The Quest for Internet Commences!

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.