The first day that I fly in, I will stay at a hotel in Sevilla and have an orientation with all the other students in the program. I will be studying through the program CCCS, the Center for Cross Cultural Study. I will be taking 12 credit hours this semester. The first three weeks are what is known as "the intensive period" where I will be taking 3 credits worth of writing and speaking in Spanish to make sure that I am ready to fully transition into the daily use of the language. I feel confident in my Spanish speaking, writing, and listening abilities, however, I know that it will probably feel difficult and overwhelming in the beginning even though I know that I have a high level of fluency in the language.
After the intensive period is over, I will have my remaining 9 credits in 3 classes: History of Spain from 1492-Present; Cultural Anthropology of Spain; and Spanish Literature from 1800 (I think?)-Present.
I am very excited about all of my classes! I am grateful that I got to pick them all out with my adviser to suit my needs and interests. My majors are Anthropology and Spanish, so I am very excited about all of my classes, especially the anthro one. All of my classes will be taught solely in Spanish, and I have agreed and signed a "no English" contract for the duration of my time in Spain (unless there is an emergency, of course). I am determined and excited to use the beautiful Spanish language on a daily basis.
While in Spain, I will be living with a host family. I know the name of the mother, and the name of my student roommate, but no other info about them just yet. I am very excited to meet them all! I hope that my roomie and I get along great and wear the same size shoes haha ;) I will be living in the "centro" district, which is the downtown area of Sevilla. I am veryyyyy excited about this, since that means I will be close to all of the fun things to do, as well as within walking distance to all of my classes! I will have a bike, though, since Sevilla is AWESOME and has this public bike rental program called "Sevici". For 40 Euro/year, you can have access to bike racks which are located all over the city. You just enter your pin number, which unlocks a bike, then you can use the bike and return it to the nearest bike rack when you are done with it. AMAZING. I can't wait to use it!
Right now, I need to sleep. But now I am more excited than nervous. However, I know I will go back and forth between the two a lot within the next 24 hours. Wish my luck!
Jenn <3
