Mi Primera Semana en Sevilla

      Hello everyone! My mom has already been asking when I'm going to post my next blog, so I figured I'd better start now, because it is going to take me a long time to tell you all about my adventures so far. Sorry these last few posts have been so long, but there is so much to talk about! I figured I'd break this post up into 2 sections. The first one, I'll talk about all of the fun things I have been doing in Spain, such as sight seeing and meeting mi familia. Luego, I'll talk about all of the differences I've noticed in Spain compared to the U.S. I think it's really funny to see all of the differences in culture and way of life.
      My Week: Well, once I got to the hotel Monday morning at 2a.m., I was able to finally get some sleep (only like 3 hours because I took a shower then we had to wake up early for breakfast the next day). The hotels were sooo nice! Here are pictures of our bathroom y bano.



mi companero de cuarto, Melissa from california

 On tuesday, we went and took a tour of the city. We ate tapas for lunch (at 230pm!) and they were sooo good! Basically this whole week has been sort of like BGR. For those of you not familiar with this, basically we have had guias (guides) and have been in small groups. These guides have taken us everywhere and done all ofthe activities with us. I'll post some picutres from our short tour of the city..i'm sure more are on their way!

That night, we went and had more tapas and then went to a flamenco show! Its really funny because with every single meal we have alchohol. The first day, our guia Laua (pronounced lowra ..the ow like ouch!) ordered everyone tinta verano. This has become my fave drink. It is basically like Sangria. It is a mix of redwine with a fizzy lemonade. I have ordered it at all of my dinners. Also, another comment on the dining out. Everyone eats outside. Because the weather is so nice (70 and sunny) all of the restaraunts have tables to eat outside. Even at night when it gets chilly, they have umbrellas with heaters attached where you can stay warm. After dinner (which was at 9), we went to the flamenco show. It was really neat. I wouldnt go to it every week, but it is definitely something one must do while in Sevilla. The show started out with just a guitar player and a singer who sung for like 15 min, then a woman flamenco dancer came on and danced to the music. After she left, they guitarist and singer played together again for another 15 min. Then, the male flamenco dancer came on. He was probably my favorite and not just because he was really guapo, but because his dancing was so powerful and emotional, you could kind of almost feel it. It was really cool. I'll post a picture of the dancers, but it has kind of bad quality because of the lighting in the room!

Wednesday was the big day! I was soo nervous to meet mi familia, but it turned out that i didnt have anything to worry about because they are absolutely the most amazing famlia ever. I actually am sitting with their daughter Laura...She's juts sitting on my lap listening to music with me. She LOVES american music, especially rhianna y eminem! lol..but shes adorable and she comes into my room to hang out all the time. Plus, she watches disney channel (in espanol) which for those of you who don't me i LOVE hannah montana and all those great shows too! Laura is also a HUGE soccer fan... We are going to play soccer today around 730 and then tomorrow we're probs going to a Sevilla Futbol game because they live 5 min walking distance. I get to walk past it everyday in hopes i see a player...you know how i am with athletes! The other night I came home around 1130 after eating SNAIL (really good!) and the entire family was watching the Betis (other Sevilla futbol club) and Barca game (pronounce Barsa). Well according to them, betis is usually horrible but they ended up beating Barca! it was really fun to watch! everyone got so into it! And instead of saying oooo! They say OISH! Anyways mi famlia is absolutely amazing. Celia (pronouned saylia) is so nice and is always making sure i'm doing good..Also, i think she knows we get hungry duringthe day so she always gives me muffins for during the day. And isn't like most senoras who only give you breakfast, lunch dinner. Like today after lunch she gave us yogurt and a piece of chocalate. She is just so caring and i really feel comfotable in the house. Plus she is always telling me i speak well (even though i'm pretty sure i dont lol) She also has a 16 year old son who is a world wide professional dancer. He came in second in the world championship...He LOVES men soccer players too haha..we have a lot in common lets just say...Anyways here is a picture of Laura, mi favorita, y mi and annies room (ps annie is my roommate and is the BEST EVER!) .

So Thursday was also a really good day. We all met at la plaza de espana y divided into groups then went on a scavenger hunt around the city...it was good because it helped me get to know the city much better. The only thing that kinda stinks is that I am the only one from our group that lives en el barrio : Nervion. Everyone else lives en el barrios: Centro, Los Remedios, o Triana, which are all in the oposite direction. This means that I have to walk like 40 min by myself everyday. The reason I live in Nervion is because Nervion is where the business group lives andthey got to Sevilla a few days later. Annie just arrived today, so now i'll have someone to walk with!

Friday (today). Today we went to Italica, which is about a 30 min bus ride from downtown Sevilla. Basically Italica was the first Roman city in Spain and is really old and has ancient ruins. It was pretty cool getting to hear all of the history and stuff, but i mean once you've seen a ruin, you've seen them all, right? lol. Other than that, we got back to Sevilla around 130 and then I went back home and had lunch around 3. Annie arrived today and it was so good getting to have someone to speak English to! it's very tiring speaking spanish and listening to spanish the entire time! but well worth it! Soon I won't be so tired!

Ok! So that was my first week summary! Now onto the differences! Let's hope I can remember them all! And these are in no order!
Transportation: so I seriously think Sevilla is the healthiest city I've ever been to! There is a big sidewalk and right next to it a green paved path for bikes, which takes you through the entire city. Everyone is always walking/riding bikes. Ive seen men in suits, women with babies, and older people riding bikes all throughout the city. Its just really cool. Sevilla also has this thing called Sevici (bici is bike) where you can pay 5 euro a week to have this card which lets you rent a bike from any of the bike stations in Sevilla (which there are a bajillion), then you can ride it around and park it at any of the other bike stations in Sevilla. Its a pretty cool system. Also, there are a ton of horses. (Not like people ride them, but the police men are usually on them in the Centro because the streets are so narrow). Is it bad that I am sooo tempted to go up and pet one? They're so cute! O! And then one thing that i despise! TAXIS! First off, my friend and i each had to pay 25 euro for a 15 min car ride from the airport to our hotel the first night. we rode in a MERCEDES BENZ! what the heck? i swear every taxi is a mercedes or bmw. And the other night when I took a taxi home it cost me 10 euro for a short drive...ERG.
Lazer Sounding crosswalks: More about the streets. So first off, I still have not gotten used to how well the Spanaids follow pedestrian rules. Like no matter what, if there is a crosswalk, they will stop. Usually, even in my college town if you are standing by the crosswalk, no one stops, NO ONE!. Here, you just keep on walking because EVERYONE stops! At intersections when it's time for you to walk, there is a green guy that walks and I swear it makes this lazer shooting noise that makes me want to laugh everyime. Like pow pow pow pow!
Skinny Roads:  Ok, so the Centro de Sevilla is sooo confusing. Like seriously, my friends and i get lost every single day. Basically there are 2 main roads that lead into it, then after that there is a skinny skinny skinny street that branches off to more and more and more skinny streets. I have no idea how people actually no where they are going. It is the most confusing place of my life! today we tried to get to the CIEE center for study abroad students and got lost for an hour before we finally found it.
Orange Trees: I thought i mentioned this, but looked and i don't think i did. Anyways, Sevilla is really well known for their orange trees and the city has a ton. Just like in Indiana there are oaks and such everywhere you look, well here there are orange trees!

Things to drink:  Ok so i think that this is really weird. First off, whenever you go to eat tapas or anything you either get wine or beer. You usually have to ask for water. It's never like a combination of both. When you do get water, it always comes in bottles. They put empty glasses in front of you, then a big glass container of water. Many of us Americans have commented on how little water Sevillians drink. The first few days until I moved into my familys house I was always so thirsty. At the house, I've never been offered anything but coffee for breakfast, or water for lunch or dinner. The water, once again is served in a glass container. I don't mind water, but once again my american friends and I were talking that its weird that we haven't seen any type of juice here!
Napkins: I know this is a weird thing to comment on, but even the napkins are different. They feel like tissue paper! I don't know about you but tissue paper is very uncomfortable for me to wipe my mouth with!
PDA (public display of affection for those of you who dont know:)) Ok, so in Spain, it's super super uncommon to have guests over. Like no one has sleepovers with their friends or even just to watch a movie. So, because of this, I'm assuming, boyfriends and girlfriends have no place to show their affection in private. They can be seen at busstops, cafes, the middle of the sidewalk, you name it, just making out like they'll never see each other again. I still want to yell out, "get a room!" but here I really don't think anyone notices at all!
Forms of Greeting: ok one last thing! (shew!) So this can be used as an embarrasing story. So the other night I came home and Celia was there with her boyfriend donLuis. Well, i've never met him before so we do our introductions and go to "greet" each other. Well our leaders kept tellnig us you always do the kisses on the cheek. Well this was a couple of days ago, and I've only used it once when I met Celia. Plus, he was a boy, so i didn't know if you did it with men to. Anyways, i stick out my hand and he kind of looked at me like huh? and then i laughed and we did the two kisses thing, then I had to explain in Spanish that's our way of greeting. :)

Welp, there you have it! As much as I can put so you can experience this great viaje conmigo. I speak spanish all the time. No one here speaks English, mi familia doesn't know english, so it's really tiring, but I hear after the first two weeks of exhaustion you catch on and it becomes old hat! Hope everyone is doing great in that lovely snow you all got:)

Hasta Luego,

lauren