I felt like Nemo today, so excited to go to school for my first day in Spain! Last night, Ebony and I stayed up talking until 3am, but we had to wake up for class at 7! Uf! We had a fast breakfast with tostado con mantequilla y pate, espresso con leche, y jugo de naranja. Every morning at breakfast we have fresh squeezed orange juice and espresso that is made fresh with a French press. Best drinks I have ever had!
Ebony and I walked to school, about a 15 minute walk from our casa. It was a beautiful morning. I get the feeling that every day here is going to be beautiful. When we got to school, we found our schedules hanging on the wall on the main floor of the building. In Spain, the first floor of a building is called “planta baja” or, lower floor. Then what we would call the second floor, they call “la primera planta”, or the first floor. So for example, if a building has three floors in total, the first floor at ground level is called “planta baja” (ground/lower floor), the first flight of stairs up is called “la planta primera” (first floor), and the second flight of stairs is called “la planta segunda” (second floor). Es interesante.
For the first three weeks, all of the students are in what is called “the intensive period”. It’s basically like grammar, writing, reading, speaking, etc. Like a Spanish bootcamp so that the rest of our classes won’t be as difficult (hopefully). I only have two classes during the intensive period. I have class Monday-Friday from 9am-1:30pm. I wake up at 7am, shower, eat breakfast, and walk to school with Ebony. Then, I have my first class, Present Day Usage, from 9am till 12noon. But there is a half an hour break from 10:30-11:00 when everyone can go out and get coffee or something to eat. In Spain, every pretty much eats two breakfasts: one early in the morning before class/work with the family, and then another with friends around 10:30 or 11:00. When you eat breakfast with friends, it is usually in an open air café. You drink café and eat toast with ham on it, typically, or something fruit. After this half hour break, I return to the same Present Day Usage class from 11:00-Noon. Present Day Usage is a class all about speaking, but specifically about Spanish that is spoken in SPAIN and in the region that I live in, Andalucía. In Andalucía (the south of Spain), the people speak with an accent called “Castellano”. To the untrained ear, it sounds like the people have a horrible lisp when they are speaking. “C’s” and “Z’s” are pronounced with a “th” sound, and any word that has the letter “s” in it, the “s” basically gets dropped off and you can’t hear it. It’s very hard to get used to at first, especially since I was mostly taught “Mexican Spanish” or “South American Spanish” in school. But I like my professor a lot. Her name is Ana, and in Spain it is common to call the professor by their first name. Since it is a class about language use, she was telling us “palabras sucias” or, “swear words”, and other slang words that you wouldn’t be able to learn in a text book. Speaking of book, I don’t really have one for the class, just a pile of photocopied articles. The profe says that she doesn’t want to spend too much time on reading, just on conversing and speaking.
After Present Day Usage is done at noon, I have a 15 minute break until my next class, Advanced Spanish Reading, starts. It is with the same profe, Ana, and in the same classroom. Go figure. I don’t have to move for four hours. Haha. Advanced Reading is about learning reading tactics so that it is easier to understand long essays, novels, or really any written material in Spanish. This class gets done at 1:30, so it goes by really quickly, and then I go home with Ebony and I am done with classes for the day. Ebony has more classes to go back to after lunch, though. Today, we went to the book store to buy our books for class. For Advanced Reading, I had to buy a book that cost €17, which wasn’t that bad, especially since I only need one book! Way cheaper than books at CMU! The bookstore I went to was called “Beta” which of course made me think of all of my favorite fraternity men at home in Michigan. After the book store, I went to buy a hairdryer at the pharmacy. Then we came home and had lunch. Typically, lunch is late. Around 2:30 or 3pm, and it is the largest meal of the day. My madre is the best cook in all of Spain, I think. I am so lucky to have her! After lunch, Ebony went back to class, but I got to take a 2 hour nap. Oh man, I LOVE SIESTAS SO MUCH. It is so nice to relax in the middle of the day. After my nap, I woke up at 5pm and relaxed at the house for a while and watched some Spanish TV with my madre and her boyfriend, Manuel. We talked about Spanish politics, weather, families, Christmas, dogs, everything. I have so many questions! I ask them EVERYTHING that comes to my mind. They are so open and friendly. They answer every tiny and crazy question that I have to the best of their ability. Today during lunch, I burped and covered my mouth immediately because I was embarrassed and apologized profusely. But they told me that this is MY house, too, and they want me to be comfortable here and to be myself. They are the greatest.
At 8pm, I went to meet my “intercambio”, speaking partner, whose name is Paz, which means Peace in English! So cool. We went to a restaurant and ate outside and had “vino tinto” which is red wine that is carbonated. Kind of like a wine cooler. She is 23 years old and studies at the Universidad de Sevilla. She knows so much about the city and I am so glad that we are going to be friends now and we can go out together. Afterwords, I walked home by myself for the first time at night. And I didn’t get lost! So proud of myself! At my casa, my family was in the living room eating and relaxing, like every night. I love the feeling of family here.
I just finished my homework, and I am going to bed soon. Buenas Noches,
Jenn <3
