Vida en Sevilla

Vale, it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, so I will do my best to recap what has happened in the last twelve days . . .

I’ve now officially had two weeks of class, well if you can even call it that because I only have classes two days a week. My Advanced Spanish class is very similar to any upper level Spanish grammar class in the U.S. We have daily homework assignments that are a bit monotonous but are a good review of grammar concepts I haven’t looked at since high school. It’s also helpful because we are learning the common Spanish idioms and picking up some other interesting cultural tidbits. I’m happy to report that the professor in my Mediterranean World and Spain class decided that the class conflicted too much with her schedule, so the university gave us a new professor. The five of us that decided not to drop the class were very relieved because we can now understand what is happening in class. The new professor still talks a bit fast, but when she notices our blank stares, she’ll slow down and ask one of us to paraphrase what she just said to make sure that we understand what she is talking about. Last Friday, our class took an excursion to the nearby town of Carmona, where there is an ancient Roman necropolis (cemetery) and other historical points of interest including a mini Giralda (giralda=weather vane, the famous one is in Sevilla) and several ancient fortresses that show traces of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish influence. I was hoping that the professor of my U.S.-European Relations since World War II class, one of two classes I am taking in English, would be Hispanic or at least European, but unfortunately she is an American who married a sevillano and has been living outside of the United States since 1989. Our class is suspicious that she works for the CIA because her list of previous residences includes Moscow, Switzerland, and about a dozen other places that I can’t remember. I actually really enjoy the class because it’s nice to catch up on American current events and I love the period of history that we are covering. I’ve been reading the local Spanish newspapers and it’s surprising how much space they devote to American affairs. Also, the debate tonight is televised on pretty much every major station and my roommate and I plan to watch it live at 3AM. My biochemistry class is, well, biochemistry. Actually it’s more like introduction to chemistry, but it’s nice because we don’t have too much work and almost one-third of our grade is based on class participation, and conveniently I know everything we have learned so far and am up in front of the class doing problems and/or explaining what is happening when our teacher can’t find the right words in English. My favorite class so far is History of Spanish Cinema since the Democracy. On Tuesday we watched our first film, La caza (1965) directed by Carlos Saura. The film is actually from before Franco’s death and shows a few signs of la censura. The title of the film was initially La caza de los Conejos (The Hunting of Rabbits), but in Spain conejos has a sexual connotation and was dropped from the title. The sound quality wasn’t great, and of course, it seemed like the actors were talking a 100 km/hr but I really enjoyed it. The film was very psychological and on a metaphorical level explored the corrupt and immoral values of the franquistas, Franco’s supporters.

Last week I also finalized my travel plans to London, Paris, and Rome! I will basically be traveling every weekend starting the last weekend in October to the first weekend in December, so I’ve been working ahead in all my classes so that I can enjoy my travel time. Here’s what my itinerary looks like:

October 8-13 Fez, Morocco
October 30-November 3 Paris, France
November 7-9 Lisboa, Portugal
November 12-17 Rome, Italy
November 21-22 Granada, Spain
November 28-December 1 London, UK

Oh, did I mention that I booked my roundtrip flights to Paris, Rome, and London for less than $300 USD total? I’m also trying to find cheap flights to either Berlin, Bern, Prague or Vienna and am trying to figure out a good weekend to get up to Barcelona to see all of Antonio Gaudi’s impressive architecture. The weekend I am in Paris also conveniently happens to be Le Salon du Chocolat, a giant chocolate exhibition in front of the Louvre, so I am planning on getting tickets to that! If anyone has any recommendations of where to visit, dine, etc, in any of these locations please let me know! I would really appreciate it!

Last Friday, the university hosted an intercambio event at a local flamenco bar and I meet a couple of Spaniards my age. It’s weird how obsessed everyone here is with the U.S.– everyone loves American movies and music, especially the younger generations. Oh, last Saturday my roommate and I caved in and ate at the TGI Friday’s in a nearby mall because we were craving American food. It was pretty darn good, but it still wasn’t quite the same and it’s a lot more expensive than back at home.

This weekend is also La Feria de San Miguel, and the last two bullfights of the season are this weekend. My roommate and I bought tickets on Thursday for the last fight of the season on Sunday night. I will post pictures as soon as I can, but am warning you now that the fights are pretty gruesome. Also, tomorrow night Real Betis, one of two First League fútbol teams in Sevilla (the other being Sevilla FC), plays Real Madrid tomorrow night in Sevilla, so a group of us is going to try to get cheap tickets to go to that, too.

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. I will try to update my blog and post new pictures on either Sunday or Monday . . .