La Primera Semana

2 Septiembre 2007

Today (Domingo) my senora and I took the bus to meet other students for a bus tour of Sevilla at 10. We drove around and saw the main neighborhoods of the city, and then we stopped at the Plaza de Espana, a huge curved building built for the Columbian Exposition of 1929. It’s beautiful and has amazing tilework and arches. Afterwards, I walked home for the first time, which took about 40 minutes and met some other American college students from a different program also studying in Sevilla. Senora and I had lunch, chicken and potato soup, and then I PASSED OUT for the siesta. Siesta is amazing. The only problem I have is that I take it a bit too far and have slept for 3 hours each day instead of like 1-2. I realized I should not sleep away my time here and met up with some friends at a café near the big cathedral, one of the biggest tourist sites in Sevilla. Getting there was amazing. I’m pretty good at getting on the bus route from home to la Universidad but this was my first venture into unexplored territory on my own. I followed la Giralda, the big clock tower, through winding tiny streets that, I’m sure, were full of history. It was amazing, Sevilla just looks like fairy tale so sometimes I can’t even believe what I’m looking at. Or even the fact that I’m here. It all really hasn’t sunk in yet, and my Spanish needs to improve like crazy because I really suck and hanging out with Americans is doing nothing for my Spanish. Poor Juan can’t understand me half the time, and I can’t really understand him. After 7 years of Spanish. And did I mention he’s an English teacher? Not good for me.
This evening Senora’s other daughters arrived. Not to mention her ADORABLE little 1 year old granddaughter who kind of reminds me of myself as a bebe. She already has her ears pierced, which is a cultural thing according to Marian. They all seem nice but I’m not sure how to act, whether to really hang out with them, or not intrude on their family time. No se.


3 Septiembre 2007

Today was the first day of orientation so I came to the Junior Year in Spain office which has the most amazing location, right next to the university. We have three classes each day, la cultura, la conversacion, and la grammatica. All of the teachers are very nice women who are very good at what they do. I especially like Maria Jose, the teacher for culture because she seems hip and gives us advice on where to go and what to do. After class, I was leaving the building when this Spanish guy came up to me and started speaking rapidly in Andaluz, the local dialect. So I told him I was foreign and he said my Spanish sucked and if I want to improve I need to hang out with Sevillanos so he wrote down the name of a café and was like meet me and my friends here in an hour. Did I mention he was a flamenco dancer? So I asked some girls if they wanted to check it out, knowing full well how sketchy it was but wanting adventure, and Petra came with me. I love her, she is sweet and always up for anything. (she’s from Bulgaria) So we find this place in the middle of some tiny alley and it’s a danky little bar, complete with older gentleman bartender wiping glasses. And there he was, so happy to see us. We talked for a bit and he cut off some of his sandwich for us (which was delicioso) and then we left.

On the way to another café, I noticed some Russians walking toward us and was looking right at them, the woman is like “oh, smotri kokoe krasivoye platyeu devochke” to her daughter, and then, seeing that I knew she was talking about me, she was like “vestido” to me, which means dress in Spanish. And so I said “Spasibo!” and kept walking…she was pretty shocked to say the least…

Petra and I did what any sensible gals would do…we sat down at a café and had a beer. Afterwards, I went home and had lunch with Senora and her 3 daughters which was very interesting, when they talked between each other, I could barely understand the gist, but I’m getting better. Then I siesta’d like crazy. We went shopping close to the cathedral, and afterwards met up with some girls to grab some tapas. We actually ended up going to the wrong place…we went to la Carboneria which had flamenco later (a woman, who looked suspiciously like a man) but the best sangria ive had so far.

When I came home, I talked to Imma, Senora’s married daughter for a while and she complimented my Spanish, that sangria must have done wonders.

4 Septiembre 2007

Class. Coffee, and much excitement about traveling. Natalia, Petra and I have decided to travel together. I came home and had lunch with my Senora and 2 daughters, inquiring about their family history. I did homework afterwards and decided to go on a quest for “wee-fee” which apparently does not exist in Spain….even in the Starbucks here! It took me two hours to find a network to connect to, and let me tell you, lugging this biotch through cobblestone streets is not a taza de te. But finally I found it! Then I bought a camera and shared some “nata” which reminder to self, do not order=overpriced whipped cream. Then I shlepped home, and wanted to go out, but my body was like uh huh, you are staying home chica. So oh yeah, I had a hamburger at mcdonalds earlier…I was so hungry and wanted to see if there was a difference in taste, I think there was but it was not too discernable. Everyone seemed to have tapas for dinner so I ate alone, and then watched TV with my Senora and Juan. The news was very interesting, especially when they reported on Israel…completely different from in USA. They totally highlighted the Palestinian struggle, and I saw an Israeli soldier use force, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen on American TV. Muy interesante.