1st Week of School Done

Well the first week of class is over here in Spain, and it was a good one I think.  I feel like my classes are pretty good and that I’m going to learn a lot.  I’m really excited about the internship that hopefully will start next week for everyone.  I am going to try to get a position at a tennis complex.  I really really hope it works out because I think it could be a fun job, and I could get to know some other people interested in tennis.  If it works out I’m not really sure what I’m going to be doing but…. Time will tell.

It is still SUPER hot here and the lack of A/C in the house is a problem.  It is hard to sleep well or enjoy yourself in the house much.  We always are sweating when we eat our meals so that really is a bad deal.  It has been over 100 for like the last 3 days, and it is supposed to be over 100 until at least Monday.  Our host mom is pretty nice usually, and she makes great food.  The only thing is that she has never had kids so I know that that affects things here.  I feel that some things are hard for a person that has never been a parent to understand when trying to act as a host parent.  I’m not sure how to explain it well, but I think you probably know what I mean.  And I can’t really think of a specific example so …. Well yeah you get the picture.

Today we were supposed to go to Italica, a place near Sevilla with Roman ruins I think.  We were supposed to leave at 9 from a bus stop across town, but of course my roommate and I over slept.  I’m really feeling like crap about it too.  It is something I wanted to attend, and I hate that I missed the first excursion.  It makes a really bad impression to the teachers, and I’m not sure what the consequences will be.  I don’t feel like that is something I would normally do by any means.  I’m, generally speaking, a responsible person I think.  I seem to always have problems getting up in the morning though even back home.  With the difficulty of falling asleep, sometimes the mornings are even worse for me. 

Isa our host mom is also not happy about us missing because she got up earlier than normal to make our breakfast of toast and coffee.  She also tried to wake me up because I told her yesterday that I have problems getting up in the morning when I have to wake up earlier than normal.  See normally my roommate and I don’t have class until 10am so we don’t have to wake up so early, but this morning we had planned to get up by 7:45.  Anyway Isa said she is never ever getting up early for that kind of thing again for us because we didn’t even get up for her.  I felt like that was a little harsh and maybe that’s what I was talking about that she has never had kids.  I know a parent would be upset but would be able to get over it without making statements like that.  Anyway enough about that, as you can tell I’m not happy about how this morning has progressed.

On a better note, I think my Spanish is improving.  I’m still having some serious problems with the differences in sound of Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish.  Some people I can almost understand completely and others I have no clue what they are talking about.  It is getting better though.  Our director told us that the South of Spain has a pretty distinct and heavy accent, so that makes me feel better.  He also said that once you are able to understand this Spanish, it will help tremendously to understand almost all the other dialects of Spanish from around the world because our ears will already be trained to pay very close attention.  I can understand all the teachers very, very well when they speak Spanish.  I would say I understand about 95-100% of what is said in class. 

Also, I rented a bike this a few days ago which has been much better than walking everywhere.  Sevilla has a public biking system where there are bike stations throughout the whole city and you can take and return a bike to any station.  So it is not so much that I rented a bike, it is more like I have the availability to get a bike whenever I need. 

As of right now, I’m only taking two classes every day.  Our schedules change in mid-October, and I think I’ll actually only be taking on class then but not sure yet.  The two classes I’m taking are called “Basic Conversation” and “Advanced Grammar”.  I really like both my teachers for those classes.  They are nice, fluent, enjoy their jobs, and very helpful.  And honestly, I enjoy the classes most of the time.  I, however, am mainly looking forward to making some native friends here.  I think my best opportunity for that might be the tennis place where I hope to work.  Some Spanish friends here would awesome and would help my Spanish by leaps and bounds.  

Isa has two nieces that go to the University of Sevilla that are going to be coming to stay here during the weeks starting sometime in September as I understand.  They apparently have done it for their duration while attending the university.  I hope they are nice people and are glad to have Americans in the house.  If they are nice, they could really help to make this trip great.  Maybe they can help us meet people and show us around.  Plus, it would give this house a little more excitement.  Right now there is no internet and only one TV which is in the living room which also happens to be Isa’s bedroom.  So when we are at the house there isn’t much going on.  Its sitting in the room, eating, doing homework, or sitting on the couch with Isa watching TV.  

Ok this one is long because, well, I’m sitting in my room waiting until it is time to eat.  After we eat I plan on taking a siesta then go to an internet café…. Exciting day.  Anyway, I’m about to save this in Word so I can upload it later haha.