Italy

I traveled to Italy (Rome & Florence) and London a few weeks ago.  It was a crazy week and a half of traveling but with well-planned itineraries the whole voyage went off without a problem!  Here are some photos from Italy, I will post more on London later!  (Thank you to my friends who let me borrow a few of their photos to use in this post!)

Boarding the plane to Italy after lots of anticipation for our traveling!

First day in Rome.  Checked into our hostels then walked outside into the beautiful sunset on the even more beautiful architecture

Zoe and I next to a building that I believe is dedicated to Italian immigration history.

The Pantheon!

Gelato in Italy -- officially AMAZING

Tossing coins into the Trevi Fountain to ensure our return to Rome

Zoe & I walking down the streets of Rome

Zoe and I took a 4 hour train ride from Rome to Florence.  This was what sorts of things we saw out the window!

This photo doesn't capture the beauty of Il Duomo.  The pink and green marble is utterly exquisite.

Spicy pasta "arrabiata"

Impressive camera work by Zoe to get me and this huge building all in one photo

Me next to the Arno River in Florence

My map reading skills have improved significantly since this trip!

Delicious pesto pizza in Florence!!

This was in the Vatican museum.  There was so much art in this museum that if you spend 60 seconds looking at each individual work you would have to spend 7 YEARS in there!! 

River Arno during the day - with Ponte Vecchio

River Arno at night

We journeyed up many steps to the Plaza de Michalangelo to get this view of all of Florence.  It was well worth it!

After 1 day in Florence we went back to Rome, to see the colosseum!

Here is me and Zoe in the Colosseum

We ended our trip with a visit to St. Peter's Square.

Clases!

Classes started yesterday.  I am taking 1 class at the CIEE (my program) building which is a really cool renovated palace with classrooms and a computre lab and offices, and 3 classes at the Universidad de Sevilla.  The classes at the University are for foreign students, so they are comprised of what seems to be 100% American students, although there are some not from my program, so it will still be a chance to meet some new people.  I have 3 classes Monday & Wednesday, and 1 on Tuesday/Thursday. No Friday classes!!!!!!! I think this is the one and only semester I will have such a free schedule.  It doesn't feel right not having labs and my job and CCAK and all the other little things that busy up my day but I definitely cannot complain, and am feeling quite lucky to have this nice break from my usually stressful/hectic class schedule!

Here is the breakdown of how my classes went:

Grammar II: This really couldn't be that interesting, its grammar.  But after being here and trying to speak Spanish all the time I realize I could definitely use some help in this department.  My professor seems like she's nice, and I have 3 friends in the class so we will hopefully be able to collectively figure out what is going on.

Spanish for the Health Professions:  This class seems GREAT. I literally learned so many phrases/tidbits of information that would have been so helpful in the past few weeks.  Who knew that everytime I said to my señora: "Necesito hacer mi tarea" I was really saying "I urgently NEED to do my housework", as opposed to "I have to go do my homework" (Should have said "tengo que hacer mis deberes" The new phrases that are quickly my new best friends are "tengo que..."-"i have to..." "me hace falta" - "i need" and "tengo ganas de" - "I want to/need to/am craving/am in the mood for" Since yesterday when I learned that these are how to express these things in a more normal sounding way I've been using them and the Spaniards are already understanding me better. So I have high hopes for this class.  It also seems like I'll be learning a lot about health care in Spain, and we have 3 lectures by doctors/health professionals during the semester.

Spanish art of the 20th century:  Took me 15 minutes to find the classroom, and we got out 15 minutes later.  Clearly the 1st day of school here is not very crucial.  Basically my teacher went over the syllabus, he seems nice and relaxed though and the material seems interesting

European art of the 20th century:  In the same classroom as Spanish art, so I knew how to get here the second time around.  Once again the professor just went over the syllabus.  This professor took about an hour though, but he seems passionate about the material and nice. We have two 5-10 page papers during the semester, in  addition to the 2 exams, but it might be helpful with not doing poorly in the class to have more than just 2 grades. We'll see.

I think all these classes will be practical and worthwhile, and definitely will be an experience learning it all en español!


Some other highlights of the past week:

did I mention this was the best day ever?

My friends Zoe, Abby, Sarah, and I had a picnic in the plaza de España on Saturday.  We went to el corte ingles, which is the spanish equivalent of a department store with a supermarket and an electronics department and so much more.  We bought peanut butter, grapes, bananas, WHEAT bread, and some cookies and had the best day ever.  It was magical.  The sun was shining, we were full of fiber, and took lots of photos and just enjoyed life, definitely the best day I have had here so far.

The group!

"candid" 

enjoying our feast!!

My señora has made espinaca con garbonzos (my favorite dish here) twice this week!:

This is the closest photo I could find online, not brave enough yet to bring my camera to the table and photograph my meals

  I think she got the hint that I really like it.  Also the pears and oranges here are amazing. They are consistently really juicy and delicious.  They peel pears and apples here though, so I always feel a little barbaric when I just crunch into an apple, skin and all, so I've tried to do it like the Spaniards do when I have time to peel and cut everything up.  I have also learned a really nice and easy way to peel oranges that is quick and not very messy.  You cut off the top and bottom pieces of peel, and then make little incisions all around the side, and then peel them off.  It looks kind of like this:





In other news I am officially going to Rome, London, Mallorca, and Morocco this semester!!  Planning is confusing and stressful but will be very worth it I know.  Lots to look forward to and hopefully I can plan a few more trips in as well.

Hasta luego...

Getting the hang of things.

I have basically been in Sevilla for 2 weeks now, and at my homestay for 1 and a half!  Things are beginning to get more comfortable.  My intensive grammar class has been alright, as of today it is halfway done.  Definitely not quite in the studying mindset after being free of all that for about a month, but our test today wasn't so bad.  We also watched a 3 hour documentary about flamenco...interesting but I am a little flamenco-ed out now! We had to go on our own time to visit the Alcazar, so we could write up a little paper about it:

It was really amazing, and I want to go back as it is something free for students to visit...and when it gets warm I know it will be beautiful to maybe sit out here:

In other important sightseeing news I visited the Cathedral and the Giralda, we had a really good tour guide from CIEE, and it was really crazy being in there! No way to capture the inside in a photo, but it was huge, and I really still don't understand how any of these buildings were ever built! How did they get up so high and carve everything and make it so perfect?? Really awe-inspiring.  Here's the outside:

After we toured the inside of the cathedral we walked up the 34 levels of ramps to get to the top of the Giralda, which boasts the best view of Sevilla.  It's definitely the best  I've seen so far!

After we left we ate our bocadillas (sandwiches) packed by our senoras, since we didn't have time between touring the cathedral and class at 3 to walk all the way back to Triana to eat at home.  We all had essentially the exact same sandwich, meat on a white baguette.  White bread is like an essential part of the diet here.  Breakfast is white bread (usually just with butter, but I've been having the blueberry jam which I brought as a gift for my Señora, but she's just been serving it to me..not complaining though since it's better than butter) and its out at every meal.  

The food at my homestay is for the most part very good.  We had this dish which was spinach and chickpeas and pine nuts steamed with some type of seasoning, it was delicious!  And we have lots of good things like that, but then sometimes, such as last night, I had a really gross essentially raw hamburger...I think sometimes there's just off days with food.  But there are SO many yummy snacks out on the street.  It's been so hard to resist all the gelato and ice cream and cookies and pastries that are in every other store window. It's either that or shoes. But every little dessert I've bought out has been so worth it.  I had a 1.10 euro cone of tiramisu gelato on my walk home from class today. yummy :)

There have been some cool cafes/bars that we've been to.  My friends living in this area and I went to a little cafe and were drinking coffee and these two guys starting playing guitar and tambourine and singing and all the people in the cafe started dancing the Sevilliano dance, which I hope to learn at some point.  Its so funny, even the little kids here are so stylish!  There was this little boy who was maybe 10 years old who was wearing a full out purple outfit, with this fancy watch and a ring, and he was doing this dance really well!  It felt extremely authentic being there/watching, and I guess that's because it was.  Last night friends from Colby were here visiting!! 

Tomorrow I am headed to Granada!  Apparently there has been snow there very recently...I don't like the sound of this, as I did not bring enough warm things with me here.  But, I'm just looking forward to being in a HOTEL.  Maybe a little too excited about that, actually.  I just want to be warm and take a long & hot shower.  We leave at 8:30 AM, so I'll be getting up super early to walk to the bus.  In 12 hours I'll be on the way! 

Internet, finally!

I am writing this from my homestay! I haven't had internet since we left the orientation hotel, and it has been frustrating! But my señora had her son and grandson come to instal a router so now I will have internet here, making life infinitely easier.

It has almost been a week that I've been in Spain!  Orientation is still going on, yet dwindling as we are beginning to work on matriculation for courses today, and have more free time as well. We have done a lot of cool things though, like we went to an authentic flamenco show which was super intense.  I was sitting in the front row and it was very intimate.  The male flamenco dancer wore red patent leather shoes that were used kind of like tap shoes...very interesting.  There was also lots of snapping and noises that the dancers made, and the singing was like nothing I'd heard before.  The female dancer's dress was plain black, while I was expecting something more colorful it was still beautiful.

Flamenco video (it's sideways...sorry):

We also visited Itálica, which was a 20 minute bus ride from Sevilla, to see the ancient Roman ruins there.  It was really beautiful and unbeliveable how well preserved it was, and that people used to live there and had built so much!  This photo is of the amphitheatre pit.

My homestay is nice, I live with an older woman who has grown children and grandchildren who are from ages 10-16 I believe.  She uses a lot of words I don't know so I have to use my dictionary a lot and ask her to repeat things and talk more slowly and explain words.  But I am slowly understanding more.  We have had a lot of different things to eat, beets, lettuce, chicken, hot dogs, bread, stew, pasta...she is a good cook but the style of food is definitely different than what I am used to at home and at school.  I have watched some interesting TV shows with her, and we talk during meals but the TV is always on!  We eat in front of it at a table (which has a space heater under it to keep your legs warm) because it is FREEZING in the houses here.  I need to layer up just to be in here!  They don't have central heating, and even though it is very nice outside, its the opposite inside.  It is funny to see the locals walking around in down coats when I feel like all I need is a sweater.

I have been doing TONS of walking.  I live about 25 minutes from the university, and then another 10 from the CIEE study center. And since everyone goes home to eat, I end up making that walk several times throughout the day.  My legs are so sore!  I have met many people living in my neighborhood though, so its good company to walk back and forth with.

I just still can't get over the fact that people actually live in this beautiful place all the time.  Example: Plaza de España:

  It has to be one of the more amazing buildings/locations I've ever bee to.  Honestly everything here is so pretty and picturesque and the long walks don't matter because its really quite pleasant.  There is so much to say that I don't have time for right now, but I should be able to post here more often now that I have internet! phew.  I am off now to walk around with some friends and find a cafe!

Exploring Sevilla

Today orientation started.  I woke up and had to change rooms, which was a bit confusing but it all got figured out eventually.  I am on the 11th floor of the hotel, which is the top floor, and it has a beautiful view!  I got a big packet of information which looks exciting and we had lunch at the hotel, which was yummy,  and I met some friendly kids from my program.  Zoe and I walked around and explored...we found lots of beautiful buildings and parks nearby, so we must have been walking in the wrong direction last night since we only found banks then.  We saw the Plaza de España which was unbelievable! It was sunny and so warm I didn't even need a sweater, although it is getting chillier now.  I can't believe that I'm here still!  Dinner will be at 8 with smaller orientation groups of 10 people.  I am excited to get to know Sevilla more and also meet more of the students on my program!


Tried to upload a few photos here but it isn't working.

Made it to Sevilla!

Finally I am here in Spain!  It was a long day of traveling and a lot of nervous energy but I safely made it to the orientation hotel with Zoe.  We managed to get a taxi from the Sevilla airport and communicate to some extent with the hotel staff.  Apparently they don't have bellhops here so we struggled carrying our luggage in.  We have been calling the receptionist with lots of questions about where to eat and where to buy phone cards and how to access the internet (as you can see we figured that one out).  I think they may have started ignoring our calls...

Its frustrating when the Spaniards clearly have no idea what I'm trying to say in Spanish but I think thats only natural at the beginning of this experience.  Its scary to just start talking, even when I know what I want to say it doesn't seem to come out right.  So, after Zoe and I finally got to take a shower and nap we went out to find dinner.  I think we must be in the business/apartment/bank area of Sevilla because there weren't many restaurants, let alone ones that were open on Sunday.  After a little wandering we found a Chinese buffet, which was confusing to say the least.  But it was fairly crowded with locals so we assumed it must be okay.  Once again we tried to ask the hostess how everything work and got some blank stares and speedy responses that I couldn't understand in return.  So, we are now back in our room and going to go to bed soon, and are awaiting orientation starting tomorrow!  Hopefully everything will start to become easier with time and when I am less exhausted from traveling!