I’ve been in real school for two weeks now- a full month after my friends back at Ole Miss began class, and almost two months after the little sister at TMS (haha). It’s been nice only having one class (or no class) because it leaves time to explore, and let’s be real, who really wants to do school work when in Spain? Not this girl. But the school routine is good, and I made sure that my classes were study abroad appropriate to maximize my experience here, i.e, no literature, por favor (I should probably take a Cervantes class in his home, but I’m really bad at literature stuff in English- can’t imagine the train wreck that would be a Spanish literature class. Save that for later). I’m taking four classes this semester: two at the Universidad de Sevilla through its Cursos para Extranjeros program, and two through CIEE at the study center. Here’s what I’m studying:
History of thee cultures: Christians, Muslims and Jews in Medieval Spain
This is a really interesting class, although it’s a two hour Spanish history lecture. According to Jesus my professor, Spain is the only country to have three main cultures/religions reside peacefully together, and for seven centuries no less. It’s a big deal here, and this historic diversity is still very evident. I see buildings, walk through streets, eat food, and visit places that come from this time- basically, I live in a history book.
Introduction to Translation: Culture, Vocabulary and Process
This class might be a tricky one- translation is much more than looking words up in the dictionary. We discuss the theory behind translation and practice our translation skills. No tests in this class, though, just assignments due throughout the semester and a final project done en casa. All of this practice is a major help to grammar skills and vocabulary, plus I’m learning what is natural for native Spanish speakers, as opposed to can I write a sentence using subjunctive (answer: maybe).
Flamenco in Andalusia: Culture, Language, Music and Dance
Don’t let the title fool you- this is not a course where how to dance flamenco is taught. Profesora made that clear within the first five minutes of class. But we’ll see what I can do...haven’t given up just yet. Anyway, this is probably my most fun class. It’s one of those rare classes where there is a perfect combination of personalities and a really talented and relaxed teacher that makes for the best classroom atmosphere. We have a good time. And the content is exciting, too. Profesora likes to shake things up half way through lecture with activities like watching flamenco videos or practicing palmas (the clapping aspect of flamenco). Who knows, maybe I’ll come back a flamenco professional. That sure would be something!
Culture of Gastronomy in Spain
Here’s what we’ve all been waiting for- the food class that counts for academic credit. We learn about how the food of Spain came to be the food of Spain, which has a lot to do with the three cultures thing, and then we put our knowledge to practice. Yep, one day of class is “theoretical”, and the other class is “practical”- food tasting.
This week was olive week in food class, and we spent the first day learning about olives and olive oil. They use olive oil in EVERYTHING here: if you can eat it, chances are it has olive oil (although I’m still looking for the olive oil ice cream…). Olive oil is good stuff, but I’m still not a big fan of green olives...they are literally the only thing I’ve found here that I don’t care to eat. The olive oil tasting was classy- we did the whole look at it in the light thing, smell it, swirl it around, make intelligent judgements about it...things like this one has a more floral character and oh, this one is much lighter than the others and this one is very smooth, but has quite a bite at the end and hmmm, this one smells like wood (wood?). Then came the tasting. Profesora gave each of us a shot of three different EVOOs, and we had to drink it, with specific instructions to keep some in the mouth before swallowing to really “savor the flavor”. I don’t know if you’ve ever drunk straight oil before, but it’s kinda eww. I’ve never tried pure olive oil before. It has a very different taste on its own, and the three we tried were surprisingly picante at the end. But texture-wise, thanks but no thanks, I’ll pass on drinking it. Luckily, she brought a sack of bread to finish out the tasting.
CIEE also has a program called grupos de interes, and I spend time each week with my group. They’re elective groups with different cultural focuses, and along with activities throughout the semester, participation includes a trip somewhere in November. I’d planned to pick the group with the most exotic trip (Morocco or Portugal), but I underestimated my peers- some kids got there an hour an a half early to sign up. I didn’t, so I joined the gastronomy group that goes to Valencia (there's a very good chance I'll return a bigger girl if I keep this up). I’d hoped join another group, simply for more variety because I'm taking the gastronomy class. But every experience is a great experience here! Our staff leader María is fantastic, and so is Fran, the student leader. It’s an all-ladies group, but Fran balances out the gender thing by bringing some of his amigos to our meetings. The first activity was a visit to the hospitality school in Sevilla (la escuela de hostelería de Sevilla) It’s pretty prestigious, and has branches all over the world. We took a tour of the building- it’s incredibly beautiful, and everyone who works there is training to be a chef or a waiter (which is a career here in Spain- they get paid on salary, so no tipping!) or a hotel manager, or something like that.
 |
| catering kitchen in the basement |
 |
one of the like 15 dining rooms at the school. We didn't
eat in this one, though |
More importantly, we ate lunch. Here’s what we ate (from the Spanish menu I snatched on the way out):
White garlic soup
Soup with ham with melon balls and crunch (a terrible translation, I know, but that's what the word means. It was a chilled green melon soup with cantaloupe and pieces of ham on top. Weird, but good? Maybe?)
Marinated Swordfish garnished with pepper sauce
Chocolate brownie with caramel sauce (there was something citrusy in there, too)
Pretty swanky. There are no pictures of the food because I ate it all, and I sure did enjoy my meal with Fran and his friend Roberto. I know you’re thinking, Marion, how’d you pull that off, lunch with two Spanish boys? Well, it was the luck of the draw- every other table was full by the time the back of the group (me) made it to the dining room. So, I had a table by myself until Roberto and Fran came to save me from my solitude. Lunch was a little awkward but mostly fun. Awkward because of the whole language barrier thing and they had to explain a lot to me (also, they sat next to each other across from me, so it felt a little like an interview). Fun because they were kind enough to speak so I could understand, and I had a substantial conversation in Spanish...and duh got to have lunch with two Spanish boys!
So that was a novel. Thanks for plowing through that. Don't worry, more pictures are coming soon (slowly catching up...)
Hasta luego,
Marion
