Ha pasado un mes

It's hard to believe that I've been here for a month already, because sometimes it feels like I'm still just getting started. I've been in class for three weeks now and I am absolutely madly in love with Phonetics & Phonology. The other three classes are survivable, especially since there are no Friday classes in my program. The university itself is a gorgeous building called La Real Fábrica de Tobacos (The Royal Tobacco Factory). It was originally used as the first tobacco factory in Europe, built at the start of the 16th century after the Spanish discovered America and brought over tobacco from the New World. It's had a couple of other uses since then, and it became la Universidad de Sevilla in 1948.

Enough about school. Since I last blogged, the group has taken weekend trips to Madrid, Toledo, and Ronda.

In Madrid we stayed in probably the nicest hotel I've ever seen the inside of. The powerful double showerhead and heated towel rack in the bathroom were certainly a welcome change from the Sevilla apartment, where the water pressure is equivalent to a drizzle. The first day in Madrid, we toured the city on foot with our awesome guide, Paco. We walked through Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol, neither of which had any shortage of street performers. Plaza Mayor is the main square of the city. Bullfights were held there back in the day, but there was one little problem- it's a square. The bulls could very easily corner the matadores and do some serious damage. Thus, they switched to the circular bull rings we see today. We also saw the royal palace, where royalty does not actually live. According to Paco, the royal family "doesn't really do anything anyway."

Plaza Mayor

El Palacio Real

While in Madrid, we also visited la Reina Sofia and Museo del Prado, two very famous art museums. I went to both of these last time I was in Spain, and I'm happy to report that they were slightly more enjoyable this time around. (Maybe because it wasn't 100 degrees out and I hadn't stayed up packing the entire night before this time.) Lily and I scanned the Reina Sofia pretty quickly. I made a point to see Picasso's "La Guernica" because I had learned so much about it in past Spanish classes. Aside from that, we took silly pictures with all those oh-so-impressive contemporary types of paintings- you know, the ones that appear to have been painted by lazy preschoolers. A squiggly black line on a blank white canvas with a yellow splotch in the corner. I suppose I'm not worldly and philosophical enough to understand true art. We saw works in the Prado that had much more history- paintings by El Greco, Velazquez, and Goya. Paco made it interesting by sharing his wealth of knowledge and fun facts on the paintings and their painters.

In Toledo we did lots of stair-climbing, bridge-crossing, and stopping to take pictures. The city is very old-fasioned looking, and it's basically built on a hill. There are sections of stairs that are more like a series of small platforms. They were designed this way so horses could climb and descend with greater ease. We also saw El Greco's "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz." I've learned a lot about this painting in past Spanish classes as well, but I will spare you all the long history lesson and just say that it's an important, historical, impressive, huge mural in a church of Toledo, and I enjoyed seeing it in person. During our free time in Toledo, I tried marzapan and it is definitely on my list of top ten favorite things in the world now! Oh, and the final adventure of the Toledo trip is that we all thought our train left twenty minutes later than it actually did. We realized this just in time to run to the train station. As if we didn't already stand out just by being American, our group of twenty or so people literally sprinted like maniacs through the streets, down the stairs, and across the bridges. It was dumbfounding to the Spaniards, but hilarious to us.

Toledo

View from bridge in previous picture

Ronda is a place I had never heard of before this semester, but it is hands down my favorite place in Spain so far. We had beautiful weather with perfect views of the most amazing, picturesque scenery you could imagine. A giant mountain gorge runs through the town, and there are tons of cafes, houses, and terraces built on the edge of the cliffs. We also saw the ancient Arab baths and the oldest bull ring in Spain that is still in use. All of this was shown to us by our tour guide, Jesus, who was also guide to Michelle Obama when she visited Ronda.

Here in Sevilla, not too much is new. I'm still completely in love with it here. One of my roommates, Franziska, who had been here since September, left a few weeks ago to go back to Germany. A new student (also from Germany) moved in last week, but she's only here for three weeks. Her name is Katrin, which is pronounced by Spanish speakers exactly the same as my name. We had a four day weekend because today is El Dia de Andalucia, and she and I went to the the beach in Cádiz yesterday. It's been a really relaxing weekend with amazing weather, but it's supposed to start getting colder again. And by colder I mean it's still going to be warm.

Fun fact- peanut butter is a rarity over here. If you can find it in the grocery stores at all, you can bet it's expensive. And you certianly can't find Reese's.

Leave a comment or email me or write me or facebook me and let me know how you guys are doing over in the US!

Hasta luego.

P.S. Mullet sightings since arrival: 9

Las primeras semanas en resumen

Hello hello! I'm still very much alive and enjoying myself here. The atmosphere of the apartment is a lot of fun since so many people are staying here. There is never a dull moment, especially with the dog who is treated like a person, thinks he's a blanket, and gets snot on everything. Everyone is at different levels of Spanish, but we all know English, so they prefer to speak it when our host mom isn't around. The same goes for the people in my program-- the majority of them are taking all their classes in English and are more concerned with observing the culture rather than living it and learning/practicing the language. That was an adjustment for me after having done the insanely immersive IU honors program, but at the same time I understand, and I've gotten used to it for the most part. I just have to get creative in finding ways to practice my Spanish. Sometimes I'll go into stores and ask for directions even if I know where I'm going, or ask questions about merchandise even if I don't really care about it, just so I can keep practicing with native speakers.

The weather is still awesome. It’s been rainy today and yesterday, but up until then it was all sunshine. I've been going running along the Guadalquivir River with a friend. Everyone in Spain is always out and about, and the river is a pretty popular spot to walk, run, ride bikes, or just hang out. Even at 10:00 at night or on a Sunday when everything is closed, the streets and paths of the city are always filled with people of all ages. But like I said in my last post, the atmosphere is laid back and comfortably busy, not at all rushed or stressful. (Traffic is the exception.)

Last weekend was our group's trip to Córdoba, which is a comfortable 45 minute train ride away. We met up with our tour guide in a plaza and she took us to the more ancient part of town. Córdoba is one of the hottest cities in Spain in the summer, so all the streets and pathways that weave between the whitewash buildings are very narrow to provide shade. (The opposite of useful in February, however.) We saw las paredes de flores (flower walls. doesn't sound as great in English) and patio areas with fountains and tiles with intricate geometric designs. We visited a leatherwork shop that smelled amazing.

Then we visited the synagogue, which was built in the 14^th century. The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and the synagogue of Córdoba is the only ancient one left in Andalucia (the region of Spain I’m in), and one of the three left in all of Spain.

After the synagogue, we visited La Mezquita, the ginormous mosque-turned-cathedral. The site was originally home to a Roman place of worship, then turned into a Visigothic cathedral, then the mosque was constructed in the 8^th century. It’s huge, cold, dark, and beautiful. 24,000 square meters with rows and rows of red striped horseshoe arches, supported by over 800 pillars of granite and rose marble, most of which were taken from the Roman temple that previously occupied the site.

The mosque was captured in the 13^th century and turned Christian. They left most of the architecture as it was, but constructed chapels and shrines within certain areas of it. The architecture is incredible—I never thought I could be that amazed by a building. The altar, intricate wood carvings, and incredibly high arched ceilings literally make you gasp.

Aside from Córdoba, I started classes last week and our group spent the weekend in Madrid and Toledo. This post is long enough, so those stories will have to wait for another time.

Hope you're all enjoying the plethora of melting snow and ice back home.

Hasta pronto

Picture time! It's hard to post them side by side so you're just going to have to do a lot of scrolling.

my street

street performer in Sevilla

Bowe on Paulina's bed

The bridge I cross every day going to school

Hanging out along the river

more Guadalquivir River

La Plaza De España in Sevilla- part of a Star Wars movie was filmed here.

Cordoba- paredes de flores and the bell tower from the mosque/cathedral

synagogue of Cordoba

inside La Mezquita

part of the original floor from when it was a Visigothic church

more columns and arches

In the main church part of La Mezquita-- look at the ceiling!

¡estoy aquí!

After three flights and accumulatively an hour of sleep, I'm finally in Sevilla in my apartment and I LOVE it already! My host mom, Angeles, is awesome. She talks A LOT but I haven't had any trouble understanding her so far. And she's a vegetarian like me (except she eats seafood). There are also five other students staying with me. I've only met them briefly as of now but three of them are also from the US and two are from Germany. And then there's the dog, Bogwie. He's pretty crazy, but he seems to keep everyone entertained.

The apartment is really big (by Spanish standards) and it's on a pedestrian-only street with tons of shops and cafes. The atmosphere of everything here is fantastic, and the city is beautiful! There are palm trees and orange trees along the streets. It's so lively, but not in a rushed, uptight way like big cities in the US. It's super laid back and just puts me in a great mood. Words and pictures will never do it justice. Oh, and the 60 degree weather is a nice change as well. :D

I took a taxi by myself from the airport to my apartment, which left me feeling rather accomplished. Then Angeles showed me around, I unpacked, and I met up with a fellow ASA friend (Lily) in the plaza at the end of the street and we explored the city and found the Universidad de Sevilla. Now it's 8:15pm here, and we don't eat dinner until around 9:30. I am beyond exhausted, so I'm on here writing this in an attempt to keep myself awake until dinner.

Oh, and I forgot my backpack/school supplies at home, which I didn't realize until my layover in Dusseldorf, Germany. Ten points for Kathryn! Classes don't start for another week though, so I'm good.

Thinking in English already takes effort. This took a lot longer to write than it should've.

Anyway, I guess that's all for now! I'll update again within a week.