Monday, May 10, 2010
OH ALSO I WENT TO A BULLFIGHT
I went to a bullfight last night! It was actually incredibly fascinating. I liked it less and less as it went on (there are six rounds and they are all more or less similar) but it was still very interesting, the beginning especially. I had no idea how much of a performance it is. I completely understand it as an art. Every movement and act is calculated and means something. Of the three biggest bullfighting rings in Spain, Sevilla is the most prestigious one to fight in (Toledo is where the bullfighters make the most money, and Madrid where they earn the most fame). I am so glad I went, though I will never need to go again. But I will say, it was absolutely mesmerizing.
Consider my feelings unmixed.
I am entirely unprepared to leave. Even if I've got another two weeks in Europe, the fact that I have less than one in Spain is fahREAKING me out. Spain has not always been good to me, but in the past few weeks I have grown so much more attached. There are things that I miss about the US and am excited to return to (cupcakes), but I can get along without those things if it means I can keep this going a little longer. But unfortunately, I will be saying my goodbyes to many, many people on Thursday whose company I have truly enjoyed. The thing is, while I am highly aware that life here is like a vacation from actual life, the majority of my experience this semester has been far from it. And just as I am finally easing into having my act together enough to truly enjoy it, it is cut short. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am the type of person who needs time, and this experience has been no different. But for only four months, I have grown remarkably comfortable here; in many ways more so than I am at home. So, villanueva? Not ready to relocate here permanently, but it is certainly a place where I can feel as comfortable as if I were at home.
This week I will be running around like a madwoman. I plan to sleep when I'm dead, or when I'm back in my bed in Chapel Hill whichever comes first. I have gifts to buy, tests to pretend to care about, and people to see off. I've got a list of places that I just want to go to One Last Time. But I have a feeling I will be back, so it's more like One Last Time For Now. Regardless, I'm buggin'. But then again, I feel much the same when I end a year at Villanova. I smell some post-graduation depression on the horizon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Right now I'm focusing on wrapping things up here and finding a place to stay in London in 4 days. Yep I left something until the last minute that's weird.
This week I will be running around like a madwoman. I plan to sleep when I'm dead, or when I'm back in my bed in Chapel Hill whichever comes first. I have gifts to buy, tests to pretend to care about, and people to see off. I've got a list of places that I just want to go to One Last Time. But I have a feeling I will be back, so it's more like One Last Time For Now. Regardless, I'm buggin'. But then again, I feel much the same when I end a year at Villanova. I smell some post-graduation depression on the horizon. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Right now I'm focusing on wrapping things up here and finding a place to stay in London in 4 days. Yep I left something until the last minute that's weird.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mezcla de Sentimientos - Mixed Feelings
Two weeks from today, my program ends and we all go our separate ways. I am at the point where I can confidently say, I’m gonna make it. I never imagined that homesickness could persist so completely for such a long period of time. More than homesickness, it is peoplesickness – I am homesick for the people that I love. At the same time, it will be hard leaving Sevilla. After dancing around each other cautiously for so long, I feel like we are finally getting to know each other. I am content sitting for hours by the rio or in a café, a contentment that I never feel when I try to go read or write at Borders or something. When men call me “guapa,” I am learning to take it as a compliment, one that I will miss, because flattery is never quite so blatant and appreciative in the US. The smiles on the street that I have been giving since the beginning of the semester but never seen reciprocated seem to be returned more and more these days. I have learned to appreciate a good drink, a cold tinto or cerveza (even if it’s cruzcampo) or a café cortado and have learned the value of making it last and enoying it. I love the mornings here, before the heat of the day sets in, and am making new efforts at getting myself up and out to enjoy them. Not much luck yet, but hopefully I can make it a new habit.
With two weeks to go, a sense of urgency is setting in. The comments have started: this may be the last time I’ll go here, see this, eat this. The tourist spots that we haven’t yet seen are becoming a priority in our schedules over class and homework. We are silently starting to accumulate the gifts and souvenirs for loved ones that we had the whole semester to buy, but of course did not. Exotic trips that we planned at the beginning of the semester, which we felt like would never actually happen, have come and gone. It is hard to take things one day at a time when the knowledge that there are so few creates a sort of pressure. But I have been feeling this pressure all semester, and I have learned that I have to actively suppress it if I am going to be able to enjoy myself at all, rather than haphazardly try to get a complete taste of Sevilla. It is this sense of pressure that makes me think most I could have benefited from spending a year here. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have even booked a return flight until probably a week or so ago. I believe that having the date “May 15” in my head all semester has tainted it a little, and it’s a shame. Four months is a long time, but it is just enough time to do all that needs to be done. The knowledge that any wasted second is a waste of a one-time opportunity has made me immensely self-critical every time I take a night off, have a conversation in English rather than Spanish. But it is that mentality that had me run-down and frustrated within a month of starting my program, so I am now actively working to shut it up.
With two weeks to go, a sense of urgency is setting in. The comments have started: this may be the last time I’ll go here, see this, eat this. The tourist spots that we haven’t yet seen are becoming a priority in our schedules over class and homework. We are silently starting to accumulate the gifts and souvenirs for loved ones that we had the whole semester to buy, but of course did not. Exotic trips that we planned at the beginning of the semester, which we felt like would never actually happen, have come and gone. It is hard to take things one day at a time when the knowledge that there are so few creates a sort of pressure. But I have been feeling this pressure all semester, and I have learned that I have to actively suppress it if I am going to be able to enjoy myself at all, rather than haphazardly try to get a complete taste of Sevilla. It is this sense of pressure that makes me think most I could have benefited from spending a year here. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have even booked a return flight until probably a week or so ago. I believe that having the date “May 15” in my head all semester has tainted it a little, and it’s a shame. Four months is a long time, but it is just enough time to do all that needs to be done. The knowledge that any wasted second is a waste of a one-time opportunity has made me immensely self-critical every time I take a night off, have a conversation in English rather than Spanish. But it is that mentality that had me run-down and frustrated within a month of starting my program, so I am now actively working to shut it up.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
FERIA, Italy and Greece photos
I have two weeks and two days left in Sevilla. clock's tickin' and time's a'wastin! Last week was the Feria de abril, which was the most unique and fabulous thing I have ever experienced. I unfortunately had the flu for the kick off and first day, but was able to pull myself out of bed by Tuesday and see myself some flamenco-ing. I pinned an obnoxiously large blue flower in my hair and stepped out of my apartment feeling a bit foolish, only to see women fully decked out in multiple flowers, brightly colored (and well coordinated!) flamenco dresses, and heeled flamenco shoes. I felt like I was in another world as we all rode the bus together to the feria grounds, sitting calmly as if we were not all in full costume.
Arriving at feria was epic. There is an enormous entrance, called a portada, that is lit up in the No8do slogan of Sevilla (this sign can be seen absolutely everywhere in sevilla. it is on buildings, street signs, manhole covers. It is read aloud as "no madeja do, because the 8 looks like yarn, or madeja. When spoken rapidly - what isn't in Andalucia - it sounds like "no me ha dejado," or "it (sevilla) has not abandoned me.") The No8do sign is a great representation of sevilla pride, so it is only fitting that it marked the entrance to perhaps the most quintessentially sevillan ocurrence in this city. Feria is unmatched in any other city. It is an enormous fairgrounds with typical "fair fare" - rides, food [read: fried death. DELICIOUS], noise, crowds. But what makes it feria are the casetas, rows of elaborate tents that families and organizations own and fill with their friends and family. The casetas are incredibly intricate - inside, they have dance floors, bars, walls complete with wall paper and hung paintings, certainly no circus tent. Each caseta is filled with music and flamenco, most notably the sevillanas - the dance of feria. The casetas are full all night and all day. I have never seen anything like it.
I stole these pictures from random facebook albums/cassandra - thanks guys :)
Now for my own photos: One step closer to actually writing that godforsaken blog. Which undoubtedly will not happen until the lazy days of summer.
Italy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027543&id=1391040171&l=71ea6f90c2
GREECE I LOVE YOU:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027544&id=1391040171&l=fcdb846ef1
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Los gitanos
Yesterday my lit class had members of the Gitano (gypsy) community come speak to us about the origins and nature of their culture. Before coming to Sevilla I had no idea the strength of the presence that los gitanos have here, and it’s a culture that I’ve been curious about since arriving. The Gitano culture is the origin of almost all things quintessentially Spanish, the most prominent of these being flamenco which was used as an expression of frustration and pain in response to the historic oppression the community has experienced. The gitanos came from India beginning in the 7th century, migrating in groups of 50 to 100 for hundreds of years and eventually achieving the presence that they have today. They are set apart by extreme values of family, solidarity, and adaptation, all of which are the most fascinating in their level of extremity. If a gitana woman leaves her family to set off on her own, for example, she no longer calls herself a gitana – she is literally expelled from the culture. The solidarity amongst gitanos is admirable – if gitanos recognize another Gitano who doesn’t have a family, he will be essentially taken in no questions asked. To be without family is not an option for these people, and I think they have such a beautiful sense of unbridled compassion. It is customary for flamenco to be performed as husband and wife, which is beautiful. Both start learning the music and dance from their families when theyre not even 7 years old and perfect it for years, eventually performing together after marriage.
Today my social justice class went to El Vacie, a shantytown that is literally a two minute walk from my volunteer site. Right on the outskirts of Sevilla, it is where about 1000 gitanos call home. It is primarily constructed out of makeshift houses of wood and cardboard, and provides communal showers and water for its people. It is a place of abysmal living conditions, largely due to the marginalization of the Gitano community. However, its counterpart is called Tres Mil Viviendas, a government project that provides housing, water, and electricity and where many gitanos were replaced to. While this project counteracted the effects of marginalization, it has backfired as a result of the disproportionate resources that projects such as Tres Mil Viviendas provide: namely, education. People are simply replaced there and given resources without any idea of how to properly allocate and preserve them, and so they exploit them. Drugs and crime are rampant in Tres Mil. While not nearly as prominent in El Vacie, the government is reluctant to spend any real time there observing the culture and the people and providing them with a more holistic response to their needs. So, the gitanos stay marginalized. We visited an organization today that provides many services to the children of the Vacie community, such as preschool, breakfast and lunch, a place to have a siesta, clean water to bathe in. Hopefully these resources will give these kids a better chance at survival and at developing their own skills to do so. It was unbelievable and humbling to see how close El Vacie is to Sevilla proper. The question of whether the gitanos want to and should integrate more completely in the Spanish culture is made all the more complicated by seeing conditions such as those in the shantytowns – it should be so simple, allocate more resources to these people, but there is so much tied up in that. The distinct Gitano culture, for one, makes for a very suspicious people who do not necessarily value formal education – particularly if it comes from the public government, which will teach and reinforce Spanish values, not Gitano ones. Their most fundamental values inherently make integration difficult, and it is also a question of whether they even want to integrate and perhaps give up a piece of their cultural heritage versus the human rights that should be universally guaranteed regardless of cultural identification.
I am still quite daunted by the task of writing about my 8 days in Italy and Greece but I do want to share it. So keep an eye out, I’ll get my act together sooner or later!
Besitos!
Today my social justice class went to El Vacie, a shantytown that is literally a two minute walk from my volunteer site. Right on the outskirts of Sevilla, it is where about 1000 gitanos call home. It is primarily constructed out of makeshift houses of wood and cardboard, and provides communal showers and water for its people. It is a place of abysmal living conditions, largely due to the marginalization of the Gitano community. However, its counterpart is called Tres Mil Viviendas, a government project that provides housing, water, and electricity and where many gitanos were replaced to. While this project counteracted the effects of marginalization, it has backfired as a result of the disproportionate resources that projects such as Tres Mil Viviendas provide: namely, education. People are simply replaced there and given resources without any idea of how to properly allocate and preserve them, and so they exploit them. Drugs and crime are rampant in Tres Mil. While not nearly as prominent in El Vacie, the government is reluctant to spend any real time there observing the culture and the people and providing them with a more holistic response to their needs. So, the gitanos stay marginalized. We visited an organization today that provides many services to the children of the Vacie community, such as preschool, breakfast and lunch, a place to have a siesta, clean water to bathe in. Hopefully these resources will give these kids a better chance at survival and at developing their own skills to do so. It was unbelievable and humbling to see how close El Vacie is to Sevilla proper. The question of whether the gitanos want to and should integrate more completely in the Spanish culture is made all the more complicated by seeing conditions such as those in the shantytowns – it should be so simple, allocate more resources to these people, but there is so much tied up in that. The distinct Gitano culture, for one, makes for a very suspicious people who do not necessarily value formal education – particularly if it comes from the public government, which will teach and reinforce Spanish values, not Gitano ones. Their most fundamental values inherently make integration difficult, and it is also a question of whether they even want to integrate and perhaps give up a piece of their cultural heritage versus the human rights that should be universally guaranteed regardless of cultural identification.
I am still quite daunted by the task of writing about my 8 days in Italy and Greece but I do want to share it. So keep an eye out, I’ll get my act together sooner or later!
Besitos!
Barcelona Is....
Barcelona is wonderful. I had no idea what to expect other than crazy architecture and the 9th best chocolate store in the world. But it is so much more than that – so much so that I didn’t even get to the chocolate store, nor did I get my beloved cupcake that I set out to find with such determination. Yep, I forewent legendary sweets and baked goods, so you know this trip was a big deal. I got off the Metro Friday afternoon to a huge port filled with the sails of private boats, yachts, and even floating restaurants. The first smell to hit me (other than the Metro Musk, which I don’t feel like I need to recount) was sunscreen, and I was LOVING IT. I walked to our beachfront hostel and met up with SARA YUSKO (hey girl you’re famous, at least among the 8 people who read my blog other than my parents) and some of her friends from the Notre Dame program in London. We had a great afternoon on the beach, which was a pleasant surprise. I had wanted to jump into seeing some sights immediately, but as soon as I sat down I realized how much I wanted to be lying on a beach. So we did that. And then we ate delicious seafood paella at a restaurant on the water.
The rest of the weekend was just as relaxing. We kept a great balance of tourist-ing and beaching. The weather all weekend was ideal for both. “Abundant sunshine,” according to weather.com. It was hard to get a feel for the people in Barcelona – it seemed to me to be very much a city of tourists, although much of that probably was because we hit all the tourist spots. I will always wonder where all the Barcelonians were hiding this weekend!
As for the sights:
- Parc Guell. INCREDIBLE. This park was filled with unique mosaics and designs. We pretty much had to walk up a ninety degree (180 degree? Straight up) incline to reach it, but it was well worth it. Like a playground for grownups (although as a kid I would have FLIPPED for this place).
- Sagrada Familia. A magnificently unique cathedral begun by Gaudi and still under construction for at least 10 more years. It is one of a kind because nobody in history liked his style enough to copy it (though it is so intricate, few people could). I sat and just took it in for a long while. It is absolutely necessary to see in Barcelona – for a good five minutes, all I could say was, “wow.” It is certainly striking at 1st glance and 2nd, and 3rd.
- Lunch at Mercat de la Boqueria, lots of colors and smells, though free samples are scarce so I wouldn’t see any reason to go back there personally.
That night, we ate Mexican food and found a bar to watch the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game in (Barcelona won!). The next morning I got up and went to the Cathedral for mass, then hit the Picasso museum which I LOVED. I never really knew nor cared much about Picasso (I suck, whatever) but this museum presented the progression of his art over the course of his life in such a fascinating way. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. The museum is tucked away a bit into some side streets, which made it all the more fun to discover.
AND now I am home, heading to Portugal on Friday until Sunday, will be home for FERIA until the end of next week, then going to the Costa del Sol to soak up some Sol (sun)! I’m happy that I’ll be able to fully experience Feria while still traveling a bit when people flock to Sevilla. Sevilla has been inundated with tourists ever since a few weeks before Semana Santa and it is a bit much for me. It’s such a clash of foreign and familiar, although the interesting thing is, hearing all the English and seeing all the people of my heritage and brand preferences (think North Face and Starbucks) is kind of more the foreign part. I have been getting used to feeling like a black sheep lost in a big city – uh, combo of metaphors there, go with it. Spain is my place to feel like a lost American wide-eyed mess, not like I can walk up to a stranger and have them speak to me in English! It really messes with my mind. I have heard that the culmination of Feria is the peak tourist time. It’s funny that the draw of an event so deeply cultural as feria can be almost countercultural in how much it attracts people of other cultures. I don’t know if this goes for feria, but I think semana santa is gaining the reputation in Spain for being an overwhelming, overcrowded mess of tourists blocking the streets. Many Spaniards of more recent generations, my senora included, take Semana Santa as a time to leave! That also might be because Spain isn’t as religious in principle as it is in tradition, but it is certainly a factor. Neverthess, Semana Santa and Feria are still decidedly Spanish and I am so glad that coming abroad in the spring has given me the opportunity to experience them.
The rest of the weekend was just as relaxing. We kept a great balance of tourist-ing and beaching. The weather all weekend was ideal for both. “Abundant sunshine,” according to weather.com. It was hard to get a feel for the people in Barcelona – it seemed to me to be very much a city of tourists, although much of that probably was because we hit all the tourist spots. I will always wonder where all the Barcelonians were hiding this weekend!
As for the sights:
- Parc Guell. INCREDIBLE. This park was filled with unique mosaics and designs. We pretty much had to walk up a ninety degree (180 degree? Straight up) incline to reach it, but it was well worth it. Like a playground for grownups (although as a kid I would have FLIPPED for this place).
- Sagrada Familia. A magnificently unique cathedral begun by Gaudi and still under construction for at least 10 more years. It is one of a kind because nobody in history liked his style enough to copy it (though it is so intricate, few people could). I sat and just took it in for a long while. It is absolutely necessary to see in Barcelona – for a good five minutes, all I could say was, “wow.” It is certainly striking at 1st glance and 2nd, and 3rd.
- Lunch at Mercat de la Boqueria, lots of colors and smells, though free samples are scarce so I wouldn’t see any reason to go back there personally.
That night, we ate Mexican food and found a bar to watch the Barcelona-Real Madrid soccer game in (Barcelona won!). The next morning I got up and went to the Cathedral for mass, then hit the Picasso museum which I LOVED. I never really knew nor cared much about Picasso (I suck, whatever) but this museum presented the progression of his art over the course of his life in such a fascinating way. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. The museum is tucked away a bit into some side streets, which made it all the more fun to discover.
AND now I am home, heading to Portugal on Friday until Sunday, will be home for FERIA until the end of next week, then going to the Costa del Sol to soak up some Sol (sun)! I’m happy that I’ll be able to fully experience Feria while still traveling a bit when people flock to Sevilla. Sevilla has been inundated with tourists ever since a few weeks before Semana Santa and it is a bit much for me. It’s such a clash of foreign and familiar, although the interesting thing is, hearing all the English and seeing all the people of my heritage and brand preferences (think North Face and Starbucks) is kind of more the foreign part. I have been getting used to feeling like a black sheep lost in a big city – uh, combo of metaphors there, go with it. Spain is my place to feel like a lost American wide-eyed mess, not like I can walk up to a stranger and have them speak to me in English! It really messes with my mind. I have heard that the culmination of Feria is the peak tourist time. It’s funny that the draw of an event so deeply cultural as feria can be almost countercultural in how much it attracts people of other cultures. I don’t know if this goes for feria, but I think semana santa is gaining the reputation in Spain for being an overwhelming, overcrowded mess of tourists blocking the streets. Many Spaniards of more recent generations, my senora included, take Semana Santa as a time to leave! That also might be because Spain isn’t as religious in principle as it is in tradition, but it is certainly a factor. Neverthess, Semana Santa and Feria are still decidedly Spanish and I am so glad that coming abroad in the spring has given me the opportunity to experience them.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
I'm back!
I have been gone the past week on my spring break trip and just got back to Sevilla yesterday! Details about my trip to Italy and Greece coming soon, but I wanted to talk first about the celebration that has been going on in Sevilla and other parts of Spain this past week. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week leading up to Easter, and in Sevilla, they go all-out for it. It is a celebration that is only rivaled by Feria de Abril, the spring fair that will take place in two weeks (and for which we will get another week off of class!). The entire city transforms as it must work around las processiones, which are the identifying feature of Semana Santa. In Sevilla, there are around 60 brotherhoods that each identify with a specific church. During Semana Santa, the days consist of the different brotherhoods performing las processiones, or processions from the doors of their church to the cathedral and back. Each procession has an enormous wooden float (paso) depicting mary and jesus, and it is carried by costaleros, men from the brotherhood. The paso is preceded by lengthy lines of other men from the brotherhood, the nazarenos. Seeing the nazarenos takes some getting used to, because they wear capirotes, the same pointed cone-shaped hats that the KKK wear. During Semana Santa, the capirotes represent repentance and grief, so that men could traditionally hide their faces during penance. As an American, it requires a conscious effort to separate the religious significance from the hate that these costumes symbolize in the US. However, it is an incredible, reverent sight to see a procession. The processions can last up to 13 hours depending upon which brotherhood it is! The main streets of the city literally shut down as they are filled with these processions and all their spectators.
The biggest celebrations and processions happen on holy thursday and good friday, which I unfortunately was not here for. However, I arrived back in Sevilla yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, early enough that I could go watch the salida (the beginning of a procession, when the brotherhood exits their church) of a brotherhood that was happening right by my house. I have truly never seen anything like it. It took over an hour for the nazarenos to process out before the float - there easily were over 1000 of them. The float finally came out last, moving along at the pace of the costaleros' shuffling feet. It was covered in gold paint and had a huge image of mary at the top, adorned by lots of candles. When the float came out, the entire plaza fell silent. A woman came out onto a balcony of a building across from the church and began to sing, and the float shuffled along toward her, as it would do for the next six hours. I will post pictures of it soon; it was so cool.
Today is Easter Sunday, which isn't as big of a deal here as Good Friday, but it is still observed. I went to the Catedral for mass, and was delighted to discover organ music! It's my first mass I've been to here that has had music, and I have really missed it. City's pretty quiet otherwise; all the setup that began a good month before Semana Santa is being taken down, and it is a beautiful day. I took my time walking home and am going to go sit by the river soon and enjoy some sun!
My entry about Italy and Greece will probably be far longer than you will ever want to read, but even so - it's coming soon! Promise!
The biggest celebrations and processions happen on holy thursday and good friday, which I unfortunately was not here for. However, I arrived back in Sevilla yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, early enough that I could go watch the salida (the beginning of a procession, when the brotherhood exits their church) of a brotherhood that was happening right by my house. I have truly never seen anything like it. It took over an hour for the nazarenos to process out before the float - there easily were over 1000 of them. The float finally came out last, moving along at the pace of the costaleros' shuffling feet. It was covered in gold paint and had a huge image of mary at the top, adorned by lots of candles. When the float came out, the entire plaza fell silent. A woman came out onto a balcony of a building across from the church and began to sing, and the float shuffled along toward her, as it would do for the next six hours. I will post pictures of it soon; it was so cool.
Today is Easter Sunday, which isn't as big of a deal here as Good Friday, but it is still observed. I went to the Catedral for mass, and was delighted to discover organ music! It's my first mass I've been to here that has had music, and I have really missed it. City's pretty quiet otherwise; all the setup that began a good month before Semana Santa is being taken down, and it is a beautiful day. I took my time walking home and am going to go sit by the river soon and enjoy some sun!
My entry about Italy and Greece will probably be far longer than you will ever want to read, but even so - it's coming soon! Promise!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Monos y Museos (Monkeys and Museums)
Looking back, this has been kind of a busy week even though we had a day off from school. I started my volunteering on Wednesday - I am volunteering at a hospital with an organization called Solidarios. Essentially, we just go to talk to the patients, particularly those who do not have any family members visiting. It is a really good thing and I am so excited to work with this organization. I had a pretty hard time of it at my first day. I am still lacking a lot of confidence in my conversation skills, so I really did a lot of standing and listening. The people I work with are so nice and understanding that I am not very strong in my Spanish, although I think they think i understand less than I actually do. It is a bit frustrating, but they are such good people and I think I can learn a lot from them. At the moment, it's looking like this volunteering experience is going to have to help me a bit first before I can help it. Hopefully I will feel a bit more comfortable next time. I was uncomfortable this week, really uncomfortable. But I am definitely sticking it out.
Yesterday, my interest group (kind of like a club) took us to Gibraltar! It was probably the only time I will have any reason to go to Gibraltar, but it was very interesting and quite a sight to see. Gibraltar is a British-owned territory of about 28,000 all situated on, literally, one mountain-sized rock. Since it is British, English is largely spoken there - it was kind of a nice break from Spanish. We even had a presentation in English, so I am pretty sure that for once I got all my facts right! After the presentation and a stop for fish and chips, and pastries (duh), the group went to figure out a way to climb that mountain of rock and see the infamous Gibraltarian monkeys (...I don't know how infamous they actually are, but I had definitely never heard of them before yesterday). The cheapest means we found were two men driving white vans who eventually convinced us that they were real tour guides and that the rate of 20 euro/person that they offered was our best shot (both of which were actually true, so it ended up working out really well!). Both drivers were really nice and funny and drove us up the winding roads along the mountain, giving us some history and pointing out the best places to stop and take in the sights. We stopped at the pillar of Hercules, from which you can see Africa (only 14 miles away!), where there is an identical pillar. We also went to some incredible caves (I took some pictures in these ones!) and some tunnels from back when Gibraltar was under siege. Or something. All of which was very cool. We ran into our first monkeys outside the caves (see photo below for a chronicle of how enjoyable THAT experience was. Just kidding, it was pretty cool.) It was good to have our tour guides with us for this experience, because it turns out there is a lot more to those little monkeys than meets the eye. The guides advised us to leave all plastic bags in the van, or else the monkeys would see them and get aggressive, knowing that they probably contained food. The older monkeys are also known to get jealous when humans pay attention to the little ones, and the guides knew exactly how to keep the older ones from attacking (thank god!). The monkeys were pretty nuts - they were climbing all over the vans, and we even saw one that had a bloody nose from a fight! That species is not for the faint of heart. As we went up and up and the mountain, we saw some incredible views too. I got some pictures, but I really don't think I was able to truly capture how awesome it was. After that experience, we left and headed back to the bus. Luckily it didn't rain all day, even though it was supposed to! It was a really fun, albeit random, place to travel to.
Today, I went to the contemporary art museum - that was an experience for sure. To be perfectly honest, I really did not get most of the art that was there. I liked the photography though. A lot of it actually had American captions and took place on American backdrops, with signs and things in the background all written in English. The museum was very much out in the middle of nowhere in an old monastery, but it was a nice thing to do on a Saturday afternoon!
Up next...Hmm, I don't know. Guess you'll just have to check again soon! Thanks for reading :)
Yesterday, my interest group (kind of like a club) took us to Gibraltar! It was probably the only time I will have any reason to go to Gibraltar, but it was very interesting and quite a sight to see. Gibraltar is a British-owned territory of about 28,000 all situated on, literally, one mountain-sized rock. Since it is British, English is largely spoken there - it was kind of a nice break from Spanish. We even had a presentation in English, so I am pretty sure that for once I got all my facts right! After the presentation and a stop for fish and chips, and pastries (duh), the group went to figure out a way to climb that mountain of rock and see the infamous Gibraltarian monkeys (...I don't know how infamous they actually are, but I had definitely never heard of them before yesterday). The cheapest means we found were two men driving white vans who eventually convinced us that they were real tour guides and that the rate of 20 euro/person that they offered was our best shot (both of which were actually true, so it ended up working out really well!). Both drivers were really nice and funny and drove us up the winding roads along the mountain, giving us some history and pointing out the best places to stop and take in the sights. We stopped at the pillar of Hercules, from which you can see Africa (only 14 miles away!), where there is an identical pillar. We also went to some incredible caves (I took some pictures in these ones!) and some tunnels from back when Gibraltar was under siege. Or something. All of which was very cool. We ran into our first monkeys outside the caves (see photo below for a chronicle of how enjoyable THAT experience was. Just kidding, it was pretty cool.) It was good to have our tour guides with us for this experience, because it turns out there is a lot more to those little monkeys than meets the eye. The guides advised us to leave all plastic bags in the van, or else the monkeys would see them and get aggressive, knowing that they probably contained food. The older monkeys are also known to get jealous when humans pay attention to the little ones, and the guides knew exactly how to keep the older ones from attacking (thank god!). The monkeys were pretty nuts - they were climbing all over the vans, and we even saw one that had a bloody nose from a fight! That species is not for the faint of heart. As we went up and up and the mountain, we saw some incredible views too. I got some pictures, but I really don't think I was able to truly capture how awesome it was. After that experience, we left and headed back to the bus. Luckily it didn't rain all day, even though it was supposed to! It was a really fun, albeit random, place to travel to.
Today, I went to the contemporary art museum - that was an experience for sure. To be perfectly honest, I really did not get most of the art that was there. I liked the photography though. A lot of it actually had American captions and took place on American backdrops, with signs and things in the background all written in English. The museum was very much out in the middle of nowhere in an old monastery, but it was a nice thing to do on a Saturday afternoon!
Up next...Hmm, I don't know. Guess you'll just have to check again soon! Thanks for reading :)
Friday, March 5, 2010
ME IN GIBRALTAR WITH A MONKEY ON MY HEAD GOTTA GO BYE
I am half-inclined to offer a prize to anyone who comes up with the best caption for this photo, but that would require me to give one of you some kind of reward, and I probably would not follow through on that. Don't want to get your hopes up.
In general, Gibraltar was AWESOME. more later I promise!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
When you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done.
From now on, I am deliberately setting out to have at least one awkward moment with Spanish a day. I am just literally going to say whatever pops into my head, talk to anyone, and ask the dumb questions that my pride has been holding back. At the end of the semester, I'll be fluent. So, that's the plan. I'll let you know how it goes. I think things are about to get a bit more interesting!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Tio Pepe, the uncle I never knew I had.
This weekend marks the annual celebration of dia de Andalucia, the region of spain that I am in. The actual holiday was yesterday (Sunday), but the Spaniards jump on any chance they get to shut things down and siesta, so everything was closed down today. The long weekend gave everyone the chance to travel, but I stuck around with a few others and am very glad that I did. I really needed the weekend to just collect myself and had the chance to go explore some parts of Sevilla that I hadn’t seen yet. My senora Yolanda and roommate were both gone all weekend, so I had the apartment all to myself! I watched movies and laid around eating for most of the weekend and it was fantastic.
On Friday, some friends and I set out to have a really Spanish day, and I think it was pretty successful! We went to the movies and saw Princess and the Frog, the new Disney movie – we figured they’d talk slower in a children’s movie. We got palomitas (popcorn!) and crowded into the theater, which oddly had assigned seats. It was a pretty good deal for the whole experience, about six euro. After that, we went to a play put on by students of the University of Sevilla. It was a two-person show about two children whose fathers had gone off to war, and the play depicted the effects of the war on the children through the way they played and interacted. I thought it was pretty clever.
Yesterday, I tried to go to mass again. I liked it a little more than last time. I went to the University mass this time around, which was all right. No singing again, which bothers me. There were cell phones going off and people talking and many other distractions, which I am beginning to suspect might just be a norm at mass here. The church itself was much less gaudy than the first one, which was nice. However, I am still looking for my church!
After mass, I had some time to kill before I met up with some friends for exploring, so I found a little park and ate there. I hung out there eating and reading for a bit, and I was even asked for directions by a Spaniard! I am sooo legitimate. So once all the eating and reading and directing was done, I found my friends and we went to the Plaza de Espana, which I think is the most impressive thing I’ve seen in Sevilla next to the Catedral. Plaza de Espana was built in the 30s-ish when Sevilla hosted the World Fair, or something like that, and it was just amazing. An enormous plaza with different tiles at least ten feet tall, each depicting a different city in Spain. Pictures soon!
Today, out of a little bit of boredom and a lot of a bit of a desire to experience a bodega (winery), Becky, Lauren, Emily and I hopped on a bus and went to Jerez, a town about an hour south of here that is considered part of the pueblos blancos. It’s known for its sherries, and the bodega we toured did not disappoint. We toured Gonzalez Byass, where Tio Pepe comes from – a type of wine (sherry? Same thing? Maybe? Clearly I learned a lot today…) Tio Pepe is one of Spain’s biggest exports, so it was a pretty big deal. The tour was a blast – we rode a train around the bodega, and the weather was beautiful, and there was a wine tasting at the end which we all very much enjoyed. We spent the rest of the day just wandering Jerez, although there was not much to do there as they were celebrating dia de Andalucia too. It was a good way to spend a day off, I think.
We have a short three-day week of classes this week, and then on Friday I am headed to Gibraltar for the day! Pictures with monkeys soon to follow.
On Friday, some friends and I set out to have a really Spanish day, and I think it was pretty successful! We went to the movies and saw Princess and the Frog, the new Disney movie – we figured they’d talk slower in a children’s movie. We got palomitas (popcorn!) and crowded into the theater, which oddly had assigned seats. It was a pretty good deal for the whole experience, about six euro. After that, we went to a play put on by students of the University of Sevilla. It was a two-person show about two children whose fathers had gone off to war, and the play depicted the effects of the war on the children through the way they played and interacted. I thought it was pretty clever.
Yesterday, I tried to go to mass again. I liked it a little more than last time. I went to the University mass this time around, which was all right. No singing again, which bothers me. There were cell phones going off and people talking and many other distractions, which I am beginning to suspect might just be a norm at mass here. The church itself was much less gaudy than the first one, which was nice. However, I am still looking for my church!
After mass, I had some time to kill before I met up with some friends for exploring, so I found a little park and ate there. I hung out there eating and reading for a bit, and I was even asked for directions by a Spaniard! I am sooo legitimate. So once all the eating and reading and directing was done, I found my friends and we went to the Plaza de Espana, which I think is the most impressive thing I’ve seen in Sevilla next to the Catedral. Plaza de Espana was built in the 30s-ish when Sevilla hosted the World Fair, or something like that, and it was just amazing. An enormous plaza with different tiles at least ten feet tall, each depicting a different city in Spain. Pictures soon!
Today, out of a little bit of boredom and a lot of a bit of a desire to experience a bodega (winery), Becky, Lauren, Emily and I hopped on a bus and went to Jerez, a town about an hour south of here that is considered part of the pueblos blancos. It’s known for its sherries, and the bodega we toured did not disappoint. We toured Gonzalez Byass, where Tio Pepe comes from – a type of wine (sherry? Same thing? Maybe? Clearly I learned a lot today…) Tio Pepe is one of Spain’s biggest exports, so it was a pretty big deal. The tour was a blast – we rode a train around the bodega, and the weather was beautiful, and there was a wine tasting at the end which we all very much enjoyed. We spent the rest of the day just wandering Jerez, although there was not much to do there as they were celebrating dia de Andalucia too. It was a good way to spend a day off, I think.
We have a short three-day week of classes this week, and then on Friday I am headed to Gibraltar for the day! Pictures with monkeys soon to follow.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Rain in Spain is a Great Big Pain.
I think that perhaps as soon as I typed the words “weather is getting beautiful” in my last post, the weather changed. Last week was day after day of torrential downpour, relentless wind, and horrible lack of sun. I am a self-diagnosed sufferer of seasonal affective disorder, so the weather hit me particularly hard. Just as the sun refused to rise, ever, so did my mood. But I realized that I was being quite the Debbie Downer, and luckily we had some nice weather this past weekend in Granada and have had nice weather so far this week, so I am feeling much better.
Last weekend we went to Granada, and it was absolutely incredible. It has a much more visible Muslim influence than Sevilla does, especially in the architecture and remaining monuments around the city. I loved the architecture in particular, especially at La Alhambra, a colossal palace on the top of a mountain. Granada itself is primarily built into the sides of mountains and the valley in between them. It has snow-capped mountains in the distance and daunting hills that most avoid walking up. Instead, people take minibuses to get around, but as you go up into the mountains, the streets become narrower. It felt like a roller coaster, and for only 1.20! The bus drivers are truly of another breed; I would not be able to handle the stress of jamming as many people onto the bus as humanly possible and then being responsible for careening them all through streets so narrow, there is literally a centimeter between the buildings lining them and the side of the bus.
Last weekend was also the first time that Caroline and I met Yolanda’s son, Claudio, who took the train home from University of Madrid for the weekend. I personally loved having him here; he is Patrick’s age, so it felt more like home having a little brother in the house. It was so interesting to observe the mother-son relationship; Yolanda kept reminding him to wear his jacket and reaching over the dinner table to cut his food for him. She also had a welcome home sign for him in the kitchen; much like my family always does for me whenever I come home! She was visibly excited to see him; on Thursday night, he had some friends over and she called us all into the kitchen and poured us some wine for a toast to Claudio’s return. It was really precious. That dinner was also really interesting to be a part of; Claudio and his friends were talking so fast! I noticed that Yolanda made him dinner but not his friends, so they just sat in the kitchen talking to him while he ate. They didn’t seem to mind; this must be a customary thing. I was looking forward to hearing them talk a lot the next day at lunch, but I think Claudio was a little resaca (hungover) because he was not so talkative!
So we had two beautiful days in Granada, and got back Sunday night. This weekend is a long weekend, for Día de Andalucia. Many people are clearing out on their first excursions independent of the program, but I am staying here because I rarely have my act together and certainly was not able to plan a trip myself for so early in the program. I am actually looking forward to my quiet weekend here like no other. Some friends and I might take a trip to wine country for the day on Friday (weather permitting), and I might try to go see a dance show on Friday, but the weekend is pretty much free and clear otherwise. I am looking forward to being able to explore Sevilla without trying to squeeze in the sights in between classes and homework! Granada was beautiful, but it made me eager to see all the things that I still have not seen here. However, if you want to see those things that I have seen so far, click below!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026463&id=1391040171&l=eea5b09a4e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026464&id=1391040171&l=326433ca5e
Last weekend we went to Granada, and it was absolutely incredible. It has a much more visible Muslim influence than Sevilla does, especially in the architecture and remaining monuments around the city. I loved the architecture in particular, especially at La Alhambra, a colossal palace on the top of a mountain. Granada itself is primarily built into the sides of mountains and the valley in between them. It has snow-capped mountains in the distance and daunting hills that most avoid walking up. Instead, people take minibuses to get around, but as you go up into the mountains, the streets become narrower. It felt like a roller coaster, and for only 1.20! The bus drivers are truly of another breed; I would not be able to handle the stress of jamming as many people onto the bus as humanly possible and then being responsible for careening them all through streets so narrow, there is literally a centimeter between the buildings lining them and the side of the bus.
Last weekend was also the first time that Caroline and I met Yolanda’s son, Claudio, who took the train home from University of Madrid for the weekend. I personally loved having him here; he is Patrick’s age, so it felt more like home having a little brother in the house. It was so interesting to observe the mother-son relationship; Yolanda kept reminding him to wear his jacket and reaching over the dinner table to cut his food for him. She also had a welcome home sign for him in the kitchen; much like my family always does for me whenever I come home! She was visibly excited to see him; on Thursday night, he had some friends over and she called us all into the kitchen and poured us some wine for a toast to Claudio’s return. It was really precious. That dinner was also really interesting to be a part of; Claudio and his friends were talking so fast! I noticed that Yolanda made him dinner but not his friends, so they just sat in the kitchen talking to him while he ate. They didn’t seem to mind; this must be a customary thing. I was looking forward to hearing them talk a lot the next day at lunch, but I think Claudio was a little resaca (hungover) because he was not so talkative!
So we had two beautiful days in Granada, and got back Sunday night. This weekend is a long weekend, for Día de Andalucia. Many people are clearing out on their first excursions independent of the program, but I am staying here because I rarely have my act together and certainly was not able to plan a trip myself for so early in the program. I am actually looking forward to my quiet weekend here like no other. Some friends and I might take a trip to wine country for the day on Friday (weather permitting), and I might try to go see a dance show on Friday, but the weekend is pretty much free and clear otherwise. I am looking forward to being able to explore Sevilla without trying to squeeze in the sights in between classes and homework! Granada was beautiful, but it made me eager to see all the things that I still have not seen here. However, if you want to see those things that I have seen so far, click below!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026463&id=1391040171&l=eea5b09a4e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026464&id=1391040171&l=326433ca5e
Sunday, February 14, 2010
MIA
My impeccable record of consistent blogging has been interrupted by my lack of having a computer! Welcome to Spain, McIntyre, where Dell does not exist, free computers are available to you only between classes and only on Mondays through Thursdays, and everybody else seems to have perpetually perfect computers and to have never had computer problems, making you the pioneer in this country to have them. This issue, slowly but surely, has been kicking my butt as classes have started, communication with loved ones has decreased to a frustrating rate, and I am recognizing that it is damn near impossible to figure out how to fix a broken computer without the use of one to find a place to go. On the other hand, I believe it has been a blessing. I knew all along that I had gotten too used to having America be too accessible, as well as the vice versa. I have taken this situation to be a subtle reminder to get out more.
so, i update you: real classes have started. i have two at the ciee study center and two at the university, though the ones at the university are with all american students as well. all classes are conducting in spanish, which has made my phonetics class, a field in which i have had class for a week now and still don´t quite understand what it entails. i am told by classmates that the only way this class will make sense is if i have a background with at least one class in phonetics. Uh, well, I don´t. So that should be interesting. My flamenco class is amazing. We are currently studying the five types of flamenco music, and my professor teaches through his guitar and rythmic clapping that makes me feel as ifI actually have some level of musical inclination past listening. My two CIEE classes are very interesting as well. One is a social justice practicum that includes the most interesting readings on human rights ever, as well as a volunteer component. we are picking our service sites this week and going into the community beginning next week. I cannot wait. My other CIEE class studies literature of marginalized societies and is taught by a crazy woman with big frizzy hair who doesn´t make a whole lot of sense (and i don´t think she would even if she were speaking english) but whom i have already come to adore. So those two classes and phonetics are all back to back, guaranteeing that I am hauling it from ciee to the university in a twenty minute time frame twice a week. However, flamenco is my only class on mondays and wednesdays, and no class on fridays, so i cannot complain.
The past two weekends I have done a bit of traveling, with friends and with CIEE, to some pretty incredible stuff. Last weekend we went hiking to Spain´s version of stonehenge, which was fun. Yesterday, I went to Aracena, a small town that I knew little about and didn´t get to spend much time in, but loved. This reminds me, Dave give me my postcard back. Anyway,Aracena is home to las grutas de maravillas, this really cool set of caves! So we toured the caves and that was a blast. We also saw some mine, which was actually pretty cool. A very geological day. Can´t say I´ve ever used that word to describe a day before. The mine is situated on a naturally exisiting lake called the rio tinto because the minerals of the rocks around it have filtered in, making the water blood red. After that little jaunt yesterday, we got on another bus to Cadiz, a coastal town that is famous for its Carnaval celebrations. Three friends and I dressed up as the four seasons, which I thought was pretty creative. Wish I could take credit for it. I unfortunately only took one picture, I am terrible about that, but I will maybe jack some off Facebook to give you kids a taste. It was a great night that I got home from at seven thirty this morning, which my senora says is typical and I should start getting used to.
As for my own immersion experience, I am still working on it. in the next few weeks, i will be starting an intercambio, where i meet with a student from the university of sevilla who is studying english, and we practice my spanish and her english. depending on how that goes, i might try to get another one. i am also starting volunteering soon, which i am so psyched for. i also might try to audit a university class (with real live spaniards, gasp) if my schedule allows it. I am working on it. i am still trying to find my favorite place in the city, though i am thinking it is this plaza near my house that is apparently the place where the young college kids and locals hang out. It is lined with coffee shops, bars that host live music nightly, and ice cream places. The cool spaniards have good taste. I have spent the past month in many bars and clubs that are far more american than spaniard, but i think i may have found where all the spaniards flee to. i hope they don´t mind.
travel plans for semana santa, my first of two spring breaks, are coming together. i will be in rome, florence, and santorini greece, and will be home with enough time to enjoy the end of semana santa as well. Semana santa is the weeklong easter celebration here that i have heard is pretty much the same thing each day. there is a schedule of processions, during which the different holy catholic brotherhoods process toward the catedral in the center of the city. at the end of the week, it is easter. I am definitely excited that I will be able to see part of this week. One of the processions is starting from my apartment building! Though I doubt i´ll be here for it. It was actually a pretty eerie night when I figured out that one of the processions was starting here. I was in the kitchen and heard a huge commotion outside the kitchen window. I looked outside and honest to god i thought a cult was meeting. About fifty men or more were all filing into a garage on the ground floor of the building, wearing shirts tied to their heads that were similar to turbans, but tied in a way that i had never seen before. I feel bad about saying this, but I got a little nervous. I just literally had no clue what was going on. I kept watching, and all of a sudden i saw this enormous wooden structure moving out of the garage. It was moving by the help of at least forty men under it carrying it. Each procession for Semana santa carries one of these wooden structures, which by semana santa resemble an altar I believe. I realized that these men were practicing for semana santa, and once I realized that, it was a very cool experience.
Next weekend we are going to granada, which I am excited about! classes are also getting rolling. hopefully some travel plans will come together as well. I caved and gave into the shoe sales a little bit this past week. hopefully i will have stronger willpower this week.
weather is getting BEAUTIFUL, unbelievable, although we are definitely not out of the cold weather yet. however, when it is warm, which it was about three or four days last week, it is sixty and not a cloud in the sky. Though I am definitely jealous about missing the five day snovafest happening at villanova right now, i am more pleased that i am essentially skipping winter, my least favorite season by far. I can run outside along the river in shorts and a t shirt, and i pretty much smirk the entire way because i feel like a champ for missing winter!
so, i update you: real classes have started. i have two at the ciee study center and two at the university, though the ones at the university are with all american students as well. all classes are conducting in spanish, which has made my phonetics class, a field in which i have had class for a week now and still don´t quite understand what it entails. i am told by classmates that the only way this class will make sense is if i have a background with at least one class in phonetics. Uh, well, I don´t. So that should be interesting. My flamenco class is amazing. We are currently studying the five types of flamenco music, and my professor teaches through his guitar and rythmic clapping that makes me feel as ifI actually have some level of musical inclination past listening. My two CIEE classes are very interesting as well. One is a social justice practicum that includes the most interesting readings on human rights ever, as well as a volunteer component. we are picking our service sites this week and going into the community beginning next week. I cannot wait. My other CIEE class studies literature of marginalized societies and is taught by a crazy woman with big frizzy hair who doesn´t make a whole lot of sense (and i don´t think she would even if she were speaking english) but whom i have already come to adore. So those two classes and phonetics are all back to back, guaranteeing that I am hauling it from ciee to the university in a twenty minute time frame twice a week. However, flamenco is my only class on mondays and wednesdays, and no class on fridays, so i cannot complain.
The past two weekends I have done a bit of traveling, with friends and with CIEE, to some pretty incredible stuff. Last weekend we went hiking to Spain´s version of stonehenge, which was fun. Yesterday, I went to Aracena, a small town that I knew little about and didn´t get to spend much time in, but loved. This reminds me, Dave give me my postcard back. Anyway,Aracena is home to las grutas de maravillas, this really cool set of caves! So we toured the caves and that was a blast. We also saw some mine, which was actually pretty cool. A very geological day. Can´t say I´ve ever used that word to describe a day before. The mine is situated on a naturally exisiting lake called the rio tinto because the minerals of the rocks around it have filtered in, making the water blood red. After that little jaunt yesterday, we got on another bus to Cadiz, a coastal town that is famous for its Carnaval celebrations. Three friends and I dressed up as the four seasons, which I thought was pretty creative. Wish I could take credit for it. I unfortunately only took one picture, I am terrible about that, but I will maybe jack some off Facebook to give you kids a taste. It was a great night that I got home from at seven thirty this morning, which my senora says is typical and I should start getting used to.
As for my own immersion experience, I am still working on it. in the next few weeks, i will be starting an intercambio, where i meet with a student from the university of sevilla who is studying english, and we practice my spanish and her english. depending on how that goes, i might try to get another one. i am also starting volunteering soon, which i am so psyched for. i also might try to audit a university class (with real live spaniards, gasp) if my schedule allows it. I am working on it. i am still trying to find my favorite place in the city, though i am thinking it is this plaza near my house that is apparently the place where the young college kids and locals hang out. It is lined with coffee shops, bars that host live music nightly, and ice cream places. The cool spaniards have good taste. I have spent the past month in many bars and clubs that are far more american than spaniard, but i think i may have found where all the spaniards flee to. i hope they don´t mind.
travel plans for semana santa, my first of two spring breaks, are coming together. i will be in rome, florence, and santorini greece, and will be home with enough time to enjoy the end of semana santa as well. Semana santa is the weeklong easter celebration here that i have heard is pretty much the same thing each day. there is a schedule of processions, during which the different holy catholic brotherhoods process toward the catedral in the center of the city. at the end of the week, it is easter. I am definitely excited that I will be able to see part of this week. One of the processions is starting from my apartment building! Though I doubt i´ll be here for it. It was actually a pretty eerie night when I figured out that one of the processions was starting here. I was in the kitchen and heard a huge commotion outside the kitchen window. I looked outside and honest to god i thought a cult was meeting. About fifty men or more were all filing into a garage on the ground floor of the building, wearing shirts tied to their heads that were similar to turbans, but tied in a way that i had never seen before. I feel bad about saying this, but I got a little nervous. I just literally had no clue what was going on. I kept watching, and all of a sudden i saw this enormous wooden structure moving out of the garage. It was moving by the help of at least forty men under it carrying it. Each procession for Semana santa carries one of these wooden structures, which by semana santa resemble an altar I believe. I realized that these men were practicing for semana santa, and once I realized that, it was a very cool experience.
Next weekend we are going to granada, which I am excited about! classes are also getting rolling. hopefully some travel plans will come together as well. I caved and gave into the shoe sales a little bit this past week. hopefully i will have stronger willpower this week.
weather is getting BEAUTIFUL, unbelievable, although we are definitely not out of the cold weather yet. however, when it is warm, which it was about three or four days last week, it is sixty and not a cloud in the sky. Though I am definitely jealous about missing the five day snovafest happening at villanova right now, i am more pleased that i am essentially skipping winter, my least favorite season by far. I can run outside along the river in shorts and a t shirt, and i pretty much smirk the entire way because i feel like a champ for missing winter!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Went to mass today. It was kind of weird. Can I say that? Whatever. Anyway, considering that there are at least three churches within a five-minute stroll from my house, I chose not to repeat my Catedral confusion of last weekend and aim a little lower to go to a small, local church. I chose Capilla de San Lorenzo, which is in a plaza about two minutes from my house. First of all, it took me way too long to find the entrance because, for whatever reason, there is another Catholic church in the exact same plaza. They are so close together that they are literally touching. It is just like when gas stations pop up next to each other, competing for the most patronizers. This made for way too many big wooden doors on the plaza. When I finally found the one I was looking for, I walked into the church. At this point, it was about 7:25 and mass would be starting at 7:30. Given this, I was somewhat surprised at the amount of kids running around and people snapping pictures. Was I mistaken? Was this church no longer fit to hold mass and just there to mark history? Thankfully, this was not the case; I saw an older couple take a seat in the pews and followed their lead. I waited for the rest of the congregation to arrive. Well, it is now about twenty minutes after the mass has ended, and I am still waiting. As someone who has only attended churches with at least 100, typically more, people at a mass, I was not a fan of being a part of a congregation this small. Overall, there were about ten of us present, not including the tourists snapping pictures who would come and go as they pleased throughout the mass. Sounds distracting? Perhaps, but I was already distracted. The other thing that I was not a huge fan of was how this entire church was literally shellacked in gold and silver. Though I imagine this technique had the awe-inspiring effect it was going for back at this church's inception, it kind of just looked gaudy to me. Truthfully, I spent most of the mass captivated by a ten-foot-tall Jesus figurine who appeared to be holding a life-size aluminum spatula and a glittering snowboard. I really liked the father who said mass (as in I could understand most of what he said), but I don't think I will be returning to this one. While that may sound pessimistic of me, I am actually pretty excited about it. I've decided I'm going to try a new church every week, because what I am looking for is the feeling that I get when I am at the Villanova masses. This church was nice, it was a house of God, it had good people in it, but it just didn't do it for me. Especially because there was no singing. Next week I might try the convent around the corner, or maybe the university. Part of me hopes I don't find my favorite church too fast, because I am excited to visit different ones and compare them. Am also looking to get back into running in the next coming week. I don't have class until six, and I should really take advantage of it. Tomorrow I am going to Cordoba! It has a cathedral inside a mosque and one of only two synagogues in Spain. And hopefully good shopping.
Pictures below:
239. Orange trees EVERYWHERE, literally EVERYWHERE
287. The baths at Real Alcazar, a palace in Sevilla.
224. Climbed a tower in the Cathedral, saw this.
198. This is the Catedral. Just to give you some idea of how absolutely massive this place is. It's the third largest cathedral in the world!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Staying busy
Last night after class, I went to a flamenco bar with Caroline and Mac & Co. For lack of a better word, it was so cool. It was about two minutes from the CIEE center, but hidden back in an alley. Caroline and I had a little trouble finding it, but some strangers saw us looking confused and just said, "it's that way," without us even saying where we were going. Que Americana. So we finally found this place and walked into an almost empty room, but then we walked a bit further and found this huge room at the back that was packed of people standing and sitting and talking and drinking, all turned toward the flamenco stage at the very front of the room. It was amazing how social and loud the place was, but as soon as the male flamenco-er (I am sure there is a better word for this) stood up, closed his eyes, and started clapping softly or singing (or hissing "shh!"), the room immediately fell into a silence that I can honestly only describe as reverent. There is so much about flamenco that I do not understand, but when my host mother refers to it as "un flamenco espectáculo," I absolutely know why. While the American:Spaniard ratio was a bit more than I would have liked, this place felt very authentic and I definitely want to frequent it more.
I have been trying to just explore as much as I can. On Sunday I tried to go to mass at the Cathedral, but I think i read the schedule wrong or something because I never ended up finding it. The afternoon just turned into a long walk through the city and along the river, which of course I can't complain about. It was an absolutely beautiful day and all the people were out, just relaxing. There was one moment when I was walking down the street and a bunch of people were gathered around a street harpist just listening, and I got a small glimpse of realization that, holy crap, I actually love it here.
I am also not as nervous as I used to be for meals with my senora. I have a perpetual aversion to silences and always try to fill them, and in past days this has frustrated me because I simply do not know enough words to carry on a conversation as I would in English. However, I noticed today that I am becoming just a little bit more comfortable with speaking during lunch. Also, when there are silences, they do not bother me as much anymore. They're not as awkward as I had originally thought. They're comfortable and relaxed, much like a lot of the culture here. I know that a big flaw of mine is that sometimes I just need to chill out and loosen up, and I can see how this country can teach me to do that.
First night of intensive Spanish class was last night; it was really fun and a good group of people. I am not so afraid to speak in class. I'm accepting that for a while, I am just going to completely butcher this language in my attempt to learn it. My professor is very nice and started us with the basics, like really basic, we're talkin' ser v. estar. But I actually did learn last night, and what I already knew kind of reinforced that I know more than I think I do.
All in all, getting adjusted, slowly but surely. I am trying to do and experience as much as I can to help the process along, staying busy. Thanks for bearing with me. Thank you so much to anyone who has emailed or messaged me. Even if I haven't yet gotten a chance to respond, it brightens my days even more hearing what you all are up to.
Un abrazo!
I have been trying to just explore as much as I can. On Sunday I tried to go to mass at the Cathedral, but I think i read the schedule wrong or something because I never ended up finding it. The afternoon just turned into a long walk through the city and along the river, which of course I can't complain about. It was an absolutely beautiful day and all the people were out, just relaxing. There was one moment when I was walking down the street and a bunch of people were gathered around a street harpist just listening, and I got a small glimpse of realization that, holy crap, I actually love it here.
I am also not as nervous as I used to be for meals with my senora. I have a perpetual aversion to silences and always try to fill them, and in past days this has frustrated me because I simply do not know enough words to carry on a conversation as I would in English. However, I noticed today that I am becoming just a little bit more comfortable with speaking during lunch. Also, when there are silences, they do not bother me as much anymore. They're not as awkward as I had originally thought. They're comfortable and relaxed, much like a lot of the culture here. I know that a big flaw of mine is that sometimes I just need to chill out and loosen up, and I can see how this country can teach me to do that.
First night of intensive Spanish class was last night; it was really fun and a good group of people. I am not so afraid to speak in class. I'm accepting that for a while, I am just going to completely butcher this language in my attempt to learn it. My professor is very nice and started us with the basics, like really basic, we're talkin' ser v. estar. But I actually did learn last night, and what I already knew kind of reinforced that I know more than I think I do.
All in all, getting adjusted, slowly but surely. I am trying to do and experience as much as I can to help the process along, staying busy. Thanks for bearing with me. Thank you so much to anyone who has emailed or messaged me. Even if I haven't yet gotten a chance to respond, it brightens my days even more hearing what you all are up to.
Un abrazo!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Little Victories.
At this point, I have walked to school entirely by myself on two, count 'em, two separate occasions in varying degrees of weather. You'd better believe I felt invincible each time. I'm still entirely off my game, don't get me wrong, but at least I can get from A to B.
We had an info sesh today about registration that was peppered with what I would call forceful encouragement to speak Spanish all the time, everywhere, think in Spanish, read in Spanish, shower in Spanish, breathe in Spanish. I am so impressed with CIEE. They seem to have pinpointed the places where students might get lazy or forget how motivated we were before we came here to really be fluent and revert back to English, just floating through the semester. But it's so true - it is absolutely possible to learn an entire language in four months, and I've got about six years backing me up. I really want to try while I'm here, because I really want to kick Spanish's ass. My friend Sarah told me about the girl who stayed in her homestay before her, whom she met when the girl came back to pick up her luggage the other day that she'd left at the homestay while traveling for a few weeks. (That was an abysmal sentence.) Anyway, the girl told Sarah that she began the program in the lowest language level, but was speaking with her senora like she was part of the family by the end of this. It clearly is going to take work. Even though I am still so tempted to just skype all the time, and go to starbucks, and listen to my american music (the irony of the fact that I have listened to Party in the USA every morning is not lost on me), I just have to keep trying. Immersion is no joke, it's exhausting to be sure, but I have to keep reminding myself that it's what I want, it's what I chose back way before I was homesick and vulnerable and surrounded by everything new. Anyway, CIEE has been great. I think it's really going to help me. For some reason, all these great people have come together to teach some dirty Americans how to be a little less American. It's something to take advantage of!
We had an info sesh today about registration that was peppered with what I would call forceful encouragement to speak Spanish all the time, everywhere, think in Spanish, read in Spanish, shower in Spanish, breathe in Spanish. I am so impressed with CIEE. They seem to have pinpointed the places where students might get lazy or forget how motivated we were before we came here to really be fluent and revert back to English, just floating through the semester. But it's so true - it is absolutely possible to learn an entire language in four months, and I've got about six years backing me up. I really want to try while I'm here, because I really want to kick Spanish's ass. My friend Sarah told me about the girl who stayed in her homestay before her, whom she met when the girl came back to pick up her luggage the other day that she'd left at the homestay while traveling for a few weeks. (That was an abysmal sentence.) Anyway, the girl told Sarah that she began the program in the lowest language level, but was speaking with her senora like she was part of the family by the end of this. It clearly is going to take work. Even though I am still so tempted to just skype all the time, and go to starbucks, and listen to my american music (the irony of the fact that I have listened to Party in the USA every morning is not lost on me), I just have to keep trying. Immersion is no joke, it's exhausting to be sure, but I have to keep reminding myself that it's what I want, it's what I chose back way before I was homesick and vulnerable and surrounded by everything new. Anyway, CIEE has been great. I think it's really going to help me. For some reason, all these great people have come together to teach some dirty Americans how to be a little less American. It's something to take advantage of!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Everyone smiles in the same language.
Props for the above gem to Anne Hannan. It's been my motto so far. I realize that last post was vague on all counts. To give a bit more information about, i dunna, everything, I moved into my homestay yesterday. Sevilla is broken up into neighborhoods and I am in el centro, which I was initially excited for because the name implies that it is in the very center of the city, which would be close to absolutely everything that I could ever need. I actually couldn't be farther, but that's fine; I am getting to know more of the city this way. No 45 minute walk is gonna hold me down. Although I am going to need to step up the sass a bit I think. People are friendly when you approach them, but the typical look is more, i dunna, pissed off. Not entirely sure I am going to be able to adapt if I don't assume that Sevilla swagger. Anyway, I have a senora for my homestay. She looks very young, although everybody here does; she has a 19 year old son named Claudio who is at University of Madrid. I am in his old room. As I sit here typing under the soft light of the paper dragon that covers pretty much the entire span of the ceiling, I am realizing it is such a boy's room, it is hilarious. All his star wars and game boy crap is in all the drawers, and it makes me think of Patrick and how my mom keeps all his crap too. My senora, Yolanda, is very sweet, but I am pretty sure she thinks I'm a huge idiot. That's probably because anytime I try to talk, I get the nervous ha-ha's and giggle like a monkey. I am not entirely relaxed here yet. I feel like since language isn't always the clearest way of communication right now, I'm hyper-sensitive to everything else. Oh! Story. I was picked up for my homestay yesterday morning (Wednesday). I was sitting in the lobby with my bags all packed, knees shaking and chin quivering because of course I was nervous. Apparently, they gave Yolanda the wrong Elizabeth. I asked one of the CIEE coordinators wha'sup, and she looked at her paper, another coordinator looked at her paper, they looked at each other, their jaws dropped, and they booked it out of the hotel suddenly to get the wrong Elizabeth. Two seconds later, they were grabbing my bags and running away and I was running and I had to cross the street and I couldn't carry all my bags and it was awkward. Broke the ice. So I am here, and I have internet thankfully, and my own room. Oh! That's another thing, there is another girl from the program living here with me. Which is great, because it takes the pressure off each of us a little bit. It has been really good to have somebody to figure things out with.
It's been kind of hard figuring out how to go out with friends since we literally live all over the city, and I didn't have a phone until today. I was still able to a couple of times; the program took us to tapas, and last night we went to a discoteque even though I am pretty sure it actually wasn't. I am not sure what the difference is exactly, so I'm going to wait to back that one up until I have some better evidence other than me being pretty sure. But it is also hard to go out because we are so far from everything. I'm going to figure out how to meet up with other people from my neighborhood. The next time I see them. Whenever that is. Because I have no way of contacting them. currently, my spanish mom is getting ready to go out. Hopefully I do not disappoint her by consistently being uncool and will get on her level soon.
Being here, and being me, I have had my share of little misdemeanors; "general blunderings," as says Victoria Stork. For example, in my interview for class placement yesterday I believe that I said at Villanova, for break trips we like to "give services" of the Pretty Woman kind, not of the community service kind. Oops. My host mom thinks I'm a moron, covered that one. I gave a cab driver ten euro for a ride that cost three because I thought he said trece. It took me, three other people, and three maps two hours to get home last night from a location that my host mom has informed me is twenty minutes away. I cannot figure out my way in this city for the life of me. But I'll get it down. I am becoming so aware of how necessary it is to be proactive in everything here. I need to spend free time talking to Yolanda, as painful as it is to constantly scramble for words when I've never had many issues expressing myself before. The program has a lot of enrichment opportunities, and I want to take advantage of all of them. I need to meet Spaniards, which will be a tough one; I could easily stick to the people in my program, all of whom I speak English with. They're all cool, too! Dammit. I am happy about that, though; it seems that we have (mostly) all come here to really get immersed and (pretend to) be Spanish for a few months. It is my biggest fear that I waste the opportunity of being here.
I am doing okay with being away. I am homesick for friends and family; so homesick for Jackson 303 since that's both. But I do love hearing updates from everyone. It honestly does not make me sad or feel like I'm missing out; I am truly happy to hear when people are having a good time. I hope you all realize that even though I'm here, I'm still here for you. This is going to be a beautiful experience that I wish I could share. (guess that's what the point of a blog is, to try.)
It's been kind of hard figuring out how to go out with friends since we literally live all over the city, and I didn't have a phone until today. I was still able to a couple of times; the program took us to tapas, and last night we went to a discoteque even though I am pretty sure it actually wasn't. I am not sure what the difference is exactly, so I'm going to wait to back that one up until I have some better evidence other than me being pretty sure. But it is also hard to go out because we are so far from everything. I'm going to figure out how to meet up with other people from my neighborhood. The next time I see them. Whenever that is. Because I have no way of contacting them. currently, my spanish mom is getting ready to go out. Hopefully I do not disappoint her by consistently being uncool and will get on her level soon.
Being here, and being me, I have had my share of little misdemeanors; "general blunderings," as says Victoria Stork. For example, in my interview for class placement yesterday I believe that I said at Villanova, for break trips we like to "give services" of the Pretty Woman kind, not of the community service kind. Oops. My host mom thinks I'm a moron, covered that one. I gave a cab driver ten euro for a ride that cost three because I thought he said trece. It took me, three other people, and three maps two hours to get home last night from a location that my host mom has informed me is twenty minutes away. I cannot figure out my way in this city for the life of me. But I'll get it down. I am becoming so aware of how necessary it is to be proactive in everything here. I need to spend free time talking to Yolanda, as painful as it is to constantly scramble for words when I've never had many issues expressing myself before. The program has a lot of enrichment opportunities, and I want to take advantage of all of them. I need to meet Spaniards, which will be a tough one; I could easily stick to the people in my program, all of whom I speak English with. They're all cool, too! Dammit. I am happy about that, though; it seems that we have (mostly) all come here to really get immersed and (pretend to) be Spanish for a few months. It is my biggest fear that I waste the opportunity of being here.
I am doing okay with being away. I am homesick for friends and family; so homesick for Jackson 303 since that's both. But I do love hearing updates from everyone. It honestly does not make me sad or feel like I'm missing out; I am truly happy to hear when people are having a good time. I hope you all realize that even though I'm here, I'm still here for you. This is going to be a beautiful experience that I wish I could share. (guess that's what the point of a blog is, to try.)
SO MUCH, SO MUCH, TAN MUCHO PARA DECIR!! Many realizations in the past, I don't know, three hours. I have always considered myself to be a city girl; even never having lived in one, I have just always felt more comfortable in the city environment. AND this is such a beautiful, fun city. The most beautiful things are such a normal part of life here. Vibrant colors, beautiful plazas, Spanish tiles. But it is still a city, and that in itself does require some adjustment. I try to walk with a sense of purpose, but if anybody's going to say anything to me while passing on the street, it's "hello" because something about me just looks American. We stick out like crazy around here. We could probably make it a little easier on ourselves - not travel in packs, not wear North Faces. But that's kind of who we are, loud pack-travelin' north face-wearin' Americans. And something about us would still stick out. That's the biggest part of this adjustment thus far. I need to get over the fact that I'm not going to truly fit in, ever. I just want to drink it all in for four months. Also, city people are not as friendly as I would have expected! I can't just smile at people on the street like at home. I mean, I can, but it's unreciprocated. It hit me today, as I walked the forty-five minutes (yeah, cool) to the university, that I am actually here. This didn't surprise me, as I tend to have embarrassingly delayed reactions to things like this. I'm actually more surprised that I had an aHA moment within the first four days. Maybe I'm not doomed to be oblivious after all. Anyway, I had another aHA that, as crazy as it sounds, it is actually frighteningly possible to live here for four months and not better my Spanish. More on that later. Actually, more on everything later. I have to go somewhere else now. I'll be back later. That was vague. Sorry. You know about as much as I do about my daily schedule.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Before Shot.
It seems like blogging is very in these days. But think about it. What sounds like a nonsense word actually signifies that somebody is putting themselves out there, their own original or otherwise thoughts. Kind of a big freakin' deal! This blog world is comforting on a few levels - while people tell themselves that a blog is a tool for updating friends and family on one's life while requiring minimal interaction or small talk, I think most people probably harbor not-so-secret desires that strangers will somehow stumble across their blog, people will start a-talkin and a-twitterin and pretty soon, that modest blogging individual has a book deal/is in a fulfilling relationship with the eye candy in the next cubicle who fell in love with her insightful and so bravely public Internet musings/is on the cover of People, etc, etc. There might also be solace in the fact that while many might use the bloggings of another as justification for judgin' and preachin' and hateradin', most people are too lazy to do so. To do this would require filling out a comment box, which is far too complicated to be worth the time of the vast majority. I do not hope that this blog will make me famous or interesting enough to be judged. But, I do hope that a) this blog is entertaining and actually does update friends and family when keeping-in-touch conditions across the pond are less than optimal, and b) that you, please, for the love of all that is good, did not read that entire paragraph.
I have written far too many words about blogging on this, my blog, because I do not yet have much else to write about. I have had four weeks of ass-sitting, plenty of time to look at Facebook pictures of everybody on the planet and develop a dissertation about the work ethic of the Jersey Shore cast (GymTanLaundry. Every! Day!) and that's pretty much it. BUT! Here comes the big 'ol butt. Tomorrow, I am going to Spain! My bags are packed! My bank has been alerted! My Ipod is broken! Clearly, it's jet-settin' ime. Tomorrow, I will get on a plane, and that plane will go to Boston, and in Boston, I will get on a bigger plane, and that plane will go to Madrid, and then I will get on a teeny plane to Sevilla, and then I will pee my pants. And that'll be that.
I feel like it's not very Internet-cool to start blogging about an experience before I have actually embarked on it. Settin' the bar low here with this before shot, I guess. Hmm. Emotions? Got 'em. Packing troubles? You betcha. I would write more on this subject, but I feel that they're pretty standard.
What is the inspiration for your URL, Clever Liz? You may ask. Well, interested follower (you aren't a publisher by any chance, are you?) as is known to those who actually know me, I go to Villanova University. "Villanova" means "new home" in Italian (I think), and over the past two and a half years, that is what it has become. Well I like to think I'm clever so since I am leaving this place and people that I love (LOVE! LOVE! I'M IN LOVE AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!) and am hoping to make Sevilla a new home, I redundantly titled this blog, "new home." Womp Womp. But it didn't have much of a kick to it, so I put it in Spain-ish. So there's that.
Like I said, settin' the bar low.
I have written far too many words about blogging on this, my blog, because I do not yet have much else to write about. I have had four weeks of ass-sitting, plenty of time to look at Facebook pictures of everybody on the planet and develop a dissertation about the work ethic of the Jersey Shore cast (GymTanLaundry. Every! Day!) and that's pretty much it. BUT! Here comes the big 'ol butt. Tomorrow, I am going to Spain! My bags are packed! My bank has been alerted! My Ipod is broken! Clearly, it's jet-settin' ime. Tomorrow, I will get on a plane, and that plane will go to Boston, and in Boston, I will get on a bigger plane, and that plane will go to Madrid, and then I will get on a teeny plane to Sevilla, and then I will pee my pants. And that'll be that.
I feel like it's not very Internet-cool to start blogging about an experience before I have actually embarked on it. Settin' the bar low here with this before shot, I guess. Hmm. Emotions? Got 'em. Packing troubles? You betcha. I would write more on this subject, but I feel that they're pretty standard.
What is the inspiration for your URL, Clever Liz? You may ask. Well, interested follower (you aren't a publisher by any chance, are you?) as is known to those who actually know me, I go to Villanova University. "Villanova" means "new home" in Italian (I think), and over the past two and a half years, that is what it has become. Well I like to think I'm clever so since I am leaving this place and people that I love (LOVE! LOVE! I'M IN LOVE AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!) and am hoping to make Sevilla a new home, I redundantly titled this blog, "new home." Womp Womp. But it didn't have much of a kick to it, so I put it in Spain-ish. So there's that.
Like I said, settin' the bar low.
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