looked. We’ve commented on this in my language class and Prof. Dorado (she wants us to call her Carmen, but I’ll be more formal here so I don’t confuse her with Carmen, my host mom) said that all the parents want their children to be “principes y princesas” (princes and princesses).

It’s been a little chilly and a little cloudy, with a fair amount of rain, recently. But what I call rather chilly, sometimes cold, the seviallanos consider freezing. I see them walking around with heavy winter coats and thick scarves, while I am taking off my winter coat because I am getting warm. It is however, very cold inside the houses, sometimes colder than it is outside. Prof. Dorado said it’s because most of the houses are prepared to deal with the heat that comes in the summer.

All for now! ¡Hasta luego!

Empiezan las Clases—Day 6, February 8, 2010

I am sitting right now in the Café de Indias, which I believe is sort of the Starbucks of Spain (although there are several Starbucks here) and drinking my first Spanish hot chocolate, something I was very excited to try. It is like a cup of melted chocolate chips, with a little milk added as an afterthought. I think I am in love.

Yesterday morning, Alicia and I went to mass at the cathedral. Neither of us are Catholic, but we wanted to see what mass in such a giant and old building. I was able to understand much of the mass and the homily. Of course, it helps that I’ve been to mass in English with Kerry several times, but I didn’t have too much trouble with the Spanish. For lunch, Carmen made us a tortilla. For those of you who don’t know, a Spanish tortilla is kind of like an omlette, with potatoes and other vegetables (peppers, onions) and I think often ham cooked in eggs. I liked it much more than I thought I would. Not that I thought I would dislike the tortilla, but I eggs aren’t my favorite food, something I can take or leave. But it didn’t taste particularly eggy. There were more potatoes than eggs, and most of the flavor came from the olive oil it was cooked in. It’s also traditional in Spain to eat toast with olive oil for breakfast. I’ve generally eaten half of my toast with olive oil, and the other half with jam. I tell you, all this olive oil is going to be the death of me. I suppose it’s “good” fat, and it has lots of antioxidants, but there’s just so much of it.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, as there were few places open. Spain isn’t a particularly religious country anymore—much of the population is “Catholic,” but non-practicing—but it seems that Sundays are a day to spend with family (there’s still a big emphasis on family and friends and social relations in general. So a lot of cafes were open in the evening, but not the shops or the cervecerías. The mall was open, and Alicia ended up there on a wild internet hunt, as we don’t have it in our house. A series of misfortunes including dying batteries, lack of outlets, and poor signals prevented us from successfully finding and using wi-fi, but I suppose we got some exercise, and I had a yummy café vienés. Apparently a good place to get wi-fi and use Skype is McDonalds. I never thought I would go to McDonalds in Spain, but I went yesterday at the Plaza de Nervión, and it was the classiest McDonalds I have ever seen.

As we were walking back to our house, we passed our host mom out with some friends. She was going with them for a churro and chocolate. We walked a little more, and returned home around 8. Carmen didn’t get back until around 10, and by that time we were very hungry. She apologized profusely for being late, as we were planning to have dinner at nine or nine thirty, and I felt that it was a strange reversal of roles that our seventy-something year old host mom was out later than we two twenty-somethings, and that she was apologizing for us for being late. As if I don’t feel enough like an old lady at home, when my friends go out on the weekends and I go to bed. Only in Spain, I suppose.

We had our first class today. I am in Advanced Present-Day Spanish Usage with Profesora Carmen Dorado. Kerry is also in my class. This class is three hours and forty-five minutes long, five days a week, for the next three weeks. Based on how the class scored on our placement exams, we are focusing on increasing our vocabulary and learning when to use various advanced grammatical structures. I like Profesora Dorado very much. She’s very energetic (as it seems all Spanish women are) and very friendly. She’s probably in her forties, maybe early fifties, but she’s very pretty, and when she smiles or laughs, she looks much younger. Spanish women also seem to age very well. Maybe it’s all the olive oil?

I was finally able to buy a bus card today. We’ve had a lot of trouble buying one for some reason. We were told we could get them in the tobacco shops (los estancos), but every time we went to un estanco, we were told they didn’t have the cards, or that the machine was broken, or some other excuse. Kerry’s host mom said that sometimes they don’t like to help tourists. But Alicia and I finally found un estanco in our area, which is much less touristy, in which the guy working was very friendly and sold us our cards. So that’s one less thing to worry about.

I suppose that’s all for tonight. I need to go do some homework. It’s always difficult to get back in the homework-doing mode, but I don’t think I’ll have too much, or that at this point it will be too hard. Tomorrow, in addition to my language class, I have “Cultural Realities” and my dance class. I will try to write about them tomorrow.

¡Buenas Noches!

¡Vale!—Day 4, February 6, 2010

(Disclaimer: There is not internet in the house where I stay, so my access to both this blog and any other online accounts will be sporadic.)

I think I am already in love with this city. I love the way it comes alive at night. As we walked along Avenida de la Constitución last night after the activities fair, the sidewalks were filled with street musicians and performers, from a guy playing blues guitar and singing in English, to another man playing Beatles song on the folk harp, to a lady making giant bubbles with a huge bubble wand. Granted, I loved the night life less when I was trying to sleep and the people at the cervecería across the street talked and laughed and filled the street with a constant babble until at least one in the morning. Nonetheless, when I speak of night life, it’s not just people drinking and clubbing (although there is much of that as well). It’s a sort of verve and spirit that is so infectious.

Something else I noticed yesterday but forgot to mention—I love the tile (or, azulejo in Spanish). I am kind of obsessed with it. At the Plaza de España today (which I will detail more later) there was so much of it everywhere, and I decided that there is just about no way I’m coming back to the states without it.

When I left you yesterday, I was headed to the Center for an activities fair. Alicia, Kerry, Kerry’s roommate Jenny, and I ended up getting rather severely lost in all the little winding streets in downtown Seville—lots of little tiny things that were either pedestrian only streets, or could only allow one car, and no pedestrians on either side, to pass at a time. I have decided that urban planning is my new love, and we should be announcing our engagement soon. We did however manage to find our way out of the labyrinth and to the center, only a little late. We also found in our wandering, the Texas Lone Star Saloon, purportedly the best Tex-Mex east of Dallas! We will definitely make a stop there sometime, but I didn’t want to go to such an blatantly touristy/silly place so early in our stay here.

For dinner last night, Carmen made us a noodle soup and this delicious dish of just lots of sautéed vegetables and egg. I think maybe it’s the olive oil that made it so delicious. Before I came here, I wondered if I would gain or lose weight. I figured I would be walking a lot, and that European portion sizes are smaller than American. But all the olive oil might counteract that. Moreover, Carmen doesn’t seem to save leftovers. It may be because she doesn’t have a microwave. And being so tiny she doesn’t have a particularly big appetite. But she doesn’t like to throw away food (quite understandably), so she keeps pressing Alicia and me to eat more, even when we say we are quite satisfied. Her food is delicious, and we certainly don’t want to offend her, so we find ourselves helping ourselves to more.

This morning, CC-CS took us on a bus tour of the city, pointing out some of the sights along the way. Afterwards, we had some time to wander through the Plaza de España. This was built in 1929 for the Ibero-Americano Exposición, designed by Spanish arquitect Aníbel Gonzalez, who also designed many of the buildings in the area. I’m not positive what the exactly the Ibero-Americano Exposición was, but I believe it was something along the line of the World’s Fair, only smaller, and its purpose was to foster unity and boost the economy. The plaza is absolutely gorgeous. It’s semicircular, like a hug. There was a large fountain in the center, and lots of azulejo everywhere, including azulejo pictures for all the regions of Spain. Unfortunately there was a fair amount of construction going on, but I suppose that’s a necessary evil.

After lunch, Alicia and I walked to El Corte Inglés, a department store here in Spain. Except department store is putting it extremely lightly. The best way for me to describe it is that Target and Macy’s had a baby, who then went on to take steroids. It was six stories tall, with at least one other floor underground that we didn’t have time for, with cosmetics, shoes, men’s fashion, women’s fashion, junior’s clothing, baby clothing, home products, sporting goods, and even a full blow restaurant on the top floor. We will definitely have to go back, because there was not time to see everything, and we had just gone for some necessities.

This evening, there was a movie at the Center, just as another chance for the program participants to get to know each other. After the movie, Kerry, Alicia, Jenny, and I went to a little tapas restaurant. I don’t know if it’s the best tapas restaurant in the city, as it’s in a kind of touristy area, but it was very good, and our hostess was extremely nice. She was patient with our bad accents and imperfect Spanish, explained to us what unfamiliar menu items were, and discretely warned us via written note when some young boys who may have been looking for someone to rob were loitering around. We were aware of the boys and were keeping an eye on our bags, but we very much appreciated her warning. I had my first paella in Spain, as well as tinto de verano. Tinto de verano is like sangria in that it’s a mixture of red wine and fruit juice, but it does not have any sort of carbonated drink mixed in, as sangria does.

I believe that is all to report for now, and my battery is dying anyway. Entonces, hasta luego, y buenas noches a todos.

Orientación—Day 3, February 5, 2010

It’s my third day in Spain, and I have just moved into my home for the semester. I live in a barrio called Urbión. My host mom’s name is Carmen. She’s a single woman, probably in her seventies. She’s very friendly and is always quite concerned that we get enough to eat. My roommate’s name is Alicia. She’s from California, and she attends Point Loma University. Although it’ll be weird living with someone else after living with Kerry for so long, I like her a lot. We’re both English Lit and Spanish double majors, so we already have a lot in common there.

This entry is probably going to be a little disorganized, with kind of scattered impressions of what I’ve done so far. Everything is so new now, and there’s so much to tell, that I’m not sure what’s the best way to organize it. Hopefully once I’ve got the sensory overload out of my head, I can be a little more orderly.

While staying at the Hotel Plaza de Armas I was able to do a little exploring. There is a very nice walking path along the river, where lots of people were walking or running. There were also a lot of people kayaking on the river—apparently that’s a popular pastime here. The streets are all very curvy, and lots of them are one way. On several there is very little sidewalk, so walking down them makes me a little nervous. Although I love the feeling of history this city has, as in Edinburgh, the seeming arbitrariness of the streets makes me love urban planning and grid systems even more.

The city has an interesting smell, especially at night. I’ve tried to describe it, but I can’t seem to find just the right words. It’s a little musty, a little “planty.” I think part of the smell comes from all the orange trees. They’re everywhere, with bright orange fruit all over them. But my host mom says that the oranges on most of the trees are very sour, and not many people like them. However, I have had some delicious oranges here, some of the best I’ve ever had. They are so sweet and juicy and flavorful.

Already I am a huge fan of the siesta. I knew it would be one of the things I’d probably enjoy most about Spain. I was told by professors and such that businesses all close down during siesta, and everyone goes home, and that if you’re out at siesta it’s assumed you’re up to no good, or you are a tourist, and therefore you’re a target of those who are up to no good. However, there seem to be a fair amount of people out still. There’s a cervecería (a beer store) right across the street from where I’m staying, and there are a lot of people outside of it (it’s about 3:30 as I’m writing this). So maybe siesta can involve relaxing in more ways than just going home to nap or hang out with the family. I’ll let you know when I learn more about it.

This morning began with a walk around what I guess one might term “downtown” Seville. We basically walked from our hotel to the CC-CS building (or, as it’s known here, el Centro Norteamericano de Estudios Interculturales. Seviallanos will go there to take English classes). We were divided into six different groups, with a professor guiding each of us and pointing things out along the way. We passed an arena where they have bull fights, called the Plaza de Toros. The professor guiding us told us how there is currently controversy in Spain about bull fights, and how a lot of people view them as animal cruelty (I tend to agree with that camp). He said that in Cataluña (the region of Spain where Barcelona is located) they have banned bull fights, and there’s some possibility that the Parliament of Europe (or something like that) might ban them everywhere. He said that although he tends to think that bull fights are animal cruelty, there are thousands of jobs involved in the bull fighting industry, and if bull fights were banned, that species of bull would die out. So it’s not really a black-and-white issue. Although I see these points, I still plan to avoid going to a bull fight if possible, as I don’t think I could stomach it.

We also passed the cathedral of Sevilla, which is the third largest in the world, after St. Paul’s in the Vatican and the one in London (whose name I don’t currently remember). It’s this massive and gorgeous building, with elements of Gothic and baroque architecture. I know Kerry is planning on going to mass there, so I’ll probably join her.

After our walk, we had a placement exam at the Center so they would know in which level Spanish class to place us. Then we walked back to the hotel, checked out, and took taxis to our respective homestays (or I guess to the residence halls for those students living there). When Alicia and I arrived, our host mom showed us our room, gave us time to unpack, and served us lunch—arroz con pollo, a salad, fresh bread from a panadería (a bread bakery), and for dessert one of those delicious oranges I mentioned earlier. I was worried I would have to eat a lot of pork while in Spain, but luckily, my host mom doesn’t really like pork either, so she said she wouldn’t serve it much. So that takes care of one of my worries.

This afternoon there’s an activities fair at the Center so we can find out what kind of groups we can get involved in. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of volunteer opportunities they have. They also have a tutoring program, where we can tutor kids learning English. It pays 8 euro an hour, which is definitely a perk, but I also think it will be cool just to be able to have that kind of exchange with a sevillano. So hopefully I’ll be able to do that.

Anyway, I must wrap up. It’s time to go see if we can figure out the bus system and head to the center for said activities fair. As an aside, I am a huge fan of public transit in theory, as it’s much better on the environment, but in practice, it scares me a lot. It’s just because I’m not used to taking it, since neither Albuquerque nor Tulsa have much of a public transit system, so that should pass once I’ve had some practice.

¡Hasta Luego!

España, Aquí Vengo—Day 1, Arrival

So. As I’m sure is quite obvious by now, I’m not very good at keeping up with this whole blogging thing. Hopefully someday I’ll finish writing about my Scotland trip (thought perhaps I will have to be less detailed), but that’s going to have to go on hiatus. Because as of today, February 3, 2010 (I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to post this), I am spending the spring semester studying in Sevilla, Spain. I am going with a program called the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies. It’s a fairly small study abroad program; it only has programs in Spain and Argentina, and sometimes, though not currently, Cuba. I will be taking most of my classes at CC-CS’s program center, but I will also be taking one class at the Universidad de Sevilla. I have not been able to sign up for said class yet, as I believe I have to pass some sort of placement exam first. However, I can tell you about my CC-CS classes. For a three week Intensive Period, when we just have one class to focus on getting comfortable speaking Spanish, I will be taking Advanced-Present Day Spanish Usage. For the remainder of the semester, I will be taking Women Writers of Spain, Spain and Immigration, Cultural Realities of Spain (a one hour required class to help us deal with culture shock and contemporary Spanish cultural phenomena—I hear it’s pretty easy and fun), and Regional Folk Dance.

Beginning in a few nights, I will be staying with a host family. Right now, though, I am staying in the Hotel NH Plaza de Armas, where we will have our orientation for a few days. I got in about three and a half hours ago, after which I promptly took a shower, called my parents, and then fell asleep for a few hours.
The trip in was fairly uneventful. The only thing I can think of worthy of remark that for a little while, early in the morning, somewhere over Portugal, western Spain, and the Atlantic, outside the plane window was a sea of cloud, unbroken for as far as I could see, tinged with pink and orange with the sunrise. Other than that, it was an average flight, although oddly empty, such that most of the passengers in the main cabin had a row to themselves.

I was rather nervous throughout the trip, because although I’ve been abroad before, I’ve always had someone to hold my hand through customs and everything. This time, I was on my own. But everything went fine. Quite honestly, the thing I was most scared of for the entire semester was getting a cab from the Sevilla airport to this hotel. But luckily, I met up with some others in my program at the airport, so I was able to share a cab. And even if I hadn’t been able to share one, I think I was worrying too much. It ended up being a quite easy process. But there you go—I like to worry about silly things like taking taxis.

The hotel seems like a fairly nice one. There are some kind of generic paintings of bowls of fruit and cups of coffee on the wall. And of course there’s a wet bar with ridiculously priced beverages, including whisky and Bacardi. The window opens onto a Plaza of some sort—perhaps the Plaza de Armas for which the hotel is named—with a semi circle of blue poles in the center. There’s a shopping center off to the left of the plaza.

My impressions of the city so far are limited to my taxi ride and the view from my window. There’s more graffiti than I expected, but then again, it is a city. It had kind of an odd smell, too. Mostly, though, I felt how close everything was, as I often do in settings any more urban than Albuquerque (which, for those of you who have not been to my lovely hometown, is a legitimate city, but is much more open and spaced out then large, urban centers I’ve visited like San Francisco or Edinburgh). Such settings often make me feel kind of nervous, but I suppose I will get used to it. The descent upon Sevilla from the plane, though, was beautiful, as was the descent into Madrid. There are beautiful, tall, snow-capped mountains everywhere, and most of you know how I love the mountains. I really hope I have the opportunity to go hiking in them at some point.

Anyway, I will wrap up, as I’m mostly just rambling. The people I met at the airport and I were thinking of doing some exploring once siesta ended. I believe it ended a half hour ago, so perhaps we’ll go out soon, and then I may have something more interesting to say.