I've Only Been Here for Two Weeks?

I’ve only been in Sevilla for a week, but it feels like I’ve been here for a couple of months. When I wasn’t in class, I spent a lot of this past week exploring the city and am now able to navigate my way without a map. Here’s a recap of the past week:

Monday- In the morning, we took a placement exam at Pablo Olavide University (UPO). After the exam, we received a short tour of the campus. The campus opened in 2007 so everything is relatively new and several new buildings are being constructed. The natives don’t start class until October, but a lot of them were on campus studying to retake their final exams. Apparently if you don’t pass your final exams in June, you have the option to take them again in September, and according to our tour guide, this happens quite frequently. Later in the afternoon, a couple of my friends and I went swimming in our pool.

Tuesday- We had the morning free, so Kelsey and I slept in then explored the city. We had an orientation session in the evening and learned the results of our placement exam. I passed into the Advanced level. UPO put together a schedule for me based on classes I had listed that I was interested in. All of my classes were scheduled for Tuesday and Thursdays which means I have extra long weekends to travel! After some class changes, this is what my final schedule looks like:

	Tuesdays	Thursdays
9:00-10:20AM	Advanced Spanish (Spanish)
10:30-11:50AM	The Mediterranean World and Spain (Spanish)
1:30-2:50PM	U.S.-European Relations Since World War II (English)
4-6:50PM	History of Spanish Cinema (Spanish)	Biochemistry (English)

I am considering adding another class in Spanish during the 12-1:50PM block because all of my classes look like they are going to be pretty easy, and I really want to practice as much Spanish as possible.

Wednesday- First day of classes for everybody except for me. I slept in a little bit, went for a run in the park, and then jumped into the pool. Hey I’m not going to complain!

Thursday- I caught the bus at 8:01AM and was in my first classroom y 8:30AM. Note to self: Catch a later bus because there is no one else on campus that early! At 9AM, I had Advanced Spanish. I really like my professor and the overall course material will be a general but necessary review of Spanish grammar. At 10:30AM, I had The Mediterranean World and Spain. I think this is the first time my professor has ever taught anything because she seemed really nervous and spoke very quickly. I think professors here are, in general, more casual that back in the States, because she was wearing a bohemian skirt and a spaghetti tang top. I think the class sounds very interesting, but I’m a little nervous about this professor because the majority of our class could not understand her very well because she also has a very bad lisp. From 12-1:20PM, I sat in on the History of Spanish Art that UPO scheduled me to take. Unfortunately, I was placed in the English class because the Spanish version conflicts with my U.S.-European Relations class that I’ve been wanting to take since I saw the course options. Even thought I love art history, I decided to drop this course because I already have learned about most of the artists in a class at DU, and because I wanted to pick up another class in Spanish. I added the History of Spanish Cinema Since the Democracy, which I hope will help me improve my Spanish listening skills. The class meets Tuesdays for three hours, and each class, we watch a movie dating back to the rise of the Spanish democracy during the 1970s and analyze it. From 1:30-2:50PM, I would normally have U.S.-European Relations Since World War II, but the class doesn’t start until Tuesday, so from 11:30AM-3:30PM, I went to the library and looked up flights to London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona. At 4PM, I had biochemistry. This class is in English, but I wish it was in Spanish because we spent the first session talking about covalent bonding. During the evening, I booked a flight from Sevilla to London for November 28-December 1 for only $113!

Friday- Everyone else had Monday’s class today, so I got up, went for a run through Los Remedios, a neighborhood across the Guadalquivir River, then to the ISA office to turn in a 100ε deposit for a trip to Morocco for five days in October. Mitch decided to visit for the weekend, so I meet him at the bus station around 5:30PM. I showed him some of the highlights of Sevilla, we got some ice cream, then he meet my host family and ate dinner with us. He was able to stay at one of my friend’s apartments, which was pretty convenient for him.

Saturday- Kelsey and I woke up around 6:20AM and after walking a couple of blocks, took a taxi to the train station, where we meet up with Mitch and some of our other friends. We all took the 7:55AM train to Cadíz on the southern coast of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. We arrived in Cadíz around 9:50AM and by 10:30AM, we were all laying on the beach. The water was a bit chilly but felt nice after sitting out in the sun. We stayed on the beach until about 3:30PM, then left to explore downtown Cadíz and get some ice cream. We all caught the 6PM train and were back in Sevilla before 8PM.

Sunday- Mitch and I had breakfast/lunch in a pastry shop then explored the Nervión neighborhood, renowned for its shops. We made our way across the city and Mitch left for Madrid on a 5PM bus. Today was extremely hot–38ºC or 100°C. Oh, everything except for cafes and restaurants in Sevilla shuts down on Sundays. It’s a little bit weird and I’m not sure if it is economically efficient, but Spaniards do love their vacation days. I don’t have class tomorrow, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of my newfound time–pick up flamenco dancing I suppose.

I posted pictures from Cadíz, so take a look at those! I hope to have pictures from Sevilla up sometime this week. More from Spain later . . .