Hello all,
I just had my first day at the university, so I figured I'd fill everyone in. We have class at la Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO). It is rumored to have been a jail at one point in time before becoming a college. I cannot say if this is true or not, but it comes complete with a guard tower and bars on some of the windows. It's really not that bad - I actually like it a lot. Sure it's not as pretty as William and Mary, but it's hard to be better looking than W&M!
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have four classes, three in the morning from 9am-1:20pm (in a row!) and then a break, then another class from 4 -5:20pm. Needless to say, it's a long day, but I really enjoy my classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I got off easy with only one class from 4pm - 5:20pm! The classes I'm taking are International Marketing, Intermediate Spanish, Spanish Civilization and Culture, History of Sevilla (those four all in Spanish), and Global Economy (in English, but I may end up switching over to Spanish, we'll see). The professors are all great! They speak very clearly and at a slower pace, so it's really easy to understand everything.
I made a new friend at lunch today. My host mother packed my a picnic consisting of a chicken and cheese sub, apple juice box, and an orange. I was sitting outside on a bench eating said lunch and checking my emails when a stray cat tried to steal a bite! It was a cute cat, but I was enjoying my delicious lunch, so I refused to let it have any. After multiple attempts, it was content to just sit next to me and chill. I thought we were cool, but then he tried one last attempt and landed on my computer keyboard! I had to retype the message I was sending because it hit the back button on my keyboard! But it was fun. It was a very cool first day.
((Oh, and I would like to make a shout-out to Phillip's brother. Phillip is my roommate here in Sevilla and as his brother pointed out, he was nameless in the last post, so I would like to thank Phillip's brother for that and also thank him for being the first person I heard from to read this blog (although I still have no idea how you found it!)))
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Hola desde Espana!
Whoa! It's been an eventful four days since I left home to fly here. So much has happened in that time, but seeing as I'm on a pay-by-the-hour schedule at this internet store, I'll have to just cover the basics.
Sevilla is AWESOME!
My flights all went well, but I
did have some difficulty with the Madrid airport. The flight to Madrid from Philly messed with my mind and body. I left Philly at 9:00pm and arrived in Madrid at 10:00am Madrid time (technically 4:00am US time!). I couldn't manage to fall asleep on the plane ride over there either. The airport was crazy because I had to ask for directions because I got lost and thought it was an hour later than it actually was and I had to take a bus to a different part of the airport to get my boarding pass - whew! But luckily I met up with a girl who was in my program from William and Mary and we figured out where we needed to go.
I'm living in a nice apartment-styled house with two 60/70 year old sisters. They are very nice, but like to have things very scheduled (We know exactly what time we're going to eat our meals and there are rules taped to the walls in our room and our shower!). My roommate is cool and we get along really well. The food is AMAZING! These ladies know how to cook! And each meal consists of about five courses: for example - a bowl of soup/vegetables/pasta to start, then they take that plate away and bring us some sort of chicken/beef/meat dish, then we have bread, then we have fruit (the oranges are great!) for a sort of desert, then we have cafe con leche (coffee and milk), and the serving sizes for each are huge! Needless to say, we won't be going hungry anytime soon and may even come back a few pounds larger!
We've toured a bunch of places including a beautiful cathedral and some really cool plazas and neighborhoods. I'm going to try to attach some pictures.
All in all everything is going well. My Spanish is getting better all the time and everything is going very well!
Sevilla is AWESOME!
My flights all went well, but I
did have some difficulty with the Madrid airport. The flight to Madrid from Philly messed with my mind and body. I left Philly at 9:00pm and arrived in Madrid at 10:00am Madrid time (technically 4:00am US time!). I couldn't manage to fall asleep on the plane ride over there either. The airport was crazy because I had to ask for directions because I got lost and thought it was an hour later than it actually was and I had to take a bus to a different part of the airport to get my boarding pass - whew! But luckily I met up with a girl who was in my program from William and Mary and we figured out where we needed to go.
I'm living in a nice apartment-styled house with two 60/70 year old sisters. They are very nice, but like to have things very scheduled (We know exactly what time we're going to eat our meals and there are rules taped to the walls in our room and our shower!). My roommate is cool and we get along really well. The food is AMAZING! These ladies know how to cook! And each meal consists of about five courses: for example - a bowl of soup/vegetables/pasta to start, then they take that plate away and bring us some sort of chicken/beef/meat dish, then we have bread, then we have fruit (the oranges are great!) for a sort of desert, then we have cafe con leche (coffee and milk), and the serving sizes for each are huge! Needless to say, we won't be going hungry anytime soon and may even come back a few pounds larger!
We've toured a bunch of places including a beautiful cathedral and some really cool plazas and neighborhoods. I'm going to try to attach some pictures.
All in all everything is going well. My Spanish is getting better all the time and everything is going very well!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Entrada Numero Uno (entry number one)
Dear Reader,
Congratulations! You are reading the first post ever written by soon-to-be world traveler Dave Thomas. Whether you are a friend, family, acquaintance, or someone who just happened to stumble upon this blog, I want to thank you for taking the time out of you day to see what is going on in my life. As hopefully most of you know, I will be studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain from January 21st to May 25th of the year 2009.
As of now, it is my plan to write a new post at least once a week to keep everyone updated. As it turns out, I have never been out of the country (technically I have been to Canada, but I mean REALLY out of the country) so I'm not quite sure how busy I will be with learning, sight-seeing, becoming fluent, classes, meeting new people, etc, etc. That being said, my once a week goal might not be reached all the time, but I will try my best.
I still have a lot to do this week to get ready, packing among other things, but I am really looking forward to this great opportunity. Until next time.
- Dave
Congratulations! You are reading the first post ever written by soon-to-be world traveler Dave Thomas. Whether you are a friend, family, acquaintance, or someone who just happened to stumble upon this blog, I want to thank you for taking the time out of you day to see what is going on in my life. As hopefully most of you know, I will be studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain from January 21st to May 25th of the year 2009.
As of now, it is my plan to write a new post at least once a week to keep everyone updated. As it turns out, I have never been out of the country (technically I have been to Canada, but I mean REALLY out of the country) so I'm not quite sure how busy I will be with learning, sight-seeing, becoming fluent, classes, meeting new people, etc, etc. That being said, my once a week goal might not be reached all the time, but I will try my best.
I still have a lot to do this week to get ready, packing among other things, but I am really looking forward to this great opportunity. Until next time.
- Dave
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