Back in the USA and Reflection

So I've been back in the USA for over a month now so I figured why not do one more post or even a few. First, here's the link to my last GW Hatchet blog post: http://blogs.gwhatchet.com/passports/

Hasta pronto,
Jennie

Performing with the University of Sevilla Choir

In my last post I forgot to mention that this past week I performed in two concerts with the University of Sevilla choir! The first performance was on Tuesday night during a Mass at the University Catholic church. The Mass was literally something I could imagine taking place in Rome at the Vatican. It was really incredible that I got a chance to see such a traditional Catholic Mass in Spain and such an old and beautiful church. We performed 6 songs from Handel's "Messiah."

The second performance, on Thursday night was at La Iglesia del Salvador, the second largest church in Sevilla. It was an event with members from the University reading Bible passages and said prayers for the University and Sevilla in general and we performed about 10 songs from Handel's "Messiah" that were placed to correspond with the passages. The church was packed and a few friends of mine came to see me! Since everything was in Spanish and I didn't even know what to expect about the concert ahead of time, I was a little surprised when everything felt so religious and at times somber. The church was dark except for a few lights and candles. It was beautiful. I was a bit overwhelmed.

As I was standing there during the performance, I thought to myself firstly how awesome an opportunity I was having to perform in an environment like this, with a choir in Spain, but secondly I thought about how far Spain and particularly Sevilla has come in a few centuries and about its history. I have been learning a lot about Spain's history and European history in general in my classes and sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. Spain's history has been very complicated and has rarely had periods of religious tolerance, but now, here I was, performing here in a church built in 1674, 102 years older than the USA, once again I felt a bit awe-struck.

By the way, I think it's a nice coincidence that my choir at GW, University Singers, is performing pieces by Handel this semester as well.

Looking forward to when this rain stops, but for now taking refuge in Starbucks once again. haha.

Adios for now,

Jennie xoxo :)

Barcelona

Barcelona was beautiful. A little rough around the edges at night, but I loved the architecture, the history and the atmosphere. Gaudi's buildings: Casa Battló and Casa Milá, as well as Park Guell were very impressive. La Sagrada Familia, the church that has been in ongoing construction since 1909, was incredible with its stained glass, extremely high ceilings, etc. After seeing it all on an episode of Rick Steve's it was awesome to finally be there. We visited the famous market on Las Ramblas and the parliament building as well.

Why are the neighbors playing "Oh Holy Night?" Don't they know it's not even Thanksgiving yet? hahaha.

This week I talked to new friends from Spain and Italy about the Celtics--they love the Celtics (but they also like Pau Gasol since he's from Spain). I hope that I'll get a chance to go to a basketball game in Seville with them some time.

With less than a month left of my study abroad experience, I think I've fulfilled all my goals and more. I am very excited to come back home and be back at GW but of course I will miss the friends I met here from around the world, but I know we'll all keep in touch. I just have to make sure to keep practicing my Spanish when I get back, so that I can keep improving.

The other day I made fried chicken for some friends here. I was very impressed with myself and they liked it--they wanted to have an "American" meal. Since Thursday is Thanksgiving I might try to make a pie or something Thanksgiving-y this week. We have a Thanksgiving dinner with everyone from our program which will definitely be fun. And then the next day I am going with a friend to Paris for the weekend to see some GW friends! It will be great :)

The other day I started English tutoring for a 6 year old girl. I'm just going to help her improve her English vocabulary and her accent. She is so cute!!

That's all for now! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love, Jennie

Hola from Barcelona!

I'm in Barcelona this weekend with my interest group from my program, called Spain's Regions. Last weekend I was in Madrid and the weekend before I was in Morocco. It has definitely been a busy few weeks. Not to mention I had midterms the week between Morocco and Madrid and I have had a couple of projects to work on as well.

I wrote another Passports blog for GW's newspaper and here is the link to it:
http://www.gwhatchet.com/2011/11/03/hatchet-expat-translating-life-in-sevilla/

Enjoy! See you all soon--I'm already more than half way through my semester!

Love, Jennie xoxo

Traveling, Becoming more fluent

Last night when I was coming back from being out with friends, I may have been bruised by a hoof. Why a hoof, you might ask…Well, that is because the Señora that I live with has a pigs’ leg in the kitchen…but don’t worry, she’s not crazy. It’s normal. It’s so that she can have Iberian ham, jamón ibérico, freshly carved whenever she wants it.

In the last few weeks, I have done a lot of traveling, learning and meeting new people. Since my last post, I went to Lagos and Albufeira, Portugal with my friends and many other students on the We Love Spain trip. We visited a huge cliff, which was considered to be the edge of the world back when people thought the world was flat, long before Columbus stumbled upon The New World. We also visited caves that were very impressive. Most of all we went to 3 beaches, relaxed and enjoyed the fact that summer is a lot longer over here. It was a truly an awesome weekend!

I started a weekly volunteering opportunity at a school in a less affluent part of Sevilla, helping the teacher out with class. There are a few other students from my program, CIEE, who are volunteering at the same school. The children are very cute and although I can’t always understand what they’re saying to me at first, I enjoy volunteering there and it’s a great experience.

The most noteworthy and exciting thing about the last few weeks is that my parents were here for 11 days!! We had a wonderful time in Sevilla, Granada, Estepona and Ronda! Each place is magnificent and unique for distinct reasons. Sevilla has so much history and has the largest historic quarter in Europe. Granada has the Alhambra, the residence of Moorish kings from back when Spain and Portugal were under Moorish rule and were called Al-Andalus. The Alhambra is so well preserved and sits atop a large hill with an awesome view. Granada was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. Estepona is less Spanish and more touristy—there are many British and German tourists there, but it is located on the Costa del Sol, right on the Mediterranean Sea. Not to mention you can see the northern tip of Africa. Ronda is located in the mountains and the ride up from the coast was a bit frightening—definitely not for people with a fear of heights and we saw mountain goats! Ronda has a 130 meter river gorge that split the rock into two and the “New” bridge, completed in 1793 connects the old and newer parts of the city. The views are really spectacular and my parents and I thought it was one of the most beautiful places we’ve been. The view from our hotel balcony was unbelievable! Orson Wells and Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time there and Hemingway based part of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” off of it. Even Michelle Obama has visited Ronda.

My Spanish skills have also been put to the test many times lately, especially when my Señora and my parents met; she doesn’t speak English and my parents don’t speak Spanish, so I had to translate everything both times that we went out to dinner together. It was very tiring and a little stressful, but I was very impressed with myself afterwards. In general, I’ve been practicing my Spanish listening and speaking skills more and more as I continue to make friends with Spaniards.

I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying all the fall activities that I miss! (Aka apple picking, pumpkins, lots of Halloween decorations and foliage, among others). I will make sure to celebrate Halloween here, though it’s less of a big deal. Heads up: I’ll be in Morocco and Gibraltar next weekend from Friday to Sunday with another We Love Spain trip. We’ll be making stops in Gibraltar, Tangier, Ceuta and Chefchaouen. But I’ll be back for Halloween and we have the Tuesday after Halloween off for All Saints Day! I’m hoping to go to Isla Mágica (Magic Island) the theme park in Sevilla on Halloween because they are having haunted houses and other fun and festive activities.

Hasta luego,

Jennie xoxo

This is me at the Plaza de España in Seville. It is really beautiful there!

Challenges and Goals

I recently realized the parallels here between me talking to Spaniards and my University of Rio friends talking to me and my chorus friends. I realized that even when I occasionally get annoyed when Spaniards constantly correct my mistakes and when I get frustrated that I can’t express my thoughts and feelings as well as in English, I just have to remember Alexandre and my other Brazilian friends and remember that even though it’s frustrating now, it will be worth it soon enough. Even if it is difficult now, when I am fluent I will be so glad that I put in that extra effort. I have seen firsthand how much someone can improve their language skills in a few months and that is what's motivating me to work harder on improving my Spanish fluency.

So tomorrow I have my first regular session class of the semester. It’s at the University of Seville and it’s one of my “cursos para extranjeros” it’s called Spanish in America and it’s from 5-7 pm. Not a bad first day of classes haha. Before class, I am planning on meeting up with a friend to walk around the university and find our classrooms, go for coffee and enjoy the day. I’m excited to finally get a routine going and to meet some more new people. The university is so unique: it used to be a tobacco factory and it’s really beautiful, so I’m really excited for this experience.

This past weekend I finished up the second half of my intensive Spanish classes. I did well and I learned a fair amount. We had to go to see Pedro Almodóvar’s new movie for class and I really didn’t like it. I left the theater multiple times and then left for good with about 30 minutes to go. I usually don’t mind his movies and sometimes I like them, but this was wayyy over the top.

This week we also had a party with our "intercambios," students who we’re supposed to practice Spanish with, but I haven’t been able to meet mine yet since she couldn’t make it to the party, but hopefully I will get a chance soon.

This past week I met a lot of new students who study at the two universities here and I practiced my Spanish with them a lot. It was a lot of fun getting to know them and talking about phrases in Spanish vs. phrases in English. One friend even said that since he wants to practice his English so much, we should talk to him in Spanish and he’ll respond in English!

I’ve done a lot more exploring around Seville and each time I find more places and things that I love, and there are always more things to do here! Today my program took a trip to the beach in Cádiz, a little over an hour away. We toured the city, which is the oldest in Europe and dates back over 3,000 years. It is a truly beautiful city by the ocean and we learned that the US even has a military base there because of its convenient proximity to Africa. I will have to go back to Cádiz to show my parents when they visit me in a few weeks. I’m very excited for their visit!

Ciao for now, xoxo,

Jennie