After the rain has fallen

So I had this uber migraine and was incapacitated for like two whole days. Woo!! But now I'm back and better than ever! I actually feel like I just had to physically manifest and expell my angry feelings towards Sevilla and all my missing home and everything and now it's hopefully done and I can get on with this whole experiencing the culture thing. Which I am doing now.

This morning, there was a protest outside of the cafe where we go to get tea and coffee and pan con aceite every day. It was crazy! They had propped open the doors to this cafe and were blasting obnoxiously loud music into the cafe. We ate there anyway, because they were protesting the fact that the cafe had laid off a worker, which is against the law in Spain and most other European countries, but with the economy like it is I don't know that they had a choice and I don't know all the facts and it would have been troublesome to go somewhere else. Besides it was an interesting experience. I have the pamphlet and a picture of the protest, though the picture doesnt capture the experience of actually being in the cafe.

In further news, my computer appears to be functioning. It had some nasty malware on it, but I deleted programs and now it is better! So there will be sweet pictures from the Italica up soon on FB, which I would have written about if I had had access to the computer for the last four days. To make a long story short, its the ruins of an old Roman city and pics do NOT do it justice but I think you'll enjoy them.

Hasta luego!

An okay day

Today was an okay day.

We went to the Italica, which is an old Roman city that is being excavated. I have muchas fotos, but as my comp is currently incapacitated (not that I've put any effort into it today) I will not be posting them for a bit. But there were sweet trees, and the day was gorgeous. I was forced to admit that I need to buy sunglasses as well as new shoes.

I then ate lunch and slept for like an hour or so before walking with Meg around the Centro. We found some amazing gardens and went to see the Plaza de España. Which was also sweet, but again no pics because of the whole comp thing.

Yesterday sucked.

It´s a long story and I don´t want to talk about it. I learned that I have to trust my instincts and not let the idiots that I exist with in this place change my mind so easily. I can´t be what I´m not after all, and so I have to be what I am.

But today was a pretty good day.

Fixing my comp/una nueva aventura

My computer is rota, so I'm trying desperately to fix it. Hopefully I'll have reached some form of progress shortly, since i need to leave to get lunch.

So today there is this huge soccer game here, which I didn't know until Monday. Which is unfortunate, cuz its between England and Spain and I kinda wanted to go. So roomie and I decided to take the bus, but we didn't know much about the bus so we missed the first one that came through because we asked the bus driver if the bus went to the stadium, he told us no (liar) so we thought we were at the wrong stop. But after a few moments we realized that he was wrong and got on the right bus. Only to be yelled at by this old woman who spoke very rapidly in Spanish about how we weren't supposed to cut in line to get on the bus. As soon as I figured out what the hell was going on, I found myself forced to ask myself, there was a line for the bus?

Enter the American South's idea of what is rude. Namely, this woman. Waiving and shouting at waiters. Giving people casual commands who you've never met before. Namely, Spanish every day life.

Of course, there are also things we do that I'm sure they think are rude. But it's still a very depressing experience when people look at you funny when you say "could I have" instead of "give me" when you're ordering coffee.

Moving on, after reaching the stadium we discovered three important facts. 1) the tickets were sold out (le tear). 2) the english team was arriving at the stadium in a mercedes-benz bus and 3) there is an outdoor ice rink (in sevilla, where it never gets below zero) in their version of a mall in Nervion, which is next to the stadium.

Now, fun cultural anecdote. In Sevilla, shopping centers are localized around an outdoor courtyard, and escalators are on the outside of buildings.

Have I blown your mind? Join the club.

The computer thing

So so far the most ridiculous aspect of this trip has been the computer thing. Spain is apparently not into computers so much. Which is fine, but it means that it's very difficult for me to access the internets. Which is kinda depressing coming from a place where I accessed it like every day. You also can't find any businesses which really advertise on the internet here, so you just have to guess where you're going by hearsay, which sometimes bombs out as I discovered Saturday night when a group of my friends tried to go out to the rumored discotecas on Calle Betis only to be unable to locate them. They ARE there. We just...didn't see them. Which kinda happens a lot here.

If you ever come to Sevilla, and are looking for a good area for bars that are quaint and friendly and full of people, then you should go to Calle Alfalfa. It's not a long street, but there is a chain of about six to ten bars that spread from one end of it to the other, and people just hang out and talk in the street, go inside and get a drink, then come back out and chill again. There aren't any drinking/drunk in public laws here, so you just kinda do what you want. Not meaning that you should pull an American and get wasted. Drinking is more of a social activity, designed to be enjoyed, and people don't drink to get drunk. They drink to talk.

They don't card you here either, and cigarettes are sold in vending machines. It's a very European thing, since I've experienced it before in Scotland. It's common for someone to go to one bar, drink a beer, and then fly off to another bar to have another, chilling all night and meeting people. You also eat tapas, small sandwiches or chips and nuts and olives, sometimes other things. This is the part of this city that is most interesting to me on the weekends. Not that I don't want to make it to a discoteca at some point.

Unfortunately, I am lacking in the music department and am needing to go find some music in Spanish so that I don't start pulling out my hair. But the musical scene here is not very strongly developed, like it is in the US or Latin America or even Britain. Spanish people import music more than anything, or so I'm told, and I have yet to find something that I really like in their music (though admittedly I haven't looked hard enough) besides their traditional pieces, of course.

I'm rambling. But yeah, that was my weekend.

I've had a request

Meghan requested that I tell you more about my current classes, so here we go.

My first class is Advanced Spanish - Present Day Usage where we discuss slang terms and common terms used in Spain. Which has been helpful in understanding my host mother anyway, and my professor is very nice but it's kinda boring on the whole challenging scale. I have that class every day too, so the boringness is not very much appreciated all the time, but at least we have a break to snack every morning.

Second I have my cultural realities class, which requires that I keep a journal about the themes we discuss (culture shock, culture shock, and culture shock mostly lol - como me choca la cultura de espana, to combine the two classes). Only meets once a week, so it's not too much work and the professor is funny so that's nice. There is a guy in that class. His name is Javier. He is from the same university as my roommate actually. Having a guy in the class = weird, but he's quiet anyways and can speak better Spanish than I can so whatevs I can't complain.

He's also in my clase de baile, the only guy in the dancing class actually. There I learn flamenco dancing. Very hard btw, you dance with your whole body, the hands have specific tiny motions and the posture is just so and your feet move at like 1000 mph. I actually need to practice because I'm going to forget all the steps I learned, not that I had them that well to begin with.

On to more interesting things, today people seemed to think I live here as in speak Spanish in multiple places that I found myself in. Like some highschool girls asked me for a light, and the British group that asked me for directions (I def gave them a map I had no clue what they were trying to say with their accent).

I also got my intercambio today!! His name is Javi, but I haven't met him yet so I don't know anything about him so I will post more on that later. Intercambios can be between 15 and like 40 so it will be interesting to see what happens with that haha. I hope he's close to my age so I can ask him questions about things to do and places to go in the city and make Spanish friends to hang out with.

Anyways, I'll catch ya later!

I need to do crunches

So I eat like a whole baguette a day here. And even though I also walk at least six miles a day, I need to do crunches. That's just fact. On the other hand my shoes are starting to shred so I am probs gonna have to buy new ones soon lol. Shoes I mean. Life in Europe is random. Also, I don't get honked at as much anymore!! I think it's because people are used to seeing me around the barrio so they've stopped shouting at the extranjera. Or maybe it's just cuz it's not the weekend and everyone is going to work/class. Actually it's probs the latter. How depressing.

I am excited for spring. And siesta. Btw they let the dogs roam around here. They don't have rabies in Europe, doncha kno. It is muy interesante. People train their dogs to walk with them and don't have to have leashes. I've seen like two dogs on leashes like the whole time I've been here. Which is really interesting. When their owners stop they sit still like statues and wait for them to finish talking to their friends. Super dogs. Muy inteligente.

Also, Spain is ridiculously economically fail right now. Something like 6,414 more people unemployed every day. That is a fudgeton of people. It's really distressing. The government is trying to feed everyone, but I still see homeless people everywhere and it's very upsetting for me. It's affected every aspect of their lives, from employment to the electric bill (my host mom's has tripled in the past two years). But what's scary is that Spain is one step below the US on an economic scale and that means our shit is just beginning. Still, life goes on, I guess, and while the people here have a name for what's happening and it's definitely a topic of conversation, they keep doing what they do.

Well, I'm going to go food/homework/siesta. I'll update you with more fun cultural anecdotes later.

Humo y cerveza

Okay, so here's the deal.

For the next three weeks I have class from 9-12:45. I get up at around 7, get dressed, eat breakfast and walk thirty minutes to school for class. At around 11 we have descanso, so we go to a cafe and get tea or food or maybe I sit here and check my internets. When we are released we have the option of either chillin in the Centro (a barrio) or returning to the casa which is across the river. At 2:30 my roommate and I eat lunch and have a thirty min siesta, more or less. At around four I usually leave again. At some point I do hw. Dinner is at 9:30, so there's a lot of time to kill. Afterwards, one goes out pasando un rato, or killing time in English. This generally involves cerveza y humo. Or wine or some other alcohol y humo. Humo being smoke. Everyone smokes.

Except for that last part, my life is sweet.

So far, I really like Spain. I mean, there's definitely the issue of my needing to eat more, and that being slightly expensive. And I still don't feel 100% comfortable here by any means. But it's beginning to grow on me, which I think is a good thing. I think I will like it more once I get into a groove. And once I get used to feeling like an idiot all the time lol. I'm just glad it's not raining anymore. It has rained nonstop for almost two whole days, which was very unfortunate.

In any case, I am excited to say that I am now off to find lunch. Buenas tardes!