Boots of Spanish Leather

I'm sorry this post has taken so long... it's been ready to go up for a while, but often times the internet doesn't work long enough for me to post it!

Anyway, in reference to the title of this one, although I haven't yet bought boots of Spanish leather, I have been listening to the Bob Dylan song quite a bit lately. But since it is rebajas (sales) seasons right now and souther Spain is known for its leather goods, I might just get some boots soon!

Since my last post, we started a two-week class (called an intensive) where we have 3 hours of Spanish grammar everyday. Everyone is assigned to a class according to their level of Spanish, and mine happens to be from 6-9pm, Monday through Friday. My teacher is great too; when we’re not learning grammar, she tells us good places in the city to visit as well as common words Spaniards use. So far, the grammar has mostly been a review of everything I’ve learned so far, which has been nice. I definitely needed a refresher before the regular session starts, which is on Monday, February 8. On Monday, I’ll begin the 4 classes I’ll be taking here in Sevilla, all in Spanish. Classes are only Monday through Thursday, so I’ll have plenty of time to travel on the weekends!

With my free time in the past week, I’ve seen some beautiful places in Sevilla. This weekend our program took us to Córdoba, a small city north of us, for a day trip. It was fairly similar to Sevilla (again, so many orange trees) but we did get to see a beautiful Cathedral, their Alcazar (which is a palace), and a medieval festival. Here are some pictures..

The medieval festival which was taking place while we were there. It was unbelievably crowded, but it was fun to see what they were selling - from candy and dessert to meat to jewelry.

The inside of the Cathedral... I took a bunch of pictures, but I thought this was the coolest.

This is in front of some of the gardens of Córdoba's palace.

I also visited the Plaza de España, which is a huge building in the shape of a half circle. The plaza in the center is currently under a little construction, but the building is still beautiful. It houses many government offices and is a major tourist attraction.

There’s a great park right around the block from my apartment, where I’ve spent some of my time reading in the sun. Although the air is still pretty chilly here, when the sun is out, it can get pretty hot.

A few more things I’ve noticed during my stay in Spain:

· There is so much more fried food here than I expected. Nearly every meal includes fried fish (the most popular), fried chicken, fried ham and cheese, or plain old French fries.

· When cooking, Spaniards use oil instead of butter. It seems they only like food if it is drenched in oil and salt. I’m still getting used to that…

· People here dress for the season, not for the weather. (A sunny day in the 60s in January = winter coat. NOT a t-shirt. One more reason we look like foreigners.)

· My intensive teacher told us that although hip-hop is not big in Spain, what does exist can be found in Sevilla. I thought you might like that one, Em!

· Meals are usually eaten around the TV. For example, instead of sitting at a kitchen table to eat, my señora Ignacia serves us at a table situated in front of the couch, so we sit on the couch and eat our meals. Apparently it’s quite common here.

That’s about all for now, but I’ll certainly have more once the regular classes start!

Oh…I keep waiting for people to start calling me María Gracia here, but it has yet to catch on! My teacher did start calling me MG today in a Spanish accent, which was pretty funny.