Thursday, January 22, 2009

Settled In (or getting there...)

Hola a todos!
I cannot believe that I have only been here for 4 days! whew! The past 4 days have been packed with activities with my grupo within ciee (we split into groups of 15 because there are 200 of us total!), nervousness (before moving in with mi familia), excitement (going to a traditional flamenco show), triumphs (getting somewhere in the city by myself) and frustrations (not knowing a very simple vocab word). I have met very nice students in the program but not many Spanish students yet...but that will come later.

I moved in with my family on Wednesday and I am so happy that I got placed where I did! I am living with a young-ish couple, Sarah y Jesús, who have a 1 year old daughter Talía. She is the cutest thing ever and they couldn't be nicer or more patient with my Spanish (or lack thereof). They live in an apartment in El Centro (Sevilla is split into zonas). This means I am only a 10 minute walk from where I will be taking classes! We start classes on Monday and I am definitely ready because I feel like my Spanish will improve greatly when we start our "intensive session" of a grammar class for 3 hours every day.

Let's see, what else is there to tell? Oh- I'm sure this is no surprise to anyone who knows me-but I love the siesta!!!!! I think I was made for this culture. I have been taking naps almost every day around 3 ish. Ahhh so refreshing. So far I have liked most every meal I have had. The food schedule is different here but I am quickly getting used to it. We eat a small breakfast (coffe and toast usually) and then a huuuuge lunch around 2:30 and then a smaller dinner at 9 or 9:30. I have been drinking tons of coffee and cerveza (just kidding...but really hahah) and eating a lot of fish (especially tuna) and ham and olives. I had never had a green olive but I'm eating them now!

Ok well, my fingers are getting tired of typing but I hope that everyone is doing well and I miss you all sooooo much! I will leave you with some pictures (sorry I have not been doing a very good job taking pictures because I am trying to be all cool and not act like a tourist). These will give you a tinyyyy taste of the beauty of Sevilla.


el torre del oro and palm trees! . It sits on the bank of the Guadalquivir River . At night it is lit up (hence the name tower of gold)La Giralda-part of el catedral (cathedral)
a plaza (the city has tons)..I think this is either plaza de los reyes or plaza del triunfo

Hasta luego!
XOXO

1 comment:

Rec Member said...

Phoebe,

I am so impressed with your blog, we all love it and look forward to pictures and updates. Should I e-mail you or use the blog?

It is bizarre (because I have been thinking of you so often and I seldom hear news reports about Spain) but yesterday I heard on NPR that there were wind gusts in Spain and France that that blew roofs off the buildings. Wow! Was it windy in Sevilla?

Have fun exploring. I remember walking all around the narrow calles (allys) of Venice and getting lost constantly, but always discovering fabulous, out of the way, places (that I often could not get back to). Do classes start on Monday?

Dylan is going to write and hopefully send pictures from his big DC trip with the youth group. I want to get SKYPE (sp?) so we can talk in person like the Jetsons (an old cartoon about the future space age). We are getting ready to start tearing down the house from the family room to the porch!

I LOVE YOU!

Bunny