Tiny Writer : First Week in Sevilla

Hola familia y amigos!

I arrived in Sevilla a little over a week ago and moved into my apartment. I'm living with four girls from New Paltz, Ciana, Kaitlyn, Dana, and my roommate Jodeci. My friends Jasmine and Rachel live right next door, and Jillian, Courtney, and Amanda are downstairs. Our apartment is located in the heart of the city. We live amongst cute little stores, cafés, restaurants, bars, markets, and twenty minutes away from the Universidad de Sevilla. We also live right on top of a bakery which is potentially dangerous but also incredibly convenient when we want to get coffee or bread. When we arrived, Luis took us on a tour of the university and showed us all of the places we can go to food shop and hang out. The following day, Friday, we walked to the school where we will be taking classes for the next few months. Also on Friday we met Rosio, one of our other advisers. Every week she will take us on a tour of some historical landmark in Sevilla. Last week we went to The Real Alcazar and this past Friday we went to Big Ben and Rio Latino. The Real Alcazar, considered a World Heritage Site, is one of remaining examples of Moorish architecture. It contains a few sections. El Patio de las Doncellas, which means "The Courtyard of The Maiden," and contains a large reflecting pool that strongly resembles The Alhambra on its lower level. Other sections include El Patio de las Muñeca, Patio de la Monteria, Puerta del León, Dormitorio de los Reyes Moros, y Salón de Embajadores. When we were on that tour though, we were absolutely freezing! Over the weekend it was the coldest in Sevilla that it had been in 55 years. We were hit with a cold front from Siberia for the entire weekend, but luckily it passed by now. We did explore some of the city though despite the cold; specifically El Corté Inglés which is a huge department store. It has everything we could possibly want, including items that can't be found anywhere else (but are absolutely necessary for Americans like myself), such as peanut butter, jelly, ketchup and pretzels. On Saturday we went to celebrate my dear friend and roommate Ciana's birthday. We actually went to a Japanese restaurant! Can you believe it? A Japanese restaurant in SPAIN! It was delicious and we had a lovely time. It was so fun to get dressed up and go out! On Sunday everything was closed, so we just spent time at the bakery downstairs and hung out in the apartment. This past weekend, we explored Spanish nightlife and did a bit of shopping. Today we explored El Barrio de Santa Cruz and sat by the river, El Rio Quadalquivir. We then went out for tapas and Sangria. It was my first time ever trying Sangria and I really enjoyed it.

And back to the beginning. Monday was our first day of classes at the Universidad de Sevilla. It is so beautiful, I still can't believe I am actually taking classes in such a stunning place. It is filled with tall buildings of old, gothic architecture and inside it has long hallways spanning marble floors. Right next to it is a street filled with places to eat, many of which we've been trying out during class breaks. I had the most delicious vegetable paella this week! I just love being able to walk to class everyday throughout the beautiful, buzzing city. My first week of classes was really wonderful and I know that I am going to love my classes. On Monday I tried out two classes that I wasn't positive if I was going to take, La España actual en el contexto de Relaciones Internacionales (Present-Day Spain in the Context of International Relations) and La Influencia Árabe en la Literatura Espanola (Arabic Influence on Spanish Literature.) The first one seemed interesting, but it's at 9 am so it's a no-go. In the latter, I found myself bored and having a difficult time understanding the professor. At one point, he asked "¿Hay alguien judía?" Meaning, "Is anyone Jewish?" I looked around the classroom of over 20 kids and found myself having the only hand up. (After class a girl admitted to me that she was Jewish too, but hadn't understood the question.) The professor looked at me, laughed, and said "Espero que no te moleste en esta clase." (I hope I don't bother you in this class.) I think in translation he meant he hopes to not offend me. I am not sure what he meant by that. I wonder if he thought I may be offended by the content of the course, which I'm sure contains negative feelings towards the Jewish people. But then there's the possibility, and this makes me shudder to even think, but perhaps he is anti-semitic himself. I decided not to take that class, so I guess I won't find out.

I am taking a film class, which I know I'm going to like a lot. The teacher's name is Luis, so now I am convinced that anyone with that name is automatically awesome. He is so passionate about what he teaches and therefore very engaging; his enthusiasm brings such a positive energy to the room. In our last class we talked about musical cinema. You can imagine how happy I was about that! I thought I might burst with excitement when he took out "West Side Story" and put it on the table right in front of me. We ended up watching a few different versions of "Carmen", which is a really great movie. We even watched one with Beyoncé in it! We also watched a part of "Singing in the Rain," and get this-- "Grease!" The version of "Grease" that we watched was nothing short of hysterical. The dialogue began in Spanish, but then the singing was in English. The actors tried to emulate the choreography from the original movie but failed miserably. We had a great laugh.

The other two classes I'm taking are Gramática Español (Spanish Grammar) and La Proyección Histórica de Las Tres Culturas: Cristianos, Musulmanes y
Judíos (The Historical Projection of Three Cultures: Christians,
Muslims, and Jews). Like my other professors, the ones I have for these classes are also passionate about what they are teaching and that automatically makes the classes interesting. I am very much enjoying them both. I am thankful to have teachers that speak clearly and at a rate that isn't too difficult to understand. I know I am going to get a lot out of them.

This past weekend was my second one in Sevilla, and I already feel like it's home. I love everything about this city; the culture, the language, the quaintness. It really just has this charm and epitomizes the pure essence of traditional Spain in a way some that some of the bigger cities don't. There are orange trees all around and the fruit (specifically the oranges) are the yummiest and juiciest I've ever tasted. Walking home from school everyday, we see children in their adorable little uniforms ending their school day as well. They are SO cute. I saw the sweetest thing last week; a man who put his daughter, no more than 5 years old on his moped while he walked it. Everything around me has character. Everything is happy, everything is energetic, and everything is beautiful.

One thing that I've noticed about the Spanish culture is that it is very slow-placed. People don't seem to be in a rush. They live freely and seemingly without worry. Spaniards are very relaxed people; very different from New Yorkers (and Americans in general.) It is normal to get together for coffee and sit around for hours talking. Siesta, which is everyday from 3-5, consists of pure relaxation. This way of life is particularly noticeable when we go out to restaurants. We are used to being rushed out of restaurants in the United States. But here, people just shmooze when they're done with their food.

Anyway, hasta luego! Stay tuned for another post next week.

Elyssa