Spain: Week 1

My First Day in Spain!!

On the flight over with Paige, it was at first exciting, but when I couldn’t fall asleep and knew that it was my only chance until Sunday evening to get some rest, it was rather frustrating. It was strange being on such a big aircraft when I’ve been used to the ones that have either 4 or 3 persons to a row and this one had 8. Overall though, the flight was uneventful and except for a little turbulence it wasn’t a bad experience. Once in Madrid, we had to rush from one end of the airport to the other and go through a passport check-in as well as back through all the security and it was a little crazy, but we made it with some time to spare standing around as the flight was a little behind on boarding anyway. The flight to Sevilla was over before we knew it and after we collected our baggage we took off in search of an ATM. There was a moment or two of panic when we could not locate one but upon asking a worker  we were informed we had to go up to another level to find one. 

After the money situation was taken care of, we were off to find a taxi. Fortunately there were a ton just waiting around and we were soon heading into the heart of Sevilla. Paige was dropped off first and we each had to pay the driver 20 euros which seemed a bit much, but he was helpful. He only spoke Spanish which made conversation a little difficult but when he dropped me off he was able to give me directions to where I needed to go because the street I live on is walking only so he couldn’t take me all the way.

After I was admitted in through the gate of my home for the next three months, I went up three flights and was greeted with the traditional kiss on both sides of the face by my hostess or madre española, Concepción. I was introduced to the Labrador, Cala, who is quite excitable for her nine years. My room is nice, and though not very big it includes a desk and lamp, my own balcony, a closet, shelves, and a heater (which is much appreciated because it is freezing in there).

            After I was given some coffee and toast for a late breakfast, I set out to find my way to meet up with Paige. That was disastrous and I ended up needing Concepción’s help in finding Paige’s house, all to find out that Paige wasn’t there. But at least now I know how to get there and Concepcion also showed me some churches and CLIC, my school, so it was a successful outing. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best for being outside and despite having an umbrella, I was fairly wet and cold by the time we got back. After warming up a bit we ate lunch which consisted of garbanzo bean soup, bread, salad and a clementine. It wasn’t bad overall but I didn’t have a huge appetite and sleep sounded better, so then I took a two hour nap. I felt much better after that and went to 8:00pm Mass at a beautiful church that I believe might be called Our Lady of Mount Carmel in English, but I’m not sure since I couldn’t find the name anywhere. Upon getting back I had supper which was an omelet, small pieces of some sort of fish that I didn’t eat much of, yogurt, bread and fruit. It wasn’t too bad overall, but rather plain. That pretty much sums up my first day in Sevilla.

Day 2 in Spain

                Breakfast Monday consisted of coffee and an apple, I could have had more but I wasn’t super hungry in the morning, so it was enough for me. Once at the school I was told to fill out a sort of questionnaire sheet that was our written placement exam. Then I met with a professor who went over the answers with me and I was put into level B1, which is the middle intermediate level. After having a little orientation meeting, I was assigned professors and Paige and I happily discovered that we are in all three classes together. We only had two classes today because we didn’t start as early as we will normally. Both went well and I grasped a good amount of what both professors were saying, which was pretty encouraging.

After class Paige and I showed each other our residences and then we went in search of food because it was after 3pm and we hadn’t had anything since breakfast. We ended up eating at this pizza place that provided two large slices of pizza, a drink, and some sort of tiny lemon drink, for a student discount of five euros. It wasn’t a bad deal but neither of us were a fan of the lemon liquid so next time we eat there we will probably not go with the student deal and save some money. After eating we went to Cortes Inglés which is a huge store with five levels that has basically everything and then some. I didn’t buy anything but it was fun looking. At 6pm we went on a tour of Sevilla that CLIC (my school) offered, and that was interesting although it required a lot of paying attention in order to understand what our guide, Javier, was saying. Some of the things we saw included el Catedral, La Giralda, and the Real Alcázar. They were all quite amazing to see! At the end of the tour, our guide took us to a bar and everyone was allowed a free drink covered by the school. However, Paige and I opted out of an alcoholic beverage, much to everyone else’s surprise. Everyone started splitting up at the bar to find their own way back so Paige and I did likewise. At first we had no idea which direction we needed to go to get back to familiar parts of the city, but fortunately we met our guide who pointed us in the right direction. We then got back with no problem and after saying adios to Paige I returned to my house.

 For supper I had grilled cheese with a slice of ham inside it, French fries, and fruit cocktail. It was very delicious and the ham was amazing! Overall I’d say it was a successful first full day in Sevilla.

Day 3

                 I was pleasantly surprised to have cereal for breakfast Tuesday! I had corn flakes with milk and was given the choice of using cold or hot milk. I chose the cold and was super glad to see that she does refrigerate her milk. However it is not refrigerated at the store, as Paige and I discovered later in the day.

                My second day of classes went well and I like all of my professors. My first class focuses on grammar, my second on communication, and my last one I’m not exactly sure but I think it is more based on Spanish culture. After class Paige and I wandered around for a while and found a restaurant that had sandwiches for less than five euros, which is where we ate lunch. Then we wandered around some more and discovered that el Cortes Inglés actually has a whole supermarket in an underground level. We were super excited because we needed a place to find food that we could have in order to save money on buying lunch every day.

                We had another tour guide excursion at 6pm and we all met up at the Puerta de Jerez which is this plaza place that has a fountain in the middle. We then had a tour of their university which is really ancient looking and very big. My favorite part of the tour was the Plaza de España which is a huge plaza with amazing architecture and a huge fountain in the center. A fun fact we were told by our guide is that this plaza was used in the second to last Star Wars movie. 

                After the tour ended I headed back to my house and my madre española was gone to her choral practice so we didn’t eat until after 10pm. I don’t remember the name of what we ate for supper, but it was this pie shaped potato and cheese casserole type thing which was very good, as well as bread and fruit which goes with every pretty much every meal here. Then Concepción and I watched this show called Tu si que vales, which is kind of a talent competition show where four people are judged at a time and only two make it to the next level. It was very entertaining and I ended up not getting to sleep until after one.

Day 4

               Wednesday was a close call because I overslept and woke up only fifteen minutes before the beginning of class. Fortunately I made it in time but I had to forgo breakfast and coffee in order to do so. Thanks to Concepción I had lunch to take with me, although it was kind of unusual. I had never had a potato sandwich before this, but it wasn’t bad and it filled me up at least.

Class went well and after class Paige and I set out for el Cortes Inglés in order to buy food so that we can bring lunch with us to school. It was a successful shopping trip and for less than ten euros I had sandwich supplies, water, and some snack food. We also discovered that if we wanted a grocery bag to carry our groceries in we had to pay an extra five centavos (equivalent to a little more than five cents). Not a huge deal, but it was still kind of strange.

                I went back to my room to have a short siesta and then I went to Paige’s house in order for us to finish an assignment together.  After that I returned home and finished my homework for Thursday. I didn’t eat supper until after 11pm because my madre española had been out a little later than she had anticipated, but she made up for it with tons of food.  I had some sort of fillet, I believe chicken but I wasn’t quite sure, as well as a cold pasta salad of sorts with an interesting meat that was kind of pink and sweet tasting. Also, I had French fries and the usual fruit and bread. Overall everything was very filling.

Day 5

                Thursday’s classes went well and in our last one we have been working on presentations for Friday. I’m teamed up with a fellow American from Ohio and we are presenting over the Valencia Community which is one of the seventeen regions of Spain. After class, Paige and I wandered around some looking for a place to find one euro items that we had been told about. The trip was unsuccessful for finding that place, but we did find several places with useful things like notebooks and fairly cheap snack foods, as well as nice and inexpensive scarves. I bought a pretty scarf that only cost two euros!

                The rest of the day was uneventful and aside from finishing my homework and eating supper, which was some sort of ham and rice soup, I didn’t do much else.