Sevilla Week One

Hey guys! I've been in Sevilla for almost a week now and it sure has been a whirlwind.

I moved into my host mom's apartment in a really cute neighborhood/bario called Triana across the river from my school and it's full of super cute restaurants and cafeterías (coffee shops). It's a fifteen minute walk to the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies or el Centro notreamericano and you won't believe the view.

 

I live with a lady named Josefa who's about 70 years old and a bit intense. She speaks super fast and has the thickest Sevillan accent I've ever heard. A Sevillan accent consists of slurring everything together, leaving off whole syllables, using "th" instead of "s," and not using normal grammar. She rattles on for a full 20 minutes and I catch about 5% of what she says. However, even after just a few days, I can understand way more. This is the best practice I could possibly get. Once I can understand her, I'll be able to understand anyone. She means well but she's super intimidating and this will be quite a challenge. 

The food is pretty bad but I'm working with the center to see if we can improve it. She basically cooks bad grandma casserole-style food (Nana I do not implicate you in this statement whatsoever my dear) with lots of canned stuffs and only uses the microwave. She uses her oven to store Tupperware. Now that my roommate is here I may have an ally though I will have to do the talking. Again, a challenge.

My roommate, Merisa, is from a suburb outside NYC and goes to school at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. She moved in yesterday and she seems nice. She's a little overwhelmed by jet lag, culture shock, and homsickness and all the stuff I've been working with this last week so she's pretty quiet right now. She's not a sorority bimbo so I'm happy. At this point that's all I care about. Our little room:

 

We've had three days of classes so far. I have Spanish grammar class Monday through Thursday at 9am followed by a class about contemporary issues in Spain which right now is a sort of survey history course. Carmen, our Spanish professor, is just the sweetest. She was with us in Madrid so we know her pretty well. Her class is going to help us stay grammatically correct while we learn how to speak. Our history professor, José Grillo, is great and holds a discussion-oriented class and doesn't rely on teaching only names and dates. I would love a hardcore Spanish history class but with this group, I think it's better to keep it more theme-based rather than detail oriented. Monday and Wednesday I have art history. The professor, Conso, is a bit of a hardass and she's going to whip us into shape pretty quick. We're going on trips to museums and out around the city to look at the art that she lectures about in class. There's also a lot of reading in Spanish about terms that we have to learn on our own. I'm looking forward to this class the most though it will be a lot of work. Monday and Wednesday nights we have a class on immigration with a guy named José Sánchez. We will see how that goes... We also are taking a Sevillana class two days a week. Richael you'll like this. Sevillana is a type of dance similar to flamenco. It's actually fun because our teacher is hilarious. We look absolutely ridiculous but I'm enjoying it, surprisingly. Janel you win, I am learning to dance. Yep please continue laughing at that image.

My favorite activity at the moment is sitting in the sun by the river at this one cafetería reading copious amounts of Patrick O'Brian and sipping a cafe con leche. This city is overwhelmingly beautiful.

 

I'm having a wonderful time with my group and we're becoming great friends. Here we are in Toledo. 

I'm super homesick and missing everyone more than I thought I would and that's saying something. But I am enjoying myself a lot and working really hard to improve my Spanish. More updates to come!