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