Education Abroad GeoBlog

Hello all!

So I thought I'd wait until I'd started classes to write my first blog abroad, in order to have 'enough' interesting things to write about... turns out there are more than I could ever describe in 10 entries!  But I'll give you a brief overview of my life abroad thus far.  I will make a list of events so that I won't forget everything:

 

1. Arriving in Maastricht

I took a 7 hour flight into Brussels, where a taxi van driver picked me and 4 others from the CES program up to drive the 45 minutes or so it took to get to Maastricht.  Upon meeting my peers at the airport I realized that I brought nearly double the luggage that they each did, but I chock this up to being the only girl in the group lol.  Traveling with that much luggage reminded me that I want to learn the skill of 'packing light' while I'm here.

After moving into my sweet digs (single room that was big enough for two by Penn State standards) and taking a much-needed jet lag- induced nap, I met my coordinators, Nathalie and Laura, who then showed the group of us (which now included 2 more later arrivals) around downtown Maastricht for the rest of the day.  The next day we all met up again to have a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs (fabulous) and then orientation activities with Nathalie and Laura for the rest of the day.

 

2. Berlin Study Trip

Just as I was starting to get over my jet lag hangover, we prepared to go to Berlin for a study trip.  I was super excited (and super exhausted) to say the least to visit a city so full of life, history, and beauty, and to see Germany for the first time.  The plane ride was less than an hour, and before I knew it I was in another European city after only 3 days of being away from home!  My first impression was that Berlin certainly was cold.  The kind that made me want to wear all of my clothes I brought at once!  Ah but it was beautiful, too, and the airport and train station were amazingly clean.  The second impression of Germany was how orderly everything seemed to be;  Nathalie told us that it's a common (and true) stereotype that as a culture Germans are utterly Obsessive Compulsive, and MUST have everything in its right place and everyone doing their rightful job.  We saw evidence of this almost immediately when the train we got on to take us to our hotel was delayed.  Berliners have one of the most efficient and timely public transit systems in the world, but the way the people were acting, you'd think two minutes' delay meant the end of the world, or at least a MAJOR inconvenience.  Two hundred seconds of watch-glaring, finger-pointing, annoyed grumbling, and melodramatic eye-rolling ensued before the train started again and everyone sighed as if to say "Well it's about time!".  I was beginning to think how much I'd like these crazy Germans.

We did so much in Berlin that it literally would have taken any normal person at least 10 days to accomplish what we did in four.  Therefore I will give you the highlights.  Firstly, we went on a fabulous (and I mean Fabulous with a capital F) five hour walking tour of the city, seeing the great sights of Berlin such as the Brandenburg Gate, remnants of the wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the site of Hitler's bunker, the Reichstag, and so much more, all while listening to our tour guide, Tom Williamson, throw so much history at us he aptly described it as a "250 page book"!  I never knew history could be so interesting, funny, and just flat out surprising, and learning it all from an ex-pat American with an iron wit was certainly unforgettable.

While in Berlin it is also important to mention we went to museums, LOTS of museums!   And I mean all kinds.  One day we went to a former concentration camp outside of Berlin called Sachsenhausen, which was turned into a museum of sorts.  I won't easily forget how I felt walking in the footsteps of thousands whose last days were spent there.  It is impossible to not feel something when you look out across the barren property, empty save for a few remaining original living barracks, the only sign of nature being two tall trees flanking each side of a Nazi guard tower.  However disturbing it was, visiting the grounds is something I'm glad I did, as it really made the history of the war and the Holocaust real for me, and I won't forget it.

Another emotionally heavy excursion was to the Stasi prison in the former East Berlin, through which we were guided by a former prisoner.  We saw the cells, torture rooms, interrogation rooms, and heard the incredible story of our guide, who turned out to be a famous anti-communist protest leader in East Germany, and who got elected to parliament when the wall fell, helping in the reunification of the country.

Besides these we went to at least five other world-famous museums that housed treasures such as the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, works by Monet, and countless others.  It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to the city I fell in love with after only four days, but I'm promising myself that I will return - when the weather's nicer! haha.

 

Ansiosa
I couldn't sleep Sunday night. I was so nervous for the next day. (...it didn't help that I accidentally took a long siesta while I was trying to warm up in my bed).
But Monday was the start of classes. I was afraid of navigating the university. I was afraid of the professors. I was afraid of how hard the classes would be and that I wouldn't understand anything.

Lunes
Monday morning finally came and I headed over to my program center for my first class of the day. It was a grammar class and all went well. My professor is animated and very easy to understand. I can tell this class will be a lot of fun.
Then the real test came at noon. My first university class-Syntactical Analysis (of Spanish, of course). My friend and I were able to find our classroom fairly easily which was a huge weight off of my shoulders. I met a few Italian study abroad students in that class. We talked together for a while before the professor came in. He was really nice and I could understand him well when he spoke to us. He previewed the course for us, told us the books we needed and sent us on our way. I went up to him after class to introduce myself and he was very receptive. I was very glad that this first university class went well!
Later, I went back to the program center for a Literature class. I ended up not liking that class at all so I decided I would try other classes to see what I liked more.
I was very glad we had the opportunity to attend as many classes as we wanted before making a final schedule. In fact, next week I am going to try a few more to see if I want to switch or stay.

Mi primera amiga española
In my Classical Mythology class, I sat next to a girl on the first day and introduced myself. Not until I said my name was "Jennifer" did she ask if I was foreign and where I was from. She is from Seville and she is so sweet (and stylish like all of the girls here). We sat together everyday this week. She always offers me her notes and tells me that she will help me if I don't understand anything. She has an exam this Saturday so she's been busy studying, but I hope that next week we will be able to hang out or get a café con leche after class.
If there is one reason I am staying in my Classical Mythology class, it is because I made a friend!!! :)
I was so happy yesterday in class because another American girl turned around and asked my friend a question. My friend did not understand this girl's Spanish no matter how much she repeated herself. I translated for them to help out a little. Finally, the other girl turned around. My friend turns to me and tells me that she could not understand that other girl but she understands me perfectly well. She asked me how much practice I've had and how long I've studied Spanish because she thought that I spoke really well. I was so excited because this was such a great compliment! (from a native speaker!!!!!) YAY!!!

¡Mi español está mejorando!
Monday was such a long day. I spent hours in classes listening to and speaking only in Spanish. I was very exhausted by the end of the day and I accidentally took the long way from the program center back to my house because I was just walking and I forgot to turn. I didn't mind, though, because a few minutes into my walk I realized I was thinking in Spanish! I was so proud of myself. Then I made myself continue thinking in Spanish for the rest of the walk. I was thinking about the classes I was taking, how I was planning to change my schedule, what would transfer back to Penn State...and more! I feel like my Spanish has improved tremendously already and I'm so excited to see how much better I get by the end of this experience.

Catédral
I toured the Catédral on Tuesday. It was incredible. It is almost unbelievable how beautiful it is.
I walk by the outside of the Catédral at least twice a day and I am always amazed at how awesome it is. The inside, however, is even more breathtaking.

We climbed up the Torre (tower) and could see over the entire city. (What a workout that was....33 ramps or something to get to the top) It was so amazing, however, and totally worth it.

So luckily I have no classes on Friday this semester! My weekend starts at 6:00pm every Thursday! YAY!

Write more soon.

Grocery shopping in Spain is as if every fresh food market was a Costco. It seems all food here comes in bulk. One does not simply buy a small package of chicken for dinner tonight; instead you buy enough chicken to feed the entire Patriot's football team. The other day, after my señora returned home from the market she called me into the kitchen. She gently lifted the top off one of two identical, larger than a thick science textbook size, boxes to revile rows of reddish-orange, fresh from the water, head and body still intact, seafood. Gamba! She exclaimed, as if I knew what that meant. I nodded my head, racking my brain for any information I could scrounge on this creature. Sometimes I wish I had google in my brain, then wherever I was, I could always have my questions answered. Whatever it was, I knew I would discover this creature's taste at my next meal.

            She called me to the table, as always, by knocking on my bedroom door. As I took my pre-assigned seat she set a full plate in front of me. Shrimp! At times like these I have to try not to burst into laughter from my lack of worldly knowledge. I don't know about you guys, but up until the other day I could not have even begun to tell you what a shrimp looked like before it had been commercially processed, deveined, and precooked for its consumers.

            Due to the large amount of this creature acquired, we have had shrimp for lunch and dinner for the past three days. Today's lunch was no different. However this time it was as if I was a medical student in the middle of a practicum exam. Using only an average knife and fork my task was to attempt to devein already cooked shrimp disguised throughout a pasta dish. Only in my scenario I had to complete the task in the brief moments when my señora was not looking my way, as to not offend her cooking.

            Even after consuming the huge bowl of pasta and shrimp, three pieces of bread, and two oranges, my señora proceeded to say, "You didn't eat very much." Dumbfounded as to how she could possible believe that, I still responded with, "Oh, well I wasn't very hungry today." "No, you don't eat very much in general." She counters. Slightly taken aback by her comment, I cannot even fathom the amount of food she thinks I should be eating. Portions here are twice the size of those in the US and include more than one round of food. Everyday she peels me four oranges for dessert after the three homemade meals she provides. One of my favorite meals she makes is that of fried fish. The first time she made it, I had at least ten pieces of the fish amongst other side dishes. That same night she looked at me puzzled, again saying, "You didn't eat very much." At this juncture I feel as if she expects me to consume the same size meals my 6'2" older brother demolished while in college training for his lacrosse team. At first my theory was that she was trying to "fatten me up" as if it was some sort of stereotype I needed to fall under. Then after the comments she outwardly makes about individuals carrying extra weight, my theory was busted faster than the television show Mythbusters could have solved.  Now my questions still linger above the dinner table as she takes a seat with a portion half of the size of the mound staring back at me.

So the new semester has finally completed a full week of classes, and now I suppose it is safe to report on the new courses I will be completing this spring.

Naturally, Japanese. 8 credits, 16 hours a week. I haven't actually learned new material in exactly a year, so I'm both terrified and excited to finally start adding concrete material to my knowledge, rather than honing and improving it.

I'm also taking ikebana, or flower arrangement classes. The selection of art related classes at Nanzan didn't bear much interest for me since I finished tea ceremony class. Aside from ikebana, I also had a choice of calligraphy or wood block printing, neither of which appeal to my utter lack of talent at art, so ikebana it was. It always pays to have a sort of relaxing, very light workload course, and this is it. I think the idea of flower arranging is rather interesting, and I feel like I at least have some patience and potential for it, rather than with calligraphy, where I know i'm a hopeless wreck. The first class went alright, got a "You're very good at this!" and everything from the assistant, and it's nice to bring flowers home to my host mother every Thursday.



Next, we have Writing. It's 400 level back in the US, but I need it more for my own personal benefit than anything else. It focuses heavily on writing and kanji, both of which are my weaknesses in Japanese, so I hope it helps me improve on that.

I'm also taking Translation. Since my reason for studying Japanese in the first place has always been a vague pipe dream of becoming a translator, I figured this would be a nice course to take. The first two classes have gone by rather well; it's a bit time-consuming, but it's strangely satisfying and I'm finding it to be something I enjoy doing quite a bit.

Finally, I'm taking Japanese Politics. A bit out of left field for those that know me, i'm sure, but as it focuses on current events rather than going over the actual structure of government and government policies, it's extremely useful, both with keeping up with current affairs and learning just how Japan functions as a society and a nation. Understanding why they do the things that they do and how decisions are made up in the important offices has always bewildered me. The teacher is actually English, and came to Japan on the JET program back in the 80's. I've already cracked down my presentation topic to Yakuza (of course). Honestly, it's just been a while since I've had a proper 'sit down discussion' sort of class, and as that is one of my key strengths, I'm looking forward to it.

All in all, my workload has definitely increased. More homework-demanding classes, more Japanese, more everything. I'm not complaining, since this guarantees that I won't be bored this semester, but considering my work ethic, I can't help but worry just a tiny bit. Time to get my act together. However, for those that are worried about choosing classes while on study abroad, there's a couple things I've stuck by that served me well.

1. Have fun with it - Pick something that looks interesting. Yes, you will have your core classes that take up time and brain power, but leave some stuff that's less work-load and more fun. Take an art class if you can, a culture class. Don't fill up a schedule with nothing but stress when you should not only be learning during this sort of experience, but you should be having the time of your life as well.

2. Learn something - That being said, pick classes where you will learn something new. Stray away from the stuff you know, from the stuff that looks easy and like a cake-walk. Choose classes where you will learn something new, something that may change your way of thinking, or something that you've always wanted to know about. Make this a learning experience, and get the most out of it with courses you couldn't take elsewhere!

3. Language majors: don't stress the language major - If you're like me, you're going to a country to rack up credits towards your language. But remember that you don't need to overload yourself simply on cramming grammar and vocabulary into your brain. You're in the country that speaks the language you're trying to learn. Get out there! Learn some slang, speak to people, absorb the culture and don't coop yourself up in the classroom. Don't forget that learning the story behind the people that speak that language is just as important as the language itself.

            My friend and I look towards each other unsure; waiting to see if the other has a plan. We are circling the bottom floor of a mall, which, according to google maps, houses a movie theater. Finally we see a sign and proceed up the steps where a concession stand waits. Though obviously American, and confused to say the least, everyone around us simple stared as we searched for the ticket counter. The young woman at the concession stand simply watched, as if we were the plot of a suspense movie, her eyes following, waiting for the drama to start. Ignoring our audience, we finally see the writing "tickets" on the top of a hut. The sign of the hut reads, "Tequila Bar". We decide it is our best option and descend the stairs we had recently climbed. A-ha!! Movie times, we were in the right place. After collecting the exact change we would need from our purses we approached the counter. In Spanish we kindly asked for tickets to J. Edgar and paid. As the early twenty-year-old male went to hand us our recently printed tickets he says, in Spanish, "you know the movie is in Spanish right?" Thank you captain obvious I do know what country I am in. After politely assuring him we were well aware of the movie's language we made our way to our theater. Standing at the back of the dark theater, using the light from my cell phone we searched our tickets for a seat position, having vaguely remembered being told we had seat assignments. We found our seats as the movie was about to begin. The opening scene is that of a landscape and a voice begins to narrate. Not more than 12 seconds pass before my friend and I look towards each other again, burst out laughing, and say, "We should have picked a different movie". I couldn't tell you much of what was said in that movie, but I did comprehend more than everyone we encountered thought we would.

Living in a world where you are learning the language is like being a little kid again. You can sense when people are happy, sad, or angry but you just don't understand why. You will never be punished or scolded for saying something incorrect or offensive or impolite because they give you a pass for lacking the knowledge to understand the words true meanings. There is no need to have personal conversations in a separate room; instead, words are strung together like clothes on a clothesline, being spoken as if it were a competition of speed as to discourage you from picking out the few words of which you understand. I have flashbacks from when I was a child and my parents would spell the "bad words" that my older brothers proved to understand by falling into laughter. And there I was, sitting at the dinner table; left in the dark, praying for the day I could finally spell.

            That's the thing with being visually different than the population of which you are surrounded. Here, people seem to expect us "Americans" to stand out and embarrass ourselves with frequency for their amusement. Yesterday, I stood in the dressing room of a department store, fixated on the reflection of the bright blue pants I was trying on. It was not the fit that I was contemplating; instead, it was if the "white pant" rule applied to other colors. It is a well-known "rule" that one must only wear white pants between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But is there a rule for bright blue pants, or the Santa Clause red pants neatly folded in my closet, patiently waiting for their unveiling? After polling my friend close by, we didn't have an answer.

            Tuesday morning I decided to make my own rule! I pulled on my red pants, confidently walked out the apartment door, and strutted down the sidewalk of a main road as if I was walking the runway in Paris. It was complete with onlookers questioning my choice with their eyes as I passed, capturing the image to tell to their friends when they arrived at work.

            After appearing so obviously out of place, I find it humorous when Spaniards attempt to put us at ease with the few English words they know. Last weekend I was taking a tour of a cathedral with a group of students from my program. Our guide spoke some English but was instructed to only lecture to us in Spanish. However, every time we had stopped and she wanted us to relocate she would say, "one, two, three, vamanos(let's go)"! She did this at least thirteen times throughout our half our tour and every single time it was just as funny as the first.

            The way other people view the World is very interesting to me. I am here, in Spain, because of a desire to learn. Though I never really enjoyed the structure of the schools I attended, it was this drive for knowledge that made be love learning. No point is enough for me, I am always going to want more out of life and to push myself and challenge my capacity to learn more. I cannot even fathom the idea that I may, one day, not want to learn anything new, but then again I'm not seventy-one years old.

            The other day a television program relayed the highlights from a recent soccer game in Spain. As my Señora walked to the tabled she said, "I don't like to watch this game, I don't understand it!" Having played for many years I would have been more than happy to explain the rules to her so I asked, "Do you want to understand it?" She threw her arms up as if it was the most absurd question I could have asked and responded, "I don't want to learn anything else. I am at a point in life where I don't want to learn anymore, with learning something else, just comes more work."

            This is not the only interesting conversation encountered at the dinner table. Lunch today was interesting, to say the least. I ate potato and meat soup with my Señora and her grown son. Our conversation began with the topic of snow normally acquired by my home State of New Hampshire and managed to somehow segway into politics, gay rights, and abortion laws, with my Señora having strong opinions about all three. I tried to speak as much with my facial expressions as possible, but it was an uncoordinated combination of nodding in my understanding of the Spanish she was speaking and a sort of compassion for the topics she was discussing.  Her son realized I didn't comprehend some of what she was saying so he would slowly provide background information to me as my Señora every so often would interject when he approached her most important points. My fun fact of the day, however, is that in Spain a democrat is equal to a republican in the United States, and vice versa.

            One of the main problems with trying to have in depth conversations when not fluent in a second language is that you can never let your personality shine. Today I realized that I couldn't tell or understand a single joke because my understanding of the language is not in depth enough to do so. By not being able to have simple encounters of laughter or emotion in my words, it takes away from letting others know the person I really am. Instead, I rely solely on my actions to prove my worth to the people that were strangers mere weeks ago. 

I turned 21 years old yesterday.  And even though I was thousands of miles from my family, I still had the most amazing birthday I could have asked for.

Since I've not gotten the hang of my home city Alcalá, I figured it was about time that I explored a few other cities that are outside of Madrid. First stop, Toledo!

                My host family loves Toledo, and they recommended that I go right off the bat. My host family has had 15 other students, in only five years, and all of them made a trip to Toledo. With  a little help from my host parents in regards to traveling, I was set to go. Now I only needed companions!

                A lot of people were interested in going, it's so close and we had all heard rumors of its beauty. After some logistical struggles, 5 of us were definitely going to go. Saturday rolls around, and 3 of us meet at the bus stop. Communication over here is at times a problem, for me, facebook has never been more valuable than it is here. We head out after waiting for a little, ready to get started on out adventure to the previous capital of Spain!

                We decide to go for one of the fast trains out of Madrid, known as Renfe AVE. I was thoroughly impressed with the train, public transportation here is amazing. I certainly don't miss the days of Blue Loop around PSU! Within a half hour we are in Toledo, as we rode past the ancient city, it was hard to deny that we had made the right decision by making this trip.

                Toledo is a city made up of 3 very distinct districts, the Christian, Jewish and Muslim all within one city. We had a little trouble navigating the winding streets, but each turn held a new cathedral, monastery or museum.

                The tourist center in town was incredibly helpful, and he even spoke to us in Spanish, and I understood it!! The guide probably circled 10 or so sites, so we knew it was going to be a busy day! Most of the sites required a small fee for entry, but it is definitely worth it. We toured the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes, which was breathtaking. The garden was so peaceful, and even had clementines growing on the trees. I am constantly amazed by the architecture here, it's so beautiful, but also so grand. I still cannot comprehend how such giant buildings could be constructed without the help of machines.

                After the Monastery, we wondered some more and ended at the Church of the Jesuits. Here most of the sites that I see are Cathedrals, and you would think I would get tired of it. This church proved me wrong. It was so open and the mural in the front was gorgeous! After checking out most of the church, we happened upon a door that led to the roof of the church! From there you could see the entire city of Toledo, definitely the highlight of the trip.

                After all of out walking and sighseeing, we wanted a little break. We found a bar and tasted the local brew and some amazing cheese. Toledo is known primarily for 3 things. Swords, Manchego cheese and marzipan. We got all three! Well my friend Danny bought a dagger, and then we all bought cheese and marzipan for our families. So delicious! I hope that I can return to Toledo in the future, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who comes to Madrid!

                          Since the last post, a decent amount has happened. Even since before the previous post I neglected the posting of some potentially interesting details...

The TU Ball (Technical University) As international students with IES, we were cordially invited to take part in the Viennese ball put forth by the Technical University. It was held at the Hofberg and lasted the entire night. I realize that, by American standards, all night really means more of a 7-12 pm event, but in Austria this is seemingly not the case. The ball did not begin until nearly 9 pm and continued deep into the night and early morning hours (5 pm). It was truly a new experience. It was straight out of a fairytale with the escort of the men and women in the gown and garb at the beginning, the live orchestra providing the music, and the beautiful people.

The palace was massive and in each of its ball rooms there was a different band playing a unique genre of music to dance to. I had the opportunity to dance salsa, swing, waltz, and folk specials all in one night! Truly marvelous! 

Video of entrance

Daus des Meeres Last Wednesday night we took the evening to visit the Haus des Meeres in Vienna. This is a zoo of sorts; it was very similar to the aquarium located in Baltimore, Maryland only not so immense. They had ocean creatures, fresh water creatures, a tropical rain forest room where the bats flew freely about to and fro. There were also monkeys in this portion. They were adorable and surprisingly tame. They descended their rock walls and abandoned the safety of their trees to investigate the strangers in their habitat (us)...some of the 'strangers' were more interesting than others apparently.

In addition to the wildlife, the zoo was also a phenomonal view of the city from its 11^th floor (12^th floor in America). This building was originally constructed early 1900s to serve as an anti air strike base, but was later renovated and converted into a zoo. It was a cool place. Mental note: I must go back some point during the semester, there is a museum of medieval prison and torture right next door to the zoo. It looks very interesting, plus it is underground - automatic win!

Germany Trip We are currently undertaking our conquest of Germany. We departed from Vienna early Saturday morning (after finishing our intensive German finals the day before). We drove for nearly four hours to get into Prague, Czech Republic. This city was truly breathtaking with all of its gothic architecture and mystique. We all want to go back later and spend more than two hours there.

While walking, my roommate and I had a run-in with members of the KGB. We were pretty nervous at first, but once we discovered their game, we followed suite - so as to avoid looking too suspicious and therefore drawing the attention of the spies in the immediate vicinity. The agents told us that we had become "persons of interest," and then proceeded to ask us if we had any knowledge about the KGB or communist situation in the area. We explained the situation to them, and they allowed us to leave without too much more hassle than that. I feel like I am always the one to experience these crazy things.

We arrived in Dresden, Deutschland only two'ish hours after leaving Prague. This is also an amazing city. It has been remodeling and restoring ever since it was bombed to pieces in WWII. The Germans (and those who aided) have done a wonderful job at the restoration.

-The Patriots are losing so far in Superbowl to this point, I am kind of hoping this continues...and the halftime show was kind of a disappointment also, but what else is new-

Later today, we will continue on with our trip to Leipzig for lunch and the afternoon, then on to Berlin! Will be fun!

This is a view of the roof of the "centro comercial" (shoping mall) de Nervión, a barrio in Sevilla about an hour walk from where I live. We went there to see a movie for our class, and I took a long walk there yesterday.

These are love locks, couples write their names on them, and put them on the bridge. It's illegal, because I guess it's considered a form of vandalism, but I think it's super cute!

And another view from this bridge (Puente de Isabella II), one of my favorite places to stop and just take in the city every time I walk past.

Intercambios

I mentioned in an earlier post that we're supposed to have groups that we practice Spanish and English with through CIEE, but because of the inconvenient timing of my group's meetings on Thursday evenings, I'm either going to switch to another, or do it independently. I've met a number of Spaniards that would really appreciate some extra practice. The other day, I met a girl named Cuca (pronounced, KOO-KAH), who said she'd really like to have native English speakers to talk to, so hopefully we'll start that soon.

Still a lot to Learn

Some days I feel like I have a pretty firm grasp on the Spanish language, and that I can express myself and communicate "bastante bién," (well enough), but other times it's the complete opposite. Apart from the issue of establishing a linguistic identity, and temporarily accepting it as a somewhat less sophisticated, less expressive version of the self, there are a number of things that hold the second-language speaker back. First off, having to ask native speakers to slow down and annunciate better (especially with the lazy, syllable-chopping dialect that is Sevillano!) gives us away, and the limited vocabulary, which sometimes makes me feel like I'm not quite understanding or explaining well enough. Aside from those things, there's also the  issue of trying to stop the bad habit of improperly using false cognates - words in English that look like direct Spanish translations [or vise versa], but aren't.  A few that I noticed Cuca, Randa and myself tripping over the other day were the words for "speak" and "talk," and "hear" and "listen." The word "hablar" (to speak) is meant to have the more general implication of using language, while "decir" (to talk, or say [something]) is used to mean something was, is, or can be said. Similarly, the difference between "escuchar" (to listen), which has an implication of intention attached to it, and "oir" (to hear) is pretty important when used in context. Telling someone, "No te escuché" makes it sound like you weren't listening, while asking someone to repeat himself by saying, "No te oí" generally makes more sense. However, with the wonderfully distracting touch of ADD that I live with, I often find myself using both with equal intention! :-p

Intensive Spanish Grammar: Done!

Our first class in Spain is over! It's weird to think that I just earned credits for an entire semester in two weeks, but it's nice that that's what the intensive course is.  We went over all of the tenses and aspects of Spanish verbs in the short 10 days of class, with take-home, and in-class essay exams at the end of each week. We also had an assignment to go see a movie called, Silencio en la Nieve, which is a new historical fiction about Spanish soldiers fighting against the "Ejercito Rojo" in the forties. It was interesting, but very hard to follow, as my "oyente" isn't very fine-tuned, and it was also just one of those days where I wasn't feeling as able in Spanish. Watching shows and movies on tv certainly continue to help though, and hopefully I'll go back to the "cine" (movie theater) sometime soon.

As for the rest of the semester, I got my "ahorrario de clases" (class schedule)! It's not 1000% final, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up taking everything I have planned right now

Definitely a lot less than "A Million Minutes in a Day"

Now that we've adjusted, and life in Seville is pretty regular, time is passing much more quickly. The days go by a lot faster, especially when we have set schedules to follow. That might change once I start normal classes - but it might only mean my days are fuller and go by even faster! Fortunately though, I'll only have classes Monday through Thursday, which makes our weekends longer for traveling and getting work done. Speaking of which, I need to start making plans to take trips to other cities! Instead of going on a day trip to Córdoba next weekend, Hannah and I decided to sign up for an overnighter in Granada, which should be pretty cool. We heard from another friend that it was a great time, and beautiful place to see. We also want to take a weekend in Barcelona, where Hannah's stayed before for a different program, so we need to book our flights ASAP!

Fashion...Men's, Women's...both?

The fashion here is pretty typically European, based on what I know and have seen of the "EuroStyle," as I like to call it. Women almost always wear heeled or wedged shoes or boots, nice pants or tights with a blouse or dress and this time of year, a nice heavy coat! It's been suuper cold here, I don't know why it's not getting warmer, as I expected it to over the course of the semester. Anyways, rebajas are still going on in most places, and it's fun to shop around for things I wouldn't find in the States.

As for men's wear: The other day, I saw a man wearing the EXACT same scarf that I have...did I get robbed somehow?! And not know about it?? And then I realized: couldn't be, I left that scarf at home in the States! Men's fashion ALMOST looks like women's sometimes, something I noticed especially when I went into H&M on Friday. The men's section was a floor between the two women's, and there were a few items - a nice white sweater, some shoes, a (man) purse that struck me as particularly...feminine. But that's just the metro style, and really, I love it! Despite the fact that many Americans seem to think the metro style looks or seems gay sometimes, it's pretty easy to see the line between metro and homosexual here. It's an interesting dynamic though, because I don't think the stigma here about being gay is quite the same as that in the States. Truth be told, I'm not 100% sure the extent of that stigma in Europe, or Andalucia and the rest of Spain specifically. In our CIEE student handbook though, there was some info about it saying that people are accepting, but as with many other minorities, there's not much censor against derogatory jokes - even if nothing is meant by them.

Cultural Norms: Flamenco, flamencos and flamencas!

More lately than before, we've been watching a lot of flamenco singing competitions on tv in our apartment, and I'm noticing how pertinent it is the culture here. It's taken some adjusting, but I can appreciate the art pretty well now that I have some comparisons to make. A lot of "famosos" (famous people) appear on game and talk shows, and sing a cappella during the episode. It's kind of funny to see grown men and women singing and dancing around in the middle of a show like a musical or something - it's different, but very cool.

Aside from witnessing them on the tube, I had a pretty interesting cultural experience with my friend Carlos. He took me to a flamenco spot near where we live, and he kept pointing people out, telling me, "That guy's on tv," and "Those girls are models," etc. "¡Tantos famosos, que raro!" (So many celebs, it's weird!). The place itself was pretty high-end. When you walk in, there's a giant ornate golden flamenco dress with an enormous train on display in the main lobby. Then in the main room there's reserved seating around the perimeter, standing tables, a bar, and of course, a stage, on which people were singing and dancing - more playfully than seriously, as I'm accustomed to seeing flamenco. There were also people dancing all over the place, around the tables and through the crowd, each seemingly moving to their own music, until the last note of a song would play, and everyone would simultaneously throw a hand in the air!