Casi el fin….

Wow. I cannot believe that I am done with school, and haven’t written in so long! On one hand, I finished my last exam today: Civilizations of Spain, but on the other, I am halfway done with college. WOAH! I had four exams, in each of my classes, so this past week hasn’t been too breezy. I have managed to fit in a few fun things though. Let’s see…last week was the last four days of class. Thursday evening, my friends and I went out to dinner at Matahambre (kill hunger roughly translated). It was the most delicious meal I have ever had. It was actually my second time going there, but I was more excited. Ok, it will sound like I ate a lot of food, but we all shared ☺ First off, we had fried eggplant with honey and sugar on top. I would have never ordered it myself, but my friend said it was good, and she was sure right! We then had some chicken skewers with an Asian flavor. I also had this toasted sandwich with brie cheese and blackberry jam…mmmmm…it was so yummy. For dessert, my friend and I split a white chocolate cheesecake with berries on top. Delectable. Earlier that day, after my two morning classes and after lunch, I took a walk to Parque María Luisa. It is probably my favorite spot in Sevilla-so peaceful and beautiful. I bought a palmera at the bakery Los Angeles near the center and walked to the park. I stayed there for a while, wrote in my journal and people watched (always a priceless pastime here). Later in the afternoon, I went by the river where my friend Emily played the guitar. It was so nice to relax, listen to music and occasionally sing along to the songs I knew.
Friday I had my health exam, which went by sin problemas. Afterwards, I went shopping for a few souvineers. That evening was my friend’s birthday, so we celebrated by the torre del oro and basically everyone from the school was there. It was kind of like an informal goodbye party. Saturday and Sunday were spent studying for three exams: Anthropology, Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Civ. Monday I had two exams, which went pretty smoothly. In the evening, the Saint Mary’s girls had dinner with two faculty members. One was the dean of faculty believe and the other works in the study abroad office. We first met at school and discussed out experiences so far. We then walked near the catedral to eat. We sat outside and ordered a bunch of tapas. It was wonderful to have one last really authentic meal. We all ordered our favorite dishes: tortilla de patatas, kalamari, montaditos, paella, patatas bravas, gambas, abondigas, chorizo and a few more. The women were so eager to learn about Spain and hear our stories. It was also nice to reconnect with the SMC girls. Yesterday, since I had no exams I spent the day shopping and walking around the city ☺
I cannot believe that it is almost over. Thank goodness I am leaving on Friday, because everyone seems to be in shock (most people are leaving tomorrow morning). I suddenly feel like there is so much I want to do and soak in before I go. Every time I cross over the Triana bridge, I take a long look at the beautiful Catedral, Giralda and Torre and just think of how lucky I am to be in such a wonderful place.
Tonight I am going out to eat with friends again, then we have our despedida party at the center. One last time to see the wonderful professors and friends I have made here. This ending is so amarga-bittersweet.

The Final Countdown

Well, unfortunately I am in my last few days of this wonderful semester. I wish it were not ending, but soon I have to get back to my other life in the states. This past week was relatively busy with schoolwork and preparing for final exams. In our education class on Monday, a speaker came to our class to talk about learning second languages. He was very interesting and had a lot of good insight about learning English. He said that many words in English only have one syllable, which makes it more difficult to recognize words. In Spanish, we often have 2 or 3 more syllables to give us more time to figure out the word, whereas in English, it may be only one syllable. This contributes to English being a difficult language to learn. On Wednesday in the same class, we took a field trip to a school called Clic, which teaches people how to teach English as a second language. We had a very interesting presentation and I enjoyed touring another school in Sevilla.
Speaking of schools, one day this week., Carmen’s granddaughter, Marina came over for lunch. She goes to the Catholic school 5 minutes away from our house. I was asking her about the school, and learned that it is public. Some public schools in Spain are catholic, which surprised me. We tried to explain to Carmen that it is not the same in the States due to the separation of church and state, but she did not seem to understand. I don’t know if we did not explain it very well or if she didn’t understand the concept. I knew Spain was a very Catholic country (although not very many people actually go to church or receive communion), but was just surprised at the continuing influence of Catholicism.
A few other interesting things I have been thinking about recently. I feel like now I can communicate pretty effectively, but when hanging out with my friends, there is still a wide gap concerning jokes. They have told some jokes-or more like played some tricks-that I do not think are the least bit funny. The same has happened when I tell a joke or story I think is funny. Either we all just have really different senses of humor, or the sense of humor is one of those very culturally dependent aspects.
While I am not ready to leave for many reasons, one is that I feel like I have made two recent strides in my Spanish. I have just become comfortable with voluntarily conversing with people in stores or people I meet. Sure I talk a lot with my friends, but when I enter a shop or want to buy a ticket for something, I used to stick to only what I needed to say. I am just now becoming comfortable commenting on my purchase or offering something for conversation. I feel like not doing this hides one’s personality, but I was just scared to speak and had some weird idea in my mind that they would start laughing or something. Being on the ‘other side’ of the language barrier gives me so much more respect for people and reminds me that they try really hard. Like we talked about in our Cultural Realities class, people sometimes experience frustration when they are living in another country because they cannot express themselves to the fullest or let their personality shine through.
In addition to this, I am now able to walk down the street and pick up on conversations. Before, it either sounded like a bunch of random words, or just noise, but now as I pass people, I can pick up on their conversations and know what they are saying. To explain a little more: before I was able to watch Spanish tv or listen to Spanish music and tune it out because it was easy to not concentrate on the words. It the tv is on in the house (in the States), it is hard to ignore it, because your brain is comprehending all the words. But I would just tune it out and kind of hear a humming in the background. This passage from noise to a real language is wonderful and makes me that much more interested in the language.
Ok, to continue with the week: Thursday I taught my third and final class. It was a good experience again, and I received good feedback from my teacher. I will be sad to leave this class, because they were so enthusiastic and incredibly nice to me. Friday, the school sponsored a trip to La Rábida and a nearby playa. La Rabida is a monastery where Christopher Columbus planned his trip and is very near the port from where he left. We got to tour the monastery and see maps of the “New World" as well as some recreations of how the monastery looked in Columbus’ time. We then walked a ways to true-to-size replications of the Niña, Pinta and the Santa María. The exhibition was very well done with lots of detail. It was neat to be able to board the boats and imagine sailing across to America. After the two tours, we headed to the playa where we stayed for 3 hours or so. It was a medium warm day and kind of windy, but still nice to relax and talk with friends. The town, Mazagón was strangely deserted and very Spanish-even the supermarket closed for a siesta.
Yesterday (Saturday), I went to some markets with my friend, and bought a pair of handmade leather earrings in the shape of leaves. They were from an art show right next to the river with beautiful artwork of Triana and Sevilla. Too bad I cant transport any big paintings home. We then headed to the local Triana food market and browsed the fruits, vegetables, meats and fish. Next stop was the book fair in Plaza Nueva with an incredible amount of books. They had everything-from children’s books to ones on jamón , fresas and Semana Santa.
This morning, I went to the church on San Jacinto (very near my house) for the first time. It is a beautiful church-smaller and simpler than the catedral. We are heading to a Novillada (bull fight) this afternoon ,which should be fun.
I think that is all for now…..hasta luego!

¿Hay alguien que tenga frenos?

Well, the five day week is long gone, and it wasn’t too bad. We now only have a few more, then back to the United States. I try not to think too much about it. My friend and I made a list of all the things we want to do before we leave, and are trying to soak up every moment possible. This past week on Tuesday, I went on a field trip with the school to the Museo de Bellas Artes. It is housed in an old convent and is a beautiful building. We began on the first floor and saw painting from the baroque period and renacimiento. The second floor housed paintings by Spanish artists, mainly from Sevilla. It was really neat to see the Feria, toreros, the Guadalquivir and other Spanish scenes. Later that evening, I went on a walk by the rio with a friend, then met up with some more by the torre del oro to hang out. Las noches are very warm here, but in a nice way.
The next few days, I had a lot of classes and was working hard on two final papers. On was for Anthropology and the other for Civilizations of Spain. I ended up writing both on the subject of Muslims, Moroccans, and their relationship with España (that was I only have to do half the research). I have befriended un montón de gente who are students at the University de Sevilla and are from Morocco. It is really neat talking to them especially since I went to Morocco and kind of know what they are talking about when they mention Morocco. Interviewed a few of them about their life in Sevilla and how it is different than their home.
Thursday, I taught my second English class. I was to facilitate a discussion about the news and then teach the present perfect simple active and passive. Do you know what that is? I didn’t either, until I looked it up ☺ I knew what it was in Spanish, but my English grammar skills are a little lacking. The class went really well. The students were very talkative and seemed to enjoy conversing about the news. The grammar part was a little shaky, but they understood it at the end. I am very thankful to have such a willing class for my first teaching experience. Oh-before the class, I went to the river to hear my friend play the guitar. It was so peaceful and nice to sit outside so often.
Friday morning we took the placement tests that we took when we first arrived here. It was pretty easy, and was nice to recognize some things that I had learned while I was here. In the afternoon, we had our cultural realities class (basically talk about your feelings class). It is with this woman named Conso who is like a grumpy old man in a woman’s body. She is always complaining about something, but in a funny way. On Friday, we were all complaining about how we didn’t want to be in class, and suggested that we go to a café. Conso agreed, and took us all out to Los Angeles where we sat around drinking tinto de verano and talked about our experiences in Spain. It was the best thing ever and so Spanish. On the way over, we saw the receptionist guy and one of the cleaning ladies drinking cerveza at the bar. This place is great! I had one more class to go-Anthropology. We presented our trabajos then began watching El Otro Ldo de la Cama, which is a romantic-comical-musical set in Spain. It is a very fun movie with hilarious songs. That evening, a few friends and I went out with our intercambio, Daniel. We met up with his friends, and had a great time exchanging English and Spanish words. It was also a good practice for us, because they speak rapidly with the Andalucian accent. Add in the fact that they all speak at the same time, and you have yourself a tough combination.
This weekend was relatively relaxing. I went to a few markets and browsed the jewelry, notebooks and scarves. I did some homework and sat by the river. We meant to go shopping on Saturday, but it was workers day, so nothing was open. Sunday was mother’s day, so I bought Carmen some flowers. Her family came over and we hung out with her grandchildren, Daniel and Marina. They are 3 and 10 and very fun to play with.
Well, that’s all for now…hasta luego!