Sevilla es una maravilla!

Hello everyone!

Well, I've been in Seville for almost a week, and I'm really enjoying myself. I feel like I'm stepping back in time when I walked down the tiny, winding streets, passing the ancient cathedrals and horse and carriages. It truely is a magical place.

As I've been getting to know my surroundings, I have met some really great people along the way. This past week I've met German, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, French, Brazilian, Mexican, Chilean people.......oh, the list goes on and on! Everyone has been so friendly to me, and it makes me feel very at home. I think this is going to be a great year. Actually, I KNOW it will.

One person that I've met that I'm particularly fond of is a Brazilian girl named Ana. Marco, my roommate, suggested that we go shopping together one day since we are both new to the city. I ended up having the time of my life with her- we talked and laughed for hours and since then we've gone out for tapas (little snacks.....more on that tradition later) and gone out to see a flamenco show. i'm sure we will be quite good friends here.

I went to a flamenco bar last night called "La Carboneria" with my roommates and Ana. It is quite a legendary bar here in Seville- every night they have free flamenco shows. Wow, it was amazing. There is so much passion that goes in to the dance, song and guitar playing of the art form of flamenco. It moved me so much, in fact, that I think I might just take some flamenco classes myself!!

My roommate Kaya studies flamenco, so everyday he plays the guitar, and now his friend from Israel is here the also studies flamenco, and they are having a jam session right now as I am writing this. It's pretty sweet- I'm so lucky to be living with such cool, interesting people.

I start my job as a teaching assistant at the high school on Wednesday, and I gotta tell you, I'm quite nervous. I met up with a professor who works at my school, and he basically said that all the kids are cabrones (little brats) and that I can't smile or else they'll eat me alive. Well, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the most serious of persons, so needless to say he scared me a bit. But we'll see- hopefully it won't be as bad as he made it out to be.

I go to Granada, a beautiful Moorish city, on Monday and Tuesday for orientation. The Spanish Ministry of Education is putting us up in a super nice hotel, so I'm quite excited about that. It will also be nice to meet some people who are in the same boat as me. Well, it's about 3pm, and its time for me to eat lunch. Yes, that's right. In Spain, you eat lunch quite late, at about 2 or 3pm, and dinner? Usually right around 10pm. Yes, it's been an adjustment, but I'm embracing the cultural differences.

I leave you now with a few pictures- some pics that I took of the city yesterday when it was cloudy out, a picture of the flamenco performance last night, a photo of me and my roommate Kaya, and just for fun, a picture of my adorable parents that I took a week ago, just before I hopped on a plane to Spain.

Besos,

Aubree

i'm in sevilla, baby!

what up friends and family!

well, i've finally arrived in seville. i flew into madrid and took the AVE (high-speed train) to seville. It took about 2.5 hours and it was a beautiful ride. the countryside was pure olive groves, as far as the eye could see. and all of the towns were white stucco houses. it was beautiful!

then i took a cab from the train station to the hostel i had reserved for the night. little did i know that i got the most horrible of cab drivers that exist. i gave him the address of the hostel, written down on paper, and he drove around forever claiming that he couldn't find it. he kept on saying to me "don't give me the address of a place that doesn't exist". Needless to say i got very frustrated. Finally he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and basically said "well, if you don't have a destination, then i'm going to drop you off here [in the middle of nowhere]. Then he had the nerve to charge me 30 euros for a cab fare that i knew cost only 5 euros. when i began to protest, he refused to get my bags out of the truck unless i paid him. so i paid him, as i yelled at him in the street in the most rapid-fire spanish, and he sped away. jerk.

so there i was, in the middle of a town that i don't know, in the middle of the day when everything is closed for siesta, 100+ degrees, and i have 4 bags. well, i kinda freaked out....and decided to go to the nearest hotel i could find, which was out of my price range, but what could i do?????

today, however, has been a much better day. everyone i have encountered has been extremely friendly. everyone from the hotel clerk to an old lady on the street has engaged me in conversation, asking me where i'm from, what i'm doing here, am i going to find a nice sevillian man and stay here forever?, etc.

i moved into my apartment today. wow, it is so kickass. it is in the center of town. i have to go through a patio with lush gardens and a fountain to get to my apartment. we live on the 4th floor of the building, and there is a balcony that overlooks the patio. so gorgeous!

i have 3 roommates- Marco, a really good-looking brazilian dude who is studying law, Kaya, a german lad(also very good looking) who studies flamenco guitar, and Funny (yes, you read right), a French chick who is an Erasmus student. they seem super cool- i'm looking forward to living with them this year.

so first impressions of seville-

1. it is SOOOOOOOOOO hot. i'm not joking. it is seriously almost hard to function. i can't go outside and walk around without being completely covered in sweat. yet i see tons of sevillians out and about with sweaters on!!!!!

2. it is very, very easy to get lost here. the roads are unmarked, narrow and winding. luckily i have no qualms about asking for directions, and a few times people not only told me where to go, they walked with me!

3. the men are very.....vocal. i was sitting at a park bench at 8 a.m. this morning, looking at a map, when a car full of guys actually hung out of their windows to catcall me. 8 a.m.! isn't that a little early for seduction? and from my bedroom window there are a few construction workers who keep on peering across the way into my window to yell at me. it's pretty funny though.

4. everything is so....white. and old. and beautiful. and the palm trees, my god, the palm trees! this ain't iowa, that's for sure!!!

5. i have studied spanish for a long time, and feel quite confident in my speaking skills, but it is very hard for me to understand sevillians. they talk super fast and swallow the ends of their words. it has left me a little confused, but give me 2 weeks and i'll be okay.

6. mullets galore. i saw this 3 years ago when i was in san sebastian, but the trend is still thriving!

anyway, that's it for tonight. i'm gonna go chat with my roommates for awhile. anyway i really miss you all. drop me a note, tell me how you are doing!! and if you have any questions, please let me know, and i will address them next time.

i leave you now with a few pics- the first is my view from the rooftop of my apartment, where i hang my clothes to dry. the second, a picture of my street (sorry it's sideways). the third is my room. the 4th, a view of the patio from my balcony. the fifth, a picture of me staring at that shirtless construction worker out of my window. ha!

love lots,

aubree

I'm going to Spain in 10 days!

Hey everyone!

I'm sure that most of you know by now that I am venturing off to the south of Spain for a year of teaching English. I have been given the opportunity to be a Language and Culture Assistant at a secondary school in Brenes, a town 20 km outside of Seville. But being that there is regular (and fast) train service to Brenes, I will be living in the city of Seville. Hooray!!

Those who know me know that I had the opportunity to study abroad in San Sebastian (a northern beach town in the Basque Country) a few years back. I had the time of my life and have since been very excited about returning, so this is gonna be like Spain "revisited" for me. Although I have never been to the south of Spain, so I'm sure my experience is going to be very different this time around. I kinda feel like I know the city already though, since I advised for Spain at the University of Iowa this past year and a half and talked about Seville a LOT. :)

For those of you who aren't familiar with the city of Seville- it is one of the best-loved cities in all of Spain, and most would say it is the "quintessential" Spanish city. It's known for flamenco, bullfighting, tapas, Moorish architecture, amazing gardens, tangling cobblestone alleyways, a great nightlife and very hot days! I've posted a few pictures of the city so you can get an idea of where I'm going to be calling "home" for the next 9 months. It looks pretty sweet to me!

So yeah, I will be using this blog for the next year as a way to update you all on what is happening in my life in Seville. I also hope that it will be a way for me to give you all some insight on Spanish (and more specifically, Andalucian) culture. Please don't forgot to keep me updated on what you all are doing- I want to stay connected to you all so drop me an email sometime (aubreedenise@gmail.com).