Even Spaniards have lame weeks (comparatively)

You heard me. This week was our last week of orientation, which was rawther uneventful except that it involved some final exams. Wait, you actually have to STUDY when you study abroad? Oh yeah. As such, I had my first outdoor study sesh on Tuesday morning, which was also the first day of fall. Autumn is one of my favorite things in the world, and I am a little sad that the weather here is so warm that the leaves aren't going to change for a while! But as long as tea and cardigans are involved, I'll pull through somehow.

Anyways, I live right in the middle of two huge parks - Parque de los Principes on the left, and Parque de Maria Luisa on the right. So this day I went to the former and sat down at the cafe in the back, spread out my grammar homework and got to work. When I finished, I went for a walk and came home for lunch. How civilized!

Exams went swimmingly of course, and Friday morning we went to orientation at the university for American students. A few words of welcome, some jokes about soccer, and one long lecture about the library system later, we were left on our own to explore. Now, a few words about the U of Seville - it's a 500-year-old university that inhabits an ancient tobacco factory. It is host to two main schools: filology and geography/history. Filology classrooms are numbered regularly, while geo are numbered in roman numerals. There are no designated sections, persay, for each school, so it's kind of a mishmash of classrooms that hardly hold with ascending/descending locational protocols. So, as we came to find, class 207 is not on the same floor as XXIV, which is in a cluster with XXIII and XXV but also across from XI and 112. To complicate matters further, it would seem as though adequate Spanish cartography systems died with the Armada, so we could not find a map to help our cause. On the bright side, it's a really cool building and there's lots of baroque art and sculpture everywhere, so if I were to get hopelessly lost as least it will be within the confines of an aesthetically-pleasing Spanish labyrinth.

Friday afternoon I rested up, stretched and carbo-loaded because...a bunch of us registered for the 10.5K night run in Sevilla! It was called the Carrera Nocturna, and began at the Plaza de Mexico, went down the river, over a bridge, through our neighborhood and back up the river to the Olympic Stadium. 6 other people from the program joined me, and we were all joking that they should release bulls at the start of the race. It was a massive crowd - There were FIFTEEN THOUSAND PEOPLE there! The run was amazing (we waved at our family as we passed by!), the city was beautiful lit up at night, and it was absolutely one of the best things I've done here thus far. Plus, at the end we got a sweet goody bag with a dayglo-yellow mesh muscle-shirt. yeeeesssssss!

Saturday we went to Cordoba, which was an amazing visit. They have a mosque-turned-church that is an architectural masterpiece, as well as a Jewish quarter and lots of orange trees! After our tour we got some free time to walk around, and I got a greek yogurt and honey ice cream cone. BEST ICE CREAM EVER. And today Melanie and I went to an outdoor art market by the museum, where local artists congregate to sell their paintings. It was incredible! We're definitely going back. So overall an amazing weekend, and tomorrow we begin our classes at the university!

Happy Yom Kippur, and wish me luck!

Me estoy acostumbrando?!

Busy week! Today marks two full weeks that I've been here. And what a difference, too - I feel like I'm starting to master the Spanish ropes. When we were at the art museum, a woman attending the table with informational pamphlets even pointed me toward the ones written in Spanish and not English! It was a small victory (of course, meaning that I immediately went home and told everyone in my house).

So the discoteca was insanely large amounts of fun, though very smokey and tiring. After dancing all night and staying out late we spent a relaxing day in on Sunday, reading and listening to music and napping and doing laundry and whatnot. Sunday evening was the birthday of one of the guys here on the program, who is staying with the mother of my homestay mom (so basically my Spanish grandmother). The whole family went over to their apartment, in all totaling 15 people - the grandparents, their 2 students, my "aunts" and their husbands, their 2 students, their twin sons, and my mom and roommate and I. Suffice to say, my Spanish family is significantly bigger than the fam back home! We had coffee and birthday cake and chatted (quite loudly and excitedly) for a couple hours. I loved the grandparents! The family is an absolute riot. They live in the same apartment building as one of their daughters (the one with twins and 2 homestay sons as well), and they yell across the courtyard at eachother from their open kitchen windows.

Monday we went shopping in the morning, something we had yet to do! New goal: buy some shoes from Pilar Burgos. In the afternoon we went to the Cathedral, which is like the second-largest gothic cathedral in the world or something like that. Whatever its standing, it's absolutely amazing. We climbed the bell tower (37 ramps!) and looked at the view of all of Sevilla. Lots of great carvings and paintings and gold-plated cherubs and petrified alligators (true story!), and one visit was definitely not sufficient to take in its glory.

Tuesday we went to the art museum, which was really amazing. Not exactly my cup of tea in terms of painting - lots of 17th century paintings, mostly religious content, but really fascinating to learn about, and very pertinent to the history and culture of Sevilla. My favorite was a 20-foot tall painting called "death of a torero."

Wednesday was an absolute blast - I went to the market with my mom in the morning, and we made a pit stop at a great coffee bar before running our errands. This market was incredible - huge stands of fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, and nearly-alive seafood. Anecdote: the clams were actually alive, and I jumped when I saw them spitting, which caused my mom to exclaim, "what's wrong?!" and then I had to stammer that the clams surprised me. We bought fresh prawns and I learned how to peel them, watched a butcher clean a 50-lb salmon, and learned how to prepare anchovies in garlic and vinegar. It was a super fun day in the market (and the kitchen), complete with some Norah Jones and good conversation. Definitely one of my favorite days thus far (and we had all the delish seafood for lunch that day!).

Today we went to a flea market uptown, which was interesting - not really something for the tourists to see, but I'm glad we did it anyways. I booked tickets for a trip to Galicia in the end of October, too! And before class, I went to a beautiful open plaza with a fountain near the university with a book and just sat and read and people-watched for a while. I can't wait to find my favorite places and things to do - right now it just seems like there's so much that I can't possibly discover it all! But as I said, it's only been two weeks.

<3

Spanish goings-on

The tail-end of this week has gone just famously. Thursday was a super chill day, and I just spent the morning hanging around the house and doing some homework (yes, I still do my homework, even in Europe). It was kind of a recoup day overall - that night we hung out with Esperanza and Rocio, watching Spanish mtv. Turns out that Jason Mraz did "Lucky" with a Latina singer named Ximena somethin-somethin, and it's absolutely fantastic. She's like a Hispanic Regina Spektor! So that's on my agenda - download some Ximena.

Friday was super fun and pretty busy though - in the morning we went with a small group to the Plaza de Toros, where they have the famous bullfights in Sevilla. It was really interesting to see the stadium and hear the history (and see the costumes!), but after hearing it in so much detail in both Spanish and English, I'm going to have to pass on actually ATTENDING aforementioned bullfight. They last 2 hours, and feature the brutal slaughtering of 6 bulls. Too much. Personally, I would rather go to a soccer game of the Sevilla Futbol Club (the home team, for which our family holds avid support and therefore we must as well) with mi hermanito.

In the evening we went to a (get this:) medieval Spanish music concert in the royal gardens of the Alcazar palace. Soooooo legit. It was cool and beautiful, under the stars and within the palace walls, and the entire place smelled of incense. It was really lyrical music, almost bardic, and there were lots of songs about Sevillian folklore (with flutey accompaniment). Just lovely.

Today (Saturday) we woke up early to go to the Roman ruins that are pretty close to the city. On the way we saw an outdoor fruit market, to which we will definitely be returning. The ruins were amazing to see - intact hopscotch games, mosaics, and a gigantic amphitheater. I was prepared for a nine hour hike of a massive pyramid or something, but it turns out that it was only a two hour excursion. Haha oh well. Then, after taking my siesta this afternoon and relaxing around the house, we went downtown to do some poking around. We eventually sat down in this big plaza area and sipped on some cafe glace con leche (iced coffee), and watched three different wedding processions! It was amazing. A fabulous week overall. And what better way than to end it than dancing at a discoteca!

Besos

Ser Turista

Yes, being super touristy is what we Americans do best. Before leaving the house the other day, I decided to put on my black euro-fabulous puma tennis shoes to give my poor blisters (ampollitos) a rest, and I asked my madre if my shoes were super American. Her response: "uhhhh....a little." I tried.

Yesterday we went with the fam to the archaeology museum in the morning, and then the adjoining park a little later. It was amazing! Sevilla/Andalucia is such a mix of cultures. The archaeological pieces come from the Romans, and there were statues, jewelry, and huuuuuge carvings. It was fantastically fun, plus we got to sound like experts in class when we were discussing Roman influence! However, I would have to say that the park was the most fun. It was more like a jungle than a grassy open space - with paths and fountains and little stairways to climb. Absolutely beautiful. My ten year old sister Bea kept stealing my camera, and she is surprisingly a fabulous photographer! So thanks to her, we have a lot of pictures from the day. I was having fun saying hi to all the ducklings in the pond, and my little brother was making fun of me. So I told him that from then on I would call him "patito" (duckling), and he calls me "gatita" (or kitten, like my name there -Kiti!). It's absolutely hilarious.

Today my group had a tour of the Alcazar Real, or the royal palace inside the private gardens in Sevilla. Again, more amazing pictures to come. It's really Moorish, with lots of tiles and fountains and gardens. Then we pre-registered for classes, and a couple of my friends and I went out for tapas after classes at 8! We sat outside at a corner table and had some sangria, which I had never tried, and some great tapas (including goat cheese, bull tail, and mussels!). It was tre's euro-fab. I still can't believe that I can just go to a tapas bar or get gelato after class. It's very surreal, and very relaxing. I was a little stressed earlier today because it seemed that I had a lot to take care of, but after blowing off steam I was so tranquil that I couldn't even remember what was bothering me in the first place. Everything seems balanced here, like nothing is out of control even at its worst. No coping mechanism like Europe!

La familia!

So today we went for a walk in Triana, which was awesome but also really hot. Then we had lunch with the fam - mealtimes are definitely my favorite. I look forward to whatever awesome food Rocio has made for us - always something cool and different. However, even more I look forward to spending time with the family and observing their dynamic. The youngest, Bea, is absolutely hilarious (as are all 10 year olds), and she always says, "what's up, boss!" to her dad when he comes in. It's also funny observing kids arguing and making fun of eachother in Spanish. Also, today we were talking about Thanksgiving and explaining it to them - apparently in school they learn about how the Spanish explorers went to South America and conquered the Inca and Maya, etc. Que interesante.

Also, we were having lots of fun quoting movies - Rocio and Alfonsito clinked glasses and (in Spanish) did the line from Pirates - "take what you can, give nothing back!" It was super funny recognizing it. And then we were talking about Chocolat, and I could do it do - "I'm undone, but it's not my favorite!" .... "Estoy deshecho, sin embargo, no es mi favorito"

I just love living with a family. Not only is the experience comforting and homey, but also I'm learning so much more speaking with natives the entire time! It's such an advantage, plus I learn random words, slang, and I remember everything so much easier. Spanish word of the day - "retozar," or, "to frolick! to romp!" looooveeeeeeeeee it.

Well, that's about it for now! Off to dinner soon, then to a coffee/ice cream shop later. batidos = milkshakes. So if you're ever stuck in the desert and about to die, and your only wish is a milkshake but a Spaniard happens across you first, now you will know. batido.

hasta luego!

La Playa, actividades, y cosas asi

Buenos dias! These past couple of days have been incredible. We didn't have anything formal planned for this weekend, and thank goodness because I slept superbly late on Saturday. However, my timing was perfect because I woke up just in time for lunch - 2:30 on the dot! We eat dinner at 10 pm or so, and the kids go to bed at 11. Crazy. So we didn't do much on Saturday, just recovered a little bit and went for a walk around the neighborhood. We live in Los Remedios, a neighborhood right across the river from the university, so we only have a 20-25 minute walk or so. Also, it gets faster as we get better at finding our way. :0)

Sunday was amazing. A couple of guys from our group organized a trip to the beach, one about an hour away called Matalascanas. We woke up at 8:30 (much earlier!) and had breakfast of very strong, citrusy Spanish coffee and delicious fruit and yogurt. Oh, tangent - food here is so good!!! We got lucky that Rocio is such a good cook, and the family eats pretty healthy with lots of vegetables and fish, and fruit or yogurt for dessert and breakfast. And, the other day for lunch we had swordfish! Que exotico. Blueberries are arandonos. We haven't had any yet but I learned how to say it. And apparently limes are not that common in Spain, just lemons. Interesante.

Anyways, the beach. So after walking to the bus stop, we got our tickets and took the bus to Matalascanas. It's kind of a super-touristy beach, but still very fun nonetheless, with a little shopping avenue outside and refreshment stands everywhere. Rocio packed us a simple lunch of ham and cheese on baguettes with juice boxes and fruit - super cute. We just tanned for a while, but then we swam out pretty far in the ocean (which was lovely, about the temperature of a cold pool but exceptionally salty) to this huuuuuge rock thing, which we climbed (with some difficulty and a few battle wounds). But then we got to jump from the top, which was about thirty feet high! Sick. While telling my family about my adventures at dinner, I had to pause for some time and try and frame that in meters. Difficult. Also, temperatures are in celsius - it was a shocking 43 degrees yesterday (which is well over 100).

So walking back from the beach, we had a small Spanish accident - I got some glass stuck in my foot, on which I had to perform minor emergency surgery with purell, tweezers and a swiss army knife. Exito! (aka success, that's one of my roommate and I's favorite words)

Today we have orientation from 5-8 pm, so I am up pretty early given the circumstances. I'm not sure what the average hora de despertarse is, but Alfonso hasn't gone to work yet and it's 9:30. Anyways, Melanie and I are taking the early afternoon to investigate one of the surrounding neighborhoods called Triana. I keep thinking of random things that I wish I brought, but I think we're going to arrange a care package soon! After skyping with my family last night, the son Alfonsito asked me what we were talking about, and I said that we were planning on arranging a care package from the states with presents. Que intriga!!!! he said. :0) (what intrigue!) hahahahaha

Aqui estoy!

Hola!

Oh my goodness I'm here! After much much time in the coldest and largest airport I've ever been in, aka JFK, we flew to Madrid and had a smallish layover before catching our flight to Sevilla. That was a pretty sweet airport - It looked kind of Gaudi-esque, with swirly bamboo-paneled ceilings and these supporting columns that were rainbow-colored and glass floors and all that. And really high-end stores like Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo as well as Spanish designers. I had a cafe con leche (they don't have skim or splenda!) and visited with my new friends from the program. There are three Katies, but here we are, respectively, Kiti, Cristina, y Katarina. Haha, I tried to tell people that I was going to go by Kiki, but my family insisted on calling me by my English name except they pronounce it "Kiti." (like kee-tee) So they call me "hello kiti!" How appropriate. :0)

So, about my family. We have a mom and dad, Rocio y Alfonso, and their three kids: Esperanza (13), Alfonsito (11), and Bea (10). They are so so sweet, super helful, and very doting. And the kids love hanging out in our room (I have a roommate, a super sweet girl from Brown named Melanie). We live in an apartment on a street close to the river, and I love walking around the town! It's very intimate and not too busy. So anyways, yesterday after we unpacked and got settled in our very narrow but cozy room, we had lunch with the family at 2:30. They made us spaghetti to make us feel at home, which is funny because I can't remember the last time I had spaghetti! We also had a salad with soft-boiled eggs and tuna, and fruit for a snack. I am so thankful they eat tons of fruit and vegetables and yogurt! It's just like home. I had my first siesta yesterday: four hours! I hadn't slept much at all in the past 36 hours, so this was a much-welcome respite. And last night for dinner (at 10 pm!) we had gazpacho and Spanish tortillas, which are actually like sliced potato omelettes. Superbly good. Even the kids stay up until 11 or 11:30, because dinner is so late.

Today was our first day of orientation, and we had a short session before we walked around the neighboring streets of the university. Tonight we have a flamenco class!

I can't even say close to everything that's happened, but I LOVE IT HERE. I can't stop smiling. And you'll have to excuse me if this is super stream-0f-consciousness or my grammar is strange, because as I'm writing this I'm actually having quite a lot of trouble thinking in English. Hopefully more to come soon, but in the meanwhile I'll be keeping super busy! Just know that I am safe and sound, and just loving Spanish life!!!

Hasta pronto!