Anyway, today was our first full day in Sevilla, and I have some things to report.
HOT. BUGS. SMELLY.
The city has a yellow glow, and I'm pretty sure the sun is brighter here. I have four bug bites that I didn't have yesterday, and I smell just as bad as the city. But, I see that this city is actually livable. Toledo was a magical paradise, but I don't know how anyone lives in it. (Quite happily, I imagine, but you get my point) Madrid scared the bajeezes out of me.
Here is a picture of Sevilla from the district I'm living in.
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| See? The city is YELLOW. |
Anyway, I got up at 7:00 so I'd have time to get ready for my busy, busy day. Ísabel had prepared breakfast (cereal and a muffin) for us, so we ate another meal in awkward silence before following her to the meeting place. Aaaaaaalll the way across the river (I crossed that river four times today, so don't get huffy. Plus, the river is wide and there is no shade on a bridge).
We passed the street trolly and walked the entire length of the cathedral to get to Plaza Nueva, where we met with our guide Maria again. We hadn't seen her since the train yesterday, so I was actually pleased.
Then we sweated through the tourist district of Sevilla. I should note: there are carriage tours everywhere. More common even than in Charleston. As a result, the entire city smells alternatively of sewage or horse poo. It is not pleasant, especially with the heat.
After walking past the Universidad de Sevilla, which is not the school I am attending but one in Sevilla nonetheless, we turned into a park. Did I mention the nice parks in Spain? This one is very nice.
And, as a bonus, it has part of the set for the second of the bad Star Wars movie in it. It's called Plaza de Españal. Here is it in the movie:
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| This is a real place. It is gorgeous. |
Recognise it? We had to walk past it three times. It was hot. It was AMAZINGLY pretty, though, so that is the most pleasurable part of the hour-long hike to the school.
We kept going, and then Maria got us all distracted about something conversational and we didn't pay attention to where we were going. Eventually, we ended up at the school.
This is the outside. So pretty, right? I like the Toledo architecture more than the Sevillian, but this place has some real gems.
We took a quick tour around the school, and two of our group (who smartly requested to be led here last night, so they knew the route already) took us back. The long, scenic route, but it wasn't blazingly hot yet so it was ok.
We took a quick break at a cute café, I had a nutella crepe and some tea, and we headed back. Now, my two roommates and I live a good ten minutes farther than the rest of the group. So we slogged back to the house where we took a quick break and had lunch.
Then, it was time to go back to the school. All of our classes are at 4:00, so we are going to school in the heat of the day. It was 100 F, direct sun, and buggy. We found our way to the right bridge and crossed it. We got through half of the park to Plaza de España, where we were sweating like pigs and had no idea where to go from there. We were lost, my map was totally useless, and none of us knew who to call to help us.
We wandered around the area for fifteen minutes before we realized we were going the wrong way.
To make a long story short, we got to the school only three minutes late and we beat everyone else. We gulped down water like we were dying, and took our placement test.
I don't know how well I did, but I like one of our two teachers quite a lot. The random German kid from Frankfurt was going to do his whole speaking part of the placement test in German, but he chickened out and decided not to. Pity, that would have been funny.
We did a quick lesson with the teacher, where she cleverly introduced some more obscure grammar rules (y-e and o-u, o vs. ni, ect. If you're a spanish student, that should make sense). Then we had paella as a welcome dinner. The rice in paella is delicious, but I'm not a fan of shrimp so that was less than fantastic. Only then did the wind actually start. Sigh.
We found our way home somehow. Here I am now, about to go to bed. ¡Buenos noche!
We took a quick tour around the school, and two of our group (who smartly requested to be led here last night, so they knew the route already) took us back. The long, scenic route, but it wasn't blazingly hot yet so it was ok.
We took a quick break at a cute café, I had a nutella crepe and some tea, and we headed back. Now, my two roommates and I live a good ten minutes farther than the rest of the group. So we slogged back to the house where we took a quick break and had lunch.
Then, it was time to go back to the school. All of our classes are at 4:00, so we are going to school in the heat of the day. It was 100 F, direct sun, and buggy. We found our way to the right bridge and crossed it. We got through half of the park to Plaza de España, where we were sweating like pigs and had no idea where to go from there. We were lost, my map was totally useless, and none of us knew who to call to help us.
We wandered around the area for fifteen minutes before we realized we were going the wrong way.
To make a long story short, we got to the school only three minutes late and we beat everyone else. We gulped down water like we were dying, and took our placement test.
I don't know how well I did, but I like one of our two teachers quite a lot. The random German kid from Frankfurt was going to do his whole speaking part of the placement test in German, but he chickened out and decided not to. Pity, that would have been funny.
We did a quick lesson with the teacher, where she cleverly introduced some more obscure grammar rules (y-e and o-u, o vs. ni, ect. If you're a spanish student, that should make sense). Then we had paella as a welcome dinner. The rice in paella is delicious, but I'm not a fan of shrimp so that was less than fantastic. Only then did the wind actually start. Sigh.
We found our way home somehow. Here I am now, about to go to bed. ¡Buenos noche!
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