The European Version of Study Abroad!

“¡Sevilla: que maravilla!” was what the customs official responded when I said I was going to Sevilla. 

After a 35 hour Monday to Wednesday travel mishap/adventure (for lack of a better word), the last thing I wanted to hear at 7:10 am was a cheery customs agent in Barcelona, but that’s what awaited me.  At least one of us was cheery, right?! But he was right, Seville is quite marvelous.

It was 4 pm on Wednesday when we finally arrived in our place of residence for six months.  Five of us were on the same cancelled flight so we stuck together while we tried to make it to Seville as soon as we possibly could.  When we walked outside to the bus, the weather was perfect.  65 degrees, breezy, sunny.  Palm trees lined the parking lot.  Could this get any better? And all I could think was that it was only January! Just think how nice March and April are going to be. 

As we drove from the airport to the orientation hotel, I was relatively shocked by what I saw.  The city was old.  But not a beautiful, historical old.  It was a 60s or 70s architecturally old.  I was reassured when we passed that part of town and into the beautiful, historical old part where we would be living.  Thank goodness!

The “old city” as I call it given my Middle Eastern studies background, is very much like Jerusalem.  The narrow cobblestone streets, almost like a maze, which is how I have gotten lost multiple times on my way to the study abroad office.  But I am now figuring out my way around the narrow streets, even finding shortcuts! The famous landmarks are El Alcazar, that reminds me of an ornately decorated Moroccan mosque and the Cathedral that is like an old Roman church.  The University of Sevilla, just outside the old city, is just as beautiful.  It used to be a large tobacco factory in the 1500s, but was later converted into a university.  I live about 10 minutes on foot from the university, so it is quite convenient. 

Classes don’t start until Monday, February 6^th, but mine technically don’t start until Tuesday the 7^th.  After having 5 semesters with 5 sometimes 6 classes, Monday through Friday, I managed the impossible.  I figured out a 5-class schedule in which classes only meet from Tuesday through Thursday.  Finally! It couldn’t have happened at a more perfect moment either.  Now I have to be just as prudent with my European travel schedule. My classes are: Modern Middle East History, Peninsular Literature (aka literature from Spain), Arabic Literature, Spanish Linguistics, and Arab-Islamic Art/Architecture (for those of you who think this is a very random choice, it is. It was the only class that didn’t meet on Monday or Friday.) I even planned my gym time in my schedule! Shocking, I know.

But until then we have a 2-week “intensive” Contemporary History of Social Spain course that meets for 3 hours a day.  1 ½ hour in the classroom and 1 ½ hour out and about in Sevilla, taking in the historical sites. 

Oh, I guess I should also mention my living arrangements.  I opted to live in an apartment (one of the three brave students) instead of living with a host family.  In turn that means I have to cook my own food.  Can anybody say pasta or frozen pizza? Because I certainly can! No but in all seriousness, it’s fantastic.  I am not even 5 minutes from the old city, and about 10 minutes to the University.  I have my own room, small, but all mine. I even ventured out to Ikea to start the beautification process of my room.  It’s a little cozier now. I live with one girl from my program, who is actually from China, and three Spanish university students.  They have been studying like crazy in the living room for their exams, so it’s been pretty quiet around the house so far. But it’s a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in the city center, who could ask for more?

I’m still figuring out Seville, the buses, the metro, renting a bike, the stores (apparently nothing is open on Sunday. I learned that after a 20 minute walk to the grocery store and returned empty handed!), and pretty much everything else.  I guess it’s all a learning process, but so far so good over here in España.