Spanish Men

While most people just see Spanish men as being attractive, I have come to notice how extremely bold they are. Although you may here a comment here and there be a sleazy looking guy on the streets in the U.S, almost every guy that has hit on one of us has been good-looking. Even though it can sometimes catch you off guard and make you a bit uncomfortable sometimes, it still feels kind of good when someone tries to say (in English) "you beautiful' as you pass by, or "muy guapa" to you. It feels like a compliment. Yes, the "ch-ch" sounds that I previously mentioned are kind of strange, but when someone hast the decency to actually put into words that you are attractive, it's nice.

While I'm sure that my mother is reading this and thinking of how awful or dangerous it is for random men hit on you on the streets or in bars or discotecas, Sevilla is one of the safest cities. Seriously. My professor even mentioned in class that rape, for example, is almost non-existent in Spain, and if it exists, it's mostly in the home (unfortunate, but it occurs between couples).

As I said, the week and a half that we have been in Spain, we have been hit on in various places and in different ways. But, yesterday I feel like I experienced one of the strangest ones. A couple of friends and I decided to meet up for coffee before our 5pm class. When I ordered "un cafe con leche por favor", our waiter said something that confused me. I said "Que?" And he repeated, "Que guapa"...my friends and I thought it was very strange, and perhaps a little uncomfortable; all I wanted to do was order a cup of coffee! After that, I had no idea what to say, I was just caught off guard. Needless to say, men here seem to speak their minds, though, which might be nice to have back home. Haha. Anyone agree with me?

...But Our Apartment is Clean!!

Yesterday morning a maid come to vacuum and wash the floors and our desks and whatnot. Our house is very clean/tidy... all of the above. Just when I was settling down in bed on my computer last night, though, I got a facebook chat message from one of my roommates, Molly, to "come to our room! COME COME COME COME COME!!!" I simply thought that she and Maeve were just hyper and wanted to hang out... I said I'd come, but first wanted to finish talking to my friends on facebook and skype. Immediately after I said I'd be there soon, she said "Nooooooooo NOW NOW NOW!", so I went in.

When I got there, Maeve was standing on her bed, and seemingly frightened. Molly was in her bed on the computer and when I asked her "what's up", Maeve blurted out "THERE'S A COCKROACH!" I was very grossed out and confused, but she said that she had gone into the bathroom and saw a large dark spot on the tile and was curious about it. When she turned the light on (before going in), it ran from the light. Maeve slowly approached the bathroom with me to see if it was still there... I opened the door slowly, but it wasn't hiding behind; I checked behind the shower, it wasn't there either. Then, I finally stepped out into the hallway. It was a little down the hallway where the light didn't shine through. Though I was apparently the bravest of both of them, I was still a little scared of the size of it... it was HUGE!

After we found where it was, Maeve freaked out and took her place back on her bed, while I ran to the kitchen to try to find something to trap it with. The best option was unfortunately a glass cup. I ran back and started trying to trap it underneath. It was SO FAST that I almost didn't catch it... It was an inch away from Maeve and Molly's doorway (Imagine what Maeve would  have done if it got in haha). Now, my original plan of action was to try and trip it and throw it off the balcony or something. I don't really like the idea of killing things, and also was grossed out to think of the sound it would make if I crushed it (ew!). But, this plan failed because when I finally captured it, it was still moving very fast, of course, and I cut off it's head.

It was so gross to watch the rest of its body still squirm! When I decided the best thing to slide underneath was one of Molly's notecards (because it was the thickest paper), I carefully slid it underneath, while trying to keep the cup as close to the ground as possible. I was so nervous that it would somehow escape while I was doing this. I finally had it between the glass and paper, but the body was still moving. It was gross and I also felt bad if it were in pain. I tried to squish the glass some more to see if it would stop moving, but sure enough, it still did.

The final action was to flush it down the toilet, which took some very careful moves in order to pick it up without letting it escape. When I finally made my way to the toilet, I asked Molly and Maeve if they could atleast flush the toilet for me while I threw it in (since I couldn't flush the notecard of course). They were too scared to even do this! So, I frantically scraped/dropped it in the toilet and immediately flushed it, and finally watched to make sure it went down.

This all happened just before midnight. At this point, Maeve was still hovering on her bed, just as terrified as before. None of us could think about going to sleep just yet, and I scared them both by asking "Oh my gosh! What if there are eggs!? Do you think there are more?!" I still just couldn't understand how cockroaches could be in our apartment when it is so clean. Molly reasoned that it is typical to keep doors and windows open during the day for fresh air, etc. The rest of the night, Maeve wouldn't do anything alone. She was sitting in Molly's bed with her and joked (but I almost think she was serious) that they were gonna have to cuddle tonight (we all have twin beds). Later when she had to go to the bathroom, she tried to get me to go wtih her. Then, when she wanted to make tea, she begged me to go to the kitchen with her. Both times I reassured her it would be fine, but I ended up needing to go with her. She was ridiculous!

The funniest thing is that she is from North Carolina, where cockroaches are common. Interested by that comment, I remembered when we were on vacation near Charleston 5-10 years ago and we had an exterminator come to our rental house. The exterminator had reassured us to "not worry, they are Palmetto Bugs". When I mentioned this fact, she laughed and said, "they're the same thing!"

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Today, after I finished my lunch, I mentioned to Carmen that we found a cockroach and I was the one that had to kill it. She was shocked and said that she didn't hear any of this going on last night (which is good, because even though we were freaked out a little, we tried to keep it down). Carmen also said that this would be the 2nd one that's been in the apartment; I joked that they aren't common, but I had the "honor" of killing it. I explained to her that it was an accident; that I meant to just trap it, but it's head got cut off. She seemed to like that I said that; we both agreed that we do not like killing things; she said that even though she doesn't like cockroaches either, she would have let it outside also (remember, she's also Buddhist!).

Classes (Cont'd)... and Funny Things My Professor Said

Today I had my Intro to Spanish Culture Class and the Spanish Heritage course that covers History and Mythology. Both of these classes were much more interesting than my cooking class yesterday. There was more interaction and discussion, instead of just rambling on about random things about food, etc. Although they held my attention more than Spanish Cuisines (where my friend laughed when she saw that I managed to doodle on an entire piece of paper), they were so long! Not only are they two hours (and even though we got out a little early...), they were back to back, so I very reasonably felt overwhelmed/frustrated after sitting in class for so long.

My Intro to Sp. Culture professor talked about culture shock and asked us what kinds of things scared us or made us curious. He also discussed some funny things that you can notice about Spaniards; the funniest one I remember, and encounter everyday is that Spanish people stare a lot. Whether you are walking down the street or standing at a bar, Spaniards frequently stare at you for a long period of time; he said that to them, this is not "staring"... it's just "looking". He made a joke that you can tell when you look at an American because after awhile they will say "Hey, what's up" or talk to you (if this isn't funny to you, I'm sorry, but the way he said it and acted it out in class was hilarious since we see it all the time here).

Another thing about Spanish Culture that I've discussed a few times is the amount of food that you are served. I've mentioned that I feel rude turning down second helpings, etc, and my professor told us that the reason that they try to be generous with portions of food is mainly reflected on times when they were poorer and didn't have enough food for everyone. Similar to the Great Depression, many Spaniards grew up or have faced hard times, so being "plump" is a good thing... yet I don't see any "fat" people over here. It still is a bit confusing to me! One possibility for the absence of overweight people is that their food is healthier. Fresh produce is abundant and cheap here (which as we know, is rare in America). I'm not sure about this, but I feel like they probably don't have as many hormones, etc put into their meat. They do a lot of walking, also. But, they also eat at 9pm...some people may stay up later, but I know that my host mom and daughter are usually in bed by 11ish... isn't it bad to sleep right after you've eaten or something?

We also mentioned the fact that Sevilla is not prepared for hot weather (most places don't have air conditioning), so summers here are DEADLY... temperatures can reach over 100F. Apparently, having a small table with an electric heater you can turn on (with a tablecloth to hold the heat in) is considered "prepared for the cold"... I'm not sure if I agree.. it gets SO COLD in the house at night! It's fine under a blanket, but I feel like I'm going to freeze when I'm sitting at dinner sometimes! Although there are a few fires every year due to these table heater 'inventions', fires are mostly unheard of. I didn't notice it until my professor pointed it out, but I'm pretty sure that fire alarms are rare. The culture here is so much more lax than anywhere else I've ever been.

The lax culture reminds me of something that I don't remember if I've noticed before... our host mother is Buddhist. This is a very uncommon religion in Spain, as I'm sure you would expect. While Catholicism is dominant and she used to practice Catholicism, 10 years or so ago she adopted this religion because she loved it's foundation. She has mini-Buddha statues throughout the house, and prays before each meal (I'm still trying to figure out exactly what she says because it is so fast... so far I've got the part at the end where she thanks and asks for the food to be blessed). Carmen is a very relaxed and loving woman. I am so thankful that we were assigned to her. One of the first things she said to us was that she never wants us to be hungry and said we could help ourselves. She told us she has no interest in understanding English (I don't know if that's just because she wants to help us improve or not, but I think it is) and she talks to us as much as she can. Whenever I get confused, she will slow down, and if I can't think of a word and get frustrated, she tells me to calm down and relax. She's awesome :)

Talking about the culture of Spain and the things in Sevilla got me thinking about the many things that I would like to do while I'm here. I'm not sure if I will be able to achieve them all, but here it goes:

1. travel a lot (inside and outside of Spain, in addition to the excursions already planned by API and my History and Mythology class)-- France, Portugal, Greece (?), Barcelona, Canary Islands?, Germany! (with Oma), Italy (hopefully to visit Federica after I'm done here and she goes back from QU!
2. soccer game
3. opera (Barber of Seville &/or Carmen)
4. buy nice leather boots and possibly leather jacket
5. ANY OTHER IDEAS??? :)

Classes

Yesterday was my first day of classes. In the program that I chose, there were only about 12 listed as being offered, and there are only about 20 students total (atleast that's what I was told). My program is the only one that offers courses taught in English, the best option for me since I haven't studied Spanish since high school (where it was nowhere close to the advanced level I should be in to take Spanish classes here, probably) and also because all of my grades will transfer, whereas other students in the program said that their schools count these courses as Pass/Fail.

To fulfill my final undergrad requirements, I was advised by the Dean of health sciences to either take 3 of the courses that would count as history or could also take ones that counted as art. All the other classes on the list would not fulfill anything for me, including some language reinforcement type classes and also the cooking class. Although those courses don't count for me, I figured that with the one remaining course (since we need to take 4 to be considered a full-time student) I would take something for fun.

I decided that on Mondays & Wednesdays I would take a U.S.-European Relations Since WW2 course and the cooking class later that evening. But, when I showed up and asked someone where to find the classroom for the Relations course, the lady told me that it was one of the 3 courses that was dropped from our course selections due to under-enrollment (although my other friend Kara called me about a half hour later saying that there were 5 or 6 other girls waiting with her to go to that class!). Luckily, the cooking class still existed; in actuality, there were atleast about 30 students that showed up for it (some are possibly from different programs). The professor was very nice and it seems like it will be a great class. Although I wanted to fall asleep on the first day of it, he said that we would have a chef from one of the best restaurants in Sevilla come in and cook for us some day, we would visit a market and a couple museums together, we would be cooking almost every day, and that he could not see it plausible to have written exams for this course. (He mentioned a presentation, which makes me a little more nervous, but hopefully it will be fine.)

Today I have an Intro to Spanish Cultural Studies course and a course about the History and Mythology of Spain. They both sound very interesting, but I hope they aren't too too similar since I have them back to back. Each class period is 2 hours long; while some professors may choose to let their students out earlier, I still am not looking forward to sitting in class that long. I hope I will be able to adjust.

Some Things That I've Noticed So Far:

1. The massive amounts of bread and starch that is eaten at every meal. Seriously, there are so many different types of carbs at EVERY single meal. For example, for breakfast, the typical breakfast is basically just toast or breakfast cookies or muffins. A lunch could be something like we just had today: leftovers of the pasta salad (with pasta, mayonnaise, tuna, oranges, raisins, walnuts and spices), rolls, mini pizza, croquettes (probably one of my favorite things so far, I can't even describe how delicious they are, but they have cheese and some type of meat inside and are fried). Although we have already eaten so many carbs just at one meal, there will still be plenty at dinner I'm sure! It seems strange that all Spaniards can be in such great shape then, which must be accounted for by all the walking they do.
2. Eggs are also another very typical ingredient in meals. For example, we had tortilla espanola the first night, and the next day for lunch we had mashed up hard boiled eggs with bread. I think that eggs may have also been in the croquettes, but I'm not entirely sure.
3. The person that cooks is usually supposed to serve everyone. Even if the plates of food are brought to the table, it is not right to serve yourself.
4. It isn't true that you can't drink the tap water.
5. Most stores really do shut down during ciesta, but stay open much later.
6. It's sometimes annoying when you are trying to speak Spanish to people and they automatically tell you they speak English.
7. People walk a lot here. On Saturday evening, we went out to see if any stores were open (very few were) and while on the streets we saw tons of people just strolling through the city; they did not seem to have anywhere to go. There were also several street performers.
8. Motocicletas, or motor bikes, are also very common here; I was talking to a few Spaniards in some bars Saturday night and they said that they are the easiest mode of transportation because you can park anywhere.
9. Most cab drivers are jerks. We had one the other night that ripped us off; we argued but he kept saying that the price was way higher than it should've been. When we got out of the car and met up with our friends in the other taxi, they said that they had paid just about half our price!
10. When guys hit on you on the streets, instead of the typical whistling you may hear in the U.S., they make a strange noise that sounds like "ch-ch".
11. They listen to way more American music than Spanish music in bars, clubs and even cabs. Older hits are also often played; for example, the other night we heard Prince and also the same Michael Jackson song in 3 different bars.
12. There is a homeless man (?) that lives on one of the main roads with his dog. He literally has a mattress and sheets, a dog dish and several other things, just beside the street. (I wonder why he is living there and how he is allowed to do that?)
13. Although I dress decently and even if I'm not speaking English on the streets, Molly and I still get stared down. We think it may be because we are blonde, but there ARE some Spanish women that are also blonde...
14. While the whole time we thought we were "locked in" to our apartment building and needed to use a key to get out, there is actually a button that you can press to get out without using your key.... all this time we thought it was a light!
    

I will add to this when I think of more :)

On to Sevilla!

Yesterday we left Madrid. On the way to Sevilla, we went to Toledo, the original capital of Spain. It was beautiful. It took about an hour to get there, but the hard part was getting back on the bus for the next 6 hour drive! In Toledo we walked around the city a lot, took pictures by the amazing views and visited a church and cathedral. Inside the church was the famous El Greco painting for the Count of Orgaz (which we could not take pictures of course). Similar to the paintings in El Prado, I  thought I would be very bored seeing the art, but because our tour guide explained the background of the paintings it was very interesting. While in the city, Kepa also let us try some Marzipan, a delicacy of the city (it was very good!).

When we stopped for lunch (after driving for about 2 hours), I decided to try una tostada de jamón serrano cuchillo, which was basically an open faced sandwich on bread like mini-baguette with a type of ham that looked like prosciutto, crushed tomato, olive oil and pine nuts. They had so many types of ham sandwiches that I had no idea what to order, but this sandwich tasted pretty good.

We finally got to Sevilla at about 9ish, and one of our first sights in the city was a man lying on the ground in the middle of the street that must have just gotten hit by a car. It shocked me because although a few people were near where he was lying, the cars just kept driving around him, as if nothing happened. When we got our luggage from the bus, my roommates, Maeve, Molly and I found Carmen, our host mom. Immediately when I met her, I could tell that she was probably one of the sweetest women I've ever met. We took two taxi's to her apartment, which is basically in the center of Sevilla! In her house, we met one of her friends (I don't remember her name), and she let us sneak into her two-year-old grandson's room (his name is Delek) to see him while he was sleeping. He was so adorable! One thing that will take some getting used to is the two kisses on the cheek when you see someone; although I've seen that in the movies, I didn't realize how typical it was used as a greeting.

My room is pretty nice; I have my bed, a closet and desk; I have a single room and Maeve and Molly share the room next to me. We three also share our own bathroom! I didn't expect the apartment to be this nice--it may not be huge, but for the size, there is a lot of room.

Last night, Carmen cooked us a feast; we had a chicken broth soup with star-shaped pastas, huge rolls, tortillas espanolas (basically a quiche with just eggs, onions and potatoes), a spinach and chard mixed vegetable, a yogurt and piece of chocolate for dessert. I was overwhelmed by the amount of food; I was so full, but didn't want to be rude when she continued to offer me food--I am trying to learn to refuse it nicely! haha

View from the bus

view of the city and the cathedral

My roommates and I

The cathedral

Madrid (Days 1-3)

Day 1:

I arrived in Madrid at 7am this Sunday. It was early... after a 7.5 hour flight or so, I was exhausted. I didn't sleep on the plane and didn't sleep well the night before I left. When I got off the plane, I followed the signs for the baggage claim... when I finally got my checked luggage, I perplexedly asked a couple of airport security (?) workers where I needed to go next. Although I had been watching the other passengers from my plane leaving the baggage claim, I had made the assumption that we had to go through customs. After a couple of minutes attempting to converse with the staff (in both English and Spanish... another worker even came over to try and help, but they didn't understand what I was asking I guess), they pointed me out the exit.

I made my way over to the Cafeteria where we were to meet our Resident Director, Kepa, and luckily a couple girls were doing the exact same thing. After waiting several hours, we were on the bus and headed to the Hotel Regina. We had lunch, walked around a little bit, took naps and later went out for dinner with the group (I actually tried duck!--not that good though haha). We were so exhausted that when we finally got back to the hotel we went to sleep.

The exact center of Spain

delicious raspberry sorbet and creme puff type pastry

Day 2:

Yesterday we went to El Palacio Real and had a lot of free time to wander the city. El Palacio Real had beautiful rooms and art work, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside (like the Museum and Monastery that we saw today). For lunch, a couple of other students and I met up with a Madrid study abroad student who showed us a great tapas restaurant that the locals go to, El Tigre. We each ordered a small glass of cider to try (alcoholic) and were a bit shocked when the bartender proceeded to hand us 4 large plates of tapas (and it only cost 10 euros for everyone!). We also went to a Chocolateria for Churros and cafe con leche earlier, apparently the best in Madrid.

Last night, we went out to eat at this cute little Belgian restaurant that is known for their mussels. 2 other girls and I shared them and we also drank some Sangria (pretty good). Although I was debating the idea of going out last night since I was still exhausted (and we had to be up at 8:30 this morning), we all decided to go clubbing... on our way to a club called Dream (one of the girls had heard of it), a promoter from a bar stopped us and offered us free drinks though, so we decided to take him up on the offer...it was at this bar that a girl Kelsey and I tried absinthe. Though it was strong, I didn't mind it too much. We also went to a club called Moon Dance afterwards (because another promoter stopped us and offered drinks also). It was really fun and they played a lot of classic hits (like Grease) and contemporary music like Lady Gaga. Although it was a Monday night, there were so many people inside...which I learned were mostly other Europeans (we met some guys from Holland and a French guy and I even met a guy from Sevilla... I got really excited and told him that we were going there on Wednesday, but he apparently goes to school here in Madrid). When I realized it was 3am, we decided it would be an awful idea to stay out until 6am like the natives do and dreaded waking up at 8:30 this morning.

Statue near El Palacio Real

El Palacio Real (this side hold all the Armory)

a cute little man playing the accordion... he was so happy! haha

a headless person..

Churros and cafe con leche

a really busy street during ciesta (the time that Spaniards usually eat lunch and then nap)

our free tapas at El Tigre

The cute Belgian restaurant we went to last night

us with our Sangria

our nice waiter with the gin Molly and I had

Day 3:

On our last day in Madrid, we visited the monastery, El Escorial. Other than the monks that live there, they also have a boarding school that kids can go to until they are 18 (but it costs 1000 euro per month!). We had the funniest tour guide; he cracked jokes whenever he could and made it an enjoyable experience (unlike El Palacio Real, where I was pretty bored). For example, because we have so few boys in our group, he called Gabe and Amit the "Don Juan's" of our group. When we got back to Madrid in the afternoon, we also visited El Prado Museum, where we saw the works of Velazquez and Goya. I thought that I would be bored out of my mind visiting an art museum, but because our tour guide knew so much, she held my interest by explaining the background of the paintings. Since we had to wake up very early the next day, we decided to have dinner (we went to a tapas bar) and stay in the rest of the night. Our waiter was extremely rude, possibly the worst I have ever had. He left the table before Caitlin even got to order anything, and then when we had to pay, he stood over our shoulders and watched us count the money. I almost wished they got tipped so we could give him a bad one! haha

El Escorial

the students playing soccer during their recess.. so cute!

behind the garden of the monastery

El Escorial

I still got my starbucks :) but even more expensive than home!

botanical garden

pretty sunset view from the garden