Free at last!

My professor walked by while I was studying this
morning at a cafe, 'animo' he said as I cried silently
 (in Spanish, claro)

I’m done!!!!!!! With finals that is…after three hours of pouring (almost) everything that I learned in my history class on to (unlined) paper, I’m done! I was really nervous about this final because I didn’t know what to expect. In reality it ended up being like most of my other finals, a broad statement or question to comment on or develop aka write down everything you know. Since I’m used to psychology finals with extremely specific questions this format has been a bit troubling. How much is enough? Is this relevant? When you say comment, do you mean include my opinion? When you say develop and give me a broad statement, can I pick some aspect to focus on? It’s a struggle. I’ve found that the best method is to just start writing a soliloquy, explaining whatever it is to the “audience”, as if the topic came up in conversation and they have no idea what the other person meant by it. It usually ends up turning into a bit of a rant (here’s to hoping that my professors have a sense of humor and can handle to sass!) but I just assume that makes it a bit more interesting to read. I feel really good about this one because I really went at it and didn’t really stop to think about anything. I had no idea how much time had passed and when my professor came in after 3 hours I was a bit surprised.

This final was for my regular class which meant it was a class with a bunch of other Spanish students as opposed to my other classes which were in Spanish, with Spanish professors but with other Americans. I preferred this class 100x over my cursos concertados. It was way harder to understand the professor but he was just so much more interesting than my other ones and somehow, even though it had 90 students it felt way more like an SBC class.

The class was on “Modern European History” (basically the 16^th century with a little bit on each side). It was quite interesting and in light of being done I’ve decided to give you a basic summery because sharing is caring:

In defense of the ‘verdadera’* religion

*right, legitimate, truthful-but I’ve heard ‘verdadera’ so many times everything else sounds wrong.

Yupp. That’s pretty much it. If I wanted to be more specific I could put in something about the ‘power of the monarchy’ but let’s be honest that falls under the theme above and I don’t want to be redundant or overwhelming or anything. I’ll just let that sink in.

I’m also pretty much an expert in European geography now, but only in Spanish. It didn’t occur to me until literally two seconds ago that Borgoña, a super important area that we studied, was “Spanish”. Yeah, apparently it’s Burgundy. That’s why my friend looked at me like I was crazy when I was talking about Felipe I. Oops.

ANYWAY, now I get to enjoy Christmas in Sevilla and prepare for more traveling adventures! I always forget what it feels like to "be free" from responsibilities at the end of the semester. It's great. Amazing. Beautiful. I’d tell you where I’m going but one time before I went to Burkina I had a nightmare about someone stalking me because of what I posted so you’ll just have to wait to hear about the trip until I get back. I can tell you that I’ll be traveling for about a month and both solo and with friends. I’m not bringing my laptop so I’ll have a lot of writing to do when I get back! I also have a lot of writing to do before I leave to 1. Hold you over until the end of January 2. I don’t want to be behind when I leave. Okay, I’m off to organize all my travel information and put it on my handy dandy memory stick so I can print everything out in the morning!

Stay tuned as my posts will be coming at you rapid fire over the next 9 days!! (omg 9 days until I leave…what?)

Peace, love, and Christmas cookies,

Holl

Mid semester slump

Well, thanks to my wonderful friend Madeline, I am back. I started this rainy fall morning with warm toast and peach marmalade and some hot cinnamon tea, excited that I would be able to blog again this morning after mass. Mass wasn’t until noon so after I ate I worked on a bit of homework and watched a canonization service with my señora on TV. Today la Madre Maria de la Purisíma, a nun from Sevilla, is being recognized as a saint! Anyway, I went to mass at the capilla at the university and it has definitely been my favorite mass so far. The capilla (small church) reminds me of home, the priest is young and full of energy, and the people at the mass were generally a bit younger. Now I’m sitting at “Café & Te” using Madeline’s laptop to tell y’all about my life.

Why am I using her laptop? Well, a little over a week ago mine decided that it wasn’t going to work anymore. I’ve been trying to fix it and have had people look at it but so far I haven’t had any luck. It’s more of an inconvenience than anything because most of my classes don’t require writing and I can use my phone to do the readings. It is frustrating when it comes to planning travel, doing my JYS homework, and not being able to blog…especially since that’s one of the highlights of my week. Not to mention that my whole life is on that computer! Also, sometimes you just want to watch a movie...or the democratic debate. I’m hoping I can resolve whatever the issue is soon and without having to pay.

Starbacks

In reality, my computer breaking could not have come at a worse time. I had already been having a really hard time, an off week (or two) or sorts. I think that my slump is a mix of things. One of the main factors is that my lovely mother sent me a package in mid-September and instead of getting the package I got a nice little note from Correos (the mail company) that my package was in Madrid but that I’d need to jump through many a hoop, wearing a tutu and a clown nose id i wanted it. After spending a week trying to figure out how to submit all of the documentation I needed myself, I went to the JYS office for help. I was basically told that I wouldn’t be able to get my package because I needed a NIF (sort of like a social security number) and that it was impossible to get one before the deadline they gave me and that there was nothing they could do for me. I was very frustrated and upset but luckily my señora is an angel. She talked to her dad, who just went through this with one of his JYS students and he got me a temporary NIF and then my señora took me to Correos, sorted out what we needed to do, and then helped me upload all of the necessary documents. We’re still waiting on a confirmation, but I think we may have solved this mystery!

Aside from the package and the computer I’ve been feeling a bit down in general. I didn’t think about it until a conversation that I had with a friend, but I could quite possibly have been feeling the effects of culture shock. I found the following description of stage 2 (negotiation) on Wikipedia:

After some time, differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety. Excitement may eventually give way to unpleasant feelings of frustration and anger as one continues to experience unfavorable events that may be perceived as strange and offensive to one's cultural attitude. Language barriers, stark differences in public hygiene, traffic safety, food accessibility and quality may heighten the sense of disconnection from the surroundings

I would say that this is a pretty accurate description of what I was feeling. Other things that have contributed to this “slump” are my ongoing frustration with lack of personal space (aka a tiny room and sharing a bathroom with four other people), not having anywhere to study/do homework quietly, not being able to find any sort of protein/cliff bar, being catcalled (or barked at) whenever I go out at night, and struggling to find times to practice using Spanish.

I can’t say that everything has been bad. While I am now out of my slump, I still had plenty of fun experiences over the past two weeks that I’ve been waiting to tell you about! Something that started out being a negative was constantly seeing everyone at home posting pictures of fall related things. I’m thinking I should just spend less time on social media but regardless, it made me really miss being in the states. After posting a Facebook status and taking a trip to Starbucks (I didn’t get a pumpkin spice latte, just a cappuccino and blueberry muffin), I found my FB well covered in pictures of the Berkshires and fall themed things in general. Thank you so much! I love seeing the pictures, and I’ve had friends tell me that they like seeing them too ! Also, my señora must be psychic because we’ve had crema de calabaza (pumpkin soup) twice since that day! Also random thought-do I love pumpkins so much because I love Cinderella?

Speaking of Cinderella, I’ve seen two movies in the past two weeks, both American movies but both in Spanish. It’s gone pretty well, which is great because I love going to the movies. It is a little weird only hearing people with Spanish accents though. The first one that I saw was “Pan” which is the new live-action “prequel” to Peter Pan. I really enjoyed it and it was surprisingly easy to understand. The other movie that I saw was “Marte” (The Martian). I’ve been dying to see this movie since I read the book, so of course I went to see it on opening day. I treated myself to dinner and a movie and it was a great night. I went to the gourmet market near the Puente de Triana and got a slice of capresse pizza and a copa de rosé. Not your typical wine and pizza pairing, but I do love the pink stuff. There’s something relaxing about treating yourself and I do have to give a shout out to professor Lobo for making us go out to dinner and a movie in Intro Psych alone, he knows what he’s doing kids! I complained that we’d always at least have our phones to occupy us but that is not the case in Spain! #nointernationalplan One of the things I love about the movies here is that you can bring in your own food. In fact, there’s both a candy store and a grocery store on the bottom floor of the building where the theater is. I spent 1 euro on popcorn compared to the 3.50 they were charging for a similar size upstairs. The movie lived up to its expectations, but I feel like I missed some jokes because it was in Spanish, reading the book helped a lot though. I definitely want to see it in English! The only down fall is that the movie theater is at least a half hour walk from my house. 

Dinner from my night out

One of the other exciting things that happened this week was my host sister’s birthday. She turned 20 on Friday and we had a big birthday lunch to celebrate. We had cannellois, mine with spinach, for the main dish and some very yummy Tinto and an amazing tarta for dessert. They call it “tarta de Valencia” but it also goes by “tarta de chocolate con galletas”. It was amazing. It is made out of sugar, eggs, butter, chocolate, galletas (cookie like crackers), milk, cognac, and coffee. It sounds like a weird combination but it’s to die for. It was a very fun lunch and makes me excited for my birthday! (Even though I won’t be in Sevilla on my actual birthday). 

Yesterday we had a JYS trip to Ronda. The city was "¡precioso!" but the views of the mountains both in and on the way to the city were just breath taking. My camera of course did not do them justice. I really need to go back and hike there..."the mountains are calling and I must go". The city is built on top of a cliff which is pretty amazing in itself, as is the bridge that connects the two halves of the city. During our tour we saw the bull ring, the bridge, the Arabic baths, and walked around in the "old town". There was a storm looming in the distance and it finally hit us just as we were finishing the tour. Madeline and I sat on the ground and enjoyed our bocadillos safely under the cover of an outdoor walkway. We then set out looking for the perfect rainy day pastry. We ended up at a cafe where we had our nice warm cafés con leche and a yummy pastry. I'm still not really sure what it was, but it was amazing. We had a nice philosophical conversation that lasted a few hours in the cafe and most of the bus ride home. I think cafés tend to have that effect on people. I know I always do my best thinking there!

Not my picture, but it looked like this 

Last night after dinner (a homemade veggie burger that my señora was very proud of), I stayed in and watched "Lo Impossible" with my host sister Esperanza. It's a movie, with Naomi Watts, about a family that survives the 2004 tsunami. They were running a special last night because the family that it's based on is Spanish. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my host sister and the movie was really good, sad and scary, but good. There was also a documentary on after so I got to see real videos and also hear from the actual woman who the book/movie is based off of. It's interesting because I remember being in 4th grade when it happened and us having a bake sale to raise money to donate. 

[Side note: I've really come to appreciate staying in with my family. At times I have a bit of an internal conflict, "why aren't you going out? Why aren't you taking advantage of the night life? Why don't you go and hang out with people from the program/meet new people?" I have found that I never regret staying in, and almost always regret going out. I really do enjoy it sometimes but most of the time I get more out of activities that don't involve spending money at bars and walking half way across the city to go to dirty clubs with crappy American music and a bunch of drunk Americans and a few sketchy Spanish guys. I've also realized that the type of people I want to meet are not the type of people that I'm going to meet at bars and clubs. I'd rather spend my money and time in a cafe. Coming to terms with this has been difficult but a real lesson in figuring out what I want and expressing that]

In Ronda

While we're on the topic of schools, I start my internship this week! I'll be helping teach English 4 days a week at a local catholic school. I have classes in a range of age groups and I'm super excited! I adore children and can't wait to work with them and get more involved in the community! I still have to work out my morning schedule with going to the gym, eating, showering, and being at the school by 9am. I'll keep you updated on this!
I've been really happy with how I've been keeping up with working out. It definitely gives me something to do in the mornings other than being in my room and starts the day on a good note. I've officially been doing "Kayla" for a month which is exciting. Also I went on a run for the first time in a while on Thursday night en el parque de Maria Luisa as stress relief for working on getting my package for most of the day. It was beautiful. I loved it and I loved running, I have to make time for it more often. 

I think this is hilarious: "Toasted flakes of golden corn"

As frustrating as it has been trying to find time to really practice my Spanish, I have started regularly "intercambioing" with Alejandra (who I know from SBC) which is a lot of fun. I go back and forth almost hourly on where I think my Spanish skills are. It's very difficult to have uninterrupted Spanish when you are reading English on your phone or talking in English. It's hard but I'm trying to immerse myself more fully. 

This is pretty much all I have for you right now. I have a nice rant on consumerism/exploitation that I'd love to write but it's always a bit difficult to write that much on your phone. Maybe I should just take pictures of my journal pages and upload them? Then you can see my raw and in edited opinion. Otherwise maybe I'll stay at the university one day during lunch and type it. 

Okay, this is goodbye for now! I have a busy few weeks coming up with midterms (lol what) and lots of traveling! I hope that I'll be able to keep you a bit more updated on my life!

Love and Lollies,

Holly

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures of Ronda, I didn't want to upload all my pictures to Madeline's computer. Also we're sitting outside of Starbucks using illegal wifi-I stole the code off a table :) 

I've officially been here for a month!

Sunday Breakfast

I decided to take a different approach to breakfast this morning. After wandering into all of my favorite cafes I decided that I didn’t want something sweet for a change. I ended up at the supermarket near my building (one of the only ones open on Sundays) and I got a “chapata” of bread and a melecoton (peach). It was only 66 cents for both, which is great considering how much a café breakfast can be. I took them to Parque de Principes which is where I’m currently sitting. It’s pretty amazing because in the shade it actually feels like fall! I’m not sure what it is but something about buying supermarket food makes me feel very much like a traveler and makes me excited for the adventures I have coming up!

This week felt pretty long in comparison to last week but I’m assuming that’s because last week was more like 2 mini weeks. My classes have been going well but I like my “regular” class about 200x more than my cursos concertados. The topics are interesting in those classes but the professors are all really monotone and they’re 2 hours instead of one. The atmosphere of my regular course is just so exciting and energetic and it makes me want to do well. The professor is great and sits down with me after every class and answers my questions. I’ve also really enjoyed reading the book that goes with the class. It was the first (and so far only) textbook I’ve bought, and it was only 38 euros! My professor was appalled when I told him that if would have been at least 100 dollars in the states. It’s surprisingly easy to read and understand. I think that in general it’s nice to take a break and study something new!

My life outside of school has been pretty crazy this week and I really enjoyed staying in and watching a movie last night. If you’re looking for a good comedy/adventure/wanderlust inspiring/and a lil bit of romance movie, I recommend you watch “Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. It was really good, though some popcorn and watching it on an actual TV would have made it great. I did manage to find some peanut M&Ms at a chino though. It was an “I’m exhausted and craving chocolate and a good movie” kind of night.

Very Hot Churros

Monday night was my friend Madeline’s birthday so we went out to the river to botellon and then to get her a drink at an Irish pub (per family tradition). It was really nice because I don’t normally go to botellons or hang out with very many of the people who were there. It was also cool to go to the Irish pub, I’ve never been to one before. I wonder how different it is from actual Irish pubs. Also they play American football games so that’s good to know as football season kicks into high gear at home.

Tuesday morning I went and got coffee with Giulia, the JYS program director, and Alejandra who was a teaching assistant at Sweet Briar my first year. It was so nice to sit down and chat with some Sweet Briar people! Tuesday night was my flamenco class. It’s exciting that the class get bigger every week. I’d be lying if I said that I thought I was improving, but it’s only been three weeks so that’s okay. It’s so hard to switch from a style of dance that is all about being “up” to one that is all about being “down”. Flamenco is very much like tap in that the focus is on movements heavily concentrated in your feet. You are stamping (“gople, arriba, tacon”) and creating the rhythm yourself whereas in styles like ballet and modern there is a more equal emphasis on the whole body. You use the whole body in flamenco and tap but weight is heavily concentrated in the feet, from what I’ve discovered so far.

Cordoba

On Wednesday after class I met up with Sara, a girl from Serbia that I met online at Couchsurfers.com. The have a section of the website where people can post their trips and you can message them to host them or just to talk. I found out that she was coming to Sevilla for half a year with “Erasmus” and decided to message her. We spent that afternoon going to look at student flats, which was really cool because it’s obviously something that I didn’t experience when I came here. It was a great opportunity to practice Spanish as well! It’s so interesting to find people who also have Spanish as their second (or third) language because without it, you wouldn’t be able to communicate at all! At the first flat we met this girl Linda from the Netherlands who was also looking at it. The landlord was nice as well and while the other two were looking around we talked about the trip he just took to Boston and New York (in English). After looking around at a few more flats I said goodbye to Sara and went to help Linda move into the place that she had decided on. It’s pretty big as far as student flats go, it is several stories and there are 16 people living there. It has a nice patio in the middle and a beautiful terrace on top. I will say that looking at all the flats made me a bit jealous. I love my host family and I love having food cooked for me, but I miss personal space…a lot. We met a few of the people that live there and they all seemed really nice. Afterward we went out to a café in Alemada that had 40 cent cañas and 1 euro sangrias. She’s super sweet and we had a really great conversation. She’s also from a small town so Sevilla is still a city to her, a lot of people complain about how small it is, so it was nice to talk to someone who feels the same way as I do. English is her second language and Spanish is her third and they’re both pretty much self-taught which I think is amazing. After finishing our drinks I made the trek back to Los Remedios. One of the things I love about going through El Centro at night is all the people on the streets playing music. One of these times I’m going to join in and dance, especially with the violinists. It will happen.

Cordoba

Thursday night was my first meeting with my intercambio. An “intercambio” is a person that you meet with casually (like over drinks) to practice speaking in different languages. The idea is that half the time you “help” them and the other half they “help” you. It’s also a great way to get to know new people. I was a bit nervous at first because even though we had emailed a bit, I didn’t really know who he was. But my worrying was all for nothing because he’s super cool. He’s done a lot of traveling, a lot of other intercambios, and he speaks/is learning five languages! All self-taught, except for Spanish of course. We went to go see a show put on by the cultural center at the university. It was a mix of flamenco and jazz music and it was amazing. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but it really spoke to my soul. I think that if that was the background music to life the world would be a much happier place. It was such an interesting mix of genres but now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. As I said before, flamenco and tap dance are similar in how they use the feet and they were influenced by flamenco and jazz music respectively. Hmmm, that’s interesting. They had a dancer for a few of the numbers and she was breath taking. Her lines were beautiful and it looked like she also had some training in modern. Absolutely stunning. Y’all should check them out- Ian Scitoni Trio! On Thursday in Sevilla is was “day of the Pianos” which is when they put a bunch of baby grand pianos all over the city for people to play as they wanted. I walked by one in El Centro on my way home from the show and the guy playing it was spectacular! Only in Sevilla!

Cordoba

Friday was interesting because it was my first Friday not having class (last week I was in Portugal). I got up and went to the gym and then out to breakfast, the pan tostada con mantequilla y mermelada was on point, not as good as peanut butter would have been, but still good. I did some journaling and some homework before lunch and then actually got to take advantage of my siesta! After siesta Madeline and I went and got churros and chocolate to celebrate being in Spain for a whole month! They were good, though not quite as good as the ones I had in Madrid when I came to Spain in high school. The cameraro (server) at the chocolateria was a bit weird though and I did not appreciate him. Sometimes, regardless of how un-American you try to be, you just can’t hide it. Unwanted attention is sort of a way of life here, even at 6 in the afternoon. We went around to a couple of stores and tried on some clothes. I was also looking for a carry on suitcase but couldn’t find one that I liked for a price that I liked, so that search will be ongoing.

Patio outside the artisan shop

Friday night I met up with a guy from Germany that I also met on Couchsurfing. After a sangria (way overpriced) at his hostel we went to a house party at my new friend Linda’s house (the one I was at on Wednesday). When we got there everyone was on the terrace and after ringing the bell a million times, they finally came down to let us in. Just as we were going in and angry neighbor came over saying that he was going to call the police if they didn’t quiet down. While I sort of understand, he was being ridiculous. It was 11:30 on a Friday night on one of the busiest nights is Sevilla (Noche en Blanco-all the monuments are open and free until 2am). Also, at 11:30 on a Friday night, half of Sevilla hasn’t even eaten dinner yet! The party was huge, there had to be at least 90 people there at its biggest point. Most of them were from Erasmus, though there were few Spaniards. I think I was the only American, which was kind of cool, though everyone thought I was from France or Belgium (two countries I really want to go to!). I met Jessica, a girl from Ireland and Ester, a girl from Spain who studies here in Sevilla. I mostly hung out with them which was cool because I got to practice my Spanish. We got hungry and went to get pizza in Alemada which was PACKED at 1am. It was also so weird to see the hop on hop off buses running so late. After we ate we went back to the party for a bit and then went to meet some of Ester’s friends at Las Setas. Jessica and one of her other friends headed home (to Nervion, which is very far) and I walked home with Ester and her friends (they live in Triana which is next to Los Remedios). It was nice to walk home, or at least most of the way, with someone. They were very sweet because they put up with my very tired Spanish! I always think that it’s funny when I introduce myself here because no one understands “Holly”. They always say “Oh, like Halle Berry!” and at first I’m like “Yes! Like holly berry” but then I realize they mean the actress and then I have to explain the plant which is not a thing here and then they look it up on their phone and the they understand. It’s a process that’s literally the same every time but it’s a great ice breaker! I think the problem is the “H”. It’s not pronounced in Spanish so when it is it’s hard to remember/understand. Regardless, it was a good night with some new friends!

I didn’t get to bed until after 3am, so waking up for our trip to Cordoba on Saturday was a bit rough. While we were there we had a tour of the mezquita/cathedral which honestly was amazing. In a nutshell, it was a mosque that was turned into a cathedral after the expulsion of the Muslims during the Reconquista. They kept most of the Arab architecture, which is stunning. I felt like I was in a whole different world. We also saw a synagogue and the Jewish quarter. After that we had free time, Madeline and I ate our bocadillas and then did some shopping. I will say that one of the hardest things I’ve ever done is not give food to a gypsy and her little girl. It was so hard but there are so many organizations to help people who need it here. Giving to people on the street just tells them that they can keep doing what they are doing and be fine. I’m not sure if not giving the little girl my fruit was right or not, but I’d have rather pointed them to an organization (that whole “teach a man to fish” thing) and they were not your typical beggars either. We went into the local artisan shop and I’m not sure what it was, but it was almost like an other-worldly experience. Something about knowing that everything was hand crafted by artisans right there in Cordoba and the beautiful music and the beautiful patio and just the general amazingness of all the crafts. I had to restrain myself from buying one of the clocks. I did get one gift though, but that’ll be remaining a surprise! We grabbed some gelato (not very good but I’m now biased) and hung out on the bridge that connects the “old” and “new” parts of town for a bit. I loved looking down at the river and the wildlife and my inner child really wanted me to go down and play in the sand and water. But alas, I restrained myself. I was glad to get home. We had the yummy Spanish version of mac and cheese (very much needed) and then I got into bed, put on the movie, and tried to tune out the rest of the world.

Organ inside the Cathedral

This week was a long one, with lots of things to do so I’m coming to appreciate my time to relax a lot more. I’m also working on making sure that I give myself some space, going to the gym, blogging in the park, etc. Hanging out with people is a blast but I’m still getting used to not having a place in the house where I can be alone. I feel like I should be used to this after camp but it’s hard. I have been very happy with my Spanish this week, I still don’t speak it as much as a should but I definitely think that I’m getting more comfortable with it.

What’s coming up? My internships should be starting soon and next weekend is a long weekend. My plan is to stay here but my host mother went hiking at this really pretty place in Cadiz yesterday and I think I might want to take a day trip out there!

I think that’s all folks! Time to leave the beautiful fall(ish) weather and go do some homework…I guess I actually am here to study J

First week of school!

First Day!

It’s Thursday night and I’m coming to you from my bed. I’m headed out on a trip this weekend so I figured that I’d do a recap of my first week of school for you before I head out! I’ll start off by saying that I’d call my first week of classes a success if not a roller coaster. There are several types of classes that are available for me to take: JYS seminars, cursos concertados, and regular university classes. I’m taking 3 cursos concertados, which are university classes taught by university professors specifically for students from the United States, and one regular university class, which is just that, a regular old university class. The regular class is very overwhelming, but the topic is interesting (“Modern” European History) and the professor is great. He gave me a breakdown of what exactly I need to read/do (for the rest of the students it’s just recommended reading) because it’s very difficult to keep up with him in class. I’m looking forward to the challenge, though I’m very anxious to get going with outlining everything for the coming week. Since I’m traveling though I’m going to have to wait until Monday to go to the library. Studious Holly does not like that and wants to start now. My other classes are good, they have interesting topics but it’s hard because they are all 2 hours. My regular class is only 1 and I’m used to 50 minute/1 hour 20 minute classes. It is nice that the cursos concertados are small though, it reminds me of SBC! (Also the fact that they are all either all or overwhelmingly female) My regular class has over 70 people and there aren’t enough seats for everyone so people have to sit on the floor. I try to sit in the front but on Tuesdays/Thursdays when I have another class right before and most of the seats are taken before I get there. Also, today there were significantly less people, but the professor said that was normal.

             

It’s really interesting being in such a big school (and I’m only in one building, each “department” has their own building). There’s 70,000 students total! The atmosphere is definitely different than Sweet Briar’s. It’s good to have a new experience, but I’m thankful for what I have at home! There’s no shortage of people watching and I do love being able to run to the cafeteria during the breaks in class and grab a café con leche para llevar (to go).

Note: It is now Monday morning. A recap of my trip will come soon!

             

Other things I did last week besides school: On Sunday I went to a “Festival of the Nations” that they had in Parque de Maria Luisa. It was like a big flea market. I mostly did window shopping but then ended up buying gelato and this elephant shirt. The guy who sold it was really nice and we had a pretty good conversation. He’s from Peru so we talked about that and how I wanted to go there at some point. He said I’d get there someday and I said I’d be sure to wear the elephant shirt! I love how sometimes it’s just so easy to have conversations in Spanish! I was also really proud when one day last week my host mom was telling us all a joke at lunch and I got it before her kids! One of the struggles with Spanish (or any second language) is not being able to joke or be sarcastic. It’s just difficult in general to have your personality show through. Oh, it was also hilarious when my host mom was showing us the church bulletin and there was two announcements from the same family within days of each other, one for a baptism and one for a wedding :) 

Okay, that’s all for this week, Portugal trip report coming soon!

It ain't all good baby but it's all right: Real life

In front of the cathedral of Sevilla

I’ve come to love Sundays in Seville, it’s kind of like camp! I’m back at Café de Indias this week, I was going to go to this place with waffles but the pastries was just calling me in. Cappuccino carmelo and a chocolate pastry, Sundays are for treating myself…I should actually uphold that though because I eat wayyy to much gelato during the week!

More than anything, this felt like my first week actually living in Seville. I still had that “honeymoon feeling” but things are becoming a bit more “real-life” than vacation. Now, what do I mean by that? Several things actually. For starters, I’m beginning to realize that some comforts of home I just can’t find here. For example, earlier this week I had the worst stomach ache, probably from eating something with too much egg. I wanted to go find some ginger ale to calm it down. I must have gone to 6 different stores and I couldn’t find one that had it. I settled for a 7-Up and pretended that it was the same. In reality I might have been successful at El Corte Ingles (a huge department store) but the closest one is over a half hour walk and it was like 10pm. I was also really craving an iced coffee from Dunkin one day and finally broke down and went to “Dunkin Coffee”, which is basically the Spanish version of DD. They had lots of good looking doughnuts but the iced coffee was one of the saddest iced coffees that I’ve ever had, complete with a bunch of caramel syrup sitting at the bottom. Not worth it. Finally, I haven’t been very successful in watching any of my TV shows, because Spain. Not to be totally negative-I did find an illegal version of the new Cinderella online and loved watching that, along with a recording of the GOP debate.  Also this week my host mother has made the Spanish versions of both grilled cheese and mac and cheese.

Cathedral in Cadiz

Another more “real-life” experience has been signing up for things. I signed up for flamenco classes at the start of last week and went to my first one on Tuesday. I loved it! There are only three of us in the class at the moment. It’s fun to take a class in something that is at the very beginning level. I think as a dancer I expect (and others expect) that because I have dance experience that I’ll pick things up faster, or be more rhythmic/flexible/not a real beginner. As a perfectionist, this expectation can literally ruin a new experience. It was a blast to do something where I wasn’t expected to be any good, and believe me…I wasn’t! It was also interesting because the whole class was given in Spanish (obviously). I was really proud of how much I understood. I also had a conversation with one of the other people in my class before, so that was exciting. I am missing ballet, but the studio that I’m taking flamenco at does not have ballet classes at a time that I can take them. I also joined a gym this week. Signing up for that was more of a struggle as far as language goes, but you win some you lose some. It’s always frustrating when people resort to their bad English because your Spanish is just that terrible. I’m excited for the gym though, I took a Zumba class on Friday which was great, and the energy was amazing. Oh also, I’ve discovered why people where make-up to the gym. It’s a whole other world from the gym at SBC! I’m going to restart my “Kayla” workouts (I took a break after camp ended) tomorrow and I’m also signing up for a 10k at the end of next month. This is super exciting because when I don’t have a workout schedule I tend to get stressed because I’m not active enough (working out is my “me time”). I’ve been on some runs but I like to have a routine. You know somewhere is becoming home when you make a workout schedule!

This week I’ve come to terms with what I want out of myself in a social aspect too. Since I’ve been here, I’ve felt as though I wasn’t “taking advantage” of my time if I didn’t go out every night-nightlife is big here if you didn’t know. Since that’s not the type of person I am at home, I spent several nights over the past few weeks sitting in my bed, exhausted and stressed that I was being “lame”. I do enjoy going out, but once or so a week is good for me. I realized that just because I’m in another country does not mean I need to totally change my socializing habits. I went on Friday and had a great time (woooo free sangria!) but was perfectly happy staying in last night and watching the ballet Carmen.

So what else, besides experiencing “real-life”? Well I start classes tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED. [I just flipped through my journal and pretty much every day this week I’ve written about how excited I am to start school] I have been in love with school since I was five and this has been the longest summer of my life. I don’t care how nerdy it sounds; I’m pumped for class tomorrow. Speaking of which, I need to go buy some notebooks today.

Museum in Cadiz

Earlier this week one of the students that my host family hosted 6 years ago came to visit. It was so cool to meet her and see how much the family loved her. She’s done some pretty awesome things too. I hope when I come back to visit they’ll be just as excited to see me!

Friday was sort of a convocation at the University. All of the American students, from all the various programs met to listen to information about the different services and stuff that US (U of Seville, confusing I know) has to offer. It was a bit frustrating because everything was translated into English. Many of the other programs don’t have as high of a Spanish requirement as we do. It was cool to see the people who would be in my classes though. We got some cafe and pastries after and a chance to walk around the university and look for our classrooms. Afterward, Chris (the other year student) and I had to go to the police to apply for our TIE (Tarjeta de identidad de extranjero) cards. We were coached the day before by María in exactly what we needed to do, and the student assistant Sydney was taking us there so I wasn’t really worried. We got to the police in the Plaza de España and we got our appointment to get fingerprinted (because having to get it done in the states is obviously not enough). Easy-peasy. Then we just had to go to the bank and pay the 15 or so euros and get a stamp on the paper. This was so much easier than driving 11 hours to get my visa! Jokes. We went to the bank that we were supposed to (without Sydney), and after waiting first for a truck that was backing into the bank (only in Sevilla) and then waiting in line, we were told we needed to fill out the paperwork first (we were originally told that the bank would tell us how to do it/what we needed to put). So after doing that we waited in line again only to be told that since we only had a passport and not an NIF or other identification, they couldn’t process it-even though the paperwork was to apply for another form of identification! We went to another bank down the street and luckily they were able to do exactly what we needed, but the whole experience was very frustrating and that was exacerbated by the heat and the fact that I was wearing boots and pants. But we got it done, and so as they say in Spain “no pasa nada”. We’ll see how fingerprinting goes in November!

Cadiz (with an authentic fisherman)

On Saturday (yesterday) we took a trip to Cadiz. In the past this has been a weekend trip, but for some reason it was just a day trip this year. It was exciting to travel out of Sevilla for the first time, and I was actually excited to sit on a bus (after walking so much it’s nice to be able to sit and watch the scenery). Cadiz is only like an hour and a half away but it was cool to see the landscape-I was surprised how arid it is though. I can’t wait to go up to northern Spain and see some green! We did a walking tour and my favorite part was the museum, for two reasons. The first is that they had this really great collection of maps of the city from back in the day and the second is that they have a full, to scale model of the city (also from back in the day). It was pretty amazing. After the tour we went to the beach and I ate my bocadilla. I didn’t go swimming but Madeline and I waded in the water. It was a cute little beach and so relaxing. I love the ocean, I can’t imagine not living near it. We went to go find a snack (gelato) and ended up at this cute little French pastry shop (mostly because everything was closed for siesta). It was yummy, I got my usual mint chocolate chip gelato (I really need to cut back, this is where all my money is going). One of the most exciting parts of the day was when we were talking in Spanish trying to figure out where the beach was and this lady across the street overheard us and gave us directions, in Spanish! This is a big deal because 1. She understood what we were saying and 2. Figured that we could understand what she was going to tell us. It’s the little things. The trip also made me very excited to start traveling on the weekends!

French Heladeria in Cadiz

Some difficult things this week: in a few conversations I’ve had with fellow JYS students I’ve just started to realize that I will indeed be missing an entire year of college. I’m not normally one to suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out), but explaining traditions like Junior Week has been rough. I miss SBC! Note: I should be writing a “Why you need to go to Sweet Briar” post soon, since it is application season! Also I’ve been very self-conscious about being blonde this week, especially when we went to the Spanish club on Friday. While it was a lot of fun and the music was 100x better than the other clubs I’ve been too I felt like I was sticking out a lot. I’m sure most of it is in my head, but some most definitely is real.

I’ve also been thinking about what I want to do with my life after college because a lot of the other students are starting to apply for summer internships already. I’ve got nothing. My current game plan is to apply to a bunch of different things and see where I get accepted. Not very concrete but I’m kind of hoping for an epiphany or something. I’m working on setting up some internships/volunteer work here, so maybe that will point me in a direction? Let’s be honest, I’d be happy dropping everything to stay here (or go anywhere) and teach children ballet for the rest of my life.

I start my traveling this weekend! I might write a blog post before I leave and then a separate one for the trip. We’ll see how the week goes though, but hopefully I have a lot to write about! Recommendations on music? I’m about to spend a long time sitting on a bus!

To end: I love seeing t-shirts written in English. So far I’ve seen things like “T-shirt” and “Friday made me do it” (of course I can’t think of any others right now) but hands down my favorite has been a 40 or so year old woman with one that said “Let’s make out!”

I think that’s everything, talk to y’all soon!!

Love and lollies,

Holly

PS: Mom and Dad-did I write enough “new stuff” for you?

The woman who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd: or don't be afraid to do things by yourself

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t looking forward to blogging all week. Even though I journal every day, it’s more fun to blog because I’m telling a story to other people as opposed to recording it just for myself. I like the opportunity for my inner author to come out-did I ever tell you that I want to write a book? Before we get to chapter 2, I just wanted to let you know that 1. I’ve started to put pictures up on Facebook and 2. I have a Spanish blog as well; it’s less stories and more my thoughts on various things. You can check that out at https://nopasanadablog.wordpress.com/.

Without further ado, here’s chapter 2!

Let me set the scene: it’s colder this morning so I’m eating inside at Granier on calle Asuncion. I have a plain old cafe con leche and a caña de chocolate. They’re warm and yummy. I managed to order everything and answer questions without faltering in my Spanish. My laptop battery is half dead so I need to focus.

Off to the market! (thanks Asian tourists!)

Last week after I finished blogging and had lunch, I went on an adventure to Alameda de Hercules. A few of the girls who live in the neighborhood next to me went to a “medieval market” with their host family that morning and told me that it was cool, so I decided to check it out. Now I’m just going to assume that you know nothing about the geography of Sevilla and tell you that it’s at least 2 miles from my house. Of course, I didn’t pay attention to that as I put on my sandals and didn’t grab my water bottle. After trekking across town, I found it. It was so cool! There were a bunch of vendors, everything from meat and cheese and jewelry to cool themed stalls where you could drink tea in an Arabian style tent or try your hand at making pottery. I spent a bit of time watching kids try and make bowls on the pottery wheel before a gelato stand caught my eye. Now it could have been the heat (85 degrees) that attracted me or it could have been the fact that they made their cones by hand right there. I watched for a minute before deciding that some chocolate gelato would be the most amazing thing ever. As I was about to order a huge family beat me to it. I spent probably 20 minutes waiting (since they had to make the cones and wait until they cooled down) but in reality the family was adorable and I’m now an expert in the ancient art of cone making. When I finally did get it, it was nice and cold but I regretted my decision immediately for two reasons. The first was that gelato does not quench your thirst and the second was that I walked by a sangria vendor. I know I could have easily gotten something to drink, but let’s be honest I’m too cheap for that. After walking around a bit I decided to start heading in the general direction of home, but taking the back (shady) roads. I ran into a woman from California who was looking for a museum and tried to help her (using the “maps.me” app-LIFESAVER). We weren’t successful so I continued on my way and after walking past Nuestra Señora de Buenos Libros (my new favorite Virgin) I found myself in the plaza of the museum we had been looking for. I was sad that I wasn’t able to help the lady find it, but then SURPRISE, 5 minutes later she walked right into the same plaza. Unfortunately it was closed, but we had a nice conversation anyway.

Cone maker

On Monday we started orientation classes, they’re interesting but I’m just really excited to start regular classes. I’m going to be taking (at the moment) three “cursos concertados” which are for American students but taught by the university professors and one “curso regular” meaning a regular university class. I’m a bit nervous for it but my host mother says that I’ll be fine. I’m also excited because I think that it’s a good way to get a more authentic Spanish experience and meet Spanish people. Also go big or go home, right? On Monday I went on my first run-lol why is sunset so amazing?

I might be slightly obsessed with religious art, it's amazing

Tuesday was easily the most exciting day of the week. Well. Tuesday night was easily the most exciting night of the week, though it didn’t start off that way. I was having a pretty rough afternoon (a mix of various things, mostly stemming from being hot and tired). I went on a run at Plaza de España before dinner, which helped. After we ate I was moping around in my room while my roommate got ready and went out (every night is a goodnight to go out here). I was going to try and go to bed early but then like five minutes after my roommate left I had an overwhelming sense of 1. You’re in Spain, get out of bed and 2. I want sangria.  Well I couldn’t contact anyone because at that point I didn’t have my Spanish phone yet and people who were out were not going to have wi-fi (wee-fee). So I decided to go on an adventure. Without thinking too much, I got dressed and walked out the door, no turning back now! I remembered that there was a bar on calle Betis that had free flamenco on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I headed out to find it. I finally got there, only to find a nearly empty bar. After reading the menu and debating for a couple of minutes I went in and sat at the bar (as opposed to outside). I immediately ordered a sangria (which was amazing) and looked around the bar. It was covered with Flamenco themed things and postcards from around the world. After sitting there awkwardly for like ten minutes I asked the bartender about the flamenco, which he said would start back up in two weeks. Another 5 minutes of silence later I asked about the best places to find “flamenco puro” (not touristy) in the city, and so started an hour long conversation about a million things-all in Spanish of course. I learned a lot about Seville and the bar, but also that he and his wife and his daughter (who is currently in India) are all vegetarians! I even got invited to come eat with them at some point! So after a great conversation and a shot of Miura, a Sevillan made liquor, I headed out. I have literally never been so proud of myself. I got about halfway home before I saw these two guys and this one girl sitting on the side of Plaza de Cuba. I walked by slowly and heard them speaking English. Since I always air on the side of skepticism I decided to see what they were up to, because the girl was clearly intoxicated. I found out that the guys were trying to help her find this party she was going to. Her friend ran over a few minutes later saying that she had found the party (it was an erasmus party, for foreign students in Seville) and they all insisted that I come along. The night was still young and the party was literally right there by the river, so I agreed. After about an hour of talking to some very cool people, it was time to go home. [If you’re reading this-I hope y’all got back to Ireland okay and thanks for a great night!] I learned many things that night: that I CAN go socialize and make friends by myself, my Spanish is not actually that bad, but most importantly that there’s a whole world out there, all you have to do is go. Go and something beautiful will happen. Go and something terrible will happen. Just go.

Roman Ruins

Wednesday morning was a struggle. Luckily, instead of class we got to go see the Roman ruins of Itálica. Itálica was the first great city outside of Italy, it was pretty amazing to see, though it is still hard to wrap my head around the fact that the Romans just casually set up this huge city so far away from the center of their empire. In other academic/culturally related news, I went on a paseo (walk) of Triana, one of the neighborhoods, which was really cool as well as one of baroque Seville, which I already knew a bunch about (thanks Mark). I also had a taller de flamenco which was amazing. I need to sign up for regular classes today or tomorrow.  On Friday (yesterday) we went to go visit the Alcazar, which was amazing, but I had seen it when I came to Spain in high school. My favorite part was something I hadn’t seen before, a huge map of Southern Spain and Northern Africa. It was so cool though because it was upside-down. It is just so interesting to me that they had that perspective. I mean, why should maps be the way they are? The earth is a circle, who’s to say what’s the top and what’s the bottom?

Map in question

Trips. Just to give you a mini update on that part of my life, I thus far have three trips planned for this semester as well as The Big Adventure. If you’ve talked to me recently you probably know all about them. If not, I’ll give you a few hints.

Trip 1: It feels like we’re going south, but we’re not

Trip 2: Cat boat and coffee shops

Trip 3: Return to the homeland (kind of)

I also realized that my birthday is over a long weekend and I think it would be amazing to go to Paris. I’m still trying to see if I can swing it budget-wise, but the thought of Paris in December is just too amazing to pass up-Christmas markets, ice skating, going to the ballet (not the Nutcracker though, because POB is too good for that). I mean what else could a girl want for her 21^st birthday? (hinthintwinkwink mom and dad).

The Big Adventure: I’m going to start booking flights/accommodation for this today/tomorrow. It’s a bit intimidating to plan for a month long trip, but better to do it now when I’m not super busy. My itinerary? Some time visiting camp friends in the UK and then heading off the central/eastern Europe for three weeks! I’ll keep y’all updated on that one!

Mosaic work from the ruins

Some final observations: I have found that if I sake a siesta, I can’t sleep at night, which makes me tired/angry/frustrated, which makes it even harder to sleep. So no more siesta for me. I have to force myself to talk in Spanish to my American friends, it’s so easy to speak in English the whole time. When I spend time reading in English and then someone speaks to me in Spanish, I get caught really off guard, so I should probably just eliminate all English from my life. I love my señora’s cooking, everything is literally amazing but I think my favorite is berenjenas fritas con miel, fried eggplant and honey. ¿Efectiva? = cash or credit? It’s interesting to keep up with Spanish news and not US news (note I’m being PC and not saying American), it’s what’s on TV and all my news sites since my laptop realized that it is in Spain now. Public bathrooms aren’t real, even at McDonalds you have to buy something first. People dress so nice here and the stores are amazing, I want to buy everything.

At the Alcazar

Sometimes it’s difficult: I don’t want you to think that my life here (the whole 1 week) has been perfect. My beautiful friends at home can attest to that. I have gotten extremely frustrated with things here and at times have been absolutely miserable. That’s the thing, there’s no such thing as “perfect” (as I have slowly been learning the last few years) and sometimes things just suck. You get over it though. Ups and downs are part of life anywhere; they just seem to be amplified the further you are from home. There’s no point in me complaining about what makes me unhappy because luckily for me, the ups overtake the downs. Moving to the other side of the world hasn’t been easy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love it.

I’ll end with a funny story: My roommate and I were going to meet people on Thursday night and there was this guy sitting on the steps of Puente (bridge) de Triana wearing a Tom Brady jersey. Since it was game night, we asked if he was from Boston/a Patriots fan. He looked at us like we had three heads. I won’t lie, I was pretty disappointed!

Well, I’d love to keep going, but this is a novel as it is so I guess I’ll leave you here. I can’t wait to share my next adventures with you! ¡Hasta Luego!

PS: feel free to let me know how I’m doing/if you're actually reading this/what you want to see more of!