Monday September 12, 2011
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| I get to walk down this road EVERY single day! |
We
are two weeks away from the start of classes at the Universidad de Sevilla. Today was a pretty normal day, Camille and I
got up, we went downstairs and had our hot milk with delicious cookies and
other pastries. Then we headed out the door and for the first time since we got
here we walked to school! I am so excited about this because it has been super-hot
outside that we have not been able to walk outside and enjoy the views. When I say
it’s been hot out, I really mean hot, the lowest temperature outside has been
100 degrees!!! CIEN GRADOS! Anyways, on our way Camille and I talked about our
classes and since midterms are this coming up Friday and then finals the
following week, we are curious about our upcoming classes. Camille will be
taking classes at the Institute and I will head to the University and take my
core classes there. I can’t explain how I feel about this, I am nervous, excited,
scared, but above all, I am looking forward to it and I want to meet more
Spaniards, they are sooooo cool!
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| "Manchao" |
After
class today I decided to take the route that will lead me to the University, I
thought I would get lost mainly because I can’t follow directions and well I just
thought that it would be a lot further, but it turns out the University is a lot
closer to the Center than I thought. Weird… haha It was a bit weird because as
of today everywhere and anywhere I go I go with Camille and I didn’t have anyone
reassure me that I am going the right way or that I passed the street I was
looking for. I made it home on time for lunch! Speaking of lunch, lunch is so late!! I tend to eat at least 6 times a
day, a snack here, and some fruit there, a sandwich here and so on, but that is
not the case here. I get three meals a day and they are HUGE! Breakfast is
pretty small so I pack an apple or something along with some cookies for a
snack which I eat while we are in class. Then we get a break around 1030am and
by that time Sarah and other classmates and I go to Café y Bodeguita Romero
which is down the block from the Center. There for a euro fifty we can have a
manchao which is 49% coffee and 51% and I had no idea it was only about 4 oz. .
. the thing is I asked the guy what a “manchao” was and he sad “mas leche menos
café” which means “less coffee more milk” yeah right…. Spaniards love their
coffee.....
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| Our table set up for lunch. |
Sarah likes her Cola Cao which is the equivalent of a warm Nesquick, it
is very yummy! Then we go back to class and wrap up and then head to our second
class which ends around 130pm and then Camille and I usually head home and are
fed by 230pm but we get a lot of food. Here are the pictures of my typical lunch;
it’s a lot of food. Then our host mother tells us it’s time for our siesta,
which at first was really odd because we are in College and no one naps, or at
least I rarely did. But I have been here for a few weeks and a siesta is a must
and it just makes everything better. I guess it makes sense that we nap during
the day for a couple of hours considering that Spaniards don’t go out to have
fun at night before 11pm. I talked about this in my previous blog…
Around
6pm which is a pretty good time because it is still nice and bright outside and
all but it is still hot out! I decided to walk to the university and when I got
there Sarah, our instructor was outside the University waiting for us handing
out papers and a map. I recognized a few faces there, Sarah, Ray, Nicole,
Elisa, Dianna, Susana and many more. I felt good to know there were a few of us
who were “brave” enough to sign up to take classes at the University, at this
point in time I am not sure if I will be in any classes with them but I we will
find out next week :) The
University is HUGE, it turns out it used to be a Fabrica de Tabaco, or in English,
a Tabaco Factory. It’s funny because it still smells like it and it is not necessarily
because of what it used to be but mainly because everyone smokes in between
their classes. I think the only place where smoking is prohibited is in the
classroom. There are a few water fountains in between the main halls, status of
famous writers and philosophers as well as important figures from Spain. There
are various halls and all of them are beautiful. Each department has their own
library. The one thing that truly surprised me about the university is how
grades are manages out here. Grades are listed outside each classroom on a
piece of paper and in alphabetical order and then the grades are written out. I
saw a lot of 5s and 6s which are the equivalent of a D or C-. There were a few
8s and 9s and which are equivalent to C+ and Bs and the equivalent of an A is a
perfect 10 and I think I only saw about one or two of those in each sheet. Then
our teacher told us that students work hard for their grades and study all the
time because they only get one test each year. ONE exam evaluates the entire
school year, if they mess up they have the opportunity to retake the exam the
following year but that sounds really rough. The exams are written and they are
given on the weekends, it’s interesting and different and well, it gave me
something to think about.
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| Up close and Personal with the Caballo :) |
After
the tour around the University Sarah, Susana, Dianna and I decided to walk to
el “center” and see what we would want to do before dinner; dinner at my house
is at 10pm! We decided we wanted a tour of the city and we each paid 12.50
euros for a ride around the city in a chariot. The driver was super nice and
pointed out a lot of bars and suggested he take him out. That’s another thing
about Spaniard boys, they don’t like to buy drinks for girls, it’s usually the
girl that buys a drink for the boys, or at least that is what we have
experienced so far… men. Anyways, we went by a lot of main road and took many
routes around the city and visited the Plaza de Espana, El Parque, and I am
hoping I will know all of these streets by heart. Everything was so beautiful
and then when the ride ended the driver took a picture of us and I had the
opportunity to get up close and personal with the horse, it was very neat :)
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| Dianna, Susana, Myself and Sarah oh and Mikey is in the background |
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