Welcome back to my blog! I know there has been some confusion with my blog posts that I made while I was in Wisconsin, but I am for sure in Spain now! I arrived on January 27 and my life has been a roller coaster of emotions since.
On January 26, I flew out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport because that was closest to my home and was cheaper than flying out of O'Hare in Chicago (I don't know how, but whatever). From there I went to O'Hare, to Madrid, and finally to Sevilla. It was really sad to say goodbye to my parents, but I knew it would only be a short while until I was home again. My brother Richie reminded me of that the night before I left by saying "it's only college." I think that was his way of saying goodbye?
At O'Hare I met Antonia: a student my age from UW-LaCrosse that is studying Spanish in the same program as me. In fact, she is Kelley's roommate in her homestay! It was super convenient that she was on the same flights as Kelley, Taylor and I from Chicago to Sevilla because we got to become friends with her before arrival.
The flights were not bad; I only got motion sick once, the food was alright, I talked to a lot of interesting people, and time passed quickly. I also had an amazing neck pillow with a hood for comfort. My longest flight was with Iberia airlines and I was astonished by the size of the plane. It had multiple cabins, each with rows of eight and a bathroom. However, the most surprising part was the amount of passengers on the plane--there were barely any! I asked one of the flight attendants where all the passengers were and she told me that was it and that I could sit wherever I want. Naturally, I chose a window seat and had two whole seats to myself with my friends doing the same nearby. We spent a little over eight hours on that plane. Unfortunately, I did not fall asleep until breakfast was served about 45 minutes before landing in Madrid. I felt alright, though, so I kept pushing on throughout the day. I chatted with some other girls studying in other cities in Spain, and I exchanged my money for some euros.
Once I landed in Sevilla, I went to the baggage claim with Taylor, Kelley, and Antonia. I was extremely nervous because I knew NOTHING besides the fact that I would be living with Taylor. I did not know what my host family would be like, if school started right away or not, how I would get to my family, and I didn't even know how I would get out of the airport. We had previously went through customs in Madrid, so we did not have to do anything but send our luggage through an x-ray machine. After passing through the baggage claim exit, we were greeted by Samantha and Stuart from the Spanish-American Institute of International Education (our program, known as SAIIE for short). They gave us our information packets with our class schedules, the schedule for the first week of orientation, and a bio about our hosts. Then, they told our families we were on our way and hailed us each a cab. There's that metaphor out there about baby birds being throw out of the nest to learn how to fly, but we were not thrown. Instead, we were drop-kicked out of the nest, blindfolded, and landed in a fiery pit in which we were expected to fly out of. I make this reference because my (previous) study abroad advisor did not prepare me for any of this. She left her position as the semester ended before sharing the most important information. The taxi driver was very nice and talked to us about Sevilla and Wisconsin. I paid him the cab fee and then a few because I didn't have enough euros to make change, so I had absolutely no money. He took me and Taylor to our address, which is an apartment, and dropped us off outside the huge building. I felt absolutely horrible standing there with all my luggage, looking like nothing but a clueless American.
We entered the bloque (apartment complex) and were greeted by a friend of our host mom who made me feel even more horrible. He asked if we were Taylor and Kelley, but I said that Kelley was placed with another family and that I am Micaela. He then proceeded to say that I was not supposed to be there and that Kelley was supposed to be instead of me, but the elevator upstairs cut off that conversation. While he took the stairs and we shoved our stuff into the elevator, I began to cry a little. But we only went up one floor so I quickly bottled up my frustration and fear and confusion and then stepped out and followed him to our apartment. The friend of our host showed us our room which contained two matching twin beds, one dresser, a wardrobe and a bedside table to share. He called our host and handed the phone to me and she said that she would be there soon. When our señora (the host) walked into the apartment, she came to us. I was confused and tired so I did not make a move towards her because I had no reason to trust if it actually was her. So instead, I just stood there as she gave me a kiss on each cheek. I had forgotten about this custom among all the chaos, but she said "in Spain we give kisses" to remind me.
Thankfully, Taylor and I had alone time to unpack our things and get settled. We ate a lunch of chicken and potatoes, and I had an immense emotional breakdown soon after. I felt much better after my meltdown, so we navigated our way to the school with a map to meet up with the program coordinators and the rest of the students. Our very American group went on a walking tour, but I spent most of the time talking to the students from the other school, which made me feel a lot better. We all were having a sucky time adjusting, and felt a lot of frustration. That night we had dinner and I went to bed thinking that there was no possible way I could do this.
I woke up after almost 10 hours of sleep on January 28 severely jet-lagged. My señora had to work but her mom came over to help us get to the school for orientation. We walked through the hustle and bustle of Sevilla and chatted with her. However, I mostly listened because I felt brain dead and could barely say a sentence in Spanish. Soon after saying gracias and adios, I was happy to see the other students and meet more SAIIE staff at orientation. We spent a few hours there, but were done by 12:30pm.
I wanted to just go back and sleep, but my friends invited me along to walk around and find a place to purchase a sim card. I went with them, despite my exhaustion. Antonia and I ended up finding a cute, cheap coffee place and took the time to sit down and chat while Kelley and Taylor looked for a phone store called Orange. We both ordered cappuccinos, and I swear that was the best one I have had in my life. Who knew cinnamon in coffee could be so good!
About an hour later, Antionia and I saw Kelley and Taylor walking towards us looking completely exasperated. They never found an Orange so they still did not have phone service, which really stunk. Although that was an incomplete mission, I still got to enjoy some coffee which made me feel like myself again. We all sat down to talk until about 2pm, which is when we needed to leave to make it back to our houses for lunch. The only problem was that we were slightly lost. Thankfully Taylor had her map to save the day! We said adios to our friends and navigated our way back to the apartment.
That evening, around 5:30pm, the whole group of students went out for a "merienda", which means a snack. We eat dinner very late in Spain, around 9-10pm, so that was a much needed thing if I was planning to survive until dinner. I was pumped to try even more food, as I had already tried some great things my señora made. We went to a restaurant for chocolate con churros. I did not expect such a big portion, but I still ate the whole plate.
The churros were much better than the ones I have eaten in the US. They are lighter, less greasy, and are a perfect combo with the chocolate!
I have left out many details and a lot of funny stories, but you are finally caught up until today. This morning went the easiest; Taylor and I had a light breakfast and then went to more orientation classes. After the class, we went on a bus tour around Sevilla with the whole group. Unfortunately, I didn't hear most of the information about the stops, but that is because I was talking to the students with us that are from other universities! In my mind, it was worth it.
There are three boys and 14 girls (I believe) studying in my program. The surprising thing is, there are only four of us from Platteville. All the rest of the students had to go through their education abroad offices and ours to get here, which I assume was very repetitive. The tour was great and the sun finally came out!
Taylor and I went back to our host for a lunch of salad and pesto gnocci (which was amazing). After lunch, we used our siesta time to work on our blogs. The coordinators of SAIIE planned an outing around 7pm to go watch flamenco dancing. Before this though, a group of girls and I went and shopped around Seville. We walked to la Casa de la Guitarra for the show with the rest of the group. My first experience with flamenco was alright, although I did not really care for it. We were at a very small venue and the clapping/stomping was extremely loud. However, I am glad I went because I spent more time with my classmates and it was an immersive cultural experience.
The first day I was here I thought that this was the worst decision I had ever made. As time has passed, I have started to acclimate and I feel much, much better. In such little time I have made so many memories and I have learned about a million new things.
Many people are asking me about what Spain is like, and honestly, there is way too much to tell in a short amount of time. However, I will be writing about the comparisons between life here and life in the US very soon!
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gracias por leyendo,
Micaela