Everyone has heard of “freshman 15,” and though I have never had to experience this phenomenon, I feel as though “study abroad 15” is much the same. You are in a new environment without your parent’s strict food regime, constantly being offered food that you KNOW you shouldn’t eat but it just smells soooo good so why not and you don’t realize anything is wrong until you’ve eaten the entire pan of paella, two loaves of bread, an entire leg of jamón, a wheel of manchego cheese, and enough gelato and sweets to feed a small orphanage. In other words, this combined with the lack of sports or after school activities that people do here, the fact that our gym doesn’t open until January, and my complete disregard for self control when there is food in front of me means that I have been gaining a LOT of weight. And if you know me, you know that this is something that I have trouble grasping or dealing with. In the USA when I don’t really have to worry. So here, this was initially very troubling for me and I felt sick when I thought about how I really could not do anything except like not eat in order to help this. But then I realized: I’m only here for 9 months. Closer to 7 more now. And the food here VASTLY outranks the food in the USA. I can worry about weight any time in America because that’s all people really DO worry about here. But while I’m in Spain and people here see beauty in you whether you have a flat stomach or a muffin top and thunder thighs, and while the food here tastes soooooooo good, I’m going to enjoy every moment. Every pound that I put on here has been gained with friends over chocolate cake and espresso or laughter with my family over a home cooked meal or in the streets with street vendors and 1 euro and a really good book. I am completely not willing to give up any of that for vanity that society has put on me. So this “study abroad 15” might be real. But it is DEFINITELY worth it. I completely completely completely recommend trying everything and helping yourself to 5th helpings. Who knows when you’ll be able to eat tortilla de patata or langostinas in the USA again?
So I know it has been forever since I gave an actual update on what I’ve been doing, but as I’m sure you’ve guessed, Spain keeps me constantly busy. If I’m not at school or doing homework or with my family or with my friends or facetiming Americans or doing whatever else I seem to be doing, then I’m sleeping because I’m absolutely exhausted. Nothing has been this difficult in my entire life, but keeping busy means that I don’t have time to miss Savannah. Today has been the longest that I have had free time, and it’s only because I’m sick (for like the 3rd time this month…) and just woke up. So without further ado (because I’m honestly not sure how long this recreo is going to last) I guess I’ll start to fill you in on what you’ve missed in my first month. Since my first week, I have spent several weekends here. They have been PACKED! In my first weekend, I went out with my sister and her (our!) friends from her school, Salesianos. We went out on the streets and walked around, taking many pictures. They showed me all around Sevilla and we all danced in public, not caring who was watching. I met so many people that night, and they all referred to me as “la americana” or “la rubia” because apparently my brown hair is blonde here?¿ I don’t know but they are convinced that I’m a blonde (which I am very much not).
For some reason, my host family never tells me what our plans are for the day/week/month, no matter how many times I ask. This means that someone will say, “put your shoes on,” and this could mean “take the dog on a walk” or “we are going out all day and won’t be back until late at night get ready.” So at this point, I prepare for the latter.
On one of these surprise field trip days, I went to another Sevilla soccer game, and we got to sit in VIP! I’m honestly not sure how it happened but somehow it did. We got to meet some of the players, though I cannot tell you who nor do I have photos because no one told me who they were until after we had finished talking to them. There was endless food and drink and we got much better seats. However, I had no idea until I was literally at the stadium where we were going!
Needless to say, it was rad. Sevilla won, obviously. They ARE the best for a reason, and I ended up getting even closer to my host family.
Later that day, my host sister let me go off on my own for the first time since I had been in Sevilla. I ran into Marcell and Oliver, two other Americans from my program, and we went out that night to get tapas and just to walk around. However, during the day, we got to see the Virgin Mary getting moved from one church to another. It was absolutely amazing to watch because the porcelain statue dressed in velvet gowns sits atop an enormous silver float covered in candles and flowers. This is picked up but several men and carried on their shoulders all the way across town. As beautiful as it was, I can’t help but feel sorry for those men, as it looked absolutely miserable to carry in the heat.
Meanwhile at school…
Two days later, we had a day off of school on Wednesday and I went out with my American friends again. It turns out that most of our program was in the center so we met up with a bunch of them!
My first burger in Spain!! Almost as good as the USA 😉
yeah we know that we are really cute.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful: school and homework.
That weekend (October 9), I went out with Oliver, another American from my program. We tried to find the emptiest streets, bought a million Spanish pastries and gelato, and had a pretty fantastic day. Later on, I went out with my host sister and her friends and we sat by the water, eating sunflower seeds, talking, and singing really loudly to Spanish music. I really felt like I belonged with these people and I think this was the first time that I actually felt like I belonged in Spain because for the first time I could understand what was going on in the conversation. I think one of the most gratifying feelings is when you actually understand the conversation for the first time because you feel like all the confusion and hardships are actually paying off. You can’t tell that you’re improving in the language until someone tells you “wow, your Spanish is so much better than when I saw you last week”
I talk to my parents about once a week and even though talking to them makes me very homesick, I’m very worried about losing touch with them because I’m very close with my parents and siblings.
So I’m really not sure why America has the stigma that we eat a lot of McDonald’s because in the past month I’ve eaten there more times than I have in the past five years in the USA. And I turn down offers to go…honestly it’s a bit ridiculous. And a LOT more expensive here than in the USA so I don’t understand. However, here, it’s where all the kids meet up and I’ve actually made a lot of friends while sitting in the Micky D’s booths with an extra large fries.
I went out with some Americans the next day and we spent the day wandering through the streets of Sevilla, going through parks and little fairs in the rain (the first rainfall I’d seen since being here).
When I got home, my family gave me an amazing surprise: A FLAMENCO DRESS!
For those of you who don’t know, flamenco is a type of dance that is VERY prevalent in Sevilla. It can be done alone, between two girls, a boy and a girl, or a group of people. Everyone here begins learning it at age 7 and will continue it until they are so old that they can’t even walk. It is absolutely beautiful and it is one of my goals to learn how to dance it by the end of the year.
here’s a link if you wanna see some flamenco dancers in action 😉
That week at school, Raquel, my coordinator, came to talk to me. We talked about everything that I was doing and what was going well and what wasn’t. However, later on, I realized that I wasn’t really happy where I was, and eventually convinced my family and Raquel that something needed to change. However, changing schools is a long process, so while Raquel began to work on that, I continued to attend San Francisco de Paula.
That weekend, I went out with some Americans to a discoteca. These are kind of like night clubs except for the fact that they are for teens ages 13-18 so there is no alcohol there, and they go from 5-10:30 so kids don’t miss their curfews. So kind of like a club lite version. It sounds kind of lame but actually it was full of Spanish music and dancing and it was so much fun!
The next day, I woke up at 4:45 and drove out to Dos Hermanas, a suburb of the city of Sevilla. It was the day of the Valme, in which they move the Virgin Mary statue from one side of the city to the other. Every single person dressed in their flamenco outfits and made giant floats made entirely of paper. These were pulled by cows or bulls and everyone walked behind, stopping at houses to eat or carrying food with them. At the end of the day, we had walked about 8 miles and were full of cheese and bread and laughter and friendship. It was absolutely a dream and felt oh so Spanish!
The following weekend, I had a trip to Granada with CIEE, and it is now my favorite city in the world. The city itself is shaped like a V, with out hotel and La Alhambra on one point, the main street in the valley, and the most beautiful spot in the world to view everything on the other point. On the first day, we went to La Alhambra, an old palace that was run by the Muslims a long time ago. And it. is. stunning.
We had lots of free time to roam around, so I walked and explored the city with Oliver (who if you haven’t guessed thus far…he’s my boyfriend…surprise!) Every day I fell more and more in love with the city and I absolutely cannot wait to go back with my family. It is full of Arabic influence but maintains ancient Spanish beauty. I absolutely adore it.
Two weeks ago, my family took me to La Mancha, a small town about an hour and a half away from Madrid for the long weekend. It is where Don Quijote is set and it is very easy to see why. For miles and miles along the hillsides you can see beautiful windmills that look out on this gorgeous city. Everything is painted white, brown, and anil (I have no idea how to spell that), which is like a rich blue. I had so much fun meeting all of my host grandparents and spending time with my host siblings. My sister played the guitar while we sang together and my host brother took me to a karaoke bar! It was so much fun!
The night we returned was Halloween, so within 15 minutes I put together a black cat costume and went into the city with some friends. In Spain, dressing up has only become a thing within the past 5 years, and although many people have embraced this American holiday, they do not trick-or-treat, and instead just walk around in costumes or go to parties. Because of this, my friends and I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up getting on a metro only to have to turn around again to be able to get home for my curfew and just hung out in the center with a friend…So Halloween wasn’t a huge success but hey, at least we looked cute!
We didn’t have school on Monday or Tuesday because of All Saint’s Day, so I spent Tuesday with Oliver!
I have been taken out of school from San Francisco de Paula, and in Spain, you can only be placed in another school if you are not currently enrolled in a different one. This means that on Wednesday, I didn’t have a school to go to, and ended up exploring my neighborhood while everyone was working.
The following day, Raquel (my coordinator) picked me up, because it was my first day of my new school: Salesianos! We arrived on time, me in my school uniform and her with a million papers, and we went to the principal’s to get my schedule. However…the government made a mistake on my papers and I was enrolled at another school instead! My host mom said that she would prefer for me to go to Salesianos, so we went to the government building and tried to sort everything out…but now all we can do is wait for them to figure everything out. In other words, I haven’t gone to school since October… I ended up staying with Raquel all day, and she showed me great organic places to eat and we just talked about my life in Spain. We visited three other exchange students and had a photo shoot for the CIEE marketing team, and I got to hang out with another school for the day!
That weekend, I went to a Color Run! It was a 5k and about 15,000,000 people showed up. I went with my host sister and her friends, but to my dismay, they were much more interested in taking photos than actually RUNNING, so I went by myself and met up with some friends afterwards. It was a lot of fun, and for once, I didn’t feel all that American because there was so much noise and color and laughter that no one was judging anyone else on their appearance.
So clearly, we had a great time.
The next day, I went to another soccer game with my sister and her boyfriend, and again we were in VIP, however, part of the way through, my sister began to scream because her favorite singer was there! I had no idea who he was (Antonio José in case you wanna google him like I did) but I got a photo anyways. Towards the end of the game, her boyfriend found out that a member of the game of thrones cast was next to us!
At this point, I still didn’t have a school, so on Monday, I went to my host mom’s school (she’s a French and music teacher) and hung out in some classes. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to a school near mine, Institute of Triana, where another CIEE student goes. Let me just say one thing about this whole presidential thing: the number of times I have heard, “no puede ser,” or, “te gusta hillary or trump?” or, “pero por qué la gente votó para trump?” in the past week has been ridiculous. I am acting as a representative of my country but I cannot even begin to answer some of their questions. Their anger and fear scares me because they seem to take it out on me as if it is all my fault that he is president. That blame is very hard to bear, especially when an entire country is upset and wants someone to blame. I am hoping that in the coming weeks, this will subside…Anyways, in school, my American friend, Maya, and I had a blast, though I suspect it is because we finally had someone else who understood how it felt to be thoroughly confused 85% of the time. We went out after school, going shopping, eating, and stopping in little cafes to tell stories. Oliver was out too, so we FINALLY went up in Las Setas, a GIANT wooden structure that is stunning and provides an amazing view of the city.
This weekend, we had a surprise party for one of my host sister’s friends, Maria Guerra. 35 of her friends from school showed up and we all waited in the dark to surprise her. It was so much fun and I met so many new people! Everyone was so surprised at how much Spanish I understood after only 2 months!
So that more or less brings us to today. And tomorrow is my first day of school at Salesianos, my host sister’s school!! I bought a school uniform and I am SO ready to get back on a normal-ish schedule and make some Spanish friends!! If you have made it this far through this post, congratulations. I have been working on it for FOREVER!
Howdy,
My first burger in Spain!! Almost as good as the USA 😉
yeah we know that we are really cute.
