I really don't like the rain and cold weather especially when they are mixed together. Our room has been freezing cold and especially during the mornings. Sleeping with sweatpants and a jacket at night is no fun especially trying to get out of bed to go to class at 8 in the morning. I was just looking around and I freaking found a heater under our table. I'm happy I found it, but I'm mad that I didn't find it earlier! Aight, I'll write more later about the Cathedral visit and our visit to Cordoba and include some pictures. Goodnight.

This is gonna be a short entry. Chris and I were going around for like twenty minutes looking for a wine opener and we tried the grocery story and didn’t find there. The cashier told us to go to a ferreteria(something like a hardware store) near some gas station close to our house. We definitely didn’t find the place and then we went to a wine store and they were selling them for like 10 bucks and I was not about to pay that much for a piece of metal. So I passed by this random Chinese store called like Xiang Shen a few days ago a couple minutes away and I was like lets give it a shot. You know what the Chinese shops are like, random ass things for cheap prices. And I have no idea why there is this shop in Sevilla and there were a bunch of Spaniards in the shop too. Anyways, so we get there and the Chinese lady at the counter and her son were like hola. I thought it was kind of weird considering they look somewhat remotely like me. So yeah I was like do you guys speak Chinese(in Chinese) and they were like of course. So yeah we talked in Chinese and the kid found me a wine opener for 75 cents. I really felt like I was in Chinatown no joke. Yeah so the lady was like are you Chinese?? And I was like nope I’m American and then she asked me if I was learning Chinese here and I was like what the heck and I said I was studying Spanish. So yeah that was my story, it was pretty hilarious at the time, never would have I thought I would use my Chinese in Spain, but hey it made my day…

Sunday’s are supposed to be the days where you catch up on homework that you haven’t done all weekend, but honestly, I’m just not in the mood and I might even take a nap. So what’s happened in the past week? On Wednesday night, a lot of us went to this bar to check out the Real Betis vs. Real Madrid football game. They had beer taps at each table which was kind of cool. I don’t know that much about soccer as far as teams go, but I think I better learn fast cause it’s the ONLY sport they watch and talk about here. People get really into it, so I might as well give it a shot. My señora and her husband are really big Sevilla fans, and I’ve helped convince them that Chris is a Real Betis fan. The rivalry between Sevilla and Betis is like UNC vs. Duke except both teams are in the same city. At one point, he said if Betis beat Madrid then Chris would have to sleep outside without food. Haha… As you can tell, meal conversations have gotten a lot better and I’ve been looking forward to the opportunities to speak in only Spanish.

Friday morning, we had a field trip to Real Alcazar, a royal palace built in the 14th century. The architecture was amazing along with the gardens and pools.

Inside Real Alcazar


The gang in front of a fountain-like pool thing

On Friday night, a bunch of us got together and headed over to Plaza de España to chill. We went to the grocery store and bought some bottles of wine, plastic cups, bread, and cheese and chilled on the steps in the Plaza. This place is like what you see on all the postcards from Sevilla. I don’t have any pictures right now, but when I do, I’ll definitely post them. So we sat there hanging out and then the security guard comes around at 10 pm and kicks us out because he was closing the gate. We ended up sitting on the steps right outside of the gate finishing our snacks. After a couple bars, we ended up going to a club for like 20 minutes and then we were all so tired that we went home.

Yesterday, we decided to go try some tapas, which are like little dishes of food, which you can order at bars and you can just order a bunch and make it a meal. I decided to be brave and try this fish dish. I had no idea what it would be, the waiter just said it would be small fish and when he brought the dish, I thought I was going to puke. I think they were sardines or something, but the head, the tail, all of it was there, like 5 or 6 of them. If they hadn’t cost so much, I probably wouldn’t have had them, but I tried it and I mean it was all right once you took away his head and his tail. I don’t know how this whole fish thing is going to work out, but somehow I need to make sure I’m getting enough protein here.

I guess I should do a little work now so maybe I can take a late siesta later today…Go Panthers!

I haven’t gotten sick for a while, but of course with the luck that I have, I am now sick with a sore throat in Spain. I’m definitely I brought dayquill and nyquill with me. I definitely took two siestas today, one being an hour long, and the other lasting two hours. Anyways, I had a pretty relaxing and chill weekend. On Thursday night, a lot of the group went down to Calle Betis, which is a road right next to the river, which is lined with bars and we had a couple drinks, which was fun. The first bar was Big Ben and of course a little while after all the Americans got there, they started playing American music starting with the song Bananas by Gwen Stefani, which I hate. Haha…On Friday we were supposed to have a field trip at 12:30 to the Archaeological Museum, but I thought it was at 1 so Chris and I were definitely late and we had to go find the museum on our own and meet the group. It was really cool with one of the teachers giving us a tour explaining a lot of neat stuff including some history.

On Saturday, Dhruti, Chris, and I had to go to the post office for homework, which was all the way in the center of the city, like 25 minutes walking distance from where we all live. We stopped by a Café de India along the way and chilled for an hour or two (and no this café has nothing to do with India, its like Starbucks, but just in Spain). This place was like two stories and had a projector upstairs playing Spanish music videos and couches. I really like coffee shops in case you didn’t know and I like going to them to study or just relax and read so I’m still looking out for the best one in Sevilla. We also walked around the center of town where we came across the Cathedral, which is the largest Christian cathedral in all of Europe.

Cathedral

This is what I imagined all of the streets in Spain to look like...

Dhruti and I near a cool looking fountain

I started off Sunday by waking up at like 2 and then going to Starbuck’s to do some reading and a little bit of homework. I know this is an American place, but I figured I would compare it to the states. The coffee tasted about the same, but it was a pretty cool atmosphere just watching Spanish people hang out around me. Later on, Dhruti and I met up with a guy from Sevilla named Andres who we met in a coffee shop in Chapel Hill last semester who happened to be visiting a friend at UNC. He was with two guys from the states who have been teaching English for over a year and a half here. They invited us over to one of their apartments, which turned out to be this 5 story narrow house with a room on each side of the staircase. It was really nice and there was an amazing view from the roof of the house. It was good chilling there away from the big UNC group and speaking Spanish/English with a Sevillan and people who have been here for a while.

Today was Chandni’s 21^st bday. Happy Birthday dude! She didn’t want to go out because a lot of have class at 9 tomorrow and there is not too much happening on a Monday night. But, we all met up with her after dinner at Burger King, which was like at 10:30 at night. I got her a giganta vasa de cerveza there. Check out the picture. All right, bed time.

This crazy fool is 21...check out the Burger King cup

I’m picking up some faint wireless here at my home stay before dinner so I thought I would write a quick entry. Chris and I moved into our home for the next five months two days ago. We live in a flat about 10 minutes from school with our señora, Rosario and her husband. It’s a pretty nice quiet area with lots of apartments near by. Our homestay parents are both really nice and have been very accommodating with our broken and terrible Spanish. I guess I was really shocked the first day because I realized just how awful my Spanish is. On top of that, I am vegetarian so it makes it even more difficult. She named out a bunch of different types of meat and I said to no to them and when she got to fish, I said I kind of eat it. I guess I came in assuming I might have to resort to eating some fish in order to stay healthy. I just hope I don’t have it every meal! Last night she did make a dish called tortilla, which is actually a potato omlette, which was really good. On the other hand, today she made a rice dish and it was good, but I could definitely see shreds of beef that were stuck in. I guess I can’t be too picky.

Meal times have also been something that I have had trouble accustoming to. Breakfast is at a normal time, but lunch is at 2:30 at the beginning of the siesta and then dinner is at night at 9:30, which is just ridiculous because I get hungry around 6:30. I definitely went to the grocery store to buy some chips and snacks to eat in between. Another thing about my homestay is that it is really cold especially at night. I don’t think the house is equipped with heat and there are tile floors so its get really cold. I wore my sweatpants and hoodie to bed last night because it was so cold. Therefore, showers are really hard to take. Making it even harder, there are no closed windows in the bathroom. There are a few glass shades covering the window so when the cold air comes in, you freeze. I think I think everything will be fine in a week or two when it all becomes normal to me.

Today was the first day of classes. I am taking a total of four classes for 13 hours. The courses that I am taking are all going to fill my perspective requirement, which works out nicely. I’m taking a language class, a literature class, a class on the history of American and Spain, and the professions in Spain. Two of these classes only last the first 7 weeks so that means I only have two classes from March to May, which is going to be really nice. I’ll have a class at 9-10:30 and then a class from 7:30-9:00. Above all of that, there are no classes on Friday. Sorry, had to throw all of that in. Anyways, today is Thursday and there are no classes tomorrow so some of us might go around town and explore the Sevilla nightlife. That’s it for now. I haven’t really taken many pictures, but when I do, I will definitely post some.

So I made it to Spain safely and with all of my luggage. I flew over to London with my friend Chris and met up with Chandni and Maria and we all flew together into Sevilla where we met up with Dhruti and the rest of the UNC students. So my first encounter with Spanish people was not something I particularly want to remember. Chris and I got scammed while trying to get a taxi from the airport to the hotel where we are all staying for a couple of nights. We got scammed by 10 euros which is basically like 13 American dollars.

Anyways, so we had a quick meeting with the 80 other UNC students last night at our university, Estudios Universitarios y Superiores de Andalucía and then they had a dinner for us. I can already tell its going to be fun being a vegetarian in Sevilla. If it comes down to it, I might have to give in to eating some fish or seafood. So after dinner we were all dead tired, but we decided to explore around our hotel for a little bit. It was a Monday night so there weren’t that many people out, but we managed to find a nice little bar and got to relax over a glass of beer.

So this morning we were supposed to get a wakeup call at 9:15 so we could eat breakfast and head out to school around 10:30 and yeah that didn’t happen for my roommate and I. Chris knocked on our door at 10:20 and we were like what the heck! But yeah, so we went to school and then the director tells us that they are going to give us a test to see how good our Spanish was. There was a composition at the end, and yeah that definitely did not go well.

So speaking in Spanish is twenty million times harder than the casual speaking we had to do during Spanish class at UNC. I think about what I want to say and then when I actually try to do it, something else comes out. I guess I will have to get used to it and muster up some courage to keep trying.

Right now, its siesta time, which is a time each day where all the shops close up from 2-5 and most everyone goes home and takes a nap. I think I’m going to take a quick nap and then head out and explore more of the city. Tomorrow, we are moving into our homestay, which will be exciting and scary and then on Thursday our classes will start. See you guys later!

Sitting here two nights before heading out to Spain, I think it’s finally hit me that I am going to be gone for nearly 9 months except for the few days before I head out to India. For the most part, I’ve had a pretty relaxing Christmas break and maybe that’s why I didn’t really realize I was going anywhere until I had to start packing. Highlights from my break include going to Marlon’s house to chill with Sid and Amithab, problems getting my India visa in DC, studying Hindi, reading Da Vinci Code, trying to figure out housing for next fall, and getting to hang out with the family.

Family Picture Taken Over Break

I feel extremely fortunate to have these opportunities to go abroad and I know that they’ll impact me tremendously. In Sevilla, I will be studying abroad even though I’m not quite sure what classes I’m taking yet. I am hoping to improve my Spanish at least to the point where I am not too shy to speak and also I want to assimilate into the culture during the five months that I’m there. We are required to participate in a home stay so hopefully that will force me even more to speak Spanish. Also, we don’t have classes on Friday’s and not to mention the two week long breaks in April, so I’ll get a chance to travel a little bit.

On a completely different note, during the summer in India, I plan on doing some service work while visiting different states. I’ve known ever since I was a child that I wanted to be involved with health care and I hope to incorporate a global public health aspect to this. So hopefully this opportunity will open my eyes to different avenues for future decisions. Also, I took two semesters of Hindi my freshman year and I never got a chance to use any of it besides in the classroom and the occasional Hindi movies that I would try to watch. I will finally get a chance to try to use some of what I learned and improve upon it. Maybe one day I can watch these Hindi movies without focusing all of my attention on the subtitles.

Anyways, at times I kind of feel like I am just picking up my bags and leaving everything behind; my family, my friends, student organizations that I’m part of, etc. I guess time will fly and hopefully I won’t be too out of the loop when I get back for my senior year! I guess that is one of the reasons I signed up for Facebook and this blog so I can try to keep in touch with people. I’ll try to update every once in a while with pictures and for those of you who want, e-mail me your address at achen85@email.unc.edu and I’ll try to send you a postcard! Keep in touch and I’ll see everybody in the fall.

Me, Adi, Marlon, and Sid