Bienvenidos a Sevilla

First, a disclaimer: My mother likes details, and since my only mission in life is to make my mother happy (obviously!), I may sometimes end up rambling on, and on and on and on.  And on.  Also, since I currently do not have an abundance of time, you may find my writing to be rambling, incoherent (especially if traveling to Amsterdam), and not always flawless (I know, the very opposite of me!).  I believe the quote is, “if I had more time, I would’ve written less.”  Anyways, please bear with me and abstain from judgment.  You can still judge me for others things of course *high five* but basically, this isn’t looking too competitive in the race for Pulitzer Prizes… 

Right now it is 14:30 en Sevilla.  I arrived yesterday around 14:00.  I flew Milwaukee to Chicago to Madrid to Sevilla.  On the flight from Chicago to Madrid I was seated next to Inez, an 82 year old woman from Chicago.  She spends half of the year in Chi and half in FL.  While in FL she became friends with a French couple and was on her way to visit them.  I got to see LOTS of pictures of her grandchildren and learn all about her political leanings (she doesn’t love Obama, but was far from conservative, referring to republicans as “ridiculous people who have no idea about anything and don’t care about the common good…etc. etc. etc.;” seven hours later we parted ways in Madrid.  On that flight I met a kid from Madison seated across the aisle from me.  There were also about five other people in my program on that flight.  We missed our connection and bummed around the airport for a while.  I stayed with the boy from Madison, and a boy from Indiana.  Madrid to Sevilla was an hour flight.  I was seated next to a boy from Hawaii studying abroad through a different program.  I asked him some questions about Hawaii and then, thinking of Inez (who is hoping we can meet in Chicago for oysters—her favorite!), decided to spare him, and silenced myself.

We were greeted in Sevilla and put into cabs that went to our hotel.  Had a nice conversation in Spanish with my driver.  Well, he spoke Spanish and I spoke my own version of it.  Once at the hotel I got a package with orientation info, dropped my bags in my room and went downstairs for lunch.  We were served scrambled eggs with bacon, mushrooms, and onions, then steak, then a mousse like dessert.  After, I walked around with some kids.  Finally showered after that and headed down to some more orientation jazz.

We had a meeting with staff from CIEE (that is the program I am studying with).  We went over general info and then got our housing assignments.  I am living with Margarita and her 21 year old daughter who is also Margarita.  I was happy to see I’d be with someone my own age…I mean, who doesn’t like a margarita?   

After the meeting we broke up into three groups, each with ten people.  Each group has their own guide.  All of the people who work for CIEE are gorgeous!  Our guide Antonio included…desafortunadamente, one of my two roommates called dibs.  Antonio helped show us where our homestays would be.  I will be living in Nervion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nervion,_Seville).  We had eggplant with brie, salmon, and tomato, followed by rice and chicken, and a dessert similar to that at lunch.  I was intending to go out at night but was way too tired, just went to bed instead.

My two roommates are great!  One is 26 and in college at Oregon.  The other (who ended up going out and rolling back in at 4 AM) is from Chicago and goes to Iowa.  We woke up around 7:30 (actually, roommate number II was still enjoying her third hour of sleep of the night) and went to a continental breakfast.  At 9:15 everyone met in the lobby, we split into our groups and the facilities.  The b-school has an awesome atrium.  The building is called FCEYE (everybody calls it “efe ce eh”—sorry I don’t know how to put it phonetically) and is pretty close to where I will be living.  We had more meetings with more gorgeous people.  Then, a buffet lunch (not too good) at a restaurant and a bit of walking through the city.  It is beautiful.  The sun is intense and very hot.  Orange trees are everywhere.  Sadly, the oranges aren’t orange until la primavera (spring), so we just see green spheres in the trees.  Also, these oranges aren’t edible…they apparently taste more like lemons.  The city has lots of Arab and Roman influences.  We walked past some Roman ruins and a grand park.  Both were located in (what soon will be) mi barrio, Nervion. 

I am now in my room for a short while.  We have one-on-one interviews tonight to determine our speaking abilities, then dinner, and then a flamenco show (I think).  Tomorrow we meet our familias and move in!  Exciting!

Sincere apologies if I haven’t gotten back to your email, the internet (here, “wee-fee”) has been pretty slow.  For this same reason, I will post pictures once I have a better connection.

The language has been okay so far.  The staff is so helpful and nice.  They said that they will soon go into their regular way of speech…cutting off whole syllables of words…so that should be fun!  The kids are all super nice as well.  Most of the country is represented, there are four kids from Madison (didn’t know them prior to this).  Great news: I am BY FAR the most blonde kid in the program.  I will only allow the Spanish men in bars look at my lovely golden locks in exchange for drinks. 

Sorry this just turned into an itinerary of my days.  I am still a bit delirious from the sleep deprivation…

Besos!