not too little, not too late

I decided blogging is like working out and not like homework. You can’t procrastinate and let it pile up; you cannot reap benefits that way. You have to do it in a certain timeframe for it to really count. Nonetheless, I’ll continue with my way-late blogs. . . take it on if you can, but maybe in pieces.

So this is still a catch up on October, but there is so much more to share! Most importantly, the fact that my mom and stepdad came to Sevilla! Knocking on the door of their hotel room the first time was so trippy and surreal. We only had a weekend, but we made the most of it. 

MAVON IN SEVILLA!

Thursday I had figured out a bus route to take us outside the city center to find the Sevilla Harley store, for which Lavon is somewhat of a groupie. However, did I mention they (and apparently I) were pretty tired? We slept through the correct stop and ended up walking into some café-bar on a dirt road to ask for help. Basically I had a great start as their tour guide. We did eventually find the place, and met a guy there that had been to Kansas City twice! Instant friendship. And discount. Back in the center I took them to Plaza de España, one of my favorite spots, and we walked through a park afterward.  The parks in Sevilla are honestly top-notch. I explored a new one just last week actually. There are always lots of people and tiny dogs. Side-note: there are so many dogs in this city and they are all SO SMALL. Guys in the past have complained about girlfriends wanting tiny dogs because it “looks dumb” on a guy, and I thought this was ridiculous. I understand now. They’re just so tiny. And in such a bustling place, I’m honestly surprised there aren’t more casualties. Nonetheless, they are consistently adorable.

Thursday night I took my parents to Las Setas, which is a big, architectural, modern structure that is quite hard to describe but offers great views of the city when you go to the top. In my first weeks here, I saw and heard about a skyscraper being built by the river that was getting a lot of negative response from the people of Sevilla because it “didn’t fit in” and “was ugly” and other similar comments. I secretly thought it was somewhat of an overreaction until I was on top of the Setas and saw the big picture for myself. The thing looks terrible and violently interrupts an otherwise peaceful city skyline that is short and beautiful because of its age.

A view of Las Setas

Friday my parents got to meet the one and only Mary Alice, the lady who makes study abroad in Sevilla such a dream. We had breakfast with her, Ashlyn, Gifton, and a TCU alum that has moved her life to Sevilla. I ordered milk, but apparently it is served hot here, which was a surprise. Turns out I love warm milk and it is now a regular thing for me. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. Afterward we toured the cathedral and a Muslim palace called the Alcázar. Friday evening I took them to a flamenco show. Flamenco is the tradition dance that arose in Andalucia, the southern region of Spain that Sevilla is in. It’s super different but I like it and pretty much any Sevillano knows the basics of how to dance it. They all get really into it and sweat a lot because there is so much clapping and tapping. After the flamenco show was dinner at a favorite tapas spot right on the river Guadalquivir. Ashlyn and Gifton joined us and everything was of course quite tasty, with the added bonus of awesome views from the terrace. Have I mentioned gofres yet? They are little Belgium waffles but served as dessert with chocolate syrup and ice cream and we had them for dessert on Friday. They’re pretty unbeatable. I’ll probably being making single servings of waffle batter when I get home just for gofre.

Saturday morning we had breakfast with my Sevilla parents and Ashlyn. This was honestly such a cool moment. Ashlyn and I were translating the whole time obviously because neither pair speaks hardly a word of the other’s language and we were, in one sense, the only ones that really knew the details of what was going on. Nevertheless it really seemed like everyone was connecting/enjoying the company of the others! It seems like translating would be such a cool job, and so important. The entire success of the interaction depends on what words the translator chooses to represent an idea, and how they objectively interpret the intentions of one party in order to convey them to the other. Isn’t that crazy? It makes me think we should probably all learn every language just to ensure our thoughts are accurately expressed to whomever we’re talking with. Despite the importance I feel the language aspect has, a lot can be said for gestures and facial expressions. I translated the words, but the camaraderie happened elsewhere. I re-enforced this learning when in Italy, but I would say that even when you don’t know the language of whomever you’re talking with, you gain a lot by saying something in your native language. Quite possibly your foreign conversation partner won’t understand you, but they will pick up on your tone and facial expressions, and those will only be natural if you speak what you know. Little philosophy of Jenna Wiles for you. That one’s for free.

Right of me is Elisa and Monolo, my host parents.

 The rest of Saturday was chill. We meandered in a beautiful fresh market in my neighborhood, sat by the river, ate some bomb paella for lunch, and just relaxed until departure time. I’m really excited to be able to just sit in each other’s company again when I get home, this is for sure. I miss that. I accompanied them to the train station to see them off, because I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly. This is funny to me because Lavon has been to so many countries, and they made it to Sevilla just fine so they can obviously manage, but there I was showing them their train platform. THEN my mom gets all “do you know how to get home and everything?” which is also hilarious because I have lived in Sevilla for several weeks, frequented this train station, and successfully made it to and from multiple other countries since I last saw her. I don’t blame her, because it probably felt like the right thing to do, as did chaperoning them to the station, but in all practicality, it’s a little funny on both sides. (thanks for caring about me Momma!). I did in fact make it home, but the ride was lonelier than I thought it’d be. Parents are the best and I really had missed/still do miss mine.  

CORDOBA AND GRANADA

Believe it or not, even more things happened in October. In the weekdays it was class and hanging out with my unbelievably wonderful host family, roommate, and Spanish friends/acquaintances. There was also a strike at the university one day. It felt like senior skip day but I was the junior. Most of the Spanish students didn’t come, either because they had an excuse not to or actually supported the strike, but the American students really have no stake in the matter so we and about 6 other people came to campus that day. But the next weekend, there was an excursion to two other cities in Andalucia: Córdoba and Granada.

Córdoba is most known because there you will find La Mezquita. This structure was a mosque but later turned into a temple and then a cathedral and at one time there were Muslims, Jews, and Christians all worshiping there together. My host mom calls it a monument to humanity and it is actually pretty cool. The most outstanding feature is these red and white arches that fill the whole place. In richer years of expansion they were constructed with brick and stone and in poorer years the red was just painted on. The bridge to cross the river to La Mezquita still has the original Roman pillars holding it up. I am not one to get too excited about history, but this stuff was cool. After this visit, the small group of us went with our guide to Granada. Our guide, Luis Miguel, was stellar. He is a history teacher but has been out of work for a few years so he picked up this job as a trip guide. He’s great at it because of his honest passion for the history of Spain, but I know he wants to teach again. He told us how hard he is trying to learn English to help get a job, but it is so frustratingly hard and most of his classmates are teenagers. I really admire his drive. I’ve spent a lot of minutes here thinking about my chance placement into a country where I learned English from birth, when so many are giving anything to learn it.

Inside La Mezquita

The city of Granada was an instant love. It is right by the Sierra Nevada mountains and if things work out I’ll be returning again this semester. We had such little time there and it is a cool place. There is something about being by mountains, you know? I really loved it. It has the same tiny streets and café con leche, but way different weather and views. It also has La Alhambra! This thing is AMAZING. It is a Muslim palace from when Granada was the Muslim capital of the Iberian peninsula. Super old and super beautiful. It is on top of a hill overlooking the rest of the city and has expansive gardens that we had the pleasure of walking through in perfect weather. Second to Sevilla, of cities in Spain I think I would most like to have studied abroad in Granada.

the Alhambra from afar

Granada from the Alhambra

Gardens!

HALLOWEEN

As for the last day of October, aka Halloween, it is celebrated here. This only began less than a decade ago and is entirely a copy of the American holiday that is projected in movies and shows. One lady I spoke with said no one really knows why they do it here, Spaniards just like any reason to have a party. Out in the streets that night, you could tell who was American and who Spanish by the costumes. Spaniards almost all go the traditional route (witches, ghosts, zombies, skeletons, vampires) whereas costumes in the States are highly varied and based on anything. Or sometimes nothing.

Okay, you and I desperately need this post to end because it is largísima (. . . really long) but hopefully another will be coming soon. It is December tomorrow after all.

It’s a great day in Sevilla, and I hope you are having a great day wherever you are as well!

Jenna

entering the 3rd month

Hello friends!

Well look at that. It’s November. I clearly need to refine my blogging skills. Putting my inconsistency aside, I would love to tell you a little bit about the past month of my European “life”. I have to put it in quotes because the past month was so surreal and barely resembled any other month of my life, with the exception of this past September.

You know how after you spend a little while with a new thing it becomes normal and then you get bored of it and start looking for the next thing because humans are adaptable and we always search for novel stimuli? Well, that has not happened here in the slightest. I am still in honey-moon mood with Europe.  I can’t believe how incredible it is that I get to be here, every day, trying to appreciate every moment (though consistently falling short), and if people could hear my internal dialogue about how grateful I am to be living this, it might even be obnoxious. Surprisingly, I think I am starting to miss America less with time, rather than more. . .

October brought gorgeous weather in Sevilla, and I really appreciate that. Just recently it has started to get chilly in the mornings/evenings. Before you roll your eyes at my inability to cope with temperature below 60, I would like to remind you that most of Sevilla does not have heating inside. 50 degrees is less “brisk and fall-y” and more of a persistent chill when you can’t ever escape it by going inside. Nonetheless, it has been great so far and still is for 70% of each day. 

The first weekend in October I was in Sevilla and registered for a 5K taking place in a huge park downtown to support breast cancer awareness. That was a great choice. It was a beautiful day and I felt so Spanish being mixed in with that crowd like I belonged there. Afterward, there was a “fitness festival” in the plaza by the park, complete with a stage and zumba instructors. Probably about a hundred or more women were standing in this plaza doing zumba together. Such fun. I don’t know how much you know about zumba, but the dance-exercise can be several different styles of dance. At one point the instructor was doing a very gruff, kick-box style routine which included phrases to yell at certain times. We were going along and the instructor told us what to yell during a certain punch . . . and I stood in this crowd of Spanish women and I swear all I could hear was *punch, punch* “Obamaaa!” I am NOT joking! Ashlyn can testify as well. Obviously that was hilarious to us and totally incorrect. Turns out we were yelling “Po’ toma!” which basically means “take that!” But we went through at least 5 times of the routine and this whole plaza punch-dancing and yelling “Obama!” This is the “Obama” punch pose. . .

BARCE!

The next weekend we flew solo (Ashlyn, Gifton, and I) to Barcelona, Spain! This city, the second largest in Spain, is a very cool city that I loved visiting but would not choose for living in. It was our first time using the airline Ryanair, which we have used to book all our flights because it is consistently the cheapest option out there, for a couple clear reasons. I will leave it at that. We got in about 4 hours later than scheduled and made it to the hostel just fine. Can I give a quick promo for hostels? I love them. I’m sure some are terrible, but we have gotten great luck with ours and the staff is always super friendly and informative and we have always had decently hot water. What more can you need?

The highlight of the weekend was without a doubt the Sagrada Familia, which is a basilica that has been under construction since ~1884. The designer/architects name is Antoni Gaudí, and a huge part of the identity of the city is based around his work. I have never felt about a building the way I felt about the Sagrada Familia. At first you think it will be a huge, gorgeous, but more-or-less-predictable super old church. Then when you get closer you realize you have never seen anything like it and the whole thing is genius. It is organic and colorful and shows such detail in every inch of the façade and sculpting; it’s no wonder the thing isn’t finished over a century later. My favorite part was a wall that depicts the final days of Christ’s life in a very modern, geometric style. I would love to describe it to you but I have zero vocabulary for sculpture. But I bought a very cool poster of that side and you are welcome to see it any time. Or, in the spirit of modern technology, here is a picture.

Including the basilica, we were super-tourists every day. We saw a bunch of other works by Gaudí, including the big Park Guell. The whole city is kind of his museum because his works as a sculptor are most frequently buildings. In my opinion, that also classifies him as architect and engineer, which makes him even more impressive. We also went by the Barcelona church—sorry, I mean soccer stadium—which was huge but we didn’t go inside. Other notable aspect of Barcelona is that it is the main city in the province of Catalonia and people there speak a different language—Catalan—that is kind of a mix of French and Spanish. The people there are fiercely patriotic to their region and are constantly seeking independence from Spain. Honestly if you talk about Barcelona for too long with some Sevillanos it gets a little tense and awkward because there can be such distaste for each other. It’s also a pretty international city and about 90% of people we approached in Spanish replied with something like, “Oh, I’m sorry. . . I’m not from here/I don’t speak Spanish”. Disappointing, but also kind of comical. We are supposed to be the ones pulling the foreigner card. Also of note, we got fish pedicures (where tooth-less fish eat skin off your feet)! Top 10 weirdest sensations I've experienced. There are fish in a tank below your seat and when you sit down they get all excited and come to the surface. I suppose they're hungry. Overall, fantastic and exhausting trip to an awesome city. I recommend it.

When we take trips on the weekends, it makes the weeks seem very short and that has definitely happened through October. Perhaps that’s why it went by so fast. It also makes school and homework feel like a very distant concept. October part II will come in a separate post, because when Ashlyn reads my blog about our lives here her first comment is always, “It’s so long.” We’ll see what she says when she finds this one J. Thanks for stopping by to share in the adventure. :)

P.S. Just a couple more from Barcelona. . . 

These are the chimneys on the roof of a house/apartment complex Gaudi designed called Casa Mila. They actually are functional. Later, when he was working on the Basilica, these chimneys were the inspiration for the helmets of the guards sculpted in the scene of Christ's crucifixion and they really are quite similar looking. I actually saw the Basilica first however, so the Casa Mila chimneys will forever look like stick people with helmets for me. 

thinking some thoughts.

Well, well. We meet again. I would like to begin by informing you that nothing dramatic has happened since the last update. However, I have been living the daily intricacies of this country for a few weeks now and I would like to tell you about them. They are many and at times they are funny. So if you are into culture, this is the post for you. My thoughts are by no means expert or complete and may even change by the end of my stay, but here they are anyway. I even titled them, for your skimming convenience ;)

BILINGUAL-ISM: I am right now watching La Voz (The Voice) on TV. It is surprisingly intriguing and not too hard to follow. There are a number of people in Spain that speak English and I would say that of those older than 15 that speak English, over 60% of them learned it by watching TV. I find this incredible to be honest. I also find that it takes away any excuse any of us could have to not speak multiple languages. Who can’t access the Spanish version of a movie on the options menu of their favorite DVD? And why haven’t I picked up French yet? The difference is that our TV shows (not all) are great, and the Spanish ones are not. Spaniards have verified this for me. They like American entertainment and they like the original versions enough that they end up learning English from them. One guy used Two and a Half Men, one liked Breaking Bad, and others have mentioned House and How I Met Your Mother. I got a vote for Grey’s Anatomy too. Unfortunately I’ve also heard mention of the Simpsons.  Nonetheless, our TV shows are rampant here. However, compared to almost all other European countries, Spain has a much, much smaller bilingual population.

THE SBUCKS: Starbucks is an underdog here as far as coffee sources go. Believe it or not, it’s even more expensive than the states. I see people at them, and there are several throughout the city, but I’ve probably only seen a total of 3 people en route to somewhere with a Starbucks. The coffee on-the-go is not a thing. Actually, any sort of consumption on-the-go isn’t really a thing, besides smoking. One is to sit and enjoy coffee with friends or a book. Smoking is prevalent, but laws were recently passed banning it inside so while the national number of smokers has decreased, the streets appear even fuller of smoking that in previous years. It is one thing that truly and consistently bothers me here: being outside and feeling enveloped in smoke.

HEALTH: Spaniards age very well. They eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and walk more than I could’ve pictured. Did I mention that for “dessert” we normally have a pear? Per usual, the average portion size is smaller than in America, and dinner is nearly a non-event. Our host mom cooks for us, but she just sits and has a piece of fruit. On the whole, it seems that people are healthy, confident in their bodies, and exhibit great temperance as a way of life. This does not seem to coincide with the absurd amount of pastry shops, artisan desserts available, and quantity of white bread consumed daily, so I am still trying to work that out. Truly though, this country is healthier than our country and they are going to reap the associated benefits. We should be inspired, but if not, then perhaps at least feel an urge to compete. However, they have the same type of problem regarding increasing obesity in children; it is just not a rapid or extreme.

EDUCATION: Yesterday I chatted with a Spanish student at the university and we talked a little about the university systems in our countries. At the end of high school, students take an exam called the selectivo and the grade they make determines which career paths (a "carrera") they are allowed to enter in the university. For example, the test is on a scale from 1-14 and to enter the path to medicine, you must get at least a 12.5. Once they have chosen, they are stuck with that. You are only allowed to enter and mix 2 career paths if they are related. Related? What does that mean? That’s what I thought too. I am seeking degrees from two different colleges in TCU and to me it makes great sense. But in Spain, someone (I’m not sure who) decides whether or not two paths go together, and if they don’t, you cannot have them both. This baffles me, which is perfect evidence of our different mindsets. I told my friend that the system sounds very limiting. He responded that the mindset is what limits them and explained that the mindset here is more “what the state says is what is”. His example was that in America, anyone could be president (theoretically, though he still acknowledges the difficulty) but here in Spain, that could never be. Is anyone else fascinated by this? I just want to send TCU and Texas and the department of education a thank-you card for not caring that I want to learn Spanish and neuroscience. And that some of my friends want to study economics and psychology of leadership. Or whatever other combo or trio they have imagined making a life from. I apologize because I know I’m getting rant-y here. But I do, in a totally sappy way, appreciate America’s version of freedom so much more in this regard.

                POLITENESS: Sevillanos are extremely friendly, nice, and helpful. I have loved living around them. However, sometimes their desire to help reaches a non-helpful extreme in the realm of directions. If you ask someone for directions, they will want to help you. . . so much so that if they do not know the location of whatever you have asked, they may make up a direction to point you in just so they can “help”. The best advice I’ve gotten on this is to note if there is any hesitation in the direction-giving, and if so, ask someone else because they probably made it up. The level of directness here is higher as well. People just say things how they are and there is no offense taken and no one skips a beat. For example, my host mom will tell us about her family members, one of whom is her “ugly niece”. This is not family gossip though, it is just a fact. Friends will say goodbye to each other with “See you later, chubby” and it is a loving gesture. My favorite encounter so far was yesterday. A Spanish friend came up to say hi, looked at me for a second, and said (in Spanish) “What happened to you? You have a bad face.” I didn’t really know what to say (I’m tired today?) but then he just asked if I could get coffee. I find the directness overall refreshing (so far).

                So those are some of my recent musings. I know it’s been a good while that I haven’t posted anything, but life has been moving right along, just as it is in Texas and Missouri (which is weird to think about sometimes). I’m really growing to love this place and its people and I notice new things every day. I think people can make every effort to be aware of their own background and be extremely conscientious of their culture, but until you are taken out of your context, I’m not sure you can fully realize the things you take in as “normal” without thinking. And I realize this is coming from my single month in a 1^st world, democratic country! I can’t imagine what other things I would find if I went somewhere truly, extremely removed from American lifestyles. But trust me, I can’t wait to find out. J

September 9th, 2013. La vida española continues.

Monday September 9^th, 2013

                Well, this weekend was a great one. Thursday we met up with some Spanish girls that we met last weekend and saw La Plaza de España, which was gorgeous. Apparently it was built in 1928 as a sort of showcase for Spanish industry and technology in an exposition the next year. And it was used in one of the Star Wars movies. It is lined with ceramic benches; one bench for each province in the country, of which there are around 50. We then found super tasty gelato. Here’s the thing, gelato is awesome and I could pretty much eat it at any given moment, but it is usually not cheap. But it is, again, incredible and available everywhere so I will probably continue to mention it. Friday was our last day of class at the language institute and we talked about each of our countries and immigration, which is huge in Spain. It’s similar to the situation in Cuba, where boats come in at night crammed with people that are trying not to get caught by coastal police. Some will destroy or hide their papers so that if caught, officials don’t even know which country to contact in order to deport them. Representatives from five countries present in class made for very interesting discussion. I am not going to get political, but I will say it is very apparent to me that Americans on the whole know far less about other countries than other countries know about us and I think we’re doing ourselves a big disservice. I am one of the most guilty of this. But it’s like being in a room with one sided mirrors; everyone can and does look in and knows things about us but we are content to walk around amongst the mirrors and look at ourselves. We came straight home for lunch, which was fascinating. We had on our plates a sunny side up egg, a hot dog, and a well-molded mound of rice with tomato sauce on top. I just kind of went for it and it was really pretty enjoyable. I doubt it has a name. I think I already mentioned that eggs seem to show up in random places.  

CADIZ

The train ride to Cadiz on Friday was uneventful and not too long. Cadiz is one of, if not the, oldest city in western Europe and was very important back in the day regarding imports and exports because it is practically an island in the south of Spain. It was often the first port ships would come to and for that reason, the city has a ton of watch towers scattered throughout to look for incoming ships and pirates. It attracts a ton of tourists for its beaches though, and none of the above. So our system of planning trips pretty much ends at getting us to the train station with an address in hand. Luckily, we just kind of exit the station and nice people always offer us maps or help and we find where we’re going, often with a lot of walking. We’ve decided studying/traveling abroad is pretty much about trusting strangers. We did find the hostel though. For Friday night our señoras had packed us a bocadillo for dinner so we sat on La Playa Caleta (oldest beach in Cadiz and used in a James Bond movie) and had those while we enjoyed the sunset. Poetic right? It was gorgeous and a good time contemplating life/messing around. Gifton is super good at back handsprings now. At one point we looked around and realized everyone had left the beach, which was eerie but awesome to be the only ones out there. Back at the hostel we met the owner, David, who was very friendly and great, and then too friendly and all of a sudden had us coming to a tapas bar with him for dinner and a flamenco show afterward. I truly don’t know how that happened. We thought some other people were going but once outside we realized it was just us four. It was like being in a social setting with a pretty chill professor. You’re happy to see them, and would definitely say hi, but not hang out with them all night at a bar. We mostly side-lined tapas because we had eaten bocadillos and then backed out of the flamenco show. Don’t worry, he still went and had a great time. The bar he showed us was great however and we went back there for dinner on Saturday. . . and ran into him again. So comical.

Saturday was beach day. We walked to a different beach and just camped out for about 7-8 hours. It sprinkled a little in the morning but was overall perfect. We also got to see some sort of simulation from pilots at a US base nearby that apparently happens once a year. It was terrifying at first, not knowing what was going on, but super cool. I would like to go ahead and confirm that the European topless thing is indeed a thing (for some) per my experience on la playa Santa Maria that day. I’m not sure how else to comment. Overall, beautiful day full of siestitas.

Sunday was our day to spend in the city. Breakfast at the hostel (never book a hostel that doesn’t include breakfast) with the friendly Latvian girls that work there and then we headed out to El Castillo de San Sebastian (old castle). It is down a long stone walkway and pretty cool up close. Nothing tall is still standing though so it doesn’t look like much from afar. We also looked at the cathedral and then over to El Torre Tavira, which is the tallest tower in Cadiz. You can climb to the top and get an incredible view. This tower also has what they called la camera oscura, which was kind of like a telescope and used a giant mirror and lenses to project a live, 360 degree picture of the city onto a bowl-shaped screen on the floor. This thing was seriously incredible. We stood all around it and a guide took us on a telescope tour of the city. She maneuvered the lens to focus on different buildings at varying distances and turned the mirror to give the whole 360 degree view. We watched people walking through the plaza or hanging laundry on their terrace. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen here and definitely the best application of physics of lenses I’ve ever encountered. We found lunch at some small local place and the owner recommended a gelato place to us. This is absolutely the way to get around foreign towns. Locals give the best recommendations, accurate directions, and are super friendly. We never would have found/chosen this place otherwise. I could have sat and stared at the ocean for a long time but we eventually walked back to the train station and passed out on the way home.

A quick note on hostels: go to them. They are fascinating places full of fascinating people. We met two Australian girls at this one who we chatted with for a while. They loved our accents and asked us about peanut butter and jelly. To them, jelly is our jell-o and jam is our jelly, so they had been picturing peanut butter and jell-o sandwiches all their lives. Glad we could clear that up. And they do eat vegemite, which I recommend to no one to eat but everyone to taste. It’s uniquely repulsive.

What else is new? I forgot to include in my last post about my first attempt to run. (I really miss the Trinity for this reason). I left around 6:30 in the morning and there was absolutely no one in the street; it was sufficiently eerie. These people truly do not start their days until sunrise. Today our señora was talking about some event and how it is better in the “afternoon” maybe around 8:30. . .that is obviously nightime. The timing is such a huge difference, but I’m getting used to it fairly easily and I might even like it.  Anyway, I went down by the river, which is the most scenic place to run but it was dark and empty and below street level so basically I was on high alert and cut the whole thing short. Back at the apartment building, my key wasn’t working so I gave up and called my poor roommate to wake her up to let me in. She didn’t answer but I buzzed our place and some man’s voice answered so I must have pressed the wrong bell. He asked if I was confused but ultimately let me in. Up at the door to our apartment, my key for that door wasn’t working either. That’s when the man’s voice came back again from behind the door I was trying to break into. He said I had probably confused the buildings and I’m pretty sure he was right there looking at me through the little view hole. He was definitely right. At least I didn’t actually get into his place. My bad, Spanish man that was probably still asleep. Next time I’ll be a little calmer and perhaps double check the building number. To be fair, the whole street of them look the same. The running since then has been better.

Today was our first venture to the university, called UPO (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)! We took a placement exam with a ton of other American and Australian students and then had a tour of the campus. It’s great, but nothing like TCU. It’s also outside the city and basically surrounded by fields so it’s several metro stops away from our homes. We start class on Wednesday, which will be September 11, which seems ridiculously late to start a semester. In September, all the university students have a chance to re-take the comprehensive finals for the classes they previously failed. The fail rate is about 30% and students can spend the summer studying and take the exam in September to avoid retaking the class entirely. Interesting set-up. Students care far less about GPA and while there is a scale, the mindset seems to be pass/fail. We will see once I start spending time daily at the university. I’m definitely excited to get started there. We’ve met a few people already because of the exam and metro ride this morning. This afternoon we went back for more Moroccan tea with a new friend, which is fabulous and served at a very authentic feeling Arabic place.

Dinner was interesting tonight as well. Our señora was commenting that all the girls she hosts are so anxious to learn the language and know everything right away. She says to give it time, absorb the culture, and the language will come easier. I think she does have a point, but I also think she highlights a significant culture difference. There is less urgency here to know and do and more emphasis on just living a life that isn’t “apretada” or jammed full of things to do. She and her sister both talk to all of their grown children multiple times per day. I imagine they are not the only ones. The unemployment in Spain is nearly 50% for age range of about 17-30, which definitely says something, but I already appreciate the way they appreciate their life daily. She also says she has a lot of “psychology on us girls” because she has been hosting for 21 years. We are each different, but all have things in common. I get the impression it would be hard to do something that would totally surprise her. We also brought up how much we like dipping bread in olive oil with salt and pepper. She literally spent about 4 solid minutes saying how ridiculous that was and no one would do that and how pepper is meant for tomatoes. It was hilarious. Her son was slightly more open-minded but no less confused at the idea. We really like our little family J.

Well, three pages later I feel pretty caught up. Coming up next: classes at UPO and a day trip to Huelva. La vida española continues.

Love,

Jenna

P.s. Pitch Perfect has not yet made it to Spain. . . 

news from Triana

September 5^th

We are approaching a two full weeks in this country! It feels like longer, and I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean because sometimes people say “wow it feels like nothing” and that’s good, or “wow, feels like forever” and that can be good too. Regardless, I’m happy to be here today. Mary Alice is the TCU contact in Sevilla, and she led us through our orientation over the weekend. She is a wonderful, insightful, and kind American-turned-Sevillan. Because our group is so small (the three of us), orientation was very informal and fun. We had our “meetings” over coffee or meals and strolled around the city to learn the most important routes and landmarks. What felt so big and confusing over the weekend already feels smaller and familiar. We even have a favorite ice cream place already (so far), but there are literally at least two on every street so we will see. I do have to say that I saw horchata on a menu at one of the ice cream place and asked about it/tried it and it is not the horchata I know I love at all. It is made from the milk of some variety of tuber and is sold only in a couple of regions of the country. Win some, lose some. Add it to the list of food items we will miss this semester, which so far includes Hershey’s dark chocolate and chick-fil-e, soon to include popcorn unless I can find some this weekend. Speaking of, us three amigos are going to Cadiz this weekend, which is a city a couple hours south on the coast. Beach time is coming and I’m pretty dang excited.

Back to orientation, it was very helpful and full of cultural heads-ups. For example, it’s very strange and generally impolite to stretch or yawn in public here and we are trying to be conscientious about that. Resources and meals are both taken very seriously. No light should be on unless you are actually in the room at the given moment, and if there is still daylight, there is no need for lights. Showers are short, and we turn off wifi at night. When you think about it, it really doesn’t make sense to treat it any differently; we’re just avoiding wastefulness. There is also no air conditioning or heating in our house, which means that so far we’ve kind of been in a constant state of sweating. It also means that during the hottest part of the day, we siesta so as to move as little as possible. Siesta is right after lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day at about 2:30. Most stores close up and there are few people in the streets. We sleep or read or some other calm activity. It’s as wonderful as it sounds and is kind of necessary once you realize what nightlife is like. A couple days, we slept for nearly three hours, and later Elisa told us that was barbaric. So apparently you’re not supposed to sleep the whole time. After siesta, it is starting to be nice outside again and we leave to do whatever around the city (we don’t really have homework yet). Dinner is at 10 and is a lighter meal, than we chat or whatever before bed. This week we have been in intensive Spanish classes four hours a day at a language institute as a warm up basically for university classes. It has been pretty interesting because our class has one retired and four young americans, two guys from Ireland, a German girl, and two lovely older people from France. This week overall has been quite relaxed and great for getting accustomed to things. My stomach is settling into our food schedule a little better finally. Breakfast is coffee and toast pretty much exclusively around 8:30 so our breakfast buffet at the hotel last weekend was a final supper for eggs, fruit, juice, yogurt and such. Our family is fantastic. Ashlyn and I live in our own apartment, one floor up from our family, in a neighborhood called Triana. Gifton is in a house with his host mom (señora) several blocks away in Los Remedios. We are both very close to the river, and we cross it every morning during sunrise to get to the language institute. Our señora, Elisa, is kind and pretty reserved. She cooks and eats lunch and dinner with us and we sit afterward for sobremesa, which is the “after-dinner chat”. We’re all getting to know each other little by little and it’s obviously great Spanish practice.

Elisa is married to Monolo, who is constantly smiling and so adorable. And I feel like I can call him adorable because he is shorter than me. They have a son Paco who comes over a lot and is very friendly and helpful. We have yet to meet their daughter Cristina. It’s weird to insert yourself into a family like this, but everyone puts themselves out there and the bonding just happens. Overall things are quite wonderful here, but I can tell my body is searching for routine, which I think will come when classes start at university. It is fun and peculiar to watch life continue at TCU and at home (7 hours behind), just like any other semester. I’m glad to see they can carry on without us ;) There have been several discussions about the nature of our experience here. When people study in Europe, they tend to travel A LOT. Up to 12-14 countries can be visited in the course of a semester, maybe more. Everything can turn into a weekend trip because we don’t have class on Friday. But as we were walking around Seville this week, we realized how much we are enchanted by this place and want to spend time having a presence here and getting to know friends and places. So we’ve worked toward finding a balance between enjoying the proximity to so many great tourist destinations and our desire to live like a Sevillano, who obviously would not be taking international vacations every weekend. We are only leaving Spain once in September, and are still planning out trips in Nov-Dec. The other big thing for me is that traveling outside Spain helps zero with our fluency in Spanish and my biggest regret would be ending this semester without having learned and improved as much as possible with the language. Therefore, I think our schedule may be a little atypical, but I’m very excited about it. Seville is an amazing city rich with things to do and see and people to meet! I would hate to miss that. Luckily, we all feel similarly about that. On the whole, the three of us have so much fun together. They are both wonderful people and we laugh a lot. Ashlyn is incredibly nice and open-minded, and Gifton is hilarious and genuine. I feel like we really lucked out to be here together and can’t believe we didn't find each other at TCU before this.

Today we are meeting up with our first Spanish friends for churros and tomorrow we’re off to Cadiz! I also wanted to note the food we’ve tried for anyone who is curious, but I figured I would group it all together in case others found it boring. Everything our mom has cooked has been so tasty, and I’m already excited to have some of it again. For example. . .

• Lentil soup. I know, right? But it’s so so good. With bread, there is always bread.
• Gazpacho: a cold, tomato based soup with oil, vinegar, salt, and diced onions, cucumber, pepper, and egg. Crunchy and refreshing!
• Tortillas: basically an omelette, can be plain (francesa), with vegetables (española), or others
• Albóndigas: meatballs with some unknown sauce on them that I wish was on every meat ever
• Postre is the dessert, and for postre we (and most families) have fruit, which is awesome, because we have pleeenty of ice cream in the afternoons. They have all been juicy and delicious but besides pears, I haven’t tried them before. Elisa says nature is wise and gives us what we need, which is why we get juicy fruits in the summer and oranges with vitamin C in winter, when people get sick.

The rest has been pretty familiar, like pasta or mashed potatoes. One night we came in for dinner and it was literally a giant pile of peas with hard-boiled egg spread on top. They put eggs in a lot of things.

I think that sums up this week. Assuming you enjoy humanity, which I do, I would say being in a different country is pretty incredible, as far as incredible things go. We are trying to blend in but I’m not sure if it’s working yet. We’ll keep trying and I’ll let you know.

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Jenna

we can't stop, we won't stop. First few days in Spain

Aug 26^th, 2013. Let’s get to Spain.

I’m 21, but age is just a number. You know what else is just a number? Time. Unfortunately, I spent several days organizing time so that all the hours and transport would coordinate and I would end up in the correct foreign city at the end of the day on August 27th. Well, that was a waste of time. Pun intended. The transportation to Spain involved several exchanges to get to the city where me, Gifton, and Ashlyn are studying for the semester. Additionally, we had bought train tickets for the night we arrived to go to a different city, Valencia, for 3 days before our official TCU orientation on Friday. I was traveling alone to Madrid, where we all planned to meet up for the last flight, the free afternoon, and the train to Valencia. Bascially, I got from KC to Dallas and then had a major mechanical difficulty that caused a 4-5 hour delay in our departure. So I had to catch a different connection from Madrid to Sevilla, which was also delayed. In Sevilla, I had planned to drop off luggage at our hotel for storage before catching the train to Valencia. However, I landed in Sevilla about half an hour before the train left. Thankfully, the train station is close and I made it there with all my luggage and a couple minutes to spare. I was without wifi or cell service most of the trip so I was just praying that Ashlyn and Gifton were on the train when I boarded. I experienced one of the most intense moments of relief I’ve ever felt when I climbed into the train car and saw Ashlyn’s very surprised face. We group hugged and sat down and all of a sudden everything was fine and great and we were on our way. It really couldn’t have worked out better. I don’t like waiting too much so I got all of that out of the way in Dallas. The best part is that on the way to the airport in KC with my mom I said, “I kind of hope everything doesn’t go well. Not anything really terrible, but just not really right. It’s more memorable.” So, check that off the list. I felt so engaged and wired the whole time, trying not to get lost or miss departures, but I don’t think I was freaking out too bad because it was either going to work out or it wasn’t. And so far, it has. Like I said, time is just a number.  

(somewhere in there. . . Aug 27^th, 2013. Day one of study abroad. Flyin solo. )

The train was about 4 hours to Valencia and then we had to find the hostel. The tourism office at the station was closed for the night and literally no one there had a map. We stole some McDonalds wifi and took screenshots of a route. Not going to lie, walking over a mile to this unknown place at 11 at night put us a little on edge. Plus we had all my luggage. But we found it! Pretty much everyone there was going to La Tomatina, which is the whole reason we came to Valencia. Let me give some context. In 8^th grade, my Spanish teacher was having a class about culture and Spanish festivals. One of them was La Tomatina, which is a giant street tomato fight attended by thousands. I thought, “Well that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. I’m definitely going to that.” So when I realized that our arrival date to Spain was 2 days after the festival, we booked planes to come early and make our way to Valencia.

I’ve adopted a philosophy for world travel. Basically, you will never have it fully planned out (and why would you want to?) so it comes down to three tenets (which I reserve the right to amend). 1. Try to be in the right place at the right time. 2. Say yes. 3. Don’t be a dumb. This is my theory on how to have a great time and still not end up on the news. So we’re in the hostel around midnight and realize from talking to others that we need tickets to Tomatina. We had read that on a website a few months ago but assumed it was a scam and disregarded it (mistake). So by 2am we are walking to a bar a few streets away (with our friendly, experienced, Australian escort from the hostel) to pick up our wristbands. By 3 we are ready for bed in the room full of bunkbeds with our new Japanese friends and at 5:30 am we are on our way to the pickup spot for transportation included in the ticket.

Aug 28^th. LA TOMATINA. Making my 8^th grade self proud.

There were hundreds flocking to this plaza early in the morning. In Bunol, the small city where Tomatina is held, we got off the bus and joined a crowd of thousands being herded through the maze of streets into the town. It kind of made me feel trapped because the streets are lined completely with tall buildings and security was at the entrances. Once in position, we watched brave people try to get the ham. This is part of the tradition. A ham is hung at the top of a wooden pole about 1 foot diameter and covered in a thick, visible layer of grease. People are just relentless about getting to the top. It was pretty barbaric, really. People are just climbing on top of each other, stepping on anything to get up a little bit further. They could have benefited from some leadership and some cheerleaders I think. A few tried going up Mulan-style with their T-shirts but ultimately the grease was the champion. My parents put vasoline on the pole stand that holds their birdfeeder so that squirrels can’t reach it. They climb up a ways and then slide right back down. The ham pole reminded me a lot of that, but picture it with like 7-9 squirrels hanging on each other.

What I am now going to describe sounds horrible, but I promise overall the event was incredibly fun in all the most ridiculous ways and I am 100% ecstatic that we were there. First of all, it was extremely cloudy and chilly, which was never the case in any of my Tomatina daydreams. It would have been okay for the most part except that all the residents that live above ground level on this street were pouring buckets of cold water down into the crowd. Or spraying or dripping or whatever they felt, because again, we were stuck. It was frigid and so frustrating, but all in good fun. Lots of spontaneous chanting and dancing broke out, the pole situation in the background, and everyone huddling together to stay warm and try to dodge the waterfalls. As several of you probably know, I really hate being cold. But adrenaline and spirits were high and this was once in a lifetime! THEN it started raining. Very cold, persistent rain. Also not what I pictured, and also very, very cold. FINALLY we hear some drums and realize the tomato trucks are coming. Unless someone gets the ham, the tomatos start at 11 with a gunshot and end at noon with the same. A series of 6 trucks come by, with event staff clearing the streets ahead of them. Remember, these streets are already packed, so we are then shoved onto a sidewalk several feet wide for these huge trucks to pass, basically vertically spooning with strangers on all sides. Guys standing in the big dump truck throw armfuls of tomatoes over the edge and it is immediate chaos.

I’m not sure how to describe the next hour of my life, but the most prominent sense was the smell. It was putrid, right from the start, which I did not expect. I was inhibiting my gag reflex for most of that day. However, it didn’t seem like the tomatoes were rotten because if a whole one hits you, honestly it can hurt. So basically tomatoes and tomato mush are raining down on us and as soon as the truck passes we all flood the street and have tomato war, every man for himself. There was no order at all and most of the scene was blurry because of the tomato all over my organic chemistry lab goggles and seeping into my eyeballs. It was fantastic. There was definite retaliation from the street by throwing tomatoes up at the balconies of our cold water torturers. That goes on for a while and then we have to go back to the sidewalk for the next truck. And so it goes. Loud madness. The street gradually accumulated an ankle deep layer of mush that unfortunately saturated our shoes. If any of you go, wear nothing you would like to keep.

When the trucks were passed, tomato was everywhere on our bodies and up all the walls, which shop-owners had covered in tarps earlier in the morning. Then we pretty much had one goal: shower. There were very cold hoses available on the way out to rinse off, which we did some of. A very cold march out of the maze, and then back to the bus. Some people stayed around to party afterward, but I couldn’t stand my own stench or the temperature. When we were dropped off back in Valencia, we had to walk about 10 minutes back to the hostel and people passing us on the street literally had their noses plugged. Almost everyone at the hostel was at Tomatina so the showers were a red, tomato mess. We got clean but continued to find tomato in our hair for a couple days. Then we smiled at the super ridiculous thing that just happened to us and fell asleep for a long time. Around 6pm we woke up and headed out for dinner with our friend Mojito from Brazil. It was still raining but we found some tasty paella (typical dish) and eventually made it out to a Tomatina afterparty. The venue was playing pretty much exclusively techno versions of American songs and it was an energetic, crazy atmosphere of all the veterans from the morning. A great evening but we hadn’t really slept since leaving America and went home very early in relation to the norm and fell asleep immediately.

Beforehand, with our hostel friend Mojito!

in the middle of the action

Aug 29^th, 2013. Recovery day.

                Our roommates left all at different times throughout the morning, which made sleeping a struggle, but such is the hostel life. I think we finally got up around 2pm and the room was empty. We made an attempt at 10am, but it was raining and we were dead and returning to bed seemed like the only logical choice. At 2 it had stopped raining so we figured out a bus route to a beach nearby, called Malvarrosa, and spent the afternoon there. It was extremely pleasant, while still not that sunny. We saw some incredible sand structures on the beach and chatted/people-watched all afternoon at an outdoor park/exercise site. We stuck around the boardwalk for dinner and had our first go at tapas, which is a common type of dinner experience where you order a few dishes for the table and all share. We tried seabass, lamb, and a pasta, which were all great choices. We also had excellent sangria.Then more sleeping. I should probably add that we did not get lost once. J

Aug 30^th, 2013. Back to a schedule

                This morning we overslept but still caught our train back to Sevilla. It was a bit of a struggle though because Tomatina left us wounded. Ashlyn and I contracted either bites or a rash from the tomatoes or the bunkbeds, I'm not sure. My foot suffered some unknown trauma that is still bothersome, and Ashlyn bruised her foot walking in the rain on very slippery tile sidewalks. That was mostly okay, but now I have to remind you that I have all my luggage with me. This was first a blessing because it was a lot colder than I was prepared for with my Tomatina backpack, but somewhere in the mile or so journey to the hostel, one wheel on my largest suitcase was compromised (broke completely off). Luckily, I remembered that the suitcase has secret backpack straps on the bottom. My mom pointed them out right before I left but I laughed because I was in no scenario about to carry that thing on my back. . . until right now, at which point it became my only option. So here we go, carrying this massive thing and two of us limping, back to the train station because we don’t want to spend euros on a cab. 4 hours later in Sevilla, where it is sunny and steaming hot, we have another ¾ mile walk from the bus stop to the hotel. Thank you Gifton for carrying the dang suitcase for this part. I’m only explaining this to you so that I can tell you that we later learned about a bus route that would have dropped us off right at the hotel. We’re not longer hard-core travelers, just oblivious tourists who need to study to bus maps. It is comical in retrospect. Also, turns out cabs are pretty cheap. Next time.

                The hotel shower was hot and glorious and we just relaxed and rested there all afternoon, waiting to hear from Mary Alice, the liaison for TCU study abroad students. Our official orientation was to begin Friday evening.

                I won’t go into so much detail for every trip, but this was the first one, it was awesome, and it was a bucket list item of mine so I thought it deserved some attention. I would recommend to anyone to go to Tomatina, though I will personally never be going back. If you’ve now made it to the end, kudos, and I hope you already feel inspired to visit Spain!

More to come, very soon!

Jenna

Living in Spain

Hola!

Well, I'm going to be honest, I'm in Spain. I meant to post beforehand as a heads up for the trip, but I didn't get to that and now I'm here on a couch in this apartment I will live in for four months. I've been here nearly a week actually. So I'm posting now. I actually set up this blog a couple months ago in preparation for this trip because I knew I would want to share experiences. So that starts now!

I've always assumed I would study abroad in college; it was one of my top desires. I also assumed it would be in a spanish speaking country. TCU has an established program here in Seville and while I looked around some, this was the best fit. So here I am! I was incredibly excited leading up to the departure, and was in a group text with Ashlyn and Gifton sharing all the excitement all summer. The three of us are the only students from TCU in Sevilla this semester. We will be taking classes at la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO) and hopefully making loads of friends and having a great time. Life in Texas basically went on hold. It was super weird to not go back when classes started and a little sad to talk to my best friends, who were all living together in the apartment that I will join when I return. Last night was our first football game and I couldn't stay awake to the end due to the time difference. I know I will miss people and miss out on things, events, and memories. But I can't imagine a more worthwhile or beautiful way to spend this semester. I've never lived outside the country for this long and I'm excited to see what it takes and if I have it. Hopefully I'll come home dreaming in Spanish.

So here's to this adventure! I hope to stay in touch with those I love at home, but I also want to soak up every moment of Sevillan life. Maybe this uncensored blogging will help do both. I wanted to give this little introduction, but honestly I've already written a very long post about our first weekend and it is coming momentarily. Enjoy, my friends! :)

Jenna