So in just a few hours I will have completed my first official week back here in Spain. The past few days have been spent, mainly, with a very tall Spanish man named Jesus Marquez who owns a company called SevilleServices.com whom I called in hopes of having internet installed in my pequenito apartamento. Unfortunately, the signal from the original modem he tried to install was so low that I could not connect. Then we tried for WIFI, but that wasn’t working either. Finally he decided to give me a Vodafone broadband USB port signal thing which is working just fine and dandy, the only problem is that it is the only one Jesus has and I can’t keep it. Worst case scenario is that I will have to buy my own, but that wouldn’t be so terrible.
So, here I sit in Starbucks (gotta love it) in Sevilla, among throngs of people waiting to watch the first day of the Semana Santa parade. The weather is absolutely perfect and there is barely a cloud in the sky. Maybe the weather Gods look fondly upon Holy Week, haha.
On another note, I must admit that I am REALLY proud of myself. My Spanish, for whatever reason, seems to have improved in the years that have passed since I last left Sevilla, and I find that I understand the people on the street, the people talking in restaurants and in bars around me, and that I can communicate without much difficulty. Not to mention the fact that the last time I was here I was somewhat hesitant to explore the city by myself, yet I think nothing of it this time around simply leaving the house equipped with my map, wandering the narrow cobblestone side streets and knowing that even if I get lost, it’ll be ok.
I’m constantly thinking about new ways to improve my Spanish. A lot of the students here seem to be content with the idea of being able to simply communicate. Since communication does not seem to be a problem thus far, I am looking for ways to sounds more like a native speaker. I endure a reasonable quantity of stares on a day to day basis considering my skin is far too pale to allow me to pass myself off as a Sevillana, but if I can’t LOOK Spanish, I can at least SOUND Spanish. Or at least so I tell myself. So, passing by Casa del Libro the other day, an idea dawned on me. Last I was in Spain, I bought Harry Potter in Spanish. Reading books of that difficulty without having read them before in English would probably be too challenging to keep up with, but reading them afterwards is an amazing way to learn because you know what happens, you have parts of the books memorized, and your brain goes, “OH! So that’s how you say that in Spanish!” Since my latest fantasy novel obsession has been the Twilight vampire books, I bought the first one, Crepusculo, in Spanish, and have been diligently trucking through it. On average I circle about 4 words a page that I don’t know the meaning of. Maybe by the end of the book I’ll be able to cut that number in half.
So aside from my lack of a social life en este momento, I am happy. The reason I came to Sevilla…well, at least one of the reasons, was that at home, I felt stagnant and unchallenged. Here, I’m doing something different and learning something different every day.
It’s definitely a refreshing change.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Vida Sevillana.
Hola a todos!
So, today is my official 4th day in Spain. I arrived late on March 22nd and the Spanish couple with whom I lived when I studied abroad at Northeastern picked me up at the airport. (The perks of having stayed in touch with them for 4 years...free rides!). They drove me to my apartment and stayed with me until Lorenzo (the rental coordinator) met me there. The next day I was supposed to start classes at 9:15 a.m., but being a little overwhelmed with the idea of getting up more or less at the crack of dawn in order to make my way over there without getting lost so as not to be late for my first class, I decided to postpone my start date until the next day. That being said, I spent my first day walking around, rediscovering Sevilla and buying necessities for my pequenito apartamento. Yesterday was my first day of classes. My teachers are great and the classes are very focused on conversation. I am one of two Americans in the class but the other girl is leaving Sevilla this coming Wednesday. The other students are from Denmark, Palestine, Bulgaria and Japan, so we have been having great discussions regarding politics and religion and lots of interesting stuff. Yesterday I struggled a bit with my Spanish, but today I was very happy with how well I spoke. The director of studies recommended that I begin at an Intermediate Level and that I could always move up if it was too easy. Right now I feel like I am probably the strongest speaker in the class and I have already learned verb tenses that the intermediate students do not know, so in 2 weeks or so I think I will move up to a higher level, but I figured it would be better to start slow and not stress myself out too much as I adjust to this new Spanish life!
Sevilla is a great place to live. The people are lively, active and expressive and overall, quite friendly. Some attention is unwanted, but I try to blend in with the locals as much as I can. Most people are very helpful and CLIC is a great support system to have. My apartment is in a pretty little yellowish stucco building with a big wooden door. It has an open air patio inside the building. It is right next to a church and I have a bar next door with indoor and outdoor seating that serves toasted sandwiches, tortilla espanola and lots of other tapas, including coffee, beer and wine. Last night I went for a glass of vino tinto and tortilla espanola with spinach and it cost me under $4...2.90 euro. And let me tell you, the Sevillanos do not skimp on the wine. It's just such a pleasure to walk around, discovering the neighborhood. It brings me such joy to just be learning and discovering every day. Despite the fact that each day is infinitely more exhausting than it would be if I were speaking English and driving everywhere instead of walking, I am really enjoying myself so far. I met the American girls who are living with Maria and Antonio, the Spanish couple I spoke of earlier, and they are 21 and want to go out and drink some copas with me, which will be nice, as I have had limited social contact for the past few days. I know I will meet a lot more people in the days and weeks to come.
I will update again soon. Love to you all!
-Jess
So, today is my official 4th day in Spain. I arrived late on March 22nd and the Spanish couple with whom I lived when I studied abroad at Northeastern picked me up at the airport. (The perks of having stayed in touch with them for 4 years...free rides!). They drove me to my apartment and stayed with me until Lorenzo (the rental coordinator) met me there. The next day I was supposed to start classes at 9:15 a.m., but being a little overwhelmed with the idea of getting up more or less at the crack of dawn in order to make my way over there without getting lost so as not to be late for my first class, I decided to postpone my start date until the next day. That being said, I spent my first day walking around, rediscovering Sevilla and buying necessities for my pequenito apartamento. Yesterday was my first day of classes. My teachers are great and the classes are very focused on conversation. I am one of two Americans in the class but the other girl is leaving Sevilla this coming Wednesday. The other students are from Denmark, Palestine, Bulgaria and Japan, so we have been having great discussions regarding politics and religion and lots of interesting stuff. Yesterday I struggled a bit with my Spanish, but today I was very happy with how well I spoke. The director of studies recommended that I begin at an Intermediate Level and that I could always move up if it was too easy. Right now I feel like I am probably the strongest speaker in the class and I have already learned verb tenses that the intermediate students do not know, so in 2 weeks or so I think I will move up to a higher level, but I figured it would be better to start slow and not stress myself out too much as I adjust to this new Spanish life!
Sevilla is a great place to live. The people are lively, active and expressive and overall, quite friendly. Some attention is unwanted, but I try to blend in with the locals as much as I can. Most people are very helpful and CLIC is a great support system to have. My apartment is in a pretty little yellowish stucco building with a big wooden door. It has an open air patio inside the building. It is right next to a church and I have a bar next door with indoor and outdoor seating that serves toasted sandwiches, tortilla espanola and lots of other tapas, including coffee, beer and wine. Last night I went for a glass of vino tinto and tortilla espanola with spinach and it cost me under $4...2.90 euro. And let me tell you, the Sevillanos do not skimp on the wine. It's just such a pleasure to walk around, discovering the neighborhood. It brings me such joy to just be learning and discovering every day. Despite the fact that each day is infinitely more exhausting than it would be if I were speaking English and driving everywhere instead of walking, I am really enjoying myself so far. I met the American girls who are living with Maria and Antonio, the Spanish couple I spoke of earlier, and they are 21 and want to go out and drink some copas with me, which will be nice, as I have had limited social contact for the past few days. I know I will meet a lot more people in the days and weeks to come.
I will update again soon. Love to you all!
-Jess
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Bella, bella, bella, como il sole!
Hello friends,
So I write to you now from Italy. The past few days have been packed. Our last day in the Loire Valley we did not go to a wine tasting because my dad had a minor stomach bug. Instead we took a drive up to Chatres to see the famous cathedral there which was well worth seeing. Then we had lunch in the town and I had French onion soup and a crepe...so very French. The next day we began our 4 and a half hour drive to Lyon first thing in the morning and upon arrival my amazing Aunt Donna was waiting there for us. The first night we had dinner at a 2 star Michelen restaurant where I made friends with some Korean girls. The next day we did a tour of Lyon followed by a tour in wine country which culminated in a 3 wine bottle lunch that left me more than a little intoxicated. The chef at the restaurant had worked for Daniel Bouloud in NYC for 2 years and the food was exquisite. So I left France on a good note so far as food was concerned. We also had a chance to see Complexions perform an AMAZING program at the Maison de Dance in Lyon and had a really fun dinner with the entire Company. The next morning wasn't so fun as we had an early flight out to Milan and the French literally raped us for excess baggage charges. But upon arrival at our hotel in Lake Como, Villa d'Este, I felt immediately at home. When I come to Italy it reminds me why I have been here 3 times already because the food, the shopping, and the beauty of this place keeps calling me back. We saw Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper, we saw an opera at the Teatro alla Scala, and had more amazing meals than I can remember...including one in Switzerland (which, by the way, is about 15 minutes away from the town in which we are staying, gotta love Europe). Tomorrow we are taking a boat cruise around Lago di Como and the next day it's off to Spain.
My trip has been amazing and I have had the chance to spend time with some of the people I love the most, but now it's off to Spain to deal with my existential crossroads. Maybe by June 1st I will be closer to discovering the meaning of life, what I want out of it, and why. At this point I certainly hope so. It is a difficult thing to not know why, intellectually, you want or don't want something in particular out of life.
So I write to you now from Italy. The past few days have been packed. Our last day in the Loire Valley we did not go to a wine tasting because my dad had a minor stomach bug. Instead we took a drive up to Chatres to see the famous cathedral there which was well worth seeing. Then we had lunch in the town and I had French onion soup and a crepe...so very French. The next day we began our 4 and a half hour drive to Lyon first thing in the morning and upon arrival my amazing Aunt Donna was waiting there for us. The first night we had dinner at a 2 star Michelen restaurant where I made friends with some Korean girls. The next day we did a tour of Lyon followed by a tour in wine country which culminated in a 3 wine bottle lunch that left me more than a little intoxicated. The chef at the restaurant had worked for Daniel Bouloud in NYC for 2 years and the food was exquisite. So I left France on a good note so far as food was concerned. We also had a chance to see Complexions perform an AMAZING program at the Maison de Dance in Lyon and had a really fun dinner with the entire Company. The next morning wasn't so fun as we had an early flight out to Milan and the French literally raped us for excess baggage charges. But upon arrival at our hotel in Lake Como, Villa d'Este, I felt immediately at home. When I come to Italy it reminds me why I have been here 3 times already because the food, the shopping, and the beauty of this place keeps calling me back. We saw Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper, we saw an opera at the Teatro alla Scala, and had more amazing meals than I can remember...including one in Switzerland (which, by the way, is about 15 minutes away from the town in which we are staying, gotta love Europe). Tomorrow we are taking a boat cruise around Lago di Como and the next day it's off to Spain.
My trip has been amazing and I have had the chance to spend time with some of the people I love the most, but now it's off to Spain to deal with my existential crossroads. Maybe by June 1st I will be closer to discovering the meaning of life, what I want out of it, and why. At this point I certainly hope so. It is a difficult thing to not know why, intellectually, you want or don't want something in particular out of life.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Bonjour du France!
Hi All :)
So I write to you now from Chamont sur Tharonne. This is a tiny French town in the Loire Valley which is essentially French wine country. We are staying at a chateau on 60 acres which is actually a nice change from a hotel. The first night we arrived, a chef came to the chateau and cooked us a 5 course meal, complete with wine and coffee. He made a sushi grade salmon amuse bouche, with what tasted like a soy sauce marinade, shrimp ravioli, duck with asparagus and carrot puree, a hot cheese dish made with filo dough and a salad on the side, and the most deliciously perfect chocolate souffle I have ever tasted with a garnish of clementine in a thin syrup on the side. It was tres magnifique! I never thought I liked salmon or duck, but apparently, I do!
Yesterday we got a late start, had lunch at an adorable little restaurant in town and then headed to Chambord, the CHATEAU of all chateaus. This is a 440 room palace built in 1518 that housed many a French king...perhaps most notably Louis XIV. Afterwards we took a drive to Blois, a picturesque French city situated along the Loire River and spent an hour walking around and visiting shops before dinner at a restaurant called Au Rendesvous a Pecheres...the fisherman's meeting place. The menu was a challenge to decipher but I ended up with a pretty good steak and all was well.
This morning we had planned on having a quick lunch en route to yet another chateau (the Loire Valley in famous for them), but at our driver's suggestion we ended up at La Grouilliere, a Michelin rated restaurant. What was supposed to be a quick lunch turned into a 3 hour boozefest where I ate a delicious lobster bisque and a cheese plate fit for the Gods and even tried a liquor that was bottled in the 1700's. That, unfortunately, was not so delicious. Overall, though, I have to admit I do not care for French food. Aside from the 5 course meal the chef made us our first night, I have found French cuisine to be a little too heavy and rich for my tastes. Yet nonetheless, "when in Rome," so I am trying to give everything that is put in front of me a chance, even if I can't identify it and the French can't explain what it is in English. After lunch, we visited two more chateaus, and at my most fervert request, had an italian dinner, as I was not sure I could stomach any more French food at the moment.
The trip so far has absolutely met, if not exceeded my expectations. While a traveller should always expect and prepare for certain glitches along the way, the worst I have dealt with is a 4 year old European hairdryer that decided to pucker out on me the first time I tried to use it, and a cell phone that, despite having global service, decided not to work upon my arrival. After spending an hour on the phone with Verizon customer service from a French landline troubleshooting the problem and trying to reconfigure the phone from abroad, I was convinced that all was hopeless. I had originally intended to purchase an inexpensive international phone, send my dad home with my phone and have him FedEx it back to me once the problem was fixed back in the Etats Unis, but magically the phone began working after some delay, and I once again became a happy girl.
Tomorrow we are off to visit several different wineries, and the day after that we will be en route to Lyons. I will try and write another update from there.
XOXOXO!
So I write to you now from Chamont sur Tharonne. This is a tiny French town in the Loire Valley which is essentially French wine country. We are staying at a chateau on 60 acres which is actually a nice change from a hotel. The first night we arrived, a chef came to the chateau and cooked us a 5 course meal, complete with wine and coffee. He made a sushi grade salmon amuse bouche, with what tasted like a soy sauce marinade, shrimp ravioli, duck with asparagus and carrot puree, a hot cheese dish made with filo dough and a salad on the side, and the most deliciously perfect chocolate souffle I have ever tasted with a garnish of clementine in a thin syrup on the side. It was tres magnifique! I never thought I liked salmon or duck, but apparently, I do!
Yesterday we got a late start, had lunch at an adorable little restaurant in town and then headed to Chambord, the CHATEAU of all chateaus. This is a 440 room palace built in 1518 that housed many a French king...perhaps most notably Louis XIV. Afterwards we took a drive to Blois, a picturesque French city situated along the Loire River and spent an hour walking around and visiting shops before dinner at a restaurant called Au Rendesvous a Pecheres...the fisherman's meeting place. The menu was a challenge to decipher but I ended up with a pretty good steak and all was well.
This morning we had planned on having a quick lunch en route to yet another chateau (the Loire Valley in famous for them), but at our driver's suggestion we ended up at La Grouilliere, a Michelin rated restaurant. What was supposed to be a quick lunch turned into a 3 hour boozefest where I ate a delicious lobster bisque and a cheese plate fit for the Gods and even tried a liquor that was bottled in the 1700's. That, unfortunately, was not so delicious. Overall, though, I have to admit I do not care for French food. Aside from the 5 course meal the chef made us our first night, I have found French cuisine to be a little too heavy and rich for my tastes. Yet nonetheless, "when in Rome," so I am trying to give everything that is put in front of me a chance, even if I can't identify it and the French can't explain what it is in English. After lunch, we visited two more chateaus, and at my most fervert request, had an italian dinner, as I was not sure I could stomach any more French food at the moment.
The trip so far has absolutely met, if not exceeded my expectations. While a traveller should always expect and prepare for certain glitches along the way, the worst I have dealt with is a 4 year old European hairdryer that decided to pucker out on me the first time I tried to use it, and a cell phone that, despite having global service, decided not to work upon my arrival. After spending an hour on the phone with Verizon customer service from a French landline troubleshooting the problem and trying to reconfigure the phone from abroad, I was convinced that all was hopeless. I had originally intended to purchase an inexpensive international phone, send my dad home with my phone and have him FedEx it back to me once the problem was fixed back in the Etats Unis, but magically the phone began working after some delay, and I once again became a happy girl.
Tomorrow we are off to visit several different wineries, and the day after that we will be en route to Lyons. I will try and write another update from there.
XOXOXO!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Farewell!
To my dearest friends, family, and all else who blur the line between them,
I am moving to Sevilla.
In less than 48 hours I will be in a plane, Europe bound. Although I have spoken more or less nonstop about this trip with nothing but excitement for the past several months, now that my departure is imminent, my feelings are a bit more complex than that.
For those of you who know me well, you know that this trip is mostly a challenge I am presenting to myself in the hope that it will take me far away from my comfort zone and force me to analyze what it is exactly that I want out of life, and WHY? Many people aspire to settle down, have a family, and live a calm, easy life. Although I often ask myself why it is exactly that I DON'T want those things, at least not right now...even as a large percentage of people my age tend to be doing just that...I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it. I just know that I've seen enough of the world to know how much is out there, and I want to see and experience as much of it as I can. Sometimes I envy the people who have lived in the same town their whole lives. They have history there, they know everybody and everybody knows them. They have had the same friends since they were born. I've lived too many places to have one of them feel enough like home to tempt me into staying there. For this reason, among others, I wander, perpetually a nomad at heart, in search of something that draws me in enough to make me stay. For me right now, that place is Sevilla, a city that has been calling to me ever since I left it four years ago. So, to Sevilla I go, in hopes that I will find what I am looking for.
At any rate, it's bound to be a wondrous adventure.
I am moving to Sevilla.
In less than 48 hours I will be in a plane, Europe bound. Although I have spoken more or less nonstop about this trip with nothing but excitement for the past several months, now that my departure is imminent, my feelings are a bit more complex than that.
For those of you who know me well, you know that this trip is mostly a challenge I am presenting to myself in the hope that it will take me far away from my comfort zone and force me to analyze what it is exactly that I want out of life, and WHY? Many people aspire to settle down, have a family, and live a calm, easy life. Although I often ask myself why it is exactly that I DON'T want those things, at least not right now...even as a large percentage of people my age tend to be doing just that...I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it. I just know that I've seen enough of the world to know how much is out there, and I want to see and experience as much of it as I can. Sometimes I envy the people who have lived in the same town their whole lives. They have history there, they know everybody and everybody knows them. They have had the same friends since they were born. I've lived too many places to have one of them feel enough like home to tempt me into staying there. For this reason, among others, I wander, perpetually a nomad at heart, in search of something that draws me in enough to make me stay. For me right now, that place is Sevilla, a city that has been calling to me ever since I left it four years ago. So, to Sevilla I go, in hopes that I will find what I am looking for.
At any rate, it's bound to be a wondrous adventure.
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