Sunday, November 20, 2011
Performing with the University of Sevilla Choir
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Barcelona
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
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Hola from Barcelona!
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
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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
Sunday, September 25, 2011
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
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The GW Hatchet
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Settling in to Somewhat of a Routine
As I sit here in Café de Indias, a Spanish chain not too unlike Starbucks, a few blocks from the apartment building where I am staying, I feel surprisingly comfortable here in Sevilla. Around me I hear a combination of Spanish and English; this café is a hotspot for students like me who want to study here in Triana. This part of town is pretty bustling, especially on this main street and is not very different from any big city street in New York or anywhere else. I just talked to two students from a program at the other university who are from Minnesota and California. It’s nice to always be able to meet new people, even when you don’t expect to.
The past week has been busy which is why I am only just getting around to writing a new post. Last Thursday I explored the city more, ate churros con chocolate with friends and had a fun, relaxing time. It’s really beautiful by the river at night and there’s the Torre del Oro (I’m not really sure what its historical significance is, but the translation is Tower of Gold) and there’s also a monument that is really cool looking. At night there are usually a lot of students by the river hanging out and usually a few stray cats. On Friday I registered for classes, I have great classes, 4 classes and 1 seminar called Living and Learning in Seville and in the end I will get a Certificate of Achievement on International Education.
The weekend was fun and relaxing, it was our first weekend here so we made the most of it. I went to a club over the weekend which was packed with Spanish university students and I talked with some of them and was able to practice my Spanish a little. I also met two British students and our conversation went like this: Me: “Have you seen 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall?' ” British guy: “Yes” Me: (In my best British accent) “You sound like you’re from London!” He laughed and his friend said “Don’t tell me you’re from London too!” HAHAHA I took that as a complement. I always pride myself on my British accent and my Spanish in a British accent!
I met a lot of new people this past week and became closer with friends from my program. It was great. In Sevilla there are many American students, European students with the European Erasmus program and some Moroccan students. Two different cab drivers have complemented me on my Spanish abilities and ensured my that by the time I go back home I will be much better. HAHA
Sunday night I went to see an outdoor movie with my Señora, part of a summer film series which is sponsored by the local government. It was a French film called “Sarah’s Key” which was in French with Spanish subtitles. It was a very powerful film about France during World War 2 and it switched between present day and the 1940s and the years after the war. I cried a lot. A friend in my program told me that she read the book and cried the whole way through it.
On Monday I had to wake up really early to beat the rush to sign up for Interest Groups. I decided on the one called: “Spain’s four regions” which takes a 3-day trip to Barcelona in November which is included in the program fees. I am very excited! Monday we also started our intensive session (2 week, 3 hours/day Mon-Fri) Spanish grammar classes. I got an A on our first assignment, an in-class essay about an experience that changed/impacted our life. I wrote it on being in Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker and then acting and singing in elementary school, all of which made me realize my love of performing and which ultimately lead me to my amazing chorus trip in Brazil in May!
Yesterday night we had a walking tour of our neighborhoods to find out where libraries, supermarkets, coffee shops, gyms, etc are located. Our guide was a masters' student at the University of Seville who is from Córdoba and is fluent in Spanish and English. He's a very nice guy and is offering cooking classes starting in a few weeks. I am definitely going to go with my friends to learn how to cook and also get to know more Spanish students and become more comfortable with the lifestyle and culture here in Sevilla.
Tomorrow I have my midterm exam for my intensive class. I don’t think it will be too difficult; it is only a few short answer essays to demonstrate our knowledge of the various past tenses, the imperative form and direct and indirect object pronouns. This weekend I might go to the beach with some friends. The beach is 1 hour away and it should be fun! I might also go paddle boating in the river! The weather is still great here, about 90 degrees every day!! I hope you all are doing well!
Ciao for now xoxo,
Jennie