Day 2

The schedule for day 2 included an exhaustive orientation session, tour of Sevilla, and a scavenger hunt for important places around the city. The highlight of the morning was when I received information about my homestay. Tomorrow morning I will move in with Dolores Alves Fargallo, her husband Antonio, and their son Santiago, who is 25 years old. They also have a dog; name unknown. I’m hoping that having Santiago in the house (which is normal in Spain) will give me a person to show me around and help me meet Spaniards, which is an intimidating task at the moment. The name of my barrio is Triana, and I live on the very farthest west side of Sevilla. Although this means a 25 minute walk to school everyday, I think this will probably end up being one of my favorite parts of the day…There’s a little bit of a difference between walking past 500 year old buildings lined with orange trees and walking down college and by Ellis library to get to the Arts and Sciences Building. (Disclaimer: I know there will be many times this semester where I’m sick of Spain and Europe and deeply want the simplicity of Mizzou)

The tour of the city finally revealed to me those streets lined with orange trees and ornate buildings and places like Plaza de Espana, Gran Catedral de Sevilla, y La Iglesia de Santa Cruz. The narrow alley ways hold restaurant and café one after another, so that I could get a coffee every morning I’m here and never enter half of the cafes in Sevilla. Brightly colored buildings grow on each side of the alleyways with many balconies across from one another, only divided by a clothesline here and there. The only problem with all of these scenes is that I quickly realized that the digital camera I won at my senior all night party will not be anywhere near sufficient to capture them. I found two guitar shops that couldn’t have been more appealing, each begging me to come inside and marvel at guitars hanging above detailed descriptions that I won’t understand. It won’t be long before I buy one.

It’s hard to really describe the city so I’m looking forward to putting up some pictures sometime soon, and hopefully I will have a steady stream of internet from tomorrow on.

Tonight we went to a flamenco concert which includes guitar, singing, and dancing, and it was one of the craziest performances I’ve ever seen. The guitarrista was the most incredible player, his fingers moving faster than I thought was possible. And the dancing was amazing as well. Had I not been starving, I could have watched the performance for hours on end. Afterwards my orientation group partook in tapas, which is the popular dinner in Sevilla where 2 or 3 dishes are ordered and shared amongst the group. A little sangria helped everyone finally warm up to each other and the night was a lot of fun.

This is my first time blogging and I know so far I may have been a little too detailed. From now on I’m going to stick to the highlights and my own thoughts, and leave out a lot of the pure description. I hope all is well at home and I love you all.

P.S.-today at 11:23, I saw my first real European. Mustache, ponytail, capris…I was very relieved.