Una fiesta judía en el estilo Sevilliano (A Jewish Holiday, Sevillian Style)

It's worth pointing out to start that "una fiesta judía" literally translates to "a jew party." I guess it makes sense that there would be no good translation of "high holiday," considering there are so few Jews in Spain.

Yesterday I went to the only synagogue in Sevilla for Rosh Hashana. It was a really interesting experience.

The synagogue claimed to be modern orthodox. I met up with a few other kids from the program outside of the synagogue before going in. It was in a residential neighborhood and looked like all the other apartments and houses that lined the street. As it turns out, that's exactly what it was... the downstairs, front room in the Rabbi's house turned into a little synagogue. And I mean little--take the size of my living room and dining room in Michigan, put them together, and that space is probably about equal to the entire synagogue, if not a little bigger.

I should probably take the time to define synagogue, in this case. It was one floor; the women did sit in the back half of the room, but we were divided by a very makeshift fence thing that was moved after the services. There were a few pathetic looking framed biblical pictures and Hebrew art on the walls, and a small, homemade altar that housed the Torah. We sat on folding chairs. At the congregation itself, the majority of people were English speakers. There were a lot of other study abroad students. There were so many English speakers that the service was conducted in English and Hebrew, not in Spanish.

The service itself was really different. It lasted for about 30 minutes. I thought I would still be able to follow along with some of the songs and basic prayers, but they were sung and chanted in ways that were totally foreign to me. Everything was also really fast. The Hebrew also sounded really different when the leaders spoke, because it was Hebrew with a Spanish accent.

It was very informal. Some people were wearing jeans, t-shirts, etc. People kept coming in late and were greeted by everyone around them. It wasn't like in the US when you're late and you sneak in quietly. The relaxed nature of it all surprised me, I think, because I assumed modern Orthodox would mean the same thing it means in the US.

The Rabbi himself is Israeli and speaks Hebrew fluently. I think Spanish is his second language, and then English after that (his English had all sorts of Spanish and Hebrew accents going on. It was very cute). He told us that there are about 30 families who are involved in the synagogue, but about 90 or 95% of them are from Africa (Morocco, etc). He said there are maybe 2 or 3 families that are Spanish Jews. He went on to describe the neighborhoods in Spain that have the most Jews and said that there are about 30,000 Jews in total in all of Spain. The festivities last night was almost entirely tourists and study abroad students like myself; the local members were off with their families (mostly in Málaga, where there's a very large Jewish population, or Africa). For the service itself, there were a few local families (in total there couldn't have been more than 60 people, max, crowded into this little room), but they all cleared out shortly after.

After the service, there was a big buffet meal that was set up where the folding chairs had been. It was really, really nice, although it did take awhile to get set-up and the fact that it was almost all American students (ah, the East Coast Jews unite (and soon find they have many mutual friends) even on the other side of the world) made it feel a little weird, like the Rabbi was putting on a show for us. He gave a little speech, did the blessings, etc (all in English, again). We thought the food that was out was it, so we all took a lot (we were hungry, it was pretty late at this point, and there were a lot of people). Then the Rabbi said that there was more coming. That's when we found out that all the food that had been on the tables was just the first course. There were two more full courses coming. That made me laugh. Turns out the stereotype about Jews and their food is universal.

Overall, I'm glad I went and it was an interesting experience, but it made me sad. You could walk 3 minutes in any direction from the synagogue (or apartment with a room with a Torah) and find an insanely beautiful church to wander in. And then you have the Jewish people, most of which aren't even Spanish anyway, who sit in an apartment trying to worship. I'm not very religious or anything like that, but last night Spanish history hit me personally in a way it hadn't before.

Sí, soy estudiante española… (Yes, I Am a Spanish Student...)

I just had my first day of class. Or I thought I had my first day of class. There were enough sufficiently awkward encounters in the past 45 minutes to last me for quite some time.

Have I complained yet about how there is no word for "awkward" in the Spanish language? The closest thing they have is "torpe," but it doesn't have the same feel. Torpe means physically awkward, like clumsy or spatially inept. There's no good word for a specifically awkward AND uncomfortable social situation. The closest they have is "incómodo" (uncomfortable), which doesn't get the same vibe across.

So. My classes. Or, my one class that turns out didn't exist today.
I left the house with plenty of time to spare and got to the main building at the university that houses all of the Geografía e historía classes. I had 17 minutes to find my classroom. That was step one. I thought that was plenty of time, but I cut it close. The main Universidad de Sevilla building is the old Tobacco factory building--pretty historic and beautiful--but also huge. Patios, hallways that go in odd directions and make no sense, and classrooms in odd locations. I wandered around for a good 15 minutes. I'm sure I had the classic look that the freshmen have the first day of college, but times 1,000 because, heh, everything was completely in Spanish. Actually, that part turned out not to be that bad.
I finally found the classroom, Aula XXI, but it was locked. There were three other students waiting outside, but I couldn't tell what language they spoke (they weren't Spanish), so I didn't say anything to them. Then another girl, Marene, came and started talking to me. She said something, I said something back, and she looked at me for a second and said "you're not from here, are you?" It wasn't insulting really; it just confirmed that yes, my Spanish does not yet pass as my native tongue. How shocking.
Marene was really nice and we talked for a few minutes. She's from France, but this is her second year studying in Sevilla. I think the fact that she's also an exchange student (although much more Spanish in every way than I am) is part of why she was so nice with me and so patient.
Then the awkward moment came. I'm still replaying it in my mind. She said something, and I thought she said her name, so then I said my name and stuck my hand out to form a shake. She just looked at it. And then I remembered that duh, people don't do that here (it's all about the cheek-kissing), but by that time she had already awkwardly (the word is going to get overused in this paragraph, deal with it) taken my hand with her wrong hand, was holding it, and leaned in to kiss me while I was stuttering something about how I was sorry and handshaking was a very American thing to do.
But it doesn't end there. After that, she asked me what my name was. I thought we had already gone over that, but I said my name again. Then she said her name and that was when I realized that she hadn't said her name before. She had said something about France. So that means that the handshake/kiss fiasco was even more awkward than I thought because it was totally misplaced in conversation. I had basically randomly stuck out my hand in a totally inappropriate place in conversation.
The good news is that we kept talking and she was really friendly. There were times I think she was a bit confused with my Spanish, but oh well. That doesn't bother me...
So we were waiting and waiting for the class to start outside of the room. There were maybe only 5 of us by this time. Three of the others left. At 10:20 (Marene told me that most classes here start 15/20 min late and end 15/20 min early) we decided to head over to the secretary's office and ask about the class. And do you know what we found? Turns out classes in our department don't start until Wednesday. The funnier part? We asked in el centro, and the official day the department says they're starting is today.
Spain's organization, at it's finest.
Anyway, when Marene and I parted, we did the kiss-kiss again, and overall I feel really good with the interactions I had with her. That awkward moment will probably make me cringe for awhile, but overall I held my own in Spanish conversation much better than I ever could have in the past. I still have a ways to go, but that is to be expected (of course).

I had to get all of that off my chest.
Now on to a bit of a recap from the weekend...

Friday night was the flamenco concert, which is unbelievable. The inside of the theater felt like a bigger, grander version of Hill (Ann Arbor). It was packed, and the majority of the people in attendance where 50+ years old and very dressed up. It felt very stereotypically high-brow (I think it's fair to say that I can detect a high-brow equivalent in Spain, even if I'm foreign and don't know the cultural patterns so well).

The flamenco itself was incredible. There was one very famous woman who did the majority of the dancing, but there were also 8 others who accompanied her sometimes. When they danced in unison, I was blown away. The patterns and rhythms of their feet were in very tight synchronization. The guitar and singing were also phenomenal.

After the concert, we went tapas hopping, which was fun. Tapas hopping involves going from tapas place to tapas place, ordering a drink and a few little plates of food, often standing at a bar or high tables without seats, talking, eating, paying, and moving on to the next location.

Saturday I went with Liliana, Kristin, and Audrey to Italíca, which is in Santiponce, a town over from Sevilla. It was a cheap, 30 min bus ride away, but it felt good to try going on a mini-trip and leave Sevilla using the main bus terminal.
When we got there, I realized I had been to the ruins before when I visited Spain in high school, but had forgotten a lot about it. Now I know much more! The ruins are the largest Roman ruins in Andalucía. The Italíca ruins are pretty spectacular (especially the theater), and its where both Trajan and Hadrian were born. The day was gross and rainy, but we had a great time.

There are a lot of silly pictures like this that we took. Some are deep and philosophical (someone under an umbrella, looking off into the distance), but others are like this. The jumping pictures are always fun because it takes a good 5 or so to get one that fully captures the moment of the actual jump. That's the theater behind me.

You can walk up into the theater--there's more access than just looking at it from the ground. This picture was taken from about halfway up (you can't go all the way up).

Detail on the benches.

Sunday was pretty relaxed. Well, except for the fact that this weekend all of Mayte and Fernando's family (literally everyone) were here, staying in the apartment, because one of Mayte's daughters got married a week ago (or so) and there was a big celebration this weekend. I didn't know that ahead of time and only found out after the fact, but that still provided some entertainment and more sufficiently awkward situations trying to talk to the other members of the family. I'm starting to make friends with Mayte's granddaugther, Candela, who is 3 (she lives in Granada and comes to visit with Mayte's daughter fairly often). One of these days, Candela is going to realize that she can arguably speak Spanish better than I can. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, on Sunday the coolest thing I did was I went to Feria de las naciones (Fair of the Nations, more or less), which is a month-long Fair that's held in a park that I pass everyday to get to the center of Sevilla. It was awesome. The area of the world that they focus on changes every week or so. There are tons of booths selling all kinds of things native to whatever region the focus of the week is (and most things are very reasonably priced) and all kinds of food stands and performances. I had fun by myself, but I want to go back with some people and get lunch or dinner there. The food looked spectacular. It was like a smaller, quainter, more affordable version of the Ann Arbor Art Fair. More or less.

That's all the updates for now. I'm sure I'll write soon and overuse the word "awkward" even more than I managed to in this entry! But the awkwardness is good. It's part of the experience and it means that I'm putting myself out there. Sort of. At least a little. And, on the plus side, pretty much nothing is going to be awkward when I get back to the US!

Ay, sus chistes... (Ah, His Jokes...)

This could quite possibly be the shortest entry I've written yet.
Background information: Katie left this morning by plane to go to Barcelona for the weekend.

Yesterday, when Katie and I were eating dinner and watching Pasapalabra, Mayte's favorite game show, Fernando and Mayte started talking quietly in the hall. I didn't really think much of it at the time. Then Mayte came back into the kitchen and was doing some cleaning while watching Pasapalabra with us and Fernando went into the living room to watch the news. A few minutes later, he came in screaming "Mayte, Mayte, venga, mira la tele, hay un choque del avion en el aeropuerto de Sevilla!" (Mayte, Mayte, come here, look at the television, there's a plane crash in the Seville airport!). So Mayte rushed out of the room to go look at the news. Katie and I kind of just looked at each other, wondering if what we'd just heard had been correct, but shrugged it off and went back to our eating and game show watching. Then, a few seconds later, Fernando came power-walking into the kitchen, telling us a similar story to what he told Mayte. He told Katie that there was no way she was going to be able to fly out to Barcelona today, and that the Sevilla airport was shut down, etc, etc. She was incredulous, and I started flipping channels like a mad woman trying to find the news report.
Then, out of nowhere, Fernando began his deep, old man, insanely endearing chuckle. Actually, it was more of a giggle. "Estoy de bromas, es solo un chiste!" (I'm just kidding, it's only a joke!). Katie and I realized he'd gotten us, big time, and we started laughing. Then Mayte came in laughing, saying that she had to leave the room because otherwise her smile would have given it away (hence Fernando calling her out of the room to see the television first). Katie told Fernando that she's never going to believe anything he says. Mayte thought that was wise.
So now we know why they were out in the hallway, talking quietly...
Ah, I love my family.

Las chinas, las bolsas, y los cines (The Chinese, Bags, and Movie Theaters)

Bueno.

This week, my semester-long class through el centro started. It's taught by a UMich professor, Juli Highfill (each year, the program cycles between the three universities and brings in a professor to teach one class each semester). The class is on daily life under Franco, which is really interesting to me. She teaches the same class at UMich, too, and it's a 400 level there. It's definitely going to be more work than some of the other classes I could have taken through el centro, but I think it will be really interesting. We meet 3 times a week, not 2, because we watch a movie every week to add to our discussion. Yesterday we watched Pan's Labyrinth (completely in Spanish, of course) and today I think we're going to talk about the allegories and other magical elements that the movie has that relates to Spanish history, etc. There are just 5 of us in the class, which makes it pretty intimate. It should be good.

On Tuesday, I wandered our barrio (neighborhood) more than I had previously. I know a lot of what's between my apartment and the center of Sevilla, but not much about what's past the apartment, out from the center of Sevilla. I liked my walk a lot. Lots of big apartment buildings, definitely, but some of the streets were really small and cute, and it definitely has an authentic "this-is-how-it-really-is" feel that I don't get when I'm in the center of Sevilla, which has plenty of tourists, etc. I like our barrio. There's a decent amount of good stuff near us, too, like cafes and grocery stores. My best find, though, were the two "bazaars" just around the corner from us. "Bazaar" is just the name of the store (it's not in the middle of the street or anything), but it is fantastic. The Bazaars, someone told me, are pretty much exclusively run by Chinese people. The stores are packed to the brim with cheap stuff. It's kind of like a dollar store, only slightly more chaotic, slightly better quality, and slightly more expensive. They were a golden find. I plan to get most of my school stuff there--it's way cheaper than going to el Corte Ingles (main department store) and paying out the ears.

The one slightly sad note about the bazaars? When I came to Sevilla in high school, I got a bag at one of the tourist shops that I absolutely love. I still use it a decent bit (at home, that is). I saw it here in the bazaar. For cheap. So it turns out I got ripped off big time, oh, 4 years ago...

I don't think I have taken the time to write about the quality of the bread here. It's fantastic. Ok, maybe not as good as Zingerman's or really top quality bread, but the normal supermarket bread is a million times better than what the US has. We almost always have baguette, and the crust is all about crispiness and crunchiness. It's delicious. Mayte has been to the US a few times because she has a sibling there, and she told us that she thinks the bread in the US is horrible and Spain's bread is far superior. I think, overall, she's right. Here, bread is always served with every meal. It's a constant, and I think generally the Spanish people take pride in it.

Remember how a few weeks ago I went to go see Wall-E in the theater here? Remember the fantastic "hello-I-am-a-foreigner-I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing" experience we had? Well, a group of us went back to the same theater last night to see the movie about Che. We were all ready. We had our ISIC IDs out and knew how many were in our group so that we could order together and be totally on top of our game. We get to the counter, and the lady kind of just smirks at us. Again! ...turns out on Wednesdays, everyone gets in for the student price. So we didn't need our cards (after we got our tickets, we looked up and there was an enormous sign telling us so). And, because it was a Wednesday and there were no people there, the seats were not assigned, so there was no need for us to order together (when we told her we were 8, we just got another smirk). We didn't understand what she was saying because of the muffled microphone effect, but when we were walking away we were examining our tickets to find our assigned seats and realized that there weren't any... and then it all clicked. We had been the stupid foreigners, once again! This time it was more funny than anything. It is my goal to walk into that movie theater knowing exactly what I am doing and getting it all exactly right by the end of the year. I think it's doable. Anyway, the movie went well--I understood about 70 or 75% of it, which isn't bad.

The XV Bienal Flamenco in Sevilla (http://www.bienal-flamenco.org/web2008/index.asp) is going on now. It's a big deal--basically there are shows of various sorts every night for a month of all kinds of Flamenco. It is supposed to be the best collection of Flamenco in the world, and it only happens every other year. I wasn't planning to go because I thought it would be expensive, but I found a performance that looks great for tomorrow night, and the cheaper tickets (balcony) were only 20 Euro. I recruited 2 friends to come with me, so it should be great! I'm excited.

Excursión a Córdoba y más (Excursion to Córdoba and More)

Old bell tower next to the Mezquita.

On Friday, el centro took us to Cordoba for the day (same deal as before--pretend there's an accent on the first 'o'). The format of the trip was a lot like Cadiz: we took a private bus, had a guided tour for the first half of the day, and had free time for the second half of the day.

The awesome double arches inside of the Mezquita!

I had been to Cordoba briefly before when I came to Spain for a week in high school and vividly remembered bits and pieces of it. I had seen the Mezquita (same deal, imagine an accent), but that was before I studied it senior year of high school in my constantly recurring, glorious Art History class. So, this time when we visited it, I was much more excited because I understood the importance that the Mezquita had both historically and artistically (ha, yes, that is typically what an Art History class does!).

Random wall from my walk through the old Jewish neighborhood.

The guided tour also took us through la judería (which literally translates to "the Jewry), which is one of the oldest and most original Jewish neighborhoods in Spain. It felt like a more real version of the one in Sevilla. The Sevilla Jewish Quarter is really made-up and fancy, but the Cordoba one was much plainer and therefore felt more real (I thought). We saw a synagogue that was about 700/800 years old (I can't remember exactly). Well, the remains of a synagogue, anyway. The style was mudejar, which was interesting to see because it's normally associated with Christians. It was just one room, but the place reeked of history. It was good to see. The synagogue was on a street called "Calle de los judios," which literally translates to "Street of the Jews" or "Jew Street." I could use this to talk about how what we consider racist in the US isn't really considered racist here, but I won't. It was just interesting to see, let's just say that.

Another street in the Jewish neighborhood, as you probably guessed. I like the different shades of yellow.

After doing some other things on the guided tour, I decided to head off by myself. I sat outside of the Mezquita and ate my delicious bocadillo that Mayte packed me (Katie and I always get juice boxes, too... everyone else is jealous). Then I just walked for awhile. I walked all over the old neighborhood, just enjoying the day and taking lots of pictures. I got the most phenomenal ice cream I've had here so far--mango with chunks of pineapple--and then I ran into a pretty big group of kids in the program. They were rounding up people to go to a Tea-ry (is there any word close to that that's a legitimate word in English?), and I hopped on board. The tea place was cozy and awesome, and I shared some "Egyptian Tea" with a few other girls. We all wanted to go to the Real Alcazar in Cordoba, but it was closed, so we passed the extra time relaxing in the Tea place.

My out-of-this-world ice cream. There were people looking at me like I was crazy while I took this picture. Oh, love of my life...

Katie in the tea place we went to. I like this photo a lot.

I think it is definitely possible to do the most important stuff in Cordoba in one day, but there's more there I'd like to see, like museums, the Real Alcazar, the old fortresses (go into them, that is), and some of the more modern parts of the city. I think when my parents come, we'll probably go back.

More flowers!

Even more flowers... with Katie! This is a famous street in Cordoba that's called "Calle de las flores" (Flower Street) because of all the flowers that line it. This was where our guided tour ended.

A picture of the Michigan, Cornell, Penn students for Fall 2008 (with the exception of Pepe, one of the directors, who is the person standing in the very back on the right)!

~~

And now, here's the "más" for this entry.
I have two good stories to add to the character development of Fernando (Mayte's husband, our "dad").
Several days ago, Katie was eating breakfast with Hernando (I had already left, I think). He burnt his toast, and apparently it turned completely black and stunk up the whole house. Hernando really didn't want his parents to find out, but they did. When Mayte and Fernando found Hernando's blackened bread in the trash, Fernando kept calling it "pan de africa" (African Bread). He now says that Hernando is a specialist at making pan de africa and we should be careful when we use the toaster so we don't make pan de africa, either.
Ok, so that's one story. The other story happened a few days ago. Fernando likes to do some cooking, and he made a bunch of little pizzas to be frozen and heated up for dinner in the future. He makes me and Katie our own little pizzas without meat, that have a handwritten label on them that say "Pizza para las niñas." It's really cute. Anyway, two nights ago we had one of his pizzas and it was incredibly delicious. The next day when I saw him in the morning in the kitchen, I told him that I loved his pizza. He smiled, took a little bow, and said "lo hice especialmente para vosotros" (I made it especially for you all (Katie and me)). It was very cute.
He's a funny guy, always laughing and joking. I thought these two stories were worth sharing, even if they are a bit random.

La vida mia durante la semana pasada (My Life in the Past Week)

Alright, time for a hodgepodge of different things…

Thursday was our last day of the Pro-seminar class through el centro. After a test, el centro paid for each of us to go see a “Flamenco espectaculo” in barrio Santa Cruz. The Flamenco, to my surprise, was actually amazing. In the past I haven’t really enjoyed it, but this performance was different. The dancer was good and most of the rhythms were really tight. After the performance, I went out for tapas with my new friend, Andrés (ok, really Andrew, but for Spanish purposes he goes by Andrés). We measured where to eat based on how busy it was and how many locals there were, and the place we picked ended up being really good. After we walked and talked. It was enjoyable.

I took a cab home when Andrés and I were done hanging out, because it was late, the streets are dark, I’m a girl, etc. It was my first experience of getting ripped off here. The cab driver took me to where I wanted to go, and the meter said I owed 5.10 Euro. I gave him a 20, and told him I wanted 14 back. I was being nice and generous and rounding up. He gave me back my change, and after I got out of the car and closed the door I realized that I only had 6 Euro in my hand. He was about to drive away, but I leaned over the window to the front of his car and told him he had given me incorrect change. He told me that was impossible, and showed me how in all of his pockets, he had no 20s. I gave up and just said okay and left… it was late, my Spanish was not in top form, and the guy knew it. I lost 8 Euro, and it could have been worse, but it was not fun getting taken advantage of like that. And I was upset with myself for just resigning to it and letting it happen…

Anyway, back to school stuff: now all I have left for the Pro-seminar class thing are 2 essays, one 3 pages long and the other 6 pages long. They’re the first essays that I’ve had in quite some time, and it’s hard for me to process that I do, in fact, have to sit down and write something. In Spanish. It still feels a little bit like summer… I guess it’s because overall, my responsibilities here have been much less than my responsibilities in the states.

Madonna gave a concert in Sevilla a few days ago. It was a huge story here. (Bigger than McCain’s guffaw, if you can believe it.) Just putting that out there.

El centro offers a job to a few students each semester. The maximum amount of time you work a week is 6 hours, and the work is very basic—you’re basically the slave of the staff in el centro and do whatever odds and ends need to get done. You file things, label things, fix things, go on errands, organize the library, etc. I applied for the position, because I think it’s good for me to have a job here and have more real responsibilities to feel like I do, indeed, live here. Last Thursday I got an email saying that I got the job. I was really happy. There was a lot of competition—a lot of kids applied—and this way I will really get to know the 3 staff members in el centro and all of the resources that el centro has. I know slave work doesn’t appeal to most people, but to me, for whatever reason, it does. I like organizing. And, like I said, it has the definite advantage of getting to know el centro inside and out.

The other day (this entry is disjointed and all-over-the-place, I know) Mayte told Katie and me a pretty great story. She was talking about some of the kids that have stayed with her in the past (she’s had over 50!) and telling stories about their experiences in Sevilla. She had one boy whose dad was from Argentina, so he knew a bit of Argentinean Spanish, which can be quite different from Spain Spanish. For example, “coger” here means “to take” (like, take the autobus, take the metro, etc), but in Latin America “coger” means “to fuck,” more or less. Also, “joder” in Argentina, specifically, means to have fun, go out, hang out, etc. But here in Spain, “joder” means “to fuck.” So, back to the story: this poor Argentinean boy who stayed with Mayte had a crush on a girl in one of his classes at the university. He decided to ask her to hang out after class… but he used the Argentinean verb rather than the Spaniard one, so… yes. That was a messy situation. He meant to ask the girl to hang out after class, and instead he asked her to fuck after class. A big difference. Mayte said he was so distraught because he had really liked this girl, and even after he explained himself, they were only friends… it was a good story.

OH – yesterday el centro took us to “La Isla Mágica,” which is a pretty sizeable theme park on the outskirts of town. I was impressed! It was a legitimate theme park, with water rides, roller coasters, 4D movie theaters… the whole shebang. I’m not a huge fan of that kind of thing, but it was free (well, or prepaid by us already through tuition), so it didn’t make sense not to go. It felt a lot like sophomore year of high school when Band went to Disneyworld, but it was fun frolicking around with other kids in the program and getting all excited for various rides. I hung out with the kids who don’t like heights or big drops… it worked out well!

Today was the Sevilla v. Betis futbal game (those are the two soccer teams in Sevilla). The Sevilla stadium is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, so I think I decided I’m going to be their fans. Also, Sevilla is just a better team, generally, I think. Anyway, it was insane. I was trying to go out to get a coffee, but all of the cafes were totally packed (literally impossible to get in the door) because everyone was noisily watching the game. I’ve witnessed soccer fanatics in Europe before, but that was always for the World Cup. I had never seen this much of a frenzy over a local thing. It was fun to observe.

This morning Katie and I hit up some of the tourist spots we hadn’t been to yet, which was good. AND I found the most fantastic bakery/pastry/coffee place ever, ever, ever, ever. Ever. I plan to go back soon… but father, I think I may have found you your coffee place. Time shall tell.

Alright, that’s it for this miscellaneous entry. The next one will be about last Friday, when we went to Córdoba.

Un fin de semana en Madrid (A Weekend in Madrid)

This past weekend, el centro took all of us to Madrid for three days. It was part of our pro-cultural seminar. We had a lot of free time, and they paid for our transportation, hotel, and food. It was nice. There were a few guided tours of the important things, but not so much that it felt like school. It definitely bordered much more along the lines of vacation.

First off, let me just say I have never been more surprised the temperature difference before. I have traveled between hot and cold places plenty of times, but never two that are so close together. Sevilla and Madrid are about 2 hours apart by bullet train, which is what we took. (Note: the bullet train was great. So smooth, so fast, so fun. Why doesn't the US do anything like that? Hm?) The difference in temperature was about 20 degrees during the day, and much more at night. The directors had warned us that it was going to be cold in Madrid, but no one really understand what cold meant. And it was cold. At night, it got down to the high 40s, low 50s, which is pretty much as cold as it ever gets in Sevilla. The weather was still nice--blue skies, warm sun--but it was crisp in a way that the weather is not ever crisp here. It was good for being on vacation because we could walk around a lot without getting tired, but I was happy to get back to my beach-like Sevilla.

The feel of Madrid is very different than the feel of Sevilla. It makes total sense: Madrid is a major international city, and Sevilla, well, isn't. From my little traveling experience, I think that all big cities in Western Europe feel really similar. Obviously each one has its own gems and tourist attractions, but the general architecture of the older parts of the city and things like that all resemble each other. So, Madrid was great, but I like the charm that Sevilla has. Because Madrid has that big city feel, it felt less like an organic Spanish experience and more just like a big city. Also, many, many more people answered us in English when we tried to speak in Spanish. Here, most people speak back in Spanish.

I spent a lot of time this past weekend with Liliana, because we tend to have the same objectives when we're trying to see a place. As soon as we got to the hotel mid-morning on Friday, we spread out maps and guidebooks and planned out our days. We were really efficient with what we saw and how we saw it. We got to see and do everything that we absolutely wanted to do, but enjoyed ourselves in the process and didn't rush from place to place (usually). We walked more than I've walked in a long time--so much so that I now feel like I could confidently navigate myself around Madrid's city center. The first day we went around with another friend, Audrey. We planned out a walk ahead of time that hit up most of the famous and beautiful plazas. We took our time. We ended the walk at the Prado, where we met the group for a guided tour of the Spanish painters. The Prado was incredible. I had been there once before in high school, but the lack of appreciation I had for it then was in total contrast with how much I loved it this time. Liliana, Audrey, and I stayed after the guided tour was over for several more hours. My favorite thing that we saw was 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by H. Bosch. I studied it senior year of high school, and seeing it in person was exquisite.

After the Prado, we kept according to plan and went to el Parque del retiro, Madrid's equivalent of Central Park, that's right next to the Prado. We walked all around, took pictures, looked at the little lake/pond thing, etc. Then we sat for awhile, whipped out our guidebooks, and planned dinner. We decided to go to a place my book recommended: a little restaurant in a residential neighborhood that was the favorite place of many famous Spanish poets, Garcia Lorca included, with excellent food and very reasonable prices. The meal was a huge success. I'm not going to list off everything I had to eat, but we did share a Caprese Salad that has the most amazing Buffalo cheese I've ever tasted. Anyway, after that dinner we took a roundabout way back to the hotel, passing through a neighborhood we hadn't seen yet that Liliana was curious about.

Side note: Audrey's stuff got stolen in the hotel lobby. She still had her purse, with all of her really crucial stuff, but her clothes and everything else got stolen.

A street in Madrid's city center.

Me in Madrid's city center!

The next day, Liliana, me, David, and Daniel started with the Palacio Real. It was good to see, but it also put me on sensory overload. The amount of space and rooms was never-ending (2,000+ rooms in the palace, but we can't see most of them because they're still used) and each room was filled to the brim with elaborate paintings, vases, wallpaper, curtains, furniture, everything... it was wealth as excessive as I've ever seen it. It just reminded me how, even though I like nice things, I would not want a life like that. There's so much money put in to everything--even things as basic as a spoon--and there's no real point to working for anything, because theoretically you already have it! I would hate that. I would hate to live in that kind of environment with that kind of culture surrounding me. That kind of wealth seems suffocating. Anyway, can you imagine me hosting a ball or a big dinner or anything like that? Yeah, right. My table manners are atrocious!

For lunch, we met up with some of the girls and had a Madrid staple, the fried calamari sandwich. Cheap and good. Then we went to the Reina Sofia Art Museum, which had a lot of Picasso (including Guernica) and Salvador Dali. They also had an amazing digital art exhibit that had lots of cool stuff. I like those exhibits a lot. One of my favorites was a big room that played all kinds of bits and pieces from all kinds of chat rooms. It was artsy, obviously, and an interesting commentary on our society. And you know about me and commentaries on society!

Liliana and I ended up at the sweetest Vegetarian restaurant I have ever seen for dinner. Classic Spanish tile, several floors, old building... just great. And, before I stop talking about food, one last thing: Liliana and I stayed far under our budget for the weekend, 70 Euro from the center, and still ate great! That small fact made us very happy.

Saturday night was la Noche en Blanco in Madrid. Basically, in honor of Spanish culture, they had over a hundred activities going on in Madrid for free from 10pm - 7am. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. There were mobs and mobs and mobs of people in the streets. Liliana and I saw a few completely weird and strange things before we set out for what we were most excited for: a man was going to walk on a rope between two buildings, over a major street, trapeze style. It was called "Man in the Sky" or something like that. When we got to the intersection, we saw the small cord between the two buildings and more people than I ever could have imagined. The closest thing I can compare it to is what I imagine Times Square to be like on New Years Eve. So we were waiting there. And waiting. And waiting. It was supposed to start at 1am. At 1am, he came out, then he left. Then it was 1:10. Then 1:20. At 1:30, people were leaving. It wasn't a few at a time, either--it was everyone, all at once. Liliana and I were so confused. Had we missed him? No. Had there been an announcement? No. So then what had happened?! People didn't seem mad or frustrated; they just left. Later we found out that he didn't go on because it was too windy. So that's the end to an ultimately lame story.

The best thing about Sunday was el Rostro, a "flea market" that takes place every week. I put that in quotations because I don't think it was a flea market. Flea market implies old stuff that has already used and is being resold. The market had all new stuff, but most of it was quite cheap and it was fun to go from stand to stand looking at things. There were mobs and mobs of people. After a cheap lunch and some orgasmic pastries (pastry isn't even the right word... chocolatey fat would be a better way to describe it), we got our stuff from the hotel and booked it (walking) to the train station to leave. And then we came back to Sevilla and that was that!

This past weekend, I somehow managed to see everything I wanted to and I somehow gained the ability to find my way around Madrid (inner city, anyway) more or less confidently. I am proud of those two things and I feel like it was a very worthwhile weekend.

And now, as always, photos...

Daniel, me, and David with a lamp post outside of the Palace.

In the Plaza Mayor.

In the Plaza Occidente, right next to the Palacio Royal.

Buildings in the main pedestrian walkway of Madrid. Those thingies are used for shade.

There were many, many, many horse-conquering statues. Liliana told me that we learned in high school that the different stances of the horses all mean different things, but we couldn't remember what was what. This is the Plaza Mayor, again (it felt a lot like Venice).

Real gold on the lamp post in front of the Palacio Royal.

In el Parque del retiro, the Central Park equivalent. Audrey and Liliana are watching the sunset... aww... (yeah, this is posed.)

And, before I end these glorious blog entries for the day, one last thing: we learned in our grammar class yesterday that "Yo quiero taco bell" is grammatically incorrect.... it doesn't sound right to Spanish people because they use "querer" (to want) much less than people in the US are accustomed to using it. Interesting, no?

Aprendiendo como ser unos ases en el ambiente sevillano (Learning How to be Aces in the Seville Environment)

So I guess the title of this post doesn't make too much sense when translated to English, but I really just wanted to use the new phrase that we learned. "Ser un/a as" (pronounced ass) means "to be an ace [at something]" here. It's funny that a word that sounds the same in both Spanish and English can be used for such completely different meanings!

Last week, each day after class the program took us to a popular tourist site in Sevilla. It was nice. Each visit was guided (one group by Pepe, the other by one of the professors we had in the morning lecture classes). Here are some of the pictures that I took. Most are of the Real (Royal) Alcazar, which is the palace where the royal family lived (and still lives when they come to Sevilla). Parts of it is really similar to the Alhambra. The gardens are also incredible (and huge). It's free for students to get in with an Internation Student Identity Card, so I definitely plan to study in those gardens during the school year. Ok, enough talking.

One last image of the Sevilla Cathedral... taken from outside of the entrance to the Real Alcazar.

One of the courtyards in the Alcazar.

A friend of mine, Lauren, took this picture and put it on facebook. I like it a lot, so I thought I'd put it up here, too.

Still Real Alcazar...

Yup, Alcazar (in case you couldn't tell).

This picture is for my dad. The flowers on this tree were really weird and cool. They hung down, as you can see, and were very long. I took many pictures of them, but I like this one the best because you can see the little patio. Anyway, dad, enjoy!

Me with orange trees. Behind the orange trees is the Giralda tower, attached to the Cathedral. In front of me is the entrance to the Alcazar.

Ok, this one's a bit more random. This is Katie, from a few weeks ago. She's struttin' her stuff with the Spanish fan, but I also want you all to note the sunglasses (Sam, you especially). They are like my ridiculous ones I left at home, only slightly less ridiculous. At least one of us was brave enough to bring our ridiculous sunglasses along with us...

Ok, I lied about being done with the main Cathedral of Sevilla. This is a picture of the inside. The detail in the vaults is incredible.

On the walk to the Real Alcazar / on my walk to el centro.

A small part of the gardens in the Real Alcazar.

Detail on the Real Alcazar.

Ok, now on to begin the Madrid blog entry. BUT really quickly: I got my Sevici pass!!!! I used it yesterday for the first time and it was completely fantastic. Really, really easy to use. I picked up a bike from a station down the street from the apartment, and rode the bike to a station less than a block away from the center and locked it back in there. The whole thing took me maybe 15 minutes and was really fun. I love riding bikes! I had forgotten how much I do because it has been such a long time. This system that they have is so convenient. I'm a big fan. And now I can use it whenever I want for just 10 Euros a year!!

El centro, ilustrado (The Center, Illustrated)

I'm going to put up several blog posts in a short amount of time. Bear with me!

These are just a few pictures of the center. I know I always take pictures of the cool stuff I see, but I don't often inform you all of what my daily life looks like. So here's a try (I still have to take pictures of the apartment and I'm working on it--don't worry; I haven't forgotten).

Liliana in the entrance/foyer area of el centro. You open the door on the right off the stairwell landing (second floor), and this is what you walk into (more or less--the angle is a bit skewed). There are two chairs, a table with information about what's going on locally, and a wall of bulletin boards with more information about classes, bus schedules, train schedules, religious groups, sports activities, etc. Pretty much everything under the sun. Do you see the door behind Liliana? If you follow that, you get to...

The library room! Small, but cozy. Desks for using computer, doing work, etc. Those bookshelves line the walls in here and have all the books students have needed in the past for their courses, so ideally we won't have to do much buying. There are also a few other bookshelves in the main room, but this is most of them.

The main room. This was the absolute busiest it ever gets, because we were in-between classes. I happened to have my camera because we were going for a touristy outing. This is the central room of el centro (ha, ha, ha). If you make a left from the foyer area, this is where it gets you. On the right are more books, then there's a bathroom (exciting, I know). Behind the girl with the blue scarf is the computer room, which is the next picture. Then on the left are two rooms with offices: one for Luisa and one for Eva, the two directors of the program. In the front left is Pepe's desk, who is kind of the receptionist/secretary/lower staff person. He's hilarious.

The computer room. To the left and on the right (the photo doesn't get it) are tables with desktops for anyone to use. The in the back, as you can see, are just empty tables to use the internet. Just past the back table on the right is a nice couch, too, for relaxing. And napping. And reading. And the whatnot.

Like I said before, el centro is right in the middle of the real centro, downtown Sevilla, so the views out the windows are incredible and it's an easy place to get to. I don't think el centro looks terribly impressive from these photos, but there aren't many of us and it does the job really well. I feel comfortable here. It's kind of like the Olin cafe or something like that. You always find people doing something... oh, they also get various newspapers everyday for us to read and stuff like that. It's nice.

Algunas photos de la catedral de Sevilla (A Few Photos of the Seville Cathedral)

A year is a long time. It hit me pretty hard last night before bed. I think I realize it most when I think of how long it is going to be until I see certain people. I have never spent this long away from people who I love and care about. I know this is how life goes and even if I hadn’t gone abroad, once I graduate from Cornell the same thing is bound to happen, but still. Thinking of my friends at school who I won’t see for an entire year—until we’re all seniors—is overwhelming. Especially when it’s late at night and I’m in that pensive mood that I get into sometimes. I know with skype and the internet everything is much different, but I think that only goes so far. Especially with some of my, ahem, male friends… some of them definitely fulfill the stereotype that guys are not good at the whole communication thing. And still, even if they were, it’s different. And this is fine, it’s normal, and I’m still insanely happy and content to be here, it’s just one more way that I’m growing up. Pretty soon my friends, from home and school, will be all over the country (if not world). Real world, here I come.

Qué triste.

Today I forgot my keys (I did a little switcharoo at el centro and forgot to put my keys in my little bag I took back for the siesta). It’s not a problem—I just press the button and call up to Mayte. So I called up, she let me in, and I took the elevator up. I couldn’t get into the apartment either, obviously, so I knocked on the door. I heard voices, and then Fernando came to the door and told me that he was sorry, no one was home to let me in. I stood on the other side of the door saying “please” over and over in my most pitiful voice. He finally stopped messing with me and opened the door with a big smile on his face. He’s a joker. I like it. Katie and I both want to spend more time with him… after that he was telling me how he expects me to go running with him tomorrow morning, no excuses (even though he knows about my ankle). Funny guy.

One last thing: one of the first things we learned in class is that Spain is actually a much, much less religious country than America. Granted, a bit of that is up to opinion, but I think the argument is really interesting. Here, yes, Catholicism is deeply embedded in the culture, but most people are not religious. There is a difference. There seems to be a common consensus among Spaniards (based on the reading we did and what our professors have said) that if the government ever tried to mix itself with religion, there would be an uproar. They said that what’s happening (and has happened) in the US with the mixing of church and state would never, ever happen here. It’s funny because everyone I’ve talked to in the US thinks Spain is insanely religious. Religious, as I’m finding through class and through my own experience, is not the right word. The majority of people don’t worship or anything like that…

And now, on to pictures. I had many, many more I wanted to add, but the internet isn't working too well and I could only get the first batch on. These are all pictures of the central, infamous cathedral in the center of Sevilla.

During a picturesque night out for tapas towards the beginning of the program, this is what our walk looked like. That's the tower attached to the cathedral (we climbed up it).

So this is not the church, as you probably figured. This is the view from the top of the tower (at a later date, obviously). This is one of the main streets. See those trees? Yeah, they're orange trees. Pretty!

I don't remember the exact statistic, but there is a lot of gold in this part of the church. This is a photo of one of the central alter thingies.

One of the several entrances to get into the church...

Cool side angle of some of the detail (with an excess of flying buttresses... yes. Oh, high school Art History. How I loved you).

I have a lot more pictures to share. Hopefully they'll get posted early next week.

Una lista (A List)

I don't think the translation in the title was actually necessary, but whatever smart comment I could have made about it wouldn't have fit up there. So it's just normal (I know you needed the background story).

So, here goes:

1) Just like it is normal in the United States to have a dishwasher or stove in every household, here in Spain it is normal to have a deep fryer in every household. Not an enormous deep fryer like restaurants use in America (I'm thinking of Blimpie's in Ann Arbor specifically--I don't think I know of any other place that has caught on fire more times)... it's just a little, cute deep fryer that's built into the counter. Of course it's normal to have everything that the US has, too, but there's also always a deep fryer. It sure makes homemade french fries (patatas fritas) delicious, that is for sure. It's interesting, too, because the Spanish diet is actually fairly healthy and obesity here is nothing like it is in the US. I wonder what would happen if every family in the US got a deep fryer installed in their house...

2) I don't think I ever mentioned this in detail, but I am anxiously waiting for my Sevici pass to arrive. Sevici is the incredibly awesome bike system here. There are stations all over the city (literally all over--you can ride 5 minutes in any direction and find another station, and the stations go all the way out into the suburbs) that have a machine and little bike stands that automatically lock the Sevici bikes in. A Sevici card costs 10 Euro a year. With the card, you can go up to the machine at any stand, swipe your card, and unlock one bike from the rack. You have 30 minutes to use the bike, and when you're done you return it to whatever rack in the city is closest to your destination. So basically, it's like Zipcar only for bikes. I am completely in love, especially because I love bike riding and typically never get to do it during the school year (well, I was going to get to it this summer, but then I forgot how to walk downhill). There aren't helmets, which isn't the best, but everyone rides bikes on the sidewalks and there are often paved special bike paths. It should be great. Also, because I live in the suburbs (ok, not really, but it's close), the bike ride into the center of town is really easy: one straight shot with lots of sidewalk room. If I lived in the center of town, the winding cobblestone streets would make it much more difficult to use. So, hey, there's an advantage to not living in a picturesque place! ...sort of, anyway.

3) I have not had milk since I got here. Plenty of yogurt, plenty of cheese, but no milk. That seems to be the common consensus. Uh oh, I just asked the other people sitting in the library room in el centro if they'd had milk yet since being here, and I started a debate about whether or not milk is necessary in our diets. And it's in Spanish. Here we go...

4) On Saturday night, a bunch of us went to an awesome, awesome, awesome place in el barrio santa cruz, the oldest, most picturesque neighborhood that Sevilla is famous for. By day, it's basically a 100% tourist zone, but by night it's teeming with local people (I know, I sound like a guide book). The place we went to had no sign on the street or anything--it was just an open door. It felt a little bit like entering something cultish, with low ceilings, white painted brick walls, and low wooden benches and tables. But once we got to the main room, it was much less sketchy. It was a bar with really reasonably priced drinks, lots of sitting area (inside and outside--the patio was really cute) and free flamenco performances. People were sitting around, talking, and then when a performance would start everyone would be quiet and watch, and then after go back to talking. The cycle continued a few times before the night was over. It was really enjoyable, really relaxed, and really authentic. I think we'll definitely be going back there. I'm not disclosing the name here because we're trying to keep it a secret. :)

5) Paper here is a different size. Definitely not 8.5 x 11. That shook my world a little bit when I realized it... It's more like 7.5 x 12.5 or something like that.

6) One of our teachers told us that it has only snowed one time in the history of Sevilla. It was sometime in the 1950s, and it is known here as "el dia de nieve" (the day of snow). So I don't think I have to worry too much about winter!

7) A group of us went to see Wall-E at the theaters in the shopping center close to us this weekend. The movie was fantastic, and I recommend seeing it if you haven't. We understood all of it, too, which was good. Granted, it doesn't have much talking, but there are some sections with a bit of dialogue and we all got it, which is good. We can officially understand what elementary schoolers understand. That's one step in the right direction! Anyway, the movie theater process is way different here than it is in the US, and we made several classic "I'm a foreigner" mistakes (which can't really be avoided in the first couple of weeks!). First, you buy tickets in groups, which we didn't do. Turns out you buy tickets in group because the seats in the theater are assigned. The woman was trying to ask us which row we preferred and how many of us there were, but we didn't understand and got our tickets one at a time. She wasn't the happiest camper in the world to be dealing with us, but she took our foriegn-ness into her own hands and reserved us all the same row, even though we didn't get them together. We still didn't realize that the seats were assigned at this point, but we figured it out once we were in the theater. So, ok, maybe I'm being over-dramatic... the process was just different. Also, one last thing about Wall-E and going to the theaters: it made me realize exactly how much US culture dominates the entire world. Most of the movies are American movies that that are voiced over (that made it a bit trickier to understand the Spanish, but not much). American pop culture dominates the world... that's a somewhat depressing thought.

8) When we came back from Cadiz, I went out to the balcony to shake the sand out of my towel. I shook it out over the side of the balcony. Our 35-year-old man/brother came out screaming things at me that I couldn't really understand. I finally understood that he was telling me to shake my towel out over the ground. I was confused, but I did it. Then, when I went back inside, he told me very sternly that it is extremely bad manners to shake things out over the side of the balcony in Spain. I know it's stupid and I know things like that are going to happen, but it made me feel really bad. Stupid foreigner move again!

I think that's all for now. I'm going to upload a bunch of pictures from my camera to my computer later today, so expect a picture update on zee blog soon.
I think those are always more fun. :P

El viaje a Cádiz (The Trip to Cádiz)

View of Cadiz.

On Friday, as part of our educational class through el centro, we went on a day trip to Cadiz. Cadiz is the located in the Southwestern corner of Spain and is only about an hour and a half away from Sevilla by bus. Just to give you an idea, here’s the little blurb that my book says about Cadiz:

“Cadiz is the oldest inhabited city in the Western world, founded in 1100 BC. This modern, bustling Atlantic port is a kind of Spanish Marseille, a melting pot of Americans, Africans, and Europeans who are docking or passing through. The Old Quarter teems with local characters, little dives, and seaport alleys. . . .Phoenicians, Arabs, Visigoths, Romans, and Carthaginians all passed through Cadiz and left their imprints. . . .from numerous sea walls around the town you have views of the ocean. It was here that Columbus set out on his second voyage.”

So, yeah, Cadiz was excellent (imagine there’s an accent on the ‘a’; I’m lazy). We got a private bus there and the program gave us all money for lunch (but Mayte had packed me and Katie bocadillos (sandwiches), so we profited 15 euro!). We had a guided tour and then had the afternoon to ourselves. Cadiz felt like a smaller, quainter version of the older neighborhoods of Sevilla, except with water surrounding it on three sides. It was a beautiful day, as always, and it was a lot of fun. My foot wasn’t bothering me much—an added bonus—so the walking was really enjoyable.

At the end of the tour, we climbed up a tower to get a panoramic view of the city. It helped us know how to get around when we were back down in the winding streets! I went with Liliana and David, a new friend from UMich, to the seaside park to eat our bocadillos. Sometimes I tend to think a park is a park and I would rather see buildings, but this park had all kinds of greenery I’d never seen before and cute fountains here and there. Lunch was a lot of fun. After that, we made our way over to one of the older playas (beaches). Cadiz is known for its beaches. I also tend to think a beach is a beach and I would rather see buildings, but, just like the park, this beach totally disproved that mentality. The water was a brilliant, sparkling blue. The old city walls jutted out into the ocean. Palm trees were swaying in the breeze. Little row boats of all colors were anchored near the shore. I have been to beaches in the US, but this was different. When Liliana and I swam out into the ocean, we looked back to shore and all we could see were palm trees and white-washed houses (oh—and skinny people wearing insanely tight and small bathing suits).

One of the beautiful views of the city... the sun was getting in our eyes. Big time.

Detail on the side of a building on one of the many winding streets.

Catedral de Cadiz.

In one of the many squares (this one was probably the biggest) with David and Katie.

This street was much wider than most, so it doesn't fully convey the little-street feel, but I like this photo because you can see the detail on the houses better.

On the side of Playa de la Caleta, one of the most popular beaches in Cadiz.

So the cafe must have been closed, but I still like this photo.

And this was when we marveled that what we were doing, swimming on a gorgeous beach in southern Spain, was a class. Our attendance on the Cadiz trip was required and it will affect our grade for this pro-cultural seminar class. The class is worth 4 credits. So, for me, on Friday, school involved touring one of the oldest cities in Europe and relaxing on a magnificent beach. There’s no complaining here!

We left Cadiz in the late afternoon, early enough to arrive home before dinner (which, keep in mind, is much later here). Everyone was exhausted; the sun gets really intense. The day was spectacular. Next weekend we’re taking a similar excursion, only it’s for three days and it’s to Madrid!