La vida sevillana / The Sevillian Life

¡Hola amigos! I’ve been in Sevilla for just about a week now, and it’s been good times settling in. I did well on the placement exam – I tested into Avanzado I. It means I’m cleared to take classes in Spanish (but still with international students, not Spaniards). No one tested high enough to take classes with Spaniards. I might try and audit one, we’ll see. The classes I’m enrolled in now are: The Mediterranean World and Spain (in Spanish), Women in Europe (in Spanish), Contemporary Spanish History (in Spanish), Contemporary Spanish Politics (in English), and U.S.-European Relations since WWII (in English – but I think I’m going to drop this class so I’m only taking four).

Sevillanos have a very strong accent, and they speak even faster than normal Spaniards. Like all Spaniards, they lisp their C’s and Z’s, but Sevillanos also drop the S’s at the ends of words. In South America, “gracias” might be pronounced “graw’-see-ahs” but here it becomes “graw’-thee-ah”. It takes some getting used to, but I feel like I can already follow them a little bit more (emphasis on little). I feel bad for our host mom though – she’s so nice, she always asks me how my day went and how I’m doing, and I have to answer her sooooooooooooo slowly. Sometimes I can’t understand her, either. It’s tough but I’m doing my best! I just hope it pays off.

The Universidad Pablo de Olavide (la UPO) is where I take my classes. It’s right outside of Sevilla, which is cool because I get to take the metro every day. The metro is brand new (it opened 5 months ago) and there’s a stop about a block from where I live. It’s 0.60 € for each ride. I’m worried about how crowded it will be once Spaniards start their classes there in a couple of weeks…right now it’s nice though. It’s interesting to see the metro, too, because everything is so energy efficient. The escalators move really slowly until someone is actually on them, and the doors to the metro only open at a stop if someone pushes a button to use that specific door. Our bedroom only has two outlets (which has been tough, because if Maggie and I are both on the computer and we want the fan on, we have to take turns charging our laptops). You’re supposed to turn the light off as soon as you leave a room. Electricity is very expensive here and so people are more aware of it. We could certainly be more aware of it the U.S. if we wanted.

The nightlife in Spain is ridiculous. Because people take siestas and our dinner time is so late, it’s not at all unusual to not even leave the house until midnight. Places don’t really get going until 1 AM (on the early side). This is fun, but can get tiring really fast. It’s nice, though, to have places to go. That’s always my complaint at home in Sammamish, and Sevilla definitely doesn’t have that problem. If you’re out late, it’s easy enough to get home, just take a taxi right to your door. Also, there’s a drink here called “agua de Sevilla” (that’s “water of Seville” for non-Spanish speakers) that is delicious. It’s pineapple juice, champagne, and I forget what else with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Sooooooooo yummy.

I’ve posted all of the photos I’ve taken up this point on Photobucket: http://s776.photobucket.com/albums/yy44/emenespana/. Email/facebook me if you want the password to view them. Photos are also viewable on facebook (those ones have captions, but I also don’t post all of them there). If I can figure out how to get them on here I’ll try to do that someday. So far in Sevilla I’ve explored the Catedral de Sevilla (third largest cathedral in Europe, and the view from the top of La Giralda is incredible), the Plaza de España, the Real Alcázar, and a good bit of shops/bars/restaurants in el centro.

I’m trying to get some travel plans together for while I’m here, so if anyone has travel advice/recommendations, please let me know! I’m particularly interested in Greece, Italy, France, Croatia, and maybe Turkey (I already know I’m going to Morocco with ISA). Any tips are greatly appreciated, especially budget-saving ones! ¡Hasta luego! ¡Besos!