Vale

Friday was the thirteenth (!!!scary!!!), but we kick started the day right by eating breakfast and touring the Cathedral in Seville. As a group, we walked to the Cathedral in a very touristy fashion complete with an audio guide and headphones. La Catedral is the oldest religious, Gothic structure in the world. It was once a mosque, but after the Christians reconquered Seville, they converted it into something they could use. Next to the Cathedral is the archbishop's palace which is also beautiful in a more modest way. Once inside the Cathedral, we stayed in the courtyard for a little bit. The courtyard is full of orange trees, and it has an irrigation system built into the ground that the Islamic people had made back when it was a mosque. The monks would wash their hands in the water before they went to their praying times. After the courtyard, we went into the cathedral which held multiple chapels, a few organs, the remains of Christopher Columbus and his son, and many fantastic religious paintings. We walked through all of that before going up many flights of ramps to the bell tower called Giralda. At the top of Giralda, there are many large bells and a working wind vane that looks like a woman holding a cross and a palm branch (I think). To see pictures of the Cathedral, peep my Facebook page.

We had lunch after that, and if I'm going to be completely honest, I am already *kind of* sick of the food. I love food too. This is an issue. I am trying very hard to maintain an open mind though, but it's getting a little hard. I am sort of waiting for the culture shock to set in. Every time someone asks me how Spain is going, I say, "So far so good" because I don't want to go on and on about how great it is when at some point it might not be anymore. That may be pessimistic to say, but those are my thoughts right now. Culture shock is also a reality that I know will happen eventually.

We did more orientation activities that night where my friend Sarah Riggs and I were laughing and crying so hard over the word "vale" and the fact that they don't use fans. Vale is easily the most used word here, and it means "okay" or "good." It's a lot like bien. Also, they are all about energy conservation here, and that's why there are no fans. We also are limited on how long we can shower/use water. This is when we were told the dos and don'ts in our host family house, and we found out housing arrangements. My roommate in Seville is someone I know which made me really happy. At this time. I also found out my host parents' name. This added to the excitement because all I have wanted was a good host family that I could be close to.

That night, all of us Tech students went to this little bar here that all of the Tech students have been going to for years. It's a tradition to go and sign this big wooden fork with your name in addition to the semester you studied. The bar owner has kept it for a long time because he loves when the Tech students come to Seville each semester. The next day, we were up and ready early to be picked up by our host family! All of us sat in anxious excitement as we waited for our new mamá to pick us up. Mine got me about 40 minutes after pick-up time started, and I was off again to my next place.

Here were my expectations: A house with a quaint yard, little steps that led up to the door, and maybe a gate on the fence. That is not what my housing situation is at all. I didn't realize that Seville doesn't really have houses unless you're on the outside where some suburbs are. They had to build up with population growth, so I am in an apartment. It is completely different from what I am used to, not better or worse. It's going to take some adjusting, but it's vale. My roommate and I share a room and closet as well. The table we eat at is in the living room with a space heater under the cloth, so when you sit down, you pick up the table cloth and sit it in your lap. This is the ONLY part of the house with heat. To say that I am freezing is an understate (I am being a little dramatic here). But it is very cold in the apartment because there is no insulation in the walls or floors which are thin. Again, it's different than what I am used to or expected, but part of my experience is living their lifestyle. So, I'm trying.

I bet at this point you're wondering "What about your host parents? What're they like??" Well, my host mom and dad are older and retired. My host mom doesn't talk very much and seems sort of somber. I don't really know how to describe it. She is always really serious or in thought maybe. The closest I got to her showing some emotion is when she put out her hand for me to feel how cold it was (my hands are always warm, so I held hers for a second to warm them), and I told her that my mom always says. "Cold hands, warm heart" which made her smile. My host dad used to work with phones and talks nonstop. He seems very nice and open. I also have a host sister named Christina who is only 4 years older than me. She thought I was year older than her until I told her I was actually just 20 which shocked her, and we had a good laugh about that for a second. My host family, roommate, and I have been talking in Spanish this whole time too. It's a little hard because the accent here is so different. I feel like I keep missing words too which stresses me out a little bit. It was hard to tell my host mom is Spanish that I have a texture aversion to certain foods as well. I am sure she has never heard of anything like that before ever. She also keeps asking why I don't eat a lot, and it's because they serve us SO MUCH food that I actually can't eat it all. For lunch, we had a plate stacked high with pasta and yogurt. Dinner was yogurt, mashed potatoes, and pizza. The pasta was really good. She gives me yogurt since I can't eat fruit. I was excited for the mashed potatoes until I took one bite and remembered they don't use butter here. Mashed taters are one of my favorites, so I was a little disappointed. I've never been a pizza person either, so I didn't eat much of that.

Going back a little bit, my host family called me very tall right off the back. I am about a head taller than my host dad if that tells you anything. The shower head at its tallest is right below my chin. Being the tall, German girl that I am, I took one look at that and knew it was going to be a long semester. When I take a shower, I just kind of give up and kneel down to wash my hair. That way, I won't hurt my back from bending over so far. The water in the shower gets really hot, so there is a positive side to this situation.

I am in a constant state of reminding myself that I am integrating myself to a culture much different than my own, and like Dr. Inglis said, it's just different. I will continue to remind myself that and be vale.

xoxo,
Caroline

P.S. - We'll be watching the Cowboys game tonight at the TTU Center, so let's beat Green Bay!!! amiright? I don't have to be en los estados unidos to watch fútbol americano.