Spaniards Don't Sleep

As my life continues to unfold and progress here in Spain, I am finding it harder and harder to find time to blog! Pero no te preocupes (don't worry), I will continue to find time to write as it's very important to me to chronicle my experiences in a concrete way that I, as well as others, can follow and reflect upon.

Classes officially began a week ago and for any of you that thought study abroad students spend the majority of their time partying and very little time studying, I am here to dispel that rumor. Well, I suppose I can't speak for everyone but believe me, my classes are no joke! I have a course load that is comparable to that of my University except I'm only taking 4 classes right now instead of 5 (I knocked the first one out in the first 2 weeks). I mentioned my classes before but to reiterate, I am taking Cervantes' El Quijote, a course exclusively dedicated to reading and analyzing the 1332 page beast; Contemporaty Spanish Literature, the class that has surprisingly become my favorite due to an excellent teacher, interactive classroom environment, and material I am thoroughly enjoying; Flamenco in Andalucia, a class I was expecting to enjoy alot but am currently pretty bored with (too much history); and The Gastronomy of Spain (which means study of food for anyone who doesn't know... because I definitely didn't) which is very interesting but hard to wake up for because it's at 9:00am. Right now we're learning about the importance of olive oil in Spain, how it's made, and on Thursday are going to have a tasting in class!

Last weekend I visited Granada, a 3 hour bus ride away from Sevilla, and had one of the most amazing weekends I've had since being here. I swear they just keep getting better and better! We visited the Alhambra, a palace/fortress with both Moslem and Catholic influence situated in one of the most beautiful and picturesque settings imaginable. The Alhambra was recently named the 8th greatest wonder of the world (although our guides Alejandro and Fran kept insisting that it should be higher up on the list). Our walking tour covered 2.5 miles of historical ground and the intricacies of the palace architecture combined with the fountains, gardens, and backdrop of the Sierra Nevadas made for one of the most humbling and awe-inspiring experiences I've ever had. As a side note, I thought it would be hilarious to walk behind Alejandro humming the Lady Gaga song every time there was a moment of silence, he didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Alejandro jaja

I can't get over how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be here in Spain and have experiences such as these. Furthermore, I have been so blessed by the ease with which friendships here have come! Perhaps my favorite thing about studying in Spain is that simply socializing with Spaniards truly is an extension of the classroom.... and oh how Spaniards love to socialize! Partying is built into program sponsored activities and even expected. For example, last weekend in Granada CIEE gave all of us 10 euros (like 13 bucks) to go out to get drinks and tapas Saturday night. It doesn't get much better than that! My week is also just peppered with Spanish-related activities outside the classroom, some fun, some work, but nonetheless all dedicated to achieving the same goal. The next few days look something like this:

Wednesday: 12-1, I requested a private tutor so I can get some extra practice in and refresh my memory on some basics

          2-3, One of the guides at CIEE named lucia told me she loved my hair and subsequently asked if I wanted to get lunch with her so we can get to know each other. The more Spanish conversation the better!

          5-7, Meeting with my intercambio, a really sweet girl named Sofia, to practice my Spanish and her  English

          9-10, My gastronomy interest group meeting where we're learning about something food related

Thursday: Class all day then meeting with Roman for tapas (he's my pseudo-intercambio/good friend) and later going out with one of our guides Fran (my absolute favorite) and some friends. 

Friday: My Senora Inma heard I was going to see a tutor for extra practice and volunteered to teach me some herself (she used to be a teacher), so I'm bonding with her over Spanish grammar friday afternoon. So much learning!!

Alright, well I'm off to get a quickie run in before my next class tonight. Hasta luego! xo

Honeymoon Phase

Life continues to be wonderful here in Sevilla, I am currently completely consumed by the honeymoon phase of my stay now and all I can think about is extending my time here for as long as I can! I really feel like I could see myself living here someday, at least for a small portion of my life before settling down. My Spanish has finally begun to really take off!!! Last time I wrote it was on the upslide but now I can feel my progress rapidly accelerating and I believe Friday night was the catalyst.

Friday night embodied just about every aspect of the type of experience I’ve been longing to have since coming to Spain. My new friend Roman (whom I was so lucky to find and befriend) invited to me to experience a “real” Sevilliano tapas dinner far off the tourist or extranjero radar. I invited my friend Katie and her intercambio Pablo to join us, and Roman came and picked us up Friday night accompanied by one of his friends (also named Pablo). The five of us drove to a completely different side of Sevilla and navigated though a labyrinth of narrow side streets until finally arriving at a tiny, hidden little hole-in-the-wall gem of a tapas bar. As I slowly become more and more immersed in the culture here, it’s fascinating to note the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between life here and life back in the US. For example, the smaller a bar or restaurant in Spain is, the more popular it will be. Furthermore, the more crowded a bar is, the more people will continue to pile in because it’s a sign that the bar is “the place to be” for the night. When we arrived, the place was so packed that, even if there had been chairs (which there were not), there was no way we ever would have found a place to sit and eat (finding a place to stand was challenging enough). I was sure that Roman was going to suggest we try somewhere else, but instead we stayed right where we were until we were able to secure a small two-foot space on the bar that was big enough to fit a few plates. The boys then proceeded to order a series of tapas for us consisting of salmorejo (a thicker version of gazpacho), calamari, red meat, a stuffed mushroom, and house prepared olives. I learned that every bar in Sevilla has it’s own signature style of olives and no two places serve the same kind! Each bar soaks its olives in a specific blend of spices, herbs, and juices for a few days until they take on their own unique flavor… and the olives at this tapas bar were phenomenal. After dinner we went to a chic bar in the city and continued chatting and hanging out together until Roman took Katie and I home around 2 because we had to wake up early to go to Cordoba the next day.

Salmorejo

Something with ham, and calamari

Roman, Me, Katie, Pablo (Roman's friend)

Me, Pablo (Katie's intercambio), Katie, Pablo

Roman y yo

Pablo y Pablo

Roman, Me, Katie

Roman, Pablo, y Pablo range from 24-27 years old and, although they can each speak some English, we spoke in Spanish for the entire night. I remember telling them that I felt like I spoke more Spanish with them in one night than I had in the past 4 days combined. After Friday, I definitely sensed a drastic improvement in my Spanish, which has been THE most liberating sensation!!! Everything is finally beginning to click and the challenging, Andalucian style of Espanol is beginning to sound much more normal. I absolutely love Spanish and this entire learning process has been unbelievably rewarding. Roman, Pablo, Pablo, Katie, and I are planning on going out at least once a week together since we had such an amazing time that night!

In other news, I just finished my first class! The last two weeks of my language/grammar immersion have been INTENSE and consisted of 3 papers, 1 oral presentation (which I did on Dali), 4 interviews I conducted with native speakers and a subsequent paper summarizing my results, 3 museums I visited outside of the classroom, 1 midterm, and 1 final. WHEW! I begin my regular semester classes this week, which will be the following:

-Contemporary Spanish Literature

-Flamenco in Andalucia

-Cervantes and el Quijote

-Spanish Culture and Cuisine

I can’t wait to get settled into a rhythm! Also, I had my first meeting for my interest group, the gastronomy of Spain, and am SO EXCITED about it!!! The leaders made it sound like our group will feel much more like a family than a club and have been amazingly warm and welcoming. I feel like there are at least 10 different people I could talk to if I was ever having a hard time here and every one of them would genuinely care and do everything they could to help me. Throughout the semester we’ll have 5 cooking classes where we’ll learn to make traditional Andalucian food, visit the little pueblo of our leader Fran (whom I LOVE), visit a local brewery, and finally take a 3 day trip to Valencia with all expenses covered by the program. Valencia is the birthplace of the traditional Spanish plate paella and we’ll learn to make that as well as visit a vineyard! However the weekend turns out, I could not be more excited for it J.

I just got back from a day trip to Cordoba, the capital of Andalucia, and am currently planning trips to Morocco, Portugal, and Italy over the course of the semester. This semester abroad arrived at an absolutely ideal time in my life and has been more than I could have dreamed of. I can’t wait to update you all once I start my real classes!  I'll leave you with some pictures from my trip to Cordoba:

Hasta luego! xo