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