falling into a routine

these last few days in spain have felt fairly uneventful, as i finally feel like i´ve fallen into a routine, balancing my coursework with fun and exploration of the city. though i´ve been in sevilla for almost a week (wow... it feels like so much longer!), i really have yet to learn a lot about the city. i also haven´t really been to some of the most historic and beautiful parts of sevilla because i live in the opposite direction. everyone tells me that the triana (a neighborhood about 15 minutes from the center of town) is an absolutely gorgeous place full of culture and history, so i definitely have to make it over there sometime!

yesterday, i woke up early, got ready for class, and surprisingly made it class without incident! i won the battle with the door (or chelsea did, actually) and there was no bus confusion, so it was a pretty relaxing morning. class yesterday was a little bit frustrating. i was tired, and that meant that my mind was functioning much slower than usual--never a good thing, but especially not in a foreign language class! i felt so ridiculous asking my teacher to clarify things that the two other students understood without any explanation at all. i can tell that this class is going to be really challenging. i´m very accustomed to being at the top of class, but i don´t think that will ever be the case in this particular class. because i didn´t grow up in a spanish-speaking home (that´s right--i blame you, mom and dad, for that one), i´m already at a huge disadvantage. fortunately, my professor has been very patient, as have the other two people in class. even though it would be so easy to transfer down a level and completely breeze through, i know that i´m going to learn so much from this class, and that it will be worth all the work in the end.

after a frustrating class, chelsea and i headed straight home in order to eat lunch. on the bus, we ran into another student from the center who lives fairly close to our busstop. kari was really nice, and she´s living alone (ack! the thought of living in a home without a roommate makes my throat close just a little bit), so she was very eager to meet people who live in her barrio (neighborhood). it was also nice for chelsea and me to know that there are indeed other people living close by. at home, i definitely took advantage of the spanish siesta with a quick 40 minute nap. aafterwards, chelsea and i ate lunch with our host mom. she made us filetes de pollo (breaded chicken fillets) and they were really good. unfortunately, she also grilled whole sardines and made shrimp and mussels. rosario (my host mom) knows that i don´t like seafood, so she didn´t actually try to serve me any, but the entire house smelled like the gully of a fishing boat: briny and unpleasant. i was very grateful to have to run back to the center for dance class!

dance class was really interesting. we are learning typical, regional folkdances from the andalucia province. these danes require a lot of coordination, a lot of grace, and a lot of foot stomping. being in flip-flops, my first day wasn´t an extraordinary success, but i had fun, and i think i´m really going to like it. class is held in the only space large enough for the 17 female (that´s right, no boys) students: the patio. that means that, during the heat of the day, we´re dancing. even though it´s hot, it definitely could be worse, and these past few days have been the only truly warm days since my arrival.

after class finished, i spent some time at the center working on homework. then, chelsea and i decided to head over to the cortes inglés--spain´s huge department store and super market hybrid. the cortes inglés is a few busstops away from ours, so we called kari and she met up with us. there really isn´t anything that i know of in the united states quite like the cortes inglés. it´s maybe 15 or 20 stories high and covers a city block. it has everything--shampoo, groceries, designer clothing, a restaurant, y más y más y más... we only spent time downstairs in the grocery section, because we were on a mission. the grocery store is just like any other grocery store, except the wine section is about 3 times bigger. we wandered around for a while until i finally found it--the peanut butter! spanish people eat very small breakfasts with absolutely no protein, so i bought peanut butter (even though it´s considered a very poor, unclassy food in spain) to have on my toast in the mornings. chelsea and i also stocked up on a few other things--like gum and chocolate. our host mom does an excellent job of providing all the healthy food we need, so we just got a little bit of sweets to keep us satisfied. we have both been missing dessert ;)

once we finished at the cortes inglés, we decided to walk down the block to the plaza nervión, which is a large shopping mall. i wanted to explore a little bit, and we all wanted ice cream! the plaza nervión is really cool: the center of the mall is open, with the stores forming a circle around it. all of the stores are closed and air conditioned, which is nice in this heat. in the middle of the plaza (open area), there is a GIANT woman called la mujer gigante (the giant woman--go figure). she´s an exhibit for people who are interested in the human body. they can enter her and explore her different organ systems and see how they function. they can even watch as she gives birth to a baby! i know, it´s really strange, but really cool! chelsea and i both want to go! la mujer gigante was closed, so we´re going to have to figure out when it´s open so that we can go back. in the mall, they have lots of stores and restaurants, including a mcdonalds and TGIFridays! i was really excited to see that--now i know exactly where to go when i have cravings for american food (which will definitely hit at the end of september or beginning of october). they also have a really good ice cream stand. ice cream in spain is gelatto, and, man, is it good! we each got a cone (i got swiss white chocolate) and then we sat in the mall, people watching and chatting. it was really peaceful and nice.

finally, around 8:00 pm, chelsea and i returned to our house. up in our rooms, we talked for a while, and then started on homework. i actually had a substantial amount of homework, including a short essay and presentation! fortunately, i was able to finish before dinner. during dinner, our host mom always turns on the television, and last night, we watched a really good spanish drama. it was about this crazy, rich family in madrid who have all these problems. i got totally into it! when it finished at 11:00, though, i was wiped!

today has been much the same as yesterday. woke up, went to class... today, i had my spanish culture class. i think it´s going to be very easy. the professor seemed a little scatterbrained, but he was very nice and we spent quite a chunk of time getting to know one another. it was nice. both chelsea and i have class together, and then she has dance class this afternoon, so we decided to take a sack lunch today and stick around the center for the 2 hours between classes. we walked around the center and spent some time exploring a little shopping district that is absolutely fabulous! they have great clothing and fashion stores and lots of local crafts stores... i´m definitely going to have to go back to investigate a little bit more! later tonight, i think we might go see a movie, or we might just go home and rest. the spanish was of lifestyle is exhausting, especially when you don´t get to really take a siesta. the average person stays up well past 1:00 am, making me a totally pansy because i usually go to bed around 11 or midnight.

overall, i´m really pleased with my experience here thus far. like i´ve said, i feel like i´ve been here for much longer than a week because it already feels so familiar. tomorrow, we´re going on an excursion in town with a group of students, and then to the local art museum to check out their modern photography exhibit. friday is a normal day of class, and then saturday i head to portugal for a quick trip to the beach! i can already tell that life here is going to be very full...

-m