First Few Days of Class

So I am officially una estudiante en la Universidad de Sevilla! My first day of classes was Monday and it was pretty intimidating. First of all, I had to wake up at 7:45 to get out the door by 8:30 for my 9:00 class. I learned that our family doesn't even wake up until 8:15. Typical Spaniards I suppose. My first class is Historia del Cine y otros medios audiovisuales and I am one of 3 non-Spaniards in a class of around 60. I'd like to say I made a ton of new Spanish friends the first day of class but the truth is the only girl I met was the only other American in the class (I happened to sit next to her by coincidence). I don't want to sound judgmental but I'm not sure a Historia del Cine class with drama majors is the perfect spot for me to meet my new Spanish best friends. There are some really interesting characters in there to say the least. But the teacher was VERY nice to me so that is a plus. He told me I can take my exam early no problem and has smiled at me twice in the hallway after class. I was lucky on the second day of class to sit on the second row and he made eye contact with me throughout class. (For some reason everyone in that class takes notes on a university given laptop---there all red and have a universidad de sevilla sticker on them. It's really odd to look around and see 50 of the exact same red laptops surrounding you.) Anyways there are only two grades in this class. A paper analyzing a movie we watch in class and a final exam. I'm a little worried about understanding the movies in Spanish and I have a feeling I'll probably have to watch them with English subtitles after class. Although today in class we were talking about actors and we watched a clip of Jim Carrey from Ace Ventura in English. I'm not sure if my professor or anyone in the class speaks English but I found it entertaining. I think the other movies we actually watch though will be dubbed over in Spanish. But how can you analyze acting if you can't even hear the actors voice? I guess I'll have to wait and see!

The other university class I'm taking is quite different from that one. It's a Geography of Andalucia (the region in Spain that Sevilla is in) and there are only about 20 people in there....and 5 of us our American. The professor constantly says things for the "extranjeros" to understand which is both good and bad. It's good because it helps me understand better but it's bad because I feel less like I'm in a real university class. Plus I always feel judged by the other students whenever she singles us out. The professor's lectures are also VERY boring, but at least I think I'm going to enjoy my other university class! I've already made 3 new friends in my classes but unfortunately they are not Spanish....BUT one of them is from England so that half way counts, right? I'm hoping as class goes on I'll get to know some more people. After all it's only been 3 days!

My other two classes are through EUSA and are with only students from my program. One of them is Spain and Islam and is with my favorite professor Fernando who taught the cultural half of my last class. He is one of the smartest professors I've ever had and even though he doesn't speak English I feel I can learn way more from him than I can from most of the professors I've had at UNC. Then my other class is a Spanish Literature class that I'm not super excited about, but I need the credit for my major. The teacher is this teeny tiny little woman named Coro who seems like she'll be entertaining. Although she did say if any of us yawn in her class we all have to get up and run around the class room for a few minutes. But I think I'll end up liking her because when we got the syllabus for the class I realized the midterm was going to be on the day I have to miss class to catch my flight to Barcelona to visit my parents. She had told the class that the test dates wouldn't move under any circumstances, but then turned around and told me it would be alright if I took it earlier that day so I really can't complain about her.

My classes are pretty spread out throughout the day so my days lately have been a lot fuller. I've run, shopped some, and hung out a lot more with Luis and Maria. They both have been home sick this week still and today asked Colleen and I to play monopoly with them when we got back from our classes. The Spanish version has Madrid instead of Boardwalk, Barcelona instead of Park Place and euros instead of dollars but other than that it's exactly the same. I was on Maria's team and Colleen played with Luis. Maria is a HUGE cheater and constantly tried to sneak money out of the bank. Then Carmen got home from school, insisted she be on my team, and crawled under the table to steal money from the bank. Must run in the family I guess. And just like every game of monopoly I've ever played, we didn't finish. It reminded me a lot of the Barber family story of Lucy and Graham getting in a fight over cheating and writing about it on the monopoly box top. Luis got mad at Carmen and we decided it'd be best to just stop playing. Then we played make-shift ping pong on the dining room table for a while. I beat Luis twice which I could tell he wasn't too happy about. These kids honestly are not sick at all anymore. I'm convinced the doctor's here have some special deal going with the children. The doctor told Pilar that Maria couldn't go to school until Monday and could only drink Coke and only eat plain cookies. Wish I had had a doctor like that growing up!

Tonight for dinner we had some very very fishy fish but it wasn't too bad. We also had "huevas" which are apparently fish eggs...not terrible but definitely not something I'd ever order on my own. Oh and to top it off a plate of brussel sprouts. Needless to say it was not my favorite meal I've had. But luckily Luis the dad brought home a enormous bag of oranges and made us all fresh squeezed orange juice for dessert. He showed us where the juicer is and said we can make it whenever. I don't remember ever having fresh squeezed orange juice before but it was definitely a treat! I'm thinking a glass in the morning along with my cereal and banana might be nice.

I apologize for how long this post was. I'm avoiding doing some homework I guess. Also the UNC-Duke game is tonight at 3am our time. I'm hoping I'll be able to watch it while skyping Kevin. I know I won't be able to sleep not knowing how my boys are playing! Go heels!