Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Settling in

Today is day 3 in Sevilla, and it has been quite an emotional and mental rollercoaster so far. I arrived late on Monday, so was not able to start my class and meet the other students in the morning. Someone told me though that there is a tour each monday night of the city for new students, so I went to that and got to meet many of my fellow students then. The tour was great and the city is beautiful, especially at night. I have settled in to a group (I feel like my grammar is off while I write this, maybe the influence of all of the spanish?) of friends from that night: 2 Americans from Cali and Texas, 1 Italian, and 2 Germans.
My residence has been a point of difficulty but I think that my flatmate and I may have turned a corner this morning. When I arrived, she had 5 pages of rules that I had to read and be sure to follow and most of the rules have to do with maintaining her house to a degree of declutter-cleanliness that I am not used to. It may be a cultural or language barrier thing, but our communication seemed strained and demanding-unfriendly. Also, my residence is by far the furthest of any other student (2.5 km) and with me being sick (I think I caught something on the plane), the walk is difficult to make 4 times a day (most people go home for a siesta and then return to meet for dinner or drinks). I was ready to ask for a residence change when I went to bed last night. But this morning, she was very kind to me- making me breakfast because I am sick and recommending that I go see a doctor. So now I do not know what to do, maybe it just takes some time to warm up to her? I guess I will wait a few more days, I have not spent much time at home because it seemed to be an unfriendly place but today I am planning on returning there for a siesta.
My class is good, but I am concerned that it may be too advanced for me. It is hard to say because most people have been in the class for 2-3 weeks, and only me and one other girl started this week. I understand maybe 60-70% of what the teacher says. Again, I think I will give it a day or two and see where I am at then.

1 comment:

dianehubler said...

So sorry to hear that you are sick. Hope things start improving soon. We (mom,dad and lacy) miss you very much!!