Oy!

So, I met my host family.  I'm really not happy at all here and I'm probably going to be switching.  It turns out that it is 2 sisters and 1 brother that I'm living with, none of them married, all living in the same house.  It's very odd and I feel very uncomfortable for multiple reasons.

Other than my homestay though, I'm having a great time! So much nightlife in Seville, me gusta mucho! Or for those who don't understand Spanish, I like it ALOT! Last night our entire program went out to celebrate ending orientation and we went to a "discoteca" or a dance club.  I didn't do much dancing but my guide introduced my friend Britt and I to 3 guys from Spain that are SO nice and were speaking Spanish to us all night.  I'm finally starting to feel like I can communicate in Spanish with people...other than my host family that is because they don't understand me!  Plus, one of my goals was to get to know natives not just students from my program, so now we know some people and we're planning on seeing them again!  They were teaching us phrases that are used in Sevilla that aren't generally used in other parts of the country.  Apparently it was very entertaining for them to hear us attempting to say them, and having it be completely incorrect!  Anyways, I feel like my Spanish is starting to improve and that makes me happy :-) however, I've got a long way to go.

I start my 2 week intensive Spanish course on Monday.  It's 3 hours/day 5 days a week.  Definitely a lot of Spanish and I'm looking forward to it because I think it will help my speaking abilities immensely!  I ended up testing into Group 2, which is good because if I had been in group 5 or 6 I would have had to take a Spanish class at a fairly basic level for the whole semester which I definitely did not want to do.

For the past few nights we've been going out to dinner and lunch with our 'guias' or guides, who are college students from Spain.  They've been ordering everything for us so we get to know what different foods are and how to eat them, because they have very specific table manners in Spain, for instance, you very rarely use your fingers/hands to eat.  If you can't get something on your fork you use a 'pico' or a small breadstick.  They are similar the ones that come with bread baskets at restaurants and are garlic, sesame, onion or plain...which I know because we serve them at the club, I'm not an avid fan of them or anything weird like that!  We've been drinking 'tinto de verano' which is basically red wine with lemon Fanta.  By the way, Fanta limon is the best soda ever.

Another cultural thing, there is not central heat here.  So pretty much it's freezing in the houses and they have a big table in their living room that's covered with a thick tablecloth, so you put the tablecloth over your legs and they keep the heater underneath it, it's brilliant! So warm!

Anyways, I'm hanging in there, just trying to look at the positive aspects of my trip!