I'd like to start off introducing myself a little bit. My name is Kari (pronounced like the name "Carrie," but here in Spain, my name is pronounced like "car-ee.") I'm 20 years old. I go to Sweet Briar College. I am a Spanish major, and I'm in the Teacher Education Program. I plan to do the 5th year Master's in Teaching program at Sweet Briar, as well. And as of right now, I'm spending my junior year studying abroad at the University of Seville with my school's Junior Year in Spain program in Seville, Spain.
Soo, Seville, Spain: my new home for the next 243 days. When I say the amount of time I'm staying here in days, it doesn't sound like anything at all, but actually, 243 days comes out to 8 months and 3 days, which sounds like a much longer amount of time. Nevertheless, I'm going to be here for quite a while. Part of my homework is to write personal posts here on this blog, so that's what I'll be doing here for my time spent here.
I've been here for 11 days so far (not exactly a week, but whatever), but I feel like I have been here for much longer... and I'm a tiny bit homesick -- but it's nothing I can't handle. I mainly miss my friends the most. I'm very introverted, and there's nothing I hate more than talking to and spending time with a ton of new people, and that's all I seem to have been doing so far. I guess I'll just have to learn to deal with it though, because I'm pretty sure I'm never ever gonna escape things like that.
So in this past week or so, I've experienced Spanish life first-hand. It's nothing like life in America, but so far, I think I prefer the Spanish lifestyle much more. I'm a laid back person, and the way of life here is perfect for me. Everything here is set to such a slower pace; it's great. But something I don't like? Communication problems.
My Spanish is far from perfect, but I still understand a lot, that is until my host mom, Toni, speaks to me. Don't get me wrong, she seems to be a wonderful person, but her accent is almost impossible for me to understand, and I feel like it makes it difficult to get to know her...or to even have a simple conversation with her. She drops letters, sounds, and she speaks extremely fast. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm stupid because there's almost never a time when she says something where I don't ask her to repeat herself (and even when she repeats herself, I don't understand a lot of the time because she uses less words but speaks just as fast...I'd rather her just slow down). I'm smart in my language, okay, Toni??? But really, I'm sure I'll begin to understand her...eventually...
Speaking of Toni, she's a wonderful cook. If I had to pick one thing I can understand from her, it's when she yells out "a comer!" (basically meaning "time to eat") from the kitchen. Food was probably number two on my list of concerning things when I came to Spain (number one being the language barrier). I'm a vegan (no meat/poultry/fish, dairy, eggs, honey, gelatin...basically, if it comes from an animal, I don't eat it), and from what I understand, it's really hard to be vegan here...but not with Toni. She has vegan cooking down pat. She even looked up how to make tortilla without eggs -- and for those of you who don't know, Spanish tortilla is basically an omelette. But let me tell you, that eggless tortilla was delicious. She used garbanzo flour and olive oil instead of eggs. I can always count on my meals to be both filling and yummy (much different than my experience working at summer camp this past summer, but that's a whole different story).
Speaking of Toni, she's a wonderful cook. If I had to pick one thing I can understand from her, it's when she yells out "a comer!" (basically meaning "time to eat") from the kitchen. Food was probably number two on my list of concerning things when I came to Spain (number one being the language barrier). I'm a vegan (no meat/poultry/fish, dairy, eggs, honey, gelatin...basically, if it comes from an animal, I don't eat it), and from what I understand, it's really hard to be vegan here...but not with Toni. She has vegan cooking down pat. She even looked up how to make tortilla without eggs -- and for those of you who don't know, Spanish tortilla is basically an omelette. But let me tell you, that eggless tortilla was delicious. She used garbanzo flour and olive oil instead of eggs. I can always count on my meals to be both filling and yummy (much different than my experience working at summer camp this past summer, but that's a whole different story).
As far as everything else like school, my living situation, and just getting accustomed to everything, those are all fine. School doesn't start until the 22nd, but my classes that I chose look like they'll be good (and 3 out of 4 that I want to take count towards my major, so that's relieving). The orientation classes are pretty cool. I really like the language class, but I'm not that big of a fan of the history class only because for some reason, I always get sooo sleepy during that class. I don't know what's up with that, but it's really annoying. If I could actually focus on the class instead of focusing on staying awake, I think I'd find it to be much more enjoyable (it seems to be like a very condensed version of my "Hispanic Themes: Spain" class I took last year, which was one of my favorites). I love my living situation. It's Toni, my roommate (who's more like a housemate because we have our own rooms), and me. I absolutely love having my own room. My "roommate" (housemate?) is super nice, so that's a giant plus. And as fas as getting accustomed to everything, I'm completely fine with everything. I've been told I am very flexible (and I suppose it's true), so getting used to this new way of life is not a big deal for me.
Sooo...so far so good in Spain. A couple of minor issues, but as time moves on, the problems will move on, too. :) I just want to end this first post with some goals that I have for myself for this study abroad experience. I tried to keep them reasonable and within reach, so we'll see how this goes!
- Improve my Spanish grammar and accent
- Learn something new about myself
- Volunteer for something I find meaningful/make a difference (aside from an internship, which I need to do for credit for the education program)
- Travel to at least 2 new countries
- Go hiking somewhere magnificent (in Spain)
- Take lots of photos
- Try my best in my classes
- Comfortably take a curso regular next semester
- Write a lot/document much of my trip
- Try something I normally wouldn't ever do in the USA
¡Hasta luego!
