POR FIN...SEVILLA!

Hi all! Saludos de Sevilla! Alright guys, I have never blogged before so bear with me as I try to put my amazing experiences in this beautiful city into words! I arrived here last Wednesday and thus far have neglected to do any journaling or blogging so before I put it off any longer I’ll try to do a brief overview of my first impressions and experiences sevillanas.  

 

HEADING ACROSS THE POND

About to start our journey!

View of the runway at JFK

This semester was an adventure from the start just trying to get here! The crazy snow storm in the States definitely threw a wrench into travel plans, but everything worked out in the end. I flew over with Dylan, and our first flight was cancelled (to JFK), second one delayed several hours (to Madrid) and we missed the third one because of the previous delay (to Sevilla). BUT we made it so Sevilla only about 4 hours later than originally planned and got a free meal in the airport and an apology email from the airline as compensation. Our program (Centro MundoLengua) sent someone to pick us up, as well as a couple other William & Mary students also in the program. Exhausted from around 24 hours of travel, we went to meet our host families!

 

FIRST DAY…FINALLY

Orientation with our program group

My roommate Liz and I are living near the center of the city with Mercedes and Francisco, and their daughter Mercedes (Mercedita to differentiate) who works for MundoLengua. When we were dropped off, Mercedes met us on the street and we crammed our enormous luggage into the tiny elevator to go up to our fifth floor apartment. It was right around lunch time when we arrived so we more or less dropped our stuff in our room (a little too dazed to unpack) and had our first meal in Sevilla. It was wonderful! I’m a huge fan of the Mediterranean diet so the cuisine here is right up my alley. In Spain, lunch is the main meal of the day (versus dinner at home) so they do it up big. We had a type of potaje (like a soup, but they made fun of Americans for calling everything served in a bowl ‘soup’), salad, bread, and fried fish. We were served HUGE portions and if we weren’t eating Mercedes would ask, “what, you don’t like it? Eat, eat!” while Francisco assured us that the food here won’t make us fat because it’s much healthier. That first meal was a bit overwhelming, because jetlag coupled with foreign language really takes it out of you. I would love to say that Liz and I powered through and went for a long walk exploring the city after lunch, but in reality we took unpacked, got settled in, and took a long siesta until the evening. We chatted more with our host parents (being more capable with Spanish after a bit of rest), had dinner, had our first shower experiences and called it a night pretty early (~12:30am).

 

EXPLORING

Plaza de España 

Our next couple days were focused around exploring, learning, meeting people, everything new! We had an orientation on Thursday morning with MundoLengua and got to meet the other students in the program. There are 14 of us in total, 5 from CNU and 9 from William & Mary. We received info packets, maps, schedules, local cell phones, etc. That evening and the following day we met up with Antonio, who works at MundoLengua and is the staff culture expert, to learn our way around the city and visit a few of its cultural treasures. These include the Real Alcázar (a palace), La Catedral (cathedral), and the barrio Santa Cruz. The pictures don’t do them justice

bridge by day...

and they are truly indescribable. I feel so blessed to be able to walk by them every day and live in close proximity to such beautiful wonders! We went with Arantza, another amazing MundoLengua staff member to see a flamenco performance one evening at a flamenco museum in the city (also, the only one in the world!). This was another experience that simply can’t be put into words. Music and dance evoke reactions in all of us and the energy and passion conveyed through flamenco does so three fold. The gypsy inspired singing, the Spanish guitar, and the intensity of the dancing…you feel it in your soul.

..and by night!

Aside from the visits and events, we have done a lot of meandering and trying different restaurants and such to get to know the city better. I also keep a map with me but am trying to only use it when necessary (ex. I actually need to get somewhere on time…rare in Spanish culture :P) and prefer to find my own way, as long as it takes! I’ve discovered that I have a pretty good sense of direction, in that I know which way I need to head even if I have no idea which streets to take to get there. I’m sure that I take a very roundabout route but eventually I end up where I want to be! I can get myself to and

from some main spots (the metro stop, the Cathedral, a few favorite bars and restaurants, the MundoLengua office, the river, etc. etc.) without problem and I’m always trying to expand that list! Our program group has a laundry list of restaurants, nightlife, stores, scenic spots and the like that have been recommended to us and that we are working through. Sevilla has a lot to offer :) 

 

SPANISH CULTURE

One of the highlights of being here so far has been learning about all the ways the culture here differs from home (there are SEVERAL). Having studied Spanish culture and traveled here before, I knew about several differences coming in. What interest me most, however, are the little, subconscious things that I just never thought about doing differently. 

A big cultural difference that I mentioned above is food. Aside from eating different types of food than what I’m used to, the meals are pretty different. Breakfast is minimal, usually consisting of toast and coffee (café con leche is most common).

Lunch is served around two in the afternoon and, as I said, is the main meal of the day. Most businesses and stores close at two for the lunch and siesta time, and reopen at five in the evening. In our house, we normally have some kind of main dish (of which we’re always given way too much!) with bread, a salad, fried fish, and a dessert of either fruit or pudding. I love trying new food and I have yet to try anything here that I don’t enjoy, including beets and tuna that are pretty common. Dinner is similar, though usually a bit less elaborate, and is eaten around 9pm. Between lunch and dinner is tapas, which is a huge part of Spanish gastronomic culture and essentially entails going out for drinks and appetizer sized portions of food. Tapas is very social and it’s great to get several dishes for the table to try everything! At home when people go out to eat, the check is typically asked for after everyone is finished eating. Americans tend to go out for the food and leave soon after, but here the food is only part of the experience. Meals last much longer!

Along with the eating, the drinking culture is very different as well. In the States, people tend to view drinking as a social activity in itself. They get together for the purpose of drinking and getting drunk. Here, drinking is done as a complement to another activity and done more socially and less for purposes of inebriation. Most small cafes serve alcohol and there are people having a beer or sangria on the street at all hours of the day. People are more moderate with their alcohol intake so it isn’t such a big deal. That’s not to say that people in Spain don’t get drunk…but it is a very different culture.

Of course, the difference that has the most notable impact on day to day life in Spain is the language. I am comfortable communicating in Spanish, but doing so all day every day can be exhausting! The accent here is of the region Andalucía and involves speaking quickly, slurring words, making a ‘th’ sound for words with ‘c’ or ‘z’, not pronouncing the letter ‘s’, and often eliminating entire syllables or even words. It’s a challenge! I love the language, though, and every meal at home or encounter on the street is a learning experience. Liz and I ask so many questions of our host family, who are very patient with us. Their accents are pretty strong and although they repeat things if we, they don’t slow down any on our account. An example of a word pronounced differently with their accent is ‘pescado’ (fish). When my host mom says pescado, she eliminates the ‘s’ and ‘d’ completely and says ‘pecao’. This happens with so many words, but I really enjoy the challenge of having long conversations with my Spanish family.

 

CLASSES

 Ah, so along with doing exciting things abroad comes the ‘study’ part. Through MundoLengua, we are taking classes at la Universidad de Pablo Olavide (UPO for short), which is located outside the city and is about a 15 minute metro ride. We started classes Wednesday and only have them Monday-Thursday (wooo three day weekends!). Our classes are through the International Center at the university and so are with other students studying abroad here in Sevilla. There is also an option to take classes with the Spaniards at UPO, which I’m hoping I might be able to do for a business course if the credits transfer properly. As of now, I am taking five classes (one of which I unfortunately can’t receive credit for at CNU but really interests me!) I have a class on Spanish civilization and culture, Spanish literature, tapas (a 4 hour lab that involves cooking and eating!), the history of Sevilla (the majority of which involves field trips around the city to learn hands on) and international marketing. I have completed most of the Spanish major at CNU already so I am fortunate to be able to take fun, cultural courses while here! All of the classes seem like they’ll be really enjoyable, although some will require a good deal of work. I’ll talk more about them when I get into the swing of things.

 

I have so much more to say about the short time that I’ve been here but for the sake of not turning this post into a novel (I might be too late) I’ll end here and try to be more prompt with posts in the future! In short, I have fallen in love already with Sevilla and am so excited for the months to come. Please, leave comments or ask any questions you might have or give recommendations on how to blog…I need them. Thanks for reading!