Getting used to Spain

Hello everyone! I finally got my wireless internet set up. Lucky for me, I have my own personal engineer to consult (thanks Marc!).

So my schedule in Spain is very different than my schedule back home. During regular days when I have seminar, I wake up around 7:30am and have breakfast with my host family. Breakfast is not a big deal in Spain. I usually have a piece of toast with jam and a glass of juice or hot milk with cocao (hot cocoa). Then I go to the train and meet the other Geranios students. There are 5 of us: 2 from Pitzer, 2 from University of Miami, and 1 from Coe.

After our orientation seminars, I come home for lunch with the family. Lunch is usually some time between 2 and 3. It's the big meal of the day here in Spain. My family serves the food in courses. It usually starts with some sort of thick soup, then some sort of dish that includes meat. And there's always bread. They're big on carbs here. I miss all the healthy fruits and vegetables back home. I sometimes get to eat some fruit, but I haven't seen many green vegetables yet. Dinner is pretty similar to lunch. My host family gives me way too much food. They say I don't eat very much, and that I am like a "pajarito" (little bird).

Spain is big on night life. There are lots of restaurants and bars open until very late. The other night, I went with the Geranios group and the mom of one of the Geranios people to a tapas place in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the old Jewish neighborhood. After dinner, we went to a little bar tucked away in a maze of alleys for a flamenco show. It was quite amazing, but I had to step out because so many people were smoking and it was like sitting in a cloud of cigarette smoke. I tried to avoid breathing it, but it's 2 days later and I can still feel the scratchiness in my throat. The other Geranios students really enjoy the whole smokey bar scene, which is unfortunate. I want to experience all Sevilla has to offer, but I don't want to compromise my health. I'll either have to stay home or take anti-smoking breaks during these night outings.

For the next 3 weeks, we have seminars almost every week day. We'll be learning Spanish culture, literature, grammar, and conversation. Then we start classes at the Universidad de Sevilla. Class registration here is interesting. You pick 7 classes to try out, go to all of them for 2 weeks, then select 4 to take for the rest of the semester. My potential choices are the following:
* Flamenco: An Expression of the Culture of Andalucia
Culinary Habits and Diet in the Mediterranean of Ancient Times
Spanish Grammar
Spanish Semantics
* Corrective Phonetics and Conversation
* Contemporary Spanish Cinema
Flamenco as a Process of Communication

* = classes I'm pretty sure I want to keep

I think I've spent the most time talking with my host brother, Alex (Alejandro). He turns 19 at the end of this month and is in his first year of university. He is very patient with my Spanish and does not hesitate to correct my grammar. His mom, my host mom Mercedes, is fabulous. I've been quite cold since getting here, it's been 40 degrees most days. She lent me a coat, jacket, turtleneck, scarf, and gloves. She takes very good care of me. She obviously loves hosting students, and considers herself our mother while we're in Spain. We're also hosting 2 Italian girls for the next 2 weeks. They are studying in my Geranios language program, but will be going back to Italy at the end instead of taking classes in Sevilla. They're both nice, I enjoy talking to them during family meals.

So that is most of what I've been up to. I really miss people back home, but I'm also really looking forward to all the things I'm going to see and all the Spanish I'm going to learn. I can't wait for May when Marc comes out, we have a lot of planning to do before we'll be ready for 2 weeks loose in Europe. Hope all is well back home!