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.