sevilla!

Por fin I made it to Sevilla after 13 hours on the night train and lugging my luggage across Madrid and another 2 hour train ride. I was expecting a “bed” on the paris - madrid train but instead I got a reclining chair. I was really upset but I didn’t say anything because well, you all know me. I had such a nice time in Paris and then getting on the train was scary because Spain became so real….

I was really nervous by the time I was in the cab getting to my hotel in Sevilla but once I arrived there and walked around I felt huge relief. I was so happy the orientation was in Sevilla because it was so familiar and felt so good to be back. I was roomed with Meg who is also placed in Motril so we walked around before we had to be back for a “cocktail hour.” It felt like CIEE orientation last year, or freshman orientation, all over again. It was fun but it can be exhausting talking to all of these people and trying to make relationships with them even though you are leaving in three days. Anyway, the next few days were packed full with sessions led by various CIEE staff about the upcoming year. A lot of the information was really good and but a lot of it was pretty useless. We learned about stuff ranging from the health care system in Spain (which is amazing by the way) to what our responsibilities are as a language and cultural assistant. Most of the information made me really excited and anxious to get to my school! I am really happy that I am teaching younger kids (ages 3-12) just based on the information we were getting. By the way, to clarify, it sounds like I definitely will be floating around the school. For example, Monday I could be with the 4^th grade math class and the 5^th grade history class, and Tuesday I will be with the first grade math class, etc. We are almost positive that we won’t be working on Fridays. WOOHOO! They also gave us a lot of information about how to find another job (giving private lessons, translating, bar tending, etc) so I will definitely be trying to do that because I am going to have a lot of free time with only being at the school for 12 hours a week.

They fed us really great food the whole time and took us to a flamenco show and a tour around the Alcazar. Of course I had already seen these many times but it was still great. It was frustrating at night for me because I was used to my routine with my Sevilla friends of going out to certain places but when there is a group of 30 people who don’t know where to go it became frustrating. My last day in Sevilla was the best. We woke up (after 4 hours of sleep) and had our last orientation sessions and a great lunch. I went to the Alcazar and got to see one of my favorite professors, Carlos, from last year. I love listening to him talk; he has so much to teach! Afterwards I ran over to Eva’s to see her. She is back together with her Moroccan boyfriend -- whom Emily and I really loved talking to so it was good to see him. Eva and I drank coffee and caught up – it was really nice. It was also good to talk to her because she is a teacher so it was good to get some insight from her. I was happy I saw her and she told me I am welcome to stay there any time I come through Sevilla, which was really nice. After Eva’s I went to the beautiful river to get a break from all of the Americans and orientation and read my book until sunset. It was very peaceful and brought back a lot of good memories. That night we went to our “farewell dinner” and afterwards Annie (a girl I studied in Sevilla with) and I hung out with a CIEE guide from when we were here. He helped out with the art group I was with in and he also did a lot of our tours around Andalucía -- he is great. We had a really good time drinking cerveza and catching up with him. I went to the hotel very, very happy about my great day in Sevilla. Meg and I packed up our stuff and prepared for our journey to Motril….

I’m here! But more later… (to keep you in suspense!)