I don't really have any new news to share at the moment but I thought I'd do a blog post on what differences I've seen between living here and being in the United States! Besides the culture, a lot of things have caught my eye!
1. Heating and Air
In Sevilla, and most of the southern part of Spain, people don't have central heating and air. It doesn't get very cold here (which lately has not been the case!) so people just have free standing space heaters to heat their homes. However, because of this very unseasonably cold weather that Spain has been experiencing, the space heaters do not suffice. I find myself coming home from school, throwing on a sweatshirt, and jumping under my covers until I absolutely have to get up (usually for lunch or dinner). My whole family walks around the house in coats, scarves, and comfy bedroom shoes to keep warm! And it doesn't help that you won't find carpet in Sevilla either because during the summer months, when it gets very hot, the tile floors help to keep the house cool. They also don't have central air in the summer because their houses are built to keep cool, like the tile floors. I just want some warmer weather than we've been having, I hate being cold! But my host mom keeps reassuring me that the weather will turn around soon and I sure hope she's right! I packed for warm weather!
2. Meals
Meals are very different here than in the U.S., as well as the schedule for eating. Breakfast is about the same, with toast and jelly and some breakfast cookies. One difference with breakfast is that they don't drink milk cold. Most of the time if they eat cereal they will put warm milk in it. My host mom gives me a glass of warm milk every morning and I add some Nesquik chocolate powder to it. Lunch is around 2pm, which is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day. If I can't come home for lunch (because of class), my mom will make me a "bocadillo" which is a sandwich that she usually puts chicken and tomatoes on, but there's so many types of bocadillos and so many things that the Spanish put on them depending on their preference. Also, my mom will pack some of my favorite fruits like an orange, apple, or pear. If I do make it home for lunch, my mom will usually serve several dishes, starting out with salad or cut up tomatoes. Olive oil is a staple for almost everything they make so of course the oil makes it in my salad, along with salt. After I've finished the salad she'll bring out the main dish which has been different everyday. Some days we'll have a hardy soup or maybe a meat with some vegetables. And then usually she'll ask if we want a piece of fruit for "dessert". I have heard that some student's host moms have offered them pudding or a yogurt so the dessert depends on the family. Dinner is served around 9pm. It tends to be a little smaller than lunch. Like last night my mom served like a chicken broth soup and then just made an omelette with ham. Soups have been a popular staple dinner item lately just because of the weather. Sometimes she'll make just a simple sandwich, similar to the bocadillo. Once again, for dessert, I'll have a piece of fruit. Slices of baguette bread is served with every lunch and dinner and we drink nothing but water during meals. As far as going out to eat, most restaurants only open during the meal times. For lunch, they'll be open from about 1:30 to 4:30 or 5pm. Then they will close and re-open around 8:30pm and be open until around 11pm.
3. Nightlife
Because of the later meal times, nightlife is pushed back as well. In the States, most bars and clubs will get crowded around midnight or so. If you go to a popular bar or club at midnight here it will be dead. Most clubs and bars start to get crowded between 2-3am and the party won't stop until 5 or 6 in the morning. When people decide to go out, they'll usually meat up with a group of friends at a local restaurant and have a couple of beers and just have conversation. Afterwards, they'll head to the bars and clubs and party hardy until the early hours of the morning. I've only gone out once to celebrate my roommate Ginny's birthday and I could only make it until 2:30am and I was ready to go home and go to bed. Lame, I know haha.
4. Transportation
So in the United States I would drive my car to campus but that's not the case here. For one, I don't have a car here and my family doesn't own a car, which isn't uncommon. People here walk EVERYWHERE. Last night I had class and we were making a trip to a local museum which our teacher said wasn't far...that was a lie. I guess if you went by car it wouldn't have been far but everyone walks and have no concept of what is far away. We walked 45 minutes to the museum...one way. Thankfully my school is only a 15 minute walk from my house. There are a lot of taxis here, as well as public transportation like buses and one metro line. There's also one trolley line that a lot of people use. Sevilla also just got a new bike system that allows you to buy a bike pass so you can use the public bikes that have stations set up all over the city. I know a couple of friends that are about a 40 minute walk from school that have reverted to riding a bike to class. If people do have cars they are very small. I see a lot of smart cars around town and very very VERY few SUV's. The streets are very small here so in order to get through town in a car it must be small. A lot of people have also invested in a moped, which you will find all over town as well. At first I wasn't a fan of having to get around town by walking but I've been able to explore and have become more familiar with the complicated winding, small streets. And when I come back home I will be in the best shape of my life!
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