This was written on very little sleep.

It’s now been 4 weeks since I left the U.S.! I can’t believe how quickly it’s already going by, and from what I’ve heard, it’s not going to slow down.

This past Monday started the regular session of classes. This semester my courses include Intercultural Communication, Music of the 20^th Century, Publicity and Propaganda, and Spain as seen through the Cinema Screen. Luckily, I’ll be able to transfer some of my classes to both my Communication and my Spanish major at Fordham. Two of these courses (Publicity and Propaganda and Cinema course) are at the Universidad de Sevilla, while I take the other two at the CIEE study center. I really like taking classes at both places because it allows me to meet more people. The classes at the Universidad are specifically for foreigners (they’re called Cursos Para Extranjeros), so they’re taught at a level that I can understand. The CIEE classes are a bit more challenging than the Cursos Para Extranjeros, and they actually involve a little bit of homework. Although there isn’t much work outside of the classroom, the classes themselves are definitely interesting and will certainly help improve my Spanish. Overall, the classes are surprisingly relevant to my experiences here in Spain and I think I’ll really enjoy them.

In addition to classes, I’ve joined an “interest group” here with my program. There are many interest groups offered here, such as Art and Culture, Sports, Spain and Its Neighbors, Communication, etc. They filled up rather quickly but I was able to join the Communication group, which will be great for my major. Every other week or so, there’s some sort of activity. This past week, a woman living in Sevilla who runs a small media company came to speak to us about her career. We’ll also visit TV and radio stations to see how they operate. In April, we get to go on a weekend-long (free!) trip to Lisbon, Portugal to visit the major multi-media news agency, EFE. I think this group will be a cool, different way to experience Spain, especially in relation to my major.

I’ve also done a lot of planning and booking for traveling while I’m here in Spain. Many of my trips are to other countries, but I’ll also be exploring within Spain. My first overnight trip isn’t until next weekend, but this past weekend, nearly all of the students in my program went to Carnaval in Cádiz, a city on the coast of Spain. Carnaval is a celebration that occurs every year before Lent and usually involves some sort of outdoor festival. It’s celebrated all over Europe, and in Spain the largest celebration takes place in Cádiz. Everyone dresses up – either in a costume or often with a mask. After seeing how cute Laura (one of my best friends from home) looked as a mime this past Halloween, I decided to steal her idea. It turns out I wasn’t the only mime there, it was actually pretty popular – but I was definitely one of the best.

I clearly didn't practice mime poses.

Here are a bunch of my friends - you can see that the masks were quite popular among girls.

The other students and I all signed up to go with a travel group, so we were provided bus transportation that left Sevilla at 8pm on Saturday night, and left Cádiz at 3:30am that same night. It was a long, long night, and cold at times (although I wore a ton of layers) – but definitely a memorable experience. There were people everywhere and the costumes were pretty wild. I was able to get up on a platform at one point, with a great view of all the people.

This is the view from the platform we climbed up. This is just one of the many, many areas where hundreds of people gathered. Bars and food courts were also open so there was a lot of drinking and eating, in addition to small parades and choir groups performing. A lot of the groups are made up of men who sing satirical songs, and are often dressed up in ridiculous costumes. It was a crazy night and definitely a lot of fun – but by the time 3:30 came along, everyone was ready to get home.

As I mentioned, this upcoming weekend our program is taking us on an overnight trip to Granada, another city in Spain which is supposed to be beautiful. I guess I should have already explained this, but Sevilla is in a southern section of Spain called Andalucia, which Sevilla is the capital of. Granada is also located in Andualucia. Certain cultural images, such as flamenco and bull fighting, which many people associate with Spain, actually originate from Andalucia. I’m really excited for Granada, and will definitely have pictures to post.

It’s nearly 11pm here now, and I’m about to go to bed. Carnaval took a lot out of me.