This week has been one of those weeks. I mean, of course I am thrilled as all get out to be here, and very very happy, but I think that I am hitting the second stage that they talked about in the study abroad orientations. The first two weeks I was definitely in the “honeymoon” stage, where everything was completely wonderful and amazing (don’t get me wrong it still is!) But this week, I think I have hit some more of the cultural differences first hand, and not all of them are as easy as I thought they would be.
For instance, the home life is grand, but now that we are established and actually living like a real family, things are just like they are in any “normal” family: not always rainbows and butterflies. We have been having some scheduling conflicts with Tony about when we eat our meals. This week, she seems to have forgotten that a schedule exists at all. I understand that we are just guests in her home, and in Spain, drinking/eating lunch in the street at a café is very common. However, when she goes out to eat and doesn’t return forever, leaving us to our own devices, it presents a problem. The problem isn’t that we can’t feed ourselves; it is that we have to go back to school after lunch, and this week, we have been cutting it pretty close to the wire with time because of this wacky schedule. I know she is still getting used to us, and it isn’t her fault, but I feel slightly frustrated with Tony the past few days. I know that things will improve with time, though.
However, today, since we ran out of the house, I needed to just take a mental chill pill and calm down. It was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day today, and so I walked down to the river, got a big cold drink, and sat on the riverbank, soaking in the sun. The riverbank is essentially the Sevillan version of the beach. Everyone lays their blankets out on the grass on the bank, and sun baths and socializing while bikes and mopeds go zipping by along the path behind. It really helped to bring me back down to earth. For me, it is so easy to forget about worries, here. A little bad thing can happen, or something might annoy me, or I can’t understand someone as well as a I want to, but then I literally just have to OPEN MY EYES, look around me! I still maintain that it is impossible to be sad here. I watched an elderly women learning how to ride a bike, while I sat by the riverside. A younger lady, I suspect her daughter (?) was teaching her. If the old woman faltered, the daughter was always there to catch her, and the old women always kept trying. The whole thing just filled me with hope, though I can't really say specifically why. It just felt good.
After taking in a large dose of vitamin D from the sun, I walked back to the school to meet Ebony. Then we went to a student travel agency to book our trip to LAGOS, PORTUGAL! Woooohoooo! We are very excited for a weekend on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I can’t wait, but I also have many other trips to look forward to before then: Gibraltar, Spain; London&Bath, England; Grenada, Spain; Madrid, Spain; and of course, Prague, Czech Republic.
After booking our trip, we came home for a bit and did some homework, and I looked into trains around Europe. I went to mass at 8pm at the Cathedral with a few friends for Ash Wednesday. The attendance was definitely higher than any mass I have been too, yet, and the cathedral was packed to the brim. Mass lasted a lot longer than normal, and there was also music, which was nice! Getting ashes was a new experience though. In church at home, I am used to getting a charcoal black cross of ash across my forehead. Here, the ash was very fine powder and light gray, and it was just smeared across my forehead by a priest who looked like Bill Hader. (I know that was probably a silly/inappropriate thing to think well looking at the priest, but I am an SNL buff, and it made me smile).
I walked home and ate some late dinner at 9:40ish (late for my family, but totally normal by all Spanish standards. They usually eat dinner between 8:30 and 10:30). Now I am finishing up homework, and headed off to bed. Tomorrow, I have my last day of intensive period classes, a visit to the Roman city of Italica, and then studying my life away for my exams on Friday. I am looking forward to spending the entire weekend in Sevilla. Time to tan on my rooftop terrace? I think so.
