¡Madre mío! Ha sido otro semana con muchas cosas hacer. I
had my first week of real classes and I’m really enjoying all of them—although
I have yet to go to one of them because I just switched into it on Thursday. I
am taking Psychology of Learning a Second Language, Religion and Fanaticism in
Spain, Liturature and the Kitchen, and Phonetics and Phonology. The stand out
class last week is my Liturature and the Kitchen class. On Tuesdays, we are in
the classroom discussing readings that we do, and Thursdays we are in the
kitchen cooking authentic Spanish food. The professor for that class, Luis, is
a very welcoming and knowledgeable man and he gives us the opportunity to go to
the market on Thursday mornings to buy the food we will cook that day.
Naturally, I was so interested so I went on Thursday. Thank goodness too,
because he made sure to explain all about the history of the open air market
and told us lots about each stand…and informed the three of us there that we
would be making sheep brain next week. EEKKK! Well, like they always say, when
in Spain.
On
Wednesday for my interest group, I got to learn some about Jamón Iberica and
Sherry wine, which is specific to Sevilla. There are only 4 cities in the world
that produce this jamón, and they are all in Spain. This ham is the best of the
best, the pigs eat and live freely, and when they die, their hind pata (leg) is
soaked in salt for 24 hours then hung to dry for 1-3 years. From then, the
patas are sold, and people slice the meat right off the bone. Sherry is a wine made from grapes hat are grown near the town
of Jerez here in Andalucia. It has a very different
taste, which I didn’t love but could definitely appreciate.
Friday
began with a day trip to Carmona, a suburb of Sevilla that has the world’s most
well preserved necropolis, which is essentially a burial site. It was very
interesting to learn about the significance in these ancient Roman burials. My
favorite part about all of these tours is that our guides always set the scene
by saying ‘imagina que es el siglo II.’ This just gets me every time as I am
dumbfounded by how ancient these places are and how many people and cultures
have set foot where I stand. Carmona also boasts beautiful views, and an
Alcázar that was used to defend the city from attackers coming from both
Granada and Cordoba. After our day
trip to Carmona, Abby, Bri, and I ate our bocadillos in a park and walked
around the city all afternoon in the perfect Sevillan weather.
Saturday
brought Carnaval in Cadiz. What a night. Carnaval is a two week long event with
parades, a competition for Reina del Carnaval, and fiestas. The main characteristics of
the carnival in Cádiz are the criticisms, the punny costumes, sarcasm, and the
mockery of parody. The chirigotas are satiric groups sing
about politics, topics in the news, and everyday circumstances. This year, the
crisis, corruption, and huelgas were a main focus in many of these songs. I
tried to be a little witty with my costume, as I was going to be a Día de los
Muertos business person, to reflect the bad economy, but I bundled up in favor
of not getting hypothermia.
Jirafas que son baloncestistas
He
sido planeando viajes con Taylor y es muy complicado. Es un buen problema
tener, pero no me gusta tardar tiempo por el Internet tratando planear vuelos etc.
También, no me gusta tardar todo el tiempo en casa mandando emails para
comunicar xq más y más cada día, quiero
pasar tiempo con Concepción para practicar y escuchar a todos sus historias.
Te hecho de menos mi familia y mis amigos, pero todavía me encanta Sevilla.
Saludos,
Kelsey
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