First adventures in Spain

January 21, 2010
Welcome to my blog. (O, bienvenidos a mi “blog”!)
Hoy es el 21de enero, 2010…I’m trying to think in Spanish as much as I can.
I’ve been in Spain for three days now- four days? I really can’t be sure because of the time change, etc.
The city is adorable. VERY tiny streets in which teeny cars and motos whiz by and nearly murder pedestrians on a regular basis. There are orange trees and palm trees everywhere! You’re not supposed to eat the oranges because they’re bitter, but I decided to pluck one down (or rather have a tall guy grab one for me) and taste it. It was bitter. Like every European city, there are a number of flocks of pigeons, though they cluster in palm trees more than plazas. El Rio Guadalquivir (river) runs through the city and separates el centro (downtown Sevilla) from much of the residential area, called Triana or Los Remedios.
Anyway, it seems like I got to O’Hare to leave for Spain about two weeks ago! There were about 50 other students in my program, called CIEE, at the terminal, so right away I got to know some of them! The flight was uneventful, but quite comfortable! Popped a sleeping pill, stretched out on two seats (no one next to me!!!) and conked out for about five hours.
It was less relaxing once we arrived in Madrid. Our whole program sprinted through the giant Madrid airport, challenging the “Last Call” to Sevilla, and arriving at the gate panting and sweaty for the one-hour flight. I sat next to a businessman from Madrid and we chatted most of the flight in Spanish! Pretty good kick-off to my Spanish-learning venture, right? Then we arrived in Sevilla to a cloudy, 50-some degree day.
From the airport CIEE bussed us to our hotel en el centro, where we moved into our rooms and did some thrilling orientation activities. My roommates were from North Carolina and Seattle, but most people in the program came from Wisconsin and Penn State, with others from Iowa, Oregon, Harvard, Tufts and a bunch of smaller schools. And I’m not sure why, but there’s about a 3:1 girl to guy ratio. Everyone seems cool so far. It’s kind of like starting college all over again…a few people came with their best friends, but most are on their own and just looking for other people to hang out with. I guess I’m the latter? It’s definitely not hard to find friends. Still, CIEE broke us into 20 groups of about ten students each for various activities.
Two days ago our groups went to meetings about classes, housing and customs, and getting involved in Sevilla. (Equipo de futbol here I come!) Then we did a giant scavenger hunt throughout Sevilla in the afternoon. Whoooooa that was quite an event. My team got really into it, and though we didn’t end up finding most of the sites we were looking for, we did have enthusiasm, particularly my roommate Beth and me. So after running around the city for three hours, we were supposed to go back to the hotel and clean up…but three of us broke off and got lost!!! It was dark and, despite asking everyone we could find where our street was, we kept getting conflicting directions (or perhaps just interpreting them very poorly…) and couldn’t find our way back until I heard some Americans saying “CIEE…” and they helped us find our way. On the last block I stepped in dog poo (which people tend to leave on the sidewalk), which was just the icing on the cake. We were so beat.
But there’s no rest for the weary in Sevilla! CIEE had a flamenco show and tapas night scheduled for us! The flamenco (native to Sevilla!) was fantastico! The show started with Spanish guitar, which is a new favorite of mine- so beautiful in fact that it literally put me to sleep. I was sitting in the dark in the back row of the room and, well, my head lolled a few times. But as soon as the dancers started stomping, I was wide awake. It’s amazing how precise the dancers’ steps are with the beat. And the beat itself is impossible to follow. It was really amazing.
Then we went out for tapas- everything they brought out was phenomenal. Later, a big group of us went out to some Spanish bars and I got a chance to talk to plenty of Spaniards! Although they know I’m an American and many of them know some English, if I speak to them in Spanish, they’ll respond in Spanish. It’s great!
Y ayer (yesterday), I met my senora!! Her name is Juliana and she’s a single, older woman who lives in an apartment in Triana. She’s been incredibly warm, welcoming and patient with us so far—I think it’s a good match. I also have a roommate named Christa (who goes to Wisconsin!) and she seems great so far! And we have our own rooms! I’m all settled in finally (it’s starting to feel real and permanent now that all my stuff is put away and I have a space of my own).
Juliana is going to call us for almuerzo (lunch) soon, so we’ll undoubtedly be stuffed to the brim with several courses of delicious Spanish food. SO GOOD! Well, at least in the hotel it was… and I’m sure Juliana’s will be better! Breakfast (desayuno) here is generally small- some toast with maybe some fruit and coffee or hot chocolate. Then lunch is enormous. At least two courses plus dessert- usually more. Often a soup and a meat or fish dish. Lots of types of spongey cake. Dinner (la cena) is smaller than lunch, (Thank God- who can eat that much??) and is usually some kind of meat dish with a vegetable, unless you go out for tapas that is. Mmmm I love tapas.

And so this concludes my first entry as a blogger!
I don’t have internet at Juliana’s apartment, so I’ll likely write larger entries like this and post them all at once when I go to the CIEE office en el centro or when I’m in the university buildings for regular classes.
If you’re reading this, I probably miss you. Most likely very much.

Hasta luego!