¿Que es esto?

Hola! I officially arrived in Seville Monday afternoon, but I have been so busy that I have not had a chance to update my blog! I have fallen in love with Seville already..it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I live in the district of Triana, which is very authentic and beautiful. The streets are all cobblestone and the buildings are so beautiful!! It reminds me a little bit of Rome with its very old and historic look!

My host family is SO NICE! They actually can be too nice sometimes and treat me like a princess, which makes me feel spoiled! I live with Ana and her husband, a very old and cute grandma, and their 33 year old daughter (who seems much younger and is so nice to me!) They also have another daughter that doesn't live with them that has a 3 year old daughter who I am excited to meet! It is a bit of a strange situation, because my family has two apartments. One is on the 4th floor and that is where the parents and the grandma live, and where we go to eat and be with the family. The other one is on the first floor where the daughter lives and I live. It is really the grandma's apartment, but she is too old to live on her own anymore, so the daughter lives there. It is pretty common for adults to still live with their parents, because the unemployment rate in Spain is terribly high. My room is very small, but so cute. They had heart balloons on my bed when I came in. There is lots of closet space and it makes me sad that I literally have NO CLOTHES! I guess I will just need to buy some to fill up the extra space ;) The apartment itself is small, but very fancy. There are decorations everywhere with lots of pictures of the family. My family likes to watch muchos telenovelas (soap operas) and loves to eat A TON!! I seriously have been fed so much here that I feel like I want to puke. The food has been good so far, but I don't need so much of it! And they say Americans are fat! I also told them that I don't like coffee, so my host mom makes me leche con chocolate all of the time now (hot chocolate).....it is soooo good! I am loving it :)

 My program has split us off into small groups to do various activities and tours, so I have gotten to know some really nice people pretty well! All of the students here seem really nice! We took a tour of our University yesterday...ummm is this for real!?! It was sunny so it wasn't that good of a picture, but it seriously looks like a castle! It was so surreal to walk in and realize that I will be taking some of my classes here!!

My Spanish has improved so much in just a couple of days! It was very hard at first to understand people, but now it is much easier to communicate! My host family is still difficult to understand, because they don't try to slow down or explain what they are saying, but I am getting better by the hour! All of the other students seem to be at my level, so we are all helping eachother learn and speaking to eachother in very fluent Spanglish haha. It has been a lot of fun to finally put my Spanish to use! I also have been learning a lot about Seville I have asked many times, "Que es esto" (what is that?)

I don't have much more time, because I am going to meet some girls to go shopping and exploring before we meet up with the group again tonight. It is weird trying to make plans without cellphones...I feel so lost with out connection to the world! I only just got my wifi to work on my laptop and it still doesn't work on my ipod, so it has been rough. You may laugh, but it is a very weird feeling to be across the world with no way to communicate with loved ones! Friday I will be buying a cellphone to use here, so it should get better. Anyway, here are a few more pictures of my stay so far (I haven't really taken many yet). Hasta luego :)

My group by the river!

There are many horse drawn carriages here!

My group getting some tapas! 

Preparing for the Journey

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos! Exactly one week from now, on January 12th, I will be embarking on my journey of studying abroad in Seville, Spain for 5 months! I was pestered by many to create a blog for my time there, and I finally gave into the pressure. I am hoping that this will be a good way for everyone in my life to keep up to date on what I am doing abroad and provide some interesting procrastination material for those who need it! 

Just a little bit about my program: 

It is through CIEE and students from all over the U.S. will be participating. I will be taking classes at the University of Seville, but the classes will be only with North American students. All classes will be taught in Spanish though, so it will be a challenging experience! I will also be staying with a local family. I do not know much about them other than it is a couple with a 33 year old daughter. I requested a family that would hang out with me and show me around the city, so hopefully they will have lots of time for me. Hey, I have been sharing my parent's attention for 20 years, it is finally time for it to be all about me! 

You all may be wondering if I am fluent in Spanish to take classes and live in Spain. I have completed 5th semester Spanish at Madison, so let's just say that fluency is the goal for this program, and that I might just be smiling and nodding for the first few weeks! 

Saying Goodbye:

I still have a week, so not all of my goodbye's are done. BUT my stupid boyfriend, Kevin, decided to go on vacation with some of our friends down to Florida this week. They decided to leave this past Friday and get back January 12th, AFTER I leave...I was not too happy about that! At least now I have this week to focus on getting ready for Spain and not getting distracted by him! 

Here are some pictures of us saying goodbye. They look a lot happier than the actual experience was :(

Photo Credit: Thanks Brian!

 

It will be in the 60's when I arrive in Seville, which is about 70 degrees warmer than it is here right now! Even though it will be nice to not have to avoid the frigid outdoors anymore, I am going to miss snowy Wisconsin! 

My backyard a few nights ago

I am super excited, but also super nervous to leave next week. It will be hard to say goodbye to my family and friends. While I am there I will try to update my blog as much as I can, but don't think I am dead if I haven't updated in awhile...I am sure I will be busy! Also, I would really like to stay updated on what is happening in the good ole U.S. of A, so feel free to keep me updated through facebook or email! Stay warm and wish me luck on my journeys! :)