Hello world! My third week in Sevilla has been a very productive one! Ok, I know my title is cheesy but I couldn't think of one, so then I made it up and now have to have a cheesy explanation. Here goes:: Just like in the Wizard of Oz, her and her friends are going on a big adventure. Except unlike her friends, I'm not making up that little song because i'm scared (of lions and tigers and bears, o my!) but because I'm so excited! I have successfully booked a flight to London during the week of Feria, where we'll be able to see the royal wedding and also take a few days to travel to Bruges, Belgium. My friend and I also booked a cheap flight to Paris for a long weekend where we have Monday off (we never have class on Fridays, so i guess they're all long weekends!) And for Semana Santa, we have booked a trip to Prague, during which we'll take a train to Berlin. Why Prague you ask? Actually I have no idea. If anyone would have asked me where I wanted to go in Europe, I wouldn't have said the Czech Republic or even Germany. But this is why I love it in Europe because you can be spontaneous and make such great memories! For those of you worrying that I may have thrown away my money going to Prague, every time I tell someone that has been to Prague that I'm going there, they always say it's one of their favorite cities! Ok, so I've left out one city and that is because it's the most excited one...because my little sister Alaina is coming in may after my classes are finished and we are going to go to Venice together! Wohoo!
Ok, on to some more productive things that have happened in Sevilla this week. I feel like this week and this weekend were very beneficial for me in getting to know the city better and becoming more confident in what I'm doing. For example, Monday I probably learned the best lesson, how to use the metro! I live like 45 min walking distance from where everything is, and during the day i don't mind at all because the weather in Sevilla is always gorgeous. However, I don't like having to walk home in the dark by myself at night. On Monday, we had a group meeting (I'm in this group that gets to go to Portugal!) at 9pm, after wards, they all bought us drinks at a local bar. Once everyone started heading out, I was thinking, oo great i have to either walk back by myself and be scared the whole time, or pay 10 euro for a 5 min taxi drive. Well, one of the Spanish guys who is also in the group asked me where I lived, I said Nervion and he did too! So he and I walked to the metro station (which is only a year old!) and took the metro back home, which the metro station in Nervion is literally 3 minutes from my house! I now feel more comfortable knowing when i have to go to the Centro at night because i can take the metro which is a lot safer, cheaper, and quicker!
I also have become a pro at "rebajas" shopping and this weekend successfully located the mall (which is a 5 min walk from my house) . So rebajas are the huge sales that go on from January through February. And when I say sale, you will not even be able to fathom how great they are! For example, on Thursday, I got 2 pairs of adorable shoes for 6 euro each! Also, I spent 35 euro in a store like Forever 21 and got a jacket, shorts, dress, 2 shirts, 2 belts and a scarf! Its pretty amazing and I'm pretty obsessed! (Don't worry mom! This is necessary because I didn't bring any warm weather clothes and it it HOT here!).
This week has also been productive because I finished my intensive language class Friday and took my final exam! I'm thinking I did ok in the class, so lets hope I got a good grade on my final since Purdue is one of the few schools where credits directly transfer. Other schools just have pass fail, so their students only have to worry about getting a C or better. No fair! However I must say I'm glad to be done with the class. There was this girl in my class that drove me crazy every day! She had short pixie hair and would ask the most obnoxious questions! For example, one day out of the blue she asked the teacher what label (either el or ella) do spanairds give to a person who doesn't have a gender. Well, this was like her 5 obnoxious question of the day and I wanted to throw my hands up in the air as soon as I heard this silly question. I mean are you for real? I don't even think we have a word for that in English! We may call the person an "it" or something, but really, does it matter? Like, sorry girl I don't think you'll be coming across that too often. This conversation between her and the teacher went on for an entire hour because the teacher was so confused at the fact that there are even people in the world who are "gender queer" as our good friend Gena liked to call it. Shew! sorry I had to vent! She sat next to me in class every day and would make my blood boil every day. But thats over now, so on to some more observations about Spain!
Ok, this next observation is the one thing that I think I don't like about Spain. All of my other observances were just that, but these are a little bit more of disliked observance. So the thing that really bothers me is that people stare. So basically what happens is every day on my 40 minute walk to class I get stared at. In America, our moms always told us that it was rude to stare. I can't even describe this type of staring. When people are walking past you they actually turn their heads/stop/turn around to stare at you until you walk by! One time I was waiting at a stop light and the girl next to me turned her body to face me so she could just stare at me. UGH its so annoying because in America we think its so rude to stare. Also, usually if you make eye contact with a person then you kind of smile, well in Spain NO ONE smiles on the street. So as I said, it really bothers me, and it also bothers my American classmates too. One day in class we were having a class discussion on things we didn't like about Spain and nearly everyone said they hated the staring. Our professora, however started laughing because she said thats just what people do and it's not meant to be rude. She said most of the time people don't even realize they're staring (even with that comment, I don't think I'll get used to being stared at over and over again!). Our profe also commented that in Spain people just do not smile on the streets. She said if you smile on the streets at someone then it's kinda like you're laughing at them. Our profe went to San Francisco one time and said she felt so akward every time someone smiled at her because she thought they were laughing at her.
The other thing that I have noticed, that i don't hate but just think is weird is that there is literally zero diversity here. like most of the people are darker skinned with brown hair. There are no blonde haired blue eyed people, no blacks, asians, etc. Our teacher was telling us that there didn't start to be any type of immigration into Sevilla until like 1995, so its only been like 15 years, but its just weird to get used to because in America you're so used to seeing so many different types of people, which i love!
Ok, I think thats it for my 3rd week post. I'm going to be posting another one in a few hours to tell you about the soccer game that I'm about to go to! Other than that, I start my actual classes Monday (yikes!) so i'll be sure to let you know how that goes as well!
Hasta Luego
Lauren
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