living with the espinals.

We moved in with our host families two days ago. I’m staying with Manoli & Antonio Espinal and they are hosting Traci, Merilatt, Danielle, Liz, and I. They live in el barrio de Triana (the Triana neighborhood) in Sevilla, which is one of the safest neighborhoods, says Manoli. It is very close to Hotel Zenit where we had TCU orientation with Mary Alice so we walked over here with our bags when Manoli & Antonio came to pick us up. Their home is a four bedroom apartment on the third floor with no elevator so moving in with my overweight bags & over packed backpack/carryon was quite an adventure. Liz & I are sharing a room, Traci & Merilatt are sharing another room, and Danielle has a single & she is from the Adelante program. So there are 5 girls living in a tiny apartment and we all share one bathroom!! It’s definitely going to be an adjustment living in such close quarters with so many people. But also, Manoli was explaining to us that water is really really expensive and they have water tanks with only a certain amount of hot water. When that water is gone, there isn’t any more hot water for the rest of the day, so we are only allowed to take five minute showers. This morning was interesting because we all needed to shower. Usually I shower at night too but the hot water is turned off at 11pm at night, so that’s not an option either. Once we get our school schedules we will be able to plan out the mornings better and showering schedule. Also, heating/air is expensive so they keep the house cold! Ah! But fortunately we have lots of blankets on our bed that Manoli gave us and thick socks/slippers that we brought.

It has also been very different time wise because Spaniards have a completely different way of eating, sleeping, and just living in general. In the morning we eat a light breakfast, like cookies or bread with jam or nutella, fruit, and coffee or hot chocolate. Then we eat almuerzo (lunch) at 2:30. Lunch is different because it is later than it is in the US and it is the biggest meal of the day. After lunch we tomamos una siesta (take a nap) from 3-5 and this goes for all of Spain. Stores close for siesta, people go home from work, and the city basically shuts down durante siesta. Dinner is at 9pm for Spaniards and it is usually something lighter like soup or sandwiches. Then Spaniards go out to barrios or discotecas at medionoche (midnight) and stay out until 5am or 6am in the morning. It’s crazy. I’ve come to realize that I need to for sure sleep during siesta and not try to finish up random things that I need to do. I love napping anyway but it’s different from that because people go out so late at night, it’s like siesta is really necessary to get a full night’s sleep. My body has to adjust to make it part of my sleep cycle so I actually get more hours to rest. I’m still a little jet lagged and have anxiety about school starting so I’ve had a more difficult time sleeping. But in terms of food and eating things have been gone pretty well. Part of our homestay is that we get three meals a day from our Senora. Manoli is an amazing cook. She knew I was a vegetarian before we came. Liz is a vegetarian too but she eats chicken and fish. She was telling us how she was muy preocupada (very worried) about what she was going to cook me! So far she has made vegetable paella, vegetable/pasta soup, cheese tortellini, fried eggplants with honey (she told us that it was an Arabian dish), and the best ensalada con frutas (fruit salad with oranges, apples, bananas, carmel, chocolate sprinkles, and sugar milk). She prides herself on using only organic food when she cooks and using olive oil to cook everything instead of butter. In Spain, everything is eaten with olive oil! It’s taken some getting used to but it’s so good for you. Manoli’s cooking has been wonderful so I’m definitely eating well.

Yesterday was our first day visiting Universidad de Pablo Olividad. To get there we have to walk 20 minutes to the bus station and then take a 15 minute bus to the university. The walk is nice, I really don’t mind it. I’ve enjoyed the walking but my feet are sore most every night. Anyways, we took a placement exam at school and took a walking tour, orientation was today and we have our classes/schedule. I’m trying to change a few classes around and haven’t decided if I’m going to take classes 2 or 4 days a week. We’ll see. I’m really excited and nervous at the same time for classes to start!

Pictures of (1) the Guadalquivir river that I pass everyday on my walk to school,(2) orange trees that line the streets of Sevilla, & (3) my room!