Spain on Strike!

Welcome to Calle Bailen #62! I decided instead of adorning the blog with pictures I'd add shaky videos taken from my bicycle so you can see a little bit of Sevilla! This first one ends at the door of my apartment! Yesterday (9/29/10) Spain was on strike! Basically the people here are very upset with the government and the pay cuts that the government implemented. Spain has a 20% unemployment rate...so people are PISSED. While everyone in Spain was mad about the strike, I was actually thrilled. Not about the unemployment, pay cuts, etc.... but yesterday all classes at the University were CANCELLED!! So after my 9:00 AM Flamenco class I was free for the day! Although there wasn't too much to do seeing as most things were closed. Last night we tried to go back to the Carboneria... but it was closed because of the strike. Que lastimita. But it was a nice day full of relaxing and I got the chance to get some stuff done.

Yesterday, I switched around my classes a bit because I wasn't too thrilled about two of them. I dropped Inter-American relations and added a class that my friend Kesley told me about called "The Image of the United States in Spain: 100 Years of Myths and Stereotypes." Seems like it's gonna be so interesting. We look at Spain's image of the US and vice-versa...myths...stereotypes...just like the class sounds. I had my first day of that class today and I'm very excited about it. PLUS, unlike my other class, I can understand the teacher! I think I'm gonna love the Flamenco class. Despite the teacher coming dressed as "Aladdin" as Allison so lovingly put it, it seems like the class is right up my ally. Its a lot about studying the history of the art form but it looks at it through melodic themes, rhythms, and dance movements. I get the chance to be artistic and relate things that I'm learning at Elon to my experience in the Flamenco class. Speaking of being artistic... it's been hard to be away from performing especially knowing that everyone at Elon is dancing, singing, and acting their hearts out. I keep reminding myself what Brenna and Richard have told me...and that anything that you do for yourself as a person will be wonderful for you as an artist. Even so, I get my fill with this class, ballet, and Chema (my Cello playing suite mate) talking to me about Bernstein and showing me his cool videos. Check this one out.... it's long but watch it the whole way through if you have time. It's really interesting and has a beautiful message.

But then there are times, when I think, THIS IS MY LIFE. Like today, for example, I only had one class which started at 11:00 AM and ended at 12:40 PM. Since we don't have classes on Fridays I was done with class for the week! So naturally Quin and I took advantage of this glorious opportunity and beautiful day. We went back to the hotel that we had our program orientation at, walked in like we were guests, took the elevator up to the roof, and suntanned on the roof and hung out by the hotel pool for a couple of hourse. (Video below) It was a perfect way to start the weekend after our first week of real classes. Right before we went to the pool Paige, Quin and I booked our trip to Barcelona for the weekend of the 14th-17th. I was gonna try to visit Charlie in Scotland that weekend but it didn't work out time-wise and prices shot up. Sorry Sir Charles...But I'm really excited to visit Barcelona! I hear its amazing.

On Saturday morning we leave for a weekend trip to Granada...I'll blog about more about that Sunday when I get back. I'm very excited for the coming weeks! Trips to Granada, Barcelona, Madrid with Mom, Julie and Mimi, Morocco, Italy, Paris and I'm attempting to add a ski trip in between!

Tomorrow we have our first interest group excursion! I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but a couple of weeks ago we all picked interest groups through CIEE. Each interest group has a different theme such as sports of Spain, the countries that border Spain, art and culture of Sevilla...etc. Given my love for food and given my detest for the food at the Resedencia I chose the "Grupo de Interés de Gastronomía." Tomorrow we go to a cooking school, the following mini-trip is to the mountains to pick and cook mushrooms, then a cooking class, a beer factory (one of the largest in Europe), then to Valencia! I hope to become a top Sevillan chef and make Paella and food back at school that Leela wont complain about and to extend my repertoire beyond Chicken Parmesan! Here's to hoping!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Pasta Realization. AKA Spagettization

When people used to ask me if I've lived in CT all your life, I always used to love saying... Well I've lived in PA for almost over a year now. I would count the weeks I used to go to camp and add them up. Dorky little Adam. But I did the same thing with school. It was always weird to me thinking that I was living somewhere else besides home. Besides Westport. Now Leela makes fun of me for how much I love Westport but that's besides the point. I guess what I'm trying to say is that last night I had a "holy shit, I'm living in Spain!" kind of moment... Every Sunday night we don't have food in the Resedencia so we are responsible for getting our own dinner. The past couple of weeks we have been going out and enjoying the fact that we don't have to eat the resedencia food (tonight wasn't bad though...) Last week we went to Don Kebab which has become my staple safe haven should the residencia food suck eggs. Anyway, this week Sarah had the idea to come here with Allison and the three of us plus David would make pasta. So we they went to the store and bought pasta, sauce, and cheese and the four of us crammed into our kitchen and cooked pasta which ended up being really good. I was making dinner for myself in another country. I felt grown up. Making tortellini. And warming up pasta sauce. Don't judge me.

Anyway... Saturday morning I had my final exam for the intensive language session. Thought it went pretty well! I did well on the midterm and papers, so I'm not too worried. But it really was a huge help. I wish that I had been able to take a Spanish class at Elon before coming to Spain, I had all these "ohh yeah..." moments where I would remember some grammar thing or vocab word. I had forgotten a lot of what I learned in high school. But I guess that's what happens when you don't practice for two years! I love the ability to talk and converse in another language and it's getting so much easier.

After the exam and on Sunday too I went to the big park in the city for the Festival de las Naciones. I believe it starts in the Spring and ends the 1st of November but it is like a street fair in the park and they have all these booths were you can buy things from different countries. Really cool to walk around and see all of the different stands and shops. BUT my favorite part was that there's a food section to the Festival. There are different mini restaurant stands set up where you can try things from all around the world. I had a hot dog from Germany with the most amazing kraut ever and then tried a bite of Scott's Kangaroo sandwich from the Australia stand then got tried a bite of Paige's crepe from the French stand, had a chip with salsa from the Mexico stand ;), decided to pass on the Frog's Legs from the Japan stand, and was in heaven. They also have these mini shows where there's dancing and presentations of the different countries. On Saturday it was Brazilian dancing... lots of bumping and grinding and shaking hahaha. But all in all, such a fun place to walk around!

Today we started our regular session classes! I started the day off at 9:00 AM (little early if you ask me...but 11:00 AM is early too so don't bother asking me..) with Flamenco! Seems like its gonna be a great class and right up my ally. It's a lot about musical interpretation and styles and I think I'm gonna really enjoy it. After Flamenco I had Inter-American Relations...should be interesting, but the professor was a little all over the place. It's hard enough to understand a teacher who's jumping around from date to date, century to century when speaking in English! Imagine that feeling but in Spanish! Ay ay ay.... Later that afternoon I had Contemporary Spanish Theatre. Today was just really an introduction to the history of Spanish theatre in the last century so I can't really get a gauge on the class but I'm excited to read the plays and get started! I only have once class tomorrow at 1:00 PM which is a perfect time for me :)

After class we all met up at the Plaza de Espana and we walked around and I saw, once again, how beautiful it is. Last time I went I didn't really get to observe it and take it all in but it was built for the world expo and the building itself is supposed to be a representation, well more like an effort, to bring together the provinces and areas of Spain. Click here for some more pics! I was a little overwhelmed after my last class today... It was just a long day and Spanish being thrown at me from all angles, so it was nice to take a break a walk around.

 OH! Guess what?? I met Chema! Who's Chema you ask?...The cello playing mystery apartment-mate! He is such a cool guy. He practically doesn't speak any English but today we had a long discussion about music. I asked him what was his favorite type of to play on the Cello and he said romantic and symphonic works. I asked what's his favorite/what is he working on now.... WEST SIDE STORY! He loves the works of Leonard Bernstein and he said that he'd play Maria on the Cello for me with one of his buddies and I'll sing along. He attends a music conservatory in SevillaOh, check out this video Chema showed me! Que guay!

We've become pretty good friends with our guides from orientation. They're about our age and from Sevilla and whenever we're with them we speak spanish spanish spanish so we love hanging out with them. Not to mention they're such fun people. I was talking to Carolina, one of the guides, online today about feeling a little overwhelmed. While you're here you have to think in a completely different way and I'm far away from everything I knew/established before, starting over completely, in a different language! But you know what? I'm loving it. And Carolina reminded me to "seize the day" and take advantage of this incredible opportunity. She also said she'd come over to cook me a Spanish meal so I don't have to eat the residencia food!! Carpe diem, baby!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Flamenco Fiend

This has been a very busy week. So PLEASE forgive me for not posting sooner. This week has been full of grammar grammar grammar and so today I have the day off to do what? ...Study Grammar! AHHH!! Anyway... this morning I had to wake up early in order to go to the University of Seville (picture on left) for an orientation. At CIEE we have the option to take "Cursos Para Extranjeros" which are courses for foreigners at the University of Seville. They are in Spanish and similar to CIEE courses but they are taught at the University by their faculty and it is a mix of students from many different programs. Starting Monday I'm taking two "Cursos Para Extranjeros" and two CIEE courses. At the University I'm taking "Inter-American Relations" which looks at United States politics from a Spaniard point of view and "Contemporary Spanish Theatre." I've heard the theatre here is a little odd, but I'm looking forward to having some performing arts classes while I'm here... PLUS it fulfills my Elon literature requirement!

At CIEE I'm taking "Creation of the European Union" and "Flamenco: The Art, Music and Dance of Andalucia." Speaking of flamenco... Last night was so much fun. Paige, Scott, Quin and I went to "La Carboneria." Emily had told me about this place and so had a friend of Paige. We wanted to do something different. Let me tell you, if you were not looking for this place you would never find it (picture on right). It's a little hole in the wall type place but once you walk inside there is a man sitting at a piano, a man singing and someone else playing the guitar and people just hanging out listening to free music. There were maybe ten people there. (I got there first to try to get a table because I heard that it usually gets packed.) I thought, "crowded my ass!" Well, some people walked past me and went into the next room and I saw what they meant! It opens up into a big bar with people hanging out, sitting, talking, and rows and rows of tables. It was packed!! Ok, so the deal with this place is that everyone comes here to see free flamenco. There is a little stage with four chairs and at 11:00 the flamenco starts.

Well, my friends got lost on the way and they didn't live close to the "bar" so I went and got a table. At the table next to me were 3 girls and 1 guy. They looked to be around my age and so I started talking to them about where they were from...what they were doing here...etc, etc. Well they were from Holland! Three just graduated high school and one just graduated college and were here through a language immersion program. They didn't speak a word of Spanish before they came here... I thought I had it rough. But their English was perfect and they said everyone in Holland speaks English. They were so friendly and must have thought for 45 minutes that I was some poor sap whose friend's had ditched him! But eventually they showed up and my new friends from Holland yelled at them for making me wait! The flamenco was so cool. It was a much different atmosphere than the previous show I had seen. It was much more laid back. Also, the performers at La Carboneria don't get paid! They come here to just do their thing and show off their talents. Flamenco certainly is an acquired taste, but I think I'm starting to get the passion and feel of it. Here's a video that I took with my phone so you can get the idea...

On a different note... I booked my trip to Morocco!! I can't wait to go and our trip sounds like its gonna be unreal, so I'll blog about that in a couple of weeks! Next weekend I'm off to Granada! OH! Our apartment is now full! Manuel moved in a couple of days ago. He's from Cádiz....you know, the beach where I went last weekend and seems like a really cool guy. Its very funny though. David and I will be doing our homework and Manuel will just come in the room and sit on one of our beds and just talk. The Spaniards are so eager to meet people. Manuel speaks Spanish...duh... but he prefers to speak English so he can practice, but we're attempting to talk to him in Spanish as much as we can. He helped me with my paper today so I'm glad he's around :) Our other apartment mate is a mystery. David met him once when he first moved in but I was in class. Since then he has not seen him once... I have yet to meet this mysterious, cello playing, Spaniard but David said he seemed really nice and ONLY spoke Spanish! We might need Manuel to translate if we ever can't figure out what he's saying or what we're trying to say...that is if I ever meet him!

I'm trying to think if there's anything else I should blog about... this is why I need to blog more often! Well I guess if there's anything else I can think of I'll post about it next time. I'm very excited for the regular University session to start! I have my grammar final tomorrow...I was studying yesterday in one of the many courtyards of the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is now my favorite place to do work. It is so quiet, beautiful and it has WIFI! In Sevilla they pronounce it "Wee-fee." It took me a while to figure out what the hell they were saying. We might go back to Cádiz or a different beach on Sunday...or maybe a vineyard. Sometimes I'll be walking down the street looking around or trying to make plans for some trip and think: Literally, my life is not real. I'm so f'n lucky!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Torro Torro!

Lets just say that Julie Kaplan would be very disappointed in my adventure to The Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza yesterday. After a peaceful and beautiful day in Cádiz, I decided that I would partake in one of Sevilla's most historic and culturally famous events...attending a bullfight. I was a little wary about going after hearing that a bull nearly ran into the crowd at the last fight. So I made sure, as Britney Caughell warned, not to sit in the first five rows. I had heard mixed reviews about attending a bullfight as some people in Spain think that it should actually be abolished. But I figured, hey, I'm here for three months I should try to experience as much of the culture as I should. Right?

WRONG. Well...to be fair, the opening ceremonies or what have you were very beautiful and elegant. With horses adorned in costumes and various mini parades, the matadors processed around the ring. The arena itself is very cool too. It is quintessential Spain and you really do get a full cultural experience from buying the ticket to the vendors before you enter the arena. You almost feel like you're in a movie sitting there because who in their right mind actually attends a bullfight!? As the bullfight begins, the main matador gets on his knees and prepares to face the bull as it comes charging at him... crazy. The first part is kind of cool where he's doing what you see in movies and videos where he "dodges" the bull which is called torero using the purple and yellow cape. I can see that it requires skill and such to be able to do that, so then just leave it at that! Or train the bull to do tricks! Don't do the other two sections... I'm not going to explain them because I simply don't want to recap them.. but if you're interested in learning about the rest you can click here to read up a bit. Kelsey said a Spaniard explained to her "bulls are one of the only animals that are given the opportunity to challenge his killer." True, BUT to me it was very gruesome and sad.

While I can't say that I enjoyed myself at the bullfight, I'm glad I went because even if people told me about it I wouldn't have gotten then full effect. It truly was a cultural experience and if I were back at Elon I'm sure I could have used that as a Cultural Event for a general ed class :). On a lighter and brighter note... I am now the proud owner...well renter... of a Sevici bicycle! Sevici is a bike rental system in Seville that follows the same model as many others around Europe. But basically there are many Sevici stations around the city and for a certain fee per week (or you can buy a yearly pass) you can rent a bike. You insert your card at the paystation and you select which bike you want and you go from station to station renting bikes. You can return/take a bike at any station around the city and you pay 1 euro per/hour (plus the weekly fee) in order to ride the bike. BUT if you use the bike for under 30 minutes you don't have to pay the 1 euro! So basically if you're gonna be riding for more than 30 minutes, change your bike at a different station before 30 minutes and you ride for free. Just keep switching out your bike! There's a Sevici station right by my street, by the CIEE study center and at the University! They're all over! So I'm all set!

L'chaim to not being the bull in the ring, to riding bikes for 29 minutes and to cultural experiences in Spain!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

If you want to see some more pics from the bullfight as well as other "shots of Sevilla" click HERE!

Cádiz

Hola from Cádiz!! Well actually I'm back in Sevilla....but pretend that we're in Cádiz! With CIEE (the program I'm in) we have some planned trips that are inculded in our tuition. They're not required but why not go? They're free! ....in a way! Actually it was a bit of a struggle getting up this morning to walk to the University to catch the bus. I think for the first time David, my roommate, learned what my parents have known all my life...that I am NOT a morning person. I need my sleep. I like my sleep. So when I don't get enough sleep, Adam is cranky. Cause I'm never cranky at any other time of day, right? ...right!

Anyway, Cádiz is located on the South Eastern coast of Spain. It is a peninsula and it is one of Spain's major ports. A lot of Cruises come through Cádiz and its incredibly beautiful. It is one of Spain's oldest cities and is the only Spanish city or area to never have been under French rule. San Juan, Puerto Rico, is modeled after the city and the beach that I went to today is the beach where "Die Another Day" was filmed! You know...when Halle Berry comes out of the water? It's supposed to be in Cuba... but it's actually in Cadiz! Here's a clip for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

What was so cool to me about Cádiz, besides the architecture, the weather and the beach was that I was on the other side of the Atlantic swimming in the ocean! Also I was so close to Africa! Geeky? Yes. Exciting? YES. So before we went to the beach and had some free time we took a mini tour of the city with CIEE. The actual architecture at first reminded me a lot of Sevilla but it much more colorful. My favorite part of the tour was climing to the top of the cathedral where you had a 360 degree view of the city. You could see all around the peninsula and the view was perfect. The top was a bit crowded so it was kinda hard to take pictures at times, but it was definitely worth the hike to the top.

After the tour we had about four hours of free time to walk around the city or go to the beach. Like most of the other students, we went to the beach. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. After our midterm yesterday and weeks of adjusting to anything and everything Spanish, floating in the ocean, swimming, and lying on the beach was perfect. After swimming for a bit a couple of us decided that we wanted to walk along the wall and path to the Castillo de San Sebastian which is a fortress protruding from the beach. The walk to the castle looks like a mini mini mini Great Wall of China. Not really. But kinda. Anyway, along the wall there are these steps down into the water where it's really shallow and there are these mini coves where you can stand in and swim. It felt very like Pirates of the Caribbean. Except it looks like the Great Wall of China. In Spain. In the Atlantic. Got it?

Jumping off the "Great Wall"

On the walk back to the beach we saw these two Spanish guys jumping off the "Great Wall of China" into the water from pretty high up. It looked really cool! But really scary too. Long story short...after much contemplating, myself and a couple of others decided to try it. It was so much fun. When you're looking down and about to jump you're scared shitless, but I just jumped and besides a litte water up my nose I was fine! After that we hung out a the beach a little more...I fell asleep... got a little sunburn...and then got back on the bus to Sevilla. We were all exhausted but decided that when we have a free day we want to come back. It's only an hour-ish away and its so beautiful. Made me excited to go to Lagos but as I was walking back to my apartment from the University today I realized how incredibly fortunate I am to be having these experiences and to be living in such a beautiful city.

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

P.s. if you wanna see pics of Cádiz click HERE!

¡Mucho tiempo sin hablar!

CIEE Study Center (Where I take cl

Hola! Mucho tiempo sin hablar....which essentially means, long time no speak! I made a goal to try to write four blog posts per week, but I'm not keeping up with my end of the bargain! The past couple of days have been really busy and I'm STILL getting adjusted to the Spanish schedule, so please forgive me. Anyway... We started classes on Monday! We have a two week intensive language session for three hours a day (Monday through Friday). During our regular class session classes are only Monday through Thursday which gives us an extra day to travel! Vale, but this class is kicking my butt into Spanish shape. That sounds wrong. It is exactly how it sounds though, a two week intensive grammar class. Its very weird. I sit in class and I understand everything that the teacher is saying. I nod and smile and can comprehend literally everything she says. Yet when she calls on me to give her an example or if I have a question I feel once again like I'm in third grade! Puedo entender mas que puedo hablar! Ay ay ay. Somehow it's all so intimidating. This has gotten better throughout the week though and I'm able to form coherent sentences in class haha. Out of class I'm totally fine! I don't know why I was so intimidated!

The workload for this class isn't too bad, its just the three hours of straight Spanish grammar that's a little bit of a killer. But I really enjoy the assignments. On Tuesday morning a girl from my class and I went to do one of our assignments. We had to go through the Museo de Bellas Artes on what was essentially a scavenger hunt and answer multiple choice questions about the artwork. After we answered the questions we had to write a short response, in Spanish of course, about our experience and what we thought of the museum. Hey, for a homework assignment I had to go and look at art. I'm not complaining at all. One of my favorite paintings was actually one that we were assigned to answer questions about. It's called "Las Cigarreras" and it is a painting of the old tobacco factory in Seville. This building is actually now the University of Seville where I'll be taking two classes...more about that later.

The other night I we went out by the river to celebrate Kelsey's birthday and also went to a botellon, which I think I talked about in a previous blog, but here's a picture to give you an idea of what it's like... For another one of my assignments I had to interview 4 students from the University of Seville and ask them questions about the differences between U.S. universities and those in Spain. At the University of Seville most majors or specializations are all 5 year programs. They come out of the university with a very specific idea of what they want to do. From day one at the university they have to choose their academic path and major. There are no mish moshed messed up students like me in Seville with a major in Music Theatre and a double minor in Spanish and Political Science. They have a set course. Also, most student commute from home and live in Seville or pueblos (villages) very close to the University. The thing that was most astounding to me was that tuition is only 700 Euro. That's about $910 per year! Sorry mom and dad...

Oh, the other night I was walking home from meeting some friends across the river and stumbled upon "Duffin Dagles" which yes, looks surprisingly like Dunkin' Donuts. However, I asked around and its apparently not....because they have Dunkin' Donuts in Spain! This is a competitor trying to trick unsuspecting donut and coffee lovers! Check out their website...everything is essentially the same thing as Dunkin' Donuts! http://www.duffindagels.es/  Anyway, I might have to stop in a try it to see if it compares to the real thing.

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Mucho para ver

I cannot believe that I have been here one week already! Well, I mean I can... but it seems like it's been much longer. Or maybe it's because our days have been incredibly long and our hours are much different here than in the States. We've been getting up pretty early recently for excursions and orientation info sessions and staying out much later than usual (do as the Spanish do)...BUT at least I've been able to take a Siesta and nap for a little while the past couple of days.

My goal for this blog is to post around four times a week. Its great to be able to tell everyone at home what life is like here and how I'm doing. But, I'm doing so much that I'm starting to forget little details, so this is to help me remember! OH!...a word about my blog title. I tried to explain it to someone here. I thought it was a clever title but I guess you can't hear it unless you really look it. That doesn't make sense...sorry. Lemme try this again. Adam in Spanish is Adán... Adán rhymes with Espan...España? Get it? I think it's funny. I'm sorry for you if you don't :)

Anyway one of the cool things about living in the resedencia is that while the food in the dining hall is not the best...everyone comes together to eat. I however was late to lunch yesterday and there was only one other girl in the dining hall. So naturally I asked, "¿puedo sentar contigo?" (can I sit with you?) and we started talking. She turned out to be studying here in Spain from Greece! She's from the Athens area and is studying at the University of Sevilla to complete her thesis for her doctorate. Like the woman I spoke to on the plane from France in Spanish, it was once again really cool to be able to use Spanish as a median language. There was another kid who lives in the resedencia who's from Italy studying nueroscience here at the University of Sevilla. How cool is that? I'm getting to meet people from all over the world here in Sevilla...in the dining hall. Makes up for the cafeteria food... a little.

Yesterday morning all the CIEE liberal arts students met in the Plaza Nueva for what we thought was going to be a walking tour of the city. Turns out we were there for a scavenger hunt with our orientation groups. We were given a list of questions and clues that would lead us to certain places in the city. For example... One of the questions was what museum is considered to be the most important art museum in Andalucia (the province where Sevilla is) and the second most important in Spain? Anyone know?? It's Museo de Bellas Artes! Right where I live! So once you figure out the answer to the clue you have to go to the destination and your whole group has to take a picture in front of it. Each clue is worth a certain amount of points. The group with the most amount of points wins a prize... Well, our group got tired very quickly and didn't really go all out...but it was a great way to see some areas in Sevilla that I've yet to see. Especially La Plaza de España. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 but it is a classic example of Spanish achitecture and its incredibly, for lack of a better word, cool!

After that walk around the city Scott, Paige and I had some tapas at a restaurant across the river and talked about all of the foods that we love. Mom- don't worry. I did you proud with the description of your chicken soup. I took some time to walk around the city nap take some pictures and later a group of us got together to try to plan some trips. I think our first two are going to be to Lagos, Portugal and Morocco! I was gunning for Greece (Yes, Leela.. I accidentally spelled it "Grease" at first.) But its so far away and price wise is ridiculous. I'm not giving up yet, but I look forward to blogging about seeing the rest of Europe! That night we went by the river and our waiter was named Lolo. He quickly figured out we were from the States and told us how much he loved Lady Gaga. Aparantly she's also a fenomenon here in Seville. She's coming to Madrid in Decemeber. Of course Lolo already has his tickets, but he is so intrigued by everything that is American and gave us a free pitcher of Sangria as we watched Seville at night from the river. Que Guay.

This morning we visited Italica which is a Roman City...well Roman ruins. Our tour guide was speaking so quickly in Spanish and I was trying to take everything in so I missed a lot of what she was saying. But, basically Italica was a city under the Roman empire built in 206 BC by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in order to settle Roman soldiers that were wounded. Italica essentially turned into a mini city and was a huge arena for Gladiators and theatre and other art spectacles. From what I was able to understand, they also used to flood part of the amphitheatre and bring in boats and have gladiator boat battles! The ruins are beautiful and it's too bad my camera died half way through...look it up!...but it was a very cool excursion close to Seville and is amazing to be around something that old.

Long blog post... I know... BUT in La Plaza de Museo every Sunday there are artists selling these beautiful paintings. As I was walking back to my apartment I caught the very end of it but all these local painters, who have their own unique style, set up shop in the plaza and sell their work. I shmoozed a bit with a couple of the artists and saw some pieces I really liked... They offered me "special prices" but I told them, "I'll be back" and that I live right around the corner. I figure it'll be something I'll do on a free Sunday until I get the price I want! Its amazing how you can see so many different things in this one city!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

P.S. If you wanna check out some of my photos, here's a link! CLICK HERE!
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La Calle Bailen!

I'm posting two different blog posts today because I haven't had time to sit down and write in a long time! I haven't fully gotten to enjoy the experience of a Siesta until today! Yesterday morning we left the hotel where we were having our orientation and went to our homestays or residences. I'm living in the Resedencia Santa Ana (http://www.sta-ana.com/) with another CIEE student named David who goes to Indiana University. He's from Indiana and he doesn't know the Rothenberg family... Leela, que lastimita! There's about 15 of us from the CIEE liberal arts program who are living in the resedencia and there are a couple of others from the CIEE business and advanced liberal arts programs.

The inside of The Resedencia

Here's a picture of the main building where the dining center is and all of the administrative offices. About half of us live here, and the other half live in other apartments a couple of blocks away. I live on la calle bailen which is in the center of Seville and is about a 15 minute walk from the CIEE study center and a 20 minute walk from the University of Seville. The people who live in homestays are a bit further away and across the river so I'm in a great location. My apartment is on the 3rd floor up a windy, marble, tiny, staircase and we have a mini kitchen, bathroom and three rooms. I share a room with David and the other two rooms are going to be Spaniards who go to the University of Seville! So I'm able to practice my spanish and learn about Seville from a local point of view.

The view from my terrace!

Museo Bellas Artes de Sevilla

My neighborhood is so cool. (The spanish say que guay!) I live one block from this big square called plaza de museo, well because there's a frickin museum right there. I walked inside today and its so beautiful. It'll be a good place to study and just relax and to do something calming for a little while. The museum is called "Museo Bellas Artes de Sevilla" and it has these amazing courtyards and fountains and people just sitting and taking it all in. I only got a chance to walk through, didn't look at the art, but I told them "voy a regresar" and that I'll be back!

A courtyard in the museum

Last night we went out with our groups to have tapas outside in a plaza...I forget the name...but it was a beautiful night and fun company. Afterwards we went to la plaza nueva and experience Botelllon. Okay, so... in spanish botella is bottle so I'm guessing that Botellon is some derivative of Botellas. Basically botellon is huge amounts of people hanging out outside drinking bottles of wine, beers, etc. on the steps of the plazas, right outside the bars and mingling. Its actually really cool and fun to talk to the Spaniards. I discovered that when I have a little cerveza I'm actually better at spanish :). No, seriously, I'm able to speak spanish so much better because its makes me less nervous and I lose a lot of my inhibitions. But last night we met a lot of Spaniards who when I say where I'm from they don't understand. I explain that it's near New York, on the East Coast....etc etc.... and THEN they say OHHH COH-NECK-TEA-CUT! Ay ay ay!


Oh! I forgot to mention that we went to "un espectaculo de flamenco!" the other night. It was both strange and very cool at the same time. It incorporates so many different kids of dance and it involves singing, dancing and guitar...at lease the one we saw. But Seville is the flamenco capital of the world and next month there is going to be a worldwide flamenco festival here in Seville! It happens every two years around the world and this year it is going to be in Seville. Que bueno, no?

Vale!

I decided to make this blog title "Vale!" because its a word that Emily warned me about but I didn't understand the magnitude of this word! They use it in every sentence and it actually comes in handy and makes you sound like a native speaker. It essentially means "OK" but you can pose it as a question or to brush someone off, or to agree, literally for anything. If I don't understand something that is speaking a million words a minute typically they end with "Vale?" So naturally I respond with "Vale!" I've gotten better about asking people to repeat themselves again or I say "mas lento por favor" (slower please). It is definitely getting much easier to communicate and to understand everyone around me!

The past three days have been absolutely insane and so overwhelming. But I'm having an amazing time exploring the city and speaking spanish non-stop. Our guides (the CIEE orientation staff) have been drilling us making sure that we're only speaking in spanish. They are from Spain, and don't speak English very well so its easy for them to say "ah ah ah....hablas en espanol!" Yesterday, when another American student asked me a question in English, I caught myself translating the answer in Spanish in my head. I've gotten used to having to do that!

Anyway, 2 nights ago instead of going to sleep like I said I was going to I went out with some other CIEE students around the city and got some Sangria and sat outside.  Its really amazing how the city is beautiful in the day, but its even more beautiful at night. Everything comes to life...really really late. The hours here are so much different than the United States and it's just going to take some time for me to get used to it! They barely have breakfast...which is fine w me because I would rather sleep. But lunch starts around 2:00 and then they don't eat dinner until about 9:00 or later. Everything is more spread out that in the United States. People here, unlike me, don't tend to snack and they like to stay out until 6:00 AM! Thank god for the Siesta...the 2-3 hour break around 3:00 where everything essentially shuts down and everyone goes and takes a nap! I could get used to this!

The University of Seville

The following day we went with our guides to the University of Seville and had a couple of information sessions about phones, money, public transportation, etc. The physical university is enormous and a beautiful building...I don't know how I'm going to find my way around. After that we went with our guides to have lunch and "cervezas para todos!" Our lunch was a bunch of different lunch tapas, mini bocadillos (sandwiches) with different types of sauce. It actually was really great. Lunch is a huge meal here so no wonder they take a siesta after lunch...everyone needs a nap! I need one now!

Hasta que volvamos a ver!

Bienvenidos!

Just arrived in Seville and cannot believe how tired I am. I left New York at 6:00 PM and arrived in Madrid at around 6:30 AM. That has got to be THE most confusing airport I have ever been to. From the tram to going through security a second time... I had quite the layover. I was scheduled to leave for Seville at 11:50 AM so I had some time to kill. Found some other confused looking American students and turns out that we were in the same program. We grabbed some breakfast in the airport, greek yogurt and some fruit, and were able to watch the sunrise outside the window over the mountains (hills...) of Madrid.

On the one hour flight to Seville I sat next to an 18 yr old girl who, after my staring at her magazine trying to read it offered it to me. Turns out the magazine was in French so I was at a loss of whether to speak to her in English or Spanish, as clearly I don't speak French. I asked her in Spanish where she was from and we got to talking in Spanish. She was about to start Univeristy in France and was on vacation traveling to Seville. It was cool though using Spanish as a median form of communication, both not speaking our native language. Our flight to Seville was about 1/2 CIEE students and so everyone began introductions and CIEE was waiting to pick us up when we landed in Seville.

We arrived at the Hotel Bécquer and checked into our rooms for orientation as well as grabbed lunch at the hotel. The CIEE orientation staff was there and immediately started speaking spanish to us muy rapidamente... A bit overwhelming. I'm able to understand for the most part what they are saying, yet when I try to articulate myself I feel like a third grader with elementary basic responses. My spanish just needs some brushing up and everyone says that I'll pick it up really quickly!

Some kids I met from the layover from Madrid and I went walking through the streets around the hotel. Its really cool to see such a mixture of architecture and colors throughout the streets. Its almost like a maze with all these little alleyways and side streets. We went around 3:30PM and soon realized that all the stores were closed because it was around Siesta time...a custom which I'll soon grow accustomed to :) and walked a little bit by the river. All in all it seems like a beautiful city and a cool place to explore on a bike (they have a cool rental service.)

I'm off to our evening orientation (all in Spanish) and then most likely an ETB for me. Feelin' jet-lagged right now though and I'm missing my bed A LOT.  But, I can't wait to explore the city and get started.

Hasta que volvamos a ver!