Week Three

Ins

1. Hemingway

2. Boyfriend Jeans

3. Omar Little

4. A general strike in Brussels

Outs

1. Rafael Nadal

2.Ham

3. Spanair...?

4.Jesus

Iberian Hipster

I recently had a conversation with a friend who was telling me about a girl he met and is a little into, for the sake of not using the word crush. He went on and on about how he seized the moment after a class field trip and went for tapas with her, getting to know each other more sufficiently than exchanging extreme stories of what their respective host mothers did this time.  


We had a generic conversation about this girl he was chasing, until he said this: "The only thing that gets me is the music she listens to - I did a little Facebook research, and honestly Aimee, it's horrible. Like Danny Gokey..."


Not that I disagree with him, but it's an interesting segway into music in Spain. (If you listen to Danny Gokey, god knows what music you'll unearth here.)


Judging people by their music taste is a great game. This especially rings true when my señora, Encarna, told me she remembers how to pronounce my name because of Amy Winehouse. 

The minute the car started en route to my host home the radio turned on, and lukewarm Bruno Mars came on. (Seriously I thought I escaped this guy going west.) Anyway, I talked to Andrea, my host sister, for a while about American music. She didn't blatantly say this, but the Spanish music industry seriously lacks talent, and most people love American music. Except Encarna just can't get enough of Spain's sensational Manuel Carrasco:

Spanish men singing whiney songs are the mirror image to many English-speaking singers, case in point Chris Martin. Andrea, though, doesn't really listen to Coldplay or any other so-called alternative music. She listens to Spanish dubstep crap and dance music, along with whatever American music is blasted on the radio. They can't get enough of Rihanna and Alexandra Stan here.


The most popular song in Spain right now is from Portuguese artist Michel Telo. Listen here, it's actually a great song with (almost) pretty much meaningless lyrics. I think Telo was just afraid to go the distance the Akon went in "Hynotized:"




It's catchy. Pandora doesn't work outside the United States, so I spent a long time on last.fm last night finding Spanish music that people seem to listen to other than the standard Top 40 songs. Among my favorite band names were Love of Lesbian and Olivia de Happyland.


Anyway, the Iberian hipster probably isn't your typical hipster, but the music is okay. I think I'll stick to what I love, but I try to find ways to embrace the new. Take a listen to La Buena Vida.

Normal Sunday

12:30 view outside my window

Casual Sunday lounging on Guadalquivir. Dogs and babies EVERYWHERE. 

Dusk. Actively chose not to crop out Ryan's popsicle.

I forgot my USB cord to upload pictures to my computer. Oops, Aimee? These are all iPhone captured (didn't turn out so bad, right?). Hopefully I'll borrow a cord soon to showcase the beauty of this city. 

How to make in Sevilla for 36 hours

Alright I live here. 

Not to go all Frommer's or Wikipedia (but I guess not today) all over the place, but Andalusia, the region where Sevilla is located, has a heavy Moorish influence. The architecture and appearance in general of everything in Sevilla is obviously incredibly old, but building everywhere just reek of Northern African and Muslim style. I feel so lucky to be in such a beautiful city. I promise that is the only time I will talk about my feelings. 


Having only been here for a few days (albeit it feels like weeks), there are many things I understand more clearly and can articulate much better about the city and living norms. 


Know that Sevilla's unemployment rate is 30 percent. It may be because there are no jobs, but really, people just don't want to work. Alexis Madrigal offers a pretty technical reason, however when you can play your accordion on the street all day, why work? Pardon my generalizations and harshness. 

Take a chance and have a backbone. Or remove the backbone. Tapas in Spain are small dishes for sharing with cerveza (beer). Fish is an extremely popular dish here, I don't think I've ever eaten tuna three days in a row in my life. Order a plate of salad, and expect a plate of iceberg letter with olive oil, sea salt, tomatos and tuna fish. The other day a friend tried some fried anchovies, and you can easily stomach it and remove the cola (tail) and columna (backbone) of the fish. 

Relax. Sit and enjoy a cup of café. What I most lack in my life during the normal school year is leisure time. I often find myself finishing multiple tasks at a time and moving onto another set, in the midst of satisfying certain people and trying to get a few hours of sleep. In Spain, however, life is much slower and Sevillanos (people who live in Sevilla) truly enjoy each moment of the day. Though the traffic is a bitch to get home for lunch, it's worth it to sit with your family for three hours and take a break from the normal schedule of the day. The carefree mentality is something I will ease into - without a doubt I look forward to the moment when that actually happens. 

Alas, realize you are such a gringa. My Spanish host mom and sister say I speak fantastic Spanish. I have dark hair and eyes and olive skin, but really, walking down the street, I'm just another person from the country that occupies other countries and wastes water and electricity. 

Pre Departure

Studying abroad in Europe sets the precedent for me to tell myriad stories in my life beginning with, "Oh, well that one time," however the unifying theme that surfaces when all these thoughts run through my head is chance and adventure. 

I am fortunate to be spending my sixth semester of college in Sevilla, Spain, an Andalusian city rich in culture and history.
I have told myself and most of the people around me literally for the past 10 days that I think it's entirely normal to be anxious and nervous about this. Right? The responses I've gotten are as follows:

• What's there to be nervous about?
• Nerves will just turn into excitement.
• You are being so inappropriate. You're not allowed to leave. 
• Is there anything special you want for dinner?

Either I have great friends and family or no one thinks nerves are relevant. Which they probably aren't. It's more important for me to focus on confidence and stamina, things I will pretend to possess in these few days I have left in the U.S. 

I'll miss a lot of luxuries and trivial things while I am gone. What comes to mind is:

• Being in similar time zones as family and friends. 
• Walking down the stairs to a friend's apartment.
• Netflix. I just really love Leslie Knope and got into Downton Abbey a few weeks ago.
• Wisconsin microbrews. 
• That one day in Madison when it's actually spring; everything is green and Bascom is the most scenic. 
• So much more. 

Most of these things I can, and will live without. What I'll miss most are things that aren't actually things - like the feeling of ease and stability. I am elated to be leaving the country for a while, however. So much work has led up to this semester. It's about time I take all the Spanish and history I have crammed into my head and put some value on it.

This semester I promise to do my best, perfect my Spanish and not think twice. Here's what I'm looking forward to at this very moment: 

• Eating oranges right off the tree. 
• Reading books along the Guadalquivir River. 
• Wearing out my shoes on cobblestone. 
• Speaking Spanish like a fool. 
• Meeting up with friends far and near (except probably not Helsinki, sorry Elliott.)
• Settling down and relaxing.

 

With this generic initial blog post I hope you will vicariously join me for the next few months as I document what I see, who I talk to, what I ate (I'm a Jew, I just can't help it) and the places I discover along the way. You're sure to learn something new, smile and maybe even laugh at some of the inevitably silly situations I get myself into.  

And so it goes, hasta pronto y ojalá que te gozes este blog.