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Published: January 12th 2012
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Hostal Nuevo Suiza
The view from the second floor of our hostel. January 12, 2012
I arrived in Seville, Spain on the morning of January 10. Previously, I had spent about 2 weeks in Finland where I visited friends. Finnish winters are even colder than Wisconsin winters, so I was pleasantly surprised to and very excited to travel from the frozen tundra which is Finland to the much warmer climate of Seville. The average high in January is 60 degrees F during the day, and gets down to about freezing during the nights. The first things I saw when I stepped out of the airport were palm trees. It’s safe to say I was mildly excited about that.
My first night in Seville I planned to stay with other American students in a local hostel in order to get to know some people before the program officially started. The hostel we made our reservation in, the Hostal Nuevo Suiza, provided a free shuttle service which was supposed to pick us up from the airport and take us to the hostel. The shuttle driver arrived at the scheduled time. However, as we were waiting for other students to arrive at the airport and go to the hostel, the police suddenly came up
Terrace
The terrace on the roof of our hostel. to the shuttle driver and took him away. He came back after about 20 minutes and told me in Spanish that I would have to take a taxi to the hostel. This was my very first experience in Seville.
Three other American girls arrived about 20 minutes later. I explained that the shuttle driver was in some sort of trouble and that we would have to take a taxi. Because we had so much luggage we could only fit 2 of us in one taxi. The cost to get from the airport to the hostel was 30 euros. This was supposed to be free. Luckily, they did reimburse us 20 euros, so the ride was actually only 5 euros each, but still.
The first night in Seville was fun. There were about 10 of us from the same program and it was nice to start to get to know people. It was one of the girls’21
st birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate. We ate outside and I tried tapas for the first time. I’m still not sure what I ate. There was one dish that looked a lot like dog poop. I’m told that it
Spanish Food
The food that looked like dog poop. was delicious, but I was too afraid to try it. Other than that, I believe we ate a lot of seafood and different breads. It was very good, and tapas are generally cheap, I think mine was only about 8 euros.
The hostel was a cute little place with a lot of character. On the roof there was a terrace, so we spent a few hours up there after dinner just talking and getting to know each other. We tried to find alcohol, but to no avail. We didn’t know where the liquor store was and any other stores that sell alcohol were closed by that time.
Yesterday, we checked out of the hostel at noon and made our way to the school, which was only about a minute walk from the hostel. Once at the school, we received a packet which told us the address where we will be living for the duration of the semester. We were instructed to take a taxi to our house. I got into a taxi only to be told that the location was very close but that he couldn’t take me there because he was not able to take a car
Palm Trees
I don't think I'll get sick of the palm trees and warm weather! onto that road. Seville is a medieval city full of narrow winding streets, many of which are not even marked on maps because cars are unable to drive on them. My house is on one such seat, so I spent the next 2 hours walking around, trying to find the stupid road. Finally, I found 2 Sevillian boys who knew the street and literally walked me there. I happily thanked them on knocked on the door only to have no one answer it. Discouraged, I decided to walk back to the school and have them help me.
Once back at the school, the director called the husband of the Senora and he came and took me back to the house. He gave me a set of keys and showed me in. It turns out that my roommate and I live in something like a hostel. It’s a 4 story house in which 16 Spanish college students live. I was very surprised by this as I was told that I would be living with an old Spanish woman (a Senora) who would may or may not have a husband and kids.
Even more shocking than realizing I would be
Room
The room Jenny and I share. That's her sleeping on her couch. :) living with all these Spaniards was finding that a roommate and I would be living on the roof. When I say roof, I mean roof. An elevator takes us literally up the roof of the building. We then have to walk across the roof (which is a glass ceiling by the way) and then unlock our little apartment thing, which is sticking out of the roof.
Luckily, a friend from high school and I are both doing this study abroad program, and our request to live together was granted, so she arrived a few hours after I did. We share a room, and her bed is actually the couch, which pulls out into something that is bedlike. We also have another bedroom which we are not allowed to sleep in and a small bathroom. I do like the room, and the senora is very friendly and speaks some English to us and helps us with our Spanish, but it is quite simply not what we were expecting. No one else in the program lives with more than 1 or 2 Spanish students, and those are always children of the Senora. I think it will be interesting living here, to
Our Entrance
The roof of our building and how we get into our room. The glass thing sticking out is the elevator we have to take to get to our room. say the least. I will try to put up pictures of these things that I am describing.
Today, we had a pre-orientation meeting at the school. Afterwards, we went shopping in Seville. Oh, my house is smack dab in the middle of downtown Seville, and everyone says we may have the best housing location. We are a 3 minute was from the school, in the middle of the shopping district, and near all the bars and plazas, etc.
After we went shopping we came home for la Coma, which is served promptly at 2:00 pm every day. La Coma is the biggest meal of the day in Spain, so we had a big meal of pasta with sauce, bread and salad. To drink, only agua.
As I am typing this, it is siesta time in Spain. I’m not used to siestas so I’m not taking one today, but I’m sure I’ll get adjusted and start taking them soon. It’s funny, there’s really nothing else to do during this time. All the shop owners close their doors from about 2-4:30 and go home to have lunch with their families and nap. The Seville shopping district becomes a ghost town in the middle of the day, it’s very strange to my American eyes.
Well, I suppose this is enough writing for one day. I’ll try to write in here at least a few times a week and discuss things that happen to me, differences between here and America, the people I meet, etc. I hope you enjoy.
Ta Ta for now!
-Katie
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