Ansiosa
I couldn’t sleep Sunday night. I was so nervous for the next day. (…it didn’t help that I accidentally took a long siesta while I was trying to warm up in my bed).
But Monday was the start of classes. I was afraid of navigating the university. I was afraid of the professors. I was afraid of how hard the classes would be and that I wouldn’t understand anything.

Lunes
Monday morning finally came and I headed over to my program center for my first class of the day. It was a grammar class and all went well. My professor is animated and very easy to understand. I can tell this class will be a lot of fun.
Then the real test came at noon. My first university class-Syntactical Analysis (of Spanish, of course). My friend and I were able to find our classroom fairly easily which was a huge weight off of my shoulders. I met a few Italian study abroad students in that class. We talked together for a while before the professor came in. He was really nice and I could understand him well when he spoke to us. He previewed the course for us, told us the books we needed and sent us on our way. I went up to him after class to introduce myself and he was very receptive. I was very glad that this first university class went well!
Later, I went back to the program center for a Literature class. I ended up not liking that class at all so I decided I would try other classes to see what I liked more.
I was very glad we had the opportunity to attend as many classes as we wanted before making a final schedule. In fact, next week I am going to try a few more to see if I want to switch or stay.

Mi primera amiga espa�ola
In my Classical Mythology class, I sat next to a girl on the first day and introduced myself. Not until I said my name was “Jennifer” did she ask if I was foreign and where I was from. She is from Seville and she is so sweet (and stylish like all of the girls here). We sat together everyday this week. She always offers me her notes and tells me that she will help me if I don’t understand anything. She has an exam this Saturday so she’s been busy studying, but I hope that next week we will be able to hang out or get a caf� con leche after class.
If there is one reason I am staying in my Classical Mythology class, it is because I made a friend!!! 🙂
I was so happy yesterday in class because another American girl turned around and asked my friend a question. My friend did not understand this girl’s Spanish no matter how much she repeated herself. I translated for them to help out a little. Finally, the other girl turned around. My friend turns to me and tells me that she could not understand that other girl but she understands me perfectly well. She asked me how much practice I’ve had and how long I’ve studied Spanish because she thought that I spoke really well. I was so excited because this was such a great compliment! (from a native speaker!!!!!) YAY!!!

�Mi espa�ol est� mejorando!
Monday was such a long day. I spent hours in classes listening to and speaking only in Spanish. I was very exhausted by the end of the day and I accidentally took the long way from the program center back to my house because I was just walking and I forgot to turn. I didn’t mind, though, because a few minutes into my walk I realized I was thinking in Spanish! I was so proud of myself. Then I made myself continue thinking in Spanish for the rest of the walk. I was thinking about the classes I was taking, how I was planning to change my schedule, what would transfer back to Penn State…and more! I feel like my Spanish has improved tremendously already and I’m so excited to see how much better I get by the end of this experience.

Cat�dral
I toured the Cat�dral on Tuesday. It was incredible. It is almost unbelievable how beautiful it is.
I walk by the outside of the Cat�dral at least twice a day and I am always amazed at how awesome it is. The inside, however, is even more breathtaking.

We climbed up the Torre (tower) and could see over the entire city. (What a workout that was….33 ramps or something to get to the top) It was so amazing, however, and totally worth it.

So luckily I have no classes on Friday this semester! My weekend starts at 6:00pm every Thursday! YAY!

Write more soon.

Location: Universidad de Sevilla