the first days
Getting adjusted has been way harder than I anticipated. The time change hasn’t been as physically hard as I thought it would be. The first night here I was able to sleep solidly throughout the night; I woke up around 1 here and was awake for an hour or so, but nothing terrible. I’m glad that I don’t feel exhausted. However, other “symptoms” of jet lag have been noticeable. I don’t have an appetite. The food that we’ve eaten so far has been pretty normal, and I don’t think I dislike the food, but I’m just not hungry. Also, I am extremely homesick and really just want to go home right now. Hopefully that gets better very soon.
My señora, Marta, is very nice and very outgoing. She tries to help us with our Spanish a lot, and she says that when we leave Spain, we will speak Spanish perfectly. I hope so! Her Spanish is so weird though. There are a lot of times that I have to ask her to repeat what she’s saying or to say it differently or slower. Thankfully she is patient. She blends words together and drops syllables, so it’s hard to understand her unless I already understand the context of the conversation. Also, I’ve found that it helps me to be in the same room as her, looking at her- otherwise, I don’t understand at all right now. Marta’s son, Juanjo, is 16. He is very nice too and likes to talk with us, but I think he is harder to understand than even Marta. Hopefully I get more used to the Andalusian accent as my time in Seville goes by.
My professors are great. At least 2 are Americans (I’m not sure about the rest) and speak both languages fluently, but they have lived in Spain for many years and call Seville home. The other 4 or 5 are Spaniards, and some of them don’t speak English. At school, we are supposed to only speak in Spanish. The professors speak “normal” Spanish, so I can understand them a lot better than the locals like Marta and Juanjo. Even though the content of my class is hard and not normal vocabulary, it’s almost like a break at school because I don’t have to work as hard to understand.
Yesterday was our first day of “school.” We met at the school at 9 to begin our orientation. For the first day, we were allowed to talk in English and the professors talked in English. That was a nice was to get to know each other a little better and become familiar with some personalities. I don’t think I have much of a sense of humor in Spanish because I don’t really know what I’m talking about most of the time, and what is probably the “real” side of everyone else was easier to see too when we talked in English. For a few hours, we had some culture 101 time in the classroom. Then we went on an hour-long walk around the area. We went home for siesta, and then at 7 we met back at school for another walk and pizza for supper.
Today was my first day of actual class. I am taking a class on the literature and legends of Seville for the first term. We have class from 9:30 to 1:30 each day (except for Fridays). In my class, we are reading lots of works, but then we get to go and see the actual sites and places that are referenced in the literature. Today we did a lot of walking and learned about Hércules (Hercules). The legend is that Hércules founded Sevilla. The legend says that he dug the Río Guadalquivir that goes from the Atlantic Ocean through Seville. Also, Hércules is the one who separated Africa and Europe to form the Straight of Gibraltar. It was interesting, but the story of Hércules helps clarify a lot of other history of Sevilla, Andalucía, and España. In the Andalusian flag, the symbol in the middle is of Hércules, and the city hall has a lot of phrases and details carved into it that reference back to this legend.
My señora, Marta, is very nice and very outgoing. She tries to help us with our Spanish a lot, and she says that when we leave Spain, we will speak Spanish perfectly. I hope so! Her Spanish is so weird though. There are a lot of times that I have to ask her to repeat what she’s saying or to say it differently or slower. Thankfully she is patient. She blends words together and drops syllables, so it’s hard to understand her unless I already understand the context of the conversation. Also, I’ve found that it helps me to be in the same room as her, looking at her- otherwise, I don’t understand at all right now. Marta’s son, Juanjo, is 16. He is very nice too and likes to talk with us, but I think he is harder to understand than even Marta. Hopefully I get more used to the Andalusian accent as my time in Seville goes by.
My professors are great. At least 2 are Americans (I’m not sure about the rest) and speak both languages fluently, but they have lived in Spain for many years and call Seville home. The other 4 or 5 are Spaniards, and some of them don’t speak English. At school, we are supposed to only speak in Spanish. The professors speak “normal” Spanish, so I can understand them a lot better than the locals like Marta and Juanjo. Even though the content of my class is hard and not normal vocabulary, it’s almost like a break at school because I don’t have to work as hard to understand.
Yesterday was our first day of “school.” We met at the school at 9 to begin our orientation. For the first day, we were allowed to talk in English and the professors talked in English. That was a nice was to get to know each other a little better and become familiar with some personalities. I don’t think I have much of a sense of humor in Spanish because I don’t really know what I’m talking about most of the time, and what is probably the “real” side of everyone else was easier to see too when we talked in English. For a few hours, we had some culture 101 time in the classroom. Then we went on an hour-long walk around the area. We went home for siesta, and then at 7 we met back at school for another walk and pizza for supper.
Today was my first day of actual class. I am taking a class on the literature and legends of Seville for the first term. We have class from 9:30 to 1:30 each day (except for Fridays). In my class, we are reading lots of works, but then we get to go and see the actual sites and places that are referenced in the literature. Today we did a lot of walking and learned about Hércules (Hercules). The legend is that Hércules founded Sevilla. The legend says that he dug the Río Guadalquivir that goes from the Atlantic Ocean through Seville. Also, Hércules is the one who separated Africa and Europe to form the Straight of Gibraltar. It was interesting, but the story of Hércules helps clarify a lot of other history of Sevilla, Andalucía, and España. In the Andalusian flag, the symbol in the middle is of Hércules, and the city hall has a lot of phrases and details carved into it that reference back to this legend.
Our destination was Las Setas, or The Mushrooms, which is an interesting work of architecture. The structure resembles mushrooms, which is where it gets its name. Underground, there is a museum where you can see the dug out remains of buildings from when the Romans and Muslims lived in Spain and Seville, like in the first 10 centuries! It was unbelievable and the condition of the stone and details is amazing. The first picture is of my class on our field trip. The second is of Las Setas from the outside- it was too big to get a good picture of it, but it was perfect to get some other pictures with a beautiful view of the city. The last picture is of some of the ruins in the museum.
I’m definitely enjoying Seville, but right now I’m still kind of just counting down the days until I get home. I knew the transition would be really hard, but it’s proving to be way harder than I had expected, and at times it seems like everything is working against me. Be praying that I can get more comfortable and enjoy my time instead of wishing away the days.
I just love that you are blogging! This helps me live vicariously through your experiences and learn right along with you. I keep praying that each day you feel more comfortable. I know that you need rest, structure, and challenge. All of those will come in time. You have such a passion for culture, language, history, and learning. Thrive on those passions! Love you!
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