Warning: this is going to be a very long, yet vague post since I haven't posted anything in almost a month. Okay, so let's begin updating whoever is reading this on my life.
Classes:
Since my last post my intensive class has ended and my regular class session has started, which I am grateful for because I haven't felt like I have had the opportunity to settle down since I got here and the few weeks prior to coming here were also extremely crazy. So basically what I am trying to say that is that I am extremely glad to have some type of consistent schedule.
My classes are okay. I am taking two language classes that are required by my program that I enjoy and a class about the gastronomy of Spain, which I love even though we don't get to eat in every class. I still find it really interesting to learn about the food here. As for my fourth class, I am not a fan of which is why I am not really enjoying my class. It's a class about the economy and society of contemporary Spain, which is extremely interesting except for my professor. He lectures for two hours straight, which isn't good for someone who has a hard time concentrating in a 50-minute class in English. Definitely going to be a challenge to keep up with what's going on.
Planning trips:
During my time here in Spain I am hoping to travel and explore other countries in the area. Luckily I have planned three trips. The first one starts tonight and is to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend. The second trip is in three weeks with some friends from another program to Stuttgart, Germany and Strasbourg, France. A really exciting part about this trip is that I get to see my brother in Germany for the weekend because he only lives 2 hours away from Stuttgart and is going to come down for the weekend. He is also coming out the weekend before to Sevilla and I am extremely excited to see him and show him around my new home :) Then in April I signed up to go on a trip to Morocco for 6 days and 5 nights. It is a little bit longer than I wanted to spend in one country, because there is so many places to see, but it is through a travel agency and not too expensive for everything that we are doing and plus I get to see a lot of Morocco and don't know when I will have to opportunity to go to Morocco again.
Places visited:
So far I have not gone anywhere for more than a day trip, which is going to change tonight but I will talk about that trip in my next post. I have gotten to travel to Carmona and Osuna, which are two small towns in the providence of Sevilla. Both trips were only for half of the day and I really enjoyed both of them, except for the fact that it rained the entire time I was in Osuna. They are both extremely pretty towns and I am so glad that my program organized trips to these cities (the fact that I didn't have to pay anything since it was a part of my program fee is also a great aspect).
I also got to go to Gibraltar for the day through a travel agency. Gibraltar is located on the coast of southern Spain and is owned by England. I had been there before on a family vacation a few years ago but wanted to go again because I absolutely loved the city- there are wild monkeys that roam the city but mainly stay on this big rock/cliff and you can go and see them. They are so cute but there was no way I was getting close to one when I found out that they can bite; not a souvenir I want to bring back with me.
Okay, so this was an extremely vague post but I promise that I will post more often and with more details and pictures in the near future! Still need to finish packing for my Portugal trip :/
¡Hasta luego!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Al Final de mi Clase Intensiva
Today marks the end of my two-week intensive Spanish class!!! I am so excited to not have a 3-hour-long class at 9am Monday-Friday. Adding fuel to the excitement is the fact that regular session starts on Monday. Okay, I may sound really weird wanting to have five classes instead of one but there's a reason behind it: I will finally be able to get into a routine that I will have for the rest of my time here. These past two weeks have been great but I haven't been able to settle down completely due to my ever-changing schedule.
Anyways, here is a quick recap of my week. Tuesday night my class and I went to see the movie Lo Imposible (The Impossible), which marked my first experience in a movie theater in Spain. There are two big differences between movie theaters here and the ones in the United States. First (the most important to me) is the cost. It cost me around 10 US dollars for a ticket (which my program paid for) and a drink and popcorn. It normally costs me around $12-14 for a ticket in the US, add on food and a drink and it's around $20. This brings me to the food and drinks. First, their small size is actually small, which means the right amount for one person. Secondly the popcorn isn't covered in salt and artificial butter. Okay, I love popcorn that is but it was still really good, different but really good. As for the movie, I thought it was overall good. It was really sad (which is what I was expecting) and really graphic in some parts (which I wasn't expecting but when I think about it, it should have been somewhat expected). And the movie was dubbed in Spanish and it was well done and I understood a lot of what was being said. :)
Another part about going to the movies that was interesting was the trip back to my place. It was getting late and one of my friends had hurt her ankle so we decided to take a bus instead of walk back. Lesson learned: never take a bus in a city that you do not know for the first time at night. Luck was definitely on our side because we ended up on the right bus and only missed our stop by one.
Wednesday night again was eventful, even though part of me wishes I didn't have a lot going on that night because I had a presentation the next day that I had barely worked on. After another great lunch I headed to La Universidad de Sevilla, where 2 out of my 5 classes were going to be held. The university is so pretty and amazing. The tour ended about an hour and a half before the next tour I was going on so I just walked around the central part of the city and explored. The second tour that I went on was of Plaza de España and it was beautiful; definitely a place that I plan on spending more time walking around in and it is conveniently located right across the street from La Universidad de Sevilla :)
Thursday was uneventful as far as going out an exploring the city, but I still had a really good night. I stayed in because I had a paper to write and my final exam the following day. I had lunch with my host mom and her son-in-law, just like the first meal I had. And I can say that it went a lot better, I was able to understand most of what they were saying and was able to speak in sentences that consisted of more than four words :) Yay, progress!! After lunch I went back to writing my paper and studying. A little bit later the older daughter came over and asked me if I wanted coffee and a pastry, which is exactly what I needed as a study break. So I ended up joining her, her husband, my host mom, host dad, and host sister for coffee and a pastry, which was amazing!! I tried to speak as much as I could but I was mainly listening and trying to understand as much as I could. After a short break I was back to studying :(
Dinner time: For this meal our group was joined by my host sister's boyfriend and we ended up eating very "American" food: pizza, fried chicken wings (which was like a KFC version of a buffalo wing), and potato chips. That night there was a futbol game, hence the food, and it was between Sevilla and another team that I can't remember. Anyways, quick piece of background information: my host dad is a huge Sevilla fan while the son-in-law is a huge Betis fan (the cross-town rival). It was hysterical and reminded me so much of home seeing everyone's reaction, my family is just as crazy when it comes to sports. Unfortunately due to my exam and paper I wasn't able to watch the entire game but still had a great time watching part of it with my host family, and found it hysterical how the son-in-law kept trying to convince me to root for Betis. I am not a fan of Sevilla or Betis (only been here 2 weeks, give me a few weeks to pick a side to stick with) but if I had to chose now I am going with Sevilla, aka the favorite team of the person who I live with. Regardless, I still had a great time with my host family and am so extremely grateful for their patience with my limited Spanish.
Friday marked the last day of my intensive class, which I am glad to be done with. 9am classes that are 3 hours are not my favorite. After my final exam I headed out for a celebratory café con leche y tostada con queso y tomate!! Again, amazing food and coffee.
Anyways, here is a quick recap of my week. Tuesday night my class and I went to see the movie Lo Imposible (The Impossible), which marked my first experience in a movie theater in Spain. There are two big differences between movie theaters here and the ones in the United States. First (the most important to me) is the cost. It cost me around 10 US dollars for a ticket (which my program paid for) and a drink and popcorn. It normally costs me around $12-14 for a ticket in the US, add on food and a drink and it's around $20. This brings me to the food and drinks. First, their small size is actually small, which means the right amount for one person. Secondly the popcorn isn't covered in salt and artificial butter. Okay, I love popcorn that is but it was still really good, different but really good. As for the movie, I thought it was overall good. It was really sad (which is what I was expecting) and really graphic in some parts (which I wasn't expecting but when I think about it, it should have been somewhat expected). And the movie was dubbed in Spanish and it was well done and I understood a lot of what was being said. :)
Another part about going to the movies that was interesting was the trip back to my place. It was getting late and one of my friends had hurt her ankle so we decided to take a bus instead of walk back. Lesson learned: never take a bus in a city that you do not know for the first time at night. Luck was definitely on our side because we ended up on the right bus and only missed our stop by one.
Wednesday night again was eventful, even though part of me wishes I didn't have a lot going on that night because I had a presentation the next day that I had barely worked on. After another great lunch I headed to La Universidad de Sevilla, where 2 out of my 5 classes were going to be held. The university is so pretty and amazing. The tour ended about an hour and a half before the next tour I was going on so I just walked around the central part of the city and explored. The second tour that I went on was of Plaza de España and it was beautiful; definitely a place that I plan on spending more time walking around in and it is conveniently located right across the street from La Universidad de Sevilla :)
Thursday was uneventful as far as going out an exploring the city, but I still had a really good night. I stayed in because I had a paper to write and my final exam the following day. I had lunch with my host mom and her son-in-law, just like the first meal I had. And I can say that it went a lot better, I was able to understand most of what they were saying and was able to speak in sentences that consisted of more than four words :) Yay, progress!! After lunch I went back to writing my paper and studying. A little bit later the older daughter came over and asked me if I wanted coffee and a pastry, which is exactly what I needed as a study break. So I ended up joining her, her husband, my host mom, host dad, and host sister for coffee and a pastry, which was amazing!! I tried to speak as much as I could but I was mainly listening and trying to understand as much as I could. After a short break I was back to studying :(
Dinner time: For this meal our group was joined by my host sister's boyfriend and we ended up eating very "American" food: pizza, fried chicken wings (which was like a KFC version of a buffalo wing), and potato chips. That night there was a futbol game, hence the food, and it was between Sevilla and another team that I can't remember. Anyways, quick piece of background information: my host dad is a huge Sevilla fan while the son-in-law is a huge Betis fan (the cross-town rival). It was hysterical and reminded me so much of home seeing everyone's reaction, my family is just as crazy when it comes to sports. Unfortunately due to my exam and paper I wasn't able to watch the entire game but still had a great time watching part of it with my host family, and found it hysterical how the son-in-law kept trying to convince me to root for Betis. I am not a fan of Sevilla or Betis (only been here 2 weeks, give me a few weeks to pick a side to stick with) but if I had to chose now I am going with Sevilla, aka the favorite team of the person who I live with. Regardless, I still had a great time with my host family and am so extremely grateful for their patience with my limited Spanish.
Friday marked the last day of my intensive class, which I am glad to be done with. 9am classes that are 3 hours are not my favorite. After my final exam I headed out for a celebratory café con leche y tostada con queso y tomate!! Again, amazing food and coffee.
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