Day 4: Home Sweet Home

          Well, what a week it has been! It feels like I’ve been here longer than that, I already am getting quite comfortable with my host family and feel oriented when I walk around the city. Last Saturday my lovely friend (and tour guide, and translator, and amazing person) Sara and her friend picked me up at Kelsey and Trevor’s apartment to drive me over to the home-stay where I will be living until May. The drive was quick and a learning experience of it’s own. The drivers here have to be a little crazy to maneuver around the city efficiently and I found myself picking up on a few new colloquial phrases to use in times of stress.....in the end we made it safely and I was left to move in and to become acquainted with my hosts and roommate.

Map of Sevilla. Sticking with the saying....home is where the heart is: Los Remedios

One of the bigger roads near my house

          The apartment is on a small road in the neighborhood called Los Remedios; a (relatively) quiet family neighborhood. It is a prime location: just far enough away to avoid all of the traffic noise, but still close enough to the center that I can walk just about anywhere. I was definitely nervous before arriving to this strange new place, something that was made worse by the fact that I was greeted by my host father Paco. Paco is in his upper-sixties, short (about 5’5”), speaks only spanish, and is fairly deaf despite having hearing aids. The fact that he is partially deaf (and that I didn’t realize this until day 2) made my welcome less than ideal, he seemed to interrupt whatever I was saying and used lots of hand gestures while shouting cryptic Andalusian spanish at me during my brisk tour around the apartment. Thank goodness my roommate Jenna was there and just as confused as I was, it’s comforting to not be alone during culture exchanges like that one. After the tour Paco left Jenna and I to unpack our things and to get settled into our room.

          Jenna McAuliffe is a junior English major at Richmond University in Virginia and hails from a town near Boston, MA, she’s been here for a few weeks taking an intensive spanish course. I anticipate that this semester we’ll not only be sharing a room, but also other interesting experiences that come with moving to a foreign country. While unpacking we realized that Paco had made us both worried; we hoped that the arrival of our host mother would quell any nerves that our host father had instilled in us, otherwise this could turn out to be a looong semester.

          When Gumersinda arrived my nerves were not only quelled, but completely vanquished. Gumersinda is about 60 years old, she has a warm smile, laughs a lot, and loves this city. She’s from a smaller town near Sevilla and, along with Paco, has raised 6 children and has 2 grandchildren. Oh and did I mention that she can cook? Part of our home-stay contract includes 3 meals a day, something that could have made the semester rough if I were paired with someone who didn’t serve palatable meals. Fortunately for me she’s got cooking skills (but while they may be good, my mom (Jinni) still gets the award for being best cook ever). The eating schedule here is a bit different than that at home, we eat breakfast at around 9am and it’s very light (usually toast and coffee), then lunch at 3pm which is the largest meal of the day, and dinner at 9pm or sometimes later which is usually the amount of a typical american lunch portion. I tend to keep busy so I don’t get too hungry during the day, and if I do I just see it as the perfect excuse to try out a new tapas bar. At some point I’m going to do an entire blog post dedicated to the food system here.....

          Since I get up fairly early in the morning I’ve had the opportunity to sit and chat with Gumer over breakfast. I’m getting accustomed to her accent and she’s very good about helping to explain anything that I don’t understand. The other night I came to the conclusion that it is some kind of fate that has brought us together. Jenna and I were with Gumer on Facebook looking at pictures of her family when a photo of her in a blonde wig and bright clothes came up. We asked her who she was dressed as and, with a big grin, she explained that she dressed up as Lady Gaga for New Years Eve! Her family had had a big party that night and so she surprised them by dressing up. She had her son blast Gaga while shining a spotlight on her for her grand entrance, she said the entire family was in stitches, as was Jenna and I while she told us about it. This woman loves life and making people happy, that night we all danced around to Alejandro (her favorite Lady Gaga song) before Jenna and I got ready to go out. 

          There are two other people living with us right now, her daughter Mercedes who is about 30ish, as well as a student from Tokyo, Japan. Azusa is 18, speaks english and a little spanish, and is here for two weeks at a private college taking intensive language courses.  She’s pretty brave to come all this way by herself without knowing the language, she’s been working very hard since she arrived and her spanish has already improved by leaps and bounds.

          The apartment isn’t lush but it isn’t terrible either. Aside from it being dark and cold it’s starting to feel like home. It’s currently ‘winter’ here which means it’s about 55º to 65º during the days and upper 30‘s at night, conditions that don’t warrant having heat in the house since the season only lasts for 2 months, but ones that make showering miserable and my feet very cold. Because of this I’ve caught a cold since my arrival and I’m hoping that’ll go away soon, I’m doing my best to rest up and keep warm. 

          No one in the house speaks English (well okay, Jenna, Azusa, and I do but we try not to....), I can tell that my comprehension is improving and my spoken spanish a little too. I now comprehend about 90% of the spanish on television, 85% of what Gumer says, however I still find myself getting lost when it comes to communicating with Paco. Jenna and I have taken it upon ourselves to win Paco over during our stay; we’ve already made good progress since we’ve learned to speak up when we talk with him. While he still can be grumpy on occasion, he now cracks jokes around us and we’ve had success in making him smile and laugh, he can be quite the character sometimes. He cooks us lunch on the week days when Gumer is at work, his meals are pretty good but usually include lots of french fries, I’ll be needing to find some salad here soon. 

If Gumersinda leaves earlier in the morning she sets our our breakfast for us, she even labels our thermos' and this particular morning she left us little chocolates :-)

          Overall I’m getting settled in, classes are going well and I’m meeting lots of new people. I walk a lot everyday and like to go get lost in the city during my free time, there is something new to be discovered around every corner. I’m looking forward to the warmer days that will come with spring, but for now I’ll be keeping my wool socks on 24/7. 

I have finally received the mailing address for my casa and will post it on my facebook, if you would like it just email me and I’ll get it to you, I love writing and receiving letters!

Day 2: The best tour guide in the city!

My tour guide: Sara Caballero!

          Sara met me at 10am to start out my first full day of Sevilla, she had warned me the previous day that I should wear my walking shoes because we would be doing a lot of that. The first stop of the day was La Plaza de España, one of her favorite places which has now become one of mine. The grandeur of the plaza is beyond anything that I could ever hope to share via photos, it’s something you must experience to truly understand. The Spanish have an incredible knack for detail; each little stone on the ground is laid just so, every painting is intricate, and you can’t walk through a park without realizing the great care that was taken in planting even the smallest of shrubs. It doesn’t matter what time you visit this city, it’s always at it’s best and ready to impress.

    

(Top left: Walking through a park on the way to la plaza. Top right: La Plaza de España. Bottom: Me walking through La Plaza de España)

         We walked along some of the parks near the plaza and made our way to la Giralda (the cathedral Santa María), it’s gorgeous and I hope to go in some time next week and climb the tower, I hear the view is worth the hike up the stairs. Sevilla has street performers and vendors everywhere, especially near the center of the city. It’s a great place to snag a deal on a cute scarf or to see some odd performers, I’ll take pictures of some of these guys at some point because they’re fairly ridiculous.

Walking around town, one of the many long streets lined with lots of mopeds and beautiful architecture.

          I love the way of life here, it is bustling and alive until the latest of hours, but no one is in a hurry. Sara and I walked as much as we wanted and when we found a place to sit we just chatted and watched people until we felt like leaving. People do things at their leisure, which is a practice that also goes for people who provide services too. If you want a coffee or to refill your phone minutes sometimes you just have to wait until the vendor is done with their conversation. I can appreciate a lifestyle that is as laid back as this, it’s a beautiful trait to find in a city.

          Sara took me to one of her favorite tapas restaurant for some lunch, a place called Taberna Coloniales. We shared a plate of queso al Raquefort (it’s like sweet blue cheese with jam on top of toasted bread, SO good!), and I ordered a dish called Solomillo al Whiskey, tenderloin in a whiskey sauce that is heavy on the garlic. It was delicious, as is everything that I’ve had here so far. To make the meal that much more perfect I enjoyed my first glass of tinto de verano (red wine with soda in it), it was much needed refreshment after walking all morning. 

(Top: Las Setas from the ground, not too sure why they're there but the view is amazing so I'm not complaining!. Bottom: Proof of the beautiful view, what a great city!)

          Our next stop after lunch was Las Setas (translation: The Mushrooms) or Las Parasols (I’ve heard both names), which is a giant modern structure that offers an amazing panoramic view of the entire city. When you’re walking around the city it doesn’t seem that Sevilla is all that big, but that is a deception that is quite evident when you’re sitting on top of this structure, this city is huge! Right now is the perfect time for visiting all of the tourist spots, it’s not very crowded and it’s still cool enough that walking all day doesn’t leave you sweaty. Sara tells me that by June it’ll be so hot that being on top of las Setas would be impossibly miserable, and that by August you’ll melt with temperatures reaching 120ºF at it’s worst.

The River and el Puente de Triana (the bridge of Triana leading to that neighborhood), it's the oldest in the city and is also known as el Puente Isabel II, but it's usually referred to as the former.

Walking back to Trevor and Kelsey's with Sara from the river side, I get to walk by el Torre de Oro every day! This city is VERY pedestrian and bike friendly.

          To wrap up the day we strolled by the river Gualdaquevivir where we sat for a good while enjoying the sun, watching kayakers, and talking. Sara is such a great person, she speaks wonderful english and is very patient with my spanish. She loves this city and, although she’ll say otherwise, she was the best tour guide I could have ever wished for. She’ll be leaving in a month to go to school in Germany so I’m hoping to see her as much as possible before that.

          That night I had dinner with Trevor and Kelsey in the apartment while we waited for some of their friends from the 2 week intensive course to come over. Quite a few people came, about 15 or so, and I finally got to meet my roommate Jenna! We all sat around playing Kings Cup, eating yummy little sandwiches that Kelsey made (she is quite the hostess), and just having a good time. At around midnight most of the group went out to some of the clubs in town but Kelsey and I decided to hang back. Walking all day had worn me out and I was looking forward to sleeping in the next day, plus I would be moving in with my host family and didn’t want to be too exhausted. 

This is Sara, isn't she just precious?! This is during our walk, she was such a wonderful tour guide.

          Overall this was one of the most perfect first days that I could have wished for, one that was full of new sights, sounds, food, and friends. I think the world of this city already and the people found within it, I can’t wait to see what other discoveries and adventures are to be had here, I’ll be sure to keep you up to date on them as they come!

¡Hasta luego!

Day 1: 25 Hours of Travel and Some Friendly Faces

         

                   I’m officially in Sevilla and it’s absolutely amazing here! I don’t know if the culture shock just hasn’t hit yet or what, but I already find myself feeling comfortable. My day of travel started Wednesday at 11am, my parents dropped me off in Greensboro and we said our goodbyes, they’ll be visiting in April so I’m going to do my best to prepare the city for their arrival! From there all of my flights were fairly simple, I had a layover in Miami where I first began using my spanish a bit, but walking into the terminal for my flight to Madrid was like stepping into Europe. The terminal was a mix of dozens of languages and people of all nationalities. I sat and had my last phone conversation with Rebecca (my phone is shut off until June), and after that it was a quick wait until I hopped on for my red-eye to Madrid. My layover in Madrid (for 7 hours) wasn’t too bad, I found a (not) nice and (un)comfortable bench to nap on while I waited. 

                        Waiting in Greensboro for my first flight....so exciting!

Oh hello Madrid airport! 7 hours here....

The flight to Sevilla was quick and easy, I slept the entire way which was definitely necessary, it helped correct the jet lag and I was feeling refreshed when I stepped off the plane. I arrived at 5:30pm on Thursday and went to baggage claim only to find out that my (very large) bag was still in Miami. Luckily, I had packed three days of clothes, toiletries, and my camera in my carry-on so I had no problem with them promising to deliver my luggage to my friends’ apartment the next day. 

Not having that luggage turned out to be for the best since I would be taking the bus and walking to Kelsey and Trevors’ apartment in Nervión. Having someone familiar on the other side of customs was a very comforting feeling which helped me avoid feeling overwhelmed. When the doors opened I was greeted by Sara Caballero, a Sevillano who welcomed me with a big smile and a much needed hug. Sara is a friend that I made while at ASU who was on exchange there last semester. She’s back home for a bit and is currently finishing up her semester at UPO; oh and what a gift she has been to have around! We rode the bus and she walked me to the door of the apartment where I would be staying for my first two days. I would have surely gotten lost if it weren’t for her, especially since we had to walk a bit after we got off the bus; a walk that was difficult enough with a banjo and a loaded backpack, something that would have been near impossible with my luggage. 

Sara left me to get settled in with Trevor and Kelsey, I’d be seeing her the next day, plus she had exams to study for. Kelsey Fuller is a friend from ASU as well, she hails from Florida and is a sociology major (i think). We had a spanish class together last semester and she worked as a Night Star in my dorm, you can find her blog here. She was gracious enough to invite me to stay at their apartment for my first few days in Sevilla. Trevor Brown is her boyfriend who attends school at University of Florida, both of them are here for the semester attending UPO (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), they arrived two weeks early for an intensive preparatory spanish course and so they already know their way around. 

Surprisingly I wasn’t too exhausted but I was definitely hungry; it was about 6:30pm which in Sevilla is the perfect time for some tapas. Tapas are a quintessential Spanish tradition, it’s the umbrella name to describe a wide variety of small portioned fares. It can be anything from seafood, jamón íberico (SO good), cheese plates, and much, much more. I’ll be talking about these a lot throughout my blog, they are delicious, cheap, and necessary since the meals are so spread out.

They showed me to one of their favorite places, La Flamecaría, for delicious fried shrimp and sangría. The tapas bar was close to the center of the city and only a short walk from the apartment so afterwards we went walking to take in the sights and sounds of the city at night. We saw the cathedral and did a quick circle around the neighborhood; it may have been 10 at night but the city was still bustling! Shops were open, people sat in the streets enjoying tapas and tinto, and cars whizzed by. 

On the way back we stopped at a place for churros and chocolate. Churros are fried bread that you dip in chocolate that is similar to a thick hot chocolate, it’s a late night favorite here. After sitting in the café for a bit we walked back to the apartment and watched a little tv. It wasn’t long before I was ready to head to bed, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I can’t believe I’m here, it’s like I’m in a movie, when I find myself walking the streets I sometimes just have to laugh at how unreal everything is. How can I be this lucky to live in such an unspeakably interesting and amazing place? If you’ve never been abroad it isn’t too late. Go out and see the world because it is amazing and impossible to experience through the word of others. Don’t always trust that map they show you either; the world is so much bigger than that, and dang is the food and drink amazing!

I’m so lucky to know Sara, Kelsey, and Trevor. Their hospitality is what has made me feel so comfortable in such a short amount of time and for that I will always be grateful, I hope to repay the favor some day. 

Preparing for Departure

              I’m hoping to make blogging a habit, I’ve never tried to do this before but I suppose that moving to Spain for 6 months is reason enough to begin. Plus I come from a bloodline of well known bloggers (well, okay, maybe just my dad, not a bloodline, but blood for sure). For those of you out of the loop I’ll be spending January 18th til June 13th in Europe on a study abroad through Appalachian State University. I will be going to Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain (see map) as part of a bilateral exchange through my university, and I will be living in an apartment with a host family in a neighborhood called Los Remedios. While there I’ll be taking language, political relations, and culture courses, but most importantly I’ll be living it up in the motherland of the language I love. 

^Seville is in the southwestern corner

After classes end in May I’ll be embarking (hopefully) with my best friend Rebecca on a 4 week backpacking trip around Europe, if all goes as planned she’ll be flying over to meet me in Spain and from there the fun will begin. Our itinerary is still wide open but we’re looking into visiting Barcelona, some part of Germany, Lille, France where my dear friend/roommate/amazing person Gillie is studying abroad (check out her blog- www.pardonmyfrenchsvp.wordpress.com), Paris, London, Wales, and Scotland. This is a huge list so it may be trimmed down, especially depending on flight/train costs and if we can find places to stay. Anywho....

These past few days in Greensboro have been filled with visiting, food, and packing. In just 5 days I’ve ventured to Raleigh, Winston Salem, shared lots of food, and have seen dozens of people whom I hold dear. My going away shindig Friday was wonderful, I have such a solid support system of friends, neighbors, and family here in Greensboro and parties like that help me be reminded of just how lucky I am. There was lots of socializing, sangria, and music, I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! 

My flight leaves this Wednesday at 1:30pm out of Greensboro, I’m looking at a 21 hour travel day at the end of which i will have reached my destination by Thursday at 4:50pm (Sevilla time). I’ll no doubt be tired and disoriented, but I’ll be in Spain which means I will have reached the beginning of an adventure that will surely change my life. I still have a little packing to do, people to see, and some of the hardest goodbye’s are yet to come, but for the most part things are wrapped up for me here. As of today all of my stuff fits into a giant suitcase, a backpack, and a banjo case, but the most important parts of my life will be staying here. Six months may not seem all that long, but at the same time it feels like a lifetime, especially since I’m only 20 years old. Things here will change while I’m gone and so will I, I think being aware of that now will help the transition back. 

I’m going to miss so many people while abroad, I hope that this blog will help people keep up with me on my travels, but I also don’t want to lose track of where you all are. If you have free time please email me up an update or write me a letter, I’ll be posting my address soon and I promise to write back! Also feel free to message me any travel suggestions for while I’m there and also if you know of anyone that wouldn’t mind hosting a couple of college students during our month of backpacking. 

Here’s to the future, to nights filled with dancing, music, delicious food, sipping sangria, new friends, and lots of adventure. And here’s also to true friendship and love, two ties that cannot be severed or forgotten because of time and distance, but instead will remain with me no matter where I go.

I’ll leave this post with a quote sent to me by my best friend:

"The purpose of life is to live it,

To taste experience to the utmost,

To reach out eagerly and without fear

For newer and richer experience."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

My room right now, attempting to regain order in the face of chaos.

Mom and dad at the piano, no Hoggard party is complete without a little music.

My going away party, I got to see some great people!

I'm going to miss this a terrible amount, these are superb people and I'm proud to call them my friends, keep it classy ya'll.

From left to right: Trevor, Me, Rebecca, Paula, Lou, and Holly

Photo cred on this one goes to Lou Murrey