What a difference a few weeks can make! I have had a wild past month from finishing work in London, exploring Amsterdam and Paris both for the second time over a 10 day trip, getting back and sadly saying bye to family in London and flying into Madrid to start my life in Spain.
As living (and in this case studying) abroad for a year has been something I've wanted to do forever and will hopefully continue to do, I've already gotten upset with myself multiple times over how I haven't become fluent in Spanish yet, traveled around Spain or Europe enough, or fully appreciated/explored my lovely surroundings that many people would give anything to be in. Then I take a breath and realize I've only been in Spain for nearly two weeks and Sevilla just over a week and it hits me how much I've done and seen, how many great people I've met (who I already feel like I've known for years), and how much time I fortunately have to live in this setting.
Although getting to Spain seems an eternity ago, I still vividly remember my first couple days living with my Spanish host family. From the moment I got picked up from a bus stop in the center of Sevilla by my señora, we euro-kissed (two on the cheek...same as London) and she cheerily started bombarding me with words in her thick Sevillan accent. I couldn't tell if my years of learning Spanish had immediately failed with my "mom" for the next year or if I was just tired, but either way I found myself just smiling and nodding (throwing in the occasional 'si' or 'bueno') for the next couple days....Luckily I had Steve, my fellow American/house-mate for the next year, bail me out then as his Spanish is more advanced but 'twas not my ideal start to the life I'd been planning for years.
Following the arrival, I've certainly come a long way and have become way more comfortable around Marilo (the name she told us to call her) and two of her aged mid-twenty sons that live here also, Carlos and Salvador. Its definitely challenging to come up with new ways to answer a daily "Que pasa?" multiple times or to describe a meal without saying "bueno" or "delicioso" every time but the family and I have recognized that my Spanish is better than their English (only Salvador knows a few english words), once you get out of your comfort zone and talk to locals nothing can stop you from learning more, and I've got a solid enough language base to build upon each day I spend in this beautiful country.
One of the draws to studying in Sevilla for me, besides the homestay, was the three meals per day I'd receive from my future señora, as food is a major part of any culture and my life. I think Marilo's had enough experience cooking, raising five boys and one girl and hosting international students the last few years, as I haven't had a bad meal yet...I actually just had dinner and told her 'No he tenido una mala comida en su casa' and whether that made sense to her or not, she smiled and thanked me while I walked off proudly, happy to have held my own in a legit spanish conversation for more than 30 seconds.
A usual day food-wise will consist of her laying out a nice breakfast spread for Steve and I while I watch my morning news or some kiddie toons (cus I can understand them woohoo!), then I'll come back from classes and eat a solid lunch (I'll hold back descriptions for the both of us) in the mid-afternoon usually with the sports channel on, and cap it off with a nice dinner around 9:30 with some Spanish Family Guy (very entertaining), Simpsons, etc...
By the time I return to my room, my brain is buzzing with all the new stuff I learned on the day and it definitely feels weird logging into my email or facebook (in this case blogging) and seeing what the English-speaking world is up to while I'm still thinking in Spanish....and even weirder not waking up early saturdays for a fun-filled day of college football and not remembering most of saturday when 'coming to' on sunday...Sure when here in Sevilla you can get an 88 cent bottle of solid Spanish wine at the local supermarket, one of the better investments of my alcohol-buying career btw, it's easy to think about binging American style but once you get used to roaming the old, charming, narrow streets or strolling along the gorgeous riverbanks with good people and good conversation, it just feels right to take it slow and make every bit last...and thats certainly just as nice to me.
The one sarcastically bad thing about Spain is that it's held me back from uploading photos from the past month to the internet but once I overcome this laziness, there will be hundreds of pics from London, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, and Cadiz, as obviously the world is waiting. While I can't wait to continue adding to those pics from my many upcoming weekend excursions (Next Stop: Tarifa on Thursday), I'm just happy and thankful to be settled into my new life in Sevilla and although it may not be the most smooth year ahead, I am excited to keep learning about my capabilities and tackling the Spanish world day by day.
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