Orientation

Orientation has been great so far. It was hard to say goodbye to Kate and Sebastian, but I will see them soon. We stayed at a hotel in the center of town for two nights and all of our meals were included. On the first day we were given a lot of information and we broke up into groups. At night we had free time so a few of us explored the area and then we went back to the hotel and hung out at the restaurant at the hotel. The next day was very busy. We had an extensive tour of the city for about 4 hours, I bet we walked 5 miles, but it was great to see so much of the city and learn even more about it. We went for tapas at the same restaurant I went to on Saturday, Los Coloniales. When we got back to the hotel I tanned at the rooftop pool and looked out at the beautiful city where I currently live.

We then found out more information on our classes, interest groups and living situations. There are 7 interest groups with distinct themes that are comprised of students from my program and from the University of Seville and each interest group takes a trip midway through the semester. The trip options are Madrid, Barcelona, Morocco, Valencia and Lisbon. I've been to Madrid and Lisbon, and I really want to go to both Barcelona and Morocco either this semester or in the near future, so I will probably sign up for one of those groups.

At night we went out for tapas near the Cathedral and had montecitos or bocadillos which are like a cross between tapas and a sub (sandwich). It was unexpected, but good and a lot of fun! Later, we went to see a Flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria de Al-Andalus. It is known as the best Flamenco show in the area. It was excellent, the atmosphere was great it was in a covered courtyard with flowers and candles and it had architecture from the Moorish period. There were 4 people in it, one who played guitar, one who sang, a woman who danced, and a man who sang and danced. It was an awesome show!

After the show a group of us went to Calle Betis, the main strip of bars and cafes by the river and relaxed and met a lot of interesting people, some from the US, some from around Spain, South America and even a group of soccer players from Naples, Italy. It was a really fun night!

Today I moved into my homestay. It is wonderful. I am living with a woman who is a lawyer at the university and she has a beautiful apartment in one of the nicest areas to live in Seville. She is a great cook and today we ate a spinach and chickpea stew, a salad, a Spanish version of pepperoni with cheese with bread and a fruit which was like a yellow plum. It was all very good!

Tonight I am going out for tapas with my small group from my program.

I am doing an internship with an international travel and event company called We Love Spain which is based out of Seville. After dinner I am going to the Welcome Party with my friends from my program! I am very excited!!

Ciao for now. xoxo Jennie