Damasiado Tarea!

First impressions can be misleading.  Like when you start taking a class it might seem pretty chill, and then you find out that it is the academic equivalent of DEATH!  And that is exactly what I would say about my Don Quijote class.  I thought it would be a nice literature class, you only have to read one book, how hard could it be, right?  WRONG!!  The first thing our professor said to us when we went into class is “Siempre digo que las estudiantes que toman esta clase son muy valientes”…not exactly what you want to hear from your teacher on the first day.  I was tempted to stand up and tell her I’m not that brave and leave, but I decided to stick it out.  She proceeded to lecture for the entire class period (actually a bit longer than the class period) about the history behind Don Quijote, and while that was a lot of information to take in, I thought it might be ok because it was pretty interesting, so I decided to tough it out.

Then I read the prologue.  Or should I say I tried to read the prologue?  Cervantes uses words in Don Quijote that don’t even exist anymore!! It’s like reading a book that uses “Old English,” except it is “Español antiguo” which I can assure you is WAY worse!  Sooo after struggling through the tenish page prologue (which took me about two hours to read!) I decided that Don Quijote was going to kill me if I didn’t try to get out of it.  So I talked to my professor about the possibility of switching to another one of her lit classes and I did all the work to catch myself up in that class (while ignoring my Don Quijote work of course) and hopefully tomorrow she will let me in, because I would like to have a life in Sevilla and I would not like that life to revolve around Don Quijote!!

This week one of my favorite activities was a thing called “Salir con Españoles” which is where some Spaniards come and meet with people from our program.  We were hanging out with this guy Fernando and we just went to a Cervecería and ate some tapas and practiced our Spanish.  He was really nice and it was super fun!

Also, this Sunday we had the privilege of going to mass at the Cathedral (which, in case you haven’t heard, is the third largest Cathedral in the WORLD! Pretty awesome right?)  Of course, I am not Catholic, so I definitely don’t know what to say during Catholic services in English let alone Spanish!  I could tell when they were saying the Lord’s Prayer, or I guess in this context I should call it an “Our Father” and I could understand the mostly everything the priests were saying so it was still a wayyyy cool experience!  Even literally, it was freezing in there!  But we made it through and I only sat down once when I wasn’t supposed to, but the guy in front of me sat down so I assumed he knew what he was doing! 

I feel like I am really starting to settle into life here and form a routine of sorts and I like it a lot!  Now I am just ready for it to get HOT!  I can’t wait to break out the shorts!

Hasta Luego!

Clases...Que son clases???

Today was our first day of school, reminding us all that we are actually "studying" abroad, not just on a pretty sweet vacation.  We got our schedules yesterday, and after dropping one class that I didn't really need, I have a schedule that thankfully allows me to come home for lunch every day which I love! (Lunch is the most important meal of the day here and I would hate to miss it!)  The only thing I am pretty bummed about is that I have split classes Monday and Wednesday so I am probably going to have to buy the more expensive metro pass because to walk there you have to go through like the ghetto of Sevilla and I unfortunately can't do that by myself at night..bleh.

My first class was taught by a somewhat eccentric but lovable professor who took care to mention to us that he, being named Enrique, shares a name with Harry Potter (Harry is the English translation for Enrique).  He is a little OCD and I was thoroughly entertained watching him straighten everything on his desk into perfect little rows before class started.  The class is very small so it isn't very intimidating, although I have to say I have a newfound respect for students that study abroad!  It is a little bit intimidating overall!

After class, my roommate Drew decided to stay at the school and try to get into another class that she wasn't registered for but wants to get into so I ended up taking the metro back by myself.  I was working on trying to act like a Spaniard, and I was doing really well working the whole metro system and cutting in front of cars if I had a crosswalk, and then, just as I was really starting to embrace the Spanish attitude, there was this cute little old man behind me so I had just had to hold the door open for him and smile.  Well, if my blond hair didn't give me away, that definitely did!  But if smiling makes me stand out then I don't want to fit in because I can't not smile!!!

This whole living in Spain thing is starting to become more and more real every day, and I am loving every second of it! :)

Finalmente: En Sevilla :)

Ahhh!! I have so much to say it could never all fit in a blog!! But I’ll try to keep the highlights to a reasonable length!  Yesterday we arrived in Sevilla around 5 and it is so great to finally be here! It is finally almost time to stop being tourists, and start being residents, even if it is only temporarily.  We were dropped off at a common meeting place where our host families picked us up.  Drew (my roommate) and I were greeted by Maria Teresa (our mom) and Mario (her son), and we met Antonio (our dad) when we got back to our house.  So, for those of you who have heard about the mystery of Mario (we weren’t sure how old he was since his parents are in their sixties...) he is thirty years old, but he doesn’t actually live with us.  He used to, but he moved to Valencia a few years ago because Sevilla has no jobs :( So we are the only children living here.  We share a room and have a bathroom for the two of us.  They are small, but we don’t have very much stuff so we don’t need very much room!  We live about a 20-30 minute walk away from the center of the city (we went there today and went on a walking tour with ISA) and a longgg walk away from our school so we will most likely have to take the metro a lot, but I am hoping I will be able to walk, it will just depend on when we have classes, etc.!

Next up: the FOOD!! Es muy muy muy muy delicioso.  I am eating things that I would never eat it America, but it is all SO good! I am already dreading coming back to American food a little (no offense mom :)  Generally, Spaniards eat a small breakfast (this morning we had toast, and she gave us muffins for the road), a large lunch (today we had a salad and a whole plate of deliciously baked pasta with cheeses and some sort of meat in it...and of course bread!), and then they eat a small dinner (como una tortilla de patatas (an omelet with potatoes).  But last night I think maybe because it was our first night there she made us so much food!! We had grilled chicken breasts, grilled peppers and zucchini, along with tortilla espanola!  THEN we had a huge salad with lettuce, peppers, cheese, ham, pears, kiwi, and some sort of vinaigrette dressing (Drew had tomatoes, but mine was of course without).  And on top of allllll that food, we had bread and cheese and pears!  And after everything we were eating she kept asking us if we wanted seconds of EVERYTHING! She is pretty persuasive...this morning she talked me into having tea and three pieces of toast! haha but everything is so delicious I feel like I have to walk to school if I don’t want to gain 2000 pounds while I’m here!

Last night was our first night it Sevilla, so we didn’t know what to do because none of us know each other’s cell phone numbers (for those people who have cell phones), and we didn’t know really where anything was haha so we just stayed in last night and skyped with our families (we have wifi in our rooms!! Incredible!)  It was a nice relaxing evening, and it was good to see my little mama’s face and to talk to her, which I haven’t done at all since we got here except an email to let her know I was alive!  But tonight will be our first real night in the city where we are exploring out and about.  It is going to be strange for me because Spaniards don’t eat dinner until 9:30 or 10 usually, and then they go out and might stay out until 4 in the morning! Usually I am pretty much done by 3 at the latest! But, as always, it is an adventure! :) 

Vale! Adios!

El viaje continúa...en Toledo :)

Hola amigos y familia! 

So far in Spain I have learned a few things.  First, I learned that sometimes, no matter how fluent you sound, you can walk into a restaurant, order your food in Spanish, and still have the person respond to you in English! It’s almost like they KNOW you’re not Spanish! I thought my blondish hair and light skin would help me look like I’m from Spain...?

Secondly, Spaniards can’t handle the name Kaitlin.  I was wondering how I should introduce myself to Spaniards since I knew when I went to Juarez and lot of people had trouble with my name, but I thought I would give Kaitlin a try first since it is my real name.  However, after receiving blank stares from the man behind the counter asking for a name to go with my order I changed “Kaitlin” to “Catalina” which he immediately understood, so I guess that is who I will be to Spaniards!

Thirdly, I learned that sometimes if you look cold when you are on a tour in Spain, you just might be lucky enough to get a scarf from your tour guide! We had an awesome tour guide today to take us through the beauty of Toledo.  He was hilarious and so nice!  But anywho, I guess he thought I looked cold so he asked me if I wanted his bufanda (scarf), I said “esta bien” but he took it off and tied it around my neck anyway!  It was a really warm hand-made scarf though so I was a lot warmer with it on!

A word to the wise, if you ever go to Spain, GO TO TOLEDO!! It is a small town, but it is so beautiful!  I forgot how much I love this little city until we got here!  We are spending tonight in Toledo and then tomorrow we finally make it to Sevilla to meet our families!  I can’t wait!

Les extrano a todos!

Introduccion

January 17^th used to see so far away! And now it has come and gone, and here I am in Spain!  So this blog is just going to be a way for me to keep everyone updated on what I’m doing while in Spain, so here it goes!  Yesterday (January 17^th) I was up bright and early (3:40 am!) to catch my flight at 6 from DIA.  So after a minimally tearful goodbye from Mom and Dad I was on my way!  Thankfully, I only had to handle the first part of the trip alone and then I was able to meet up with people from my program at the Chicago airport.  Everyone has been so nice and so fun to get to know!  There were also a lot of college study abroad students from other programs on that flight and after a minor mishap with a Spaniard who was in the wrong seat, I ended up in the middle of a whole group of them from another program and had so much fun talking to them!  It has really been quite a whirlwind full off lots of luggage hauling and not so much sleeping (I have gotten about 5 hours of sleep in the last 55 hours, which as many of you know is not enough for me!!) but it has been a blast so far!  I love it here, but I miss you all!