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*The elevators: Although probably more efficient than those in the U.S., they’re not really that convenient- not made to fit more than 2 people comfortably (has a maximum capacity of 4). With two people holding a bunch of grocery bags, it’s a squeeze, so I’ve learned to dispense of the notion of a personal bubble unless I’m riding alone.

*Everything has such exquisite architecture, even the relatively unimportant buildings. The style and design of the post office and job-hunting building are so elaborate that you would also think they were a museum or monument.

*Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way….I don’t know how much faith I have in the crosswalk. If you’re in any part of the crosswalk (even near the other side!) when the light changes from red to green, the cars won’t hesitate to gun it and go. Several times I’ve experienced cars revving their engine right in front of me...such hostility! And traffic is a mess! Other than the traffic lights, it’s questionable whether road rules really exist. Every car believes it to have the right of way, so there is the constant background noise of honking. And honking in Spain is special :P Drivers don’t do a quick honk, they honk for at least 10 seconds. The first few seconds = watch out! I’m here!...the second few seconds = excuse me! (with attitude)…the third few seconds = now that I have absolutely EVERYONE’s attention, don’t ever mess with me!

*Purple leggings are sooooo in….really, purple anything. Apparently it’s the current fashion trend for girls. Typical trendy Spanish style is a dress, leggings, and boots or skinny jeans with boots. Boots, boots, boots! The most amusing trend I’ve noticed is balloon pants for girls. They’re in too, apparently. Bringing back MC Hammer! Too legit to quit :D Lastly, gel, gel, gel for boys (I have my suspicions that this is just a Spain thing though and not a current fashion trend)! It’s rare to see a young guy without gel in his hair…oh wait, they can’t forget to spike it either! :D

*Everyone is named Alejandro! Seriously! Or Carlos, or Juan, or Carlos Juan. I guess that would be the equivalent of our Alex, Charles/Chris, and John.

*American music is EVERYWHERE! Even when we go to places dominated by Spaniards, there’s STILL American music playing. Everything from The Beatles, R.E.M, and Cyndi Lauper to Madonna, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry. And techno is huge! I’m trying so hard to find a place where I can just listen to the Spanish guitar and some authentic Spanish singing, but I’m thinking I’m going to have to go to the countryside to find that.

*There are double rows of parallel parking along street curbs in many streets. I don’t know if it’s legal, but it’s done. This means that it can be quite difficult to get out, though, if you’re one of the cars on the inside row along the curb. I knew the cars would be tiny when I got to Europe, but I didn’t expect to see 5 guys pick up a car off the ground one day with their bare hands and scoot it over, so that they could get out from the curb. Wow! I also witnessed them accidentally put the car done on one of the guy’s foot, which I imagine was NOT a pleasant experience for him.

*Bars and cafés are absolutely everywhere, which I expected to a certain extent. But there is literally one every ten feet! I’m guessing that’s the result of them being the hangout scene. When you need to meet someone or don’t have anything to do, you go to the bar/café.

*And WHOA! PDA!! EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE!! The sidewalk, the restaurant/café, the bus stop, school, the grocery store, the mall…I could go on and on. And it’s not quick either…can we say uncomfortable! For all the Spaniards it’s not a big deal, but it’s definitely been a huge culture shock to us all.

Despite being a different culture and having its own twists and characteristics, though, there’s a lot of stuff that’s universal. For as many differences as there are between Spain and America, there are just as many (if not more) similarities in the behavior and actions and responses of the people.

Mi lista de cosas a hacer en Sevilla:

My list of things to do in Sevilla, inspired by Elizabeth McCain and an 80-year old man she met in E. Europe. The backstory: Elizabeth was on a trip in Eastern Europe with an old man about 80 during her gap year. The old man was about 80, had a thick accent and was hard of hearing. He was completely bald to the point that you could see your reflection on his head and he had a really throaty laugh. His name was Bob. Elizabeth and Bob were eating apple strudel at Schonbrunn Palace (where Maria Theresa lived) one day when his wife asked where she was headed after Vienna. She mentioned Sevilla and Bob literally jumped out of his seat. Long story short: After the war he had moved to Sevilla as a young GI and lived there are several years (so many he was considered a local). He thought Sevilla was the most beautiful city in the world and was convinced Elizabeth would fall in love there. Anyway, he promised to make her a list of all the things she had to do before leaving Sevilla and she has now passed on the list to me (with a few additions of her own at the end).

[] Watch a bull fight in the Plaza de toros
[] Take a long walk in the Maria Thersea Parque
[] Take a carriage ride on one of the last pretty days you are there
[] Go see the Plaza de Espana (that they did for the exposition)
[] Walk through the Cathedral on Sunday-no one goes there then and its free
[] The Alcazar
[] Climb La Giralda
[] Go see flamenco- go see another if you like it
[] Act like an American and have too much Sangria
[] Act like a Spaniard and have too much of something else
[] Agua de Sevilla
[] Party until 6 or 7 am and then go get chocolate con churros
[] Go see a Betis futbol match
[] Walk through the University
[] Go walk around in the really famous/expensive hotel (dress up nice) Hotel Alfonzo XIII
[] Buy some pottery in the Triana district
[] Walk along the river
[] Eat jamon sliced- Andalucia is known for it
[] Eat shrimp in garlic
[] Eat Ice cream at Rayas
[] Go to Morocco
[] Get lost in El Corte Ingles
[] Spend one night just hanging out with locals
[] Walk around by yourself one day with a camera just to see what you didn’t on a regular day
[] Find a spot of grass
[] Go to a procession during Semana Santa

Me gusta mucho mucho flamenco!

Spanish Lifestyle

So the Spanish do it right. The lifetsyle here is amazing! Who wouldn't want a siesta time built into the day?! I've decided we have it all wrong in the U.S. When we're young we get nap time, but we don't really need it then. We just end up even more wired! But when we're in college, or even high school, nap time is really the most necessary then. Most people don't get enough sleep...we'd be so much more productive with a siesta time!...Drop Everything And Read/nap really was the best thing ever.

My typical day schedule: wake up not too early and have a small breakfast then go to 1 or 2 classes in the late morning depending on the day. If you're Olivia, you're lucky and don't have class till 5:30 pm. After or between classes, I have down time to do whatever (usually means running with Olivia and Grace to train for the Lisbon half-marathon in March). Then I go home, eat a 3-course lunch at 2:30 pm, and then siesta for 3 hours. Siesta can mean sleep or just go chill in a park or stroll around the city....the first week it always meant crashing in order to make up for not sleeping so much at night :D Siesta time is from 2 to 5:30 pm, so during that time all the shops close- EVERYONE siestas. The city becomes so quiet/dead. After the siesta, I have another class or two in the early evening (once again depending on the day) and then I'm done. We have more time to do whatever, such as explore the city, until dinner at 9:30 pm. Dinner is also usually a 3-course meal.

The typical nightlife schedule: Spaniards don't begin going out till late...probably in part because they don't start dinner till so late. Between 11 pm and midnight, they head to the bar or pub for a couple hours to hang out and talk. Around 2 am, they leave the bar and head to the discoteca and then at 4 am they switch discotectas (meaning go to another). I don't know how they do it! Going out can entail being out till past the sunrise! But it's nice on the weekend cause then you sleep in, wake up to eat lunch, siesta (so you can go right back to sleep), and then do it all again that night. It's definitely different!

Meals

Our meals at the house have been the site of great conversations. We have a small breakfast every morning, which are senora prepares and leaves on the table for us, so it’s just me and Olivia. It’s usually cereal, bread/muffin, and orange juice. Then we have lunch at 2:30 pm and dinner at 9:30 pm, which are big meals. Lunch and dinner are 3 courses: usually a soup or pasta first; then the main meal, which has been some type of meat or fish with salad or veggies; and then we have dessert, which is usually fruit or yogurt. Everything is with olive oil—it’s either cooked in olive oil or has olive oil on it. For breakfast we’ve had toasted bread that you dip in olive oil and all our salads come with olive oil as the dressing. I like olive oil, so it’s fabulous. And I love fish, which is so fresh here, so I’m super happy with what we’re eating. Yesterday for lunch the first course was this rice dish with veggies in it and crab, which was to die for. Our senora is a REALLY good cook. I feel like such a pig, though, cause Olivia and I eat what I consider a normal amount, but her daughter eats about 1/2 of our amount…so little! All that we eat is definitely balanced and super healthy. I’ve definitely never eaten so much fruit on a regular basis my entire life.

Me gusta mucho Sevilla!

Algunas photographias...

Mi senora y mi nueva casa

My senora and our new home are fabulous! Olivia and I are roommates and we live in this quaint and homey apartment that’s perfectly Spanish. It’s exactly what I wanted. It’s spacious and there’s so much light. I love it! We live in a tranquil part of town, which is nice because we’re not from El Centro, but we don’t have all the noise that comes with it. The room we share is super cute. There are two single beds and we each have our own desk and share a closet and drawers. There’s a big window that lets in lots of light and there are beautiful paintings everywhere. The first thing you see on the wall by the door when you walk in is a big authentic poster of a flamenco dancer advertising El Gran Festival de Baile Flamenco. It’s a sign this is the perfect homestay for me! I’m so obsessed with flamenco and I really want to learn how to, so the fact that the poster is in my bedroom by the bed that’s mine is clearly destiny :D There’s even this frame containing a glass picture of Virgo, my astrological sign, which my senora had no idea I was. It’s so random, but it’s like this room was set up for me. I instantly felt at home when we walked in and I still do, so I’m happy.

My senora is Mathilde and she is the sweetest woman. She has three older sons, who don’t live at home but live in Seville, and a daughter named Ana, who lives at home. Ana is our age; she’s 18 and in her first year the University of Seville. Ana is really nice and it’s great that she’s our age. We get along really well with her and can relate. It’s funny: the first time I met her I stuck out my hand to shake hers, but she immediately shook her head no and kissed both my cheeks. I’d completely forgotten handshaking is not what happens here! Our senora is super funny and really amiable and warm. She tells the funniest stories and makes the best facial expressions and sounds. She already has an affectionate nickname for us, “guapa,” which makes me feel so comfortable and at home here. She is so adorable. There are gorgeous paintings all over the house which I found out that her husband painted. He’s amazingly talented! I’d assumed that she’d bought them.

The doorman to the building is so warm and friendly too. When we first arrived from the hotel, he’s the one that helped us in and helped us carry all our stuff. Each time I see, which is almost every day, he greets me and always stops what he’s doing to have a small conversation and make sure everything is ok and that I’m doing well and happy. He’s this old man that has become like a grandpa. And I love that he always gives me a hug and kisses both of my cheeks without fail each time. People here are seriously so kind!

Scavenger Hunt

We had a scavenger hunt around the city and it was a ton of fun. I saw so many monuments and the Cathedral and new parts of the city. There's just so much to see! I feel like 5 mnths from now there will still be parts of Sevilla I haven't yet been to. My favorite part of the scavenger hunt was the end when we ended up at Plaza Nueva, which is in El Centro. The city center was especially bustling because it was the first warm day in awhile. So many people were out strolling and shopping and the street performers even came out. There was one guy randomly dressed up like Mickey Mouse, someone else who looked like a Spanish version of Aladdin, and another who had a lifesize fake couple on his back and would hunch over, hidding under the woman's skirt, and make them dance (see pic above). My favorite street perform hands down, though, was the flamenco performace. A few of us just happened to stumble upon the performance when we were leaving the center...it totally made my day!...well that in addition to stumbling upon a Spanish couple getting married. We saw the entire bridal party and watched them take bridal party photos. Everyone looked so pretty, but the outfits were DEFINITLEY Spanish style! I invaded their privacy and took a subtle photo :D

First Impressions of Sevilla

Sevilla is GORGOEUS! I love it! There are parks and plazas everywhere and the architecture and buildings are so beautiful! I love Europe! I could easily see myself living here for several years in the future. Driving from the hotel where we stayed last night to our homestay, there were randomly Roman ruins and aqueducts in the middle of the road. It reflects how there’s so much history all around. One of the classes I’m taking is an Art and Culture of Sevilla class, which I’m hoping will definitely help me learn a lot more of the history.

There are orange trees and palm trees everywhere here, which completely surprised me. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a tree with oranges growing in it, so it was shocking to go from never having seen one before to seeing them everywhere. Apparently, the city smells heavenly in the spring from all the orange trees. I can’t wait! It’s currently chilly, so warm clothing is a must. Madrid was soooo much colder, though, so I can definitely deal with this. People in Sevilla have never seen snow and the weatherman is predicting snow for tomorrow, which has led to a lot of proclamations of “Dios mio!”

The people are super friendly and have been helpful. Everyone speaks really fast, though, so this should be interesting. I can always at least understand the jist of what’s being said, but the whole ‘v’ being pronounced as ‘b’ in addition to the lisp and the cutting off of the end of some words makes things more difficult. It’s hard to imagine 5 months from now when I’ll understand 95% of everything and will be able to communicate so much easier. I know it’s what happens, but I’m so far removed from that point currently that I can’t even picture it. Understanding and reading are the easy parts, speaking is what’s going to be a challenge. I’m still currently in French mode and am working on making my default the Spanish ‘r’ instead of the French ‘r’...it has so far been an interesting process.

Journey to Madrid...it's long!

So the journey to the Spain was crazy. I just look on it all as a hilarious adventure though. The trip started out very smoothly: Olivia and I arrived at the Charlotte airport with plenty of time, security was painless so we were on the plane quickly, and I even had an extra seat next to me on the plane, so I was spacious and slept the entire flight comfortably. When we got to Detroit, we didn’t have to wait long at all before boarding the plane for our connection to Amsterdam.

The problems began once we were on the plane. Boarding had begun an hour before the plane was supposed to leave, so we sat there for an hour, and then when we were supposed to leave, we had to undergo de-icing, so we didn’t leave for an additional hour. This meant that when we arrived in Amsterdam, we were behind schedule and had 50 minutes to get from the very back of the plane to the gate for our connection to Madrid. I’ve never rushed through an airport so fast. The Amsterdam airport is apparently 5 miles long and has a ridiculous number of terminals and gates, and unfortunately for us, the gate we needed to get to was D79 (I still don’t understand how the D terminal could possibly need 87 gates!?), which was nowhere close.

Despite being told by the flight attendants that if you were connecting to another flight you wouldn’t need to go through customs or security, we did…and the lines were of course long. Going through security was a mess! I had water from the plane in a nalgene and I didn’t want to throw away my bottle, so I had to drink 24 oz of water in 60 sec. as everyone in security watched (looking at me like I was straight crazy). Then when I walked through the metal detector, the staple on my boarding pass set the alarm off, so I got intensely frisked. I was pulled to the side, got a hardcore pat down, and even had the lining of my pants checked. It was ridiculous! Thank goodness it was a woman. By the time we got out of security, we had 15 minutes before our plane departed. We began to run like mad, each of us with two bags, through the airport- down hallways, up stairs, and down more hallways. Proud of ourselves, we arrived at the gate 5 minutes before departure…but they wouldn’t let us on the plane. Even though we could see the plane outside, they’d closed the doors. AHHH!

So we spent the next 3 hours waiting in the Amsterdam airport for the next flight to Madrid, only to arrive in Madrid and find out that our luggage apparently hadn’t been loaded and would come on the next flight. So then we waited in the Madrid airport on the floor for 5 hours until the next flight arrived. It was a cold, hard floor, we were starving, and we were tired…I’m really not sure why I just found the whole experience hilarious, but I did. Several people on our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam missed their connections, so we ended up meeting other students studying abroad and bonding with them. One guy named Vincent, who also was going to Seville for our same program, never got his bags. From the airport we took a taxi to the train station and then took a 2 hour train to Seville. A journey that was supposed to be much shorter ended up lasting 30 hours. And when we arrived in Sevilla, we found out that 1 in 3 students in the UNC program arrived in Madrid but their luggage didn’t, so many only had their carry-ons. Wow!

Highlights: 1) On our flight to Amsterdam, each seat had personal screens, so I watched four movies (Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona; Eagle Eye; The Waitress; and The Duchess). 2) The people by me on the plane were always really nice. In between me and Olivia on the way to Amsterdam was a really sweet girl going to study in Germany for the semester- I absolutely LOVED her accent…she was from Minnesota. 3) The Amsterdam airport is a riot: they make mean announcements in a nice way, such as saying the full names of people who haven’t boarded the plane yet and announcing to them over the intercom that they are single-handedly holding up the flight and their items will be removed if they don’t show up pronto. Olivia and I got one (as well as Vincent).