I want to make some comments about my time in Sevilla so far. I'm keeping a handwritten journal, but I just want to mention some observations both good and bad. This might be more of a rant than anything, but we shall see...

I've heard many different expressions since I've been here, "vale" being the first one. It literally means "ok" and everyone says it here. I would have to say it's used more than any other word. My señora says it all the time. Other expressions are "hombre", "madre mia" and "hijo/hija" which all are some variation of "dios mio" or "oh my god". My señora uses "hombre" a lot too. Another expression is "anda" which means "wow". In the class I'm taking now (Advanced Spanish Language) my teacher thinks it's really important to know informal/colloquial expressions in Spanish; Spanish people use these expressions frequently and I'm noticing that more and more.

My señora likes to watch tv at every meal. At breakfast it's the news, and even if I don't understand it there are intense images. For instance on tv I've seen violence, blood, boobs, and stuff about prostitution which apparently is an issue here. I've also heard there's porn for anyone to watch on tv (anda!). It's a lot different from American tv. Usually at lunch we watch a cooking show and after that there’s a judge judy type of show (and damn do those people get fired up, the audience members too!). Then at dinner there’s a game show called Pasapalabras (literally "pass words"). I like watching that. I just feel like tv here consists of the news, game shows, judge judy type of shows, and telenovelas (soap operas).

Next I want to talk about the drivers in Sevilla. They are crazy! For one thing a lot of the streets are really narrow and cars barely fit, and they come barreling down like it's a highway or something. Oh and those narrow streets barely have sidewalks (about a foot wide on each side, I'm not kidding). So sometimes I have to walk in the streets and quickly dart if a car's coming. Cars definitely rule in Sevilla. I'm so used to Boulder I'm lucky if cars stop at crosswalks. I stop before I cross, no matter what, cuz usually cars just keep going and don't care about pedestrians. There are also tons of mopeds around. They drive on the roads like cars, but they also drive on sidewalks which sometimes scares me. They think they have so much freedom and can go whenever they want which is definitely not true.

Pedestrians...well, let me say they walk wherever they want, and if they take up the whole sidewalk then so be it. They don’t say “excuse me” or “sorry” if they run into you; they just keep going. I’ve had many experiences where people are walking towards me and instead of moving out of the way they just keep coming as if I wasn’t there. It’s really frustrating sometimes.

People in general seem kind of rude, not very friendly. It’s mostly true what people say; the Spanish don’t smile very much. Usually when I’m walking I try not to look at people, at least not in the eye. That especially goes for guys. It’s very masochistic here and I don’t want to attract the attention of weird guys. Ever heard of the so-called cat calls? Well it’s true; it happens. Fortunately it hasn’t happened to me yet (or maybe it has but I was listening to my iPod).

My next point is fashion. I’m still trying to get used to the fashion in Sevilla. People dress up more here, but even when someone wears jeans they’ll also wear a nice blouse and heels or flats (in other words fancy shoes). See the difference? In the US people wear jeans with a t-shirt and sneakers (that’s my style). I personally can’t do heels or flats (my flats left my ankles bloody and my feet blistery).

The food is also quite different. The main ingredients here are potatoes, eggs, ham, bread, and oil. For instance, tortilla española consists of potatoes, eggs, and onions. My señora makes it a lot. She also makes gazpacho often. It’s a cold tomato-based soup. There’s also bread at every meal, at least at my homestay. I love bread but wow, I didn’t know it was so popular here. Popular drinks are Coke (interesting), sangria, tinto de verano, wine, and Cruzcampo (a type of beer which is gross). I like sangrias and tinto de verano.

Money is interesting here, Euros of course. I find it a nuisance that coins include 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 euro, and 2 euros. It’s annoying trying to sift through all my coins only to find stupid ones like 1 cent and 5 cents. It seems like I either have dumb coins as already mentioned or 50 euros (like a 50 dollar bill, but euros instead of dollars).

Bus rides are few and far between (mainly weekends) and are usually fine. We take nice coach buses. But last weekend the return trip from Lagos sucked. We left at 6:30 in the morning and it was a fairly empty bus so we spread out. I got two seats so I laid down cuz I was tired. But at one of the stops I had to go to the bathroom so I put my stuff on the seats so no one would sit there. When I got back there was a lady sitting there and she had put my stuff on the other seat. Just great! At the next stop a ton of people got on so some people from our group had to move and sit next to other people from our group, so I moved and sat next to a girl from our group instead of the complete stranger who took my seat. One of the girls was asleep the whole trip (5-6 hours) and people were annoyed that there weren’t any seats. People kept looking at the back of the bus at us like we were from a different planet. I probably shouldn’t have gotten so worked up about it but I did. It was a long bus ride and an early one.

Another thing about my time here in Sevilla: sickness. The first few days I was fine, and then things started going downhill. I’ve experienced headaches, stomachaches, sore throats, and a cold (oh and my period, bleh). Those didn’t happen all at once but still. The cold really sucked cuz my whole head was congested, not just my nose. I went to the pharmacy and got medicine which helped, thankfully. I want to go a day without being sick (and by that I mean any sort of not feeling well, such as a headache or stomachache).

Finally (I think), I want to mention common conversation between my friends and me. I feel like all I ever talk about is food, having to go to the bathroom, or the weather. How boring! I think it’s because I’m either hungry/full, have to pee, or am complaining about the heat (July will be death). Oh some other observations: I think my bladder shrunk cuz I swear I have to go to the bathroom more than usual. Also I think my nails grow faster here cuz I’ve already had to clip them twice! And I’ve gone through about 10-12 AA batteries for my camera, no joke. The batteries here are crappy; even the Duracells didn’t last very long.

Ok, I could say so much more but I’ve already written so much and like I said at the beginning, these are just general observations. This is for me more than anyone else so I don’t forget anything from my time here. (There are probably lots of grammar errors but oh well.) However I do want to share a little bit with the world, so enjoy!

~Amy