Orientación y Más

I'm back for the second post. The past couple of days have been orientation and we have a couple more to go. Nonetheless, plenty has been happening. We've visited the University of Sevilla, and the University of Pablo de Olavide, both places where we could take classes. On Wednesday, we sat through a few presentations and basically just took the time to get to know each other and our guides a little better. We did learn that we get €250 for the "cultural reimbursement" program, which, if we present our receipts along with photos and a description of our experience, allows us to be reimbursed for visiting other Spanish cities or going to cultural events like football matches or theater performances, etc. Later that evening, we walked around our neighborhood (Puerta Osario) a little bit as well as going into the commercial district of Nervión, where lies Sevilla's train station. How convenient! We ended up in an establishment known as Los Coloniales in the Plaza of Christo de Burgos, where we enjoyed our first real tapas experience. The first time didn't count, because CIEE had rented out the place for the orientation/welcome session.

                                          The picture's really blurry, but this is solomillo Whisky, small pork chops in a whisky sauce with plenty of garlic and potatoes.

                                          Here we have a better picture of pollo al nata, which is chicken in an almond cream sauce (with potatoes; there's always potatoes).

On Thursday, we walked around the city, especially the historical center, getting to see the Giralda, which is the tower of the main cathedral in Sevilla. The area's pretty typical, with people trying to sell you stuff, others taking pictures, and plenty of horse-drawn carriages for tours. We also walked through la Judería, which I assume is a former Jewish neighborhood, where we saw several peacocks, and I discovered that my guides (Candído, or Candi, and Elisabet, or Eli) are big fans of the NBA. We got over to the CIEE building, or El Palacio, as it is also called, which is the study center of our program. It's through a lot of narrow, winding streets, so I'm still not entirely sure how to get there. I noted a few shops, so that I can at least tell if I'm going in the right direction. We also ended up at the Plaza de España, built in 1929 for a sort of Spanish World's Fair to display the greatness of Spain. It has wonderful architecture, as well as a small canal surrounding the central area with a large fountain. All around the base of the outer area are frescos of different Spanish cities; there had to be at least 40, all beautifully done.

This was the day when we went to la UPO, as it is known here. The Universidad Pablo de Olavide is only about 15 years old and resembles an American campus, in that everything is together, unlike the Universidad de Sevilla, which is spread out over the city. It's on the other side of the city, but not too far if you use the metro, which only has about 20 stops end to end.

 Later that evening, we spent about an hour in a Movistar (Spanish movíl or cellphone provider) shop, simply waiting to get SIM cards put in our phones. The guide (Pablo) informed us that this is very typical because there are so many ways that people pay for phones and set up contracts in Spain, so it takes a while to get things done. We scrambled to get to the tapas point, but arrived in plenty of time to enjoy more solomillo and patatas. We also got to try fried cuttlefish and either fried sardines or anchovies, I'm not sure. After that, we went to La Casa de la Memoria, which is a flamenco performance center. Although I could only get about 1 in 10 of the singer's words (due to him singing rather than speaking), I really enjoyed and was impressed by the play of the guitarrista and the two dancers (male and female). It's like tap dancing on steroids, with a lot of expressive whirling of the body and hands, as well as everyone else keeping time with their hands or feet. Definitely grateful I got to go.

On Friday we went to Universidad de Sevilla for more orientation stuff about how the Spanish University system works, as well as a tour of it. I'll probably be taking most of my classes here, in the Facultades (Departments) de Geografía e Historia. Fililogía is also housed here. Overall, I think I'm getting to know my areas of the city fairly well, with plenty left to explore. We start intensive classes on Monday, and university classes two weeks later. Orientation's over, and the real deal's about to begin.