Oh my gosh, although it has only been a few days, I feel like a worlds have passed since the last time I wrote!

Our first night in Sevilla, we had dinner with our Orientation groups (Grupo 6 for me!), and since then, we basically spent our entire 2.5 days of orientation with our groups and really became close with each other. I was surprised at how quickly we went from all trying to meet each other to forming cliques and groups of some sorts. Our orientation groups were split by the amount of time we were staying, which is awesome because now my good friends are all staying here for 9 weeks. This experience really reminded me of how people become closest with their hall mates from freshman year. Since we were always together, we just naturally got to know each other better and formed our friend groups that way. Other than that, we also started to get to know people in our living areas since we walk everywhere together.

Our orientation group leader was Roberto (aka RUCHI) and he is absolutely awesome. He’s so sweet and funny though and our entire group just adores him. It’s so cute when he speaks English and he also jokes around with us a lot. We call him Ruchi because when Steve affectionately tried to call him Bobby, he told us that his real nickname was Ruchi. During those first days, he took us all around the city, to CIEE info sessions, and out for all our meals. We went out for tapas a bunch and they were soooo good. But if I ate like that everyday, I would blow up like a pig. In the beginning, we didn’t understand anything on the menu so we just asked Ruchi to order for us, but everything was so delicious.

Ruchi (in blue) y Grupo Seis!

On Friday we were picked up by our host families–I was so nervous as to how everything would be and I felt completely overwhelmed. My host father is named Antonio and although I was nervous and a tad quiet at first, we get along SO well now. He’s absolutely hilarious and he always jokes around. My first afternoon here was really rough. I hadn’t really spoken that much Spanish since I got here and that was the first time where I really entered an immersion environment. I was so rusty (it’s been two years since my last Spanish class) and they said so many things that I just could not understand. I felt so overwhelmed and I literally just NEEDED to get out of the house and talk in English to regain my sanity. I was so relieved when Emily asked me to go shopping with her. Since I didn’t really know where I was going, Antonio dropped me off at OpenCor (something like CVS for us) on his motorcycle which was super cool! So many people ride motorcycles here!

I had never really noticed my race as a huge factor before because I’ve always been in places where it’s normal to see Asians, but I literally did not see any Asians around that day and I just felt so foreign and out of place. I thought I would adjust really well to life in another country and homestay since I’ve already done it twice in Japan, but I didn’t realize how much being Asian actually helped me in Japan.  After talking to Emily and shopping though, I felt a lot more comfortable, and now I feel pretty much normal. I’ve seen a couple Asians around–one in a school uniform today and others in little convenience stores. In fact, you’ll see little Tiendas Chinas (chinese stores) everywhere–the stereotype for Chinese people here is that they all own convenience stores.

New phones for Jason, Whitney, Andrew and me!

On Saturday we went to Cadiz (the oldest city in Europe) and it was so beautiful. In the morning we did a walking tour (my feet were dying already due to how much we’ve been walking) and ascended this cathedral tower from which we could see the whole city. It was so awesome– the buildings were all white, which I loved because it reminded me of Santorini. In the afternoon we just chilled on the beach and it was so relaxing. The waters were so beautiful and blue, but the beach area was kind of dirty and rocky. 

             Yesterday (Sunday) we took a hiking trip to Valdelarco in Huelva. Almost everyone signed up but less than two thirds actually showed up. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be, but so worth it. I initially thought it would be a leisurely walk through nature on paths, and all of us wore shorts, but the morning walk was pretty rough. Save for a couple big steep hills, it wasn’t actually that difficult physically. The sucky part was that we had to walk through plants and we didn’t know to wear pants so a few of us got really scratched up. I got a couple scratches around my left ankle and they were bleeding. Then we had our bocadillos (sandwiches) atop this overlook of the mountains and it was so beautiful. The afternoon walk was also much more beautiful and scenic and looked more like the Spanish countryside that I had envisioned. I loved it. I got home around 5:30 and then literally just sat on the couch with my family until bedtime. I love spending time with them; they are all so nice and welcoming and I just really like being in such a warm family atmosphere.

Hiking in Huelva

Today (Monday) was the first day of classes and it was fun! Although class lasts for 3 hours every morning, I enjoyed it because my teacher is so animated and we have a small class (6 people) so it’s really interactive. I’m taking Intermediate Spanish right now.

In the afternoon, we came back to CIEE to meet with some representatives from travel agencies and I decided that I really really really want to go to Morocco this weekend. The two places that I wanted to visit the most since before I came here are Portugal and Morocco, but unfortunately most of my friends here have no interest in Morocco so I kind of gave that up. But then I realized that I need to stay true to myself and not submit to peer pressure so much. Sometimes I feel like I need to constantly do what everyone else is doing because I want to be “in the group”, but I hate having to try so hard. I like many of the people here and they’re all really nice, but I realized that I’m not always like everyone else. Many of my classmates here all want to go party all the time, and I was really excited about that at first, but then I realized that that’s not what’s most important to me. I’ve definitely grown since my last summer abroad in Tokyo, where I just wanted to always go out with my American friends. Now, I really want to get to know Spaniards and embrace new ideas and cultures.

Location: Sevilla, Spain